HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-04-16 Transcription Page 1
Council: Alter,Bergus,Dunn (via Zoom),Harmsen, Moe, Salih (via Zoom), Teague
Planning& Zoning Commissioners: Hensch, Craig,Wade, Quellhorst
Staff: From,Jones, Goers, Grace, Platz,Hightshoe,Bristow,Russett,Nagle Gamm,
Knoche,Havel, Sovers
Others Present: LeFevre,USG, Monsivais,Alternate
1. Consultation with the Planning and Zoning Commission regarding Historic
Landmark Designation of 302-316 E.Bloomington St.
Teague: It is 4:00 PM on April 16,2024,and this is the City of Iowa City Work Session and our first item
is going to be Consultation with the Planning and Zoning Commission regarding the proposed
historic landmark designation of 302-316 East.Bloomington Street. So welcome to each of you
for- for being here today. I want to acknowledge that both Councilor Dunn and Councilor Salih
are online,joining virtually. Councilor Dunn,just want to make sure that your mic is working.
Dunn: Yes,Mayor.
Teague: All right. Great. Welcome. All right. So you've probably been tuning,uh,in to some of the,uh,
conversations relating to this.And so as you know,um,on our last meeting,the Council had to,
um,if any one person voted no,then that item would have failed.And so I was one of the-I think
I was the one that verbalized that I wanted this meeting. Only because I was having a little
challenge with the entire parcel being designated.And so,maybe just wanted to offer you all an
opportunity to speak to us today.
Hensch: Thank you,Mr.Mayor. I'll go ahead and go first.My name is Mike Hensch. I'm the chair of the
Iowa City Planning Zoning Commission. In two months,I've been on for 10 years and seven of
those as chair. So I'll just go through a couple of points that I wrote down in my thoughts about
this.Um,as I'm sure you know,the rezoning that we approved with the historic district overlay
on this particular property,this application,it's consistent with the Iowa City 2030 comprehensive
plan. It's also consistent with the central district plan for this area,and it's consistent with the
historic preservation plan. Why that's important is because our role,we're in a non-political role,
our role is to assess if,um,these rezoning are consistent with the plans and if they comply with
the zoning ordinances.And that's what we did in this particular case. And thus,we approved this,
um,planning and zoning rezoning.We approved it by a vote of 6:1 with Chad Wade dissenting,
and Mr.Wade is there,and he'll speak up for himself. He's a good man.And then also,the
Historic Preservation Commission approved by a vote of 8:0. As I'm sure you're aware all zoning
designations contain- contain restrictions on the owners. I'm aware just by the media that the
owner is concerned that he'll be unable to sell this property at the price he wants to. So I just want
to address-address those issues of restrictions. Um,the exterior modifications,if- if this is
approved by Council,we need to go through the historic review process,but only the exterior
modifications,nothing interior.However,there are some benefits the-the owner of the property if
it is sold,will be eligible for special exceptions through the Board of Adjustment to help them
support the continued use of this property. So if there's some zoning restrictions that,um,get in
the way of this-their use of this property,they would be able to bring some of those up to the
Board of Adjustment.In additionally,talking about financial incentives,this property is eligible
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for financial incentive-incentives such as tax credits in the Iowa City Historic Preservation Fund.
Neither of these would be available to the property owner if this is not approved this historic
designation. The historic landmark zoning does not deny the owner the right to sell the property
and doesn't prevent the owner from making a sizable profit. The property,as far as I am aware,
has always been fully leased for tenants and for commercial uses also. So I had presume that the
profitability is pretty straightforward.No evidence has been presented other than a concern about
selling price that the historic landmark designation would affect the ultimate selling price of this
property. Certainly,we care. The Commission doesn't because prices is not part of our
responsibility,but it's a political purview that I'm sure you and undertake.But somebody's
opinion,just thinking it may affect the price is probably insufficient.I just note that a professional
property apprai-real property appraisal would need to be undertaken to show if,in fact,there
would be an effect on price. And as far as I know,no appraisal has been done. So right now it's
just somebody's stating of that fear. In- in Riverfront crossings district,currently,there's a
requirement that 10%of units must be labeled as affordable. This impacts the owner's
profitability since they can't charge market rate for those units.But this has been deemed
important by the Council and by the Planning Zoning Commission because it contributes towards
the public good of increasing affordability at the cost of profitability for the owner of that
property. So ultimately,historic preservation provides a public good to all the residents of Iowa
City and makes Iowa City a better and more interesting place to live and work because of
designations such as this historic property. And that's all the notes that I have.
Teague: Okay. Great. Thank you.Anyone else want to chime in?
Wade: Start with me or you guys want to go first?
Craig: You go.
Wade:All right. Um, so I was the one dissenting vote in this case. So out here on my own.But I did vote
against-against this for a few reasons. I looked at this much as an involuntary a- a historic
landmark much like we look at involuntary,um,annexation. Is that it should be used in a very
isolated case and cautiously when we approach taking over or,uh,in this case, a historic overlay.
Um, as Mr. Hensch expressed,there are some benefits,which these benefits may not be realized
by the current owner but may be realized by the fixture owner. So just because we don't,uh,
overlay today doesn't mean that the next owner would not if these benefits would continue to
apply. They could also apply in a voluntary cases where we get the new owner on board if they're
interested in that opportunity. Um,I think the historic overlay,um,over the whole property. This
property is essentially three-well,one main building with two or three additions on it. They all
are treated as one property.When you treat this all as one property,it does not allow any kind of
re-envisioning part of that property. It puts the whole property under that constraint. So I saw that
as a challenge. Also with the challenge that we're trying to balance out historic preservation
against the- continue to grow the community to be a walkable and easy accessible community. It's
a great area to be close to downtown,um,with has very limited kind of availability for growth,
uh,with,uh,the historic district in that area. This would be kind of I had a little cautionce on
setting the tone. There's only-there's very limited buildings that fall under that historic overlay
currently from a commercial standpoint. So there are many buildings that go through a buy sell in
that area. You can look in the past 10 years,there's been multiple buildings in that area that have
gone through that,but has not brought up this fact.I understand the marketing of this location,
probably brought up that concern and brought up some alarms.But this is kind of an ongoing
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rotation and ownership of our north side and Downtown district. So that's the reason I-I
expressed or voted against as a minority.
Dunn: Can I ask a question about that?
Wade:Yeah,of course.
Dunn: What do you mean like an ongoing rotation of ownership in the north side?You know,considering
this property has been in the same family for five generations,I'm not quite sure what you mean
by that.
Wade:Um,you could take a look at for example,the most recent example would be like the Hamburg Inn
building. Um,you could take a look at Wilder's previously. A long time ago,Chill and Grill. I
don't know what it is now. I think it's Oasis. Um, so there's a lot of movement in those buildings
or most recently,um, it would be on the west side of Linn Street along the alleyway. I think that-
that building was also,uh,recently went through a buy sell.
Craig: Hello,my name is Susan Craig,and I'm on the Planning and Zoning Commission. I voted in favor
of this,I do think it meets the comprehensive all the plans,as Mike described.I am a pretty
pragmatic person when it comes to historic preservation. I also would cut down trees. I mean,I
just I try to look at something in its totality,and the totality of this piece of property is the loss to
Iowa City history would be,more than a shame,it would be an embarrassment,I would think
This is a piece of property that carries such a rich history in both commercial and social ways for
the life of Iowa City more than 100 years ago, and to lose it would be irrepairable.And I think
that property in it is in its entirety is also very important.I mean,when you see the open part of
the parking lot,and then you see the long low building, and you think,those were stables.When
do you suppose the last time a horse was in there?I mean,this you know,you hear about the
North Side historic district and,you know,I've never been down in the tunnels where the brewery
was,and I probably never will be.But this is right there for all to see, it is a living breathing
building that is occupied with beloved Pagliai's Pizza.It houses people at reasonable rents,it
should stay where it is. It is also,as I see it,the moat between the historic north side residential
neighbors and to the south I'm I right. Yes,to the south is the more mixed developments,much
more commercial. This property protects that residential neighborhood in multiple ways, and one
of which is just by the look and feel of it. It is not only part residential,but it has the look and feel
of the North Side historic district.And for those reasons,I'm very-very supportive of this
designation.
