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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-04-01 TranscriptionIowa City City Council Work Session of April 1, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at.https:./.Icitychannel4.comlcity-council.html) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription through Verbit: AI -Based Transcription & Captioning Services. For greater detail please refer to the meeting recordings. [00:00:21] We're going to open the Council work session in item number 1, clarification of agenda item. [00:00:36] Mayor Pro Tern, I wanted to address one of the matters that is set for your formal meeting at 6:00, and that is item 9B a rezoning at North Governor Street. There has been submitted a valid protest petition so that will require a supermajority of council to pass. That means six votes- that means six votes even if only six of you are present. Um, and I would further note that the developer has requested a deferral to next meeting so that all seven counselors can be present. It would be my recommendation that if it is council's will to defer in that way that you open the public hearing, move to defer right away so that the mayor does not miss, and the mayor, who's absent, will not miss out in any- either or the staff presentation or the public's comments about it, instead of doing it only after the public speaks. That would be my recommendation. [00:01:38] Sure. What you guys. [00:01:41] I'm agreeable to that. [00:01:44] Then the second item the Iowa Information Bak. We can discuss now March 13. Anything on March 13? Okay. Move on to March 20. Okay. Then March 27. That's easy. [00:02:14] Adam Mayor Pro Tem, on IP3, and this is maybe something that City Manager can just speak to for just a quick moment to let the public know where we are in our. process with 21 South Lyn. [00:02:28] Sure. So at your March 11 work session, you had two presentations. As you recall the day of the- the March 11 work session, we received words that two of the three responding proposers to our 21 South Lynn RFP had merged. So on March 11, uh, we heard, um, the presentation from that merged entity, which is the combination of the Iceberg and Salta proposals. And then you also heard from- from the third, which is Grand rail. After that presentation, you asked that staff do analysis on the merged proposal and get back with you. We are still working through that analysis, and we hope to have this item on your April 15th agenda. So what that would look like on April 15, that would be your work session agenda. That would be me as staff just walking you through our analysis of the two remaining 21 South Lynn proposals, and hopefully giving you the information that you need to- to begin to work towards a- the selection of a preferred development team and preferred concept. You don't necessarily have to make that decision on April 15, um, but you'll have the benefit of- of staff's review of both proposals at that time. Page 1 Iowa City City Council Work Session of April 1, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https:/.Icitychanne]4.com/city-council.html) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription through Verbit: AI -Based Transcription & Captioning Services. For greater detail please refer to the meeting recordings. [00:03:50] Thank you. [00:03:51] Anyone on March 27? [00:03:54] 1 have one, I believe it's the next one, IP4 on the Deer Management. There were two pieces that I was wondering if there could be if there was any follow up. Um, it notes in there that there is the possibility of one professional additional professional sharpshoot subject to NRC approval between 2026 and 2029. 1 wondered, is there any additional detail on that. Like, what there. Hi, Kirk. Sorry, I'm like, look him. [00:04:26] And you're right right there. [00:04:27] Fine, you could probably answer this one, too. [00:04:29] 1 just wondered if there was additional, like- like, what might trigger that agreement. Sorry. I did not mean to make a pun that. Um, but yeah, I was just wondering if there's additional information about that because I know that there's been quite a bit of damage. [00:04:44] Sure. [00:04:45] Deer population is getting growing that bow hunting may not be able to sustain or keep manageable. And then let me just sort of put out in front, as well. Uh, there was an additional question I had. Oh, dear. [00:05:03] They're just full of puns today. [00:05:06] 1 am. And you know, it's horrible is I don't even realize it until, like, a moment after. How about? I'll stop there and let you [OVERLAPPING]. [00:05:11] That's fine. [00:05:13] Page 2 Iowa City City Council Work Session of April 1, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at htti2s:/Icitychanne]4.com/city-council.html) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription through Verbit: AI -Based Transcription & Captioning Services. For greater detail please refer to the meeting recordings. Kirk Llame is Assistant City Manager. With regards to the opportunity for a sharp shoot in 2026, when we first went to the Natural Resources Commission, which is the state board that authorizes Bow Hunts or authorizes sharp- professional sharpshooting, excuse me. They also authorized Bow hunts, but sharp shooting in this case, we initially requested an immediate sharp shoot in 2024 plus the opportunity for a second sharp shoot later, if DNR staff agreed that we weren't seeing the kind of deer control efforts that we needed to with our bow hunt. When we went to the NRC, you know, there is some concern that the numbers that we were providing in terms of the data wasn't in their eyes adequate to justify a professional sharp shoot. So they really wanted to see more data and at least two more years of data to see if it trended one way or the other. That's really why this report does