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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-04-16 Transcription Page 1 Council Present: Alter,Bergus,Dunn (zoom),Harmsen,Moe, Salih (zoom), Teague Council Absent: None Staff Present: From,Jones, Goers, Grace, Platz,Hightshoe,Russett,Bristow,Nagle- Gamm,Yoder, Sovers,Knoche,Davies, Ogden Others Present: LeFevre,USG Liaison, Monsivais,Alternate 1. Call to Order Teague: So it is 6:10 on April 16th, 2024. And I so appreciate you all allowing the council a little time beyond six o'clock. It was a severe weather event which looked like we all survived so that's great and hope others in the,uh, community and afar also fared well as well. Um, I'm going to start our meeting by saying roll call,please. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 2 2. Proclamations 2a. Arbor Day Teague: Well,welcome again to those that are with us in person and those that are here virtually. Uh,we have two proclamations which is item Number 2a, and the fust one is Arbor Day. (reads proclamation). And to receive this is Tyler. Oh, Tyler Baird. Yes,welcome. Baird: I just want to say quick thank you to Mayor Teague and the rest of council for recognizing the value of trees in our community,um, and for your support throughout the year with trees and- and support for planting of trees and our maintenance of trees. So this year, we're celebrating our 44th year as a Tree City USA. So someone long ago had some foresight to get involved in that,um,program, and it really shows that,uh, we've been consistent,uh, every year and our- our support of trees. Um, and this last year,we also received a growth award,um, for the Tree City USA. So that's just kind of like the gold star, like the A plus going above and beyond the-the rest of the standards. Um,just a few other little things about trees. Our goals for planting each year are 750,um, trees. And, um,we-this year,we'll be planting 500 of those in a couple of different neighborhoods, um,where we do larger scale tree plantings and then also spreading trees around town. And then we'll be planting also over 150 trees this spring with the help of volunteers. So like the proclamation said, if anyone wants to get involved,um,we have a tree planting scheduled for the day after Arbor Day. So Arbor Day is always the last, um, Friday in April. Um, so it'll be Saturday,April 27th, at 9:00 a.m at the Oakland Cemetery. Um, we'll do a brief um,program at the beginning to celebrate Arbor Day. Um,we'll have some,um,members of the Heritage Tree group there,um, and they long ago started some funding,um, for trees, and we'll be utilizing some of that funding for the planting. Um, and then we'll have a planting demo and then invite everyone to plant. So we'll be planting 77 trees in the-um,the cemetery that day. So once again,thanks for your support. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 3 2b. Fair Housing Month Teague: Thank you. 2b. is Fair Housing Month. (reads proclamation). And to receive this is Terry from the Greater Iowa City Apartment Association. Vargason: Hello, everyone. My name is Terry Vargason. I am the vice president of the Greater Iowa City Apartment Association. And it's a great honor to take this proclamation and recognition for all the landlords,vendors,those that are associated with the housing business and goings of Iowa City here. So we work hard to make sure that everybody's educated that we're working together to create you know a good community and fair housing for all. So thank you very much. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 4 3 - 7 Consent Agenda Moe: Thank you. Mayor,before we move on to the consent agenda, I would like to make a motion to reconsider item 5d from the April second meeting that was two-three tobacco licenses, and move that it be considered at the May 7th meeting. Dunn: Seconded. Teague: So move by Moe seconded by Dunn. We're going to do a voi- a voice vote. Uh, so all in favor say Aye. All: Aye Teague: Any opposed?Motion passes 7-0. Dunn: Uh, also,Mayor a- apologies. Pr-prior to consideration of the co- consent agenda, I'd like to request a separate consideration of Item 5d. Teague: Item 5d or- okay, all right. So we will uh consider that separately.And then could I get a motion to defer Item 7a to our 5-to our May 7, 2024 meeting? Harmsen: So moved,Harmsen? Moe: Second Moe. Teague: All right. And then all in favor say aye. (Voice Vote)Aye. Any opposed?Motion passes 7-0. All right. We're going to go onto our consent agenda,which will be items 3,3,7 except for 7a and um, is it 5d? Goers: Yeah, 5d. Teague: Five- and 5d. Can I get a motion,please? Moe: So moved. Alter: Second. Teague: Move by Moe. Second by Alter. All right. And then anyone from the public like to address any of these consent item agenda?And if you're online,you can raise your hand. See no one in person or online. Council discussion? Moe: Mr. Mayor, I was wondering if we could get a little bit of information from city staff about 6a, 6b, and 6c,which is sort of the final step in some of the work that we're trying to do with our ARPA funds. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 5 Fruin: All right. Happy to give you a little context here. So these are the last three of the ARPA inclusive economic development grants that you gave preliminary award to several months ago. This totals a little over a quarter million dollars of assistance to three different entities to provide support to underestimated businesses in various capacities. So there's tax and accounting support. There's uh-uh groups that will work with, um-um, doing specialized workshops,uh-uh kind of entrepreneurial types of training sessions. But again, all of these were uh,part of your preliminary awards you made several months ago, and we're just getting to the point where we've executed those grant agreements, and these dollars are going to start to go to work in our community. Moe: Thank you. Teague: Any other discussion?Roll call,please? Teague: Salih? Salih: I have my hand up. Teague: Oh, so sorry. I have to get used to this. Yes. So before we do roll call, Mayor Pro Tem. Salih: Yeah, I- I just would like some information about the urban economic development to Taylor Tax and Accounting LLC agreement. Can someone just- or the city, Mayor, I just want to know who is this company?Where are they located?What are they going to be doing? Teague: All right. We have Tracy Hightshoe coming forth. Hightshoe: Hello?Mazahir,you're talking about Taylor Tax and Accounting,LLC? Salih: Yes. Hightshoe: Okay. And there are a financial planning accounting firm that's located in the MERGE space. So they will provide financial services to at least 20 businesses regarding tax preparation accounting and financial business planning. Salih: And how they will reach out to those businesses because I don't think so people know about this,because there is many,yes,this is great opportunity for,you know,to build capacity for a number of organizations that they are just growing up. It is amazing program. But I- I would like to know how the people will know about it. Hightshoe: Yeah.Now that this is the sixth agreement, all six have been entered after if you approve these. Later this -well,next week,we're having a intro info sharing with all the six recipients to talk about,you know,what everybody is providing when they're This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 6 providing it. So there's some education amongst the six recipients that you selected. Then we'll start talking to the south of six, greater Iowa City. We'll do lunch and learns. We'll start advertising the services that this new ecosystem creates. So there'll be more public outreach,but I think they need to understand who they can refer to,what's going on, and what that ecosystem looks like right now. Salih: Yeah. Thank you so much, Tracy. Teagu: Roll call,please. [Roll Call] All right. Could I get a motion to consider 5d? Dunn: So moved. Salih: Second. Teague: All right. Moved by Dunn, second by Salih. And anyone from the public like to address this topic? It is 5d. See no one in person or online. Council discussion. Dunn: I'd move to defer to our next meeting. Dunn: So moved by Dunn. Salih: Second. Teague; Second by Salih. All in favor say aye. (Voice Vote)Aye. Okay. All right. Any opposed? Motion passes 7-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 7 8. Community Comment Teague: All right. We are moving on to Item number 8,which is our community comment. This is an opportunity for the public to comment, speak on any item that is not on our agenda. Public comment is - is intended so that members of the public may be heard by Council because community comment is for items not properly noticed on the agenda, and Council cannot engage in discussion or debate due to open meeting laws. I wanted to see the hands of everyone that wants to speak today. All right. We're going to move with three minutes for each individual. Please state your name and the city you're from. And I also want to let people know that in the back,there are little stickers that you can pre-fill out to have your name on there, and you can drop it in the bucket. All right. Welcome. Please state your name and city you're from. Pfohl: Hello? I'm Judy Pfohl from Iowa City, a member of the Iowa City Municipal Airport Commission since 2019, even though I am not a pilot and I get motion sickness on a plane. I am here with my fellow commissioner,Ryan Story,who is a pilot and has one of the housed 92 aircraft at the airport. Once a year,we like to update the City Council about activities at the Iowa City Municipal Airport and its ongoing contribution to the Iowa City community. Since we don't directly - since we don't directly receive any annual appropriations from the City Council,you may not be aware of our activities. With leveraging the federal and state grants plus the fuel flowage fee,this past year,we changed runway lights to LED added taxi lanes for future hangers. Runway obstructions were removed, and runway thresholds were relocated,which should shift traffic away from the Northwest neighborhoods. We have approved a bid for a solar array to supply power for the runway lighting,terminal building, and ambulance building. In our relationship with the community,the airport hosted many events, including the annual Experimental Aircraft Association,Young Eagles,the Optimist Pancake Breakfast, and Summer of the Arts Drive-in movies,which were shown on a hanger. An outdoor mural on the Hangar is visible from Riverside Drive,was created in partnership with the Iowa City Art Committee and the Community Foundation Fund. Special hangars are being used for research, including the University College of Engineering,Aviation Research. Care Ambulance provides air and ground medical transport, such as transport support and transplant support, and is partnered with Jet Air. Jet Air has 49 employees based at the airport for charter flights,pilot teaching,plane maintenance, fueling, and other ground handling. Part of our mission statement is to enrich the economic, educational,health care, cultural, and recreational opportunities for the area. A state economic impact study reported us as the second largest general aviation airport in Iowa with $24 million worth of economic activity annually. We have over 18,000 visitors per year plus 33,000 operations compared to Cedar Rapids 38,000 operations. We have given multiple tours and invite all council members and the public to take tours of the Iowa City municipal airport. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. Welcome. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 8 Campos(via translator): Hi, good afternoon. My name is Ninoska Campos. I am from Honduras and I'm here with the organization as Escucha Mi Vos. I've lived in Johnson County for six years moving to ah, directly to Iowa City from Honduras. Since moving here, I have a faced many challenges, ah, specifically finding housing. Due to my lack of immigration status, I was unable to find ah, an apartment, a rental, ah, or even a lot in a mobile home park. Unfortunately,because of that document needed, ah, I was unable to provide for my family. I have faced many challenges, ah, especially in the legal, in the legal,with legal services ah,with lawyers, specifically for immigration lawyers. It is very hard to pay for for an immigration lawyer. They are very expensive. I faced challenges in my health because I am unable to access ah, insurance. We've also faced challenges at work, facing exploitation. A lot of times if you're undocumented,you face exploitation at work. So any immigrant ah, is vulnerable or at risk of these just ah, of these challenges. I am asking city council to work with organizations like Escucha Mi Vos to help provide affordable housing or or funding for affordable housing. For all of the working immigrants of Johnson County mothers and families. As you know, last week on Wednesday,Kim Reynolds signed that law that is an anti-immigrant law which will directly impact the ah, the immigrant community, and the children in our community. So my question to you is what will you do to protect these families?And the migrant children that live in this community or in this county. With this new law that will go into place on July 1st. I'm asking that you write a letter to the Department of Justice to sue the state of Iowa and the Supreme Court. I am also asking you write a letter to the Department of National Security to provide a temporary protection status and work, ah, sorry, and work permits for the immigrant families. I thank you in advance for working with ah, immigrant workers. And also working with Escucha Mi Vos and all of the working migrants that are essential for Johnson County. We need you to do more for our community. That is all. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. Welcome,please state your name and city you're from. Alessali(via translator): Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Maria Alessali and it's a pleasure to be here with you all and get to know you. I'm a person who's getting help from Escucha Mi Vos two years ago, I moved to the City. I came here with two of my kids. Escucha Mi Vos has really helped me. I have no housing, and in this period of two years, I have moved ah, several times in small rooms, and I really want you to help ah,to work with Escucha Mi Vos so you can help people like me. It has been really hard for me. I have a kid with this capacity who's in bed. Um, it's really difficult to-to have housing because of this and move around. It's been also really hard because I don't have a stable job and they're just temporary. With the new law, I feel fear. Uh, I'm afraid they're going to send me back to my country, and I feel safe here. Um, I don't have to be worried when I walk in the street and if they send me back to the country,we have nothing good there waiting for us. It's been also really hard because of the-my kids health and to get the appropriate healthcare and the medications. I would like to get your support to stop the law,uh, so we can stay here and have our children be having a good life and happy. And also getting support from Escucha Mi Vos to have access to affordable housing. Thank you so much. I think that's it, and God bless you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 9 Teague: Thank you. Welcome. Yenelli: Thank you. Johanna(via translator): Good evening. My no-my name is Deniksa Johanna,um, is- I am from Honduras. First of all, I would like to thank God for allowing us to be here today. I would like- I would like to, er,request an increase in budget funding for services towards legal aid,health services, and,uh,housing for the immigrant workforce of Johnson County. I'm here today to ask,uh, City Council,what will you do to protect and defend workers, families, and immigrant children against the new anti immigrant law in Iowa? I've lived in Johnson County for a little over three years, and I've had,um,throughout that time difficulty finding a rental property,um, or just simply finding housing,um, even in mobile homes. I'm asking humbly that you partner with, and work closely with Escucha Mi Vos to help-to help,um,uh,to help with, uh,permanent housing, as well as,um, temporary protected status and visas for all immigrants. I'm very thankful for what the government has done up to this point. Thank you very much. God bless you. Teague: Thank you. Welcome. Denney: Good evening. My name is Emma Denney, and I'd really prefer not to be here again. This is the third time, and as many meetings that I and members of the trans community have come before you to demand that you do something to protect our community. A demand that has fallen on deaf and callous ears each time. Whereas last time we were here responding to your meager and insufficient claims that your hands were tied or that notably you let us have yard signs. This time,we've heard nothing. Laura Bergus has my contact information. You can reach out to me. You can try to do something. But we've heard nothing. If you're waiting on the courts to do your job for you, I'm sorry to tell you that that's no longer an option. The Supreme Court,just yesterday,refused to protect trans kids in Idaho, stating that injunctions can no longer go any further in defending vulnerable communities like ours. Communities that Republicans in this state are looking to destroy and force back into the shadows.Now,more than ever,we need you to do anything. But instead,you're planning on giving half a million more dollars to the police department,you'll hear much more about that later. You'd rather throw your city's money away to appease landlords and business tyrants rather than protect trans Iowans. This Council in this city like to play at supporting trans people and play at supporting the LGBT community. But what have you done materially to make this a safe place for us? Yard signs mean nothing when nearly every trans person I know, including myself,has faced housing and employment discrimination in this city. What good is supporting UAY? If you still allow conversion therapy in Iowa City,torture of trans and LGBT kids is still legal in this city, and you've done nothing because you're terrified. You saw what happened in Waterloo and you're afraid to take action, even though Davenport has done something. It's pathetic. We're all exhausted of having to come in front of this council and ask for meager scraps and still hear nothing. Our demands, if you need to hear them again, are one,to pass some sort of non enforcement ordinance to protect trans people from the anti trans laws in this city. And two, to provide safe and affordable housing for This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 10 trans people in the city because clearly landlords can't do it. They don't want to do it. They'd rather see us homeless than see us safe. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. Welcome. Nix: Yeah,the name's Nix. I live in Iowa City. I come to you for the third meeting in a row with a heavy,heavy heart. I am so tired, so tired of standing here begging you all to care about our community. I am embarrassed to even be up here, as I know you will continue to do nothing. I see that you all see yourselves as superior to us, and we are not in your community,but rather your lowly subjects. Last week, I spoke about the trauma I experienced being put in solitary confinement just because I am trans in the jail here. I went seconds over time and the Mayor immediately cut me off much quicker than I've seen him cut other people off before. A study recently released shows that 90% of incarcerated trans people are put into solitary confinement. Something that happened here in Iowa City as well. You must be scared of the truth, scared of the trauma and harm done to the trans community here in Iowa City. Scared of the harm done to our immigrant communities here in Iowa City. Scared of the truth about the Iowa City Police Department, and cowards for doing nothing to protect us. You have spent more time discussing parking than you have on how to protect the trans community,than you have on protecting the immigrant communities,both being extreme targets of legislation at the state level. More time on parking than on the genocides funded by our nation. We demand that you do better. We demand that you do it without us having to walk you through it. We demand better for our black and brown population. We demand better for our immigrant communities. We demand better housing, and we demand that Iowa City be a Sanctuary City for all that are targeted by the state. We demand that Iowa City become a Sanctuary City for trans people and immigrant communities. Teague: Thank you. Welcome. Perez: Thank you. Kevin Perez, Iowa City. Uh, essentially,two criteria to be placed on the National Historic Registry. A building has to have architectural significance. A building has or- a building has a significance. Teague: I have- I have just one question. Are you here about the Pagliai's building? Perez:No, I did- I time this out. I got to hear,right?No. A building has a historical significant story. 1820 South Clinton has absolutely zero architectural significance. But the building has an incredible and rare story of Black American success in the early 1900s. Iowa City has an incredible progressive and woke exterior,but inside an old White Boy Network of segregation and exclusion. Please see south of six Spit area. HD Short came to Iowa City in 1905. He paid his way shining shoes. HD Short was a black man. HD Short was not his given name. The original HG-HD Short was the son of slaveholders in Missouri, and he died at age 13. The original HD Shorts parents owned the future HD Shorts Parents, and he took that name. Haywood HD Short worked a deal in 1925. He purchased 18 South Clinton. HD Short came to Iowa City in 1905, and those 20 years,he overcame This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 11 when I can only imagine his horrible racism to persevere. When HD died,he did not have HD Short put on his tombstone. He said there was already an HD Short on a tombstone in Missouri. My building will be my tombstone. HD and his family began ownership 38 years before the passage of the Civil Rights Act, 21 years before the University of Iowa allowed black students to live in the dorms,42 years before Martin Luther King junior was assassinated.Ninety nine years before the City of Iowa City created a Title 6 policy. This building has been owned by a Black family for 92 years. HD Short started rare minority owned property that created generational wealth. HD families benefited from his hard work by receiving advanced degrees from prestigious universities, earning high level jobs in university and government and receiving respect in home and abroad. A truly remarkable story that the State of Iowa City,the State of Iowa and the government should take pride and respect in. HD provided jobs-his jobs,housing and mentorship to black students. Instead of making the Tate Arms segregationist housing as Iowa City's example of race relations along with the Johnson County Jail,why not save 1820 South Clinton and show the amazing success of HD Short?When Haywood Bell grandson of HD Short passed away in 2016,he left his wife as income beneficiary of the trust. Midwest One Bank owns the trust, for which they paid $1. Since Midwest One takeover, the maintenance on the building has stopped. The city will not enforce its own codes to protect the building. I'm asking the City Council to look into this and ask the Historical Preservation Commission to do its job. It's clear to me they are trying to sweep this amazing, great,rare uplifting inspirational story under the rug. Teague: Yeah. Thank you. I know I gave you a couple seconds extra but thank you. Perez: But it is my rhythm in my brain. I need it. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. Welcome. Swaim: My name-my name is Jim Swain. I live here in Iowa City. I wanted to comment on the immigration debacle that's happening in Iowa. And I want to remind people that years and years and years ago,we the state of Iowa took in Vietnamese refugees and repopulated them all over the state with a maximum of economic benefit for every community that did it. And to see the governor doing this atrocious law that I just think is unfathomable. I don't know what the city can do about that. I don't know what Iowans can do about that other than to get a different governor. But it's- I just think at some point,we need to remind our fellow citizens of the value of people coming to this country,working hard to protect their families and live a decent life. Thanks. Teague: Thank you. Welcome. Please state your name and city you're from. Monalega: My name is Harry Monalega. I'm from Iowa City. In 2020,the people of the city came together in overwhelmingly large numbers to demand that the city government defund the police. I was one of those people. I saw a lot of horrible things. I saw my friends get tackled by the police. I saw my friends get shot at with rubber bullets. I saw my friends get pepper sprayed. I saw a crowd with hundreds of people, including children This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 12 and the elderly get tear gassed in your city. That year traumatized me. I will never forget what tear gas feels like in my eyes, and my nose, and my asthmatic throat and lungs. I will never forget what it looks like to see a cloud of violence blinding my friends,my neighbors,their children and their parents. I will never forget the police using military grade weapons to-to choke a crowd of people that were protesting because a police officer choked a man until he died. But what traumatized me even more is that for one day,you stood with us and gave vague speeches and pretended to care about the cause that we sacrificed our time, energy, and safety for. For one day,you walked the same path that we were tear gassed for so you could pretend to care about the fact that a war crime happened in this city against the people that you are supposed to care for. And for every day since that day,you have stopped pretending and been entirely masked off about the fact that you unequivocally stand with the police. You signed an agreement claiming that you would make a plan to defund the police, and then you used disgraceful political tactics to shirk that responsibility. You bastardized the Truth and Reconciliation commission. You supported the Johnson County Sheriffs Office driving a tank through our streets. You say nothing when police charge nonviolent protesters. Every single year, you give the police more money. Have you no shame?Have you no conscience?Every time you vote to give the police more money,you show your constituents that you don't care about their safety. You show them that you don't care about their safety or the social services that this money should be going to. You show them that you don't care about rent relief and fair housing. You're a fucking landlord,Bot. You don't give a fuck about fair housing. Don't pretend. But seriously, I'm begging you for once in your measly small town political careers to make a good decision and don't give the police more money. Make the right choice. Teague: Thank you. Welcome. Please state your name and city you're from. Comer: Justin Comer from Coralville. Co-signed the previous message,but also our friend who was speaking on the legacy of HD Short was cut off before they completed it. So I just want to finish the rest of his statement. It's clear to me they are trying to sweep this amazing, great,rare,uplifting, inspirational story under the rug so that this block can be torn down and redeveloped, and the story of HD Short can be erased. A couple of examples of historic black members of our community who have been honored by a local landmarks. Philip Hubbard,the fust black professor at the University of Iowa,namesake of Hubbard Park. He was also a friend of HD Shorts, according to these notes anyway that I did not write. Duke Slater, namesake of Slater Hall, ironically, a dorm that he couldn't have lived in at the time, and of course, Slater Field at Kinnick Stadium,the fust Black football all American. Just a couple of examples. So how are we going to make sure that we honor the legacy of HD Short? Thank you. Teague: Thank you. Welcome. Protheroe: Hi,Jerry Protheroe with Iowa City, I'm here on behalf of City Park Pool Back to the Future and it's been quite a mixture of- of comments today. Um,the pool design process from the outside looking in seems to be working so kudos to Parks and Recreation on that This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 13 front. However, and you knew there was a however,most of the designs are lacking in capacity specifically, all the designs, except for the original one that's in there, show only six 50 meter lap lanes, a 33%reduction from what it is today of nine lanes and that's sort of an ouch. I imagine that a 33%reduction in lanes must largely or might be because of budgetary limitations, I say that because nine lanes have in the past and for many years running now been highly utilized. Our community isn't shrinking and we should be building this pool for the next 50 plus years. Everyone I've spoken to, an the list is quite long,there's a lot of members in Back to the Future and others have repeatedly and consistently said six lanes isn't enough,we need to have more. The other thing about that is you can't program yourself out of too few lanes so we've got to do this right from the beginning. So why is this important? So much good work,hard work has been done to try to reach out to the community, a really broad spectrum of our community including under served, inexperienced, fust time swimmers, less fit swimmers, the elderly. It's exactly those communities that will suffer if we don't have sufficient lanes for the demand. To be clear,when some-when swim lanes are crowded and chaotic and if- if we really follow through and only have six lanes, it will be really chaotic. The less fit, the inexperienced and the elderly swimmers will be the losers. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. Welcome. Protheroe: Hello, I'm Sue Protheroe,um, Chairperson of City Park Pool Back to the Future. On May 7th you'll be having a joint work session with the Parks and Rec Commission,Parks and Rec staff and the project consultants. This will be your final discussion of the project before you're asked to choose a design for the new pool. Three of the designs you'll see on May 7th have six long course lanes,the current pool has nine. The plan is that all six would be open during designated lap swim times and 2-3 would remain open during regular public swim times. The argument is that having those lanes available all of the time will offset the 33%reduction in lanes. Here's why that argument doesn't work. The current pool has always had lap swim available during public swim times. The area next to the deep end,the diving well is roped off, designated for lap swim and has four or maybe five short course lanes available during all public swim times and it's well utilized. I know this because that's where I swim when I don't feel like braving the crowds in chaos at noon lap swim. So having a couple long course lanes available all day adds nothing at all, it's a significant overall reduction in the pool's lap swim capacity. This is not just my opinion, it's logic and a little math. Again,the pool is already crowded at peak times like noon lap swim and short course swimming is already available throughout the day. I ask you to keep this detail in mind as you listen to the consultant's presentation on May 7th. Overcrowding will result in two problems,the fust is that lap swimming will be less safe and it will be less inclusive. The people who choose to brave the crowds will be the capable confident, fit swimmers. Swimmers who are less capable, less confident, and less fit will come once and probably not return. This is the opposite of the welcoming environment we're trying to create at our new pool. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. Welcome. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 14 Kippes: Hi. My name is Izzy. Uh, I'm a transwoman and research worker in Iowa City. I'm here today to voice my opposition to the police budget increase. I understand you'll be voting on either tonight or in the coming weeks. I understand this will be a 3% increase amounting to something like $509,000 up from $17.3 million in 2023. Common denominator with a lot of issues in the city is that there's no money for projects I want to ask why there's always money for the police department. I come here speaking as a transwoman in a state that has increasingly targeted trans people with their legislation. The finality of these legislations is enforcement of anti trans laws and that's what the police-the police will exist to do. And so I ask- I ask, on my behalf at least, that you consider stopping funding of this police department, stop increasing its militarization, consider decreasing funding at the very least freezing funding and voting down this legislation. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. I want to just- Oscar: Hi, I'm Oscar. I live here, I'm a student here as well. I'm going to cut right to it. I'm here in opposition of the police budget increase. Teague: I just do- I- I want to make-mention that we do have a budgetary item on the agenda. If you're talking police in general but if you're talking about budgetary items I would ask anyone to wait for that time. Oscar: Yes, I'm going to talk about police in general in this city but also it will be regarding the police budget increase,thanks. I'm appalled that the City Council is once again moving to give a violent institution,receiving millions of dollars a year already, another couple hundred thousand dollars as if this money couldn't be used to house people or improve anything else in this neoliberal city. This move signals yet another resounding failure of city council to truly hear the voices of marginalized people that have communicated for years about the abuse of power that police hold and is inherent to colonial institution. My protest of this act is informed by my lived experience. At the age of four,uh, I saw my- uh,my father get arrested,uh, due to lack of papers and deported and arrested pretty promptly.Now,uh,tell me, what form of safety required my father to be deported and arrested in front of their four year old child? It clearly wasn't public safety then and I fear that the anti immigration law passed recently by Kim Reynolds will only reinforce this fear across our communities. So there's my lived experience if you still think that police are benevolent. Um, for those who haven't opened a history book in a while, let me inform you that policing is a modern day colonial institution meant to protect property. That's right,police aren't here to protect you and me,they're rooted in,uh, colonial,uh, practices in protecting property rights,nullifying contests to the establishment and use violent means to achieve this. Um,urban police forces are almost nearly wider than the communities they patrol. The victims of police brutality are disproportionately black teenage boys and children. To say that there are many good and abnormal people in the police force is to fail to address the systemic nature of the problem and fail to address racial justice in this city in general. Time's proven that not even the best citizens can fix this system from within. To finish, I beg the white,mostly affluent audience standing This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 15 before me to listen to me; a queer,non-binary,Latinx student,to visualize and try to understand a radical future where we don't have to pour millions of wasted dollars into an outdated and archaic institution. If this Council truly seeks to make the systemic change they were elected to make, instead of paying the vein lip service to our marginalized communities,they will vote against raising the police budget. Fuck 12 and abolish the police. Thank you. Teague: Welcome. And we're down to our last two speakers. Zadeh: Thanks. I'm Hannah Zadeh, I'm from Iowa City. I'm a student here. Um, I've had the chance to talk with almost every one of you about this issue over the past year. Um, and my talking points are pretty much the same because nothing has changed. Um, as you've heard from previous speakers talking about the police today. People in this community are being adversely impacted every day by the fact that you continue to put money towards the police budget. I know that all of you are opposed to what Kim Reynolds is doing. But every dollar that you put towards the Iowa City Police budget, is going to enforcing what she's doing. Firearm,having a firearm, legal immunity, and authority to seize property. Those are the three things that make police,police. If you want to talk about community safety, as we've done in our conversations, I need you to really grapple with when a safety situation needs someone with a firearm, someone with legal immunity, and someone with the authority to seize property. Shawn Harmsen, I remember in our conversation,we talked about this at length. You brought up the situation of what if someone is speeding?You brought up the situation of what if there's a school shooting?We went through those scenarios, and if I recall correctly, you couldn't come up with a reason why someone would need a firearm,why someone would need legal immunity, and why someone would need authority to seize property. I would ask that when you're thinking about the police budget,you really dig deep and think about your complicity in what Kim Reynolds is doing and think about those three things. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. Welcome. Please state your name and city you're from. Kieffer: Hi. My name is Ben Kieffer. Um, I'm from Iowa City. First, I need to say that I'm a journalist with IPR. However,today, I am not here in my professional capacity and will not be covering this story for IPR just to make that clear. I'm part of the Back to the Future group advocating for the new design of the City Park Pool. I've been a resident of Iowa City for nearly quarter century. And most of that time, I've been a regular swimmer at the City Park Pool gladly. So it has enriched my life and the lives of all of my family members. Uh,the City Park Pool is one of the many reasons we love this community so much. It's one of the fust places we take visitors to this city who've never been here. It seems to me you want a future pool users to be delighted with this design of the new pool in love with it and its ability to serve all types of swimmers and aquatic users and not say, well,they came up with an adequate solution,but could have planned better for the future. That's why I strongly support an eight- eight 50 meter lanes in the new design? The lanes should be wide enough for comfortable and safer lap swimming. Having 50 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 16 meter lanes also offers the choice of reconfiguring the pool to accommodate 25 yard crosswise lanes. And that's a very important option. Lap lanes that are less than 25 yards are very unusual. You know this if you're a lap swimmer and prompt lap swimmers to wonder what were they thinking?Did they not have inputs from lap swimmers on this project? The extra investment in having eight 50 meter lanes is money well spent. We know our community will grow, our community of swimmers will grow. And with climate change, our warm swimming season will also grow longer. The new pool will serve this community for the next 50 years. Think about that. The next 50 years,you are planning for the near and far off future. Unlike adding an extra room to a house you build,you can't just add on an extra lane or two to a swimming pool when you outgrow its original size. You have what you have, and you have to make do with what you have. Make sure the design you choose for the future will be loved now and for decades, because it can be all things to all types of swimmers. Make sure the future users of City Park Pool do not say,what were they thinking back in 2024. But instead, exclaim,wow, what foresight those community leaders had in creating a swimming pool that serves all types of swimmers for many generations. They went Back to the Future in a big way. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. Welcome, and you will be our last speaker. Degraw: I'll keep it short. So my name is Sharon Degraw. And I too took a look at the pool designs that came out. I think it was in February. And there's the basic practical aspect of fitting nine lanes in a main pool body shape and doing other things with it. And then the alternative designs had a general swim area that's shallow. A lane swimming area that shortened to six lanes and then a diving well off to the side. And when I spoke to the designer about it, I pointed out, look at the different angles that are required to keep an eye on all of these different swimming pools and the people that could be in them. Won't that require more lifeguards?And the man looked and said,Yes, I think it will. Um, and then so I said that doesn't sound very good. And he said,Well,the beauty of it is is that we can close off those pools if they're not being used or if we don't have the staff uh, available to keep an eye on swimmers. And that,to me,was disheartening because we have this great basic pool shape that can fit nine lanes and accommodate all kinds of swimmers. Uh, so I just- I hope that you can keep that-that factor in mind when you look at the pool designs in May. Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 17 9. Planning and Zoning Matters 9a. Rezoning 302-316 E.Bloomington St.-Local Historic Landmark - Ordinance rezoning property located at 302-316 E.Bloomington Street from Central Business Service(CB-2)zone to CB-2 with a Historic District Overlay (OHD/CB-2)zone. (REZ24-0001) 1. Public Hearing [Continued from 4/2/241 Teague: Thank you, and thanks to everyone that shared today. We did have some translation, which we extended beyond the 30 minute time. So I wanted people to know that I extended it because we had um, some individuals that had translators with them. We're going to move on to item number nine,which is Planning and Zoning matters 9a. Rezoning 302 through 316 East 16 Bloomington Street. For local historic landmark Ordinance rezone and property located at 302 through 316 East Bloomington Street from Central Business Service zone to C132 for the historic Overlay zone. And I'm going to open the public hearing. And we are continuing from our last meeting,which was April 2nd, 2024. Our staff did give us a presentation at that time. And unless there are questions from the Council to the staff, we'll allow that uh, at this moment. I know that Mayor Pro Tem had a question, and I wonder if staff is prepared to um, answer that and show that at this time. Russett: Uh, good- good evening. Anne Russett with Neighborhood and Development Services. I was just going to bring up the aerial map for the council so they can see the property in question and the building that's located on that property. So here's the aerial map with the property shown with the white hatching. Teague: Uh-huh I see Councilor Mayor Pro Tem Salih hand is up, so we'll have her uh, go fust, followed by Councilor Dunn. Salih: Yeah,uh-Kellie, can you make this like focus because now it's still small for us. Can you bin it so I can see it more? Grace: I don't think I can do anything with it for the-the Zoom view. Salih: Really? Okay. Uh, then, can you just explain because I see like a brown building,very dark building like kind of black and I see like two white building to each other. Can you just walk us through this and say, like, for example,the long brown building,what that is and how it is connected to the other and all this. Russett: Okay. Hopefully you can see the laser pointer. Salih: Yes, I do. Russett: So I'm going to outline the property boundary here. This is the white dashed line. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 18 Salih: Okay. Russett: So this is the property in question. There's one building on this property. Um,this is um, the building that houses Pagliai's and some apartment buildings. This was the original boarding house, I believe,that rooming house,that is now apartments. Um,to the back, this is the original carriage house. That is now also apartments. And then on the east side of the property,you have the original stable,which is now the laundry mat. Again- Salih: Okay. Russett: This looks like four separate buildings,but it's one building on one property. Salih: But they want to ask you when they build all this building,they build it together. Russett: Um, I think it was built in phases. Salih: That's why I want to ask you,which one was the fust phase,which one is add on. Because if you add something,you can disconnect that. But if you build it all of them at once. My little grain engineering. Russett: Yeah. This was- this was the first building that was built, and the buildings even though they look separate from this aerial,they-they are all connected. Salih: Okay. But it can be like disconnected. Russett: I suppose theoretically,yes, it could be disconnected. I'm not sure. You have to go through the,um, our department and get a building permit to physically separate the building. Salih: I understand that. I understand all the process. But I want to just say if we-for example, can we divide this building into two starting from the middle of the very dark building all the way to the, like to make it like two lot. Okay. If the owner decides to or whoever gonna buy decide to do that. I see is this dividable? Russett: Yeah, I think the city attorney addressed that in the work session, and his answer was no. Salih: It is not dividable even if this is not historic and I would like to come and just divide this building, I cannot do that. Russett: Divide the building? Salih: Divide the lot- This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 19 Dunn: May I interject, if I may? Salih:No, fust I want my question to be answered. Dunn: I think that I might be-be able to answer it. I think-I think there's just like a poor communication here. If I understand what you're saying Mazahir, in its current state,the building theoretically could be divided at certain points where,you know,we see the boundaries. Theoretically,that is the case that would cost you know, significant amount of investment by whoever owns the property,but theoretically,that is the case. And in that case,um, I think this is the case,but a potential landlord could then,um, subdivide the property into different parcels,which could then be individually owned. Sahli: But they're saying no right now. That's why I want to make sure. Dunn: They're saying no right now because all the buildings are connected to each other. They are physically connected. Sahli:No,hold on. If I'm the owner, and I would like to just divide it by disconnect one of the building for another and divide that lot where the laundrymat will be by itself, and half of the very black building will be self and draw a line and divide this lot into two different lot, one in the right. Yeah,two different lot. One will be with the building where have the bid zone,the white, and the other one will be the landmark and maybe half of that building. Or maybe just tear down the black building completely. Sahli: I think. Sahli:No, I'm not-I'm just saying if I'm the owner and I would like to do that. If possible by the city or not? Dunn: I think that if we're looking at this in the case of status quo, could someone come in there and physically separate the buildings like like you're describing and then subdivide the property? I think that that would be allowable. I think that would be legal,but I think Eric would be best to say that. I want to hear it Sahli: City staff. Uh—It is- is that allowable? Goers: I think it is probably not allowable. I mean, let me be clear. As you say, it is probably theoretically possible to separate the buildings that would be at a considerable expense and process,presumably. But we do not think and our office has discussed this at great length. We do not think you could probably subdivide this property because of the layout of the current buildings and the way in which it's positioned now. Sahli: Yes. Let's think about it. This is not historic at all, okay?And the owner would like to tear down the very black building and make separate this lot, Is that allowable? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 20 Goers: I'm not sure I caught it. Your question is if the owner were to decide to demolish the building on the north end with the dark roof,then could the lots be divided?Is that your question? Salih: Yes. And this is not-let us say this is not historic at all. Is this like we did not remark it as a historic. Can it be like that? Goers: I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I missed the last part of what you said. Russett: If it was not historic at all. Goers: Oh,yeah. Okay. I think our answer is probably still no. And I'm hesitant to get too deep into what is not the question before this council,which is,you know,the application that's been submitted,which is the whole property as it's currently set. Of course,none of the things that you're describing could be done without the owner's consent. I don't get the impression that the current owner is consenting to any such thing presently. And so I think the Council needs to focus on whether it should be land marked in its current condition under the current application. Salih: I understand that. But I'm asking because that will help me decide to remark it or not because what I'm thinking is if we remark it today, and later in the future, I was talking to one of the commissioner and she said,yes, it's possible. That's why I want to make sure this is possible. If we land mark it today, and we say, okay,we approve it as historic in the future,uh, can you know,this be divided into two and the owner can sell the one that doesn't have the white roof building,you know, separate and divide the lot. But,you know, come to the city and approve it, and after that, sell it. And if this is not possible, I understand. But I'm asking just to see like to help me, like, come up with my decision. Goers: Well, if it's landmarked tonight,then I shouldn't say tonight because this would be a three reading process. But if this council ultimately landmarks it,then the building couldn't be torn down at all. So I think your hypothetical would not be apt as a result of that. Salih: Okay. Thank you very much. That's completely answered my question now. Goers: All right. Teague: Councilor Dunn did you have any other questions for staff? Dunn: My only question was, if we were going to take public comment on this item. Teague: Yes,we are. Thank you. Any other questions for staff by any of us?No. Okay. And I know that the owner spoke the last time. Unless the council has additional questions for you,you would have to fall under the three minute. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 21 Goers: I would just point out the deed. Yes, I think I agree with the three minutes,but the owner in this case is not the applicant, so I think should be treated like any member of the public. Teague: Okay. All right. We're going to open up public comment, and we're going to allow three minutes for individuals to speak. Welcome. Skarda: Welcome. My name is Gary Skarda. I'm the owner of the Helub of Apartments. I think it's a joke that the City of Iowa City would not allow me to do with what I wanted to do with my own property. For one thing,the laundrymat is separate. You know,you can't go from one part of the building to the other into the laundrymat area,the separate building, but it's my property. And then you have the back section of the building that was once a storage area. You know,they had farm animals on the property. And- and they needed tools and farm equipment. And so all that was-was basically storage area.Now,my grandfather converted that into apartments, five units back in the 1950s. By 1955, '54, '55 in those apartments. So you have the blond wood because that was in vogue at that time. And so that section, obviously we had-we had put aluminum siding on that part of the building and many years ago. It was actually asbestos siding before that,which would be illegal in this day and age. But- so you can see,you know,there's certain aspects of the building, obviously,probably the most historical part is obvious the building, obviously, which is where Pagliai's located. And I- and to be honest with you, I think this is a non issue primarily because of Pagliai's pizza. Everybody remembers Pagliai's pizza. They wouldn't remember the building other than Pagliai's pizza. You know,most people weren't born yet when Pagliai's had come into existence. And- and,you know, I was 13 years of age when Pagliai's came in. Before that,there was a grocery store there,then- then before a grocery store saloon and so on. So but the issue obviously remains that,you know,because of Pagliai's basically and how visible Pagliai's has been in the Iowa City community,that you would earmark that building as a historic landmark predominantly because of Pagliai's. Pagliai's I wasn't there I would just-it would be- it wouldn't be a point. So that's where I'm getting at. You know,the city would stand to have a lot more tax revenue, if that was developed. Teague: Thank you. Skarda: And that. Teague: Thank you. Skarda: You're welcome. Teague: Thank you. Yeah,your time is up. Thank you. We're going to bring up other individuals. I want to see the hands of those that want to speak to this topic. Okay. All right. Um, We're going to go with three minutes,but I want people to be cognizant of our time because we're going to allow about 30 minutes for comments. All right?Welcome. Please state your name and city you're from. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 22 Birla: Um,my name is Puja Birla, and I'm from Iowa City. I have lived here for nearly 20 years. Um, I just wanted to say that buildings and structures have soul and personality. They're a record of our lives. They are part of our collectic- collective memory, our collective consciousness. Whether they have been around for five generations, like - like for some of you here, or they've been around in our lives only for one generation, for example, someone like me. Um,to demolish or to remove such a building means to brutally and methodically remove a piece of our lives, a piece of our memory. Pretend that something that has played such a huge role in the collective lives of our community actually never existed. Sure, old buildings are tough to maintain. I know this because I live in a house that is nearly 150 years old. The work is never done. Um, it's the same when grandma lives with you. She has stories and soul and personality,but she's also demanding and can get pretty cranky. Is that a reason to remove her from our lives?Does this council want to be the one that removes a building that has soul and personality? Is part of this community's collective memory. Has played some kind of a role in the lives of nearly everyone in this room?Does this council want to give permission to remove a building that is nearly as old as this city? Is this going to be your legacy? I know many people in our community don't know the details of the issue we are discussing right now. They may not understand the implications of- of what happens if the council does not give this location the historical status it deserves. What does this Council think will happen when people realize that a historical structure has been demolished to make way for yet another cookie cutter apartment building. How will you be remembered five years,ten years from now by voters in Iowa City? Thank you. Teague: Thank you. I'm gonna ask people to start to gather in the aisle in order for us to make sure that we hear from everyone? I'm gonna ask you to come up and then state your name and the city you're from. And you can place that in the basket. Welcome. Thomann: Hi. My name is Diana Thomann, and I've read to you different things. And today, I'm just gonna tell you a story, an experience that I had in my old house this weekend. Um, I was working on the windows. Old structures. They are repairable. I have worked on storm windows on my house,but this was the fust time working on an indoor window, one that is facing the interior, it has a pulley and weight system, and the cords had broken, so I needed to restring those pulleys. And I was kind of hesitant to get the window out,but everything went well. I got the trim off, got the window out. And I was just admiring. It is a heavy solid piece. It's got that wavy cylinder glass. It's gorgeous. And as I was turning it and looking at it, I noticed handwriting on the side of this-this pane, and here it said on it. It was signed in pencil. It said enameled by Bert Lodson March 28, 1952. And I'm trying to figure out who Bert Lodson is. So I've got this kind of going out within the community on Facebook. We're kind of starting this narrative of who is Bert?Who knows Bert. In my house, it was built in 19- 1876. So that's a year after the Slesak building. It's an Italianate,just like the Slesak building. Um, and, you know, I- I have different encounters like this with my home, I dig up an artifact, I've found toys, metal steel toys in my yard, different things like that, and there's just this sense of wonder that happens when you're working on these old homes,when you're in their presence, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 23 that-that is just,to me, so remarkable, and it really captures my imagination about the city and living here. And these are just everyday experiences for me,but I think if we let Pagliai's,the Slezak building go,um we're losing a larger part of our history. This is on a grander scale. It's not just a little story that I'm sharing. We're losing something of our Czech heritage. We're losing that vital history that made us Iowa City. And, um,to let it go and not land market just seems like a shame and goes against the values of this city. We started this meeting talking about Arbor Day. Um,we value sustainability and trees and materials. We started talking about affordable housing and um, and fair housing. And this structure has affordable, er, apartments in it. So please consider these issues when you think about this further. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. Welcome. Please state your name and city you're from. Skarda: My name is Victoria Skarda and I'm Gary Skarda's daughter. Um,this truly saddens me, and I'm very angry at the amount of people who have spoken up against my father. My dad grew up on this property, and I spent majority of my childhood here with my grandparents. I would occasionally help my dad get the apartments ready for new tenants in the summer, and I always look forward to my dad treating me to Pagliai's afterwards. Nothing was more satisfying than breaking free from Iowa's unbearable humidity, sitting in the chilly air conditioned restaurant while enjoying a crisp slice of pepperoni pineapple pizza and a zesty cherry Coke. My family has worked extremely hard to maintain this building,passed down by my great-great grandfather Joseph Slezak,the Hala Apartments has now become my father's legacy. Putting it on the market was the hard decision for my father to make, and we're not claiming it'll get demolished once it's sold. The amount of people who have shown up to these meetings to paint us as the villains of Iowa City without taking into consideration the broader perspective is mind blowing, and it's very inconsiderate. This building is far more significant to my family and I than anyone that's on the Historic Peservation or anyone else that's speaking out against us. My dad is handicapped, and I've watched his health decline within this last year.Nobody has even considered the financial burden this ordeal will put on our family. This type of stress on someone who's already sick is simply not fair. This property has been in our family for generations, and it has definitely changed over time. Due to my dad's health,he's unable to maintain it. Selling it is the best option, and he's unable to do so because the historically landmark building isn't appealing to buyers. The inside of the building is deteriorating and we'll need to get remodeled eventually. Unfortunately,with my dad's constant hospital bills, tax bills, and other expenses,he doesn't have the funds for the building's upkeep, and the Historic Peservation isn't offering enough to help him. Judging by everyone, save Pagliai's stickers, I believe that preserving this building has more to do with Pagliai's occupying the downstairs area and less about the Bohemians who twirled around in the upstairs dance hall. Majority of Iowa City's residents are afraid of change, and they're worried that the sale of the building will push Pagliai's out of business. I truly believe that they will be successful regardless of the outcome. I love Pagliai's and the owners are amazing. The owner of Pagliai's was a pallbearer at my grandfather's funeral and has been a longtime family friend of ours. I would love for them to stay in business just like everyone else. However,Pagliai's doesn't make this property historic. It's really This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 24 upsetting that no matter how hard my father objects,the Historic Peservation won't res- respect his wishes. I feel like as if we're on trial- as if we're sitting here on trial, fighting for our family's rights. My father already expressed how much he doesn't want his property landmarked. This should be his decision. It's private property, and nobody should have the authority to force him into this. Teague: Thank you. Welcome. Honahan: Good evening,Mr. Mayor and City Council. My name is Jay Honahan. I'm a longtime member of the Iowa City community. Um, I'm speaking here tonight on behalf of Mr. Skarda. I do not think the building should be designated as a historical landmark. As it's been stated already,there's been significant changes made to the building since you- since it's been built. There's,um, things that have been added on. And,um, also,um,Mr. Skarda replaced,um, a bunch of storm windows and he's put on sidding,um,his costs, and it's cost him a lot of money to do that since at the age of the building, and,um,you're not giving him very much financial help with the 45%tax break is not enough for Mr. Skarda and also, I agree that there's,you know,the Pagliai's pizza building should not be a reason to make it historical landmark. Pagliai's when it first came to Iowa City was on Clinton Street, and,um,then eventually they moved to where their current location is on Bloomington Street. And if the owner decided to retire and move Pagliai's then-,um, then you just got a building there. And the building should not be made a historical landmark. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. Welcome. Please state your name and city you're from. Sellegren: My name is Jordan Sellegren. I'm the Chair of the Historic Peservation Commission and I live in Iowa City. Um,thank you for your consideration of this issue, and thanks to Planning and Zoning for being part of the discussion today and for voting in favor of landmarking. The best cities preserve their histories. Um, we have very few buil- buildings like this in Iowa City, and I believe that this is a valuable part of our community. Since this process began,you-you've heard a lot about why this building is important to Iowa City and why it's worthy of our protection. Um,this community strongly supports using our zoning laws to protect it because it is an important part of our history. This is a valuable property. The owner will benefit financially,whether it's landmarked or not. But once it's gone, it's gone. That's it. It's gone. As of yesterday, Council has received nearly 100 letters in overwhelming support of this designation. Before that,Historic Peservation and Planning and Zoning received nearly 50 from the community. A letter from Council from the president of the National Czech in Slovak Museum and Library in Cedar Apids has urged Iowa City leadership to preserve the cultural landmark that represents how crucial immigrants have been in our community, our state, and our country. Um, some members did write and fav-not only in favor of protecting the building,but out of concern for the fate of Pagliai's pizza,which is a local business. It's been in operation since 69. And it is a fact that redevelopment of this property in a resulting possible two or three year relocation or closure, if it were allowed to come back to the new development would- could be devastating to the business. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 25 Um,19 adjacent businesses within three blocks, co signed a letter in favor of the designation, imploring that the building is vital to the culture and charm of the North Side commercial district,not because of Pagliai's but because of the building itself,because of the its- its historic qualities. Experienced developers have told you that historic landmark stata- status can actually bring more value to a property and make generous federal and state incentives available for rehabilitation of both the exterior and the interior of the property. The Historic Peservation Commission,the Planning and Zoning Commission and the professional staff in Iowa City have done the jobs that you assigned by putting forward this proposal to designate the building as a historic landmark. The Iowa City community overwhelmingly supports this designation, and I- I believe that tonight's vote should be a landslide to protect it. And I really do thank you for your work and for your consideration and for-to the Skarda family, I know that this has not been easy. Um,but I- I do truly believe there is value in a landmark property, and I- I- I stand by that, and we'll do what we can to work with the family. Thank you. Teague: Yeah. Thank you. Welcome. Please state your name and city you're from. Westermeyer: Barry Westmeyer, Iowa City. Um, I'm here in support of the Skarda family. Uh, I asked the question,who benefits from adding these addresses to the historic district overlay? Certainly,not the building's owner. The moment designat- designation is implemented,the property value is limited and diminished. Mr. Skarda has stated that maintenance has grown beyond his scope, and I can relate with firsthand experience that upkeep of historic property alone can be daunting and exhausting. Then add in the albatross of not being able to do modern energy efficient replacements and updates to windows, doors, and HVAC systems. By having to meet stringent and expensive standards,the potential pool of buyers is diminished when-when selling the property as well. Delayed, deferred, or just ignored upkeep,then it can potentially lead to what has been termed demolition by neglect. I contend that the city does not fiscally benefit with these restrictions because it limits development and misses out on the addition to the tax base. I've both seen and read earlier proponents,uh, opinions of historical preservation of this property, and it's easy to give an opinion when you have no skin in the game and no ownership. I once again, support the Skarda family. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. And welcome. Please state your name and city you're from. Swaim: Hi. I'm Ginalie Swaim. And uh,the reason we call it the Pagliai's building and the stickers because that's an easier name for people to associate with the building right now, Scalab Slesak-Hulba-Skarda is a mouthful, and we're all learning these names because of this fascinating history. Pagliais was a way to help us communicate to a broader audience. Um, in 1969,when I came to the university,uh, I was so intrigued by these the Chicano center across the river and the Afro-American center. And these-these old houses that were being used as cultural gathering places for students of different ethnicities than the mostly white farm kids and city kids that came to the university. And I thought that these-these newest comers to Iowa,uh, deserved a place like this and needed a place like this where their needs could be met and identified. And don't we want This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 26 this community to have these kind of gathering places for people of different ethnicities and identities?Don't we want to be a community that honors the newcomers and preserves and tells their stories. Another place for newcomers that we recognized and landmarked maybe five years ago was the Tate Arms and the Federation Home. These two buildings housed black University of Iowa students who could not find housing by from the university because they were black. And we recognized that those stories are extremely important that those two places were places for newcomers and we have honored them and preserved them. And the Tate Arms is the only boarding house for black students on the south side that remains,302, 316 Bloomington was such a place. It was a place for newcomers, and even the livery stable was a place for newcomers. The farmers who came in from Shueyville and Swisher who were Bohemian had put their horses somewhere. That's where they did it. Horses were as common as cars in Iowa City. Regular old houses had barns behind them with a horse and hay and maybe some chickens. They could buy hay down at Iowa Avenue,where Iowa Book is now. Downtown,there were hitching posts and watering troughs and this is now the only livery stable remaining in Iowa City. It was part of a place for newcomers,this building. Let's hope Iowa City always has newcomers. Let's hope Iowa citians always help newcomers with what they need. And let's hope that we have the good sense to protect the historical buildings like this one that have been places for newcomers. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. And welcome. Please state your name and city you're from. Futrell: Hi. My name is Susan Futrell, and I live um, on Fairchild Street in the North Side neighborhood. Um, and I'm speaking to you again. I realize um, in addition to last time, I want to thank the Council for taking the extra time to really reconsider and think through this um, decision. And I hope that you will take seriously all of the information and letters and background on this that you-you've gotten. I think it's a clear indication that there are lots of reasons to support land marking of the building. Um, I just want to respond to a few things that have been said tonight. Um, one, I- I don't think the Skarda family are villains. In fact, I think you've taken incredible care of a beautiful building that really adds a lot to our community, and I appreciate that a lot. I've lived in Iowa City for 50 years,um, a little over, actually, scary. I came here as a student about the fust 20 some years I was a tenant, and I've been a homeowner since then. And my 20 some years as a tenant in Iowa City taught me really clearly that there are reasons why we have zoning and building codes and laws that govern what property owners can do with their property. Um, it's for the benefit of the whole community, and I think that's part of what's at stake here. Um, I've been here that long. I- I can count on two hands the times I've been in Pagliai's,but I walk by that building almost every day, and it has a um, character and a history, some of which I've just learned now and some of which I've appreciated all along that I think gives this old part of Iowa City,which is rapidly being kind of surrounded by tall buildings,um, a different character and is one of the reasons that people come to Iowa City and see it as an interesting and attractive place. I also wanted to respond um, the-the two times I've been here speaking before you about this issue,there have also been public comments about affordable housing. This neighborhood is among the densest in Iowa City and has among the most diverse array of housing types of any city. There This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 27 are big buildings,there are big houses. There are rooming houses and places like the Skarda's building that have affordable studio and one bedroom apartments. I can imagine- I cannot imagine if that building is sold- if the property sold the building is torn down and something new is put up,that it will be replaced with affordable housing that close to the university. So I want you to think again about what that building could offer,um,not about the restrictions,but about the huge opportunity that you have to do right by the building in the neighborhood. Teague: Thank you. Futrell: Thank you. Teague: Welcome. Please state your name and city you're from. Perry: Hello, I'm Joshua Perry. I'm from Iowa City. I've lived here all my life. I'm here to support the community. I'm here to support the Skarda family. I'm here to bring back to your attention that this is not an attack on Pagliai's. This is an attack on an elderly- elderly man. Who as you guys watch him walk up or he sees on this literal last leg. And it is backed into a corner with not much he can do. All right. As you heard the Skarda say they've been there for six generations. They've had Pagliai's the owner there at the funeral,they are connected. This is not an attack on them. Yet, everyone's wearing stickers saying, save Pagliai's. Yes, it is historic in one sense,but it's more historic to them and has more value and more impact than to them than anyone else here in this room. Most of the people in this room have no idea what buildings are connected. The layout of the buildings,they have no idea what's inside of the buildings or the condition that it's in. No one has been inside of these buildings for ages, okay? They need renovation and it's expensive. It is well more expensive than he's able to handle. He can't afford his own health care because of it. And the city says,hey,you know,we're going to provide you with this and that,but they haven't. The community says they want to provide this and that,but you haven't. Okay. It's just the Skarda families right now providing for this building and keeping it up and- and it's hard. Something has to give. So that means either the city has to give back enough more where he can actually be sustained or he has no other choice but to move forward. And again,this is an attack on the Pagliai's. It's more just an attack on his constitutional right to sell his own property, his own family's property, okay?Whether they stay there or not with-that's that I don't know how the future holds with that. However,there could be a possibility they stay, it could be a possibility that building doesn't change. That depends on the next developer that can bring in more jobs, influx of jobs into our community,more tax dollars into our community that will be spent and circulated back into our community. It's a positive. Change is hard, growth is hard,but it takes sacrifice. And the only person that's been sacrificed so far is this man. That's what I want to make as my point to the community is to think about that.No one's taken away your double cheese,whatever,pineapple pepperoni pizzas. All right.No one's attacking your pizza,but in my opinion,you are attacking someone's constitutional right, and it is unjust and disgusting, as you watch him stand up here on literally his last leg and still want to take away his rights. A landslide This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 28 victory,my ass. I please implore the council to have better sense and say,hey,what if I were in his position? It's about perspective. What if it was you and your family?What would you think is right?What's just? I support the community once again,as I said. I do support every side of it,but I support justice fust, and I support the Skarda family. Thank you. Teague; Thank you. Is that name tag for the basket? Thank you. Welcome. And is there anyone that is sitting that want to be a part because we're at the end?All right. So these last four will be the final. Welcome. Degraw: Hi. I'm Sharon Degraw. I live in the North Side-North Side neighborhood. Um, I hope that you'll be able to vote in favor of the measure tonight and remind you that you still do have two other votes. The attempt to landmark the building has gone before four councils before. This really means a big deal to try to get it through this time. Uh the- I think that there are still points to consider. If you were to vote in favor tonight,you still have time to reconsider other aspects. The reason why I'm here is actually because of Gary and how much he told me about the building,the history of the Czech immigrants that built the building. It's not the pizza at all. When we wear the stickers, it's because everyone recognizes the name of the building as the Pagliai's building. The people who are motivated to talk to you tonight in favor of land marking love the building. Um, I also think about in this process how other areas of Iowa City could just as easily have positive development in terms of cultural interest,thriving businesses and neighborhoods and making sure that that happens so that undue pressure to develop successful areas right outside of the downtown don't keep happening. Um,we have a good thing here. There is a business draw. There is a tourism draw because people love the look of this little historic area. When you start pulling it down,you will lose that. And that's, I think is one of the reasons that the business owners signed something because they see there-they see a great area, and they don't want to lose it. I think that some of the fear about what happens when you landmark a building is really fear based. I think that there will be someone to buy this building or this lot. Um, I'm also intrigued with some of the things that I think Mazahir here was getting at, and I don't know if I will uh, get into a little territory where I maybe don't know everything,but maybe you will open up this dialogue. If it's land marked today,uh, could someone like, go to the board of adjustments the future buyer, and then say, I wish to uh,unlandmark section- sections of the building. I'm getting that Eric would say today,no, on this day,that's a no,but in the future,maybe that would be a yes. We can't tell. However, if you don't landmark today, we can't have that discussion. So I think that's an important thing for you to uh,talk about or want to investigate and get more information. If that were to happen, could the lot then be bisected? I think maybe the-when I listened to Mazahir here talking,maybe that's what she was talking about. Um, I also know that there are lots of available parking lots to develop. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. Welcome. Please state your name and city you're from. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 29 Tassinary: My name is Lou Tassinary Iowa City. I'm going to try to be in a minute and a half, not do the full three minutes. Um, I'm really disappointed that at this point in time, given the nature of the comments,that it's being framed again as a zero sum game,and it isn't. It categorically is not,right? Private property doesn't trump public good and public good doesn't trump private property. It all works together. That's the job that you all have is to make that work. This is a building that has all the attributes that would lead you to say it should be landmarked. That does not mean that the Skarda family does not make money selling the building. They do make money selling the building. There's other value. And the only thing I'll also just leave you with is that the only thing that makes a place a place is its provenance and its things and its buildings. If we are only a conduit for free capital, there is no place. I want to say that again. If we are only a conduit for free capital,there's no place. We can be anywhere. If we want Iowa City to be something,we continue to do what Iowa City does best. Balance private property,property rights, civil rights,public good. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. And welcome to the next speaker. Kippes: Hi. My name is Izzy. I didn't intend to speak. Let me make this quick. I want to respond to an earlier comment that those that don't own property don't have skin in the game. Landlords have their evenings off and can come speak in defense of their buddies at City Hall. This city council meeting is the chance for those who do not have the capital to purchase speculative housing and extract value from people who need a roof over their heads to speak at City Council and advocate for change.Now, I don't care about Pagliai's. If I can be honest, I hate pizza. But I understand historic landmark designation does not inhibit a sale. Just prevents a group from swooping in and destroying the building to build more luxury housing. Like that monstrosity on the corner of Market and Linn. I don't want to see more condos and less dense housing. I want to see more dense housing. I want to see more respect for historic property in the city and not crocodile tears for landlords. Thank you. Teague; Thank you. Welcome please state your name and city you're from. Westmeyer: Laura Westmeyer, I live here in Iowa City and was married at the Arbor Day Lodge. Historic Peservation has its roots during urban development. While the poor and the minorities were having their homes destroyed,the rich were having their homes historically preserved. And as it affected poor, and as the affected poor said,it wasn't just losing their homes. They lost their neighbors,their neighborhood,their schools,their church,where they shopped,their business,they lost so much. While those who lived in historic homes enjoyed having their home-homes being seen as museum pieces,they kept all their neighbors,their memories,their church,their families were untouched. And then the Historic Peservation is that such high standards as to make it impossible for minorities to much less afford the homes,but then to have the ability to up keep them on the expensive 18th and 19th century antiquities. It is racism at its finest. For many communities, it's now an embarrassment that they participated in Urban Development and Historic Peservation . I'm sure the new immigrants that we heard here speak earlier This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 30 today would much rather see this be turned into affordable housing where they can have an opportunity to feel safe and raise their children in a supportive community. Or would you rather preserve this building against the wishes of the family who owns it and for the few who have special memories. I'm sure if most people in this community had to choose between protecting special memories they had with their families who could afford to eat a Pagliai's or to choose to allow the sale of this building to a developer who could provide a safe and affordable place for families to live. They'd forgo their special memories to see others in our community taken care of. Manville Heights is a perfect example of community members who cared. They were educated and they wanted nothing to do with the elitist racist attitude of Historic Peservation , and so fought tooth and nail to keep it out of their community, and they won.Now that we know better, let's do better.Now that we have greener,more efficient, safer windows, let's allow them to be put everywhere in our community.Now that we have energy efficient heap pumps, let's allow minor modifications to be made to the front. Oh,my gosh, did I say the front of historic property?Yes,the front of historic property and allow modifications,the secretary of the interior endorses. So all Iowa City and some can have a better quality of life. Tax incentives,the siding is 10 times more expensive. The windows are six times more expensive,not to mention all the other labor costs,the additional costs of just the time it takes to order all the antiquated equipment. To get a 25%tax break on something that costs 10 times more,there's no value in it. Anyone that says it's not more expensive is truly an armchair quarterback and they haven't been down this road. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. And I-we already have the opportunity for everyone to say they wanted to speak. Ali: So she wants to speak on behalf of immigrants, and I just wanted to, like,touch on that. Teague: I'm sorry,but- Ali: So it's okay for her to speak on behalf of the immigrants. Teague: We've already-we've already allowed for the public to speak. Dunn: Mayor I- I would really appreciate if we could hear one last- one last. Teague: We-we've already allowed for everyone that wanted to speak to come forth. So at this time, I'm going to ask you to return to your seat so that we can continue. Ali: All right. I would like to ask that white woman,what she does with immigrants on a day to day basis because we don't agree with what others are saying. Teague: All right- all right. So and I- I want to make sure that-thanks everybody that came and spoke. I know that it's not a easy topic. I'm going to close the public hearing. 2. Consider an Ordinance(First Consideration) [Deferred from 4/2/241 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 31 Teague: And could I give motion- get a motion to give fust consideration,please? Moe: So moved Moe. Alter: Second,Alter. Teague: All right. Can Council discussion. Salih: I- I was putting my hand up,you know, I- I don't know. You want to ask question? Teague: Yes. Salih: To uh-to Jordan,the president of the commission. Alter; To Jordan. Teague: So Mayor Pro Tem wants to ask a question to Jordan. So,you can come to the- Salih: I think the applicant they can speak at any time,right? Sellergren: Hello. Salih: Yes, Jordan. I- I spoke to you about this and you told me about a building that has been remarked originally and after that being-part of it has been undo. Sellergren: Well, I was- I was under the impression through some conversations that I'd had few days before we spoke that it would be possible that the possibility exists that the property could be partitioned and rezoned if the property owner proposed it to the city through certain routes,which I don't have details on. Again,Mazahir I'm sorry, if I was misleading and misunderstood what I had been told. I was under the impression that that was a possibility. And if it were, Historic Peservation would certainly work with the city and the owner. Salih: Okay. And that means now,this is not a possibility. Sellergren: I really don't- I really don't know the answer. I personally believe there's probably a way,but I don't know what that way is. Teague: Any other questions for her,Mayor Pro Tem? Salih:No, I- I have a question also. I don't know if that for her or for the staff,but somebody told me between that meeting and this meeting. I don't know who that,you know,the money that they have the-the tax incentive that they can use it for interior as well. Can somebody tell me if that's true or not? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 32 Sellergren: That is true. Salih: You mean. There's- can you just speak about it so? Sellergren: The tax incentives,the federal and state tax incentives can be used for interior updates. Yeah. And I'm getting a nod from Historic Peservation staff and Planning staff as well. Salih: Okay. I cannot see them. That's fine. And also,yeah thank you. Thank you,Jordan. Sellergren: Thank you,Mayor Pro Tem. Dunn: I think we need to complete the motion that we were on. Alter: I seconded. Teague:No. It was- It was moved and seconded. Salih: And discussion now? Teague: Yes. Salih: Okay. Dunn: Is it okay if I start? Teague: Go ahead. Dunn: Yeah. Um, so this is very clearly to everyone in the room and on the dias,this is a very tense topic. I think it requires a considerable amount of- of consideration of research and of our own personal diligence and of the diligence of a number of experts that are taking part in this process today. So the fust thing that I want to reflect on is what is the question before Council today?You know,what is our standard of review?Um, I think the most succinct way to- for us to understand that is,we must answer the question. We must answer the question today unless we defer or something else procedural,whether or not the proposed zoning change,which is a historic designation. It is still though a zoning change. Is appropriate,uh, is in line with our comprehensive plan, is in line with all other aspects of City code, and simultaneously, if it is a historic enough property to justify overwriting the owner's consent. Um, I think the answer to both of those questions today should be clearly,yes. Um, I think there's a variety of reasons for- for that. Um,but the fust thing I want to talk to, rather than going right-right into my reasons is- is a bit about the council's authority in this whole process. Um, City councils,municipal governments, and governments in general have statutory authority through the rezoning process. Something that we are taking part in right now,which is extensive,um, in which we are This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 33 able to regulate land use and functionally what people do with their property.Nobody's rights are being violated in this- in this situation,because this is a right of- of Council to act in the interest of the public good and of the commons,right?Every single land decision that we make on this dias is exactly that. It is determining whether based on the law that we have created,the plans that we have created,the decision is in the interest of the common good, in the interest of the public,um, and in alignment with those things that we have already determined,um, facilitate that common good. Um, additionally, I want to talk also about the comment that TRC Commissioner Tassinary brought up in his comments,which was that this is not a zero sum game. I could not agree with that,you know, anymore,honestly. Um,we are not in a position where we are taking money out of people's pockets. That's not there. We were talking about limiting real estate speculation that is not based on actual land value,um, as- as worked on by our city assessor, or county assessors. The actual property value of- of this property is a little bit under two million dollars,but probably in the market could go for above- above two. Rather than the thing that really freaked a lot of people out in this community,which was the conversation and the posting of this property for five million dollars, emphasizing on the fact that it is a primary for development without a historic designation,which was then changed to describing it as a landmark with a L in its current posting of- of real estate posting. So that's what got people freaked out, of course. That doesn't change what our question is. It doesn't change the things that we must look to during this process,the historic value of- of the property.None of that is changed by all of these items. So I would request that people do their best to remove those types of thoughts from their head as we consider this. Um,what I think about throughout this process is something that's pretty unique in the United States. We are a very young country. Um, and because of that, there are very- as well as,you know,the process of colonial destruction,there are very few old buildings in this country,the Europeans and the people,the Africans,the Asians and even some of the Aborigines,they laugh at us,when we have these sort of squabbles about 200 year old buildings because theirs can be thousands,right?We don't have many of those properties pard-pardon me. There are very many of those structures. And so we are at the forefront of a discussion that is going to matter hundreds of years into our future. So I want to put that in perspective for people as well. Um,when it comes down to it, this is a decision that is very rare, I think, for- for Council to have in front of us. We have a situation where historians,museums,nation-national historic societies, affordable housing activists, environmentalists, architects,neighbors,the business community in large Historic Peservation and Planning and Zoning, in addition to our staff are all telling us based on the standard of review that is before us,this is an appropriate action. Whether or not something can be done with the property in the future, in terms of parceling it out, in terms of,you know, changing designation or something like that is not the question that's before us today. It is based on our knowledge of the properties, and quite honestly, I'm going to echo another comment,which was, I don't consider the Pagliai's part of this at all in- in my review of the facts or my review of my decision. Um, I consider the cultural,historic and architectural beauty of this building and history of this building, fust and foremost. Um, sorry, if I'm kind of rambling. I have a lot of notes and a lot of thoughts on this. Um,but ultimately,we're in a rare situation where we have all of these community stakeholders that are on the same side that are-that are asking us to act in the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 34 public good. If Council should choose to invest more in Historic Peservation in the future or in direct grants for Historic Peservation in the future, I think we should do so. I think that that is valuable,right?We should make it a reasonable thing to do in our community that people are happy to have a Historic Peservation designation. And I know a lot of people who are,um,but that is not the question that is before us today. The question is- is this property wealthy of historic designation and is it in line with our various regulations that staff,P and Z, and HPC have all told us it is. I am inclined to agree with them. And I would believe because I- I strongly believe that the entirety of this council believes in the historicity of the Pagliai's building itself. If you believe that structure, is worthy of a historic designation in this moment. Whether or not you believe the rest of the property is the only action that I-that I can advocate that you take is to vote for this designation. There will not be a second chance. We know that is the case. Thank you. Moe: Thanks. Well, I'm happy to go next. Um, I work in the