Host: Yeah. Hi,I'm Scott Host,I think that I straddle the opinions of the other commissioners. I really
enjoyed leaming about this property in our recent meeting.I think it's architecturally important
and a really significant part of Iowa City's history.I do,however,think it's important to consider
the costs that a historic overway would impose on the owner. And I think that those are more than
hypothetical.Historical regulations are fairly substantial and quite simply impact the cost of
maintaining and improving buildings. So ultimately,I really view this as a question of whether
it's worth imposing those costs on a particular individual for the benefit of the community.
Teague: Thank you all, and you have something.
Moe: Questions,eventually,I was gonna let everyone speak
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Teague: Yeah,jump right in there,I have some questions too,but jump right in there.
Moe: Okay,I guess my first question is for Mr.Wade. I was curious if your no vote was predicated on
your I think you called it involuntary annexation,that sort of feeling that that feels wrong,like
using eminent domain and the wrong power or did you think there was any part of the
comprehensive plan or the city strategic plan or the historic preservation plan that this proposal
violated?Was it a matter of your conscience or a matter of seeing something in the existing code
that made this wrong?
Wade:I think it will be Mike shared,it does fit many portions of the comprehensive plan. There's also the
comprehensive plan as expressed,even within the plan,there's a little bit of a push pull because
we have two objectives that are sometimes at conflict that you're trying to find a balance in.
You're trying to provide fmd a balance in historic preservation and not changing a neighborhood,
as well as growing your housing base and growing the city without doing urban sprawl. So
sometimes in the same area,you want to grow and enable livability are the same areas that you
have some downward pressures against from a regulation standpoint.
Moe: Yeah,no,that's helpful.And then I guess the question for all of you would be you guys with a
second review of this. I already went through historic preservation Commission. They already
said it was historically significant. Is that in your purview?Did you guys sort of just take it at face
that the Preservation Commission is correct,the historian is correct. This is historic,there's no
question the only hiccup was just property rights?
Wade: So I'll speak cause I'm the hiccup. Um,no er,I take it at face value I mean,that building has been
around for a long time.Um,and as expressed, it's been in that family a long time. So seeing the
legacy with that family is quite impressive as kind of a steward of the property. Ideally,um on a
personal note,you'd like to see that kind of continue on as is.But I think there is some kind of
balance in that.I'd like to see,you know,a north star and it's been brought up actually during the
last city council meeting,as far as maybe a different incentive base to try to get property owners
on board or more willing versus kind of the situation that we face now.
Host: Yeah,I'm happy to add to that. I mean,I certainly didn't take the historic value of the property at
face value. You know,I pretty carefully reviewed the record and listen to what everybody had to
say. And to me,I mean,there's absolutely no question about the historic merit of the building.I
mean,to me,it really just comes down to an evaluation of,you know,the benefits of preservation
er,versus the cost that would be imposed on the owner.
Moe: And I -I know that one of the questions that came up in the last council meeting was about the
totality of the property versus trying to carve it up in-in some way.Was that ever discussed at
planning and zoning?
Hensch:No,it wasn't discussed because the application was for the total property.Um,I don't even know
if it's possible to split that up.
Moe: The owner would have to divide.
Hensch: That's Neighborhood&Development Services have to provide that answer. It would seem to me
that that would not be something you want to do because if you um,reading of the historic
preservation Commission's report,um,all three of those buildings are intrical to that whole area.
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It is I think it was part and parcel for one. I don't necessarily know that they were ever split off
separately,but I may have that wrong.
Moe: Is it,okay to have someone from HPC talk about that? Or at this I guess I don't really know. To ask
them if,like,dividing it up kind of boils.
Hensch: I don't think this is probably the appropriate venue,but it may be when you consider that with the
Council.
Craig: I believe the property should be done in its totality. So i-i it's of a piece that you know,it's not-it's
not two distinct different buildings built for different purposes.
Teague: Okay.Yeah,so we are going to.
[SEVERE WEATHER—BREAK]
Fruin:Members of the public can follow Eric Goers,our city attorney down the stairs. Anybody with
mobility challenges that cannot access stairs is going to follow Kellie Freuhling,or Kelli Grace,
sorry, and members of the Council can come with me.We have different storm shelters in the
building that we'll be going to.
Hensch: A tornado warning,is that it?
Hamrsen: There's the siren
Teague: We have storm sirens going off, so we're going to pause this.
Be safe.
[SEVERE WEATHER—RETURN]
Teague: All right,well,welcome everyone back I want to make sure that we have Councilors Dunn and
Salih on as well.
Dunn: You've got me.
Teague: And,well,of course,we had a severe weather situation here,and I hope everybody that was in
that area,uh,survived safely. So,Councilor Salih,are you there?
Salih: Yes,I am.
Teague: Awesome. Great.We're gonna go ahead and continue with our work session. We were just,um,
in the middle of a conversation with our planning and zoning commission,so we'll pick it up
from here.
Moe: I think we finished with the questions- series of questions- [OVERLAPPING].
Teague: I just had,yeah.
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Moe: So I think-so I think it's whoever else wants this question. I think Councilor Salih was about to ask
a question was-
Teague: Yes.
Salih: I think I was saying,if you can- if you can just like-or maybe somebody in the commission.I think
I was talking to Geoff and he said,normally there is many people can divide a lot or can combine
a lot. That's something like doable,uh, sometimes. Is that true or?Yeah
Teague: I wonder do we have staff that can answer that question?And if not,we can certainly answer that
question during our formal meeting.
Salih: Yes,of course. Yeah.
Moe: Yeah.
Salih: That's fine.Maybe during the formal meeting.
Moe: Is-is the question can a lot be subdivided or can the city compel somebody to subdivide?
Teague: All right. We have our city attorney here.
Goers: Hi,Eric Goers,City attorney.If I understand the Mayor Pro Tem's question is,can we subdivide
or kind of parcel off one item? That's been the subject of some discussion on our office, and as
Councilor Moe has already uh,indicated,the fust problem would be that you can't do that,you
know coercively. Obviously,that would have to be the owner of the property who would want to
desire to do that. Second,there are a total of four buildings,uh,that are on this lot as a whole,and
they're all connected,they're all adjoining. And uh,it would be all but impossible,essentially to
subdivide under our rules such that you would only preserve,let's say the Pagliai's building, if I
can call it that.Uh, and so I don't think that's,uh,a practical,yes.
Teague: Um,I-well,I want some clarification, so that I understand that. Sorry.
Goers: That's fine.
Teague: So are you stating that-that parcel cannot be subdivided?
Goers: I mean when you say the parcel,the property that's before you,and so forth?
Teague: Yes.
Goers: It sounded like under our present rules,no.It would be unlikely if for no other reason,then the
straddling of the lots that the buildings which are all adjoining. They're all connected. That alone
would make it near impossible to do and certainly impractical.
Teague; Okay.
Dunn: Question on that again. What prevents us from just designating part of a property rather than doing
an actual subdivision of the parcel?Because that was to be the topic,you know?
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Goers;Right.Because this is a zoning question,so we can't zone a portion of one parcel. That's not how
our zoning works. So it's kind of all or nothing is one issue. The other issue,too,is that you
know,the application that's currently before you is for the whole parcel. And so that's what you
need to be voting on. I understand that the question is,kind ol�well,if we were to do this
differently,what might we be able to do?I think the answer is really not a lot. Did I hear Mayor
Pro Tem asking a question as well?
