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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-05-20 TranscriptionIowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 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. [00:00:21] It is 4:00 PM, May 2025, and we're going to start our Iowa City City Council Work Session. First item of the agenda is Clarification of Agenda Item. Nothing? Okay. Second item, the Information Packet Discussion. We have May 8th. [00:00:45] I just wanted, er, to point out, um, the report from May 8th on the Human Rights, uh, here on review, the office of Human Rights for the City of Iowa City for anybody out there listening that is a wonderful thing to flip through and take a look at the work that has been done over the past year. Uh, and thank you to all the people on the Human Rights Commission for the work that they do. [00:01:111 Recording in progress. [00:01:14] Okay. That's all. [00:01:191 Sorry. Just point of saying it was in a practice session, is- should I have taken it out? [00:01:261 Sorry. Are you talking about the Zoom recording- [00:01:28] Yes. [00:01:281 -at this point? [00:01:291 Is okay. [00:01:30) Now it's recording, is that acceptable? Yes. [00:01:32) Yeah. Okay. (00:01:38] Okay. Any another item for May 8th. We're going to go to May 15th. [00:01:47] Page 1 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https• //citychannel4.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. I just had a question on IP4, I believe, that had the two different housing memos [00:01:54] Yes. [00:01:54] The second one that has the Housing Choice Voucher waiting list and public housing waiting list, there's a chart in there that the number on the waiting list between April and May of this year drops by, like, 6,000 people. I didn't know if that was a typo, or if that's not a typo if we could find out, what that change was caused by. [00:02:19] Yeah, that is the same. [00:02:221 Yes, it's n- it's not a typo. Let me see if I can track that down. We're still going through the waiting list, but I want to make sure I represent that correctly here. Yeah, the housing choice voucher waiting list. Lim, so over 5,000 households that were outside of our jurisdiction were removed from the waiting list No households within our jurisdiction were removed, but several were updated to the top preference category. So we can get you more information, but the housing authority continues to work through those waiting lists. And we are- our top preference category is those currently living in our community. So what you're seeing is those preferences move up and those outside of our jurisdiction move off the waiting list. [00:03:121 You mean like more than 6,000 has been removed. What's the reason for that? They were removing people outside of the top preference category, which is people that live in Johnson County. So you can - you can- previously, you could get on our waiting list, even if you didn't live in our community. Now, we are limiting the waiting list to that preference category, so they're removing people that are not in Johnson County or that maybe started in Johnson County, they could have signed up on the waiting list at the time as a resident and have since left, and they're now being removed. [00:03:50] Okay. Now, the 2,000. And this is- you know, like, this is already decision has been made to not allow somebody from who's not living in Johnson County to apply anymore. That's why we remove them, or we remove because they left somewhere. Yeah, I'd have to get you exact clarification on what they're doing, but they're essentially going waiting list person individual by individual, and they have a set of questions that are either going to keep them on the waiting list or move them off. But I can- I can get further clarification of that and add it to that report, if that would be helpful. [00:04:29] Sure. Page 2 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 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. [00:04:29] 1 think that would be helpful cause it is confusing. It looks like the, um, top preference category, as it is written here, does include the full housing authority jurisdiction area, which is Johnson, Iowa, Washington, and part of Washington County? [00:04:44] Yes. [00:04:441 So if those outside of Johnson County- [00:04:47] I'm- when I said Johnson County, I missed but I mean I meant the jurisdiction of the- I meant- I apologize. The entire jurisdiction of the housing authority. Yes. [00:04:56] Okay. And then the parenthetical number is those that are elderly, disabled or have minor children within that jurisdiction. [00:05:08] Right. As the top preference category. Got it. Okay. We'll add a footnote. I'll get that from Housing Authority staff, so I don't jumble it up even more than I have right now. [00:05:16] No, I'd appreciate that because I think if maybe it means, like, people were getting on the waiting list, but they weren't vetted for jurisdiction until they came to the top. [00:05:25] Yeah, again, or they could have been vetted, and then their circumstances have changed. And as we touch base with them, again, realize that either they're no longer eligible, they moved out of the jurisdiction, something