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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-02-20 Transcription Page I Council Present: Alter,Bergus,Dunn,Harmsen, Moe, Salih, Teague Council Absent: None Staff Present: From,Jones, Goers, Grace, Platz,Kilburg,Havel, Sovers,Hightshoe, Sitzman,Bristow,VanDyke Others Present: LeFevre,USG Liaison, Monsivais,Alternate 1. Call to Order Teague: It is now 6:00 PM on Tuesday,February 20, 2024. I'm going to call the City of Iowa City formal meeting to order. Roll call please. (Roll Call) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 2 2. State of the City Teague: So I want to welcome everyone in so Council Chambers and anyone that is joining us virtually. Um, the second item on our agenda is the State of the City, ah,Address. And so, ah,we have done this pre-recorded so that people can also see visuals as they hear the State of the City Address (via video). It was an honor to give the State of the City this year because as you can tell,there has been a lot going on. And again,thanks to all of the staff,thanks to my,um, all of my co workers up here. It's been wonderful. But I really want to say thanks to the residents because it is you that allowed us to do what we're doing up here, and it's for you that we provide these services. So thanks to you and of course our- our social services network,we really rely on you and we're going to continue to do our best in this year ahead. So thanks to all. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 3 3. Proclomations 3.a International Women's Day and Women's History Month Teague:Now we're at item number 3,which is proclamations and 3A is International Women's Day and Women's History Month. And this is going to be read by our own Mayor Pro Tem. Salih: (Reads proclomation). And here to accept this is Bijou Maliabo with Johnson County United Nations Association. Maliabo: Hi everyone. Teague: Hello and welcome. Maliabo: Good evening,Mayor and City Council members. My name is Bijou Maliabo And I am a board-,um, I'm on the Board of Directors for the Johnson County United Nations Association.Night of 1,000 Dinner has been a Johnson County community event for over 20 years. Every March,we celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievement of women as part of Women's History Month and International Women's Day. In recent years,the event has focused on the UN sustainable development goal with this year's theme centering on goal Number 3, good health and well being. We also use this time to advocate an advance gender party. In this vein,we invite the Iowa City community to join us on Thursday,March 7 as Mayor Protem Salih said,between 06:00 PM and 08:00 PM. where we will honor five local women who lead community organizations. In closing,we will ask that you explore the history of women rights, acknowledge the ongoing challenges women faces today and around the world, and most importantly,we urge everyone to take meaningful action. Thank you- Thank you. Teague: Thank you, and thanks for all you do. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 4 3.b Rare Disease Day Teague: 3.b is a rare disease day, and this is going to be read by Councilor Dunn. Dunn: (Reads proclomation)And accepting this is Mica Covington,President of the Next Generation of Cystinosis. Teague: Welcome. Covington: Thank you- Thank you, City Council,Mr. Mayor. Again,my name is Mica Jane Covington. I am the co-founder of Next Generation Cystinosis. However,we had new board elections and I'm now vice president. And so let me get started here. The zebra is the mascot of rare disease patients worldwide because in medicine,zebras stand for uncommon answers. As said, I show my stripes for cystinosis,the rare disease that I live with. As we talked about, it causes cells to crystallize and die. So it affects my entire body and right now, I'm now in kidney failure again and need a new kidney. It also attacks my vocal cords and so I sound a bit different than I used to. Uh, so like we said globally, a Rare Disease Day is marked on the last day of February, as they say,the rarest day of the year,this year,the 29th. Um, and so my organization as a member of NORD, the National Organization of Rare Disorders,we work to assist in educating the public on rare diseases such as mind cystinosis, cater to the needs of adults,the emerging population with this disease. And so to coremo- commemorate Rare Disease Day,my organization is holding a rally here at the City Hall on Thursday,February 29, at 02:00 PM. All of you are welcome to join and so is the public. And yes,we all, cystinosis and rare disease people,patients,we have such rare journeys and struggles we need extra help from the government. We need the STAT Act passed,because one of the things that we'll do is create a Rare Disease Advisory Board in the FDA to help push our medicines to get covered and approved by the FDA. So please write our congressperson. Tell them,tell her,we need her to support this. It's not a partisan issue. Thank you. Have a good day. Teague: Thank you. Thank you and it's great to see you. Yes. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 5 11. Regular Formal Meeting 11.a Appeal to the City Council of the decision of the Historic Preservation Commission approving a Certificate of Appropriateness with conditions for an alteration project regarding the installation of a mini-split HVAC system at 811 E. College Street in the College Green Historic District. Teague: We and- actually-we'll move on to item number 11,which is our regular formal agenda I La is an appeal of Historic Preservation Commission decision. Appeal to the City Council of the decision of the Historic Preservation Commission approving a Certificate of Appropriateness with conditions of an alteration project regarding the installation of a mini-split HVAC system at 811 East College Street in the College Green Historic District. And I'm going to ask for,um, comments from our City Attorney fust,Eric Goers,to kind of give us a summary. Goers: Thank you,Mayor. Um,we don't have a lot of HPC appeals,uh,to the Council and also for the benefit of the public,uh,who may not have had a chance to read my public memo on this subject, I thought would,uh, summarize,uh,that memo on the procedures for this kind of an appeal. First,there are two things for this Council to decide. Uh, first is whether the Commission has exercised its powers and followed the guidelines established according to,uh, City Code. Second,whether the commission's action was patently arbitrary and capricious.Now the arbitrary and capricious standard is a little,um, amorphous to many,perhaps not to Councilor Bergus,who is a lawyer,who I'm sure deals with that with some frequency. So I'll offer the definition offered by our Iowa Supreme Court. "Agency action is considered arbitrary or capricious when the decision was made without regard to the law or facts. Agency action is unreasonable if the agency acted in the face of evidence as to which there is no room for difference of opinion among reasonable minds, or not based on substantial evidence." So as that language suggests,this is a narrow review. Uh,unlike a de novo review,which is kind of redoing, uh,the,uh,whole appeal process, or immediately placing yourself in the shoes of the Historic Preservation Commission, Council is not entitled to substitute its judgment for that of the Commission. In or word- in other words,you may not reverse the Commission's decision merely because you disagree with it or would have decided it differently. Rather, if you find that the Commission exercised its powers and followed the guidelines established by law,uh, and that its decision was not patently arbitrary and capricious,uh,then you must affirm the Commission's decision. However, if you find that the Commission did not exercise its powers and follow the guidelines established by law, or did act arbitrarily or capriciously,you may,uh, consistent with the Historic Preservation, er, Commission regulations,reverse or modify wholly or in part,the decision of the Commission to impose conditions contained in the Certificate of Appropriateness. And again,this is true only if you find that the Commission failed to follow the guidelines or acted arbitrarily or capriciously. A- again,procedurally, ah,this is a situation in which the Certificate of Appropriateness was granted to the property owner with conditions. It is those conditions that I believe the property owner is This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 6 complaining. Um,with that I think,um,unless the Council has any questions, I think we'd probably be ready for Ms. Sitzmann. Harmsen: I do have one question. Just kind of restating the-those two points you made. Um, if I were to restate that fust point, as, did the Commission act within the bounds of its- or did the Commission overstep or not overstep the boundaries of its powers,would that be a fair way to understand that fust point? Goers: Yes. If they were to say,you know, and the house has to be painted purple. Well, hold on. There's no standard that says it's got to be purple,you know, or something like that. Yes, or if they cited to a set of regulations or something that aren't applicable that don't,you know, apply to this building. Something like that. Harmsen: So if I were to further simplify it, we're really asked if- do we think they overstepped their boundaries or do we think they just behaved without any consideration of what those boundaries would have been? Goers: Right. If the arbitrary and capricious standard is really kind of designed to make sure that people aren't just making decisions out of bias or prejudice or,you know,because the property owner broke up with my daughter kind of thing. Um,you know,we need to keep it based on the facts,based on the standards,based on the law. And even if reasonable minds may disagree, even if you,uh-you might have decided this differently, but,you know, it's not completely out of left field,the decision the Commission made, then you would have to affirm. Harmsen: Thank you. Teague: I have one,uh, clarification question. So we did receive in a late handout from Shive Hattery and in the summary it says, I'll just read it because I don't know if you,um,had a chance to look at it, is it? Goers: Only briefly, sorry. Teague: Okay. But it said, ah, the HVAC system that were installed were done so the manufacturers in- installation instruction and widely accepted best practices. The method in which they were installed ensures easy maintenance by contractors,reduces the risk of mold formation in the building, and meets manufacturers constraints on refrigerant piping. So th-we just received,uh,this. And my question is,uh,when we talk about the arbitra-uh-the arbitrary or capricious, and you say,uh,without,you know,it states, without regard to facts or not based on substantial evidence,this to me, is evidence or- or a part of something that-that-um-that the-that they didn't have when they made this decision. So my question would be,before we go down and have a large conversation, is it possible that the comission-that this can be reviewed by them before we even have a conversation about this? This to me is substantially different,um, coming from,you know, Shive Hattery who, ah,you know, looked at this and gave an opinion or- This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 7 Right. Well, again, I only reviewed the Shive Flattery letter briefly,but I understood them to say that it- the system was properly installed,um,which is an entirely- answers a different question,uh,that's not and thus it's compliant with the Historic Preservation standards. Er, I took their answer just to be that it was properly installed and it's a good system and it'll have all kinds of advantages,none of which is in dispute. Teague: Okay. So I guess the other question would be because of this, is there an opportunity, uh,because this didn't come up in any- anything that I saw,what would be the,uh, procedure if someone wanted to seek like, a special exception given,you know,what Shive Flattery said. Because I- I understand,um,there were some complexities to this property. Who- I guess I'm wanted to get a little information before we dive into this deep,to see if there's opportunity,um,that,you know,they didn't have,um,you know substantial evidence or information that was lacking at the time when they made their decision. Goers: I think that my short answer would have been that the property owners had every opportunity to present that information to the Historic Preservation Commission,but chose not to.Now,maybe they-maybe they had their own reasons for that, I don't know. Um,but certainly they had that opportunity. Um, could you send it back to HPC to consider it further?Um,that would be a- a complicated process, and I'll maybe ask Ms. Sitzmann,who I know is going to speak in a moment,to speak to that. Um, but normally administratively,you don't,um,kind of give two bites at the apple for folks. That is, if they have the opportunity,you know,the due process opportunity,uh,to present their case and choose not to,that's fine, that's their choice. But then,you know,typically you don't go and amend the record after the fact. You know, especially on the kind of appeal like this where it's an arbitrary and capricious standard,not,uh,you know, a new trial de novo or something like that. Salih: I have a question too. I just want to make sure I understand what you're saying. Goers: Sure. Salih: You said that you're telling us at the Council if we felt like the Historic Preservations,they follow the guidelines that they have when they make a decision about this correctly and they come with this decision not based on any buyer or anything. Just like they-they follow what they have,the rule regulation,whatever you call it. And they come with this decision. And now we cannot disagree with them. That what you're saying? Goers:No, I'm not saying quite that. I'm saying that if you find that they did not act arbitrary and capriciously, and again, I- I can go through that definition again if you'd like,um, because,you know,you can imagine a hypothetical situation in which-I'd like to think this would never happen in Iowa City Board of Commission-but,you know,that the commission was motivated by something improper and that they weren't making a decision based on the facts and law before them. Um,you know,there's a reason this This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 8 appeal comes to you. Obviously there's that possibility and that's what you're here to decide whether that appeal, I- I'm sorry,that decision was made in arbitar- arbitrary or capricious fashion, or they adhered to entirely wrong,um, set of standards, something like that. Salih:Now, also the question - Goers: Yeah. Salih: Yes. They did not do anything wrong. Let's say that we assume, okay,we figure out they follow everything,nothing wrong. Goers: Right. Salih: We cannot still disagree with them. Goers: Well, I- I'd be loath to tell this Council what to do. I can only lay out the standard. I would say that if you conclude that they exercised their powers appropriately and followed the right standards, and did not act in an arbitrary or capricious fashion,then you should affirm their decision. Salih: Yeah. Yeah. Because I believe sometime as a Council, it's not about the law in the book, it's about our value as a Council and what we see on this situation, even though I don't know where this is going to go. But in general, sometime a developer will check the box, but we will see that, oh,we think as a Council we need extra things. I don't know. Uh,we will-yes, I was trying to make sure this is not like we break law if we did not like went with their decision. Goers: Uh,would you break the law?No. Uh, I don't think you would be breaking the law. But certainly you would want to articulate where you believe the commission either went astray, it didn't follow the right standards, or where-what decisions they made that you felt were arbitrary and capricious. Salih: Sure. Thank you. You make it very clear. Thank you very much. Goers: Sure. Teague: Thank you. Well, I guess I'll bring up Danielle as-Yes,you're welcome. Sitzman: Pull up my presentation here. Grace: Mayor could you open the public hearing? Teague: Yes I'm going to op- open up the public hearing. Great. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 9 1. Public Hearing Sitzman: Okay. I'm Danielle Sitzman,Director of,uh,Development Services, sorry,yes, Division Head, sorry. Trying to read and speak at the same time. I'm also joined this evening with Jessica Bristow,who is our Historic Preservation,uh,planner and what I'll be doing here is presenting basically an overview of the memo that was in your packet, going through the timeline of this particular case before it came to you for appeal, and, uh,hopefully answering most of the questions as we go through here. The subject property is an apartment building containing ten dwelling units located at 811 East College Street. I have a couple images here. One is from the county's, county' s property information viewer and some photos taken by staff over the years. This was as far back as 2008. The property is owned by 811-819 East College Street Residential Cooperative. It's shown here as a clip of our zoning map,where you can see the diagonal pattern overlaid on top of it, indicating that it's in a historic district with a historic district overlay zone on it. The property is located in the College Green Historic District, and is classified as a key property within the district. City of Iowa City has eight local historic districts and five conservation districts, and numerous local landmarks shown on the left side of the slide in the various colors. These properties were all designated as local historic resources by the City Council over the years through a rezoning process since that's the overlay district that gets assigned to designate something as being in a district. When that designation is applied, it does require that material changes requiring a regulated permit,that meaning a permit that the City's Code requires to be issued, like a building permit, a mechanical permit, a use of the right of way permit, go through a historic review process. So once something is designated as in a historic or conservation district, it has extra rules that apply to material changes that occur on the property. The City does require permits for all new construction and most existing building repairs and remodeling projects. That's true of any property in the city,not just those in historic districts. Per our Zoning Code, a material change is any act that adds new materials or otherwise modifies an exterior feature of a property. Material changes include alterations to the exterior features of a building or structure, demolition of a building or structure, demolition of a portion of a building or structure, and any new construction on a property, including construction of any new streets or driveway accesses. Examples of material changes include modifications to windows, siding or porches, doors,roofs, and as I said even curb cuts. According to the City's Municipal Code, applications for historic review in a historic district will be reviewed for compliance with,uh,the adopted ordinances of the City or the adopted guidelines by reference. Those are established in the Zoning Code, and there are also three levels of review spelled out in the Zoning Code for the process of how a historic review will be conducted. There's three levels of historic review,minor, intermediate, and major and when a material change is proposed,the amount of the change is evaluated and the corresponding historic review process is followed. Minor changes that demonstrate compliance with the Historic Preservation guidelines are often reviewed and approved solely by staff administratively or via an intermediate review by the staff and the chair of the Historic Preservation Commission. Changes that are more significant to the exterior do require major reviews, and those are the ones that go to the Historic Preservation Commission. Appeals and major reviews in historic districts are This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 10 heard by City Council, and all reviews follow, like I said, the guidelines and standards adopted by reference by the City. This is a map of just the College Green Historic District, close up showing the property highlighted in yellow. This district was established in 1997. Like I said,through a zoning process. The current property owners purchased the property in December of 2012. Since approximately 2003, our department has mailed out annual reminders to all property owners within local historic districts, letting them know that exterior modifications require historic review. The current owners would therefore have received essentially nine annual notices of the process and requirements. In July of 2022,the Urban Planning staff received three separate citizen complaints regarding the appearance of external piping at the subject property. Um, unlike the rental housing inspection program in Neighborhood Services,Development Services doesn't have a large number of inspectors in the field doing just zoning and building code enforcement, so we do rely primarily on,uh,those citizen complaints as the way that we follow up on violations. After we received those