Salih: I guess will-I will be interesting to see the map.Maybe not now,but for the formal meeting,if you
can just,like,show us like a map of the whole block and,uh,make sure-because I don't know. I
was talking to Geoff and I thought it is possible to divide it. To make the building that have the
pizza separate from the land remote on the other side,kind of like. Yeah,I thought it's visible,but
it's doable.But I don't know. I need to know that before the meeting tonight,please.
Goers: Sure.I've been told by staff that,yes,we can present a map that'll show the layout of the lot,uh,
along with the four connected buildings that are on it. And the second question is,I think the
answer is no,no,you really can't,uh,divide it,um,as it stands.
Salih: I just want to make sure you understand me right.
Goers: Okay.
Salih: I don't-I don't-I don't mean like we're gonna do it today, and we will divide it an affidavit I know
that the owner can. I'm just saying that in the fixture. Can the owner come and divide the lot or
not.
Goers: If I understood your question is,you appreciate that the application before you is for the whole lot.
Your question is,can-if this weren't to go through,could it be done differently in a subsequent
application splitting off say the polyze building. Is that your question?
Salih: Yes.
Goers: I believe the answer is no.
Salih: All right. Yes,we'll see later. Okay. And also,I still need the map please,later. Thank you.
Goers: Sure.Any other questions for me?
Teague:No. Thank you.All right. And then the only other question I had um,because I think all the
questions that I had were already answered is,er,Commissioner Hensch,you talked about the-
they could approach-the owner could approach the Board of Adjustment,and I just wanted more
clarification on what-
Hensch: Say if there's a particular zoning restriction.I don't know what that would be,but say they would
want some relief from that restriction,and they could go um,and ask for a variance from the
Board of Adjustment for that particular restriction.
Teague: Okay.
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Moe: Parking is one of those key things that historic structures get a lot of benefits for not having to
require as much parking.
Teague: Great.
Dunn: I've got one other question.
Teague: Go right ahead.
Dunn: Um, so how close to the maximum allowable structure,you know, say we're looking at the
Pagliai's building is- is produced on this property at current?I know that the-the height limit is
45 feet.I don't know what the height of the building itself is.But if anyone could give any insight
into that,I would really appreciate it.
Hensch: Well,if it's 45 feet,if you look at the rear structure,um,that's three stories,the front structure.
And I believe they're all connected. I don't think there's not correct to call them different
structures.But,you know, if you do ten feet of structure, so you're like 30,35 feet of the current
structure estimated,I don't know that for a fact,but I bet I'm pretty dam close.
Moe: I think the floor to area ratio is going to be the substantial challenge for any structure on that site.
You will not be able to build something of that massing on that location in the current zoning.All
right. I don't hear any other questions for you all. Thank you so much for coming.
Hensch: All right. Thank you,Mr.Mayor. Thank you,Council.
Teague: Yes. All right.
Teague: We're just getting readjusted here.
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2. Whole Worker Health Equity Survey,Report,and Needs Assessment
Teague: And thanks to everyone for your patience today. All right. We're moving on to item number 2,
which is the whole worker Health Equity survey report and needs assessment by Jones County
Public Health and Escucha Mi Voz Iowa. So welcome to you all.
Shannon: Thank you. Uh,my name is Karrey Shannon. I'm the community health nurse at Johnson
County Public Health,um,and I'm here with,uh,members of Escucha Mi Vozs as well as,um,
the Health Department. Um,just wanted to give you,uh,an overview of,um,a grant that we
received that's allowing us to do some important health equity work in the community. Um,we've
completed about half of the,um,things that we need to do and wanted to report our our fin-
findings. So Okay. So the grant we received is called Partnering for vaccine equity.It's funded,
uh,by the CDC, and these were pass through funds that went through the organization,uh,
NACCHO,which is the National Association for County and City Health Officials.Um, so your-
your project is supposed to address inequities in access and availability and distribution of,um,
vaccines,especially in under served communities,um,and most-more specifically COVID and
flu vaccines. So we needed to,some of the-the purposes behind the funding is to identify and
address drivers of vaccine hesitancy and confidence,uh,engage community stakeholders and
influential messengers to support vaccine messaging,provide education,and vaccine delivery at
the community level,and facilitate relationships between vaccine providers and the community to
increase vaccine confidence and access opportunities.Um,so one of the requirements of the grant
is to perform a rapid community assessment,which is,um,a very short term,um,not a census,
but an evaluation of,um,the beliefs and practices in the community,particularly among under
served populations.Um,we ended up performing ours,um,in the fall,um,from October-
October to December.Um,and then we had Johnson County Public Health had previously
performed an RCA in 2021 at the more towards the beginning of the pandemic,um, after the
vaccine had already been released and to just get a feel for the public's feelings about vaccines
and what we can do better to make them more available and increase uptake. From our findings,
we're supposed to,um,develop communication materials and educational materials,uh,
specifically aimed at those under served populations,um,and then do some more-do some more
in depth work to address those inequities in the area.
Malloy:Yeah. So as Karrey mentioned,when specifically looking at vaccine access in the Johnson
County,Iowa City area,when we first started out with this information was taken in the fall of
2023,looking at the impact of the bridge access program in the Iowa City area in Johnson County
communities. So,uh,and when you look up at the VN diagram that we've created,we got in
contact with several pharmacies throughout Iowa City area. Um,some were non bridge access
program and some were bridge access programs. Um, and just to specify,so the bridge access
program was created by the CDC in 2023 to help kind of,uh, ensure that adults that are uninsured
or their insurance will not provide the COVID 19 vaccine for them,thatum,the bridge access
program and those pharmacies that participate help get vaccines to those individuals. So looking
at,um,our bridge access programs and our non bridge access programs,we saw a lot of overlap
with the,um,need to have online appointments made and having longer wait time. So we noticed
this was a potential barrier for those that didn't have intemet access or access to Internet devices
to kind of start those program,uh,start those appointments ahead of time and to not have that
direct access that they could potentially need.Yeah.
Shannon: So some of the background,um,research that we performed just to,um, look at primary
sources,um,and see where we were at in terms of uptake already. Um,so we were able to-we
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were able to get good data from before the COVID vaccine was commercialized,which happened
in September of 2023,that's when it was no longer free for everyone,um,it had been,um,
basically a for profit,um,endeavor by the,um,pharmaceutical companies,um,which is what the
Bridge excess program was created to attempt to circumvent for people who don't have insurance
or are under insured. So,uh,before that commercialization,um,milestone,we were able to get
really good data from the state,um, from the state immunization information system. Um,it gave
a really great breakdown of uptake by age group and race and ethnicity,um,and following
commercialization,they changed the structure of the data that we were able to get from the-the
state level.Um,they removed,uh,race and ethnicity from their reporting.Uh,I guess it's- it's
bringing it in line with influenza vaccines,which they also have not given us access to that data,
even though in many cases,it is collected. Um,and they also changed the age brackets that they
were reporting on as well,um,making it really difficult to be able to compare outcomes or uptake
between pre commercialization and post commercialization. Um, so yeah. Thank you.
Guzman: Hello.My name is Aar Guzman. I'm the CDC Public Health Associate at Johnson County
Public Health,um,and I'll be speaking about more of our rapid community assessment,uh,which
we partnered with Escucha Mi Voz,uh,to collect this information on specifically the refugee
migrant and immigrant community here in Johnson County and in Iowa City. Uh,so this
demographic,we had a total respondents of 481. Uh,the demographic breakdown is 47%male,
57%female,uh, 55 self identified as Hispanic or Latino,45%,uh, self identified as Black African
and additionally,we asked questions about,uh,immigration status,um,and this has been very
helpful for us since earlier last year,I would say,uh,Johnson County completed our community
health assessments,and we did not ask any question regarding immigration just because of
knowledge that there might be fear of why the government would be collecting this information.