include enhanced data collection methodologies than what we've done in the past. And we've tried to capture other aspects of how the city interacts with deer population. So looking at public works, picking up deer, not just deer accidents, which aren't always reported to the police. So various things like that are included throughout this report. Also the additional drone survey that we conducted this year, just to look more closely at those areas where we hear the highest level of complaints, which is especially to the north and the east part of Iowa City. In terms of what triggers it between 2026 and 2029, uh, it's really that they told us we have to wait until at least 2026 to request it. Based on the number of complaints that we're getting, the interactions that we are seeing with Deer and our aerial drone survey, we- we do want to request a sharp shoot basically as soon as we can. Um, we think that the numbers still show a need for it. We believe that that's tied into the- the same sort of data as in 2024. But- so it's really a matter of we have to request it, and then we have to make the case to- to the NRC that- that it's justified and makes sense given the circumstances. [00:07:22] Actually, you answered what my question was, which is, could you point out some of those additional tracking methodologies? So thank you. [00:07:28] Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you. Happy to answer any more questions. [00:07:33] Another item 27? [00:07:35] Not really a question, but just a compliment on- on the report itself. There's a lot of great information there. It's definitely something that will be very handy because I do get some of those complaints from time to time and being able to direct residents to some hard data will be very helpful. So thank you. [00:07:531 Okay, I think this is time for our University of Iowa students government updates. [00:07:59] Page 3 Iowa City City Council Work Session of April 1, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https:.//citychannel4.com/city-council.htm]) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription through Verbit: AI -Based Transcription & Captioning Services. For greater detail please refer to the meeting recordings. Sorry, I had one thing on 29. It's actually the supplemental specifically pending work session topics. I- I was going to propose that we add to our pending work session list, something that deals with, um, having either probably our lobbyist come in and explain to us what's happened during this most recent legislative session just to kind of unpack the changes that impact our ability to do the work we're trying to do. And also, as I can imagine it being a two part step 1, as some of the larger questions of what the state government has done. And maybe inclusive of some property tax things. And secondly, maybe have Stephanie or someone from our Civil Rights office come in and talk about Iowa City's Civil Rights ordinance and how that still is in force here and how that is part of a work session topic, but maybe in May. [00:08:48] You mean, like something a monthly thing, or you just mean, like one time, or how would that? [00:08:53] 1 think a legislative update. I think there's been so much happening in the 91st. [00:08:57] Just now [OVERLAPPING]. [00:08:58] General Assembly that I think and we're nearing second funnel, what April 4. [00:09:03] Thanks. [00:09:04] Yeah. So that is that. If you guys are agreeable to that I'm not sure the timing exactly going to wait for the complete session to be done or I mean, I think waiting for the complete session to be done makes sense, but then yeah, immediately thereafter. [00:09:16] Yeah, that's what I asked, Do we wait or now? Yeah. [00:09:20] So if- if you'd like the lobbyists to come and present to you, they are out of Des Moine. So they would prefer to wait until post session. And typically, I think we've done this in the past one or two times, um, they're going to want to wait until the governor has fully decided on whether she is going to sign all the bills. So that can take several weeks after the session for that process to work out. So I think the last day the legislators received per DM is sometime in early May, which is usually a good sign that things will be wrapping up soon. So I would suggest if you want the lobbyists to present June ish would probably be a good target. Page 4 Iowa City City Council Work Session of April 1, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https:Z/citychannel4.com/city-council.html) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription through Verbit: AI -Based Transcription & Captioning Services. For greater detail please refer to the meeting recordings. [00:09:59] 1 think that makes sense. What do you think? That's okay. [00:10:01] A great idea. [00:10:02] Yeah. [00:10:03] Okay. [00:10:03] That's kind of like a tactic that they use just, like, drop so much at once so you don't understand all the stuff that's happening, and then we just need to understand, so we can. [00:10:11] Okay. Sound good. Any other? [00:10:14] And just clarification, just so I record it correctly. This will be listed as two separate work sessions, a post session, legislative discussion, or wrap up, and then a second work, uh, session on our, um, human rights orders. Okay. [00:10:32] Okay. Before we go to the USG. [00:10:35] Thanks. [00:10:36] Any another comment? Okay. Now, USG update. [00:10:46] Okay. Hello, everyone. Oliver, welcome to your first council session. I just have a couple of announcements today. Tonight is our last senate session for the 24 25 Administration for USG. Voting is currently live, voting ends on Thursday evening. So by the weekend, we'll have our results of who our president vice President is and who makes up our Senate. Um, I actually just had a really exciting meeting with our University