else occurred. [00:05:39] Yeah, that'd be great. Thank you. [00:05:40] Yeah. And also, like the- the one that the people who have Iowa City addresses. Even though the- the waiting list is closed, but I we here instead of, like, 195, they increase to 1,095, they increase to 1,115. If I can understand how come the Iowa City address has increased, even though the waiting list is closed. [00:06:071 Page 3 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at httos,//citychanne]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. Sure. We'll put a- we'll put a whole number of descriptors on there. I think the 1,015 is the- is the top preference category, and not specifically the Iowa City addresses. We included the Iowa City address in that February update just for a one time. 100:06:23) One time. 100:06:241 Give you an indication of how many actually lived in Iowa City. Uh, the parentheses is that top preference category. But I can see where this would be hard to track, and apologize for that. I will work with our team to put some better data descriptors in there. [00:06:42] Thank you so much. Any another hem in May 15th, please? [00:06:47] Yes, IP three, I believe, pending work session topics. I would like to request that we have a work session topic on parameters and guidelines for either land banking and possible acquisition for affordable housing. The types of things that we would want to- [00:07:12] Pursue. [00:07:121 Provide, yes, pursue and provide some guidance for staff as they may see opportunities or maybe looking for them. So 1 [00:07:21] would like that. [00:07:22] -to be available to Mitts. [00:07:24] 1 think that's fine. Anything else? [00:07:31] Was there a date attached to that work session? [00:07:331 Page 4 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at httos://citychannel4.com/city-c!2uncii.htmIl This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription through Verbit: AI -Based Transcription & Captioning Services. For greater detail please refer to the meeting recordings. There wasn't. I know that it's- we've got a couple that are coming up in, let me we. We're already in. So there's one in June. I don't know, later in June. I know we think we only have one in July. So it's not urgent, but I would like it within. [00:07:501 1 think we're going to get added to the other topic, and we will figure it out. Okay. Sure. If none, we're going to go to item number 3, University of Ohio Student Government. USG update. Is anyone here? [00:08:06] We might be home for the summer. 100:08:101 All right. yeah. It is summer there. Okay. Item number 4. Now we're going to update from Community and the Iowa City Police Department on crisis respond effort, and this will be by Keith Leston and Sarah Nelson from Community. (00:08:32] 1 have some inbounds for you guys [00:08:36] Thanks, sir. [00:08:441 Going for Eric. [00:08:45] We just share. (00:08:47] Tonka. [00:08:56] So I put in the, uh, program metrics that I just passed out some information outside of just mobile crisis because while I know we're here to talk about mobile crisis and the law enforcement liaison programs. They're also interrelated that questions tend to come up about the other services. So 1 thought it might be helpful for you guys to see some of that data of what's going on on 988 at GuideUnk. And then I have data for the farm if there's questions about Healing Prairie Farm as well. Um, so if you- the biggest, I think the most important thing to look at is how much we have increased our response within Johnson County since 2021. We had 534 dispatches to the community in the entire county in 2021, and so far year to date, and we haven't finished out the year. We have two- well, we'll have three months of data missing. Had 1,401 dispatches for peer mobile crisis. So straight mobile crisis means that they call your Life, Iowa, the Crisis Helpline, and we're dispatched into the community off of your Life Iowa. So we've Page 5 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at httos• //citychanne]4.com/ciW-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. made great strides in terms of awareness, people utilizing the services. One of the things I most proud of is how much we've increased the youth served. You can see that's gone up by 268%. We know youth in the community are struggling with mental health, access to mental health, really encouraging to see that it's being used to support youth and families. And especially now that we have that extra layer of crisis stabilization at Healing Prairie Farm so that if the crisis extends beyond what we can do to stabilize in the home, we avoid an emergency department. Stay, which often ends up in boarding and oftentimes not an admission. So that's a huge improvement for our community, and it's been really great to see that play out. So total dispatches have increased by 35%. Also response time decreased by 31%. That was one of the things, um, that Jeff and I discussed a lot when we were looking at the ARPA investment was not only increasing utilization, but decreasing response time. And that can be difficult because we don't have lights and sirens. We don't want lights and sirens, because part of the appeal of mobile