complaints,Urban Planning staff investigated the complaint by visiting the site and observing that a change to the exterior had indeed incurred. Work appeared to be the installation of air source heat pumps as called mini splits. These systems typically consist of exterior compressor condenser units and interior air handling unit for each area with piping connecting them. It appeared at the time the staff observed this that the work had already been completed. Again,the City requires permits for most existing building repairs and remodeling projects, including what was observed for the HVAC work at the site, which would have required a mechanical permit before being completed. Also because of the scope of work included, a material change to the building exterior would have triggered a historic review to be performed as well. Staff verified that the required regulated permits,the mechanical permit had not been applied for or issued,nor had a historic review been made. Therefore, staff determined that a violation of the City's Zoning Ordinance and Building Code had occurred. Planning staff then notified the owner of the property of the violation. Explained that in order to correct the violations,they would need to satisfy both the requirements of a regulated permit,the mechanical permit process, and the historic review process for the work that had already been completed. In this set of photos,you can see the white piping on the faces of the building through the trees. So I'm going to walk you through the timeline just adding to the steps that have occurred. They're color coded somewhat. If it's an orange, it's a staff action, so as I said, after staff investigated, urban planning staff investigated the Building Code staff also went and investigated to see if a violation was observable. In August of 2022 then,the building inspection staff created an actual code of enforcement case to track the violation and,uh, confirmed as I said the existence of the violation.Now, a zoning violation is a municipal infraction. It does carry civil penalty-penalties per day violation that the violation exists. That would be something that goes to the court to be determined, and it's the policy of our department,the entire department to attempt to resolve code violations,working with the property owner in a voluntary manner rather than just automatically pushing things into the court citations process. We don't use a prescripted timeline because we like to try to work with each code violation on its own terms and giving everyone flexibility to come to a mutually agreed upon resolution. Staff does use its best judgment though to set deadlines for compliance,working with the property owner towards something that is This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 11 satisfactory. So in the next step,you can see the green box here is an action taken by the property owner. A mechanical permit was applied for by the property owner in September. Building inspection staff then, in the orange boxes,went ahead and processed a permit application for a mechanical permit that included reviewing the application, assessing the fees,waiting for the fees to be paid and then issuing the permit. But also placing a stop or a hold on the permit at that point noting that the historic review approval was still necessary before,uh,the permit could be inspected and hopefully eventually pass the final inspection. This seems like to- at the time to have been a reasonable amount of time for the applicant or the owners to start the process to resolve their zoning violations. In January of 2023 then two months after the mechanical permit was applied for,the property owners submitted the historic review application, an HPC review. In early 2023, staff was also working with the same owner on a historic review for another property under their ownership. At that time staff, uh, chose to help,uh,that review proceed by prioritizing the other review,uh,rather than focusing on this one for work that had already been completed. So in doing that,we took a little bit of a pause and didn't come back to,uh,this particular case until April of 2023, after the other application had run its course. At that time in April, Urban Planning staff again reached out to the owners regarding the need to resolve this one at 811 East College Street. Staff provided a summary of the historic review requirements, explained the work as completed would need a major review by the Historic Preservation Commission, and provided a summary of the guidelines that would be reviewed as part of that. Over the next couple of months after April,really no progress was made. There'd been some contact with the property owners about who should be contacted,uh,when needed to be,but other than that,really no progress was made. So at the end of that period of May through October staff,uh,had reached out in June and offered to meet with some times available,but really had no confirmation or follow up and then at the end of that period of time, over the summer,uh, in staffs judgment,the owner was no longer considered to be acting in good faith towards a resolution. However,rather than just issuing a citation for court, staff proposed completing the historic review process since it had been started with that application, and allowing the HPC to make a determination of what resolution would be acceptable in this case. So staff again reached out to the owners and proposed putting the application onto the Historic Preservations agenda the following month in December. Once the agenda was published, staff did notify the applicant in the meeting and provided them with a packet. So in December of 23,the commission considered the application as it had been proposed,basically the work that had already been completed, and they voted to approve our Certificate of Appropriateness with conditions. Um, so in doing so,they reviewed the,um,materials that were presented to them to the Historic Preservation guidelines. Um,the Historic Preservation guidelines don't include a specific chapter- chap- a chapter for,um, for this particular piece of equipment since mechanical systems rarely impact the exterior of- of a historic building. The specific guidelines used in staffs review and recommendation regarding the pro-the project came from Section 10 of the Historic Preservation Handbook,which again, is adopted by reference in their Zoning Code. And it- it itself is built on standards of the Secretary of Interior's,um, guidance for historic projects,uh,when they,uh, apply to rehabilitation projects. Um, included on the slide of the specific components of Section 10 that were considered. Um,basically,there are four This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 12 of them going towards the historic-historic character of the property being retained and preserved,um, distinctive features and finishes of construction on the exterior, and the craftsmanship,um, characterizing that prop-property to be preserved. That new additions, exterior alterations, or related construction don't destroy those valuable assets, and that new additions adjacent to or related to new construction undert- should be undertaken in a manner that if removed in the future,um, essentially,the form and integrity of the property could remain. Staff also provided the Commission with considerations-,um, similar to-with considerations that had been made in the past for radon installation systems. Um,radon installation systems have been a very common request over the years, and because of that,the Historic Preserva-Preservation Commission has actually come up with a set of conditions that if they're met,um,that the radon system can be streamlined,reviewed, and issued. So the conditions that would apply to a radon system would be that the mitigation system be on a non-street facing,uh, elevation of the building,preferably located in the rear, if possible. And then also that the piping,the exposed PVC piping, if there is any for the radon system, is painted to match the structure. So those were the guiding principles that the staff used in to- creating its recommendation to the Council. As I said,the Historic Preservation Commission did issue a Certificate of Appropriateness with conditions. Um, ah, in that Certificate of Appropriateness, it memorializes the context in which they were performing the review. That the property is a key contributing property in a historic district. What the scope of the work observed was,that it was completed without historic review. And then, as I said, placed three conditions on the approval. The fust be that piping on the north wall of the building and each side of the front projecting bay is relocated.Now,that's not the only location where there is piping for these,um,HVAC systems,but they are the street phasing or most observable sides. So the commission chose to prioritize those and requested those be or included in their Certificate of Appropriateness that those be relocated. In addition,they said that all additional piping is painted to blend with the building. Again, coming from those,um, similar systems like for radon,to make them blend with the building where-where they can't be relocated, and that any damage to the brick building caused by the project be repaired. Again,using those standards from,um, the guidelines saying to preserve those historic features. Really staff sees these conditions as a compromise solution,um,trying to focus on the most important facades of the building where possible. And the applicant was also encouraged to work with a contractor, should they choose to do so and come up with an alternate design. And if they wanted to proceed to have that alternate design review,that that process was always available, That would be essentially a separate historic review. So the information that's come to light today,that would certainly have been appropriate information to provide, probably in addition to some drawings with some dimensions on it, explaining runs of pipes and feasibility, and we would encourage- always encourage applicants to provide alternate designs based on our feedback as the process proceeds. At this point,that would be a separate review. Teague: So I have a question. So that could still take place? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 13 Sitzman: That would be a re-review. So we would start the process over where they would officially provide us information. Probably what they provided today is not quite enough. We'd need some drawings to really dig down into dimensions and get some real numbers behind those to justify. That would then get a staff review recommendation to the HPC. HPC would review it and decide whether they thought that was appropriate, and then work hopefully,to find, again, a compromise where the historic value of the building can be preserved but still be relevant. Teague: Thank you. Sitzman: So again,we're at the end of that fust historic review process,which is an appeal, which was filed in January. So really, options going forward as part of this appeal-they can certainly file the existing Certificate of Appropriateness with the conditions that have been placed as part of that. They could propose an alternate alteration that doesn't meet the fust Certificate of Appropriateness and, like as I said, go through a re review to see if that meets Historic Preservation Commission standards. Or unfortunately, if they failed to follow the existing CoA and then not reapply, City would eventually resume normal code enforcement activity and issue a notice of violation with a firm deadline for compliance or issue a citation to appear in court. I think that's it for the review of the information that was included in your packet. There was a lot of information in there--all of the minutes and staff reports and such from the process. We're happy to answer questions if you have them. Salih: Yeah, I have a question for you. Uh, for example, I- I just want to make sure I understand this right. The Historic Preserv--because this is historicc.No. Let me ask another question. If this pipe is not in a Historic Preservation building and is this like they going to receive also citation? Sitzman: So is the question if this was not a historic property,would they still be in violation? Salih: Like the same situation. Sitzman: Sure. So any-the City requires building permits for almost all work. Salih:No. If they have the building permit and nothing was illegal but-but the design outside, the same pipes... Salih: Sure. The location of the pipes would not be a consideration of just a mechanical permit by itself. It's the historic guidelines that regulate where those pipes run. Salih: Yeah,but I'm talking if the building is not historic. Sitzman: Right. So if it's not a historic building, it would only be regulated by the Building Code, and the Building Code would not have a design guideline to it. It would certainly- it would just be the Mechanical Code for safety that would apply. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 14 Salih: Okay. Sitzman: So if that it's like, if the pipes are running,the right place to meet that, it wouldn't be an issue.Now,we haven't done an inspection of the mechanical permits, so I can't even tell you if the system has been-been installed safely to Building Code. Salih: Yeah,that's what my question. If a- I want to-the second question, is this already safety or not? Sitzman: We have not done that inspection so we could not tell you. The work was all performed before we were notified of it by the application for a permit. So to resolve that,we'll have to go do an inspection and check to see if it meets the codes. Salih: And if I give you a hypo-hypothetical example, if you exam those pipe in a non-historic building, and it was good mechanical ways,whatever you call it, everything good and it passed. You are not going to ask them to remove it because the Building Code for that- for that building,they don't care about if the pipe outside or not. Sitzman: The pipes would not-the location the pipes on the exterior would not be part of a building mechanical permit review,. Salih: Thank you. Sitzman: Any other questions? Teague: There are no other questions. Thank you. At this time,we're going to ask Laura Westemeyer to come forth,who is the appellant. All right. Welcome. Westemeyer: Thank you. Teague: And you're going to represent. Westemeyer: Yes. So my name is Laura Westemeyer. I'm here to represent,um,my parents,the property owners,Laura and Barry Westemeyer. Teague: Welcome. Westemeyer,Lily: So we are here to appeal the Historic Preservation Council's conditions put forth in that Certificate of Appropriateness, sorry,um, issued for the mini split installation. Uh,the decision on this matter was not informed by the guidelines laid out in City Code,uh,that informs the historical reviews. So, um, as was mentioned earlier, it's that fust, um,kind of condition that we are arguing against. We're asking that the City Council modify the decision on the basis that the Commission failed to follow the guidelines established by law and then reverse the condition that requires modifications This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 15 to the current system. Uh, so as was mentioned,the building was purchased 12 years ago by the Westemeyers, and in 2019, October of 2019,they installed those mini split units, um,to replace the failed steam heat system and the temporary window AC units,those window rattlers that,you know,make so much noise in the summer. Um,the Historic Preservation Commission Certificate of Appropriateness was issued in December of 23, uh,that included the condition that the lines on the north and the east side of the building need to be relocated. And so we're both of-uh,we're appealing both because the original installation was done in accordance with the guidance ascribed by law for the historic restorations of this kind, and also because the proposed changes would be inappropriate and inconsistent with the standards put forth by the Secretary of Interior that were mentioned earlier. So here's the guidance that informs the Historical Preservation Committee and their historic reviews. It breaks down into the City guidelines and then, um,the standards from the Secretary of Interior. Um,we're going to look fust at the, the ones from Iowa City. So there's nothing included in the City guidelines, specifically for HVAC projects or any like other similar mechanical projects, so there's no direct,um, guidelines we can pull from that. And there's also no district guidance for the College Hill neighborhood that applies to this project. Um,most of the neighborhood specific guidelines are just for new construction. So from there,we're going to look at the interior standards for rehabilitation, for guidance on the project. Um,this is the list of ten standards, a couple of which you just saw earlier. Um, and in particular,um, I will po- draw your attention to points 5, 9 and 10,they also mentioned 2 earlier,which is very similar. Um, it discusses that the,uh,historical character of a property should be retained and preserved. Um, standard 5 states that,um,the distinctive features, finishes, and construction techniques, or examples of craftsmanship that characterize the property shall be preserved. And then similarly, standard 9 there states that the new additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction shall not destroy historic materials that characterize the property. So the key to both of these points is the preservation of character of the building. Um,these photos are the before and then the after of the mini split unit installations. I'll note that a lot of the photos you saw before were before they were painted. So they did stick out then,but we've since painted them to match the brick. Um,there is no destruction of character apparent here.No-there were no changes to the historical materials, and the entire aesthetic of the building is preserved. Uh,the defining characteristics of the building are still completely intact, and that iconic white cross is unobscured. The entire main entrance has no line sets on it,uh, and then, like I mentioned, all of those lines sets have been painted to match the brick. And then to come back to that third relevant standard that was mentioned,um, standard 10,that states, the new additions and adjacent or related new construction shall be undertaken in such a manner that if removed,removed in the future,the essential form and integrity of the historic property and its environment would be unimpaired. So this essentially means it needs to be a reversible action. And no brick was removed from the building as a part of this project. Um if this project were to be reversed in the future when new technology came around,um, it would create minimal disturbance to the building. It's just the one point of entry for each one. But again,no brick was removed,um, everything is still there. Um,you know,this building has been around, it has had many,many lives before us and it will be here long after we are all gone. And the way that this project was This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 16 completed ensures that,um, should it need to be reversed in the future,the buildings structural integrity and key characteristics would be unimpaired. So to come back to the City Code that lays out the guidelines for historical review,um,we see that, you know, no guidance from the historical's-no guidance that is laid out has really been disregarded in the completion of this project. So looking at the big picture of the purpose of this historical review,the goal,uh, of it is to empower the Historical Preservation Commission to ensure that material changes to external features of landmarks and properties,um, do not substantially alter or destroy the defining architectural characteristic of a building. Um, and it does so through the guidelines that were previously explained. This project has by no means substantially altered the defining chara- architectural character of this building. The changes are not egregious or patently obvious. They do not alter any significant architectural aspects of the building, and again, they are completely reversible. The addition of the line sets created minimal disturbance to the overall aesthetic of the building. Again,they were painted to match the brick. Um, this is evident. Uh,they were painted to match the brick and they blended well,the placement is very discrete. It is by no means overt,which I think is evidenced by the fact that there was a significant gap in time between when the project was completed in October of 2019 and when the issue was brought to the property owners in July of 2022. Uh,this pro-project was complete for three years before anyone noticed it, anyone said anything about it,uh,which shows just how minimal the changes were made to the facade by adding these line sets. There's also, like I mentioned earlier,no alteration to the architecture of the building. The defining characteristics are still completely intact,the facade was not irreversibly destroyed or altered, and this system is up to date and considered best practice for buildings of this age. Uh, and it'll allow for us to,you know, easily pivot in 30 years to the newest and best system that,you know, is even better. So as I've just outlined,we've had no substantial changes to the defining architectural character of the