legal- student legal services right before this, uh, in regards to our renters guide survey. Uh, basically, we wanted to get their feedback on if they thought our questions we were asking were relevant and good, what we could change if they had any advice. But mainly what we wanted to do is I wanted to put together a sort of questionnaire that students can ask themselves, their Page 5 Iowa City City Council Work Session of April 1, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https:llcitychannel4.com/city-council.html) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription through Verbit: AI -Based Transcription & Captioning Services. For greater detail please refer to the meeting recordings. roommates, and their landlords, and current and former tenants of where they might be moving to, um, ahead of signing their leases so that we can maybe help to avoid some of the reoccurring legal issues that our services see. So, for example, I think some of the things they see the most are wanting to end leases early maintenance issues, disputing charges and fees. We want to see if there are any questions or things students can be aware of in advance to kind of avoid getting into situations like this. So that'll hopefully be a really big part of our upcoming lease ease GAP survey launch. And I'm pretty sure that is all I have for you guys right now. Everything's kind of winding down on the USG side for this administration. And so we will be out of session for two weeks until everyone gets sworn in and things like that. [00:12:11] Can ask a question? This is embarrassing to me. So long since I've been in the university system. Um, in terms of electing your officers, is it, um, like, popular vote? Is it all university, or is it actually sort of like the situation that we have, where it's from within the Senate, and you elect your officers? [00:12:29] No, it used to be like that back when we had representatives by each specific school. But now the Holston body votes for our President and Vice President, yeah. It's all at large. And we do have constituency senators, but they are selected from specifically within their own. Whether it's a house or an organization, that's how our constituency senators are elected. Thank you. [00:12:50] Thank you. Okay. Now we're going to turn it to Jess Sham Berger to update us about Iowa. [00:13:04] Good afternoon, everyone. [00:13:07] Good afternoon. [00:13:08] Well, you can see that, if not, maybe, Geoff will deem the lights just a bit. Uh, welcome, Oliver. Um, I appreciate the opportunity. My name is Josh Shamberger. I know obviously many of you and work with you. Um, Geoff, it's starting back up, so maybe I should go to PowerPoint on that thing, or yeah, maybe it'll stop. Uh, anyhow, Josh Shamberger, in Iowa City and the Iowa City Area Sports Commission, we're the Destination marketing organization for this community. And so I wanted to take some time to kind of talk you through our recent finishing year, 2024. You should have a hard copy of our annual report. gave it to Geoff. So hopefully he's passed that around, if not, that's being passed around at the moment. But I'd like to run you through just a little recap of the year and then be happy to answer any questions about what we're up to or the things we're kind of focused on in the coming year, 2025. So our opening slide here is event we just recently finished off. Um, we've kind of turned- our Sports Commission team has been pretty successful in- in turning the University of Iowa swimming facility here, the Wellness Page 6 Iowa City City Council Work Session of April 1, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https:/Icitychanne]4.com/city-council.html) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription through Verbit: AI -Based Transcription & Captioning Services. For greater detail please refer to the meeting recordings. Center into the home of a lot of other college conferences for their championships. So this was the Summit League, which has schools from around the Midwest, and this is actually, I believe the University of Denver, who are here for about six days and won the- the Summit League championships this year. We've also hosted, and we'll be hosting the NBC conference swimming and diving Championships as well. So, um, we've been pretty successful in bringing a lot of other visitors in swimming and diving to the community. [00:14:54] Just a little bit of history for those of you that- that need it and a little bit of a reminder as to our organization. Uh, we- we were- we exist to advance the economic vitality and quality of life for residents and visitors as Iowa's premier destination. That's our mission, simple and sweet. Our structure as we were formed in 1979. As were many convention and visitors bureau back in that time, once City successfully passed a hotel/motel tax referendum and started collecting taxes on visitors that stayed in hotel rooms, organizations like ours kind of moved out of the house and be- became an adult and had their own organization. And that's exactly what happened here in Iowa City and Coralville, with Iowa City and Coralville, both passing Hotel/motel tax referendums. Uh, in that year in- us officially becoming organization in early 1984. Hotel/motel tax is just as it's described. It's taxes collected, uh, on hotel room stays, so paid solely by visitors. Uh, it's capped at 7%, which is the maximum allowable under state law. And the state law requires that 50% of those collections be spent in tourism related issues. So that's where I'll get into it. Some of it comes to us. Some of it comes to Julie and Parks and Rec, and that kind of checks the standard on the 50%. The balance of which cities can do whatever they so please with it. And Iowa City, uh, a good chunk of it, has, since day one, in passing back in the 1980s, has gone to