crisis is that, you know, we can go into someone's neighborhood, and it's not obvious to their neighbors what's going on, and people really value that in the community. And we also recognize that we're responding to a crisis. And so we train counselors, you know, the second you're dispatched, it's a get up and go because it's really important that we get there as quickly as possible. Um, I want to point out to that we are dispatching mobile crisis off of 988, but there's not a great system in place for that yet. So right now -and that's a state wide system. So right now that looks like a warm handoff. So if somebody calls 988 and our counselors decide, offering mobile crisis might be really appropriate in this situation, we can offer it, and then they get a warm handoff to the mobile crisis provider in their state because we serve this or in their county because we serve the entire state with this. So um, that is happening. I think we had about 75 so far that have gotten a warm transfer. [00:12:41] It's a warm handoff. [00:12:421 So warm handoff means we can't just dispatch mobile crisis, while keeping them on the phone. We connect them to their local mobile crisis team for dispatch. So it's different than just a referral where I'm like, here, call this number. And you can ask for mobile crisis. A warm handoff, we keep them on while we make that transfer to make sure it goes somewhere. [00:13:041 Okay, thank you. [00:13:05] Uh, so 988 utilization continues to increase, which is why you can see on that graph. One of the unique things about community is that we answer the National LGBTO line, um, for full transparency. I'm not sure that that will exist after September 30th, but the number of calls we get are approximately 8,000 a month right now, and that's specific to youth. And many of them are Iowa Youth, and we're able to track that. Um, and the law enforcement liaison, um, data, I'm going to let Chief Liston speak to, and I can answer any questions that we might have about that. But I also want to say that the majority of mobile crisis response in Johnson County is Iowa City residents. I, Carol, our database has been freaking out for Page 6 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https•//ciiychannel4.com/ciiy-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. the last two days nationally, so I wasn't able to pull you guys that exact information, but Ican email it to you because it's- it's significantly utilized by residents of Iowa City over any other municipality. (00:14:14] Sir, can you walk me through some of these things that- are you going to walk us through this? I was a little bit confused on what green versus blue lines are. And I think I've been sort of mapping stuff out as you're talking but-. [00:14:25] On this one right here? [00:14:26] Yeah. So mobile crisis outreach. What do you try? [00:14:29] So dispatches over to the left. So 2021, the- I'm not sure what Kyle did there with the blue ingredient to be honest. [00:14:39] So don't read into that. [00:14:42] Yeah, don't read I bet it's youth. That's my guess [00:14:451 Okay. [00:14:471 1 could clarify that though. [00:14:49] And then what's a- and then a triage contact. Can you describe what that means? [00:14:54] Yes. So the way GuideLink is set up is it's a number of organizations that operate GuideLink. And so when somebody walks into GuideLink, they're met by community triage counselors. That's the first point of contact. That was set up intentionally because they receive the same type of training as mobile crisis counselors. So sometimes a triage contact will come in, and we are able to connect them and de escalate without them moving on to another service within GuideLink. One of the things in crisis response that's really important is the right level of intervention at the right time. We know research tells us that if we come to heavy handed with an intervention like inpatient hospitalization, and that's not the appropriate level of care it causes harm. This is something that I like to share. I think it's really Page 7 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at httl2s,//citychannel4.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. important information that a lot of folks don't know, is the risk of completed suicide is highest upon hospital discharge than at any other point. So the reason programs like mobile crisis and crisis stabilization are so critical is that the outcomes are better. When we stabilize people in the community, and we safety plan with them, and we wrap around them, and we follow up, and we provide support, the outcomes are better than if they're hospitalized. That's absolutely true for youth, and for adults. There's a lot of theories in the field of suicidalogy as to why that is. But most likely, it's because you go in and the way insurance is these days, right? You go in and you're in there for three or four days. That's not enough to stabilize on a medication. Nothing's going to change, so you're going to have thought you were going to get help. Go in patient, not actually have anything changed for you, and then be discharged. So now you have the extra stigma of hospitalization, because people thought that's how they could keep you safe. You