So by partnering with Escucha Mi Voz,uh,they are a trusted messenger,uh, and they,uh,were
willing to participate with this. So that breakdown is 57 or 11.9%,our natural citizens,94 or
19.5%are,um,presented at the bordom-at the border or seeking asylum.Um, 143 or 29%are
undocumented, and 197 or 38.9%are permanent residents.And although when you break that
down immigration status by ethnicity,uh,there is a disproportionate amount of Hispanic or
Latinx,uh,individuals that are undocumented or have been presented at the border.Um,
meanwhile,Black African respondents were overwhelmingly naturalized citizens or permanent
residents. And this influences their access to medical care and preventative services like COVID
19 and influenza vaccines. Um,as you can see in the chart below bottom left on health insurance,
only 17%of Hispanic or Latino respondents have health insurance.Meanwhile, 89%do and only
3%had stated none. Um,and moving on to our data regarding COVID 19 influenza vaccine
status,um,85%of our total respondents were already vaccinated for COVID 19 and 60%were
vaccinated for influenza.And it's important to note that our question regarding COVID 19
vaccines,uh,didn't specify if this was there,if they were up to date. Uh,since we completed it in
the fall of 2023,this is the same time that the CDC was changing their recommendations,uh,to
which vaccine would be appropriate. So among Hispanic or Latinx individuals they stated 45%
have heard of the new updated vaccine while only 55%of Hispanic or Latinx and 16%of the
Black African respondents were unaware that there was a change or an update in the
recommendation for COVID 19 vaccines.And this just highlights the need for more accurate,
clear,and just in time messaging when advertising recommendations for vaccines,but despite
that not knowing that there was a new vaccine,63%of our total respondents stated that they did
plan and want to get vaccinated for COVID 19. And then some common reasons for individuals
not wanting to get vaccinated for COVID or influenza include fear. There's just lack of
knowledge of the vaccine and some open comments stated that they felt like there was no longer
a need or just vaccine fatigue.And yeah,there's other myths like individuals believing that the
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vaccine is causing illness,which is not true. And Karee later,we'll talk about our current plans,
but some of our messaging is to dismiss those myths by using mailers and other educational
material for our residents. Cool. And I'll pass it to Yaneli for additional fmdings.
Canales: All right.Hello.My name is Yaneli Canales. I'm a community organizer for Escucha Mi Voz.
As I mentioned,um,there were multiple fmdings,um,and some of the findings that we have
here,um,on top of the vaccine hesitancy and reasons are barriers for the vaccine.We also found
that some of the issues that were really important to our respondents would be immigration
reform,um,and health insurance as being the top two. Those are actually closely related because
without immigration status,there is no access to a comprehensive health care,as we know.Um,
raising wages,um,we found that the majority of our respondents, especially Hispanic and Latino
respondents make,um,less than $20 an hour.And then affordable housing. That is also a big
issue,er,that we'll talk about in the next slide,but about 20%or one in five of the families or
respondents that participated did state that they had difficulty affording groceries and otherwise,
food insecurity. Um, and then the last point would be the 86%of our responses-respondents did
not have any paid sick leave,um,which for immigrant workers makes it really hard since the,you
know,if they get sick,they lose out on a lot of money. Um, so that brings us into housing. Um,
affordable housing is a-is a big barrier for a lot of our immigrant families.Um,about 116 stated
that they have six plus people in their households,um,which could be for prett-pretty packed
house. Um,223 respondents stated that they pay more than $800 in monthly housing cost,um,
115 of them self reported as Black African, and 103 as Hispanic or Latino. So one of the
questions that we did ask specifically was how many families are living in your household.As
you can see in the chart here,we had over looks like 49 respondents that identified as Hispanic or
Latino claiming there are four or more,er,families in the same household,which by our,er,by
our defmitions is considered homeless. Um, so just thinking in context of public health and
vaccine hesitancy. That would be another reason why they would be hesitant. They can't,um,
isolate,um,if somebody gets sick in the household,it could easily spread and they also,um,you
know,if you have to get the vaccine for work or other,you have to also consider like I have two
days where I could be sick,but they quit,you know,can't afford to take those two days to be sick
after the vaccine. Um,that's all I have, and I'll pass it on to Karee for our recommendations.
Shannon: I'm sorry.I'm not shorter than Nelly. Um, so this-this assessment of the community was really
important partly because we were able to get responses from communities who,in general,are
extremely under measured.Um,many of them do not respond to the US census. We don't get a
chance regularly to evaluate,um,not just health equity measures,but also other structural and
social determinants of health,um,like food insecurity like,um,housing insecurity,um,wage
theft,things like that. Um,so having this opportunity and we actually the data that was collected,
we have it down to the census tract level. So we're able to take that data and use it for tangible
good to direct resources. You know,if we see that within a census tract,there is a significant
portion,um,who are food insecure. Uh,we can work with community partners to place a food
box or,um,make sure that we're directing other health department and just county wide resources
in those areas. Um, so recommendations for policymakers and the public, and these are from
Escucha Mi Voz,um,for city and county policymakers to fully fiend innovative community
health partnerships,and new permanent supportive housing developments for immigrant and
refugee workers,many of whom are essential workers. Uh, for state policymakers to pass
legislation guaranteeing paid sick leave,driver's licenses, and Medicaid for all workers,
regardless of immigration status. Um,not counting recent state legislation. Uh,for foundations
and fimders to focus grant making on dynamic base building organizations with a real strategy to
scale up through grassroots leadership training and one on one relational organizing.We have
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already started using this information to target community level outreach in terms of offering
vaccine clinics out in the community. I take a cooler of vaccine doses and,um,meet people
where they are, especially because they have transportation issues,they have issues not being able
to take time off of work to come to the county building or if they,um,don't have a status
immigration wise,you know,they more than likely feel fear coming to a government building to
receive much needed health services. So we've been-we continued to work with Escucha Mivos
and Iowa City Catholic worker house um,to continue engaging with these communities and,you
know,continue evaluating them and seeing if the interventions that we're doing are having good
outcomes and to adjust on the fly basically. So where do we go from here with this project?
Technically,it ends at the end of July,but we're planning to obviously continue the work. Um
we're also forming a team of vaccine champions to spread evidence based information in the
community and motivate their neighbors to get vaccinated and help rebuild trust in public health.
Um we're going to be working on a curriculum to train providers to effectively communicate with
their patients to do the motivational interviewing when they have the patients there um,to be able
to address concerns around vaccine hes-hesitancy.Um,and also,we're going to continue
applying for more fimding to continue to help us um,perform the boots on the ground advocacy
work for these populations. That's it.
Teague: Thank you all.
Alter: This was a fantastic summary that you provided,as well as the more in depth,um,all the work that
you put into the summary.Um,just for your own knowledge um,it makes total sense but on page
five,I think that the colors of the graphic are off. So just so that you know for correction.Um.
Yeah,no,I mean,the way that you presented it made total sense. And elsewhere,the-the info is
completely accurate.I just wanted to point it out. This is in-this is incredibly comprehensive. The
fact that you found a way to work together and to reach the people who-that we need to have
more information about so that we can then what made me very excited was that you're like,
Okay,so-so what?Now,what?Here's what we're going to do because we've gathered this
evidence. And um,so I'm just I'm incredibly impressed. Thank you.
Shannon: We're all about actionable items getting stuff done.
Harmsen:It's that public health background shining through. Um to piggyback off of that. Thank you.
This is a wonderful effort.Um,I have a physician in my family. And so uh,dealing with issues
around vaccination and the vaccination hesitancy or something that has been a topic of
conversation many,many times around our dinner table.Um,and so the-the work you're doing
uh,with a variety of populations,especially the immigrant population is-is really needed. And it
benefits the entire community. And I think that's one of the things sometimes that people don't
recognize about public health initiatives like this.It absolutely benefits the people who are being
targeted,but it benefits everybody around them,too. And so thank you for that.