support, uh, the police department. Uh, we formed a Sports Commission in 2016, and that was officially registered in 2018 as a standalone organization. So we represent two organizations, think Iowa City and the Iowa City area Sports Commission. Our total operating budget for this fiscal year, which represents Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty, and University Heights is about 2.3 million, 46% of that is derived directly from hotel/motel tax collections in the entire community. Uh, 19% from partnership, and 35% is from program revenue that we developed through our own initiatives and events. This is a history over the last 10 years of hotel/motel tax collections in the community. Uh, the blue, uh, chart there is representing Coralville. Uh, the gold is Iowa City. North Liberty only has one hotel. Uh, it's out there off Exit 4, so it's- it's very, very small, uh, sleep -inn and suites. And University Heights also has one hotel, uh, but it is in a great location and a terrific flag. So you can see the kind of the difference between the Courtyard by Mariette and the sleep -inn and suites in terms of rate and revenue. Iowa City. I believe these are still correct. I should have double checked just now in his head. So 47.5% of the- of the revenue goes to the Police Department, 27.5% to Parks and Rec. We receive 23%, uh, because in 2017, there was, uh, this council at that time and City Manager, uh, put in a rebate of hotel/motel tax collections for 12 years, kind of like a hotel/motel tax tiff to develop the Hilton Garden Inn and Element properties. And that remains in effect through 2029- yeah, 2029. So we're in year eight of that. And in Coralville, University Heights in North Liberty, uh, you know, we received 25%. The rest goes as- as kind of described there, the way those cities treat that. Uh, Board of directors, currently chaired by Mitch Gross. I know many of you know him. He used to be on the Coralville Council, and he's currently our school district liaison. Uh, and we're proud to have, uh, you know, our bylaws require the Mayor of Iowa Page 7 Iowa City City Council Work Session of April 1, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https:,//citychannel4.com/city-counci1.html) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription through Verbit: AI -Based Transcription & Captioning Services. For greater detail please refer to the meeting recordings. City to always be on our board. So Bruce is very involved in our organization, uh, representing the City of Iowa City. But it's mostly made up of hotel years and folks that are in the industry of tourism, uh, in our community. We do have a county representative, but it's non voting because the county doesn't have a hotel and it doesn't make an investment through hotel/motel tax teller, so it's currently Rod. Uh, we have a great team. I know you know many of them. They work very closely, particularly with Julie's team and others. Um, and Monica Nieves Hirsch is here today, a very proud city of Iowa City resident and City High Grad. We hear about it all the time. Uh, she's our VP of marketing and communications, uh, and has been with us, as of two days ago, for eight years now. We just celebrated her eight year anniversary. A little bit of visitors. So visitors impact is quite significant in Johnson County, and these are big time numbers, uh, but they are assessed every year through the Iowa Economic Development Authority, uh, and, uh, an independent consultant agency that they partner with. Last year, about $684 million were spent on goods and services by people who don't reside in- reside in Johnson County in Johnson County through the year. Just short of 100 million in local and state taxes was paid by visitors to this community, and total hotel/motel tax across, uh, Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty, and University Heights was just over $6 million. For every $1 that was invested from that 25% in the other cities in the 23% in Iowa City, our staff brought a return of 3162 to Coralville, Iowa City, and the larger community. And that's just from conferences and sport sales efforts. And you might think, well, how do we know that? Well, we know that because you can kind of see if you squint your eyes a little bit, and we'll be happy to hand - give you handouts. But every single one of these organizations, whether it'd be from the Sports Commission or think Iowa City conferences and meetings, all were booked and brought to this community from our team. Every one of those, we know the contracted hotel rates, we know what they spent in food and beverage. We know how long they were here. We know how many people attended their groups. And all of those we work into our formula and our algorithm with our organization destinations international, and it spits out exactly what they spent while they were in the community. We've also partnered with the School of urban Regional Planning here at Iowa at times to develop a survey where we actually measure larger events, like when we brought the world cup here and had 19 countries from all over the world, Ukrainian women, uh, Georgian men's team, all of them, Republic of Georgia. Uh, and so we assess those and look at those in, you know, in greater detail. This is the market segmentation that we spend all of our time in Energy on as an organization. It's- it's based in individually in group leisure, so, uh, a lot of advertising, uh, trying to convince folks in Des Moines, even Cedar Rapids at times, uh, Madison, uh, Peoria, Rockford, a lot of these communities to come spend a weekend in our community, particularly on festivals, and we do a lot of advertising, Monica can speak to this in great detail through a lot of different sources, placer, and other tools that we use to kind of investigate our markets and then really ramp up advertising when