building, and therefore,the project fails to meet the conditions,uh, outlined by City Code in regards to the historic review. Uh, so I've shown you why the current system should remain in place and has not broken any of the guidelines that the City lays out for buildings in historic districts. Uh,but we're also asking the commission- uh,we're asking for the commission's decision to be reversed because the changes that they are asking to be made would have a much more significant impact on the building than the current system. Uh,the Commission is asking that the piping on the north and the east wall of the buildings,uh,be relocated. Uh,this relocation would necessarily require that the lines go through the interior of the building and then up back to the roof. Uh,this is a request that would not only go against the best practices of what is recommended for the mini split systems,but it would also create a significant impact on the building itself. So the current systems were installed based on best practices. I know you guys have those letters,um, from Shive Flattery and then from Davis Heating and Air stating-uh,you know, discussing the installation of the systems and the ways in which they maybe can and cannot be changed. Um,the direct lines are really important, so we have them going directly from the unit up to the top. Uh, and this is important because they need to follow the manufacturer's guidelines,um, and-to reroute the line sets either through that interior of the building or then along to the back of the building,would cause them to exceed their maximum length and it would render them ineffective. The current This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 17 installation also allows for really easy maintenance of the system,which is important for the longevity of the project. Because ideally,this is something that will be there for 30 years. So both,uh,Mr. Berzinski and Mr. Davis,noted in their letters that routing through the building and then up to the roof would create opportunities for leaks and condensation along with a significant structural impact on the interior of the building. That list of 10 standards that is cited in,um, the historical guidelines is supported, ah,by a set of then more in-depth guidelines by the Department of Interior that outlines best practices for restoration of historic buildings. These are meant to inform the ways that those 10 standards are then carried out. So in the recommendations for mechanical systems like HVAC,um, they do not recommend concealing mechanical equipment in walls or ceilings in a manner that results in extensive loss or damage or otherwise obscures restoration,period building materials and features. So the Certificate of Appropriateness that was issued,um,the conditions that they have would necessarily, like I said,require the lines to be redirected through the building,which would require openings in the ceilings and walls. The building has significant interior architectural features that belong to its relevant restoration period, so the time when it was,you know, at its heyday including a lot of decorative plaster, some very very beautiful woodwork, a lot of built in cabinetry. All of this would be harmed in the event of the line sets being moved inside. And then again,back to the general standards that were outlined earlier, the reversibility of this change proposed by the Commission is significantly less than that of the current project. So to tear down all those walls,to tear down the ceiling,to go through the building up to the roof would be far less reversible than the system that is currently in place. The guidelines do recommend installing air conditioning units if needed in such a manner that excessive moisture is not generated, and that will accelerate deterioration of materials from the restoration period. So as a reminder,both Mr. Davis and Mr. Bochinski, in their letters made note of the condensation that would occur should those lines be re-routed through the building,um, and then the possibility of leaks being introduced when they-would then have to go up to the roof, so you would have condensation inside and then leaks coming down from the roof. Running them outside was done to reduce the risk of moisture that would lead to the rotting wooden mold. Um, so again,this is a guideline that informs that list of 10 and the way that the project was completed is best in alignment with this guideline. So all of these are reasons that the conditions for the approval set forth by the Historic Preservation Commission would not only be harmful to the historic building but also go against the guidelines set forth in City Code that were followed when completed the origin- completing the original project. So in conclusion, it's a reasonable- it is very reasonable that buildings of this age will need some changes to maintain their livability, efficiency, and their aging interiors. The installation of the mini split units was entirely necessary, appropriate, and it was done in a way that maintained the integrity of the building in accordance with the guidelines that the City lays out for historical preservation. The current system does not require any modifications to follow the City or the Department of Interior's guidance that informs historical review. Rather,the changes proposed by the Historical Preservation Committee would create a significant impact on the building that would itself go against those guidelines that are laid out. This project made no substantial alterations to the exterior of the building and therefore,the Historic Preservation Commission was incorrect in its This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 18 conditions proposed in their Certificate of Appropriateness, and their decision should be reversed. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. I guess any questions for the appellant? Dunn: I- I have a question. What part of the Historic Preservations Commission- Commission's decision do you believe was arbitrary or capricious, if any? Westemeyer,Lily: So we were not arguing on the basis of it being arbitrary or capricious. We were arguing on kind of that fust bit that they did not follow the guidance that was laid out for them in City Code. So it's either that or arbitrary or capricious. Dunn: So you're arguing their interpretation was incorrect? Westemeyer,Lily: Yes. I'm arguing that the project was completed in compliance with all of those guidelines. There was nothing in those guidelines laid out that was,you know,not followed or that we went against. Dunn: So your argument is that no reasonable person could come to the conclusion that they did? That would have to be the argument, correct? Westemeyer,Lily: Yes. The argument is that the guidelines that are laid out for them to follow, we did not break any of those guidelines-we did not go against any of those guidelines. Dunn: But for our purposes, our decision has to be whether or not any reasonable person could come to the conclusion that they did, if we're not talking about arbitrary and capriciousness. So I want to just want to be clear. You're arguing that no reasonable person could come to the conclusion that they did? Westemeyer,Lily: Yes. Dunn: Okay. Moe: Just so that I have my facts correct,there was no mechanical permit applied for this project at the time of the installation. Westemeyer,Lily: There was no mechanical permit applied for. There was an electrical permit applied for, and then the mechanical permit has been retroactively applied for. Moe: Okay. Westemeyer,Laura: And- and it was my understanding, and again,this was of course after the fact. Teague: If you can use the microphone please, and state your next. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 19 Westemeyer,Laura: It was my understanding, and this was after the fact,that once a permit is reco- is applied for, it should trigger a historical review. And so the electrical permit was applied for and it did not trigger a review. Moe: Was the electrical permit approved? Westemeyer,Laura: To that I don't know. I could go on my-but it was applied for. Moe: Danielle,was it approved?Yes,please. And maybe I'm going down a rabbit hole because I think that Councilor Dunn was in the right place but- Goers: Before we do that,the last speaker should identify herself for the record. Teague: Yes-yes. Westemeyer,Laura: I'm Laura Westemeyer. Teague: Thank you. Sitzman: So there's a bit of a gap in our permit history because we went from one permit system to another between 2019 and 2020. But the records were all imported into the new system, so the information's laid out just slightly differently. But when I lookup a 2019 electrical permit, it was applied for,but the fee was never paid and the permit was never issued. Salih: Okay. I guess I have a question for you too before you leave. You know the Historic Preservation, I know that they care about the inte- exterior design and everything,but do they also do one inside, and so like if they did the (cant hear)that they recommended it will harm, like also this historic feature like interiorly? Sitzman:No. We limit our review to the exterior of the building. We don't have any opinion on the interior of the building. So that's beyond the regulatory powers of the Historic Preservation Commission. Salih: Sure. Teague: Any other questions Councilors for the appellant? Westemeyer,Laura: I have a couple of things I'd like to say. Alter: Can I actually ask one question. And it was in regards to talking about the,no bricks were added or removed. But I understood in going through the notes that, in fact,there was drilling to anchor. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 20 Westemeyer,Laura: Yes. Alter: Right. So the bricks have been- Westemeyer,Laura: There's been like a little hole put through the-the- Alter: To hold all of the piping up. Westemeyer,Laura: To-to yes. To just take it up to the-to the- top,yes. Dunn: To hold an access. Westemeyer,Laura: Yes. Salih: Which is the same thing going to happen again if we went inside and went outside again, you're going to do the same thing that you did. Dunn: But our code only regulates what's on the outside. Westemeyer,Laura: And this is also though too,replace the window air conditioners that stick out on the outside continue to damage the building. There's a lot of tuck-pointing that we've had to do on the building over the years because of water. Water is the greatest eroder on the earth. And so being able to actually- and actually in a sense, I mean, and again, I certainly don't want to get technical because I'm not the person to do that. But, um, if you were to look at the window air conditioners,that water just guttered right down onto the building. It wasn't at all, it just- it rolled down the building and it did damage to the building. What we did inste-basically is install a new guttering system to allow that water to then be able to go off the building, so it stopped doing damage. And I think the-the appearance of those line sets look far better than the window units ever did, and are so much more efficient, so much more green, and so much better for the carbon footprint. One of the other things I'd like to add is I did apply for a permit earlier than that, I was actually at the City Council. I had somebody help me with the portal. I've done, I don't know,hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of construction work,repair work, and had never applied for a permit before. Typically,your contractors apply for the permits. So when I applied for the permit, I applied for a building permit,which was incorrect. So there was also a process with that. And then when I applied for the permit, um, it was given to us. Like when I called the guy, I gave him my credit card and- because actually I called to see why I hadn't-there hadn't been follow up. And then he was like, oh,you did a building permit,you need a mechanical permit. And so then I gave him my credit card and he paid for it and it was issued. So it's-what I will tell you is historical preservation is one of the most confusing things I've done the- and I'm almost 60. Um, it- it is not clear cut. It's-we had some stairs replaced which I think you have the-the information on that. And it was a very clear cut process in a sense of just it was very easily to see that it was exterior-the- the stairs were exterior,because there's no guidelines for HVAC systems. Because,uh, even- even with the Department of Interior, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 21 guidelines for HVAC systems,um, aren't completely easy to find. Um, it never dawned on me that this was an exterior project. It's- the boiler was inside the basement,um,the- the,uh,radiators,which we've taken very few of those out because they're beautiful. The radius-radiators were inside the building and again they,uh,not efficient at all. Um, it- it was a bad process with,uh,the noise and everything else that happened with the radiators. Uh, and then,uh, all of the piping was inside the building. The only interior or exterior, if you want to say,um,part, were the air conditioners and even those you install interiorly. So I don't, like-yes, I was at fault for not applying for the permit,but I do think reasonable people would understand that this is not clear and the steps that we had altered,uh, on our carriage house. It was very clear that those were exterior. But a mechanical system was not clear to me at all that this was an exterior project. Because everything was interior. Uh, in the wintertime, everything was interior, in the summertime,the only exterior was a small amount of,uh,the compressor and that's disgustingly ugly. So honestly in my- and I think any reasonable person would honestly say that that building is far more beautiful without the,uh,the window units.Um, definitely,my tenants will tell you, even those that were not excited necessarily,they will tell you that these,uh, every reasonable person will tell you that this is a far better,more efficient way to heat this building than if we were to have continued to do it,um,you know, in a sense,the old fashioned way. And the other thing that I do want to,uh,talk about a couple of other things that is completely reversible. And when you read Interior, your the Department of the Interior Standards,having things that are completely reversible are the most important thing. Um,because this building will live beyond us. And this is very-very minor,very-very minor damage. And there's nothing else that could have been done and- or that could have-we could have done to this point with,uh, current standards to have done this building with any less damage. Teague: I want to make sure that if the Council has any more questions that- Westemeyer,Laura: Oh, sure. Teague: -get that answer. And then if you-uh, if you have additional information that hasn't been presented at this time,you can offer that. Westemeyer,Laura: Okay. And so-well,the only other thing that I want to point out is on- it's towards the last- it's the blue sheet of the- of what I handed you guys. It's also on the,um, yeah. Oh, it it? Westemeyer,Lily: You get it up there. Oh,you can-you can't- Westemeyer,Laura: Oh, I can't? Is there a way to? Westemeyer,Lily:Nope, it's- Salih: We have it if you-what you mean? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 22 Westemeyer,Laura: Okay. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Well, it's so tiny. It's the only thing. I mean, I can read- Moe: This one here,maybe. Westemeyer,Laura: Okay. Moe: We can look at this one. Westemeyer: Laura: So, if you look at- I mean, and- and I guess with the Commission-the Commission did not have this information when they were looking at what would-what would a reasonable person do with HVAC. And if you look at what the Department of the Interior says specifically about HVAC,which is what we're talking about, specifically HVAC. Uh, so it talks about retaining and maintaining the functional and efficient HVAC system. So we-we installed, um, or- or actually the previous owner,we had everything that we could have done,um, fans,we had ceiling fans,we had lots of things. We did everything we could to extend the life of that-that boiler for as long as we could extend the life of the boiler. Dunn: Did you present-present this information to the Commission? Westemeyer,Laura: I- I- did- Dunn: This particular talk about. Westemeyer,Laura: - I like, can I tell you this has been confusing? I- I just, you know, like,um, I guess I- I thought we were going to go and that it had been mentioned that we would be able to paint them red, and so we had painted them red. So my understanding, I'm sorry, was that we could talk to the Commission about we're going to paint them red. And this is,you know,we've-what's-what's up there is much more beautiful than the air conditioner system. I didn't realize I literally should have hired an attorney,And- and so I guess again,when I say the historical process is confusing, it is very confusing. Alter: I guess, I- I had a question about that. Given that it sounds like there's opportunities both to prevent- sorry to provide this information as well as you were saying there was some kind of communication at some point about your belief that you could paint it red. And I guess I'm just curious,because it sounds like there was absolute radio silence,um, in spite of staff reaching out for four months. And I mean, certainly it was on your radar that it was like, oh,we've-we've done something that they don't we're not supposed to or we need to trigger a historic review. So I'm just curious because, I mean, obviously there's you know,you've- Westemeyer,Laura: Okay. Yes. Alter: -brought a lot to-to bear on this. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 23 Westemeyer,Laura: Um,to put it like- Alter: There was an opportunity. Westemeyer,Laura: I- I totally understand your question. To put it carefully, I am married. My husband is one of the other persons on this project. He,this is his project. This was what he was taking care of I think maybe he's not the best communicator. I don't know exactly how to express that. But ultimately,um, I- I trusted that he was doing what he needed to do. So,um, and I trusted that my mechanical permit guy would have pulled a permit like I,you know, I did a complete HVAC remodel on one of my buildings and Brandt Heating and Air pulled a permit. I- I don't know those things. I mean,you know, I think when you do construction,you just don't know that permits are or aren't pulled because you just, I don't know. I mean,you signed the little thing that says I will do this to the standard of, you know, I mean, I have a signature from- I have a little contract I signed with my contractor to,you know, do this and he probably let me down. Teague: Okay. Well, I want to-unless there's something more that you want to say. Westemeyer,Laura: Just on this sheet of paper,the purple-the blue document,which I think is really the most a- accurate way to define how to do HVAC systems under the Department of the Interior- it talks about,um,retaining or installing high efficiency ductless air conditioners when appropriate,which may be more sensitive approach than installing a new ducted central air conditioning system that may damage,uh,historic building material. So that's in the list of,um, recommended. That is in the list of recommended. If you go down that recommended list,that is what we did. So if you're installing new mechanical duct work sensitive or using a mini duct system - so we did a mini split ductless system. There's just no other way we could have done this project,but- and to have not damaged the building more and to make it as efficient as it is, to think about our carbon footprint, all of those things. And also it talks about leaving interior duct work exposed,which again,what they're asking us to do is exactly the opposite. So I'm just- I mean I wish-now-now I know, I guess,uh,but,uh,you know,you-you,uh, do your best. And you've-you know, sometimes, I guess we all make mistakes. Uh, but you know, I think that we've got a beautiful building, I think we're good landlords, I think that affordable housing is a consideration. I think we try to provide affordable housing even though it's a beautiful building to many of our tenants,uh,to have long-term tenants. So it's a pretty precarious situation to be in-to be a successful landlord in this community with an old building. I could bring in a lot of college kids that are going to pay a lot more, um,you know, stack them in there,but they're not going to take care of the beauty of the inside of this building. And then pretty soon we're gonna to have the issue of,uh, destruction.What's it called? Sorry. I've done more research than I want to say. Ah,where it's, ah basically demolition by neglect,which is another continual- ah, continual ah,those big words ah, it's- it's- you-you continually read about it when you are talking about ah, historical-historical preservation. A lot of things end up being ah,neglected and then they're demolished because they're neglected. And so again, it is a difficult situation to This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 24 own one of these in Iowa City and yet try to do everything that you can to make it beautiful and keep it beautiful. And I think we've been successful doing that. Salih: I have a question for you. If you would have done what