Teague: Councilor Salih has her hand up. Or Mayor Pro Tem.Yes.
Salih: Thank you,Mayor.
Teague: Yes.
Salih: Yeah. This is really amazing reward. Thank you for that for post County and Escucha Mi Voz. I
just want to-I have two questions or maybe three. Um,my first question will be for the county.
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Uh,you talked about the Chris cross Bridge axis uh,that provide vaccine at some pharmacies to
the people who are not vaccines. They don't have insurance or they are not afford to vaccinate it.
My question will be is it-those pharmacies kept data or they have like goal of how many people
they have to vaccinate because they-I believe they get grant to do so. Am I right?
Shannon: Yeah,they're-they're in partnership. It's specific pharmacies,I believe Walgreens and CVS,and
then other pharmacies that are covered under an umbrella affiliation,whose name I can't
remember right now. Um,right now,I think there's only guaranteed projectors uh,offerings
through-December 31'. Yes. Of this year,unless they choose to extend it.But we are also
looking forward to uh,this coming fall.We'll be able to provide influenza cens under the projects
program as well. So much needed.
Salih:My second question is for you too. First,I-I really this-this report,we tell the importance of
working with trusted community partner to collect information from vulnerable people like
immigrants and people who are really scared to give out information. So I really appreciate that
you-you did this and also I appreciate Escucha Mi Voz is the one who did that because people try
that.My question to you,County why are you collecting immigration status. What that's going to
benefit you how and why?
Shannon: Yeah.
Sinnwell: I'll go and answer. Thanks for the question,Pro mayor. This is Emily Sinnwell.I participated in
this um, survey. I'm a nurse practitioner at the College of Nursing,so I played a role in it. And I
think that question is really important for us to understand because depending on their
immigration status,um,the service is that we can provide really vary. So some people may
qualify for different things if they're a resident versus if they're undocumented or they presented
at the border,and it just gives us a bigger picture of you know,what-what we can refer to and
what we can't. Um, like community resources. One example,this isn't related to vaccines,but rent
assistance,I know it's been a big topic.Uh,the crisis community is a great resource for people
who are undocumented. So hopefully that answers your question.
Salih: It does thank you,Emily,but,you know,because the county was mentioned,I-I really want to-I
know that you are the one who collected,but that's fine.You are a trusted messenger, and I know
this information will be,you know,kept confidential and everything.But my-my question was
really for the county because she mentioned in horrible that we've been struggling collecting
these four years because people like,have a fear.But now we collected. I want to know the
county why they need that information. And even about if you-if we said, Okay,we don't want to
know how many people,undocumented means they cannot be their kids and theirselves,they
don't have access to do, for example,Medicaid or something like that.I understand this,but there
is many way we can ask questions like this without collecting information. I just want to know
what the goal of the county on this.
Shannon: Um.I would say,um it being a data point that we can run analyses on in order to better see
where the divides are in terms of,um,needs in the community,um,for needs that are being
unmet in the community, for the documented versus undocumented,uh,populations. Um,it was-
it was actually deidentified before it even came to us at the county. There's no,um,we were very
careful about that about not wanting there to be any question as to what we were going to do with
that data.Like lets get to Escucha Mi Voz was the trusted messenger. The people that they were
evaluating trusted them to protect that information,and we were on board from the beginning to
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never want access to the actual identifying information,which is also why we didn't go down to,
um,you know,neighborhood level. We went to census tract level to make sure that there was no
question about directing resources that are detrimental to health.
Salih: Thank you. I just worried really about collecting this data,and now you are public by this data in
front of us. And it is,you know what's going on right now again it's immigrants and all this,
especially I'm talking about documenting and this is,like,sensitive to me. And,you know,I just-
I don't know what to say,but this is-this is I just feel like unnecessary,and I hope,you know,
there is many ways to access people if they need access to health or food or anything without
accessing the immigration status.Yeah.But,you know,thank you for all this information. And I
hope this is-will be kept like at the low level ban public. Yeah.
Shannon: And we definitely want to engage with other populations than the ones served by Escucha Mi
Voz as well,um.
Salih: Thank you.No great work.My-my question is for Escucha Mi Voz is someone I don't-don't
capture the name,but you was talking about,there is many people double up in-in,like,one
household. And I-I don't know,maybe I hear it wrong,but I hear that the question has been
asked is how many people live in the household. Is that the question to determine how many
family or there is a better question that I didn't hear it very well?
Canales: Um,no,yeah. That's correct. We did ask,um,how many people were in each household. Um, a
lot of them said six plus were in their household.Uh,but we also asked how many families or
how many households within a home,um,which that's where we got the response of 49 people
stating that there were four or more families or individual households within one home.
Salih: Yes,that's what I was referring to. Yeah. Thank you.Because myself,we are family of seven, so
one family.But yes,that's I-what I know. This is this is valid point and I know that there is many
people are double up,especially when it comes to Latinos family.Yeah,thank you so much for
this great report. I really,you know,yes. Even though the outcome was we know about it,but for
you guys to take this step of collecting data and bringing researches that everyone can refer to is
amazing. Thank you for this great work.
Bergus: I just had one quick question. Um,I understand that the recommendations that were presented
were Escucha Mi Voz recommendations. Does the county have recommendations or are you
joining in those?
Shannon: To do better.
Bergus: Well,let me ask a more pointed question. You know,one of the recommendations was to,um,
fund innovative community health,um,programs or opportunities. Are there such programs that
you're looking for funding for now?
Shannon: I mean,we're always looking for funding,but-.
Teague: Also add to the-the permanent housing that was also.
Bergus: Thank you.
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Shannon: Yeah,I would say,um,you know,particularly within my role in the health department,I am
one of my major responsibilities is to address health equity in the county. Um,and so,you know,
between this assessment and Healthy JoCo,which is our community health assessment and
improvement plan,um,you know,we're able to-to work together to find out where the gaps are.
Um, and we are always seeking,um,fimding sources,um,to address specific gaps,and this
assessment was one of the ways that we could fine tune our needs assessment and to really get at
that information, especially from populations that we-that normally don't engage with us in this
way,in terms of giving us information.We also want to make sure that we're not evaluating the
community and then not doing anything with the information. You know, engaging with them
and saying,thank you for the information,and then,you know,eventually,going back to them
and asking for similar information again with no-I mean,that's-that's very transactional in terms
of community relationships,and we want to make sure that we're not doing that.
Bergus: Is this presentation also being given to other cities in the county?
Guzman: Yes. Tomorrow we'll be presenting to the board of supervisors.
Bergus: Okay.
Guzman: Yes.And I also wanted to add that the Healthy JoCo,the community health assessment health
improvement plan,uh,identified four health priorities,which include healthcare access,
affordability, and quality housing,and mental health and food security. Currently our process is
we're in the middle-we're at the very beginning stages of creating committees. Uh,so if you have
recommendations for people who you think should join any of these four categories. Please feel
free to let me know. Um,that is another way that we're not just assessing,but we're realizing like
these are four committees,uh,and priority areas that the people,uh,need more services in. The
first step,we follow,um,map,which is the mobilizing for action planning. Partnerships 2.0
framework,uh, and creating committees that have a diverse,um,I'm going to call it workforce,
but I don't think that's a good word,um,which has people from the city,uh,nonprofit
organizations also at the county level,um,can identify indicators for these top four priorities,um,
and help address them and move the scale forward. Yeah.
Harmsen: Council Bergus stole my questions.
Moe: But thank you very much. It was very-very helpful,and I appreciated the organization of
everything with the recommendations at the end so thank you.
Teague: Thank you all for coming. Thank you.