we know we're about to hit Arts Fest weekend or in a couple of months away or things like that. So that's really what individual and group leisure is all about. Conferences and meetings, very easy to understand. We go after conferences and meetings and spend a lot of time and money and effort to land all of those events. Uh, Stacy was just in town, the Mayor participated, I believe Geoff. Uh, just a couple of weeks ago, we had a huge group in town that we're- we're dating right now to try to get here. And if we're successful, it's in partnership with the College of Law. It would mean, uh, for downtown Iowa City, about 12,000 room nights over three years. So a significant piece of business, um. So we do that pretty much all day long. Uh, likewise, we do that all day long in sports. Uh, we're selling very hard. This is a destination for amateur sports, Page 8 Iowa City City Council Work Session of April 1, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https:,[/citychannel4.com/cif-council.html) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription through Verbit: AI -Based Transcription & Captioning Services. For greater detail please refer to the meeting recordings. and we'll get into that here in just a second. Special events. We spent a lot of time in energy looking at what we call a need date calendar. So we look at the entire year through some of our sources, and we find out the soft weekends for hotels and where we can create something. Way back in the day, uh, we were the organization that created the One Book Two Book Festival for the UNESCO City of Literature to try to do something like that in February and ramp up. And there's a number of those examples, uh, that- that we do. FRYfest started like that to try to turn in non -conference football game weekend into something that would look like a conference football and bring in more hotel rooms. Things like that. So- uh, and then quality of life, a lot of time and quality of life, a lot of efforts in quality of life, community building, uh, something we've gotten far more involved in in the last probably 5-10 years than- than we did in the first 30 or 35 years of our life. Uh, we were all about conferences and meetings and visitors, but, uh, we've understood that we need to play a significant role in community betterment and quality of life. And so that's why you see our organization as being one of the founders of Better Together 2030 and me being the chair of that board and those sorts of efforts. So in short, there, you know, we bring people together by leading organizations across an area that no other entity can, functioning as a hub for local activity for all kinds and promoting cooperation and collaboration over competition. So, um, you can- you know, probably already read the rest of that while I was talking here. So the three buckets that we spend all of our time and energy are innovative sales and marketing, intentional community engagement, and authentic placemaking. That's kind of our three legged stool for how we go about operating and executing our business plan. And innovative sales and marketing last year really demonstrated a bounce back year for conferences and meetings. It was- out of all the visitor markets, it was the one that took the longest to come back from COVID, uh, and that is organizations that decided to travel to send people to travel for conferences and meetings. And so, uh, last year, we serviced 56 different groups that brought in just over 80,000 people. Those 80,000 people spent just over $22 million in our community before they left. We also, during that same time, uh, and through 2025, so in the past three months, uh, we've attended six trade shows that represented 254 individual planner organizations. And through those meetings, we've already secured 36 future conferences and meetings. Uh, those groups will bring 47,000 future visitors in just short of 23,000 room nights, and about six-19.6 million in future direct spending. So that's in the first seven months of this fiscal year. Monica can speak to this one in great detail because it was also a pretty significant year and bounce back for digital marketing engagement, you know. Unlike 15 years ago, when you had to pick up the phone or stop by our welcome center and really ask us, like, hey, where can I get good sushi in your town? Well, you don't have to do that anymore. You just pick up your phone and ask Sid, where's the best sushi within 10 minutes of me. So we had to continue to stay relevant, and so we try to do that obviously strong social media platforms, and we've been successful in continuing to move in that area. Authentic placemaking would be that second bucket, and some of the notal programs that we spent a lot of time in energy and efforts are in 2024, including the continuation of our community grant program and expansion of that. We give out about $50,000 a year, uh, to organizations. I just this bucket for community grants. You can see several of them listed there. There's quite a few of them obviously are rooted in Iowa City, uh, particularly in the arts and culture community. Uh, we invest pretty heavily in the arts. I think last year it was about $170,000 in total between this and some of our other funds. North Liberty Centennial Park was a huge hit pro- project. We worked with the City of North Liberty last year. We co-authored the grant that got them the $900,000 CAT grant from the state. Uh, Nick Pfeiffer on our team, uh, who hits Page 9 Iowa City City Council Work Session of April 1, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https:llcitychannel4.com/city-council.html) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription through Verbit: AI -Based Transcription & Captioning Services. For greater detail please refer to the meeting recordings. up our public affairs, uh, worked on that