the-recommended-recommended by the Historic Preservation, did you calculate how much is going to cost you? Westemeyer,Laura: So that is in the bid by ah, our contractor. I think it was around 15,000. Salih: This is just to do it,not even the maintaining costs. Westemeyer,Laura: It's not really-yes, the cost is one factor,but it's continual maintenance. We- we really can't. I mean quite frankly. It's- I mean, if we're really talking about the longevity of the building,that is not a good thing to do. It would be continual maintenance. So what you would have to do is basically the hallways in that building are not air conditioned. So it would go from an air conditioned unit through a hallway into another air conditioned unit. And again, like Shive Flattery says, it can't even go that far, um,but then that would be air conditioning.No air conditioning. Air conditioning,which would cause condensation. Um so-they were put on the front strictly because that's the only place they could have been put. Those apartments do not have any other wall that faces to the exterior. It's strictly those- I mean, and again,there's,you know, 12 apartments in that building. So the fact, and many of the apartments have two, and some have three of those units. So the fact that we were able to engineer it where there were only five units that we are needing to move, considering that there's probably 30 on that building. Um, I think there's a lot. Ah,when I talked with Todd about this,the main question I had for him is,have you done historic buildings?He said,yes, I've done historic buildings. Um, after the fact, when I found it,he hadn't ah,what do you call it? Um, got the permit. I asked him in and he said, I don't typically get permits for mini duct systems. So I don't know. Guys, I mean, I'm sometimes pretty confused as well. Ah,but we did a great job with our steps. We followed all of the rules with the steps. I did not, because everything is interior. Almost 100% interior- 100% interior in the winter time, you know,the window units on the back, I didn't think that,you know, it just didn't dawn on me. Teague: Any more questions from Council? Salih: I want to ask the staff a question. Teague: Yeah. Westemeyer,Laura: Thank you. Teague: Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 25 Salih: You know the thing here about this HVC-AC and did the Historic Preservation know this, because if I look at it,this is a requirement. Okay, done. We did it. What do you think about that? Sitzman: So those are relevant standards like obviously, it's just screen capture of not an entire page. Um, our guidelines don't go into the recommendations that this screen capture is promoting,which are certainly valuable things like energy efficiency. And we don't regulate energy efficiency. So these are going above and beyond our standards. But the one that seems most relevant is the one that says installing the equipment that retains the historic character of the building. So I think that's very much in line with our current standards as expressed in our handbook,which say when you do projects,you need to preserve the historic character of the building in doing so. I don't think these conflict with our standards,but they're sort of a different approach to advising someone when they do a project of these other valuable things to consider like energy efficiency. Salih: And you said the area the-to obtain a permit is responsibility of the contractor or of the owner? Sitzman: The owner of the property is responsible for their property. So if they hire a contractor and part of their agreement with their contractor is for them to pull a permit, that-that can be the case,but ultimately,the responsibility is the property owners responsibility. Salih: In any building in the city now,they have that,they always come and get a permit. Sitzman: Right. Salih: Is that true? Sitzman: The Building Code has been in place for decades, and it's had very few exclusions of work that need to-that should have a permit. So it should be fairly well known in the contractor base when a permit is required. Salih: And if someone did it without a permit but they did it right, there is no Historic Preservation or anything to that building, are you going um, give them site issues? Sitzman: If we find out someone's done work without a permit in a non historic district, there would still be a code violation. They would still need to correct it in the same manner by getting a permit. They'll get an extra fee because they've done work without a permit. So they kind of a penalty in that phase. Then we go in, inspect the work. If they've installed it improperly,they have to remove the work,put it back in correctly. I don't know that that's the case here,but in any other- Salih: I'm just asking in general. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 26 Sitzman: Because you've put something in without a permit doesn't mean you get to keep it that way. Salih: Sure. And any contractor should not do any job without seeing the permit from the City. Sitzman: Can you say that again. Salih: Any contractor should not done any job without seeing the permit from the City. Sitzman: Right-right. Correct. Bergus: Based on your earlier comments,Danielle, I just want to be sure about something. It sounded like that there is an opportunity to seek-to kind of approach this again. If we were to deny the appeal and the Certificate of Appropriate-Appropriateness or if we didn't alter it, if it stayed in place as it was,the owner has the option to go back and say, here's all this information that they didn't have a chance to consider in the first review, and those factors could influence the Historic Preservations Commission determination of a new Certificate of Appropriateness. Sitzman: Absolutely. And that new Certificate of Appropriateness would overwrite the previously issued one. Bergus: : Okay. Salih: Okay. Dunn: Would there be any problem with the time in between those applications? Sitzman: I think if they're working in a good faith manner to submit that application,that we would withhold any action until they've gone through the process again. Certainly wouldn't want it to take five months again. Salih: Sound good. Teague: If there are no other- Bergus: I'm sorry. I just have a question for the Attorney. Um, so from a process standpoint, I just want to be really clear on our standard of review and what we are considering. So if um,the information that the Historic Preservation Commission didn't have a chance to consider but was presented to us tonight,that's not part of our consideration, correct? Goers: Correct. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 27 Bergus: Okay. And um, if the-the- some of the very important and helpful and good things that the property owner is wanting to do in energy efficiency and a comparison of this system with the old system,those are not variables that we would consider, correct? Goers: Also correct. Alter: But we could consider-well,no, actually. Let me I ask? So in terms of the integrity of um, the historicity within the building,that is also not our purview, correct? I guess that's maybe to Danielle,you had said that- Goers: Right. Alter: There's no regulation over interiors. However, if modifications had to be done to redo to- to fit with the current certificate of approval,the damage that has been described as potential or as a likelihood, or what have you,would actually structurally impact the building? Correct. And would that be something that we would have to consider? Goers: Um, I'm sorry. I wanted to make sure I followed your question. The hypothetical you're offering is that the installation, as called for by the Historic Preservation and their Certificate of Appropriateness, is going to cause ah- Alter: Structural damage. Goers: -structural damage. I guess the objection I would raise is facts not in evidence at present. Alter: Fair enough. This is why I'm not a lawyer. Goers: Right-right. But of course we're not in a court of law. So I'll try to answer in more layman's terms. Right. I think that there was an opportunity to discuss that and- Alter: I guess it's something that we could take into consideration as opposed to talking about energy efficiency. Bergus: I think-Well, I think maybe a- a- a different question if I could just finish,um, is that interior,that the balancing of,here's what we want to do on the outside but here's what we think would happen on the inside if we had to do that, could be taken into account by the Historic Preservation Commission as to the substantiality of the outdoor change, correct? Goers: Right. The impossibility of work and maybe that's what you're getting at Councilor Alter would certainly be something that HPC would consider. Bergus: But that's not part of our review of their action. Goers: That's correct. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 28 Bergus: Okay. Dunn: Our- Our action at this point is by- is reasonability. Alter: A reasonable decision based on what information and guidelines they had at the time. Goers: Right. Salih: I- Is this. Goers: It would have been an arbitrary and capricious decision. Salih: Is this means like for this for today the action that needed from us either to approve it or not, say yes or no, and can we suggest something else? Can we say, can you go back and sit down and figure out?Because I really believe that,you know,maybe there is a- an artist person or somebody who can look those like make this vibe look really nice and have on it plants which is blended and nobody would recognize them. So if that could be an option I really believe that instead of like,because I- I believe the Historic Prervation okay. they-they went through the guideline and they come up with this. But there is many thing now, if this has- if we agree to like if we said yes they have to take them out and this is going to cause a lot of them inside and also like cost money and all this, can we just come up to a reasonable solution say yeah, can we retain that without voting on it? Goers: Right. I- I don't think the Council's role is to act as mediator or to uh, offer a compromise solution. Um, it's just whether or not,you know, if- even if reasonable minds might differ, even if you or the Council more broadly would have made a different decision it's just,you know,were they out of left field?Were they arbitrary and capricious in the decision they made?And- and so the decision or the options available to the Council c- are to affirm just as it is and maybe that's followed by what Miss Sitzman mentioned,uh, a moment ago,which is that the property owners go back to Historic Preservation and try to pursue the kind of things that,uh,you're describing and and many others have been describing,uh, and work with the HPC,uh,you make the argument that it's impossible to do in a way that the HPC would envision or whatever the case may be. so that's one option. Two is to grant the property owners appeal and say yes,we hereby modify the decision and remove one,two, or all three of the conditions that are imposed in the Certificate of Appropriateness,um, or uh. Well,yes, I think those would be I was thinking you give either some of what the land owner,uh,property owner is requesting or all of what the property owner is requesting,those are kind of the three options that are available. Dunn: Or we could defer. Goers: Well, tell me what you, I'm not sure what you mean by defer. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 29 Dunn: We could- I'm- I'm just saying like for the scope of what we're discussing, like we could make a deferral. Bergus: I don't think that we can,we're in the public hearing. Salih: But isn't it just like,uh? Dunn: I'm just saying. Alter: I'm just saying, I mean, it would just push it for another meeting,right? Goers: Right. I'm- I'm sorry. To answer your question legally could you move to defer? Sure. Dunn: That's what I'm saying. Goers: Yes. That-that's correct, yeah. Salih: But- but I want to ask you, isn't this the same thing to like when we are-we kind of not agreeing with the planning and zoning?Not like not agreeing but we want to hear more and we just defer it? Goers: Do a consult? Salih: Yes. Goers: Right. There the Planning and Zoning Code calls for a consult. There's no equivalent provision in the City Code for a consult with the Historic Preservation Commission. Bergus: And Mayor Pro Tem, I just want to be clear and anyone correct me if I'm wrong. But I- I do believe if we say the- if we deny the appeal, all that happens is the Certificate of Appropriateness with those condition stays in place. The property owner can choose to go back and make their case to the Historic Preservation Commission. We're not requiring that they pull everything out and start over. That's an option,they could do that if they want to follow the Certificate of Appropriateness as approved currently and we do not modify it. But we're not mandating a- a change in the system unless they choose that. I mean that-that if they could choose to follow the Certificate of Appropriateness,but we're not saying that's your only option. Goers: To be clear, if- if the Council affirms the decision and they do not to go back,um,to the HPC to get a modification and so forth,then eventually the staff would move forward with,uh,you know, a municipal infraction and look for court compliance. Teague: Okay. Alter: Can I ask one more question? I promise I'll be a little more clear. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 30 Teague: Sure. Alter: So you were saying,well,we could remove one or all or some of the conditions to the Certificate of Approval. But that would be predicated on us saying,yes,the-the-that decision was capricious and arbitrary- Goers: Yes. Alter: -or they were outside of their,they weren't using regulations in an appropriate manner or were making up their own, correct? Goers: Right. Alter: That's what-that's the basis for being able to say we believe we could take something out, not just because we feel we-we that's a good one to take out. Goers: You're correct. Alter: It has to be predicated on actions that the Historic Preservation Commission took or did not take, correct? Goers: Right. It would have to be your conclusion that they acted in an arbitrary. Alter: Wrong. Goers: Or capricious fashion. Alter: Thank you. Goers: I mean,the-the same kind of criteria and review,uh,that the Historic Preservation cited were-were cited by the property owners I don't think there's any dispute about that. Alter:No-no. I just wanted to make sure that if there was some modification it was based again it has to go back to that. Goers: That arbitrary and capricious standard. Alter: Correct. Goers: That's correct. Teague: All right. So I want Council to know that soon we'll be able to deliberate and it sound like when we get there we should be able,uh,make some decisions,uh,relatively quickly. Um,we're going to ask for the public to come forth in a little bit and then I'm This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 31 going to- after that I'm going to close the public hearing at which time Council, I want to make sure,um,that we all know I'm going to ask for a motion to affirm the decision of the Historic Preservation Commission. Um, and so that-that will be the motion, okay? All right. We're going to invite the public at this time. Uh, anyone who wants to discuss, um,this matter. If you are online,please raise your virtual hand and I will call upon you. If there's anyone that wants to speak to this matter from the public? If not I will close the public hearing. I see no,uh,hands- I see no one in person or online. I'm going to close the public hearing. 2. Affirm the decision of the Historic Preservation Commission Teague: Could I get a motion to affirm the decision of the Historic Preservation Commission? Dunn: So moved. Alter: Second. Teague: Move by Dunn, second by Alter. And we'll love if you all use your last names tonight. Thank you. All right. A Council discussion. Dunn: I think,um,we're just in a really tough spot here. Um, I- I don't disagree with hardly anything that you've,um,presented on,um, about the-um, about your personal values, about,um your value for the building, its character,um, or,uh,you know,your care for the community generally,um, as well as the value that the changes add to the building, uh, and its long term integrity. Um,unfortunately,uh, I think when it comes to our question,uh,where we have to judge whether the Historic Preservation Commission,uh, with the information that it had at the time of its decision,uh,made a decision based on your own admission,that is wholly unreasonable. Um, at this time, I can't come to that conclusion. I think that,um,the discussion that we've come to today has led to a- I think, a very good path forward,um, outside of this appeal,um, in which you guys can go and take the information that you've presented us,uh, and try to give another whack at it in good faith. Um,but based on the information review of the minutes of the- of the meeting itself,um, and the reasonability standard that we've kind of all agreed that we're,uh, assessing,um, I don't believe there's any other proper decision but to affirm. Teague: Okay. Well, I'll jump in there, and normally I can't wait, um. I- I- I'm going to agree with,uh- I'm going to allow your words to speak for me tonight. Uh,but I do want to just say on a personal note,um, I know the Westemeyers very well, absolutely love them. They're great landlords. Um, oftentimes,when we sit in this position,we are having our best friends come before us, and it's- it's- it's a difficult thing,but at the end of the day, uh,we have to wear our hats as, ah, in our role and,um, so I- I- I don't believe that the information that they had at the time,um,may be painting a full picture,you-you know, they could have this information and still arrive at the same decision. But,uh, given what they were given,um, I will be affirming their decision. Uh, one thing I will say is, it appears to me that the HVAC guidelines,which there are none,there may need to be This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 32 some written up and in my mind, I know that,um, i- the radon that was addressed,you know, at some point, it probably happened after the fact, and,you know,the-um,the,uh, Historic Preservation Commission came up with-uh,with the decision or they talk, discuss how they're going to address that. I imagine that gutter systems also, um,has been discussed and have some guidelines and this to me, if I didn't know that it was part of a HVAC system, I would think that it was a gutter that didn't go all the way down to the ground and it was missing part of it. So again,there needs to be some attention by staff,um, and some discussion by the Historic Preservation, I believe is warranted. So I will be affirming them,but I do want to say thanks to you all for coming and sharing, ah, this information with us tonight. Dunn: I would al-oh sorry. Moe:No. I- this is my line of work when I'm not sitting up here is to do Historic Preservation design and it is complicated. So I have complete empathy for the sort of difficulty that it can take and,um,the time that it takes. And some of the checks and balances to make sure you get it right,um, is through that building permit process and I just feel so bad for you because you now have this thing that's installed and this conversation I wished could have happened before, it's there, stuck on the side of your building. But,um, when we get to the decision of what we're supposed to do is what is the Historic Preservation Commission,how were they thinking about this?Were they reasonable? I will- I'll be affirming that choice,but I- I'm so sorry for you that-that your contractor did not pull a permit. I think it has been very different for you. Dunn: And all I was going to say is that I- I hope that,you know, as frustrating and confusing as this process has been, I hope that,you know, it's also been, at least in this moment,um, productive and not necessarily super negative. Of course, it's not the outcome that you- you wanted,but,you know, it's at least my goal that these types of things end to positive resolutions,whatever that resolution may be. So I- I hope you take that away from this at least. Harmsen: I think just to kind of piggyback and, ah,having family members who have worked as contractors,uh, it really sounds like this person dropped the ball. My mom was a roofing contractor in Iowa City, in the surrounding area for lots of years and many times conversations about the challenges of work in the historic areas of town, Summit,uh, in all places like that. So- so I was surprised to learn that- that the contractor wouldn't have followed up or thought that they didn't need to do that for whatever reason. So,uh,but kind of echoing everything that has been set up here, I don't really have much more to add to it other than hopefully the information you have gathered and if you move forward and choose to kind of reapply this kind of thing,that then it'll be,you know,much-what the process should have been at the very-the very fust time through and- and sort of that give and take, and looking for where it's possible and where it isn't, so. So I guess I wish you luck with that,but I also feel I have to affirm this because I think it's just pretty laid out as everyone else has laid out as well. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 33 Bergus: The only thing I would add,um, is I heard,you know,this kind of mismatch in communication. And so hopefully going forward there's,you know,more,um,just capacity or understanding in that. Like we-we really do want people to get to the point where they can have a successful project and to do that as soon as possible so that we're not in this position of having-you know,you having this super complicated procedural thing to try and,you know,keep what's there on the building. I also will be, uh, supporting affirming the Historic Preservation Commission. But yeah, like my colleague said,not any ill will relating to that. Alter: So I'm also going to affirm the vote,um, the-mainly because this was an incredibly constrained and limited focus that was ours to have. I mean,you heard us talking to Eric and trying to say, okay, so is it this, is it this, and we had such a narrow kind of like working within what they had at the time. Did they act appropriately?And-and they did. Um, I also completely and wholeheartedly hope that,you know,you go and try to get a new COA and to echo Councilor Bergus that-that there's a real understanding the complexity of this. That there's a very,very concerted effort to communicate,um,you know,with-with the-the commission to provide them with this new information,um, as well as to make sure that whoever your contractor is,that,you know, everybody's on the same page and that all the steps are followed. Um, I'm sorry that this was such a pain. And on the flip side though, I see some amazing pictures of the inside of your building, as well as,um,hearing some really-reading some really wonderful things,uh, about you and,um, i- i- it is a bright spot given that we know in Iowa City,um, landlords do not always get shown with a bright light. So thank you for that,um, and I wish you the best. Salih: Yeah. I will be different. The- I think,you know,Historic Preservation is really complicated things, and I- I- I've been trying to study this and trying to figure out exactly about this. And for me, I think it's really difficult and also the rules is really confusing and difficult. I went through many things of them while I was looking at it, and I don't think a lot people would understand it. Uh, I really encourage the City to do more education about this to the people. Especially if we want to ask them to make their building historic or like to be preserved as a historic building. And I think also the people who wish, like, agree to preserve their building as a historic,the City should really try to work with them hard to make sure this is not a burden on them while they preserving and trying to take care of the outside and everything to make sure that they have support from the City. Even though like my vote is not- like voting no for this is not going to change the decision,but for the record I'd love to vote no for this because I believe that uh,they should have- like had more time to sit down and figure out things. I believe this bibe could be turning to, like,many- like design or anything that will work for this rather than like going through all this. And I believe the Historic Preservation, like,went to the conclusion fast. They should have taken their time,meet with them, figure out another solution.Now we want to return it to them so we can figure out. Because I think most of the people here believe,yeah,we want to affirm their decision. But at the same time yeah, go over there and do this. But for me, I'm going to vote no. That's it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 34 Teague: All right. Roll call, please. (Roll Call) Motion passes six to one. Could I get a motion to accept correspondence. Dunn: So moved. Moe: Second. Teague: Moved by Dunn. Seconded by Moe all in favor say aye. (Voice Vote)Any opposed? Motion passes 7-1. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 35 ILb Greater Iowa City Inc.Lease—Resolution authorizing the City Manager to sign Lease Amendment 92 to a Lease Agreement with Greater Iowa City,Inc.,to renew their lease for the Merge space within the Iowa City Public Library, extending the lease for four years. Teague: All right. We're going to move on to Item Number l Lb, Greater Iowa City, Inc. Lease. This is a resolution authorizing the City Manager to sign Lease Amendment#2 to a Lease Agreement with Greater Iowa City, Inc., to renew their lease for the Merge space within the Iowa City Public Library, extending the lease for four years. I'm going to open the public hearing and look like Rachel is coming up. Welcome. 1. Public Hearing Kilburg Varley: Hi, everyone. Uh,Rachel Kilberg Varley,Economic Development Coordinator. So at tonight's work session,you had a chance to hear from the Greater Iowa Iowa City Inc Leadership Team,um, about all the great work they're doing. And as they went through their slides,you saw a lot of those photos. A lot of it's happening in this Merge space. So,um,this is a City-owned space, and we've leased to Greater Iowa City, Inc, formerly the Iowa City Area Development Group, or ICAD,um, since 2015. The current lease,uh, ends in February, or is up for renewal at the end of February here. So,uh,we currently lease the space to the organization at a reduced rate,um, and we view that rent subsidy as,kind of, an in-kind contribution to our overall support for the organization and the services they provide. Um,kind of some background merge was initially came to be as a partnership largely between ICAD and the University of Iowa as a place to mentor entrepreneurs and provide resources and training opportunities to them. Today, as you all know, and as Nancy's team shared earlier, it's really grown into a big,uh, collaboration hub for a lot of local economic development stakeholders,business owners,up and coming entrepreneurs, all kinds of people. So,um, it's- it's a space where,uh,you know, people comend- and we view it as an important asset to our local economic development ecosystem. So we would recommend continuing,uh,to support the organization-the organization through this way,um, and approving,uh,the lease renewal,which would be another four-year term. Salih: And can I know how much is leasing it for them? Kilburg Varley: So it's $2,000 a month. Salih: And,uh,they use it to-they leasing the space to us or they give it to them for free? I don't know that. Like the-because there is space inside. Kilburg Varley: Like the co-working space? Salih: Yes. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 36 Kilburg Varley: So Nancy, if I'm getting something wrong, let me know. But,uh,they- it's paid to access the co-working space. They occasionally have,uh,you know, open coworking hours, as they mentioned earlier tonight. So a certain Friday of the month, and then it depends on types of events and programming that they hold there. Salih: What about the business space?Like if somebody have a business. Bird: I will share that a sublet some offices. So we have offices that are in there primarily,um, targeted at emerging businesses. So it's a discount for them to get them started, so they incubate there so th-that funding comes in. And then also we have bench space for entrepreneurs,bench space for remote workers,um, and the conference rooms. People do pay in. It's just at a lower level. So there is a revenue cycle there that helps support the entire thing, and it really,uh, extends for support for the entire city. Salih: And do you have a- do you have a lease limit like you can be there only for one year or two years? Bird: We do not have a lease limit,which maybe we should,um,but what we do is try to be as flexible as possible for new companies. We probably should have some stronger standards with what kind of entity they are. But we try to keep it flexible because everyone's situation is a little bit different and we want to be supportive to get them going. Salih: Sure. Teague: Will-will you state your name and position for the record. Bird: Yes.Nancy Bird, President of Greater IC. And I also want to add,we do-we appreciate the-the lease rate that we have,but we also pay-pay property taxes,which is significantly more than the lease. Salih: And- and you-you give them, like, some kind of support while they are renting there? Bird: Yes. So they incubate there and then we have resources and we build community in that space, so they're getting to know people, especially if they're new and,you know,we help hold all the business support classes, 1 Million Cups, all those things are happening. So they are getting exposed to a lot of resources they never would if they were to lease somewhere else or find cheap- a cheap space somewhere on the edge of town. Salih: Good. Thank you. Bird: Thank you. Any other questions? Teague: Great. Any other- anything else from you,Rachel? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 37 Kilburg Varley: (Can't hear) questions. Teague: All right. Thank you. Anyone from the public like to address this topic? If you're online, please raise your hand and I do see a telephone number that is on there. So I believe it's star 9 is how you can,um,begin to speak if you're wanting to do to comment on this item. See no one in person or online. I'm going to close the public hearing. Can I get a motion to approve,please? 2. Consider a Resolution Salih: Move. Alter: Was that you. Salih: I did. Teague: All right. Moved by Salih. Alter: Second Alter. Teague: All right. End Council discussion. Salih: I just believe,yeah,this is- this is really great, like to open opportunity for the people who want to test this business. If it's like working,uh, I always like this idea of like an area for the people to test their businesses to see if it's working then I will go outside and rent, like, something bigger. But if it doesn't work, so that's it. I tried, it doesn't work. And so I- I think this is really good. And also I'm looking forward to find the same thing for enter-BIPOC community entrepreneurs who want to open also their businesses. Uh, for example,restaurant and something like that. If we can find an incubator like this. But they- even the idea that I have in my mind about this, it comes from the (can't hear), because I saw your ideas and it's really great. Just keep up the good work. Thank you. Teague: All right. Dunn: I'll say one thing. I'll say one thing. Teague: Oh, sure. Dunn: Uh, I think in- in my conversation with Geoff, I learned that the previous tenant was a- was a pizza place. Um, and I- I- I, yeah, so that's why I- I do believe that this is a- a better use of our space for our community. So I would also just echo what was previously said, happy to have you there. Hope to have you there for a long time. Alter: You could bring back the gelato though. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 38 Teague: Yes. And I- and I will add that the Merge space does have,um, individuals from the BIPOC community there. And so it is- I love that it's downtown as well. All right. Salih: Yeah. 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 February 20,2024 Page 39 II.c Sale of 3351 Wintergreen Dr.—Resolution authorizing conveyance of a single-family home locted at 3351 Wintergreen St. Teague: Item number l Le, Sale of 3351 Wintergreen Drive -Resolution authorizing conveyance of a single-family home located at 3351 Wintergreen Drive. I'm going to open the public hearing and welcome Tracy. 1.Public Hearing Hightshoe: Hi, I'm Tracy Hightshoe,with Neighborhood Development Services. Last year we initiated two proceedings for condemnation. One on a home on Governor,the other house,this one, 3351 Wintergreen. The house on Governor has been acquired. We have sold it. Those renovations are in place,the nuisances are abated.Now,we get to,um, 3351 Wintergreen. So we purchased the house at 188,000 through condemnation. This house was a little bit different. It didn't have that string of nuisance violations that you typically see on a condemnation. The owner had passed away. The heirs were not interested in opening an estate. They also were not interested in conveying the house to one of them or selling it to a third party. It was also part of a program back in 1998 that the Housing Fellowship had for Affordable Home Ownership where they did land lease. The Housing Fellowship owned the land, and then the homeowner just bought the house to decrease the price of home ownership. So due to the unique ownership structure and the condition of the home,um,we went in and we condemned it. Um,we did have an inspector go out. The house was infested with,um,had an infestation of mice. Uh,there was some hoarding so we exterminated. We paid for,uh,to haul the debris out, cost us about 32,000. Um, so at this point we-we listed the home with a realtor. It has been,uh, sanitized, debris out, exterminated,um, and we are now selling it to a buyer who will renovate the property and,uh, either sell it or live there themselves. So we have expenses of about 227,000. We will probably recover about 195,000 of those expenses. Um,within 60 days,the buyer has to apply for a building permit and within 18 months of closing,the improvements must be completed. So this will just be the conveyance to the buyer. And then I'm available for questions. Alter: So did the City end up also purchasing the land? I mean, is it now altogether? Hightshoe: Yes. So we made three checks, one to the mortgage, one to the Housing Fellowship, and then one to the heirs. Alter: Okay. Thank you. Teague: All right. Thank you. Anyone from the public like to address this topic? If you're online, please raise your virtual hand or press "Star 9" for the telephone caller. Any person please come forward. Seeing no one online or present in Council chambers, I'm going to close the public hearing. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 40 2. Consider a Resolution Teague: Could I get a motion to approve,please? Moe: So moved. Salih: Second. Teague: Moved by Moe, second by Salih. And Council discussion. Moe: Seems like the right thing to do. Bergus: Yup. Alter: I thought it was a good resolution. 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 February 20,2024 Page 41 ILd Highway 6 East Water Main Replacement-Resolution approving the project manual and estimate of cost for the construction of the Highway 6 East Water Main Replacement Project,establishing amount of bid security to accompany each bid, directing City Clerk to post notice to bidders,and fixing time and place for receipt of bids. Teague: l Ld, Highway 6 East Water Main Replacement-Resolution approving the project manual, an estimate of cost for the construction of the Highway 6 East Water Main Replacement Project, establishing an amount of bid security to accompany each bid, directing City Clerk to post notice to bidders, and fixing time and place for receipt of bids. I'm going to open the public hearing, and welcome. 1.Public Hearing Van Dyke: Good evening, Council. I'm Marri Van Dyke, I'm with the Engineering Eivision. Uh, so this project involves replacing about 2,100 feet of 16 inch diameter water main. The location is along the north side of Highway 6,between Fairmeadows Boulevard and Industrial Park Road, and so that's shown in this dark blue line. Um,the existing water main was installed in 1964. Since the year 2000,there have been five water breaks. Four of those happened in 2018 and 2019. Um, and since it's such a large diameter main,when there is a water main break,uh, it causes significant loss in a pressure to the system and it's also very disruptive to the services for the industries in the area. So construction would be largely in the-kind of the ditch alongside of the highway, so they'll be minimal impacts to traffic. Uh, the two locations where we will have impacts to traffic are on each end of the project. So the contractor will work from east to west. So fust will be Industrial Park Road. Uh, Industrial Park Road is a dead end street, so when they cut across with the water main they're going to phase the work so that they're maintaining two lanes of traffic at all times so that we can keep access to those businesses. Uh, on the west end,when they cut across Fairmadows Boulevard,we're going to completely close Fairmeadows at the intersection with Highway 6 so that they can do it all in one shot. And while that closure is in place,we'll have the detour route posted. It's shown here in orange, and so that will use Highway 6, South First Avenue, and Lower Muscatine Road. And that closure should only last a few weeks. Our fust schedule,the bid opening is March 12. We-we would award the contract March 19, and then we'd construct the project between April and September this year. Estimated construction cost is $880,000. And that's the summary,but I'm happy to answer any questions. Moe: So in some parts of town, I know that we do bike ways on top of public easements for sewers and water mains,but this one it seems to be reversed like water is in the north of Highway 6,but the bike is in the south. Is- is there a- a reason for that? Is that a different- Van Dyke: You mean if the water main and the trail were on opposite sides of one another? Moe: On top of one another. Well, aren't they- I always thought they sometimes were on top of each other. Is that not best practice anymore? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 42 Van Dyke: Um, I guess I'm not sure if there's a reason for that. Fruin: Yeah. Highway 1 and 6 were,you know,we're not constructed with any pedestrian facilities. We spent quite a bit of money and effort, and we are still spending quite a bit of money in effort putting in those pedestrian facilities. So the water infrastructure, all the utilities certainly predate any of the significant pedestrian,um,pedestrian ways. Um, we're focused right now on the south side of Highway 6 trying to build out that-that pedestrian,um,network. Um,but,uh,yeah, I think it's just historically that that was not prioritized when Highway 1 and 6 we were constructed. Moe: And there's no part of this project that would add any pedestrian. Okay. Bergus: Just a question relating to the detour. Uh,there's a bus and a bus stop on that detour route and then typically they crossover there. Do we know what that detour might look like? Van Dyke: I think they would likely close that specific bus stop and direct passengers to, I think there's one farther up,more close to First Avenue. Um,but I could discuss that with transit to be more specific. Bergus: That'd be great because that's the Eastdale stop, I think. So it'd be good to make sure people have a place to go. Van Dyke: Yes. Bergus: Thank you. Teague: And making sure that there's signage. Van Dyke: Yeah. Teague: All right.No other questions. Thank you. Anyone from the public like to address this topic? If you're an online caller,you would have to Star 9 to be heard. Seeing no one in person or online, I'm going to close the public hearing. 