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3. Presentation Ad-hoc and Reconciliation Commission
Teague: We're going to move on to item number 3,whic-which is a presentation by the Ad-Hoc Truth
and Reconciliation Commission and it appears we have Commissioner and chair,ah,Dillard
coming forth at this time.You're awesome. You're here too to join.I love it.Welcome.
Merritt: I got out of the storm shelter at the county.
Dillard: Do we just bring up our presentation on here?Awesome. Thank you so much.My name is
Chastity Dillard.I'm currently serving as the chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
This is Commissioner Merritt,who is our Vice chair. I want to thank you all for letting us come
before you to give you a progress report on our phase 2.I'm going to tum it over to
Commissioner Merritt for the-the fust half and I'll take over the second half.
Teague: Great.
Merritt: Thank you for this time to allow us to present this to you guys.Um,so it's been four years since,
um,Iowa City and the City Council,um,heard the message loud and clear from the community
that something needed to be done about the racial injustice in the community.You know,as we
know that the-the justice discrimination is not something that,you know,happened overnight,
nor will the solution happen overnight?But the city taking that first step to say,we're going to do
something about it and putting the faith in the TRC to start that process says volumes. Um, sort of
recap a little bit from phase 1,which we had the presentation back in November.Um,we had the
education ol�um,basically,what is this task that we're doing?Um,what are the issues that the
community,um, see as important. Um,we learned about some healing processes for the people
who have been,um,affected by the racial injustice,kind of a lot of it said educational process. So
when we got into phase 2.With community involvement activities,we were able to categorize
four major areas of-of concern, and knowing that we had limited time,and there was so much
involved in each of those categories,we decided to take one,which was the public safety and
social justice and go through a model,um, and once we have that model and do some tweaking
and review,we'd be able to apply the model to the other three categories.Now,in January,we
had,you know,planned for,um,some truth telling involved with the Martin Luther King Day
event,but typical Iowa weather,um,change- change that and that was-we realized in February
that the rescheduled event was not going to be in the same kind of format that would allow us to
do the same activities. So we adapted and,um,put forth plans for the public events to happen in
March,um,and February we went through more detailed,um,healing processes with the-what's
that? The healing process. Thank you.Um,phase 1,how we talked about,there are some
intensive fact finding activities that has also,um,continued in through to phase 2 and let's see
here. Getting my notes together here. Still involved with touching with the community with
finding people who would be willing to do the public,um,truth telling events,knowing that there
will be other methods,um,for people to provide their truth because they're going to be people
who are going to want to basically do it in public.But for the purpose of this model and for the
presentation,we need to have some people who are willing to step forward,um, for the truth
telling publicly,which we did that there in March. Um, and one thing about public truth telling.
Um,there are certain things that we can plan for,which I thought we did a good job with having,
um,people there involved with healing for people who are speaking there at the truth telling,um,
a group event,obviously that was needed because you never know some things you can predict
some things you can't,um,and in doing so,we were able to figure out ways that,um,we could
help alleviate some of those issues in the future,um,and let's see here.
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Dillard: As Commissioner Merritt was saying,we're really grateful for having the opportunity to work
with consultants that were able to educate us on how a process or a best practice system could
look,um,in truth telling. Working with the different consultants allowed us to get that fust level
of education in phase 1 and then implement it in phase 2. As Commissioner Merritt said,we,um,
tested it out and we,um,learned a lot and we're hoping to come back next month with actual,um,
an actual framework of what we plan to do for the rest of the year for the entire community. Um,
but just an overview that we did talk about a few months ago.Do I have to.Um,so the first
phase,our test phase,our phase 2,we focus on law enforcement,um,in the community. We also
want to work with people in the community for housing,economic development and education.
Um, if I go back real quick,we want to also be able to talk more with experts in each of those
topics,um,so they can help us accurately inform,um,the community of what the needs are when
we go through the process of fact finding,true telling and reconciliation and furthermore, come
together to bring you recommendations by the end of this year.And,um,between now,May and
August,we're really going to dive into the community. One of the great things about being able to
do a public facing event is we,uh,were able to have more people come and experience it with us
and we have more people that are champ-championing what we're trying to do here together with
the community. So working with the different people that,um,we've talked with,uh,to move
forward and to really just co-create in that space. Um,It was a great experience from my end to
be able to sit down and talk to people who are very interested in wanting to tell their truth,um,
some of course,as you may imagine,are not as interested in public versions of that.Just learning
how we can move forward with that as well,uh,thinking about working with housing working
group, Social Justice Worker Group. These are just examples that we have on here. Then finally,
sorry,I'm having issues. The last quarter of the year is when we'll be able to really showcase the
model after we've worked with the community and tested it out completely, and we'll be able to
have the final reports. We'll be able to tell the story of how this came to be and how we are
hoping to move forward with,um,what needs to happen in Iowa City. So we just came here to
give a very short brief progress reports.We hope to give you,uh,more information next month
when we've had more time to develop what we need to do moving forward.If you have any
questions,we're here to answer.We have our consultant team here as well.
Teague:Right.
Alter: I do you mind.I have a couple of questions. One,I think is focused a little bit more on part of what
was happening in phase one. You were talking about fact finding activities?
Dillard: Yes.
Alter; Can you just thumbnail it for me,I mean,w-was it focused on public safety?What were the
activities?
Dillard: In Phase 1,we were really learning. Like,we were learning,well,I'm losing my voice. We were
leaming,uh,we had several different workshops to really just come together and understand what
facts look like.We did several-different several different workshops where one of our consultants
came and had us like just kind of brainstorm what areas people are looking for. So we came,we
came with the different topics. At that time,we had 10 topics,uh,housing,I can't list them all.
And then we moved forward with working with the community. Okay.
Alter: Okay. Thank you.
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Merritt: And in a certain commume,community members,when they asked questions,we were able to
relay the information to,um,and Weiss to, could you look into this information.
Alter: Okay.
Merritt: And then also the-they are also working with the police with some of the data that we were
looking for. Yeah.
Alter: Okay. Then my other question,it's kind of twofold. In the the,um, events that you had the truth
telling sessions in phase two,the way that you've described it is that this-this was sort of,I hate
using the word pilot,but it can be very helpful sometimes.It sounds this was more on a pilot
model because now you're going to go to the community more broadly,is that correct? Or this
was.
Merritt:We had to do a run.
Alter:Right.
Merritt:What we've come together.And for the sake of one for the presentation here and to have ideas of
what we're thinking and talking about,is this something that's even go to work?You know, so.
This is where we sort of in a narrow.
Alter: Yeah.
Merritt:Way,were able to go through it and then evaluating things that worked well,what do we need to
change,kind of going through everything,getting people's suggestions,especially people who
were there,one have talked about it,whatever else,and what kind of model we're going to change
with that?
Alter: Okay. So in that way,let me reframe my last question. I promise I'm going to stop ranging you.
But,so since this was more like, let's test it out and see how it works,it seems that the ultimate
focus of this was not to actually gather wide community input necessarily.
Dillard: So,I think the word pilot is something that we kind of internally debated too,because we were
still trying to gather the wide net of people.But anything new,especially anything that we're
trying to test out.We had to work to get people to come out and see what it is like first.
Alter: Sure.Right.
Dillard: So,in a way,yes,it's a pilot.At the same time,no,it wasn't a pilot,because we still reached out
to as many people as possible and were able to gather the people that wanted to try it out first.
Alter: Okay.
Dillard: And now we have those people to champion what this could look like, 'cause they were able to
experience it from top to bottom.
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Alter: Okay.And so that leads into my final question was approximately how many people who weren't
commissioners took part in this activity and participated as.
Dillard: So,on the second night, she's saying there was 28 people. We also throughout this process did
several different healing circles throughout February where we invited people to come and
experience that piece of the model.I don't know how many people that would be.
Okay. Overall.
Dillard: Overall 100 is what my consultants are telling me.
Harmsen: To follow on that,um,that were there in present or that shared testimonials?
Dillard: Shared testimonials.