with Nick Burgess and Gillian, and they did a terrific job as a team and, uh, great success there. That is a really great opportunity for the future, because I know they already continue to have discussions through Nick's connection with the Englert and programming, entertainment and opportunities on that North Liberty stage through downtown and the Englert efforts. Spent a lot of time obviously in South of 6. Uh, Andy Jordan actually now works on our team, which is fantastic. We love having her, and she's been, you know, one of the biggest champions of this community, uh, not just South of 6, and spent a lot of time in energy with Betsy and her team with downtown District, which in many ways are a bit of a microcosm of what we do just for this geographic footprint. Iowa River Landing, still very involved in that. And then, recently, it won't be announced until June because we want to make sure we don't run afoul with anything that happens in Des Moines right now, uh, but we, uh, worked with the City of University Heights and have finished off a multi -use trail plan for the section of woods there that sits to the north of the University Heights neighborhoods, um, and tying that into the University and Iowa City trail systems. So we'll- we'll unveil that in- in June, uh, at their meeting. Authentic placemaking. So Pat Heiden and I were very proud to spend the last year and a half co chairing the campaign to renew the Johnson County Conservation bond, something very important to the City of Iowa City, Coralville, as well. Uh, Nick Pfeiffer and our team, who I mentioned, was the campaign manager, and just super proud and honored to have assisted with that. And, um, it's going to pay dividends for years to come for not just Iowa City, but the entire of the community. So, um, it was- it was quite- quite a [00:28:44] success and quite a team, [00:28:45] and obviously, Julie and many others at the City of Iowa City played a really big part in this. [00:28:52] Intentional community engagement. You know, one of the things we learned is that there's not enough local awareness or understanding of what we do. And 10 years ago, I would have said, That's fine. Uh, people don't need to know what we do, as long as the councils know what we do. And- but, you know, that was really the wrong way to look at it because when people do know what we do, they start calling and they go, Hey, I've got an idea for a group that I could bring to town or a festival or things like that. And so, you know, while it's not critical, we're top of mine, we are, after all, an organization that's charged with growing visitor taxes, so you have to stay in hotel rooms to create this revenue source. We are working to kind of continue to strengthen that connector role. So, again, we kind of co chaired along with Nancy and Kate and President Barb at the time, uh, the whole process to create the A vision plan. And we're super proud of that. That's why we led the conservation bond because we've taken ownership of Pillar 1, which is champions of the natural environment. And it's been terrific work. We still got a lot of work ahead of us, but I'm proud to say that organization many of you are part of is continuing to move the needle every day. Thanks, in large part to the rock star that is Katie Gerlach, and everything that she continues to do for us. You all saw Herkes all over town last year. That was our baby. We had a great time doing it. I'm glad it's only every 10 years because it is a heck of a lot of work. But in Page 10 Iowa City City Council Work Session of April 1, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https:/Icitychanne]4.com/city-council.html) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription through Verbit: AI -Based Transcription & Captioning Services. For greater detail please refer to the meeting recordings. the end, it's full circle. Uh, we raised about $95,000 in cash and revenue, and we donated all of that back to this three school districts. Uh, presented checks to the Iowa City School District, Clear Creeka Mana, and we sent a smaller check up to Solan. We expanded to Solon and Tiffin this year with that program. That's the third time we've done it 0414 and 2024, and I won't be here in 2034. So somebody else will get to pick all those up and move them around town. But it is a community. Thousands of people come to see that. I mean, literally thousands, and they get their map, and they go check off every 101 of them that we had all over the town. So- ARPA grant recipients. This is another thing that, if you recall. So many of you were on the council at the time, but with ARPA and after COVID, the City of Iowa City and Geoff, as a way to kind of take a little slice off of ARPA, which is about $120,000, 1 believe, um, said, Hey, here's some money to kind of backfill all the lost hotel motel tax because obviously, nobody during COVID, it went to like 10% occupancy. And if your organization can create a committee and board to kind of develop some parameters by which we can grant and fuel and reignite sort of the festivals, events, conferences, things like that, let's do that. And so, we've been really deliberate about doing that and spreading that money out. We have about 33,000 left to spend through 26. But these are just a few of the festivals that we were largely made possible because of the support that Iowa or that Iowa City relayed through us through these different festivals. Uh, the brand new. I think it was the Rock Star Festival last year. Sunday's African folk art and Festival was the coolest festival ever. I mean, he showed up in my office, like, five weeks before it was going to happen. He's like, I've got this idea, and I'm like, you're, crazy. That's five weeks from now, and sure enough, he pulled it off. So we're excited to see year 2 of that. Monica and I just met with him