reahn of Historic Peservation. I'm a preservation architect, so I've,you know,worked in this profession for 15 years. And I was initially interested in Historic Peservation,because I just like old buildings. I didn't have words to articulate why. I just loved them. So I went to school and studied it. And while I learned a lot in school being in Cincinnati, I saw two things happen at the same time that were very instructive for me. There was an historic neighborhood called Over the Rhine that was-that was blighted and empty. And I saw the most dynamic interesting renaissance of a community, of a neighborhood that I've ever seen before. It is now economically successful. It is racially diverse. It's walkable. It's one of the more desirable places to live. Other parts of town decided to scrape clean and rebuild new things. And 15 years later,those places are not loved,not cared for, and devaluing rapidly. After witnessing that, I decided that I am hooked on preservation and I didn't want to do it as a profession.Now, since then,the preservation movement has taken on a- a- a new sort of piece, and that piece is sustainability. And we heard a lot about that in the previous meeting,but I want to bring that back up. Um, and,you know, our human activities contribute so much to climate change, and we know that buildings are one of the largest contributors to that. And buildings can be divided into two parts. There's this energy to keep the lights on and keep it cooled,but there's also the energy that goes into constructing a building. And so this whole process of Historic Peservation,what I saw in Cincinnati was it was economically sustainable and socially sustainable. And since then, I've learned that it is also ecologically sustainable. And so I just have- I'm just such a fan of preservation because that-that framework yields sustainable communities, economically successful communities and neighborhoods and ecologically sustainable cities. And that at core are my values as a city Councilor to promote social, economic, and ecological sustainability. When I look at our comprehensive and strategic plans,that is exactly what we're trying to do,but said differently. Even if it isn't using the exact same words.Now,the specifics of this recommendation,the seminal question for Historic Peservation is, is it historically significant and is it culturally significant to the community?And I-1 think that that is an incredibly high barrier. And the statistics support that. We have 28,000 or more properties in Iowa City and 67 landmarked. So that's less than a quarter of a percent. So if anybody is worried about runaway This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 35 landmarking, it's just not going to happen. It is a long, cumbersome project reserved for very,very,very special properties. Um, and the process is incredibly slow by design. Um, it's also important to note that historical significance isn't just some feeling. It's actually an honorary that you earn from historians,people with PhDs and qualifications established by the National Park Service. This property in its totality, all of the parts and pieces,the entire lot was determined by a professional,to be historically significant,by an expert. And based on the,um,historian's report, our HPCs recommendation, our P&Z recommendation, and scores of letters of support we received, I have no idea that it's both historically significant and also culturally significant to this community. I do think it's important to weigh the importance of the public's interest in protecting this building versus the-the private owners building rights. It's a serious business. I take that seriously, but that consideration is built into our code. That's why this process takes so long. We have loads of case law that says that we can do it. We have done it in the city in the past. That's why we have to have a super majority of the owner protests. So I think that we have the systems in place to make sure that this is-this is rare and only for- for truly exceptional buildings. Um, I think Councilor Dunn did a good job describing some of the-the sort of development opportunities here as an historic landmark are great. It's not an either/or. I appreciate also Councilor Tassinary's testimony about it's not a zero sum game. It's just us telling the owner or the future owners you can and should develop this. Public money is now part of the equation for you. But the way that you're going to do it might be not exactly the fust vision that you had,but you can still make something meaningful and beautiful that benefits the entire community. Um, so I will be voting yes for this because I think it matches our comprehensive plan to preserve historic buildings. I think it aligns with our strategic plan. I think it aligns with the Historic Peservation plan that says they are to identify historic structures and bring them to us. I think it aligns with my personal ethics, and I think that it's historic, I think it's significant, and I don't think it limits the ability of someone to invest in this building and make it last another 150 or more years. Alter: Along with the old Capitol,this building is actually one of the most recognizable and iconic buildings in Iowa City. Um,both HR- the Historic Peservation Commission and P&Z both concur, as well as the professional who was brought in to not just go on,yeah, looks about right. Professional who has been trained to dig into the historical significance and the cultural significance of it. And all of these entities have deemed that there is historic value in this property and that it is worth registering. It's consistent with three comprehensive plans, and significantly, 19 local businesses concur. They're not doing it simply because they love the building. They believe that there is an economic anchor to this building and in this neighborhood. The outside edifice is protected. Yes,potentially, right?Uh, and it has subsidies for the property owner,whoever that property owner is, for proper restoration and maintenance. The inside of that building also gets tax breaks and has been explained repeatedly. It is not bound by the same strictures. As an architectural and retail anchor of the North Side market,this building will be salable and it will be attractive to new developers. This isn't something that I- and I want to emphasize this because I was actually very much. I was not on council, and I was kind of on the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 36 periphery,but I remember when,um,the buildings,the cottages were raised to make way for the rise. I think that's No,not the rise. What was it?Um. Moe: Ah,there's probably the only one that was recognized by name would be the Del Ray,um, project. Alter: All right. I'm thinking of a different one. Anyway. So but I remember that there was an outcry and I remember thinking,this is kind of crazy because it's the fust time that it's happened. This isn't. It's taken four decades that this has come before various councils to get this designation. This isn't a last gaps. Oh,we just finally started paying attention. This effort has been made repeatedly. I am staunchly in favor of providing a frame- a framework to incentivize future historic tagging. I'm going to just be casual about it. Um, but I am also largely in favor of property owners rights,but in this situation, this is where it is not a zero sum. This building will be salable and it will cost a decent chunk of change for whoever buys it because of where it is, and in fact,what it is anchoring. So I think it can be something that it both anchors the neighborhood and it can allow for new life moving forward that's going to connect and reflect Iowa City's past. So I am in favor of this. Bergus: I just want to echo the comments of my colleagues and highlight a couple of things that I learned earlier today when we had the conversation with the Planning and Zoning Commission earlier this afternoon. I think it was Commissioner Quellhorst who noted that,you know,the-the issue really is for us to consider the balance and to decide,you know, considering the public value of preservation of a historic building of the significance and the property owner's rights and how those might be impacted, I take very seriously the family and supporters comments this evening and understand where you're coming from. The common ground that I'm hearing is that people appreciate this site, that it is very meaningful to a variety of people for a number of reasons. And I do think, ah, as Commissioner Tassinary said, it is not a zero sum game. That our job as policymakers is to consider a number of factors and to find the balance between those. So for me, ah,the balance, in this case, comes down on the side of preserving this historic structure with the understanding that that has an impact on the property owner,but it is not one that-that can't be overcome. Harmsen: A lot of the things that I had been thinking about over the past,uh, several weeks have been said already, so I don't want to go back over that-that too much,uh,but I do want to say that,uh,yes, indeed, I agree. Uh, I caught that comment earlier during our P&Z thing about the-the need to balance that, and to take seriously the property owner rights. I think that's very important to do. And I think that sets an incredibly high bar. Um, and I think, I actually agree, I think with people who,the Skardas and others who had mentioned it, just the pizza place probably wouldn't hit that bar. And this is coming from somebody who probably would need more than two hands to count the times I've- I've enjoyed,uh, you know, I regret nothing. Um,that said,um, it does have such a longer and- and more in depth history. And in fact, some of the comments,um, I- I love the comment about the great,hopefully I got the right number, great, great, great grandfather,Joseph Slezak. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 37 Um,you know, it does go back generations,um, and it talks to and it speaks to the immigrant experience,um, as it looked in that day and age. And- and we've had so much discussion, ah, in this body over many,many meetings. But again tonight,um,talking about that immigrant-the current immigrant situation and- and the fraught nature. But also,we had a group here that is involved with some of this kind of Welcome to Iowa City transitional housing. There's a couple of different groups,the-the immigrant network. Um, and I'm sitting here I'm thinking- I'm listening to this discussion over the last few weeks about, ah,this property and what it meant for the Czech community in that day and age. And nobody's ever going to want to make my home a historic landmark. Ah, but I think some of these homes that are-that are currently being used to welcome immigrants to our community, I hope that somewhere in the future, a future council, if given the opportunity to preserve that for those different communities and that piece of their heritage,that they will give similar careful thought and consideration to those things. Um, and I also just kind of, on that last note, one of the reasons why I'll be supporting this is because I feel that if we missed the opportunity, and somebody had mentioned once the building goes down,you can't get it back, and I think that's true. Um, I also think it's true as we take a look at the location and everything else and being mindful of those-those property rights,that this is going to be a salable property. Um, even the listing,the current listing,um,uh,by the realtor talks about this being,um,you know, an opportunity to own a true landmark property. And I think- I think there's already some recognition of that. Ah, and I hope that,you know, if we do save this, I hope we do, sometime in the distant future,um,walking down the street, ah,we'll have an Iowa City resident who will be able to look up at this building that still stands and say that,you know,my great great grandfather Skarda owned that once upon a time. Um, and those are the kinds of things, I think,that make this an important vote, and why I'll be supporting this designation. Teague: So, Iowa City does embrace historic properties, and I've been on council where certainly there has been a owner in opposition where,um,the property was deemed,uh,to be historic, and I've supported some of those. One of the questions that come to mind at this moment,um,which I tried to find,um, some either transcripts or something relating to the past council decisions on this. I just heard that this has,um, been through four decades before this council where this topic has been brought,um,public comments, stated that,you know, four different councils has had this historic landmark before them. Um, I've tried to figure out where the transcripts are for that. I wasn't able to,uh, obtain any of that. Because I think it's important at least for me to know,um,why it hasn't been designated. Um, I will say that I do believe that,um,historically and culturally significant,um, is a part of the parcel,but I'm not fully,um, convinced in this moment, that is the entirety of the property. I know that there has been a lot of folks coming out, um,to speak on this. I appreciate,um, our Historic Peservation Commission for the work that they did as well as the P&Z Commission,um, and the staff and the community members. I think there has been,uh,without a doubt,um,we've received a lot of commentation,uh, from the community members,whether it was through e-mail,uh, here in person, or while in the grocery store,walking around. So,um, I do know that there has been an overwhelming amount of individuals coming out saying they appreciate This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 38 this building. I do think that,um,while it might have been easier to associate the name with Pagliai's, I think a lot of the individuals,uh, did not have the full knowledge of the historical and the cultural significance of this,uh, Slezak building,um,which,you know, it is what it is. I can try to,you know, look beyond that. You know, I hear that,um,you know,there's been conversations about if we split this,you know, can the property be divided in the future. And I understand we're here to talk about,uh,this local landmark now,but I do think it's important to know,um,what happened before. If we're talking about this has been before the Council four times now, and it failed is what I'm gathering from people's information. Moe: I don't think that's true. Alter: It just didn't make it. Moe: It didn't get to Council four times. Teague: Okay. It didn't. Moe: Yeah. Teague: That's what,um. Yeah, so. Moe: Please correct me if I'm wrong,but this has never been before Council. It has been couched by previous Councils because they didn't want to take it up. Fruin: I'm not aware of that. Teague: Okay. Fruin: I don't think it's been before Council, and at least in my tenure. I don't remember it ever being rejected by Council at an earlier step in the process. Teague: Okay. Fruin: I don't think that's accurate. Teague: Yes. All right. And again. Salih: Mayor can I just like interrupt here? Teague: Yes, sure. Salih: I think I heard one of the commissioner said that when I asked a question,why this has not been landmarked for a long time if it's historic. And they told me they tried to do it many times. What does that mean? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 39 Dunn: I believe it means that there were numers attempts by. Salih: I'm sorry Councilor Dunn,but can I hear one of the Commissioner to clarify what that means. Why now? I asked that question last time, and they told me they tried many times. If one of the commissioners can explain would be good. Teague: If can- if you can come to the mic,please. Sellergren: I'm going to need to. Teague: Thank you. Sellegren: I am going to have to search through my notes to get exact information on this. So it might take me a few minutes. Teague: Okay. All right. I'll I guess, say that again? Salih: I said continue,Mayor. Teague: Yes. So I'm confused because I hear,you know,the Board of Adjustments to divide the building,um,potentially in the future. Um, I do know that there can be,you know,we were told that the building can never be divided,but I know that there are Special Exceptions. I'm really confused on the limitations for this property. And why it theoretically can never be divided. I do believe that there are definitely one or two buildings here that I would hate to see go. Absolutely. And I realize that this really isn't about me. I have to put on a big lens,um,with anything that I,you know,have to do in this role,And when it comes down to owner rights,while I am, um, cognizant and empathetic to owner rights. I also realize that it is my obligation,um, in this role,um,that sometimes we have to,you know,vote against the owner right. So I don't have that issue. I want to just make that,um, public that if, you know, I believe that,you know, something should be,uh,historically landmark,while I can empathize with the owner, if I believe that,you know,that's the path to go,then I would be willing to do that. Do you have the answer for it? Sellegren: I just have a few notes that might clarify a little bit, which is the first attempt was made in the early 80s,um,there was a proposal to create a larger historic district which did fail at City Council,these according to my notes. Again, in the 90s, another attempt was made and failed. I don't actually have details about that. I could find them,um,but it's probably not going to be tonight. Um, and then in 2015, a letter was drafted to the owner and it did not leave the mailbox. Teague: Okay. Sellergren: And that's the information I have, so thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 40 Teague: Thank you. Okay. Salih: Thank you. Teague: So,yeah,part of my issue is, I really do believe that there is something that is a jewel for the City of Iowa City. But for me, it is not the totality of all of those buildings. And that is the challenge that I had last week. That is the challenge that I continue to sit with today. And I'll leave it at that. I am not exactly sure. Um, which direction I'm going to go. I've given this a lot of thought. Moe: Can I say something?Just think about your concern? I hear what you're saying. And when I look at the buildings,too, I look at the Slezak building and say,wow. And then the other ones,they're much more subtle, and you don't notice them as much. I think what's important is that a qualified historian came in and looked at the entire property and said the entire thing is actually really-really special. Having a stable in the building on the same site actually makes it more historic. And I don't know that we should substitute our judgment for what historicity is if there's an expert out there who is willing to say that. I think that is if we think that judgment was made wrongly or incorrectly,we can question it for sure. But somebody whose lifetime job is to look at these things and say,what's historic and what's not has said very clearly that that building we all love,the Pagliai's building,the Slezak Hall is historic on its own,but especially important because it has all of that history connected to it with the stable next to it. Teague: Respectfully. If that historian or the person who did this,um,you know, I heard you say that in a way,we should be taken they've looked at this site, and they deemed it to be historic in it's totality. And we should take that,you know,really seriously and really embrace that and accept that. If that was the case,then that would be kind of in our rules and regs,where it doesn't come to Council. And so there is discretion at everything that we do. Anytime we say a yes or a no vote,there's discretion. And again,thafs where, and you do make a good point as far as like,you know,the entire thing,but I'll just leave it there. Like I said, I still have troubles. And I think all of my Councilors, I've talked to. Yes. Sahli: We got a chance. I think I did have a chance too. Teague: Yeah. Go right ahead Mayor Pro Tem. Sahli: Thank you. Yeah, I- I would like to go with what the-the Mayor said. I also like very hesitant to do this. I love historic building. And they said the Pagliai's building is really, pizza building, is very nice building, and I want to see it to be landmark historic. But I've been asking. I- I just think that we're asking too much. The whole block. That's too much to ask for someone. And if the- I still say if the city would like to see something become historic,you went to some person business. Then the city have to do something. I feel like the-the benefit that the Historic Preservations,you know, commission provide right This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 41 now or the city provide actually right now is not enough for the owner. This building is old building. Council you know,the councilor Josh Moe said, If this building has been really well take care of, it will be like, really last forever. How are they going to do that if now they don't have money and they cannot even,you know, like the owner talked about he cannot keep up with it? I know- I- I know that the interior is nothing,but the-the exterior is,you don't change it often,but the interior,they-they need maintenance all the time. And that's costly. I- I feel like,yes, if the city would like to do that, we should do something. We-we should maybe come up with a budget like,you know, an item on our budget for Historic Peservation building because if we're going to keep asking or to do that,then we better do incentive five or give them some like fund to take care of this building because they are old buildings and need to be maintained. And I- I if the Council are hoping to do this kind of things, and I understand that the public would like to see a lot of building that not going away and everything. Yeah, let us talk about that,too. Let us see how can we make this really benefit for everyone?Like a win win situation. We want to keep the building at the same time,we-we want guys living help the-the owner. I'm- I'm confused because I came today with the impression that even if we like designate this as historic, later maybe the-the half of the-half of the block can be undo. And one of the- I think things the speaker was talking about it too. That's exactly what I meant. Can we do part of it later. And the City Attorney said,no, and now guess I got confused more. And I- I really don't know, like,this could be possible or not. I'm very hesitant to like do this at the same time. I would like to do it. So, I want to give this more time. And I know if I- if it doesn't go through today,that's it. That's why I think maybe. I will vote yes for it today to just keep the conversation going only. Teague;All right. Dunn: If I may. Teague: Yes. Salih: Okay. Dunn: Yeah. Okay. The-there's just a couple of things I- I've thought up through this conversation that I just want to bring to light. I appreciate the comments that everyone shared. But the-the fust thing that I want to comment on is when Mr. Skarda is talking about,you know, lack of funds or,you know,not having the city- city funds not being sufficient enough. Mr. Skarda has not had access to those funds because this property is not designated. So there is no-no possibility that he's been able to receive these types of benefits in the past. So this is-this is something that will change with the designation. Simultaneously, I think that we should also think about this in relation to the impact on- on the whole community. And- and I think an important aspect of that is Housing. Something I wanted to bring up before was- I did happen to look at some statistics about affordable housing. As it relates to this property, one bedroom apartments are typically $8-$900. And the average apartment cost, or pardon me,the one bedroom apartment in Iowa City is about 1350. So in terms of what could replace this building if it were to be This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 42 taken down,which has been expressed by the owner as something that is interest, so long as- as he gets the money to do so,that is something that deeply concerns me. We've got over, I think, 10 units, 12 units that would be gone throughout this process. Mayor, speaking to your concern about the ability and actually Mayor Pro Tem as well, about our ability to,you know,potentially parcel this property off in the future, if that is something that is decided. Um, I would just point out the fact that we are the policymakers. Unless there is a statutory limitation,not the statute of limitations,but a statutory limitation that prevents us from modifying-modifying our zoning code in such a way or building code in such a way as to prevent us from allowing a parceling,we have the authority to change it and make something like that possible. So I think that and Eric,please-please correct me if I'm wrong. In- in our current code as it exists, it may not be possible,but we-we could fear theoretically amend the code in such a way as to make it possible. Goers: Well, the only thing I'd interject is there is a combination of law at play. It is not purely local. There are state and federal law that may be involved as well. So I just want to be clear because I don't know all the details of the interplay between those three levels of government and the laws that affects Historic Peservation such as this,that obviously the council and or future councils would be free to change the local laws,but would not have any power to control state or federal. Dunn: Yeah. And I'm- I'm thinking about specifically local laws,which you're going to relate to the parceling out of properties. You know,that-that's what's going to be the deal in- in my understanding of things is if we- if we were to designate something and then,you know,they were to come forward and say we would like to potentially parcel out this property,we could create a legal construct that would-that would allow that. I don't think that- I- I don't understand how that could have any federal implications. You know, considering that is something that is exclusively done by the Johnson county auditor's office and other municipalities. I think that would be something that we have the purview over. So I think it's a lot more nuanced than this conversation has necessary led to believe. I think we have the authority to change code, I don't know what that code would necessarily have to be. But it would be a greater lift than simply,you know,we need to parcel this out. Hey, can you parcel out,you know,there are extended properties or whatever. So I think that-that possibility is still there. In concept, if you have a Council that is willing to request do the leg work to understand what would-would be necessary for it to happen in this very specific instance. Teague: I see Mayor Pro Tem hand up. Salih: Yes. I- I would like to ask,you know, our City Attorney Eric about. You know this is now if we- if we vote for it tonight for the fust consideration, it still will continue for the second and the third reading it would have to be super majority. Goers: That's correct. Salih: That would change. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 43 Goers;No,that would not change. The super majority requirement would persist for the second and third readings. Salih: And during any time after today, if you don't have that super majority,this is will fail and it's not going to continue. Goers: Correct. If it were to fail any of those three votes,the rezoning would fail. Salih: Okay. That said, I think we have a whole month for,you know,until the last reading. I really would like to see some kind of solution to this and now. Yeah. Alter: Isn't this all predicated on what the owner wants? Teague:No. I- I think. I'm sorry. I don't mean- Alter: I'm sorry I don't mean- I just- I meant in terms of parceling. Like we can't arbitrarily change parceling. Goers: Well, let me clarify the comments I was making earlier about the three levels of government and so forth. If it were to remain a historic zoning and so forth,then I believe that that's correct. The three,you know,may come into play. However,the zoning,which is, of course,what's before the council at this moment, could be undone. You know, a future council could you know,rezone it to something else, something non historic and thus relieve yourselves or the property owner of those obligations that may come with state and federal legislation. Teague: I think for myself, I came in here with,you know, as Mayor Pro Tem said, some assumptions of what could be done. And that's really just for my knowledge base, I think, for this parcel. The last meeting on 4-2, if I was forced to,you know,vote, I wasn't prepared. I- I had questions. I had doubts. And so I,you know, I said,hey,you know, let's do the P&Z consult because if you're forced to vote yes or no, I just wasn't in that position last week. I think even today, I have more remaining questions that I want to be sensitive to everyone before I make a vote. Well, I guess,before I make a vote that don't continue the conversation. And so what I'm planning to do is to vote yes for tonight and then definitely have questions that I'll want to work with staff directly with just from my own knowledge. So I- I'll just leave it at that for now. Are you ready for roll call?Roll call,please. [Roll Call] Motion passes 7-0. Can I get a motion to accept correspondence? Moe: So moved,Moe. Bergus: Second,Bergus. Teague: All in favor say aye. (voice vote)Any opposed?Motion passes 7-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 44 9b. Rezoning—1810, 1816 and 1828 Lower Muscatine Rd. - Ordinance rezoning approximately 6.25 acres of land located at 1810, 1816,and 1828 Lower Muscatine Road from Neighborhood Public Zone (P-1)zone to General Industrial (I-1)zone. (REZ23-0010) (Pass & Adopt) Teague: We're onto 9b,which is rezoning. And thanks to everybody for coming out on this item. Rezoning 1810, 1816, and 1828 Lower Muscatine Road, Ordinance Rezoning approximately 6.25 acres of land located at 1810, 1816, and 1828,Lower Muscatine Road from Neighborhood Public Zone to General Industrial Zone and this is a motion for passing and adopting, could I get it,please? Harmsen: So moved,Harmsen. Alter: Second,Alter. Teague: Move by Harmsen second by Alter. Teague: All right. And Welcome. All right. So we're going to allow the public to come at this time to speak and wanted to see how many individuals wanted to speak on this topic. Okay. All right. Great. Welcome. Please state your name and city you're from. And remember,we have stickers in the back that you can drop in the basket. Welcome. Daby: Hi. My name is Tracy. I'm from Iowa City. I worked really hard to write a very detailed letter today,um,that is more,well, I name names this time because you've left me no choice. I've been here working on trying to get you to see the facts,the science behind pe- petrochemical manufacturing and that it should never, ever, ever be allowed to expand in town near 15,000 residents. My email is not in your packet,but it was emailed to you individually because it came in late,um, I'm just gonna start reading, and they gonna read more for me. In voting twice to pass the resolution,you have disregarded objections of over 150 residents. This is on my petition, I don't know if you've looked at it. Have you read the comments of the 150 people?Um,you've defied logic, and you've dismissed your moral responsibilities by assisting P&G in exploiting our vulnerable residents and communities. Rezoning public land, for this, ah, on Lower Muscatine to accommodate Procter& Gamble's expansion at the expense of public health and counter to si- significant opposition is reckless, disgraceful, and not aligned with your campaign promises,nor aligned with your basic obligation as civil servants. You must correct course. You must adhere to the state and city rezoning laws. You are required-required to protect the interests of those of us who voted for you,not to-not a multinational petrochemical company like P&G. Your job is to protect public health and defend our socio-economic justice of Southeast Iowa City. I've heard so many comments about this tonight, and yet the hypocrisy is unbearable that you would apply all of your golden notions of fairness and economic stability to the Northside,but not to the Southside. Your job is to protect the public health and defend socio-economic justice of Southeast Iowa City by rejecting this hazardous proposal. We over 150 residents of Iowa City have presented exhaustive, I'm exhausted, exhaustive evidence and significant opposition. We This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 45 did the research that the city failed to do. Even though it should have been done by the City Planner and Planning and Zoning prior to ever being considered. Teague: Thank you. Welcome. Please state your name and city you're from. Nix: Yeah,the name's Nix, I live in Iowa City. Um, this is your chance to rectify the city failures surrounding REZ230010. Vote,no. The city of Iowa City must consider independent scientific evidence and data. We have obtained the EPA and DNR public records which Iowa City Planners should have acquired,proving the use of extremely hazardous chemicals as reported by Oral-B P&G. See attached here two reports for 2022 and 2023. The toxic chemicals discussed at the end of this letter correlate with those found in Oral- B,P&G oral care reports. There is no doubt that allowing another industrial site, fossil fuel petrochemical to be erected in Southeast Iowa City is too dangerous, indefensible, unsustainable, and must be rejected. Ah, City failures signal warning to residents. Due process failures. The fust duty of the Planning and Zoning Commission is to make happen the surveys and reports necessary for any land use or zoning changes that tie into the comprehensive plan of Iowa City. They failed to do even the most basic research, and furthermore,made comments that indicated a disdain for any data beyond the biased reports provided by those who stand to profit from this proposal. Our senior planner and P&Z Commission, City Council, Manager, and Attorney, all failed to recognize the hazardous petrochemical nature of Oral-B. Willful ignorance, incompetence,the hazards of plastics are in the news every day. Could our staff be anti-science? There is a prominent environmental consulting and techno-technology firm one block away. Why not ask for their expertise prior to selling us ours? It is mind boggling that they failed us to this degree. Kirkwood Community College is zoned public land. It is not true that the- the sale of public land is prohibited until rezoning is achieved. Why was P&G allowed to purchase our public land?Anne Russett's claims in her rezoning review can only be explained as ridiculous and overtly biased in favor of city revenue. This is at the expense of public safety and environmental justice. Anne Russett sent out public notices to land owners,not the residents who live nearby. In doing so she obstructed the rights of hundreds of residents to receive due notice. The EJ Screen mapping tools indicates that nearly 50 percent of households in that area are not owner occupied. This is discriminatory and unfair. One of my neighbors only received notice after the January 17, P&Z public meeting because his landlady had to mail it to him from Florida. I believe the charter explains that residents,not land owners are to be notified. Iowa City government joins forces with P&G petrochemical industry at our expense. Why exactly is the relationship between P&G multinational chemical industrialists and our local government?Why does the city of Iowa City continue to defend and promote big oil? Teague: Thank you. Welcome. Kippes: Hi. My name is Izzy, Iowa City. I'm here to speak again in opposition to this rezoning of public lands formerly owned by Kirkwood Community College to Procter& Gamble. Senior Planner, Commissioners and Council and City Manager had the audacity to repeatedly claim that hazardous air pollutants and toxicity risk to public health will only This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 46 travel to the left and right because there's a two lane road and railroad tracks are adequate barriers, and therefore,the proposal is safe is beyond ridiculous, illogical, and contemptible. Those do not block those pollutants. Susan Craig of PZC said on January 17th, 2024 that our concerns about environmental pollution and air quality were not relevant. If she thinks our need to breathe clean air is not relevant to selecting a site for chemical manufacturing near seven schools full of children,then what is she doing in our PZC?Andrew Dunn,Laura Bergus, Shawn Harmsen,Megan Alter,have been repeatedly rejected and criticized,um, as publicly for daring to reveal to you our real lived experiences, our headaches, dizzy spells, and respiratory difficulties, and disabilities living near the site. Review the video recordings to observe condescending and disrespectful remarks in response to our concerns and ailments. Imagine that link is in the e mail that you have not read. Um, This is reprehensible.No wonder people don't want to participate in public discourse. Mazahir Salih is the only Councilor who kept her word and integrity during these REZ0230010 meetings. It appears she is being pressured to reject her honesty in favor of joining the rubber stamping brigade. Andrew Dunn verbally responded to Councilor Salih who merely voiced concern for the people and opposed adding more industry where it is not safe nor warranted. With significant hostility, how often does he behave in such unprofessional manner towards female colleagues?Megan Alter,the presence of one pregnant employee does not prove safe work conditions or industry benevolence. This logic is deeply flawed and embarrassing. In fact,when Harvard Public School of Health is enlisted,then the opposite is true. Efforts to meet with Alter were ignored. Josh Moe, as an Architect, there is no excuse for outrageously claiming that,um,nearby industrial sites on both sides constitutes tota-the totality of the existing surrounding areas. Both sides only works in linear equations or a child's two dimensional drawing, and today's mass media. We should not have to continuously educate the city that there are four lateral directions,plus two verticals and land use regulations. Equally ridiculous is the repeated suggestion that roads, such as Lower Muscatine or railroads such as those behind P&G are adequate buffers or some sort of vapor barrier to air pollution when sitting-when sit-when placing industrial zones in urban settings. Why did our senior planner initiate such blatant misinformation?Why did Council perpetuate it?Nancy Bird was asked following April 4 meeting,why she represented the Greater Iowa City Incorporated,uh, continues to advocate for Procter& Gamble at our expense after we exposed Townsend's deception tactics, Oral-B chemical toxicity and environmental culpability. Her answer was that P&G is a client. "He pays you?" I asked. She said,Yes,Joe Townsend is my client. So why our tax dollars paying for her while she clearly represents industry? Thank you for your time. We need less plastic.Not more plastic. Teague: Thank you. Welcome. Welcome. Please state your name and city. Monolega: My name is Harry Monolega. I'm from Iowa City, and I'm here in agreement with those behind me. It is unacceptable that city Councilors continue to parrot these absurd arguments in favor of REZ0010. This resolution does not meet rezoning criteria. I believe you understand this. It cannot pass. Iowa City zoning laws rightly considers,Iowa and State and City zoning laws rightly consider building height in purpose, sunlight, trash and This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 47 waste, traffic exhaust, environmental contaminants and ground saturation. There is no logical justification to discount the quality and safety of the air we breathe when proposing to add another plastics industry in town. When air pollution is appropriately considered,then adding more industry to our overburdened Southside neighborhoods is unconscionable and morally wrong. Rezoning criteria too requires proposal to be compatible with the existing surrounding neighborhoods. Fun fact, IA DNR air quality planning for greater communities provides exact distances to be carefully considered when sitting petrochemical industries and schools filled with vulnerable children. The state agency says, don't do it. Again,the city's repeated claims that only considering abutted areas need to be considered when rezoning is baseless and absurd. There are seven schools within a half a mile of Oral B. Another fact,the US EPA offers three options for the size of surrounding areas when considering environmental toxicity and community protections, 1 mile, 3 miles, and 5 miles. The Council's proposal that the surrounding area is only a few hundred feet or to each side is ludicrous environmental injustice. We the scientists,parents and educators of the surrounding neighborhoods have explained the scientific evidence to the City. Please stop promoting industrial expansion at the expense of our health, childhood development, affordable housing, sustainability, resource protection, air quality, and emergency management safety. This resolution is too hazardous and will negatively impact economic growth,public health, childhood development, and climate change. This is an environmental justice issue. Do not rezone Kirkwood Community College land for P&G. On behalf of Iowa City Opposition,thank you for, for our careful review of our concerns. Teague: Thank you. Okay. Monolega: Would you pull up the email? There's a diagram coming up. Teague: Welcome. Elliott: Monte Montero Elliott, South Iowa City. I just learned that this was happening right now here at this meeting. I have rented and lived in this area for two years now. So yeah, do better community outreach if you're planning on doing this. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. And I don't see any hands,uh,raised online for this item. Seeing no one in person or online, Council discussion. Roll call please. Dunn: So I would. Teague: Go right ahead. Dunn: So,uh, I really want to kind of bring things into perspective as to what,um, Council has really come to a conclusion,uh, is necessary to be done. Um,just,just to reiterate this really,um, I think that I can speak knowing full well that Councilors are going to agree with the things that I said or already does agree with the things that I'm about to say. And if not,please correct me. Um, the city council certainly understands that there is a This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 48 problem of some sort,uh,with industrial air pollution on the Southeast side. That is not something that is contested. Uh,there is work that needs to be done to address that problem because we want our residents to have healthy air. We want our residents to live long healthy lives,um, and in order to do that,we believe strongly that we need to work as good partners,um,with both the companies that may be polluting the area,uh, as well as scientists to investigate where those sources are coming like,what the sources of that pollution is, as well as to utilize our tax dollars, to potentially, all of this is theoretical. We have yet to make any actual specific decisions,uh,to potentially mitigate the harms and work with organizations, companies, et cetera,uh,to make sure that these air pollution problems get fixed. Um, I believe everyone in this Council is extremely invested in ensuring that the people on the Southeast sides air is just as clean,uh, as the air on the Northside or the Eastside or wherever you live in Iowa City. We, we are equally concerned with the air quality and all of those areas. Um, as I've said in the past, I don't believe that this particular item,uh, is going to really change one, our values in that way,uh, or, or two will fundamentally change,uh,the types of pollution that are occurring in the area and our capabilities to address that pollution via regulation, partnership, and capital incentive. Um, so I just want to reinforce that out while there are a lot of,um, intense feelings,um, and potentially resentment that that's okay,um,no matter what we're still going to be working as, as a community to try and address this core problem,which is the air pollution that is noticed on the Southeast side. Salih: Can I? Taegue: Yes go right ahead,Mayor Pro Tem. Salih: Yes. Thank you,Mayor. Um,you know, I just fust want to just to talk,to reply to what Councilor Dunn said. Yes, I agree we need to evaluate the chemical on the air. But I think we need to do before we rezone this. Okay. If you as,you know, fust, we need to do it, and after that, if we find out, for example, if we rezone this and we find out, oh, it is real, what they are saying, and it's really bad, are we going to undo it? Or what are we going to do? If we really believe on the, and considering the well being of our community above everything else,we should reject this tonight. And because as earlier,you know,the Proctor and Gamble's representative said, so they don't even have a plan right now for it. Why we are just like rushing this?We can vote no tonight, and they can bring it back later after we do this study that recommended by Council Dunn, and after that,we can see if this is something we need to do to approve it later or not. Even though this is, uh, you know,the last consideration, and I know that I'm the only one voting no for this,but I urge us to consider the well being of our community above everything else. Our residents are already suffered from the affected volition of the existing factory. Adding another factory especially in this area will really make it worse. And I think as like Tracy said earlier, our priority should be the health and the safety of the citizen, and not the profit. I know this will bring more like, increase our economy, and we're going to have more tax revenue to the City. But this is nothing when it comes to our residents, and we're still going to vote no for this. I hope you join me and wait until we do that study and come back to it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 49 Teague: Hearing no other comments,roll call,please. [Roll Call] Yes. Motion passes 6-1. Can I get a motion to accept correspondence? Alter: So moved. Moe: Second,Moe. Move by Alter, second by Moe. All in favor say aye. (voice vote)Any opposed?Motion passes 7-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 50 9.c Preliminary & Final Plat—Bab's First Addition -Resolution Approving the Preliminary and Final Plat of Bab's First Addition Subdivision,Iowa City,Iowa. (SUB23-0009) Teague: We're on to Item number 9.c. Preliminary and Final Plat- Bab's First Edition,resolution approving the Preliminary Plat- Preliminary and the Final Plat of Bab's First Edition, subdivision, Iowa City, Iowa. Can I get a motion to approve,please? Moe: So moved. Moe. Bergus: Second,Bergus. Teague: All right. And welcome,Ann. Russett: Thank you,Mayor, Council,Anne Russett with neighborhood and Development Services. As the Mayor mentioned,this is a resolution to approve a Preliminary and Final Plat. This map here shows an aerial view of the subject property. It's located at 1310 Cedar Street. Here's the zoning map. The property is zoned RS5. Um,there's a lot of publicly zoned land ah to the north west and east. We have Oakland cemetery to the north,Hickory Hill Park to the east and Reno Street Park to the west. The rest of the land is,uh,zoned single family residential. Here's a snapshot of the Preliminary and Final Plat. The total acreage is 3.74 acres. And the request is to subdivide this area into two residential lots and two out lots. Outlot A to the north would be,um, dedicated to the City of Iowa City as an extension of Oakland cemetery. Outlot B would remain private open space not to be developed. Lot 1 would be a 1.0 acre lot to accommodate one new single family home. And lot 2 here,uh,which is just over 2 acres contains the existing house at 1310 Cedar Street. Uh, the subdivision is accessed off of Cedar Street. There's existing utilities within the right of way. As part of the subdivision,um,the applicant would be required to install a five foot sidewalk along Cedar Street since one does not exist. In terms of the review criteria, staff looks at compliance with the comprehensive plan and compliance with subdivision regulations and other applicable city codes. In terms of the comprehensive plan,the land use vision for this area is residential. The central district plan identifies this area as appropriate for single family and duplex residential uses. Um, this would also be considered infill development,um, development that has access to existing services and utilities,which is encouraged by our comprehensive plan. The Preliminary and Final Plat satisfies the necessary subdivision requirements. In terms of transportation,vehicular access is provided from Cedar Street. As I mentioned,there's no sidewalk,but one would be installed as part- as part of this development. Um in terms of the neighborhood open space requirement,that is being met through the dedication of outlot A to the city. Sanitary and water service is being provided,um, from existing lines within the Cedar Street right of way, and storm water management is being provided on Lot 1 through a proposed detention basin. Lastly, in terms of sensitive areas, this application is exempt from the City's sensitive areas ordinance because they're proposing one new single family home, and the development impact is less than 20,000 square feet. In terms of next steps after the approval of the subdivision,um the applicant can move This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 51 forward with building permits for the new home. Um, at their April 3rd meeting,the Planning and Zoning Commission concurred with staffs recommendation and recommended approval of the combined Preliminary and Final Plat. And that concludes my presentation. I can answer any questions. Teague:None. Thank you. Anyone from the public like to address this topic?All right. And if you're online,please raise your virtual hand. I just see two individuals present in person. Welcome. Please state your name and city you're from. McBride: Everybody,thank you for reviewing this application. My name is Will McBride. I'm actually the applicant. Um,my husband and I live around the corner from here, and our family has been growing, and the-brought this project about,um, our neighbor,who is the current owner of this- of the 3.75 acres,Bab's Anderson. She's lived here,uh, since the 80s, and she intends to stay here there. And she has a financial problem. And,uh, in order for her to stay there and keep her home,um, she's looking for ways to,um,to-to get some more income. And she had been approached by other people who wanted to subdivide the land, and this land is very important to her and to our community and to us. Uh, it's- as Anne pointed out, it's by the cemetery. It's by Hickory Hill. Uh, we don't want to see it be overdeveloped. And,um,we've outgrown our old home,but we love our neighborhood. And so we came together mutually, and she has,um, offered us to purchase this land from her as a way for her to stay in her home. We will build our- our forever home,um, and hopefully prevent this land from being overdeveloped in the future. Uh,we've gone through all of the steps with the city. It's been going on for about a year, and,um,we've had multiple engineers, attorneys. Uh, it's been- it's been a long process,but very,you know,rewarding in many ways, and we feel that we've done everything that's been asked of us and we think that we've met all the criteria. Um, I'm happy to answer if there's any questions. Our engineer is not here,but,um, I'm privy to most of the plans and,um,that's basically um what's before you. Teague: Right. Alter: It was helpful to get- excuse me. It was helpful to get the backstory. Thank you. McBride: Thank you. Absolutely. Teague: Uh-huh. All right, we'll open it up for public discussion at this time. Welcome. Tassinary: Uh Louis Tassinary, Iowa City. Um, I think that's great. The only thing I want to bring up is that it's my understanding that that particular house at 1310 is-has some historic significance. Um, in fact, it may be the oldest comprise some of the oldest housing in the community, going back to 1830 something. I've heard a rumor that, in fact, there's the remnants of the original log cabin that's still inside the house. I'm only bringing that up because that actual acreage,that 3.75 acreage, I think was original to the property. And I've only done like minimal looking into it. So I'm just bringing this up that I just think it might be worthwhile if they haven't already done it to ask the Historic This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 52 Commission just to take a look at it before it's approved. Um, I think it's great. I think it'd be great addition to all the rest,but I just think there may be something special about that house at 1310 as well as the property with it that might warrant a look. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. Anyone else want to make a comment about this? Seeing no one, Council discussion. Bergus: I like infill development. Moe: I,um, I had a chance to actually have a conversation with the applicant just because the process did take a long time. And I'm-this is not a criticism of staff at all,but more of a potential thought about infill development is good,but we have processes set up in place that are really,really,really long, and it might be worthwhile for us to investigate how our processes might work better so that we could help people build homes.Um, I'm not sure what to do with the,uh,the historic question right now,uh especially given my speech on the Slezak Hall, I'm not sure that this proposal speaks to removing the home. It's just subdividing and building a new home off to the side, as I understand. The subdivision does not remove the home. Yeah. So,uh,that's all. I just had a comment about our code in this process. Teague: Roll call. [Roll Call] Motion passes 7-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 53 10. Regular Formal Agenda 10.a Kirkwood Ave. CRANDIC Railroad Crossing Project-Resolution approving project manual and estimate of cost for the construction of the Kirkwood Avenue CRANDIC Railroad Crossing 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: Item 10.a. is Kirkwood Ave CRANDIC Railroad Crossing Project. Resolution approving project manual and estimate of costs for the construction of the Kirkwood Ave CRANDIC Railroad Crossing Project. Establishing amount of bids, 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 Ethan. 1. Public Hearing Yoder: All right. Hello everybody. My name is Ethan Yoder. I'm with the engineering department with the City. I'm here to talk about the Kirkwood Avenue CRANDIC Railroad Crossing Improvements Project. Uh,just a quick background on how this project came about. Uh, CRANDIC Railroad determined that this was one of the crossings that needed a replacement. So CRANDIC would be responsible for replacing the railroad tracks and everything below that. And then the city's portion would be the street approaches to the railroad tracks. So this- this project would include new pavement up to the railroad tracks, do sidewalk,ADA Curb ramps,uh, intake tops that have been damaged from snow plows, as well as full- full depth patches of HMA to connect to Maiden lane. And with this,um, the Kirkwood Avenue and Maiden Lanes are planned for a full street closure,which will help speed up process of the construction. Gilbert Street and Kirkwood Avenue will be closed at the same time,but they do have different detour pass, so that should not conflict with each other. And the estimated cost of the project is $165,000. The bid letting is on May 9th. The award is May 21st with a start date of middle of June with the completion expected around the middle of June as well or July. Are there any questions? Alter: Can we go back to the,um,multiple closings and the detours that are gonna happen. Yoder: Yep. Alter: Can you just provide some details on that because that's that's a pretty highly concentrated area where there's going to be a lot of stuff closed. Yoder: Yep. So with Kirkwood Avenue being closed and Maiden Lane,there will not be able to be through traffic there. So our detour plan is to go up-up Gilbert over to Bowery Street and then we'd come down Dodge Street to get back to Kirkwood,just because there's a lot more signaling and it just makes easier turning movements with that, and then on This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 54 Gilbert Street with that bridge closure,their detour path is,um,Prentiss Street over to Dubuque up to Burlington. So we're kind of on opposite sides of the Gilbert Street there. Alter: Right. But what about the folks who would need to go south on Gilbert? I mean. Yoder: Through the Gilbert Street project to the Kirkwood Avenue project? Alter: Well, that's, I mean, if somebody is with Gilbert being closed,people are going to need to come south as well on Gilbert, correct? Yoder: Correct. As part of the bridge project or? Alter: Right-right. So is it the bridge project is not- is one road going to be open or one lane going to be open during that? Yoder: That I don't know. I would imagine that the detour path would be the same if you're trying to get south Gilbert around the bridge. But I don't- I don't know all the details of that project. Sovers: Yeah, I could speak on that. Scott Sovers, assistant city engineer. So the detour around the-the Gilbert Street project or the Bridge project will be the same either direction you go. So it'll be Prentiss to Dubuque to Burlington will be the detour route and,um,because it's a bridge reconstruction,we have to completely close the road. We can't keep it open so. Alter: Yeah,just for a millisecond there, I was like,wait a minute. You're not keeping a lane open. Sovers: Yeah.No. Alter: Okay. So the detour for Gilbert is going to be north,Kirkwood is going around south. Sovers;Yep. Alter: Well, it's going to be a big whole mess. Sovers: Yeah. Luckily the closure for the railroad,um,replacement. The railroad track replacement is only for a month, so. Alter: And I guess what's prompting like right now? Is it in that bad of a state of deterioration? Sovers: Yeah, it's starting to deteriorate to the point where it needs to be replaced, and they've got a program where they go through our city and- and identify ones. They actually come out and inspect them and- and let us know,this is-this one's ready for replacement. So This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 55 let's get it on. Your guys' schedule and they'll get it on their schedule and we'll get it replaced. Alter: What kind of timeline did they give you of, like,when they're like looking at something and saying,yep,that needs to get on your schedule. This is nothing that's going to be for this per say,but just thinking again in future. And I know that there are things that all of a sudden, it might be fine and then a bad winter. Sovers: Right. Alter: Wow. We've now discovered it's really bad. However, it just feels like this is popping up more and more and more and I'm wondering if those kinds of evaluations can provide a little bit more runways. There can be a little bit better ability for you to plan so that we're not in this kind of a situation where such a major thoroughfare is really bought. Sovers: Yeah, so as far as schedule goes, I believe when we finished up the Gilbert street crossing,which is what we did last year,then they told us that they wanted to get going on the Kirkwood,um, crossing. So we didn't have a ton notice. I'm sure there was probably a list,but, um,they told us that they wanted to get that replaced as soon as we can possibly get it done. So. Moe: Does the crossing project include sidewalks or is it just do the road? Yoder: Yep. It includes the sidewalks as well. Moe: Okay. Yoder: Yep. Moe: That's it. Teague: Anyone from the public like to address this topic? If you are online,please raise your virtual hand. Alter: Actually, I'm sorry. I do have one quick additional question. Teague: You can come back. Alter: Okay. Teague: Yep. All right. Yeah. Alter: Occurred to me? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 56 2. Consider a Resolution Teague: Yeah.No worries. Seeing no one in person or online. I'm going to close the public hearing. And can I get a motion to approve,please? Moe: Moved Moe Harmsen: Second Harmsen. Teague: All right. And Council discussion. Alter: I'm just curious about the ways in which people would be able to get to the businesses that are on Gilbert, like between Benton and Bowery. I mean, actually, I was thinking, without realizing that Maiden Lane was going to be no longer available,that would have been one way to get to those businesses,but now, if that's not available,how-what's going to happen for those entities? Or how are they going to be-how will people be able to get to them? Sovers: So you're talking about here on Benton? Alter: Yeah. Kind of right in there. I mean,yeah,between Benton and,um, going, oh, God, towards downtown. Right. There's that little not strip mall,but there's that- it's both residential and yeah. Sovers; That's right here. Yeah, so. Alter: Maiden Lane sort of snaked behind it. Did out into that parking lot. Sovers: That's correct. Maiden Lanes right here. So Gilbert Street will still be open. We're not closing Gilbert Street at Benton. Alter: Okay- okay. Sovers;Yep. Alter: Thank you. That was my conclusion. Sovers: Okay. Teague: Any other discussion?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 April 16,2024 Page 57 10.b Mercer Scanlon Roof& Skylight Improvements Project-Resolution approving project manual and estimate of cost for the construction of the Mercer Scanlon Roof and Skylight Improvements 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: Item 10b,Mercer Scanlon Roof& Skylight Improvements Project. Resolution improvement project manual and estimate of costs for the construction of the Mercer Scanlon Roof& Skylight Improvements 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. Open in the public hearing. 1. Public Hearing Clark: Good evening. I'm Ben Clark from engineering, and we're looking for approval for that Rootfmg and Skylight Project. It's a pretty straightforward project has three parts. So we wanna replace the roof over Scanlan gym and 24 skylights, and then we wanna try to seal up the opaque panels over the entrance. And there'll be no-no street closures on this one. Estimated costs 462,000. We'll open bids May Ist, and we'll be back in front of you on May 7th and construction will happen this summer. Harmsen: Will this require some gym closure- closures? Clark: They're actually going to do half the roof at a time to try to accommodate the programs in the gymnasium, so we'll do our best to keep it open. Harmsen: Thank you. Teague: All right. Moe: The city has a lot of roofs to repair. Is this top of the- Clark: Yes. Moe: Top of the list? Clark: Yes,that's correct. I don't know if you can see in the picture,but on the sort of left-hand side of the gym are a lot of sandbags holding the rooting system on. Moe: Okay. Fruin: Result of a severe weather event last year so. Moe; Okay. Thanks. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 58 2. Consider a Resolution Teague: All right. Here are no other questions for you. Anyone from the public like to address this topic. If you're online,please raise your hand. See no one in person or online. I'm going to close the public hearing. Council discussion. Oh, could I get a motion? Moe: I'll move. Teague: Approve,please. Alter: Second Alter. Teague: Moved by Moe, second by Alter, Council discussion. To fix the roof. Moe: We got to fix the roof. 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 April 16,2024 Page 59 10.c FY25 Utility and Parking Rates Public Hearing- Ordinance Amending Title 3, Entitled "Finances,Taxation And Fees," Chapter 4,Entitled "Schedule Of Fees, Rates,Charges,Bonds,Fines,And Penalties". Teague: Item 10.c, fiscal year 2025 utility and parking rates public hearing. This is the ordinance amending title 3 entitled finances,taxation and fees. Chapter 4 entitled schedule of fees, rates, charges,bonds, fines and penalties. I'm going to open the public hearing. And. 1. Public Hearing From: Mr. Mayor, I'm going to present on behalf of staff. Teague: Great. From: This series of next four items relate to, uh city budget. So I'll walk you through each of those as they come up,but a quick preview. Um,we're going to talk about the utility or the uh,utility rate increases fust, along with the parking rate increases. That is an ordinance. So that'll be on your agenda for- for three readings. And then we'll move to the Fiscal year'24 budget amendment. Fiscal year 24 is the year that we are in now that will end at the end of June. Then we will go to the Fiscal year'25 budget approval, and then we'll wrap it up with a final resolution that will cover our three year financial plan and our capital improvement plan. So those are the four items in front of you. As you just announced,Mayor,the fust item is an ordinance that would adjust,um, several of our enterprise fund rates as a reminder, enterprise funds are operations,uh of the city in which we operate like a business,uh except obviously without a profit motive. Um, meaning the rates that we charge sustain that particular system. So the fust one is a three percent water rate increase. Um,that is necessary just to keep up with some of the inflationary pressures in the water treatment and distribution options,both on the treatment of- of our water and the delivery of that uh,through our distribution system. Again,that's a three percent water rate increase, and all these would be effective July 1st. Uh on the other side is the wastewater rate. It's a five percent wastewater rate and very similar to water that rate is needed just to keep up with inflation,making sure that we are maintaining our system. And we'll also help pay off the-the debt that we anticipate with the large digester complex and renewable natural gas projects that we have coming up that are outlined in your CIP. And then lastly,uh on,um I'm sorry, second to last is the recycling rate. That is $1 per month increase for those that have city pickup of their recycling. We are seeing a rapid escalation in the costs of processing recycled materials, and this dollar per month increase will help us uh, absorb those- absorb those, costs in processing those recyclable materials. Lastly, um I'm sorry, I missed one other one. That's the landfill, landfill tipping fee increase of$2.50. So for anybody that actually drives out to the landfill and uses those service. There's a tipping fee that you pay that's based on the weight of material that you're bringing in. The increase in the tipping fee there is to support operations,but also to support a new equipment building,which is currently under design. Um, and this, again,will help pay for that needed improvement out at the landfill for our staff and our equipment out there. Council spent considerable amount of This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 60 time talking about the parking charges. So what we are looking at with the parking decks is an increase to $2 an hour,maintaining the fust hour free program that we started. It's almost been almost been 10 years now. In addition, all the meters would increase. We have diff-we have different tiers of meters based on location,but meters would increase, uh to $1.50 uh or uh,per your-per your direction, $3 an hour based on location. There will be some citation increases as well um that are adjustments that haven't been updated in - in numerous years. The most common ticket that we issue is an expired meter ticket. So for example, after your fust warning ticket,your fust expired meter would no longer be $7. It would move to $10. Your subsequent one would go from 12-15, so um adjustments to that. Um as a reminder,the increase in the parking the palette of parking charges there is to help us accomplish three things. One, it's one major step to a financial- sustainable financial solution for Fare Free transit. We are operating Fare Free transit on the backs of federal grant dollars that are one time grant dollars. We plan to use some of these parking revenues to sustain that Fare Free transit program. We also have enhanced parking deck maintenance capital projects coming up. We expect some larger capital repairs, and these charges will help us maintain those decks, so they don't fall into disrepair. And then, as you are aware from your previous meetings,we are looking at some enhanced cleaning efforts in our parking ramps, and those charges would help pay for those enhanced cleaning services that you approved at your previous meeting. Happy to answer questions on any of those. Dunn: I've got- I've got a brief question. Um, and we might not actually have a good answer for this,but how much do you think we uh, anticipate being able to allocate to Fare Free from the share of additional revenue? Frain: Our hope is 1.5 million. You know,there-there will be a reaction. Anytime you change parking fees,parking behaviors will change. So it's hard to project exactly how much revenue will be generated,but we hope that we will be able to generate about 1.5 for the Fare Free transit program. Dunn: Thank you very much. Frain: For years, sorry. Salih: I have a question. Frain: Yes. Salih: Yeah, I- I just want to ask you,you said the-the highest meter will be $3. That what? Or this is the lowest one. Frain: The highest meter,the most expensive meter would change to $3 an hour. Salih: Okay. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 61 Fruin: It's generally in the very core of downtown as you move out from that core it will become less expensive as it is today. Salih: Okay. Teague: Any other questions for Geoff?Hearing none, and we're going to allow the public to speak at,um three minutes. Welcome. Please state your name and city you're from. Doolittle: My name is Kate from Iowa City. The trans and immigrant communities routinely stand up here and beg you to support affordable housing as part of keeping our communities safe. But what good is affordable housing if you can't pay your bills on top of it?Utility fees increased last budget cycle as well. Meaning-meanwhile,plenty of families already struggle to pay their bills and will be in even deeper financial strain if you increase utilities again. The Mayor, a literal landlord,just sat up there and read a fair housing proclamation,while there are people living in your streets and others who cannot make monthly bill payments. And you're about to vote on one half million increase in the police budget,which could instead go toward alleviating this needlessly burdensome utility increase, and further towards meeting the demands brought to you by the trans community and Escucha Mi Voz. Supposedly,you all disagree with Kim Reynolds,but if you ignore our demands,you're all just another band of her cronies. Do not increase utilities. Teague: Thank you. Anyone else like to address this topic? Ali: Hi. Teague: Hello, and welcome. Ali: I am Amel, I'm from Iowa City. We had this conversation, I think, last time when we talked about increasing,uh the utility-the utility bills. And I would just like to say out of my very own pockets in the last year, I've probably paid for, like, $900 worth of utility bills for people. Um it's actually really cool. You can go to that office over there and just say, hey, I want to give $10 extra every month. They have this pot of money that can be used to support people who don't necessarily have the financial means to make ends meet for that specific bill. Uh, and I was just wondering, like,what kind of marketing are y'all doing to let people know that that type of service does exist,uh because there have been multiple times where I've called and I've been like,hey, so this guy in my neighborhood in my apartment just got this like water shut off. I want to help, and I don't care who it is. And they direct me to that set of funds that the city has allocated that's specifically met for that. I think that if people knew that this existed,maybe, like, if you know,you put in the July new month water bills or whatever, and you really market the fact that people can add an extra $10 to help our neighbors. I think that would actually go a really long way. I send an extra $25 every month and it goes into that pot individually. And a lot of people don't know about it. Um, and you have to ask questions and, like,be curious in order to find out. And unfortunately,this isn't, like,the most exciting building to come to This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 62 most of the time, so um it's hard to find that out. But I think if you guys did really try to figure out how to market that, I think that's something that could go really far because I think in this community,people do want to help their neighbors. And I think we do want to help each other and make sure that we're all thriving to the best of our abilities. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. Welcome. Please state your name and city. Kippes: Hi. My name is Izzy from Iowa City. I just want to reiterate I think that's a great idea to increase the visibility of that program. I also would like to oppose increasing utility bills for residents for the same reasons stated earlier. Main reason I want to speak was actually support the increases to parking fees. I feel as though that those that drive car, like, parking isn't free, and I think it should be fair to,um increase those that park downtown, their contribution to our city for the space they take up. So thank you for that. Teague: Thank you. Okay. Welcome. Kauble: Hi. So I would like to second what everybody else has said regarding this topic. And then regarding the parking rates,this basically applies to the ramps downtown,right? Yeah. So the thing about those ramps,the-the card when you put the card that you get when you come in, and you have to, like,pay for how much time you've been there. The old machines,we would put it in, and it would get sucked up and whatever.Now,you just scan it and you have a card. So I think something the city should do,they should put trash cans by those machines because I think a lot of people would just throw their cards away then instead of just having this little piece of garbage. So thank you. Teague: Thanks. Will you please sign in and state your name and city for the record. Kauble: Sorry,Dan Kauble, Iowa City. 2. Consider an Ordinance(First Consideration) Teague: Thank you. All right. Seeing no one else in person or online. I'm going to close the public hearing. Can I get a motion to give fust consideration? Moe: So moved. Alter: Second. Teague: Well,by move, second by Alter. Council discussion. Dunn: I really appreciated the,uh,the information about what we could do to raise visibility for, you know, I don't know,what if we have a name for the program,but basically paying it forward to our neighbors as an option. I would love it if we could do more work on visibility for that. I think that's great. I do think that that would make a big difference to This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 63 people. There are people,myself included, other people in the community that,you know, if they know about this type of program, 10 bucks a month is not going to be a big deal,but it can be a real big deal for other people. Teague: Roll call,please. Salih: I behind. Teague: Yeah. And just jump in. I'm sorry. Mayor Pro Tem jump in. Salih: Yeah,you know, fust, I would like to ask why we have the-the water and the parking together in one agenda to approve- in one item to approve it. Moe: Because they're enterprise. Salih: It's, it's—Why is it not separate?. Fruin: Because we've talked about the increases throughout the last couple of months, and there seem to be council consensus amongst the rate changes that's in the same section of the code. So we typically would do all these together. So we don't break them out individually,but technically we could bring water separately and wastewater separately and landfill separately and recycling separately and parking separately. And within parking,we could do ramp from citations we can do it in a combination that you like. Salih: I just think the water and the parking. That's it. I did not say like come with all that. My question was clear,the parking, all the parking, and the water, everything. But first,I want -we talked about when we agree to this, I talked specifically about low income people are not affording the water and I thinks water is a human right. And you can go and see the senses the data from IIACAP, from CommUnity, and see how many people in this community cannot afford to pay their waters. I think increasing the water is really going to be a huge burden on the low income people. And we talked about that and I think if I'm mistaken,maybe the council can correct me. We agree to look at our programs for helping the low income people. I'm not I guess, I told you,we can increase the water,but if we're going to do something for the low income people and just modify the program that we have to subsidize the people for the water because it's not working. I don't think it's huge help to it. And the council kind of agree to that. And now seeing this even before we-we solve that problem, like we did not talk about and many times, I think I asked to bring this in the work,work session so we can talk about it fust to find out exactly what we want to do. If we approve this today, I know that the effect would be I think July, right? Fruin: That's correct. Salih: Okay. And this is I just want to make sure is the council still in agreement of modifying our water discount or this is just we talked about it during that time I gone. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 64 Teague: I was actually pulling up our tentative work schedule-work sessions to see if it was listed. I don't have that pulled up right now. Again, if the Council,you know,want to discuss that, certainly we can- Salih: You mean it's not listed. I'm sorry, Mayor,you said it's not listed on future work session. Teague: I don't have it I was trying to pull it up to see. Sorry. I don't have it before me right now. Salih: I see. But Geoff can answer that, I think. Fruin: I'm looking right now. Bergus: I thought we—Didn't we have a discussion where we put information back in there? Fruin: Yes, it's listed on there. Sorry. You've got about 30 items on there. It is on there. It says review of the city's utility discount program. Alter: Yeah. Fruin: That was Council directed. It's not scheduled. It's listed under your other topics. Alter: So we can move on. Salih: Yeah. I hope we can do that before-before this is go into effect You know,yeah,this is really interesting because we talked about many things after that and it come up. We talked about Sister City after that. That's not important from, like, doing the discount of the water. I think this should be next work session. And I don't know. I think as a Mayor Pro Tem I have power to put something on the agenda. So I hope this will be next work session. So we can talk about the discount. I want to see this really happening because of those people who are not afford it. I'm from those people. I'm- I see those people every day. First hand experience,whether at the Center for Worker Justice or now with the Immigrant Welcome Network where I see the people really suffer every like day or every week, I receive calls from the people ask me,where can we go and get assistance, for you know, for water bill. And I send them to those places. Sometimes they don't have, and sometimes they do have. So you cannot imagine how many people don't take it for granted you guys are like, able to pay your water bill. There is many people cannot. And we shut down waters. It's not like the pandemic time. So I hope this will be as soon as possible to talk about discount for the low income people and also like speaking about the meter? I don't know, $3 is really,really expensive for 1 hour. Yesterday, I parked my car. It was actually morning. I parked my car in front of the Washington DC passport agency. And I paid on the meter $2.75. Can Washington DC be less than Iowa City? That's -that's really a lot. I really be fair this I agree to some of it. I don't agree to some of it. And I wish if this like two different items. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 65 Alter: Mayor Pro Tem, I would support putting this on the next pending the-the utility discount. I would lend my support to that for the next working session. Dunn: Me as well. Salih: Thank you. Alter: Then you know, I still think it's too expensive,but I decided not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Salih: Thank you. Teague: Hearing no other comments. 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 April 16,2024 Page 66 10.d FY24 Budget Amendment Public Hearing-Resolution amending the current budget for fiscal year ending June 2024. Teague: Item number 10.d is Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Amendment Public Hearing. And this is a resolution amending the current budget for fiscal year ending June 2024. I'm going to open the public hearing. And that presentation was already given. 1. Public Hearing Fruin:No,I was going to hit just real quick on each of these. Teague: Okay. Fruin: Just take a minute Fiscal Year'24. This is the second budget amendment for Fiscal Year '24. Many of these changes are presented to you at the same time the Fiscal Year'25 budget is. Usually the most substantial changes are, for example, in our capital improvement plan. We have to adjust those year to year based on project dynamics. And so those transfers-those changes account for many of them, other changes that are-the other major changes that are,uh, included in this, include adjustments to interest expenses. And we also had changes into our ARPA funds and how we're accounting for those ARPA funds. You'll see that in your Fiscal Year'24 budget amendment. Happy to try to answer any specific questions you have,but those are the-the larger changes,uh, in the second amendment. Teague: Hearing no questions. Anyone from the public like to address this. I see Eneli online. Welcome. Canales: Hi. Good evening. I just wanted to say that on behalf of Escucha Mi Voz and its members. We would like to request a line item in the Fiscal Year'24 budget to increase affordable housing for immigrant workers. That is all. Thank you. 2. Consider a Resolution Teague: Thank you. Anyone else like to address this topic? Seeing no one in person or online. I'm going to close the public hearing. Can I get a motion to approve,please? Moe: So moved. Alter: Second. Teague: Move by Moe, second by Alter. Council discussion. Roll call please. [Roll Call] Motion passes 6-1, could I get a motion to accept correspondence? Moe: Moved,Moe. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 67 Teague: Moved by Moe. Alter: Second. Teague: Second by Alter. All in favor say aye. (Voice Vote)Aye. Any opposed?Motion passes 7-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 68 10.e FY25 Budget Public Hearing- Resolution adopting the annual budget for the fiscal year ending June 30,2025. Teague: Item Number 10.e is Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Public Hearing. This is a resolution adopting the annual budget for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2025. I'm going to open the public hearing. All right. 1. Public Hearing Fruin: Okay, so this is the Fiscal Year 25 budget that starts this coming July. Um,we spent quite a bit of time in January reviewing this budget proposal. You spent all day Saturday reviewing the operating budgets, and then we turned around about a week later, and we took about a half day to review the capital budgets. You had a couple of work session discussions after that on particular items of interest. I'm just going to highlight what has changed per your direction,um, or what staff has changed in the time we presented that to you. Um,the, ah, one we just talked about,you increased the kind of enhanced the meter increase more so than staff originally proposed. So that took us from what staff proposed as the two-dollar-an-hour cap on parking meters up to the three-dollar an hour. So that is incorporated with this new budget. Um,you also directed the removal of $40,000 from the police budget for the license plate reader software. So that money is no longer in the police budget and then we have an increased expenditures in our parking ramp operations for the enhanced cleaning services, and that's $37,400 that was added. Those are the changes from what we presented to you in January. The final proposed tax levy rate for Fiscal Year 25, excuse me, is $15.63 per thousand of taxable value. That's unchanged year over year,that's the second year in a row. We've had a flat tax rate, and that follows 11 straight years before that of actually decreasing our tax rate here in Iowa City. I'm happy to answer any questions that you have about the Fiscal Year 25 budget. Alter: I actually have a question about what you just talked about with the 1563 and that that's flat once again. Um,just please remind me when we talked about it at last, is your projection that I know that we can't know per se,but that the times of being flat are soon coming to an end,what do we need to be prepared for,um, if we are in the same straits essentially in terms of proper taxable. Fruin: Yeah, so we're -we're in the middle of property tax reform, I'd say,kind of 2.0. So just a quick reminder,we had tax reform pushed on us from the state level from 2013, all the way to Fiscal Year 24,we thought we were done and then in 2023,new tax reform legislation was given to us from Des Moines, and we'll have about three to four years of phase in there. So keeping a flat tax rate through that second round of tax reform,um, it will be tough. There probably will be pressure to increase that rate a little bit,but a lot of that's going to depend on valuations in the community. So how property values are growing. If we're seeing robust growth,then we'll be able to keep that tax rate flat. I'm not sure we'll anytime soon be in a position to decrease it again like we had that nice run for 11 straight years. But if we don't get the taxable growth over the next few years,you could see staff recommend starting to push that tax rate up. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 69 Alter: Thank you. Salih: But Geoff if we - if we really don't have money right now and each time we say we want affordable housing,no money. We want,there is no money. Why we don't just increase it? If the public are the ones who coming to us and ask us for all the things and we need money. Can we just increase it so we can do,right when we did like reduce it all the time, that's not going to help us. Fruin: Staff is always happy to walk you through funding options for different initiatives that you have. Property tax is one levy that you have,but you have to remember that you've maxed out your general fund levy. That's the 810 levy. We cannot increase that anymore. So,um,you can increase some levies more. You can increase, for example,your employee benefits levy more,but that's only to be paid for benefits to employees by state law. So you do have some constraints, even though your rate can increase a little bit. You could put a local option sales tax on the ballot and ask the voters to provide a new funding resource that could fund those initiatives. So there are other options, and we're happy to walk you through those. Um,but you do live in a very constrained environment when it comes to using property taxes. And again, our 810 levy,which is what you have the most discretion to use how you want to is caped like most cities. Most cities are caped to that 810, Iowa City included. Harmsen: Could you explain a little bit more what 810 levy means? Fruin: Thank you. $8.10 is the statutory cap for property taxes to funnel into your general fund. And that's going to fund your general government expenses. We've been capped at that for a long long time. Again,most cities are capped at that. You also have other levies that you use. You have a debt service levy so the more you borrow,the more you can ask the taxpayers to take property taxes to pay off that debt. There's tort levies,there's employee benefit levies. Um,there's various ones that are out your disposal. We talked a lot about this year because the state took away our library levy. They took away our emergency levy so we actually lost two levies with this -with this budget that's in front of you, and that's created a lot of the pressures in front of you because nobody wanted to reduce services,rightfully so to our library.No one even wanted to stop doing the Climate Action initiatives that we were doing,which we were funding with the emergency levy, which we've now lost. So the 810 levy,though, does refer to the actual levy amount, $8.10 per thousand dollars of value. Harmsen: And just to be clear,then this 1563 that includes the 810 levy,but then all the other levies you were just mentioning? Fruin: Correct. Harmsen: Yeah. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 70 Salih: I think, go ahead. Moe:No,um, I think a larger conversation about revenue would be beneficial as a work topic. Um,but I don't- I believe it's for this fall this summer when we are setting up the 26 budget to talk about additional revenue. That's my thought but I would love to have that council conversation in a work session about all of the changing revenue sources that we have and don't have based on the constantly changing state rules that we have to work around so hopefully. Fruin: That's on your pending list,um, along with many other things. It is noted as a discussion that the Council would like to have so that's just I think you're correct and prep for that in the next budget. Moe: Summer. Fruin: Summer would best cause staff really starts working on the next year's budget come really July is when we start that process. Salih: Yeah, I think it seemed like there is no option. The only thing now is the debt service levy. Anyway, I- I want to ask you also another question. Can you remind me the difference between last year police budget and this year. The one that is proposed? Fruin: From a strict d- dollar amount, it's- it's uh,uh, in the 460- Bergus: Four hundred and sixty two thousand,nine hundred and seventy two dollars. Fruin: Thank you 462,000. Uh, it was at 503,000 and then you reduced the-again,you directed removal of$40,000 uh, for the license plate reader proposal, so that's where you get the uh, $460,000. Salih: And if you don't mind this $460, if you can just like very quick overview,what is what- like what are we funding? Fruin: So the-that-the overall just uh,maintaining uh,the-the salary and benefits increase within the police department,which includes both sworn and civilian positions uh,totals over 700,000. So what-what that tells you right off the bat is that uh,we're not-we're- we're paying for the same number of uh,positions,we're adding one civilian position. We're paying for the same number of position,but we're making reductions elsewhere in the budget uh,to get that number uh, lower. So your-your salaries and benefits alone are increasing uh, f-4.8%, and the overall budget is only increasing um,uh, le- it's less than 3%,probably about 2.9 or a little les than 2.9%. And personnel costs are 87% of the police budget. So you have 87% of your budget being driven by personnel, and that is a factor that you can't control uh,with collectively bargained wages,um,uh, state pension This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 71 systems,health insurance, etc,um, and- and that's again going up 4.8%. So that's the largest driver is just maintaining the labor. Harmsen: Do you- can you- do you remember offhand when the next union negotiation for police is? Fruin: Uh,we will start negotiations in the fall,winter of this coming year. Salih: I'm sorry again,but I- I guess, like, follow up for- from my question,we said over 400,000 and we took out 40,000,the rest of it completely only for the employee benefit and salary, or yes, can you give me the exact number? Fruin: Uh,um, I- I may not be following you 100%,but the salary and benefits are increasing $712,860. Is that what you're looking for? Salih:No,but you said the whole increase was 400,000? Fruin: Yeah, $460,000 roughly approximately. Salih: And-yes- a- a- and now there is 40,000 out,that means we have 420,000 out roughly? Fruin:No, sorry, the-the original proposal from staff in January was fi-was an increase of $503,000. I'm using round numbers uh,uh,um, a- a- approximately, and council directed removal of 40,000 which put us closer to that 460,000. Salih: And now the-the full amount of$460,000 is a salary and benefit. Is it going to fund increase of the salary and benefits? Fruin: That's the largest driver in the poli- if you're trying to identify the largest driver of cost in the police department budget, it is salaries and benefits,yes. Salih: I understand,but I'm talking only about the 400, $460,000. Is it going towards salary and benefit? Harmsen: I think if I understand, Geoff,what you said, is the line item for the increase in salary and benefits,that line item increased by 700 and some thousand dollar. Fruin: Correct. Harmsen: But the bottom line of the entire police budget after other cuts were made was an increase of 400 and some thousand dollars. Fruin: That's correct. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 72 Harmsen: So I think that's- it is kind of confusing, and I think- I thin-that's why I want to check, so thanks cause I don't know if I was following that. Fruin: Thank you for explaining that more clearly. Yes. I- I apologize for that. Teague: It's been a long day. Any other questions?All right. Um, anyone from-uh, if you're from the public,please come forth and state your name, and city you're from? Doolittle: My name is Kate from Iowa City. And so for three meetings now,you've heard our demands,you've listened to trans community members share stories of horrific treatment at the hands of the cops in your city. Heard them beg not to be forced to leave because they love it here,because we make this city beautiful. And now comes the moment where you can actually do something about it. The proposed police budget for fiscal year 25 includes an increase of almost half$1 million. You know the cops don't make us safer, we've told you as much,many,many,many times. Geoff Fruin thinks this increase is justified because the money goes to personnel,but we do not need cops in Iowa City. I'd also like to point out that the city spent almost 700,000 more on police this year than was actually allocated in the budget. But I ask you to take a moment to think about that. Think about the fact that you vote to approve budget increases, after the money has already been spent. Think about the fact that when you approve the police budget,you are functionally writing a blank check with which ICPD can spend more than you've allotted with no repercussions. The budget also includes a projection for next year,which increases the police budget by another half million. So let's do the math real quick. The police budget increased by 1.6 million from 2023-2024, and by 2026,you plan to increase the budget by another million. Why are you spending over 2.5 million more dollars on police over four years when your strategic plan for the same time frame boasts about investing in community safety alternatives. Can any of you give me an example of a single action item from your strategic plan that you've invested in that does not involve the police? Since you can't respond to me, I'll answer for you,you haven't done a single fucking thing,but put more money in the police budget. Half a $1 million this year, $1 million over the next two could do so much good for this community if you switched your brains on for just a moment, did your job as policymakers and got creative. If you grew even one spine between the lot of you to stand up against the state that wants your constituents dead. If you stopped bending to the whim of Geoff Fruin, and started taking this community in our demands seriously. If you stopped bolstering the cops ability to surveil, harass,beat, and jail the very people who do the most to make this community safe,vote no or else. Teague: Thank you. And I-um, if you've already spoken,you don't have to um,put your name there again,you just have to state it. And you're a city, so welcome. Nix: There's three of mine in there. Teague: Okay. Yep. Yep. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 73 Nix: Yeah,my name's Nix. Um, the police started as slave patrols,uh the police are inherently racist. The police do not keep us safe,we do not need the police, and we surely do not need the Iowa City Police Department. Like every police department, it is littered with bigotry,bias, and dangerous people who are armed and not held liable or accountable for the harm that they cause. We can see this in the Iowa City officer who beat a man who was already on the ground. We can see it in the officer who beat a young woman who was already detained in the squad car. We can see it in the events I am disclosing tonight. It has come to my attention that police officers and current and former staff know officers that engage, interact, and agree with a known bigot who spews hate throughout all departments within this city. One of your IT staff. And IT- IT staff visit all departments, including the police department. This person engaged in conversation with officers regarding trans people within our community. This person stated anti trans rhetoric, and made derogatory comments towards the trans community here in Iowa City, and your police officers agreed with them. Them and the officers negatively discussed and laughed about trans protesters protesting against hate speech,negatively discussed and laughed about the trans protesters arrested for protesting against the genocide occurring in Palestine. Laughed about the people who oppose a fucking genocide. These are officers you employ. Our police department is tainted and disgusting,just like every other police department,no matter how progressive you choose to spin the narrative. Staff who witnessed this are terrified to come forward due to this rhetoric being common within the police department here and possibility of retaliation from the IT staff and the police department at large. This reflects poorly on the city management and the department management. Your staff will not report atrocities they witness at work, due to an environment that instills fear of retaliation. Due to this and the other comments made today about the possible increase in the police budget yet again, I demand you vote no to the Fiscal Year 25 budget. Due to the police budget increase. Use that half$1 million to invest in non market housing. I demand you use your power to defund the police,with the goal to abolish the Iowa City Police permanently. Show them that you will not stand for bigotry. If you don't vote no,you stand with bigots. Teague: Welcome. Denney: Hi,my name is Emma Denney but I live five blocks that way. We all know that you're just throwing away our money toward as many of my friends have said,bigotry,hatred and violence. We know that this money can be spent elsewhere in the city, spent to do things that actually make the city safe, like having affordable housing,having support services for our unhoused neighbors. Having things like um, community mental health and crisis services that do not relate to the police. Having things like community drug counseling services and community mental health care that are not tied through the police. There are dozens of things that you can do with what is just $500,000 thereabouts, this year,but like Kate said it's protected to-projected to be what? Two and a half million dollars eventually. Imagine all the good that could do- doing basic things like cleaning up the creeks in our community, doing basic things like repairing roads. Things a city government is supposed to do. What you're planning to spend it on now is, like Nix stated, simply reinforcing the infrastructure of violence you already have, simply putting This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 74 more how-more power into the hands of people who look to harm particularly my community,but our entire community and especially people of color, especially immigrants, especially trans people, especially our unhoused neighbors. We all know that speaking out against the police budget gets you surveilled and arrested in three years, which we learned from our friend Tara. You can do something about that. You're a government. You can step up and say, look, if you try to intimidate our citizens, if you try to threaten and arrest our citizens for speaking out,we will take away your funding. You can just do that. And you have the power to act now, and I am baffled and insulted that you refuse to. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. Welcome. Kauble: Hi,my name is Dan Kauble, and a week ago today I was pulled over in Coralville so that my phone could be personally seized by Iowa City police detective Mike Smithy who told me he'd been surveilling me that day and another day last week but he couldn't find me. And he had Coraville PD initiate a traffic stop against me. Detective Smithy informed me that my phone was being seized due to the, "Twitter harassment of Ian Mallory." Mallory,you may recall, is a detective with the University of Iowa Police Department who is notable for being transphobic and surveilling-surveilling local leftist social media accounts since, and a lot of people don't realize this, since before he was a detective with the university when he was in the private sector. So Sorry, I lost my place. I would like to note that this account has not been removed as an impostor account or a fake account, despite the fact that it's incredibly easy for individuals to do so,which makes it strange that someone so upset about it,wouldn't try to do that, but would file a harassment report. Um, ICPD Detective Smithy informed me that I am accused of creating a parody to Twitter account of Detective Mallory, and that is legally harassment. Due to the Iowa statute stating that it's illegal to order merchandise or services in the name of another or to be delivered to another without the other person's knowledge or consent. I- I said I've never ordered him anything and he said that that Twitter account qualifies as that. I have never threatened Detective Mallory, interacted with him, or met him. My phone was simply seized due to the existence of publicly available tweet- tweets, criticizing the way the University of Iowa police treats trans individuals, minorities, and protesters. And my phone just died and I might be legally screwed for this but I would just like to continue and say that I was informed by Detective Smithy that he could have raided my house, seized my work computer,um, and that I was been- I was very fortunate that he decided against that. So this whole situation is really, really weird to me. And I don't understand why constitutionally protected speech, I mean,why your police department is going after this. Also, it seems like the Iowa City police department is being used by the University of Iowa police department to go against its critics. And my question is tonight you're voting to give them more money,why are you paying to do the University of Iowa's dirty work? I mean,please make it make sense. I- I don't understand it. The last week has been extremely hard on my mental health. I haven't been charged with anything.Nothing. And they said that charges will be determined this week, but like, I'll be real. This- this is weird and not okay. Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 75 Teague: Thank you. Online, I'm going to switch to online,we have Yeneli, Welcome. Canalis: Hello,Yeneli Canalis from Iowa City. Again,just to reinforce the statements that we had earlier tonight that on behalf of Escucha Mi Voz and its members,we would like to request a line item in the Fiscal Year'25 budget to increase affordable housing for immigrant workers. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. Welcome. Zoe: Hi. My name is Zoe, I'm from Iowa City. I grew up in Iowa City. I've lived here. I came back here. I would like to stay here. It is absolutely disgusting that I sit through this entire city council meeting where we talk about,more you talk about all the roofs that need to be repaired in Iowa City. We talk about affordable housing. We talk about Pagliai's building being taken down, and we mention affordable housing. But when we have a moment to reallocate budgeting to go towards that,we- I'm assuming tonight that you will vote against that. And I want you all to know that we will remember that,um, and I urge you not to because genuinely, er, I'm going to stand up here and list all of the things that I think this budget could go to instead,right? Off of the top of my head. I have no notes. It could go to public parks. Like Emma said, cleaning up the creeks.We talk about our public schools that are being closed in Hills. I see right?Do we remember that?We talk about the City Pool, for example,you could expand that budget. You could literally do anything,but increase the budget of the police department. You could,um, let's see, er,there are all of this road construction that needs to be done. There is. More prairies, for example. I love that idea. There is, for example. Food security,right? Currently, our community pantry is overwhelmed. There is, for example,we talk about discounting the- the water bills for low-income people in our community. That is another example of where this budget could go to,right?We talk about,um, for example,parking meters. We talk about parking ramps. We talk about all of these things that the police are not involved in. And why do we insist on increasing the budget over and over and over and over?Why do we insist on putting guns men and women and people with guns in situations that they should not be in? I will just tell you briefly that recently, the house next to where I live,very recently,the house next to where I live was suspected of having an unhoused person having gone into that building. Two police officers with guns showed up outside of my home. And there was nobody there. So that is an example of how our police are spending their time,which is hunting down unhoused people who instead could be-that budget could be allocated to housing those people and providing them with secure food, secure perhaps help mental health services, drug and addiction services. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. Welcome. Monolego: My name is Harry Monolego. I'm from Iowa City. I'd like to start by saying all praise to God, only the mistakes are mine. That being said, is my mistake for commenting on this during the non-agenda item. But it's an honest mistake considering that listening to the people's will about defunding the police has never been a priority to the City Council. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 76 So I'll keep it brief. I am exhausted. I am so fucking exhausted by the fact that I have to come here year after year and beg you to be competent at your jobs. I've seen the pal-the people of this city rise up and find some semblance of the people-the people's power, only to have this city government led by you Mayor Bruce Teague and you City Manager Geoff Fruin to use disgraceful political tactics to undermine people's power. I have been tear-gassed. I've walked till my legs and hips ached. I've screamed until my throat hurts. I have been charged for nothing,but fighting for my right to healthcare by any means necessary. And year after year,you weak ass politicians vote to give these people more money,when you could be giving money to the gay house or just North of College Green that needs money right now, a drop in the bucket of 500 million, and you can't give a shit about them. How fucking pathetic is that?Now with everything I've been through for this shit, like, experiencing a war crime, getting wrongfully arrested. I have served my fucking country. I have served the working- class people of this city that make this place special. I cannot say the same on this topic for any of you except for Mazahir and Laura. All the rest of you are useless. Bruce,you're useless,Megan,you're useless. Sean,you're useless. Josh Moe,you weren't here in 2020. I'm still get to know you. Geoff you're useless. Like,none of you do your job,which is to protect people,to care for people. So I'm telling you, I am demanding that you listen to the voice of the people,the fact that the people have been telling you for years,year after year to defund the police and you do the opposite. I am begging you to find God and listen to your constituents. I'm begging you to find God because every time you vote to give the police more money,you go further away from God's light, and you grow further to hell,because of the harm that these police officers do to this community. Fuck y'all. Teague: Thank you. Welcome,please state your name and city you're from. Thirthani: Hello. My name is Vicky Thurtoni. I am from Iowa City. And,um,yeah,this police budget is- it doesn't help people. It is detrimental to people's health. I have had mental health crises where police were involved, and I did not feel safe then, and I will not feel safe now if I have another mental health crisis and police arrive there. They have done nothing but terrorize,brutalize,torture,humiliate people in my community.And to aid and abet that, and that is aiding and abetting when you increase their budget. You are- you are responsible for everything that happens when incidents with the police go wrong. You have to have some level of shame. You have to have some level of humanity to understand that. And ultimately,what purpose is this police budget going towards? It is a detriment to the city's health. It is destructive. And you are all complicit in this if you choose to- if you choose to do this. And I don't know how you can live with yourselves with the blood on your hands. Teague: Welcome. Yeager: Hi. Thank you for the welcome. Uh,my name is Nicole Yeager. Um, I live here in Iowa City. Um, I'm here representing my own views this evening. Um, fust, I wanna say that every year,they're going to ask you to increase their budget. And I think it's critical that you take a look at the need. Is there need to expand force,to expand more dollars to This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 77 them?Absolutely not. I've worked in mental health care here in Iowa City,um, for the last decade. Um, and so what I want to say is absolutely,um,these people,these officers, I've seen them respond, and I wish you could be there on the scene. They don't-they respond truly with force. There is something about carrying a gun into these situations that escalates and makes it so much worse. And so I ask you to truly stand with community, stand with housing, stand for everything possible for people. Um, I want to add a few different things because yeah I wrote about this way too much. Um, I also want to talk personally about volunteering with the crisis response for our police officers here in Iowa City. Um, after watching them engage with teenagers and children and being pretty stunned with the force that they used with them, I thought, okay, I'm gonna step up, I don't see myself as someone that supports the police,but I want to take a look at this. And so I-they gave me a script in which I was to play this incredibly awful just stereotype just trope of someone with borderline personality disorder with five or six children. And as these officers come in,here, I'm standing in a church, as they're coming in and I'm role playing the script they gave me,they couldn't handle it. In this practice scenario,they were getting upset, escalated,needing to cahn one another down. That was practice. They're out there in our community doing this work. Please vote no today. Teague: Thank you. Welcome. Martincik: Hello. Uh,my name is Lisa Martinseck, and I live here in Iowa City. Uh, I looked at the,uh, safety and well being action plan, and I was a little stunned that so much of it was infused with police presence. Uh, especially the violence intervention, I'm wondering whose violence they're supposed to be intervening in. Is it their own?Um,we've heard again and again that cops do not make people safe. Uh, at least one study showed that police who were trained to,uh,react better,um, given DEI and similar initiatives to modify their,uh,behaviors,uh,had no effect on police violence. What did affect it was being given the order to no longer fire upon people who were fleeing and were unarmed. That cut police violence in half. And if you think ICPD is not similar, police systems are police systems. And if there's one bad cop in a shop,they're all bad. So please reconsider funding them and give that money to something like buy the Pagliai's house,make it,uh, fill it with affordable housing,keep the restaurant. I mean, do something that will help people's lives. Thanks. Teague: Thank you. Welcome. Montero: Monte, Iowa City. Um, before I forget, I wanted to thank Mayor Pro Tem Salih for voting no on rezoning and not facilitating the pollution of my neighborhood. I appreciate that very much. Um, I don't have my notes. This might be a little slapdash. I obviously- you should listen to what they say. They literally just said it, all of them. Um, I can say that I don't believe that there is also- I also just don't believe that there's any other department in which this would be like,not laughed off the table. Like, I'm sorry,what? Like, sanitation workers are going to come up and be like, Oh,yeah,we need like 460,000 more dollars because of, like,pensions or- it seems kind of outrageous personally,that that is the priority here of making the- I don't know what, like padding This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 78 their pockets or something. While there's actual harm that is happening in our community and desperately needs funding. I'm sorry. Like GuideLinks never has any beds open. It's not- I mean what-there's money here. We just have to put it in the right places, and no, I don't think the police department is going to make us any safer. Please vote no on this. Teague: Thank you. Welcome. Comer: Hi,uh,Justin Comer of Coralville. Um, I just want to reiterate and emphasize some things that my friend Dan Kauble,uh, spoke about a few minutes ago. Uh,those of us who live and work in this city are subject to the actions of many different police departments, Iowa City Police Department,University of Iowa Police Department, Johnson County Sheriffs,uh, Coralville has their own,University Heights. Uh, State Patrol as those of us who were tear gassed back in 2020 can,uh, certainly recall. Um,you only have budgetary authority over one of those,the Iowa City Police Department. But they do collaborate with all of the other law enforcement agencies in the area, as Dan's example illustrates. Dan is being accused of ridiculing a University of Iowa detective Ian Mallory on the Internet. Uh, and that detective did not like that and he,he got the Iowa City Police Department and the Coralville Police Department to collaborate with him in order to retaliate against my friend,Dan. This concerns me personally as I ridicule that same man frequently on the Internet. And I ridicule a lot of people on the Internet. Many of you are ridiculed on the Internet frequently. I'm sure you're aware of this as public officials. Do you think it's appropriate to take-take a man's phone for doing that? It seems extreme to me, and to involve three different police departments in that retaliation, like this is what they're doing with the resources that they already have. It seems like they've got time on their hands. And, I,uh,the trial of Tara McGovern was also brought, uh,up during tonight's public comment. Uh, and again,to reiterate something that Dan said, Tara had been monitored by this University of Iowa detective for several years because of things that Tara was saying at public meetings like this one. So everybody who's spoken here tonight is potentially subject to surveillance by a University of Iowa detective. What does he have to do with this. Or with a Johnson County meeting about the Sheriff getting a certain vehicle. Years later, Tara is charged with a crime, due in part to that years long surveillance. Uh, and I as a close friend of Tara,by the way, I- I viewed a lot of body cam footage of that night. There was,there was a Iowa City Police Department presence at the-the protests where those charges originated. I have video of one officer, I don't have his name,but referring to this crowd of people exercising the First Amendment rights,he called them all fucking idiots. If you have any interest in that, I can give you the clip. Teague: Thank you. Bakker: Hi,uh, I am Casper. Uh, I'm from Iowa City, and I would just like to say if you guys have the audacity to claim Trans Day of Visibility,while giving money to the people who not only privately shit on us,but are publicly beating us in the streets,then you guys are all fucking frauds. Like,you're just losers. Like, stop talking out of your ass and actually do something. Like, oh,my God. Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 79 2. Consider a Resolution Teague: Anyone else like to address this topic? I see no one else. We're gonna go to Council. I'm gonna close the public hearing. Can I get a motion to approve,please? Moe: So moved. Harmsen: Second,Harmsen. Teague: Moved by Moe, seconded by Harmsen. Council discussion. Salih: Yeah. I guess- I'm sorry, I just jumped up because you asked me to do so. I want to ask again about- Councilor Harmsen said that- I'm not looking at the budget,by the way. I don't have it. But you said that the increase was 700,000 for the police salary. And even though the increase,the total increase is 400,000,that means because they cut something else. Can you talk about the thing that you have cut down to make it 400,000 instead of 700? Fruin: Uh, so again,the,um, salary and benefits are you're going to make up about 87% of the budget. Um, if you,um, look at the other 13%,um, some of the larger expenditure items are going to be fuel,uh,vehicle replacement. Um,those are probably at the top. Um,uh, I think there was fewer vehicle replacements in this budget than the prior one as one of the major drivers. Um,but I don't have a- a line item accounting for every single change that was-that was made. Salih: Okay. And is there is any way we can do more cutting to replace just do not increase it. Cut another thing that we really don't want or not necessary so we can use this money for something else? Bergus: Well,procedurally, I'm not exactly sure how to proceed, so I'm going to be looking at staff. But I would like to make a motion to amend the public safety line of the proposed Fiscal Year 2025 budget to reduce it by $462,972. So that line would go from $31,000,911- sorry, $31,911,220 down to $31,448,248. Dun: Second. Salih: I second that motion. Teague: Move by-Dunn beat you,by the way. Move by Bergus, seconded by Dunn. Discussion. Alter: So I guess, given that the majority of this has been through negotiations for pay and benefits. Like,uh, I guess, I literally do not know how this works since these were contracts that were negotiated with the unions,right? I mean so- This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 80 Fruin: You-you can't.No,you-you cannot fundamentally change what's in a collective bargaining agreement at the- at the table. Bergus: It's- can I address what I'm proposing since it's 10:48 night? Alter: Please no I was just confused. I was just really- Bergus: Okay. So we started this conversation over a year ago and specifically about reducing that line item, right?And last year,the proposal was 1.6 million,now is 462 and some thousand. Okay. At that time, we had the conversation of if we add the money at the time, then the department can use it at its discretion, certain decisions have to come before us, certain ones don't. So adding certain,you know, full time positions have to come before us. But if the- if the positions are already there,they're just not filled yet,then that decision doesn't have to come before us. Those are management decisions to fill empty positions. That was the conversation we had a year ago, and we also had that conversation last summer with Chief Liston, in that if the budget was reduced,he could make the decision to not fill those empty positions. It is not our prerogative to say what every dollar in the budget has to go to. It is our prerogative to say,these are the values of the city,these are the priorities. These are the commitments that we've made to the community, and here's how we're going to carry it out. When we talk about policing. We're talking about the system of policing and trying to address the inherent inequities in that system. I do believe we have good police officers. I do. I stand behind that. And the best officers in the world cannot undo the systemic inequities in policing. The best officers in the world cannot fundamentally change the fact that police come to every problem where they are called. Whether it has anything to do with a crime or violence or, you know, anything where maybe the majority of people would think, sure, call an officer. It doesn't matter. They come to that with a gun,with legal immunity, and with the ability to seize people and property. And we know that statistically,most of those calls do not require that kind of response. That response happens because we provide the resources. That response happens because there are millions of dollars that we commit to have a well staffed 24/7 fully dispatch operation for police and for fire,but not for anything else. And we have these little conversations where we nibble around the edges about mental health and about crisis response and about all the other things that we know will provide safety, for our entire community, including those who are here telling us that police do not make them safe. And we talk about tiny little dollar amounts here and there. All we have to do is invest in it. We have to invest in alternative means of addressing harm in the community. And we cannot do that with the budget limitations that we've heard so much about tonight and all the months and years leading up to that. Up to this, we cannot make those shifts in investment without actually moving the money,without actually turning down the spigot on those who appear on the scene with guns and putting those resources into the alternatives that we know can work. And I am not going to give any kind of impassioned um,presentation like these folks did, and all due respect to Mr. Kaubel,who we haven't seen in a few years. But I want to take a more pragmatic approach. I think,you know,uh,what we know from our budget documents,um, from page 305,where there's a number of all the departmental expenditures,uh, over time. We This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 81 can see that there has been since the fiscal year 2023 actual budget. So that's just,you know, like two-not even two years ago,to what is being proposed for this year is an increase of$2.3 million. And it has been- so if you recall last year,the Council approved $955,000 increase over the prior year. Then we have had multiple amendments to the budget,which I voted against right before this item because we continually do that. We have these conversations as if the $462,972 is the whole problem. But we're going to wipe that out in the fust budget amendment anyway. And as Geoff noted,when we have less capacity in the gen-we have less capacity because of the removal of other levees. Okay,the library levy goes away?Where do we get that money?We're going to have to subsidize it from the general fund. We have Fare Free that we're trying to find money for. We want regional transportation. If we're going to activate the CRANDIC Rail Line,how are we going to do that?We just spent over $460,000 just approved that for the Mercer Scanlon gym,that kind of-that roof replacement, I mean this-this is just one year for the police department to enhance the,you know, our- our largest rec center and replace the entire roof There are so many things that we know demands on our general fund that are so necessary and our police department is doing the right thing by asking for more money every year. That's their job. That's what they should do. It is our job to say, fundamentally, is that what we want to spend our resources on? Starting on page 690 in our budget document,there's a nice table that goes 2014-2022 with crime statistics. You can see that from that time in 2014 to now,pretty much every single thing has gone down. Arrests per officer have gone down. Crimes overall in almost every category have gone down. Calls for service this last year went down. I know that we are paying for contractual increases based on our collective bargaining agreement. And that money comes from the police budget based on the fact that those positions were filled, and those are management decisions that staff have made. Okay. Those are-those are below our purview. Our pur- our purview, overall, is to say,what is this budget? The reason that I say reduce the public safety line, it's not even the police line is because it's all just smushed together in this one page document that we send to the state of Iowa. These are blunt instruments that we have. I would ask you to vote yes on this amendment, and then we can pass the entirety of the budget. Otherwise, I will be voting no on the entirety of the city budget, like I did last year. Teague: Anybody can go. Alter: You and I have had a lot of conversations,many walks, and- and I understand you have said,this is the vote that I need to do. This is the proposal that I want to pass, and then subsequent to that, it's the vote that I need-these are the votes that I need to do to be able to sleep, and I absolutely respect that beyond respect. I- I do feel that we were making progress more than nibbling at the edges that we were having these conversations about what does this look like in a large scale way. And so at the same time a 100%your logic is there, and this is absolutely consistent. It is difficult to say,here we are once again at budget time and we're in a place where you're saying,this is the line in the sand for me when, in fact, I thought we had been moving the needle along to discuss these larger things and that it wasn't going to come to 10:45 at night discussion. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 82 Bergus: And the larger things require resources that we know we don't have to have. Alter: Absolutely,but Bergus: So as I did a year ago, I'm asking to shift those funds so that we will have them to use. Salih: Let me ask question. Teague: Sure. Yeah. Salih: Is there any, like how many position that we were hiring for at the police department that unfilled? Fruin: I don't- I don't have the exact number in front of me. We're-we're authorized at 85. I think we're in the low 80s right now,maybe 81, 82, somewhere in that area. Salih: And- and how much an average officer like wages per year. Average. Fruin: An average officer, I- I don't have that information. Salih:No, any guess. I think we-we can just not hire those five. We don't need more officer. Eight is a lot. How I think is, I don't, it's very safe. I don't think we are. Maybe we just don't hire those people, so this way we did not fire people from their job and the same time,maybe just for this year,make it a pilot program and see how things will go without those five officers and just to reduce the budget of 400 and- and maybe even the five off- officer will be more than 400,000 a year. I'm sure, and maybe after that we can come back if something happen and we did not-we still need,but I think this is- could be an option,just not hire for those five people and cut down the 400,000. Use it for something else. Harmsen: I think we actually know some of the answers to those questions, and part of that is because of the discussions that we had last year when we were talking about this. We know that when we were down in the '70s that one of the trick or ripple effects of that was the fact that we were having officers that were doing a lot of mandatory overtime. And that was one of the things that the polive-the police chief came before us and spoke about that. Setting patrols at the number of patrol officers in the city hasn't increased since 1990, if I remember right. I'm going from memory from last year. While the-while the. Teague: I'm going to ask the public to please allow Council to have a discussion. Thank you. Harmsen: One of the things that we found out and we talked about a year ago when we talked about this. And this is-this is essentially cutting, I think, if I remember right. So it was about the same dollar amount last year, it's about six positions. Was it close?Was six positions we were talking about last year. If we had-. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 83 Bergus: It was 1.6 million last year. Teague: I think it was about six position. Harmsen: About six position last year about. Anyway. The point being one of the things that we did hear about was that increases. One of the ripple effects is that increases the mandatory overtime,which I know that- I know that we've had discussion about some concerns about that is if we want better policing and yet we have overworked police that does not- that's not conducive. Those two things but head to head with those two things. The other thing that we saw is when we were understaffed,when at least below what it was down in the lower'70s,that that meant in order to keep the core patrol and make sure there were response to emergencies and calls that some of the other things suffered,the downtown liaison was a program that went away. It's only been able to come back since we've gotten staffing levels up higher. The other thing, some of the other programs that we're doing with the mental health liaison. So we do have, and- and I agree with what Councilor Alter said. You know,nibbling at the edges, I think, is not a fair characterization. I think we're actually moving the needle. We've got these different programs that we're pushing and we're putting more and more resources in place. And having those resources and having those practices and trying them out and having them in place is better public safety in the long run. We-you know, and if you don't have those things in place and- and you just sort of take that leap,you can end up with unintended consequences, and I- one of the ways I saw that I've been watching really carefully the experience of Portland, Oregon,which has had this amazing- amazing experiment in decriminalizing hard drugs. But they've had to reverse on that. And one of the reasons why after reading about this was they took the leap without having everything in place to- to catch them and catch the people that needed help. So instead of reducing harm,they increased harm. Although absolutely the goals and what they were shooting for, I agree with 100%. But I take from that a little bit of a lesson that if we- as we do these things, and as we incorporate these programs, if at this point we go ahead and we-we cut multiple positions from the police department. And again,positions that are costing more expensive every year because they are contracted wages increases and things like that. If we do that,we could be shooting ourselves in the foot as we try and put forward a-. Harmsen: As we try and put forward actual change in the- in our community and make people safer. And yeah,there are calls after the fact. We can say,well,we didn't need a police officer there. But one of the challenges is you don't know that when the call fust comes in. And there are certain things where you need to have somebody who has the authority and- and has the legal ability to do things a police officer can do. And one of the nice things about the new program with having the liaison out with an officer is that gives a much more rapid and flex flexibility-rapid flexibility in those situations. And so,yes,we need to keep pushing on that and get this into place. Get this into place, get it going, and then here how it goes and hopefully be expanding that. But those are-those are important changes that I would not call nibbling around the edges. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 84 Salih: I understand what you're saying, Councilor Harmsen,but,you know, as Council Bergus said,you know,you're talking about a long time ago. But now she's- she's saying I didn't see the data,to be honest. But as she mentioned earlier, even the call for service has been reduced, a lot of thing has been reduced, it's not like before, so we don't have to worry about all this,maybe as that time it was needed. But right now all the data showing that we don't need this because everything has been cut down. So it's better to cut down the number of the officer if we don't need the-to respond to all this. We don't have the-the need of response that we used to have when you was talking about that time. Teague: So,respectfully,you know,this number I just learned about today. And this proposal today. There's not much I can,you know, go into right now because it- it kind of came up. Again,my position last year was, if there is a dollar amount that we want to have or whatever the services are,then this council can direct staff to that dollar amount. When we go and we as Council because there's a lot of departments,when we go and we say from one particular department to pull their money because of this. Again, I think we can direct all of the departments to look at there- if that's an exercise we want to do and say, hey,we're going to require you to cut 2%, 1%,whatever the case,whatever. But this in this moment, I love you, I respect you. You already know that. There is no questions about it,but your-what you're proposing at this time, I will not be supporting. Salih: What about- I'm sorry. But what about,yes,you start the process. I started using it, instead of, like cutting the- since nobody's allow people in favor of cutting the 400 and we have five officer that they need to be hired. What about not hiring the five hiring two and do some cut, and just see and maybe next year we can cut like gradually. Bergus: And just so everyone understands because I don't know that I made this clear. That- that line reduction would be to hold the budget at the amount that was approved by this council last year,which included the $1.6 million that we were talking about at the time, which was the $955,000 increase. Okay? So it's not reducing from what was approved. Last year it's reducing from what is proposed. These are the tools we have in front of us at this time, and I- and I appreciate what you said,Mayor. I understand your position. I respect it. I think fundamentally,we're never going to reach agreement if the impasse is- policing is the right way to solve all of these issues,right? I think because then- Harmsen: That's a mischaracterization of what I said. I said it is important to many issues. Bergus: Can I- can I please finish? I wasn't trying- I wasn't trying to put words in your mouth, okay?But we are continuing to fund police as the primary response instead of shifting, right?And Geoff and I've had dozens of hours of these conversations where ultimately we agree on the vast majority of things. It's the speed with which we can attain it. And so from my policy seat, I have an opportunity to actually make a significant change that cannot be done at the mana-management level, cannot be done at the department level, and is based on my fundamental beliefs about our obligation to provide safety to the community. And that's why the-you know,what you were saying,Mayor of the Department by Department. Absolutely,we could do that. And for me,this is a This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 85 fundamental moral issue about providing safety and what that looks like for the entirety of our community. Alter: And I want to continue having that conversation. I'm concerned about the fact of finding out the data that when we've had responses through community and through the Mobile Crisis Center that over half of the people who have been in contact with community refuse service. So how- Bergus: So they should be arrested? Alter:No. No.No, Laura. Bergus: Okay. Well,we're talking about the police budget. Alter: Yeah, I know that. Bergus: We're talking about the police budget. Alter: I- I understand that. But I'm saying in the same way that I had a concern. You're saying let's put it somewhere else. Where? Bergus: Well, same as I said last year. Let's put it in a reserve until we can do it. I mean, I've made multiple proposals which I'd be happy to make again. So additional funding for mobile crisis,putting a crisis counselor in the dispatch center. We could fund the mobile integrated health system that the-the county is doing. We had proposals this evening for more permanent supported housing or other community-innovative community health programs. We are having those conversations. I'm trying to fund them. Teague: I- I- I'll make this last comment. I'll- I'll make this last comment because,um,this community, I hear a lot of individuals that say,being in this community,they feel loved and they feel accepted.Now,there are some things that,you know,maybe individuals talk about the police and not make them feel safe. But overall,this community has been a safe haven for a lot of individuals. And I believe this council- Teague: And I believe that this council- I believe that this council has,um, looked at opportunities, and we've funded opportunities for some of the services in our community. And I know you're not discounting that,but I just wanted to make mention that when I look and talk to other people not just in the state of Iowa,but across the nation, Iowa City has some things that either other communities are just- I mean,big-big-big cities are just trying to do. So I'm not trying to discount,um,you know,the need to do more,but I also wanted to take a moment to acknowledge not to pat ourselves on the back because we have a lot- a lot more ground to go. But there are some great-there are some great things that have come,um, as a result of,uh, conversations. Teague: Any other comments before we call votes? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 86 Goers: All right. Again, so this is the motion to amend the budget. Teague: This is a motion to amend the budget for the four hands. Goers: A yes vote amends the budget, a no vote does not amend the budget. Bergus: And again, I apologize because it's so late at night. I don't know what I said out loud or not,but just like last year, it would be to put it in a reserve so that it could be allocated to something else,not to change the ultimate bottom line of the budget. Teague: Okay. Bergus: Is that everybody's understanding,whoever made the second? Teague: Yes. So again, as the City Attorney stated,this is the budget, I mean,the proposal that's before is for the amendment of the budget. So if you agree with reducing the budget $462,972,then you will vote yes. If you,um, do not,then you will vote no. So roll call, please. Moe: A very important piece of information. Finance. Davies: So we're reducing a line,we're keeping reserves that we already have. It's not setting up a new reserve,right? There's nothing in the budget to do that. As far as the budget form, there's no place where we could put that. We just-we'd have to wait- Bergus: Adding it to reserve. Just shifting the dollar amount. Davies: It'd just be in the bottom line, still -still there is fund balance. Bergus: But not reducing the overall bottom line, correct? Davies: It reduce them. It would reduce the income or the loss for the year,right?And change the bottom line-the bottom line? It would increase the bottom line by the 600. Bergus: It would be-yes. Davies: Whatever the number is, let's put 462. Bergus: The money that's still there. Will still be there. Davies: Thank you. Teague: Okay. Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 87 Bergus: I'm sorry, friends. Teague: Okay. Salih: Again- again,you said the money is still going to be there,but it's going to be at the reserve,right? Teague: Correct. Yes. Salih: Okay. Teague: Roll call,please. [Roll Call] Motion fails, uh, 3-4. Teague: Okay. We are back to our original motion to approve the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget and council discussion. I will say thanks to all the staff for the hard work that goes into this. I know that it's not a easy task because you start this as we know,really throughout the entire year because this Council is,um,talking about things that we know,um,we want to do. UM, and then at the beginning of the year,you come with all of those opportunities for us to consider. So thanks to the staff for all that you all have done, of course. We all know that there are budgetary restraints,but I'm also encouraged by some of the opportunities that we have taken and even some of the ones we'll take in the future just to make Iowa City more livable for,um, all. Of course,there are things that we know we won't be able to do in short notice,but,um,that doesn't mean that our intention and our heart isn't there. Alter: And I would just like to say that,um, one of the things that the entire budget will be doing is funding for public parks for prairies, for city park pool, for fixing roads,road construction, for aid to agencies, and there is affordable housing in this. So I just want to say that that's the entirety of the budget. (voice):Yeah. Alter:Not arguing. (voice): A thousand dollars more. What difference that would make? Teague: Any other comments?Any other comments from our,um,two online? Salih:No. Thank you. Teague: Okay. Dunn: I would just echo prayer comments about my appreciation for,um, staff putting in the time that's necessary to put in-put together a document like this. I agree it takes a lot of This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 88 energy of- of,you know,brain space. And every year,we-we do have an excellent document together. So I just want to echo that. Teague: Roll call,please. [Roll Call] Yes. Motion passes 5-2. (voice): You're not doing enough. Why do you not listen? (voice): I have heard it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 89 10.g Sheridan Avenue Traffic Calming-Resolution authorizing the installation of modified speed humps on Sheridan Avenue,between Oakland Avenue and 7th Avenue. Teague: Item 10.g is Sheridan Avenue traffic calming. Resolution authorizing the installation of modified speed humps on Sheridan Avenue between Oakland Avenue and Seventh Avenue. And can I get a motion to approve,please? Moe: So moved,Moe. Bergus: Second,Bergus. Teague: All right. And welcome. Walz: Hi, Sarah Walz,with Transportation Planning. Traffic calming. I had a little presentation I was going to do,but we're late at night, so I'll get things through- get through this quickly. The traffic calming program has been around since 1996. We adopted some new criteria in 2016. This whole process starts out with the neighborhoods. We get a petition from residents who live along a street or along a segment of a street. If we get signatures from 50% of the households, it doesn't matter whether they're renter or homeowner,they can move forward into the traffic calming process. At that point,we collect speed and traffic volume data. We capture those midweek, during the school year,we're looking for typical speeds and volumes. If the 85th percentile speeds are five miles per hour or higher over the speed limit,um, we'll explore traffic calming. I'll explain what 85th percentile speed is in a minute. Those traffic calming options are reviewed by our transportation planning staff along with streets, engineering, fire and police. And then we take those to a neighborhood meeting where residents of the street come together,we answer their questions,we go through the data,we discuss, and then if they want to move forward,we put out a survey to those residents. We need to hear again from 50% of the households along the street. Once we get that 50% or more back, if 60% of those who responded are for moving forward with the traffic calming,then we bring it to you. In the meantime, while they're waiting for the meeting,we post along the street so that the general public can provide comment, and you have some of those comments in your packet, and some of those came in late. So the fust one that we have this evening is on Sheridan Avenue, and that's the portion of Sheridan that's east of Oakland and you have the speeds and the other information in your packet. They went through this entire process. We did a survey. We get a 50%response,which is the minimum required, and of those 83% said that they did want the modified speed humps. And those are speed humps- Sheridan is an important connector street. So that is-the setup of those speed humps allows a large axle vehicle like a fire truck or a bus to pass over with minimal slowing just so you know what that is. So you have all the information in your packet. So if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer those. Moe: Is there currently a moratorium on new speed humps or the process precure them? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 90 Walz: So, right now,we have put the traffic calming program on hold. We have in the last year or two gotten a great increase in requests for traffic calming. And in fact this year,we would have been calm- if all of them had been approved,we would have had somewhere in the neighborhood, $200,000 worth of speed humps. So they were rejected by many of the neighborhoods. But we thought we would take a pause. As you know,we have this SS4S grant that's coming through. And we kind of want to look at things more systematically and making sure that-you know,that-there might not- could there be other approaches?Are there other safety issues that we should be paying more attention to?But these two came through,you know, ahead of that process. Moe: Okay. Teague:No other questions,thank you. Anyone from the public like to address this topic? Seeing no one in person or online. Council discussion. Moe: Yeah, I had constituents reach out, a friend reach out and gave a very clear explanation on why they didn't want these for damage to their vehicle, and we had a long discussion about it, and I kind of don't like the way our program is set up. I think the threshold is entirely too low to have that happen. And I think that needs to be revisited. I'm glad that there's a moratorium on that, and I would hope Council would maybe agree with that. However,we have the rules in place,we have the policies in place. I think that if the neighborhood members that went through the process to procure that speed hump, did everything right using the rules that we provided, it's only fair that we follow through with that,but I think we need to change the way we do this. Teague: All right. Any other comments or questions?All right. Can anyone from the public like to address this topic? Seeing no one. Council discussion. Moe: Oh, I'm sorry. Goers: Yeah. I think that's what Councilor Moe is- Moe: I thought I was in discussion because we had a motion-. Teague: I didn't know that- okay. Maybe it's late. Moe: It's late. Bergus: It's late. Teague: It's fine. Moe:No,that was Council discussion. Teague: Okay. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 91 Moe:Nobody wanted to talk to me, so- Teague: Roll call please. [Roll Call] Motion passes 7-0. Could I get a motion to accept correspondence? Bergus: So moved,Bergus. Salih: Second, Salih. Teague: Yes. Moved by Bergus, seconded by Salih. All in favor, say aye. (voice vote)Aye. Any opposed?Motion passes 7-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 92 10.h Traffic Calming on Lindemann Drive-Resolution authorizing the installation of modified speed humps on Lindemann Drive,between Anna Street and Court Street. Teague: Item 10.h is traffic calming on Lindemann Drive and this is a resolution authorizing the installation of modified speed humps on Lindemann Drive between Anna Street and Court Street. Could I get a motion to approve? Salih: So move. Alter: Move. Second. Teague: Move by Salih, seconded by Alter, and welcome again. Walz: So again, same thing on Lindemann Drive. This one is a little bit different in that, staff also agreed to add at the urging of the residents that came to the neighborhood meeting to add a speed hump on Anna Street and Gustav Street,which enter into Lindemann Drive. That made sense to us. There's a trail crossing in that area. You have the aerial view in your packet. And so we agreed to do that as well. So that was included in the survey to the residents, and we received a 56%response rate to that survey with 63% of the residents indicating their support to install modified speed humps. Teague: Any questions for Sarah?Hearing none- Walz: And I do think we have someone from the public who's going to- Teague: Okay. Um,public?Anyone from the public like to address this topic?You'll be given up to three minutes, and I saw you put your name in there, so name and city. Keating: Thank you. Dan-Dan Keating from Iowa City here. And we do live on Lindemann. We're like,the fourth house south of the Gustay. Yeah. And the cars do come around there. The report said there was like, a top speed 41 miles an hour. That's only a short distance. And I was home yesterday for a while working in the garage and I counted 20 cars that could have been doing that fast. And I have parked two cars out there to narrow it, and I think that just increases the speed. They don't like to see it, so they pickup speed to get there fust, I think. But yes,we really appreciate it, your consideration on this. Thank you. Teague: Thank you, anyone else like to address this topic? Seeing no one in person or online, Council discussion. Moe: And reiterate what I said. I think we need to revisit this policy. But I still think if we set rules up,we need to follow through with them. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 93 Alter: I live off of Sandusky where there are stuff- speed humps, stuff, speed humps. And you know, it has made a difference because we had cars rolling through it about 45, 50 miles an hour because it is a beautiful long stretch. So,you know, for what it's worth, if this is the tool that we have right now and neighbors have gone through the process,then I am also in favor of it because there-there's not going through the process if there wasn't a need honestly. And it does help. Teague: Hearing no other comments. Roll call,please. [Roll Call] Yes. Motion passes 7-0. Could I get a motion to accept correspondence? Bergus: So move,Bergus? The Councillor. Teague: All right. All in favor say aye? (Voice Vote)Any opposed?Motion passes 7-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 94 11. Council Appointments II.a Human Rights Commission Teague: We are on to item number 11,which is Council appointments. l la as Human Rights Commission. One Vacancy to fill unexpired term upon appointment through December 31, 2025. There is one male gender requirement,which we still have those requirements for this Commission until May 20th, 2024. Salih: I want a boy Abdullahi, Idris? Moe: Idris Abdullahi. Salih: Yeah. Moe: I would also support that. I had a chance to speak with him and very interested in some of his passion and interests that he could bring to that commission. Harmsen: Yeah, I think they're, I just wanted to quick shout out. Lots of great candidates. We are spoiled for good choices in so many of our commissions, and this is no exception. But yes, I could support this person. They've got a nice commentary and application so -- Yeah. Salih: And also, like his age,uh, I think would be good diverse age group. Yeah. We need young people voice as well. Yeah. Alter: Yes. Just-- and I also support Idris but in keeping with what Mayor Pro Tem just said, someone that I think is of note was Deandre Stager. I was very impressed by his engagement and the fact that he's young as well. But I do not have an issue at all with supporting Idris. Teague: Yeah. And I guess I would also note,um, Connor Hart Hardik was also candidate that I saw. But Idris was also another one at the ti--you know,that I would also be willing to move forward as well. Moe: He introduces himself as E. It's a hard name to say. Yeah. Teague: Any other I guess I only heard one nomination with just shoutouts to other people. Yeah. Is that what I understood? Moe: Yes. Harmsen: Correct. Teague: Okay. All right. Uh, if I hear no other nominations,then it will be Idris Abdulla. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 95 Salih: Abdullahi. Teague: Abdullahi. Salih: Yes. Teague: All right. Bless you. All right. So then we'll go on to the next one,which I will read. Well,you know what?Let's just do this one. Okay. All right. Can I get a motion to appoint Idris Abudullahi? Moe: So moved Moe? Bergus: Second,Bergus. Moe: Everybody's excited. Teague: All right. So I'm going to give them a chance on the phone because,you know, it's a little delayed,right? So we'll give it to Moe for the movement and then the second by Salih. And all in favor, say Aye. All: Aye. Teague: Any opposed?Motion passes 7-0. Can I get a motion to accept correspondence? Moe: So moved. Bergus: Second. Moved by Moe seconded by Bergus. All in favor, say aye. All: Aye. ILb Library Board of Trustees Teague: The opposed motion passes seven to zero. l Lb is going to be the Library Board of Trustees on vacancy to fill an unexpired term. Upon appointment through June 30th, 2029. This is one female requirement. Dunn: Bonnie Boothroy. Alter: I also would support that. She looks wonderful. Teague: I-- I didn't hear the name. Bonnie Boothroy? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 96 Dunn: Bonnie Boothroy. Moe: Okay. Bonnie. I was going to nominate two Bonnie and Anna Stone too. Bergus: Anna Stone is also on my list. Moe: I think that they're such good candidates. It's a terrible choice. Alter: Well that's wonderful. Teague: Any other nominations? So we have Bonnie and Anna as the nominations. I know I was hearing some agreements for all of them. I don't know how we want to kind of end this. Harmsen: What do you think?You know,yeah, 6.5 a dozen,but I think somebody felt strongly enough about Bonnie to speak up right away. I mean,that's a good sign,right?All kidding aside. It's a good sign. Alter: Yeah. Teague: So it seem like Bonnie Boothroy has the will be appointed to this commission. So, could I get a motion,please for Bonnie Boothroy? Dunn: So moved. Harmsen: Second,Harmsen. Teague: Move by Dunn, second by Harmsen. All in favor say aye. Council: Aye. Teague: Any opposed motion passes 7-0. Harmsen: Can I ask a quick question or maybe just something to put on our radar for next time. I know that the state law on the gender bal-- gender equity balance thing. But do we have the flexibility or ability as a city to still have a self imposed? It won't be a state law anymore,but-- Goers: Right. When you say self imposed, I assume that the end of that sentence is quota in which the answer would be no. Can you still consider race, gender, age, all those other characteristics? Of course. But you just would never want to be in a position after July Ist of saying,We need a woman. It's got to be a woman, or we need a man, it's got to be a man,that kind of thing. Harmsen: I'm trying so hard to keep a straight face.Now after that sentence. But thank you. Thank you very much. That's perfect. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024 Page 97 Moe: To follow up on Shawn's question. We can track that and have it in a spreadsheet for us to put together a whole team of excellent Commissioners. Goers: Yes, I believe that in the packet,the City Clerk puts out demographic information. Moe: It's Very hopeful. Thank you. Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16, 2024 Page 98 13. City Council Information Bergus: Team Up to Clean Up is this Sunday from 10:00 A.M. to noon in the South District, meet at the mural. Teague: Great. Harmsen: And I think I forget the annual Energy Blitz is coming up too before we meet the next time. I want to say it's at the 23rd, 24th, something? From: Yes. Harmsen: Sorry. I don't remember off top of my head. I meant to look that up but got sidetracked somehow. Yeah. It's usually a Saturday. It's a 20th,maybe? Bergus: Yeah. Teague: Okay. Bergus: I don't know. Teague: Any other updates or information?Hearing none. We're going to move on to item number 14,Report on Items from City Staff, City Manager's office? From: I'll pass tonight,Mayor. Thanks. Teague: City Attorney? Goers;Me too. Teague: City Clerk. All right. And then we're going to adjourn from our formal back into our work session. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of April 16,2024