Harmsen:You know,gave some sort of input,like part of the fact fmding process.I'm not,I mean those
are both two,how many shared stories.
Dillard: Sharing,um,for the public forum,we were only hoping to have about 4-6 people just to give
them enough time in a two hour setting. We had about over two days,um, six people,6-8 people
that actually gave their-their public testimony.But I mean,in the healing circles and outside of
that we've heard,we've heard from people that are wanting to do more in different ways. Yeah, so
that's why we want to go back into the community, show that we do have a model that kit could
work Let's see how it will work in different communities.
Merritt: And also,like I said,there are people who wanna,you know,give their story,but they are not
wanting to do it publicly for various reasons. And so we're also having to figure out what are the
best ways of being able to get that information and get it documented so that we have it for able
to use it to help rectify the situation.
Dillard: It was a learning process. Sure.
Moe: I'm curious of the over 100 people who have sort of participated in healing circles or giving
testimonials. How many are interested in joining you in doing the work of truth telling versus
people who just want to tell their truth and see action.
Dillard: I think that especially the the three nights that was two weeks ago was very motivating and
moving for people, and I expect to be able to get,gather some of those people to come move
forward. Especially in communities that I'm not a part ol�we need those key people that are going
to be able to go back to their communities and just talk about what this could look like in their
own traditions. So kind of answer your question.
Moe: There are people who are interested in picking up this model. Okay.
Dillard: I believe so. Yeah.
Merritt: Yeah.
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Fixmer-Oraiz: Such a great question for you fix my rise as to state planning we did a lot of the healing
circles and part of the healing team.I'd say,um,one of the things that somebody said to me
through one of the healing circles afterwards characterizes I think the feel,uh, for those that
participated which is they feel like the water droplet for the ripple. You know,the impact that
they were having,um, and-and working through and healing of themselves and the process that
we were going through,um,they felt really ready to continue that message and to carry that work
forward. That's in my mind the image that I see is that water drop and- and the ripple.I think that
there are a lot of people that are really ready maybe not to tell their truth,but to start partaking
into-in this endeavor in a way that's healing and I know that was obviously our part in this,but I
think that,um,many of the people who experienced any of the sessions the fact finding,the truth
telling,the healing circles,um,walked away feeling like part of something bigger and in our
community that speaks volumes.
Teague: I know that Councilor Bergus wanted to speak and I also see Mayor Pro Tem,uh, Salih hand up
so I wanted to make sure.
Bergus: I just want to say thank you,um,having been with the process from the beginning it's
phenomenal to see the work that you've been able to do and how the community has been
engaged and,um,being able to observe a lot of those,uh, activities that you just described.It's
very exciting to see it moving forward. Thank you.
Teague:Mayor Pro Tem.
Salih: Thank you Mayor. Yeah. I-I second what Council Bergus said,uh,but I also I have a question
about,you know,that the representation is my goal.I would like to ask fust for the circle healing
circle. Can somebody tell me about the demographic of the people who participate in the healing
circle?Also for the-I don't know but Council,uh,Josh Moe he said there is 100 people. Is this
the people who are attending the event that you have it for truth telling?Also I'm very interested
to know who is those people who attend what the demographic for those people. Those my two
question and also my-the third one demographic of the pilot six people that they tell the truth so
three. Thank you.
Fixmer-Oraiz: Certainly I can speak to some of the demographics. We didn't-we did not require
demographic information or request demographic information,but I'd say we had a pretty good
swath of the community there,um,if you look across the several months that we've been working
together.I would say that whether that was,um,you know,class,race,gender I think across
those you will probably see that it mimics Iowa City and then also includes more,um,people of
color,uh,and again the-the class cutting across class as well. That's anecdotal.We did not
require or request demographic information. When I say over 100 people were involved,I do
mean that over the four months of Phase 2 and,uh,probably not even including the folks that
have attended meetings and things like that but,um,I can-that I was just trying to respond to that
if that answers your question in terms of the demographics.
Salih: Yeah. I-I guess because the-the whole thing here is like,uh,as,you know,one of the
commissioner mentioned earlier about the whole goal is,uh,racials and justice and all this. That's
why,you know,I think this is supposed to be for the people. Um,the people who participate I
hope they are the people of color who will tell us what's their experience in the community and
that's the goal we want to change that that's why I asked this question for the healing circle. I also
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want it for the same thing for the people who attended the,you know,the event and the people
who participate on true story.
Fixmer-Oraiz:I-I expect that that will only grow as the work of the TRC continues that more,um,people
are coming out from the community as trust is engendered throughout the process. That's a great
question.
Teague: I want to. I want to just add a voice to this and just say thanks for all that you all are doing. TRC
the mention of it is-oh are you still speaking?Please continue.
Salih: You did not answer the-the-the second two question. The people-the six people who participate,I
would like to know the demographic for telling the truth and also as in do you have those for the
six people at least?
Dillard: For the people that told the truth the majority of them were people of color.
Salih: Okay.
Dillard: Does that answer your question?
Salih: Yes,that's what I want to hear we like black people people of color. Yeah.
Dillard: Yes.
Salih: Okay.
Dillard:Was there another question?
Salih:My-my last question was like when you see the people who are attending the truth telling I think I
thought uh they said 100 people attended. I would like to know the demographic is this like
mostly Iowa white people or mostly people of color,or just,you know,suggestion?
Dillard: I think there is a miscommunication.We were staying over the entirety of Phase 2,we've seen
and worked with 100 people. We did not have a 100 people attend the events that we had,um,
late March.But-and again we didn't take demographic,um, information but we can do better
about,um,trying to solicit that information in the future. I don't want to make any anecdotal-
anecdotal decisions on that.
Salih:No problem. I just saw one event 100 people attend. Thank you.But you said overall. Thank you.
Dillard: Yes. Thank you.
Teague: I just-I'm sorry about that Mayor Pro Tem. Just wanted to say thanks for all that you all are
doing of course the TRC mission is very vital and I have-I watch your videos from time to time.
What I'm really enjoying is,um,the conversations that you all are having. Um,you're in a way
digging deep and everything isn't. Sometimes I think a united front is-can be positive,but you
also have to have those conversations of different ideas,and so I've really appreciated that being a
part of your discussion. Thanks for being here today and I know that we'll receive a report from,
um,all of the consultants,and so really appreciate you all coming.
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Dillard: Thank you.
Teague: Thanks.All right. Council I think what we are going to do is we're actually going to,um,come
back to our work session,um,after the formal meeting. All right.
5. Information Packet Discussion [April 4,April 111
Teague: We don't have a lot to go through on our work session,but we do have,um,university,uh,
students but before we bring them up we have to go through our agenda,which is-we've already
done Number 4 which is the clarification of agenda items because we went through the agenda.
We're going to go on to item number five which is information packet discussion,and that's April
4th,April 11th.
Bergus: I just had a question about the upcoming work session topics.I apologize I looked through it I
can't pull it up now because the old packets are already off the website. Ironically
Teague: It's down below.
Bergus: Is it? Okay. Uh,if someone else can find that more quickly than I can-I just want to make sure
that our,um,continued discussion on alternative crisis response is on there. I didn't see it on
there,but I do believe it was our intention to continue that after we had our presentation from
Tom Jones and the JECC and the Chiefs.
Fruin: Yeah it's not-not currently listed but the majority of your-majority of you can put it on there.
Moe: Do we have an established process for how our very long list of work session topics gets cold or
move to the top.
Teague: Every now and then we will go through at a Council work session just to look through that.We
can do that honestly at any-at any point.
Moe: I would-I think let's do that and prioritize.
Teague: Sometimes we-yeah, shed it off a little bit.
Moe: The list is long and they're all good. We can do that.
Fruin:We'll add alternative crisis response discussion.Do I see head shaking for that?
Alter: Yeah.
Fruin: Okay.