a couple of weeks ago, and it was they've got even bigger plans. So I think it'll be fantastic. Here's just a couple of things on the Sports Commission, our other organization. So you may not know. Again, we- we need to make sure people are aware, but we're the organization that funds fuel, started Bike Iowa City. So we independently contract with Liz Hubing, who's a good partner of ours. She lives at Breeze Eat, eats it, like me, cycling in this community, Monday night gravel rides from- from Geoff's area, and. So all these organizations bike, we spend a lot of time. I'm actually meeting tomorrow night with the bike library. I was like- Iowa City Bike library, about a new fundraiser that we're going to do in June for that organization. We're excited and proud to kind of lead that. And we know how big of a cycling destination community that we have here in Iowa City. We are now home to nine girls and boys high school state tournaments, which is significant. It's so significant that we're getting a little political pushback, as you might imagine of why all these tournaments are coming to Iowa City and Coralville. And, you know, it is what it is with that on the political side, but we do a great job, and our team does a great job, and we're happy to have them. So the most recent win is something we've worked on for several years now, and starting this November Iowa City, will be home to the Girls State swimming and diving championships for the next five years. So it'll be a significant piece of business. It's the exact week after the Girls State Volleyball tournament. So, uh, I don't know how [00:34:061 excited the team is for that, [00:34:08] Page 11 Iowa City City Council Work Session of April 1, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https:.Z.Icitychannel4.com/city-council.htmi) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription through Verbit: AI -Based Transcription & Captioning Services. For greater detail please refer to the meeting recordings. but it's going to be what it's going to be. They'll pack up all the pink from the Iowa River landing, and they'll come set it up in downtown Iowa City. So it'll go from volleyball to Girls State swimming and diving, which will be significant for that downtown area. We also secure the regional Sports Authority District through the state every year, and then we turn around and spend that money in a number of organizations in this town, primarily sports related. They have to be sports related. But there is- they're all over from- from archery to dance. This is an event we just hosted three weeks ago or two weeks ago that put us, uh, you know, on a city lineup card with New York, Chicago, Iowa City, this universal ballet competition that took place. So there are a number of these organizations that receive funds anywhere from, you know, uh, $3,000, 3,000, some of them up to eight $10,000 in support to have their- their tournaments here in Iowa City, Coralville Northberty. These are some notable wins from last year. The top 2 photos are pretty cool because we just hosted last weekend. We had 100 basketball teams here from five states. In fact, 104 basketball teams here. They were all middle school teams, and we hosted the Iowa State Championships for middle schools. And these are a couple of the state championship teams that won trophies. Uh, but we used every basketball court in town. The only ones we didn't use were the ones at the arena in Coralville, because they were booked with something else with a volleyball tournament. But from West Hyde City High to Northberty, every court had these junior high middle school kids on it. So, um, where they want to come back, and so we've actually they've already asked us to store all their stuff. So that's always a good sign that they want to sign again next year. Then you could see just some of the other ones that we booked, some of those other conferences, Missouri Valley, Summit League, uh, State golf. We secured the three A and 4A State golf championships will be here in Iowa City next- or later this year. Then the bottom one's got an astric aren't it because it's not signed contract yet, but we're finalizing hopefully this weekend a bid for Iowa City to be home for the Pan American games for wrestling next May, which will be significant. This year, it's in Money, Mexico, and two years from now it's get Canada, but it's the United States turn to host. And, uh, as long as we can [00:36:38] welcome the visitors to- to Iowa, [00:36:41] they'll be here, and they'll be wrestling from all over North and South America. We spend a lot of time in this bucket, too. [LAUGHTER] I don't want to get into a lot because I'm- I'm going as fast as I can on this annual review, but a lot of time with the airport, we continue t- to play a role and lead the great Places initiatives for Iowa City Cor Northberty. Uh, obviously, the continued investigation of rail. I think there's a meeting tomorrow and checking in on that, uh, and I core. We big sponsor them for developing all the single track and other cycling opportunities here in our community. These last two slides are just as important as everything we do professionally. I love this quote, you know, by Churchill, we make a living by what we get, and we make a life by what we give. And the thing I'm most proud about with our team is, you know, it's- it's not even something that needs to be said. They join our team because they're passionate about this community, and so they get involved in everything in this community. And I know Josh knows Monica real well, and many of you do, and she can tell you just as many things that she's involved in in this community that don't pay her. And that's how everybody on our team is. So, uh, it's Page 12 Iowa City City Council Work Session of April 1, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https:.