2. Consider a Resolution: Teague: Could I get a motion to approve,please? Bergus: So moved,Bergus. Salih: Second, Salih. Teague: All right. Council discussion. Roll call please. (Roll Call) Motions passes 7-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 43 ILe Amendment No. 1 to Highway Commercial Urban Revitalization Plan— Resolution approving Amendment No. 1 to the Highway Commercial Urban Revitalization Plan. Teague: Item l Le,Amendment Number 1 to Highway Commercial Urban Revitalization Plan - Resolution approving Amendment Number 1 to the Highway Commercial Urban Revitalization Plan. Can I get a motion to approve,please? Salih: Moved. Alter: Second,Alter. Teague: Moved by Salih. Second by Alter, and I'm going to welcome our City Attorney. Goers: Thank you,Mayor. So briefly on this one, Iowa Code allows businesses to seek prior approval from Council,uh,before their projects are constructed,uh, as part of this program, so as to ensure that,you know,that they don't have the chance of being rejected after the fact, after money has been spent and the improvements have been built. Um, but it does not require that. Um, our current,uh,urban revitalization plan does require that, and we think that,that should change,that we should match the state,uh, language of- of May. Uh, and so that's what this amendment achieves. It retains Councils-the requirement for Council to approve the work after the improvements have been built,uh, for them to get the partial tax exemption. So,uh,nothing about this changes,uh,when it comes to Council,um,by necessity and or whether you,uh, or whether you approve of the work that's been done. Moe: So do then pre approvals need to have conditions attached to them so that the applicant understands what they'll be judged against later? Goers: Well, it's- whether it's- it's not,um, it's -it's not like the kind of discussion we just had with HPC or something, or even,um, something about Building Code or something. Of course,they need to comply with all those standards and so forth. It's just whether it fits in the,uh,the plan,whether it is in fact the commercial-highway commercial kind of property. Um, and so there's not a whole lot to it, frankly. Teague: Any other questions for Eric? Thank you. Anyone from the public like to address this topic? If you're on line,press "Star 9"to be heard. Saying,no one in person or online,uh, Council discussion. Roll call,please. (Roll Call) Passes 7-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 44 II.f Tax Abatement Application—Highway 6 - Resolution approving eligibility for a tax exemption on an improvement project on commercial property located at 947 Highway 6 E,Iowa City,Iowa,pursuant to the Highway Commercial Urban Revitalization Plan. Teague: l Lf, Tax Abatement Application Highway 6 -Resolution approving eligibility for a tax exemption on an improvement project on commercial property located at 947 Highway 6 East, Iowa City, Iowa,pursuant to the Highway Commercial Urban Revitalization Plan. Could I get a motion to approve,please? Moe: Moved,Moe. Salih: Second, Salih. Teague: All right. And welcome back,Rachel. Kilburg Varley: Hi, everyone. Rachel Kilburg Varley,Economic Development Coordinator. So for some of you, ah,this-you have a project within this program hasn't come before you. So I'll give a little bit of background. But as Eric mentioned,the Highway Commercial Urban Revitalization area allows for tax abatement on the improvement value of commercial property if that improvement adds at least 15% in new taxable value on the building property. So either a new building,where there was not one before or a new value on top of an existing building,but not the land, or equipment, or other forms of property. So this area was originally established, ah, I believe, in 2019,to help in incentivi- incentivize improvements on a lot of the older commercial properties that are in this corridor. Um, they're not projects which would necessarily be TIFF eligible, and there haven't been incentives to spur this kind of revitalization in the past. So the application before you this evening is for 947 Highway 6 East,which is the new self storage facility and South District Market located in the Pepperwood Plaza. So the project renovated a former Slumberland. It was about forth-40,000 square foot total that was renovated between the two new uses, and the property owner invested about$3 million in the project. So with your approval,the property will receive, ah, 100%tax abatement, again, only on that new value added,um, and all subject to the City Assessor confirming that,yes, 15%value increase has occurred and it is an eligible property. So they'll still pay property taxes on the land during those three years,but then after the three years with the tax exemption,they'll pay the-their full property tax bill. Salih: You're saying like three years of tax exemption, and- and can you explain again why? Kilburg Varley: Why they'll be receiving the tax exemption? So it's a- It's within- it's a program that was established within the State Code and which we've adopted here locally. And again, it's to incentivize investment in commer- older commercial buildings in the Highway 1 and 6 corridor,which maybe need that incentive to help spur some This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 45 revitalization. So by encouraging property owners to invest in their property and make improvements that will add value,um,then we'll offer that three year tax exemption on the new value they've added. Moe: Is it- so this is a completed project. Is it typical for this application to come after the project is complete? Or I feel like frequently we're presented these opportunities in the development phase,not after the fact. What's unique about this one? Alter: It's- even though- sorry. I'm like- Kilburg Varley:No, go ahead. Alter: I'm just gonna talk. But no, I mean, if it's on Highway 1 and Highway 6,then these are- it's- it's for urban revitalization,right?And so these are buildings that already exist. Moe: Sure. I guess what I'm saying is I would have expected to see this come to us before the developer made the investments in the building,but I also- I'm just- Bergus: If we hadn't just amended the plan to not require pre-approval,would this be in front of us? Goers: This would be a problem if we hadn't just made that amendment, in the chronology of these two items was delivered. Okay. Dunn: How much taxable value are we talking about?Because it's not mentioned in any of the documents how much they actually included, it just mentions that they spent $3 million on the project. Kilburg Varley: Yeah, I don't have an estimate on what that would be. So the City Assessor will conduct their assessments and- and apply the exemption. Moe: Maybe we should have asked Brad when he was here a few hours ago. Dunn: That kind of bothers me, like that we're- Teague: We'll be able to deliberate,we can continue to ask more questions. Dunn: Apologies. Frain: Maybe I can provide some historical context before Rachel was in her current position. So just an understanding of why this tax abatement area was created. In- in the-the years leading up to 2019,there was a lot of conversation on Council about wanting to support businesses,um, outside of the-the traditional big TIFFS that got all the attention,right? We had just gone through a series of tax increment financing projects downtown with the Chauncey,with the Hilton Garden Inn,with the Edge. And there was conversation in the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 46 community,what are we doing for some of the smaller businesses and some of the older areas?And we prioritized the Highway 1/I ighway 6 area as an area that could use some incentive. But unlike a TIFF deal,which would take years to negotiate on an individual basis,we wanted a solution that provided,um, clear- clear guidelines that someone could navigate from- from start to finish uh, fairly easily. It wasn't a situation in which we wanted to evaluate the merits of every project,we were simply looking at economic development incentives along this corridor. So we used this tool which the state allows, an abatement program,which we historically have not used much in Iowa City. Other cities throughout Iowa use this very,very much. We were-we are definitely on the low end of kind of utiliza-utilization when it comes to tax abatement,um, in Iowa. Um, so we created this program,um, at that time, ah, again to spur this-to redevelopment and help businesses of kind of all sizes along the corridor. It's a short tax abatement window, it's only that three year period. Um, and it is, as Rachel mentioned, only on the new value. So we're not abating previous taxes that were historically,uh,historically paid. In the situation that's before you tonight,uh,with this project that's already completed, it is a little bit different that this is, um, coming to you. Um, frankly,we gave the applicant some bad information back in- in 2019 as we were creating this program. Um,we relied on the State Code and said,you can,uh, submit this. You need to to-you need to apply. We actually advised you need to apply after you're done. And- and we were really looking at when that application has to go to the City Assessor. That was bad information according to our plan. They should have presented that at the time. And that's what the previous Councils have seen, is that,uh, typically,these applications will come to you prior to-prior to the-the construction taking place. Again,you're not really reviewing the indivi- individual merits of each project,uh,you're simply looking for whether it complies with the plan that has been created,which-which is pretty,uh,pretty broad. So we are in a situation in which we gave the applicant poor advice. The applicant was,uh, had communicated with staff prior to construction,um,but due to bad information we provided,we told them to hold off on the application until they're done. Again,relying on some of the state language as opposed to our local language. Salih: I just want to ask you,you're saying like for the new value that added,which one? I feel like they change everything. Like on- on the building,they make like- Fruin: Yeah, so I'll just use-these are-these are fictitious numbers. But if- if the value of that building, including the South District Market and the-the- Salih: The storage. Fruin: - the store local,the storage, if that was a million dollar property after,you know, in its vacant status when Slumberland left, and now it's worth 2 million,the tax abatement is only on the $1 million growth for that three-year period. They're going to continue to pay all the taxes on the million, and then for three years,they'll get the abatement on the new growth. And then after three years,the entire value hits the tax rules. Those again are fictitious numbers,but just just to illustrate how the program works. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 47 Salih: And you don't know how-what's the value now? Fruin:No, I think they'll apply to the assessor,um,this year and that tax abatement will be for valuation that's determined probably this year. I think it's this year's valuations. So the assessors probably still making those valuation determinations at this time. Salih: And since we are like about maybe to approve this after the fact that they already built, if another person come with the same situation, are we going to do the same thing?Like for example, somebody forget to apply,he doesn't know about this- like maybe doesn't know about this programs or anything,they did-they built something, can't they? Is this going to be a regular thing we can do like for everyone else? Fruin: It would depend if the improvement was,uh, after the plan was created, after the- after the program was created. Salih: Yes. That's what I mean. Moe: And does it have to be geographically located on that highway? Salih: On the Highway 6,yeah. Moe: I guess, do we-you know,with the TIFF project, which you described as more complicated,there would be like an if but for analysis because they need the TIFF to make the project happen. Is there any kind of basis for decision making for these projects, or is it just anybody who wants one, gets one, or I mean, I really- Fruin: It is really a very rudimentary economic development tool. We are trying to create value- long term value growth and incentivize that redevelopment. So,um,no, there's not-there is really not case-by-case evaluation short of they have to meet that 15% standard. Moe: I clearly want development in that part of town. Like it's not like that's not the question,the question is do we have any rules around this or are we just,how are we going to say no to somebody that we really don't think is? Bergus: Well,yeah, I think the premise of it is that but for this incentive,maybe that-that added value wouldn't have happened, and we're good with that or we're not. But we just- So Geoff I want to just ask about this bad information that we may have given to the owner there. I don't know if you know this,but if you know,would they have then-was it your understanding that they believed that they would be getting this tax abatement over a three year period? Fruin: Yes. They had clearly established conversation with us. Um,this property also required a rezoning. And so- Bergus: I remember that. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 48 Fruin: -as we were contemplating this project,the tax abatement was a factor in their decision. I couldn't tell you if it was the deciding factor- Bergus: Sure. Fruin: - on whether to move forward or not. But this isn't something that they reached out to us about midway through construction. They had-they had done their work and asked the City for guidance prior to starting construction. And we just provided bad information at the time. Bergus: So we kind of have- I'm sorry. Teague: I just wanted to know because they- did they understand that this could still come to Council for a yes or no vote? Fruin: Well, I mean, either way,the-whether it was pre approval or post approval, approval was going to be required either way. Teague: I mean,were they aware that it was at the discretion of Council? Frain: Yes. They were aware that an application to Council was required. Teague: And that Council could say yes or no. Fruin: Based on the plan criteria,yes. Teague: Okay. Salih: Because it's- I- I feel like I'm- I'm was- I have the same question because I feel like when you said they have the assumption that this will be like I think it's guaranteed like kind of the-the way that you did it. Frain: The way the program is set up is- is pretty close to a guarantee,right? If you meet this, these very basic criteria,which largely is the property valuation growth,then you will receive the three year abatement. It doesn't get into what type of use are you providing. Does that use align with the City's Strategic Plan?Again, it is a- it is a blunt tool to-to help incentivize new development,um, in the- in the Highway 1/I ighway 6 area. So, we've had a variety of businesses,um, I believe the car wash in the Pepperwood Plaza qualified for this. We've had some out in the- on the Highway 1 side around the Menards area,um, qualify for this as well. It doesn't- it doesn't really get into project by project evaluation. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 49 Bergus: A question for Eric. Is it appropriate for us to consider the- like if we-this project we know more about because of the rezoning and that kind of thing, is it appropriate for us to consider that? Goers: I'm sorry, is it appropriate for you to consider that you know more about the project? Fruin: Well, so Geoff was just saying we don't really do it on a case by case basis. But if we happen to know, can we consider the merits or are we not supposed to? Goers: You're not supposed to,no. I mean,this is kind of laid out by statute. It's- it's largely black and white yes or no,binary. Yeah. Bergus: Thank you. Goers: I mean,unlike tiff where,you know,there's all kinds of things you folks can negotiate or planning and zoning, sometimes if it's affected by,you know,the increase in zoning,then we can work through those,uh,kind of changes or requirements that are made as a result of the planned development and so forth. But here,no, either you qualify or you don't. That's it. Bergus: Okay. Thank you. Salih: This means like this is a- I understand what you're saying. If it is TIFF,yeah,we can say wherever we want because we're giving out money for that or a break for that. But is this like something can we say, oh for somebody to apply for it before they-they built the building, can we also say, oh, can we have this happening there or- Goers:No,that would be- if you're talking about, could you add conditions?No. Salih: Okay. Fruin: Yeah. If you really wanted to get into that. I mean,we would- it would be just a complete shift in economic development tools that we would use. We would probably terminate the,uh,tax abatement district and- and put in an urban renewal district,which would allow for,uh,the use of tax increment financing. Uh,unfortunately,tax increment financing is going to-to be a tool of limited benefit to your very small businesses,right? It's going- it's not going to probably,uh, address most of the needs up and down this corridor. Salih: Okay. Teague: All right. Thank you. If anyone from the public would like to address this topic, if you're online,please press star nine and start speaking. If you are present,please come forth. I see no one online or in person, Council discussion. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 50 Dunn: So I- I plan on supporting this for a variety of reasons. I think,um,the misunderstanding at fust, uh, is kind of a pretty big deal. If we were to, ah, say no, it's kind of like a bait and switch and I think that that would just be horrifyingly damaging for,uh,our relationship with-with developers and and you know,the broader business community. Um,but there is something that kind of bothers me and- and it's I would like to hear an answer on this if I can. Can you help me feel more comfortable with this,um,without knowing what the new assessed value is on this?Like how do we, if you-you know what I mean? Goers: Well, what I was gonna say is that th-the property owner, should Council approve,will still need to turn in their application-actually, I think they already have-to the City Assessor and the fust thing that he will look at is the present value to make sure that it has increased at least 15%. I don't know if that's addressing the concern that you. Dunn: Yeah. Goers: Yeah, I mean, if- if they don't qualify,they haven't added 15% of value,then they don't get it that's it. Dunn: So I guess the thing that kind of bothers me is that we're saying that they qualify with this, and so that's where like the kind of disconnect is. Fruin: Yeah,we-we-we know through conversation with the assessor's office that the improvements made are-they feel pretty confident that they're going to trigger the 15%. Dunn: Okay. Fruin: But as- as Eric mentioned, if we do get applications say in- in a pre construction state, let's say there's an existing building,they're going to do a small addition to it. You can still- they could still apply,you could still approve it and then that final check is the Iowa City assessor's office,where they're going to say, okay,we,th-the City Council has approved this. Unfortunately,your value only increased 10%. I'm sorry,you don't-you don't meet the standards and you're not going to get the benefits. Dunn: Thank you. Moe: So I- I agree,this feels like a bait and switch just change now if they believe they're gonna get it and I will be supporting this. But I am still concerned about the idea that we don't have rules in place. Like let's say somebody wants to make a vape superstore down there, are we going to give an abatement for that?Like shouldn't we have, I mean, sorry to, do- are we just gonna make decisions as they come? Fruin: Again, I think you're just gonna have to think about if that, if that risk is- is so concerning, then we probably just need to reevaluate the entire program and- and unfortunately,this is just one of those tools that is- is,um- is very general in nature,right?And you're This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 51 gonna,you know, a lot of you may not have said, oh boy, let's go incentivize a car wash. But this again is value creation and I think the bigger picture thinking on this is that as that value creates,you have then more discretionary resources to fund your core services, to fund all the things that you want to as a City,um, and it's not really looking at the-the merits of the entity creating the value so as a vape superstore should-could qualify. Um, I hope we don't go down that path, like you do,but maybe we already have,uh,uh, a number of vape shops,but,um,yeah. It's just- it's an imperfect tool, it's a very very broad tool. Alter: And yet, like you said, it hasn't been used all that much, correct?Just ballpark. Fruin: Correct. We used to have one, I think even before my time,there was an abatement district in the downtown, I believe. I don't know if you recall that. I think there was a limited time period where we-we did this in the downtown, and then for 10 plus years, it wasn't used at all,really by the City,uh to anything that I can recall, and setting up the- the Highway 1/I ighway 6 was a huge lift for the economic development here in Iowa City. It required a significant amount of work and probably a couple years worth of effort to-to get that area established. Bergus: Thank you. Teague: All right. Any other comments by Council? Salih: I guess I remember when we were talking- I was on the Council when we were talking about the Slumberland space and everything and that's gonna provide really like a space for the community to do their business. Even I was very disappointed by the small space that they create,but I still gonna vote for this. Teague: All right. Roll call, please. Motion passes 7-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 52 12. Council Appointments 12.a Charter Review Commmission—Nine vacancies to fill a one-year terrm from April 1, 2024 to no later than April 1,2025. Teague: Item Number 12 is Council appointments. So, Councilors,we have three different- four commissions that we're gonna be appointing for. I wanted-we're gonna start with the Charter Review Commission and I'll just- I think we all know how I'm going to do that process. I'm gonna ask our City Attorney just to, ah, give us some information on some conflict issues. Goers: Thank you,Mayor. So wanting to discuss, ah, conflict issues on this one are a little trickier than they would otherwise be.Normally, Council finds itself filling one position, and if a Councilor has a conflict,that, er, Council member recuses themselves from that discussion. Here we have at least nine ah,positions. And of course, it would be inappropriate for a Council member who has a conflict with one person to be, ah, excluded from the conversation for all nine positions. So we've worked through that and this is what, er,we came up with to resolve the conflict issues that were raised. One of the applicants is Matt Hayek. Ah,he is a law partner for Councilor Burks. She raised, ah, that issue and has agreed that she has a legal conflict. As a result, ah, what she'll do is she will remain present for the discussion for the other eight if you will, ah,positions,but will not take part in any discussions regarding, ah Mr. Hayek, ah,nor take part in any votes regarding him, if any shall come. Um,the other potential conflict was raised and resolved regarding one of the other applicants,Riley Inan Lynch, ah, due to his provision of free office space to the non-profit as I understand it,to the nonprofit over which Mayor Pro Tem, ah, Salis serves as volunteer interim director. But because there is no financial benefit, either direct or indirect, ah, to the Mayor Pro Tem, and because she has assured me that she can remain far- fair and impartial with respect to his application, we've agreed there is no legal conflict, and so she will be present as a full participant. Ah,there were some other questions that were raised about some of the applicants, less individually based but more about groups in which they are, ah,part. One, ah, is elected officials. Um, the qualifications for board and commission, ah, assignments are contained in the Council's rules-Rule 36 to be specific. And there are a number of things that,um,prevent a person,um, from being appointed. Most notably, a family member, ah, of a Council member can't serve. There are some others as well,um,but of those that apply here, there's nothing that would, ah,prevent an elected official, and I mean an elected official, other than you're elected for some other governmental body to serve. Dunn: I like how you looked at me,Eric. Goers: Ah, I looked at you. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. Um, another question was raised about employees and here, I mean, employees of the City. This is a little trickier. Ah, it has been our longstanding advice from the City Attorney's Office that, ah, certainly no employee should be appointed to a, ah,board or commission that would have any influence over their work. Well,here it's the Charter Review Commission, which,you This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 53 know, is the broad,kind of overhanging everything we do,but it's a little diffuse because it's kind of the Constitution if you will-the City. So ultimately we came down that it's probably okay. Frankly,you know,we never recommend an employee, ah,be appointed for the reasons that I mentioned, and because they often end up having to recuse themselves, ah, if anything ever does stray into their area of work. And again,here,you know,because it's a charter commission, it could essentially apply to everything, depending on what kind of issues are raised. So I think they are technically allowed,but would probably-probably have to recuse themselves now and then. And for that reason, we, ah,recommend that you not appoint, ah, a City employee. There's another question about other commissioners. Um,your rules normally say that you cannot serve on more than one Board or Commission. But the rule says unless it's specifically allowed under that Board or Commission and the resolution that you folks passed, ah,to form the Charter Review Commission did specifically allow for dual board or commission service. So you may consider, ah, applicants who are already serving on a City board or commission. Gender balance -again, like we often say,this is a board,the Charter Review Commission is a board that's not required by state government, and as a result,the gender balance law technically does not apply,but it has been the longstanding custom of the City Council to apply that gender balance standard to all boards and commissions, even if they are not required to do so by state law. Um, finally,there was a question about whether Council,um, selects the chair of the commission. As, ah,the Council is probably aware,most boards and commissions select their own. Um,here again,the resolution spoke to this issue, and it said this: Council may select the chair. Obviously, that's different than shall,but if Council wishes to select the chair,you may. If you don't,that's fine as well, they'll select their own chair. Those are the issues that had been identified to me in advance,but I'm happy to answer any other kind of procedural questions if you have any. Harmsen: Just kind of one and this is just a detail, and many times in the past,we have voted on a Commission, sort of in the whole slate. Um, and if as we get to that point and hypothetically, ah,Mr. Hayek is on that slate, do we need to pull him out separately? Goers: You're exactly right. What would happen if you come to a consensus that, ah, on a slate of nine candidates, if you ultimately choose nine, and he is one of them,you would vote on eight, and Councilor Bergus would be part of that vote, and obviously excluding him, and then she would refuse for the last vote and then Council would vote on his candidacy. Harmsen: Thank you,just curious. Goers: Yeah. Alter: Um, I apologize for doing this now, it had just occurred to me as you were running through these. Um,what if there's a potential conflict among applicants? Goers: Um, I'm not sure I follow. I'm sorry. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 54 Alter: Um, like a landlord and lessee. Goers: Um, I'm not sure that would constitute unless I'm missing something of the facts, I'm not sure that would constitute any kind of legal conflict unless you mean that they just don't get along or something like that. But unless your feeling is that the tenant in this hypothetical situation would feel,um,that, er, I don't know,that they had to follow what their landlord says, otherwise the landlord would retaliate against them or something. Is that in what you're envisioning? Alter: I guess I just-that or more broadly, in terms of, you know,when we have to go through compliance,the optics of,you know, does the seem to, does there appear to be a disproportionality of power imbalance or something like that? Goers: Yeah,Well, you are asking. Alter: I'm sure it has to do much more with just the individual relationship and I don't think that there's an issue,but. Goers: Well, you're asking the right questions about power imbalance and so forth. Although, er, since these folks would be equals around the board. Alter: It's one vote. Goers: In commission,they all have one vote. But I mean-but I hear you, if one had power or, you know, one, let's say,um,the supervisor of the other in a workplace,that would maybe be an easier case where maybe it really would be a conflict,you know, let's say the supervisor in that case wants to do A and now the,you know, employee feels like I didn't really like A,but I got to do A because my boss says A,then-yeah,that would be a problem. Alter: Okay. Thanks. Teague: Any other questions for Eric before we continue?All right. So I'm going to just open up the floor and ask for people to,um, submit names of those that they want to kind of elevate forward. And if you hear a name of someone that has been mentioned,just kind of,um,make a mark somewhere so that you,um, can come back around when I ask for- of the names that has been submitted, is there someone else that want to offer further support? So at this time I will take names. Dunn: Jennifer Patel. Salih: Just like anyone can jump in or? Teague: Yes. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 55 Salih: Okay. Riley Lynch. Moe: John Balmer. Salih: John Deeth. Alter: Hang on. Teague:No -no. Alter: Okay. Balmer, Deeth. Bijou Maliabo. Moe: I'm sorry. Can you repeat? Alter: Bijou Maliabo. Dunn: Rod Sullivan. Moe: Andre Wright. Bergus: Mackenzie Drew. Dunn: Polly Horton. Salih:David Sterling. Moe: Matt Hayek. Harmsen: Could we slow down just one second so we can keep track here.Who was after Mackenzie? Dunn: Polly Horton. Harmsen: Polly. And who's -who said Polly? Dunn: Me. Harmsen: Thank you,Andrew. I'm just trying to keep track so I know who do -who's after Polly? Alter: Molly Kucera. I'm sorry. I'll hold off. Moe: I said Hayek and then Kucera. Yeah. Harmsen: You said Matt Hayek. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 56 Alter: And then I said Molly Kucera. Dunn: Jim Throgmorton. Bergus: Gerene Denning. Harmsen: Oh,yeah. I was gonna say that. Dunn: Brandon Pflanzer. Alter: I had Diane Duncan Goldsmith. Dunn: Kehry Lane Bergus: Rick Dobbins. Teague: He's got them all. Moe: I have 15 listed unless I missed some. Alter: I have 18. Salih: 18? Alter: I have 18. Moe: You have 18? Harmsen: I missed a couple too. Moe: Then I missed them. So I'm sorry. Bergus: Did we get Susan Craig? I said her early. Susan Craig. Teague: Yeah. That would be 19. And that's okay. Teague:No,that's okay. We'll-we'll go through and see where,um,there is support. And again, um,you know, even if we get to a point where there's,you know, like nine selected,we still have opportunity- Salih: To go up to 11. Teague: -to-to either revamp what's already been selected or go up to 11 so - or someone withdraw support because there's another candidate that they wanted to support. So, um, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 57 yeah. All right. Any other?All right. Of the individuals that have been named, is there someone that they,um,you know,want to support a- an additional,um, is there anyone. Alter: Someone more? Teague:No-no. Within this list, um, if there's a name that's been mentioned and you want to throw your support behind that individual,this is where we're going to go,kind of one by one,with anyone that wants to additionally support someone. Harmsen: So do you want to-want to run through the list of names then,Mr. Mayor or we- Teague:No. I just want people to mention who they want to support. So if you heard a name you - and wasn't the one, even if you were the one just mention. Actually, I would prefer if you wasn't the one that- Alter: I'm sorry, you're going to have to start over. Teague: All right- all right. Listen. Dunn: May I-may I say - so could we just go Councilor to Councilor and we just say the names that we support and then you tally? Teague: Do you all- do you all have - Salih: I can do that too. Moe: Could- could we do that? Moe: Yeah. I have a list. Harmsen: I think as a fust pass and then we'll kind of see where we shake out at that point, and then we can do another pass after that. Moe: Quantity of votes or just as many as you want?You said you're -we're just listing however many names? Bergus: What if we more than nine? Teague: I mean- I mean,that's totally -that's totally possible,right? Salih: Can we just say the name and - like one of those names that we just listed and we see if somebody support that name? Alter: Yeah. Lets do - let's do the one and - like the nod of approval like we do with all commissions. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 58 Salih: Yes. Alter: If we're inclined to support. Teague: Okay. So you'll want me to read the names? Dunn: Yes. Teague: All right. We're going to go with Jennifer Patel. I believe it was the fust name. Salih: I support that. Teague: Yeah. So I want to be sure that I at least get- Harmsen: A number? Teague: Yes, a number. Harmsen: So, should we just keep our hands up until you've counted. Teague: Yes. And I'll, I'll-yes, I see five. Salih: Okay. Teague: Um, and the next one is Riley. Salih: I support that. Teague: So, 2, 3. So I see three. John Balmer. I see three. John Deeth. Salih: I support that. Teague: I see seven. Bijou. I see seven. Rod Sullivan, I see one. Andre Wright, I see,uh, five. Mackenzie, I see four. David Sterling, I see two. Polly Horton, I see two. Molly Kucera, I see,um, 3,4, 5. Okay. Matt Hayek.I see two. Jim Throgmorton. I see one. Um, Gerene. Is that how we pronounce that? Harmsen: That is correct. Teague: Okay. I see four. Brandon, I see 1, 2. Diane, I see one. Bergus: Duncan Goldsmith? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 59 Teague: Oh, I'm sorry. Yep. Yeah. I think if you keep raising your left or your right hand kind of confuses me. Thank you. Bergus: I was- I wrote down last names and you're saying first name so I'm just having to double check. Teague: Yes. Yes. All right. Rick Dobyns, I see three. Susan Craig, I see three. All right. Goers: You've got Lane. Harmsen: I feel like we-we got everyone. Goers: You had Lane, I believe? Dunn: Who? Goers: Kehry Lane. Dunn: Kehry Lane,yeah. Teague: Okay. Sorry, I missed Kehry Lane. Salih: Yeah,you have Kehry Lane. Teague: So I must have-how many did Diane have? Dunn: Two. Alter: Two. Teague: Two. Okay. And that's where I went wrong. All right. Kehry Lane, three. Okay. And then Rick Dobyns, once again,three. Wait. Oh, so we have four. And then Susan Craig, three. Okay. All right. Yeah. So the first round are over four is going to be Jennifer. I'm going to do first names if that's okay for now. Jennifer. Harmsen: You mean four or above or over four? Salih: Over four. Teague: Four or above Salih: Yeah. Teague: John Deeth. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 60 Salih: John Deeth. Teague: Bijou. Salih: Bijou. Teague: Andre. Salih: Andre. Teague: Mackenzie. Salih: Mackenzie. Teague: Molly, and is it Gerene. Harmsen: Yes,that is correct. Okay. Teague: Yeah. And Rick. Harmsen: Rick had three I think. Teague: Rick had four. Alter: I- you going to hate me. Teague: Okay. Alter:No,because I didn't realize Rick and then Sus-that Susan was after. So I thought Rick was the last person. And then I was like,yeah, it's all right but I will prefer to take my vote away. I'm sorry,Rick. Teague: Yeah. So Rick is at three. And,um, so how many na- Salih: 1, 2, 3,4, 5, 6, 7. Bergus: Seven. Teague: So there are seven names that have been elevated? Alter: But I would like to put my name towards Susan. Teague: Okay. So I want to see how many people raise their hand for Susan Craig one more time? So, Susan has four now, so we're going to move Susan over. So now we have eight individuals. All right. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 61 Moe: I have nine listed. Harmsen: You've got four or more. I have- Moe: Yeah, I have nine listed that at four or more. Teague: You state you have nine individuals. Moe: Yeah, or my list is wrong. Teague: I'll go ahead and read again. Salih: Jennifer,John Deeth,Bijou,Andrew, Mackenzie,Molly, Gerene, Susan. Moe: I didn't keep up with that. I have them in alphabetic order. Sorry. Dunn: That's what I have as well. Harmsen: That's-that's my list. Alter: Yep. Alter: So we're short one. Dunn: For the minimum. Alter: For nine. Yes. Correct, sorry. Teague: If we were to go with nine,we're short one. Yep. So is there someone,um-maybe what I'll do is I'll read off the names that have three and then I'm going to read all the names and then people can determine what they want to do. Alter: And then you do it slowly. Teague: I am going to do it slowly. So Riley,John,Kehry, and Rick. Harmsen: Were you reading off the names to vote or just so we knew which the names were? Alter: So we knew what they were. Teague: Just so that people-yeah,just so that people knew where names were. I- I mean, I will say that,um,personally I didn't have like this final list, so I think I only raised my hand about four or five times.Not to say that I'm the one to,uh,make-make a difference,but This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 62 if anyone has anyone that they would want to support, certainly they can share it at this time,but I would throw my support behind Kehry Lane. Dunn: I would agree with that very strongly. Moe: That's the rank choice voter applicant. Dunn: It's a lot more than that. I mean, I've- I've spoken with Kehry about it at length. Kehry ultimately is just someone who wants to move the community forward and he's,uh, spent a lot of time working on rank choice stuff. Moe: Sure. Teague: And the other-because, again, I didn't,you know, share who I would have supported. I would've thrown my,uh, support behind John Balmer as well. Salih: You mean you was not supporting for the three or I don't know what you mean. Teague: I- I didn't raise my hand,um, as we were going through. Salih: Can you ask again to be able to raise your hand for the people? Teague: For the- for the two that I just mentioned?Um, so John. We want to see raise of hands. Moe: John Balmer. Teague: So that's four. And then for Kehry Lane,raise of hands. Bergus: I vote again, or was I missing something for what? Teague:No,we're just going through just to confirm how many votes were there, so Kehry Lane. Goers: I'm just looking,Mayor,to see how many of them are male and- identify as male and female. Teague: Yeah. Yeah. We'll have to contend with that in the second too. Harmsen: I- I count five, female. Goers: Right. I think I had five- Harmsen: Before this last. Goers: Right. I think we've got eight at the moment. I think I have five of them as identifying as women. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 63 Alter: I do too. Goers: Please correct me if- if anyone counts differently. Bergus: I think there are six. They're six. Goers: Six? Bergus: Yes. Yep. Craig,Denning,Deroo, Maliabo,Kucera,Patel. Dunn: Yeah. Teague: Okay- okay. Salih: Kehry. Harmsen: So we still haven't deciding between Balmer and Kehry. Teague: So it does look like,um,because people can change their votes as well. It looks like Kehry had three hands that were just raised. Dunn: Can we get,um,the vote counts for the people that had two? Dunn: Yeah, absolutely. Um, so before we move on,um, so John Balmer has four, so we'll just add him to the list. And again,we may,you know,have to come back and remove somebody from the list. All right. So the individuals that had two is,um, David Sterling, Polly, Matt Hayek,Brandon,Diane. Harmsen: Let me-just-just for the record, I did raise my hand for- for Rod and I don't think it- it got counted. I think I might have been slow on the draw. Teague: Okay. Yeah. So and Rod Sullivan. Salih: Yeah. Can we, oh. Teague: And- and just so that we kind of keep count of the male-female balance, if we can. Overlapping: Jennifer, one,two,that's right. Teague: So it looks like we have three males and then. Alter: Six. Salih: And 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 64 Teague: Six. And six females. Alter: Six females. Teague: Okay. Salih: Can we go through the people again,they have three and see if we have somebody can change their vote or add more. Dunn: So I think it might be valuable to just go through,maybe eliminate the ones-the people that only had ones if- if there's consensus for that and then just go through the names that are three and below again to see how that sorts out. Teague: Okay. Dunn: If that would be able,threes and belows. Yeah. Threes and rivos. Teague: Are we wanting to because we have. Salih: Six females. Dunn: We have six female. Do we just want to go through the male names at this point? Bergus: Yes. Dunn: Sure. Teague: Okay. All right. And you are suggesting that we go through the ones that have two and- Alter: Twos and threes. Dunn: Twos and threes. Teague: Okay. All right, so the ones that have twos and threes. Bergus: Are we just picking one right now,we're saying who our top person would be? Harmsen: I guess the question is, are we- are we increasing to I I or are we going to swap one of the- drop one of the females and- and add a male to make it double? Teague: I- I think if we can come up with our male individuals now and then after that we can take up that-. Harmsen: The second part of that question. Okay. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 65 Dunn: Yup. Alter: One thing at a time. Dunn: Sure- sure- sure. Alter: If that's okay. Salih: Okay. Teague: All right. Salih: Two and three. Teague: So two and three, so we have Riley,we have Rod Sullivan,we have David. Oh, sorry. I'll go again we have Riley. Dunn: Is that, I thought you're voting? Teague: Rod,David,Matt. Salih: Can you say what the number while you're saying that for obviously Rod? Teague: We-we'll probably go through and- Salih: Okay. Teague: -recount. Brandon and Rick. Dunn: I think a vote would be good just to see where people are at. Alter: Yeah, I think so too. Overlapping: So then yeah. She's the person. Oh,yes. Teague: Yeah, all right. So we'll go with Riley fust and I'll just look at hands. Salih: I really think- Teague: We have three. Salih: But can we talk,you know, about this. So maybe we can convince some people. I just feel like really,uh,Riley's really engaging the community. He-he really connecting with different kind of co- community,trying to bring people together. So constantly he have This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 66 conversation with the community through the program that he have, like bringing neighborhood together. A- and I think this way he will be engaging with like maybe kind of the whole city. And I- I believe he also bringing really strong skill and background and,uh, data analyst and everything. And I think he really would be great add to this commission and I hope one of you will support him. Teague: Great. We'll go to the next name,which is Rod. And any? So we have three for Rod. Yeah, and- okay. Alter: I guess it's- so here's- I mean, since Mayor Pro Tem started the thing and we're getting down to sort of brass tacks, I mean, I do believe that Rod Sullivan would be a- a tremendous asset on this. However, I am concerned about the fact that he is a current elected official and that he's running for election. Um,the-the reasons why he has not been selected, as he noted that he has not in the past, is because he has been an elected official for a very long time. So I feel like there's a perhaps an- a potential of opening up a door for precedent,um,that-he is tremendous,but is this a kind of precedent that we want to set? Granted other- other Councils may decide something totally different. But I guess I just wanted to put that out there,to say that while I think that he is- would be a tremendous asset for this,but for the fact that he is an elected official, so. Dunn: Well,just to- a friendly dialogue on that,we have already appointed county supervisors to Commissions for the City. And- and I understand that the situations are- are very different. And I- and I think it's important to understand as well that it is- it is different. This is about form of government and there are very few people,um, in this community, we're very fortunate to have people on this list who have as much experience working with form of government as Rod does. And so I- I totally understand and I- I appreciate, you know,what you have to say and the concern there, and- and quite frankly, I- I had that concern too at fust. But I don't really want to waste the opportunity,uh,just me personally. Like I- I think there's a great opportunity for results for our community with his candidacy,um, and that's why I- I support him. Um,you know, I totally understand where you're at, coming from. Alter: I just remember how,well, um, I'm like- Bergus: I would just take,you know,Rod as a person out of this and look at the power dynamics that we were talking about earlier and the idea of like having a person who is,um,uh, in that top role at the County,talking about,you know, and informing the form of government for the city. When we do sometimes,you know,we collaborate well,but we sometimes compete and we sometimes have very different ideas about what's right for our community. And I just don't think that that's appropriate to vest that level of power in someone who's already holding that power elsewhere. And even just if we back it up even further and just say the consolidation of that much power in one person, I'm not comfortable with. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 67 Teague: We're going to move on to David, and want to see hands for David, see one. We're going to move on to Matt and see hands for Matt, I see three. Teague: Uh,we're going to move on to Jim. And- and sorry,um,just to not Jim. I- I just wanted to make a point that,um, Councilor Bergus is recusing herself from anytime Matt's name comes up, so all right. We're going to move on to Brandon,two. We're going to move on to,um,Rick. Alter: Are we voting altogether or I mean,more than once or just one. Teague: Oh no you can, like if there was two people that came up with four,then we'll have to discuss it. So looking at Rick, so we see four for Rick. Okay. So of this exercise,we have Rick that's been,uh,moved up with a vote of four. So the-the question that I think is before us is we have seven females right now,we have,um- Salih: Six female. Teague: We have six female. Yeah,we have one extra. Yeah. So we have,um, six females and we have four males. Okay. We're going to read off the names of the six females that we have, and then we'll have to determine if we want to go to 11. If we go to 11,then we-we would have to have at least five males so we would have to do one more male. Alter: Can I actually be radical here?We've looked at the-we were given the history,the list of the previous commissions and in them there was at most two women. Do we really need to make this 5-4 or 6-whatever I mean, six women? Teague: Do we have to make it even number is that what you're asking for? Alter: Yeah,that is precisely my question. Harmsen: We need an odd number so they can vote. Alter: Well, I know we need to be odd,but we added-we added Rick in order to get to our gen- closer to our gender,right?And now we're thinking about,well, do we do nine?Which means cutting off a woman, or do we add more when we actually really didn't have more than a couple of votes,right? So, I guess I'm just asking, do we have to be balanced when, actually for the past three decades it hasn't been? Dunn: I don't think so. Bergus: I'm here for that. Thank you. Dunn: So the question is um, are we going to be so,we would have- am I counting right,we would have 11? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 68 Dunn:No. Harmsen:No,we're at 10 total,right? Alter: Right. And we added one from people that didn't- Harmsen: We had nine. Teague: Do we not have six women and four- oh,we have four men, sorry. Alter: But we added-we added honestly,Rick. When it was sort of like,well, let's go through the votes that aren't folks who didn't garner a majority to begin with. Dunn: I'm- I'm comfortable with the list that was the pre gender adjustment,which would have been sans Rick. Alter: Yeah. Teague: Say that again. Dunn: I'm comfortable with the list that we had prior to our gender adjustment, so which was Jennifer Patel,John Deeth,Biju Maliabo,Andre Wright, Mackenzie Deroo,Molly Kucera, Gerene Denning, Susan Craig, and John Balmer. Salih: But- but I don't know. Sometimes you guys change everything and sometimes when we don't want it,you don't change it. I think easily we have to have the power to do it now and do it for all the commission coming forward to us later or we don't have to do it follow the rule. You guys have to choose. Because it's not going to be like oh, sometime yes we just feel like. There is many commission doesn't have people of color for a long time. Can we put like a female there when the requirement was male? Dunn: I guess we're talking about taking away a man. Salih: Yeah. But still. Dunn: Yeah. Salih: I'm talking like we cannot do that. You know, I understand that we need like more female in board, all this-I understand what you are saying. Alter: In the instance of this commission,we are not bound by that because it's not- is that correct?Am I mis-misremembering from when you were giving us some- Dunn: Statutory requirement. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 69 Goers: You're correct. Sorry. The state law requires gender balance in boards and commissions that are,you know, laid out by the state. This is not one. So as I mentioned earlier,you are not legally required to have gender balance for this commission. It has been a longstanding practice that the Council does so anyway. Do with that what you will. Teague: Yeah. So just to reiterate, Mayor Pro Tern's point,where there are other boards and commissions that we have that we've already stated a gender balance. For example, I don't believe that the State recognizes the TRC,the Truth and Reconciliation Commission,to be required by the gender balance,but we do have one. Salih: Last time I said, let us elect Lubna for it and you guys told me,but this is the gender balance, and I shut up.Now you're doing it for this and I think this is unfair. We should just do- if this is a common practice, let's go with a common practice. Dunn: Do we have- do we have a policy or a common practice for TRC?Do we know? Teague: Well,uh, I don't want to make it about the TRC and their gender balance. What I'm saying is that we have like,what, 20- 23 commissions or something like boards and commissions and not all of them are bound by the gender balance. So I think I- I love that we are,you know- Alter: If it ends up that this is an issue I just thought I would offer that up before we made a decision to either cut a woman that we'd already majority voted or to look at whether we wanted to expand, So it was just to put another option on the table. Salih: Yeah, sure. Alter: Um, and given that this was- I mean, I was struck in looking at who past members of this Commission were over the past three decades, and there was one or two women on each one of them so I thought,wouldn't it be kind of something? So,but if that is not the way that- Salih: And also I think repre-representation is better- is more important than adding like more women's. Last time for the TRC. Alter: Yes. Salih: Hold on. Can I say something? Alter: Absolutely. Salih: And I- I- I said like last time during the TRC, I said I wish if I can do Lubna but the requirement is male. So I- I think I was trying to add representation not like- like a This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 70 woman of color, it had both. She's a woman and she was a woman of color too and I could not do it because of the gender balance. Teague: So one thing that I do-that-that I might, um, go back and say is,um Susan Craig, if I'm not mistaken,had three votes the fust round and then when we came back had four. So, would people be comfortable with us removing Susan Craig or would somebody be willing to withdraw their support for Susan Craig or will the majority of us be comfortable? I mean, she started with three and then it ended up at four. Bergus: Yeah. Teague: When we went around- Bergus: Did we actually go through the whole-did we revote on Kehry Lane and Riley Eynon- Lynch. Dunn: Oh,yeah. Teague: Yes,we did. Bergus: Oh, okay. Teague: Yeah-yeah-yeah. We- I have that. Bergus: Okay. Teague: All to the left side. Bergus: Okay. Moe: I have a nine person list with Rick Dobyns in parentheses off the side. Is that where everybody else is, like a nine person list? Dunn: Yes. Moe: That's 6 to 3 with Dobyns off the side and I'm- Bergus: Yes. Moe: I'm comfortable moving forward with that list. Bergus: Me too. Teague: Um, so, let me make sure that I understand what's being proposed right now. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 71 Moe: So, um,Jennifer-uh,Jennifer Bijou, Mackenzie,Molly- Teague: I'm referring to that is- are you referring to gender balance? Moe: Oh, I,um was okay with our list that had more women than men. The six to three, six men, three- excuse me, six women three men. I was okay with that. Teague: Okay. And you were aware of the conversation that just happened?I just wanted to make sure that you were- Moe: Yeah. Teague: Okay. Moe: Yeah. Teague: All right. I'm not trying- I just want to make sure. Moe: It's okay. Teague: I'm not trying to be disrespectful. I just wanted to make- sorry if it came off that way, but I just wanted to make sure that-that you are following it. Okay so that's it. Salih: It's okay. Moe: If the rest of the Council wants us to balance it, I will of course,play along. Teague: Okay. Moe: But I'm not,um, compelled to rearrange this nine person list at this point. Teague: Okay. Alter: That's well said. Teague: I'm going to- Alter: Same. Harmsen: I'm going to actually- I haven't thought about it, like,part of me really wants to-to go along with that,um,but to Mayor Pro Tem Salih's point,um, I- I think there is some value in that, in keeping true to the gender balance ideal. Um, I think also I don't wanna- I don't know- I don't wanna-I don't know. It feels- it feels like for the consistency's sake, I think that's- I'm sympathetic to that,but that's just- I'm just one vote. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 72 Dunn: I- I am also sympathetic to it. I could go either way,but I think at this point, if we are to go to 11, I want to keep the candidates that we all have, like those are- like the nine that we have locked in, like those are the people that I want for sure. And then so if we're going to be doing this based off of a discussion of gender balance,that means that in 10, 11,those two both need to be men. And if like that's what we're going to do, I could go either way. Like I honestly,we'd have to put it up to a vote and- and that's when I would make my decision. Harmsen: Just to argue against myself just a little bit,because why not?We're already here long enough. If- if we think too about,uh in terms of other kinds of diversity balance,just by default of this list, if we go up to 11,we will be somewhat diluting the number-the percentage of people of color on the commission. So- so I can see- I can see we're going to be doing a trade off at some- in some point,right? So I guess ultimately we either have to either to remove- either add one male to go to 11 or remove one female to bring it back down to nine, and it's kind of a choice we have in front of us. Right. Teague: And,you know, I will just say,um, I think I was one of the people that raised my hand for Susan Craig. I love Susan Craig. I think she's been a great pillar in our community. She is serving on a commission currently, and so I would be- and we can take a revote so that we can make sure that there's three or four. But I would recant my vote for Susan. Salih: All right. Okay. Dunn: I think we've gone around a few different places. I think Susan is an important voice,you know, and I- I'm really comfortable with that original nine. Teague: Okay. Dunn: At this point I'm gonna stick to that. Teague: Yeah. So I just want to see who wants to support Susan Craig by a raise of hands. So there are four, so maybe I wasn't a part of that or somebody jumped in that's okay. All right. Well, Council, I think we have one of two options. We could either go to 11,um, and I can read through. We would have to have a male,um, or we would have to take away a female. I- or- I mean, can we stay at 10? That's,uh,you know, if a vote go up. Harmsen: Yeah,need tie breaker. Teague: Oh, I know, I know. Bergus: Are we at nine? Dunn: We are at nine right now. Salih: We are-no,we are 10. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 73 Teague: Oh,what you're saying is,but- all right, so I think maybe we should take a vote on if people don't want the gender balance requirement,which we would take that,um, off any future openings, should it be. And we won't have a gender balance requirement for this Commission. Bergus: Oh, for this Commission. Teague: For this Commission. And just know,we're setting,you know, opportunity in precedent for this conversation to be happening for future- other commissions that are not required by the state to have it. Bergus: And the legislative intent of the gender balance was to have more women serving. Teague: Uh-huh. Bergus: I think that's- I think that's important to remember. It may not be implemented that way currently, and that's not the current legislature's intent perhaps but the- Harmsen: And don't get me wrong, I'm all for that. It's just a matter of if we do this, do we set the stage for the flip to happen? Teague: All right. Yeah. So I think there has been a lot of conversation about this matter. What we're going to do is we're going to just take a vote and whatever that vote is,um, at getting rid of this gender balance and sticking with the current,um, six women and three males which would not include Rick Dobyns. Um,was that correct? Harmsen: Do we need a motion then? Teague:No. I just, I just want to see hand raise at this point. Bergus: So I just want to be sure. You're saying a condition of this slate would be that we make clear that in the future,there's not a gender balance? Teague: Correct. Bergus: I don't think we need to do that. Teaguer: Well- Bergus: I think we can just say we're going with this slate. Teaguer: We won't have a gender balance. It won't- Alter: But there wasn't gender balance in the past two decades. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 74 Bergus: Right. But that doesn't-we don't need to state that in the future. We don't need one. Teague: Okay, all right, I'll take that out. Bergus: Okay. Teague: I'll take that out. Bergus: I'm comfortable with the slate,but not saying, and in the future. Great. All right. Great. And I was referring to this Commission,but I was just referring to this Commission. Bergus: But for the future. Salih: Are you saying, for this time,we don't care about gender balance,but may-we might do in the future or not? Bergus: It would depend on the slate. Salih: Yes. Yes, it depends for who's applying. Bergus: Correct,yes. Salih: Okay. Bergus: Yes,yes. Teague: Okay. All right. So for this that's before us now, I just want to see a raise of hands for those that,with the current slate,we're not going to consider the gender balance. All right. So we have made our slate. Um,we are- we have,um, determined that the individuals that will be on this commission, and I'm going to just ask Mayor Tem-Mayor Pro Tem to read the names of the six female and the three males. Salih: Okay. Jennifer,Bijou,Mackenzie,Molly, Gerene, Susan. And for the male,John Deeth, Andre,uh,John Balm-Balmer, and the last one is Rick. Teague: Rick will be removed because he came,yep.No Rick. Yep. Salih: Okay. Teague: Yes. All right. Do I need to put last names to those or,uh, could I? Goers: There have been a lot of names. Boy, itt sure it would be nice. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 75 Teague: All right. Bergus: Would you like to, since I haven't written down my last name?Would you like me to do it? Teague: Please. All right. And then- Bergus: And this is going to be in alphabetical order because that's how it was in that. Teague: Okay. So we're going to have,uh, so essentially,we are,uh,the Council is receiving a motion to appoint the following individuals to the Charter Review Commission. And these individuals are- Bergus: John Balmer, Susan Craig,John Deeth, Gerene Denning,Mackenzie Deroo,Bijou Maliabo,Andre Wright, Molly Kucera, and Jennifer Patel. Teague: A move by Bergus. Dunn: Second. Teague: Seconded by Dunn. I was looking over here. All right. All in favor say aye. (Voice Vote). Any oppose?Motion passes 7-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 76 12.b Public Art Advisory Committee— One vacancy to fill a three-year term, January 1,2024—December 31, 2026. (Term expired for Jenny Gringer) Teague: We're going to go on to thank you all Councilors for that and thanks to everybody that is here,uh, during this process. We're going to move on to item 12.b,Public Art Advisory Committee. This is one vacancy to fill a three-year term,January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2026. And there is a gender balance requirement,um,which is none. There is none for this one. Grace: Mayor, can I just add? So there's two Public Art positions; 12.b and 12.c. We only have one application. Teague: Okay. Grace: So it's whether you want to do a full term or an unexpired term for this individual. Teague: Yes. Great, all right. Grace: If you choose to appoint. Harmsen: Mr. Mayor, I think with- it's the same applicant in both, correct? Teague: Yes. Harmsen: Yeah.I- I would go the full term, I think. Bergus: Agreed. Moe: Applicant looks- Teague: So the full term is going to be,um,the one that I just read, 12.b. And so could I get a motion to appoint Leslie Finer? Dunn: So moved. Moe: I move to appoint. Teague: All right. So moved by Moe, seconded by Dunn. All in favor say aye. (Voice Vote) Any oppose?Motion passes 7-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 77 12.c Public Art Advisory Committee—One vacancy to fill an unexpired term, upon appointment—December 31,2024. (Edward Boyken resigned) Teague: Um, 12.c Public Art Advisory Committee. Could I have a motion to defer. Dunn: So moved. Alter: Second,Alter Teague: So moved by Dunn, seconded by Alter. All in favor for deferment say aye. (Voice Vote) Any oppose?Motion passes 7-0. Goers: Do you want to defer to- I'm sorry,Mayor to interrupt,uh, defer to the next meeting or are we going to republish. Bergus: Can we say until we have an application? Grace: Because we'll advertise until it's filled. Teague: So the motion was defer until filled. Goers: Well. Harmsen: You need to be worded differently? Goers: Well, I mean,usually it's like applications,uh, are accepted until filled,um,but in so far as when you would like to next have this on your agenda. Teague: So, I mean,we are going to have it on March 19th, so we'll-we'll defer this until March 19th. Goers: All right. Thank you. Grace: And if there are no applications? Teague: We'll just defer again. Bergus: Keep going. Teague:Yeah. Gracer: Okay. Great. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 78 12.d Senior Center Commission—Senior Center Commission—One vacancy to fill a three-year term,January 12,2024—December 31,2026. (Term expired for Susan Mellecker) Teague: So 12.d, is Senior Center Commission. One vacancy to fill a three-year term,January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2026. There is,uh,no gender balance requirement and there are two applicants. Dunn: Betty. Bergus: I agree. Alter: I love Betty. Teague: All right. I can support Betty as well. So- Dunn: Betty. Teague: Yes. All right. So could I get a motion to appoint Betty Rosse to the Senior Center Commission? Harmsen: So moved,Harmsen. Bergus: Second,Bergus. Teague: Great. All in favor say aye. (Voice Vote)Any oppose?Motion passes 7-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 79 15. City Council Information Teague: All right. We are now at item number 15,which is City Council Information. I know we are seeing 10:00. Yes. All right. So we're going to go to number 16. Re-reports on items from,uh,well, I will make one announcement. So this Friday at 6:00 PM,uh,there is the, uh,Black History,Henry Hopper Meal taking place at,um, Terry Trueblood. So wanted to make sure that the community is aware of that. Any other announcements or items for- by the Council? Moe: I'll say kudos to Mayor Teague for winning an award at the Pride GAYLA last Saturday. Harmsen: Oh,yes. Bergus: Oh,nice. Teague: Thank you. Thank you. It was awesome—GAYLA. Dunn: Kudos to Caitlin Clark. Teague: Yeah,huge. Dunn: Huge dub,huge dub. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024 Page 80 16.Report on Items from City Staff: Teague: All right. Item-We're item number 16,report on items from our City staff, City Manager's office. Frain: Just,just as we're giving out kudos,kudos to all of you. I hope that State of the City speech,um,kind of made you proud. It's, it's easy to lose track of all the accomplishments that,that you've helped forge. Um, seeing it all in a half-hour video was,was pretty amazing. So,uh,thank you for your service. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 20,2024