Moe: Yes.
Harmsen:Yes.
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Moe: Sorry.
Harmsen:Yeah. Sorry. [OVERLAPPING]
Moe: I thought my head was shaking.
Teague: Okay. Good. All right.Anything else from informacan-information packet?
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6. University of Iowa Student Government(USG)Updates
Teague: Here and now,we're gonna go to item Number 6. Thank you all for being here.
[OVERLAPPING] Still awake and walking in University of Iowa Student Government.
LeFevre: This isn't new.I have been up since 4:45 this morning. So we're gonna rock and roll.
Harmsen:You're gonna earn this.
LeFevre: I know,right?Hey listen. Okay.We'll say it is my last city council. So you'll get a speech at the
end,but we'll have with Matthew start.
Monsivais:All right. So I went to Senate and then came back here. Um, so what I found out over the
course of an hour is that a deputy liaison has actually not been,uh,appointed as of yet.We had a
hire who then rescinded the offer,um,just right before Senate. So,um,yeah,Ibe just emailed the
president and the vice president and the cabinet director.Kellie,I will try to get that legislation to
you as soon as possible.Um,but I-I told them to expedite that in their transition process.I'll tum
it over to Noah.
LeFevre: Awesome.Yeah. So on,uh, for those who don't know on April 4th,the University of Iowa
announced,um,that the rape victim advocacy program will be absorbed into the regional
domestic violence intervention programs,uh,by September 30th. For those who don't know,
RVAP is what is commonly called is,um,uh,the variety of resources for people who have
experienced sexual assault.Um,the-currently they have 12 jobs employed,and,um,the fixture is
uncertain about those,uh,careers.I'm not trying to make any USG official statements. The
university says that there will be no delay in services and all grants that are going towards RVAP
will continue to DVIP. So just a heads up about regional resources. I'll have you Oh,I forgot.I
also had another one that I threw on. Um,the University Lecture Committee is also hosting
famous author John Green of"The Fault in our Stars," "Paper Towns," stuff like that,um,this
Thursday. Um it is not the county supervisor. It is,it is the author.
Monsivais:All right,we got a couple more for you. Um the annual UI Native American Student
Association's Powwow is happening Saturday,April 20th at 12:30 and 5:30- 12:30-5:30 PM.At
the Johnson County Fairgrounds. Two leaders at NASA presented at USG,uh, Senate a couple of
weeks ago,highlighting the Powwow used to track and attract an impressive number of attendees,
which declined due to COVID. Their mission is to increase their attendees again to what they had
pre-COVID and to celebrate Iowa's indigenous culture. This is not an event solely for students or
for those of indigenous heritage,but for everyone. So we just like to highlight that.And next,
there is growing concern amongst students that bus service for line four free downtown shuttle
will be terminated,um,indefinitely through social media students are encouraging other students
to email the city manager with complaints.Uh,the reasoning that is being circulated amongst
other students is that because students are the primary users of this route,and it trends,it's just
around mainly student apartments,that this is the reason the city is terminating the route. So that
is what's just,you know,word of mouth.Um,sorry,I lost my spot. And that it is not vital or
necessary to Iowa City's transit system is also what has been circulating. We would like-I know
it's late,but we would like some clarification on to what may or may not be true about student
concerns because I know I also use this line pretty frequently. Um,but,yeah,I don't know if you
guys are able to give any information about that right now.
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Teague: I mean,I guess,did you want.
Fruin: Can we talk after the meeting?
Monsivais: Sure.
Fruin:Everybody can get home then and I'll stay with you.
Monsivais:Yeah.
Harmsen:What was the date on the Powwow again?I missed it.
Monsivais:April 20th,from 12:30-5:30 PM.
LeFerve: Well,no,there's 12:30 is one of the is like the first half,and then 5:30 is the other grand opening
it.
Monsivais:I miss spoke.
LeFerve:No you're good. I went to the one a couple of years ago. Okay.I wrote,like, a whole huge
paragraph about my final statements,but I'm going to cut it really short.
Teague:No.
LeFerve: Are you sure? Okay. Okay.
Moe: You earned it.
LeFerve: Okay.Basically,I found it really funny that my last city council did start with a tomado
warning.I thought that was very fanny.Um,I guess Mother Nature doesn't want me to leave yet,
but,you know,I-I feel very confident handing my position to Matthew.Um,I-I'm really proud
of him. I'm not going to tear up. That's not going to happen.I would first like to thank everyone
on council and city staff,who has honestly even just let me talk to them or just be in the room
with them.Um,you know,you guys,um,I don't always agree with everything,um,on a personal
level.But as a representative of the student body,it really does help a lot talking to all of you and
meeting you and knowing how you guys work and how you guys think.Because,I mean,you
guys are a little bit older and a little bit more elected than a lot of students are in student or in
government.Um,and so it's just been so- so very influential,and I-I really can't put it into words,
how much my life has really just changed about how much I care about student government.
Because when I joined,I was just recommended by a friend that,you know,they were in student
government,and they were like,Hey,this position hasn't been filled in October,and this keep me
I doesn't seem that scary.And well,little of that I know.But,uh,I applied,and I didn't know
much about city council and city government.And so working with you guys and just being there
and sitting through all these meetings has-has really opened up my mind,and I've really been
able to help a lot of students.Because there are a lot of those,preconceived mis-misconceptions
about what the city can do and what the city can't do and stuff like that.And I think that my
understanding has come- come a lot from everything that you guys do and say.I got to find my
train of thought again. I-I do want to pride myself,too,is that I-I think that I've become the most
knowledgeable person about city politics in this-I want to say the student body,but I will say
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student government respectfully. And this is given,I know that you guys don't often see it,but
student government has a lot more city interest. Um,I saw this a lot while I was running-running
for vice president. Um,a lot of initiatives were focused around city goals,which had not been
done in previous years. And I really take a lot of credit that both me and now current president
and vice president Addison and B had city goals in mind. And I think that's-that's really what I
wanted to do is to bring the student voice to the people. And I'm just really proud of what I've
done. Some notable successes I've had is specifically Town Hall for twice,the Renters guide for
this year,the creation of mini City Committee in GR,which is still getting its feet off the ground.
The candidate form for those who won in previous elections. And upcoming things with the
housing program for this summer.I-but I am-I think I'm most proud of the relationships I've
made.I mean,that's kind of what all of this job is being liaison is just talking and being there with
people. And you know,being-being literally a child compared to you guys,is just-I mean,it is-
it is really nice that you guys don't treat me like such,you know,and I- and I-I truly appreciate it
from all of you.Yeah,that's basically.But I sincerely just want to say thank you guys so much.
You know,my-my city knowledge is not going to end just because I will not be in USG next
year. There are so many more assets,um,or there are so many different ways I can interact with
the student body,and this knowledge needs to be told with people.Um,and I think that Matthew
is- is the perfect replacement that I could have ever asked for. So thank you guys so much for
everything.
Teague: Well,thank you.
LeFerve: Thank you.
Teague: Yes. Well,it is your last day,and we really appreciate all that you've done.You've been very
noticeable with the hair. We'll never miss you.But on behalf of the city of Iowa City,I want to
present you with the certificate of appreciation for your thoughtful contributions during the 2023
through the 2024 year of service as the City Council liaison.An alternate liaison from the
University of Iowa undergraduate student government USG,and for demonstrating commitment
to student participation. So on this 16th day of April 2024,we want to say,thank you. Thank you.
All right. And we don't have all of the council body we gonna take a picture at the end.
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7. Council Updates on Assigned Boards,Commission,and Committees
Teague: So if you can stand right therefor one second,I just have to do our item Number 7.Is council
updates on assigned boards and commissions and committees.
Moe:Nothing.
Teague:Nothing.We had cance-canceled this past Monday. So all right. We are adjourned from work
session,and we're going to take a picture.
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