//citychannel4.com/city-council.html) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription through Verbit: AI -Based Transcription & Captioning Services. For greater detail please refer to the meeting recordings. just how we're wired. And we know the community we live in is also working is the one we serve. That's as fast as I could go on that, Job. [LAUGHTER] So I'm happy to answer questions about any of those efforts or anything more we can continue to do to support Iowa City and the return on the pass through of Hotel Moto tax. [00:38:20] Well, I was going to circle back to the conservation bond passage and say, thanks for your guys' work on that. It was a huge, uh, win 70- 70. [OVERLAPPING] [00:38:29] Seventy eight. [00:38:30] Seventy eight. [00:38:30] One percent better than Ames. [00:38:32] And- and I think if you zoomed in even closer to Iowa City, like, it was even more than it was in the 80s, isn't it? I mean. (00:38:38] A hundred percent. [00:38:39] Which is we so rarely get such clear signals that we're all behind something, and obviously conservation is one of those things. So what's think Iowa City's engagement in the usage of those funds and planning of using those funds. And I'm really specifically interested in the Iowa River and that you had the pedal paddle. Your screen up there. What's next for that? How do we move that forward? It's our strategic plan. So an action item for us is to really invest. Wha- what's next for us and for you? [00:39:06] Yep. Well, Josh, Geoff actually took the lead and organized a meeting that took place about two weeks ago that brought in the university and because the university weren't part of the pedal paddle. That was developed when Destination Iowa funds became available. And then the folks that were viewing, it realized our application was from Johnson County. So it didn't quite score the best, unfortunately, for that particular program. But Jess been pretty particular about keeping that alive, and those- everything that was listed in that sort of master plan along the Iowa River. So we just met two weeks ago. Uh, Joe Ballada was deeply involved from the University of Iowa, as was Rod Learz was there. And we're in the process right now of shoring that up and then prioritizing amongst the cities, which one are the closest to being actionable at this point. And then finding out which one of those aligns with Brad Fridof and the Page 13 Iowa City City Council Work Session of April 1, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https:,[/citychannel4.com/city-council.html) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription through Verbit: AI -Based Transcription & Captioning Services. For greater detail please refer to the meeting recordings. conservation, uh, group that will determine how those will be funded, and which ones align with those Johnson County Conservation bond funds? So that's where we're at with that. I don't know if Geoff, you want to add anymore. You kind of pulled that together. [00:40:13] And just for the Council's awareness, Kirk Leman, assistant city manager that spoke to you about our Deer. When he's not working on Deer, he's going to be working on the Iowa River plan. [LAUGHTER] So we're excited to lead that. And as Counselor Mone noted, that is in your strategic plan. But a lot of stars aligning universities going through their campus planning, right now, the conservation bond, the fact that I think Iowa City team is leading the Pillar 1 of the Better together plan. The time is right to take a good look at the river and what we can be doing. So we're already started there. [00:40:46] So whitewater deer hunting is something we should look for. [LAUGHTER]. [00:40:49] Yeah. [00:40:54] Any other questions to Josh? [00:40:57] One more. Um, as you guys are competing for events to happen in Iowa City, and you miss some, obviously. They don't choose Iowa City. What are the reasons they're not choosing Iowa City? What amenities or qualities are we lacking? [00:41:12] Really, only hotel rate and availability. I mean, we- we've been- you'd be surprised at how many people Julie- Julie just had the State Parks and Rec Association conference here, and they had great attendance. There's so many organizations that want to meet here because they truly enjoy, uh, the qualities, the amenities, the restaurants of Iowa City. So where we get stacked up right now, and we've actually been looking at it pretty hard is looking at that need date calendar and not finding many holes to where we can. So we have to pass for an opportunities, and now we're starting to wait business against other business. And to show you how full it is we have a group, the Jehovah's witnesses that Kate came in and found a whole weekend on July 4 weekend and are bringing 3,000 hotel room nights because they want to meet on July 4 because they know they can get available space. And so all of those holes in the air, um, are starting to fill, and we've just got a great sales team. So there isn't anything that we- you know, there's certainly some groups that- that for political reasons or others, you know, they- they don't consider us to bid, and quite honestly, we're okay with that. [00:42:30] Question. Page 14 Iowa City City Council Work Session of April 1, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https:,Ilcitychannel4.com/city-council.html) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription through Verbit: AI -Based Transcription & Captioning Services. For greater detail please refer to the meeting recordings. [00:42:32] Thank you so much. This is great. I learn a lot myself. Thanks. [00:42:36] Thank you. [00:42:39] Okay. The last item in our agenda is Council update on assigned board Commission or Committee. Anyone or did anything? (00:42:54] No ma'am. [00:42:56] Okay. I none, we are. Thank you. [MUSIC] Page 15