feel even more hopeless because help didn't really occur in that 3-5 day stay, and now you're back at home. And so with a mobile crisis response and a stabilization in the community, you're providing the care right then, You're safety planning around safety plan is a formal tool that we use to stabilize folks, identify what are their buffers, the things that make them want to stay. Do they have a plan? Do they have means? Can we help them restrict those means? [00:17:27] And then we follow up with them repeatedly, um, for as long as they want us to follow up with them, connect them to resources. And that's the piece that's really, really important. Um, so when we push hospitalization is not, in fact, most of the time is not the correct answer. That's -that's why. And then for you, we have the issue of there being significantly less beds and we have kids and their families being boarded in emergency departments sometimes leaving without anything happening at all because they've been there for days. And so that was the impetus for why it was so important to open healing prairie farm as youth crisis stabilization because it was a major gap in this community that we didn't have for youth and crisis. [00:18:18] Let me keep asking questions about the hand. 100:18:21] Go for it. 100:18:22] So the Crisis Helpline services is that the same as 988? Are they completely synonymous, or are they different interoperable. [00:18:31] The reason we call it Crisis Helpline Services is that we have, uh, multiple crisis help lines that we operate. So we operate state of Iowa 988, which means we respond to the entire state, um, we offer the national LGBTQ line for youth which is a separate line, we offer the counselors that answer for the University of Iowa Emotional Support line. And then we have a couple of org workplaces that have us answer as well. Page 8 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https�//citychannel4.com/­city-i:Quncil.html This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription through Verbit: AI -Based Transcription & Captioning Services. For greater detail please refer to the meeting recordings. [00:19:04] And then you'd said that the system to do handoffs from 988 to mobile crisis was not the systems weren't worked out or weren't as you would like them. Can you talk more about that? (00:19:151 Sure. So one of the things that I've been advocating for on a statewide level is that 988 be considered the statewide crisis line. You life Iowa be shelved to serve some other type of referral or coordination piece so that it's really clear and easy for residents in Iowa to know who they contact when they're having a mental health or emotional crisis. Um, that's why we have the three digit number, right? It makes it accessible for folks, easy to remember. Um, but the next step in that planning is transferring, um, being able to dispatch mobile crisis directly off of 988 without doing anything. So we would have software. This is done and lots of communities across the country. We'd have software that deploys those teams just like 911 dispatches law enforcement, fire EMS. We would dispatch mobile crisis teams much in the same way. And so that's the next step in the evolution of the state wide plan. Um, it's a little complicated because until now every mobile crisis team operates differently, looks differently, um, depending on what community that you're in. And so with the behavioral health redistricting that's happening July 1st, the goal is to bring more continuity across the state in terms of what crisis services are available, regardless of where you live, how they operate regardless of where you live. And then the next evolution in that would be dispatching mobile crisis directly from 911. So this again, is the best practices nationally for the right level of intervention at the right time. Um, and so that's the next step in that evolution is being able to do that. I just was in Pittsburgh last week with a bunch of communities that have implemented that. It was really cool to see we were in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County. Their peace app is robust and complicated and serves lots of counties and to see them successfully dispatching mobile crisis, um, off of 911 was really encouraging. I like to point out that it's being done in Denver, it's being done in Los Angeles, it's been done in large, um, communities. One of the things the Chief of Police there said that it took him going to Harvard, um, a lab two week class at Harvard to hear from them that the thing many of you have heard me say which is that there has never been a death or serious harm on a mobile crisis dispatch anywhere in our country ever. And so that's the first thing that people think of and are concerned about is safety. And that's because mobile crisis teams we've been dispatching for ourselves here in Iowa for 10 years. We have a safety screening and a way to assess for that and there have been no major incidents. So it's just that systems change that we're all used to things operating in a certain way. And how are we going to address those- those concerns and mitigate them and make sure that it's successful. So that's the long term goals and plans for how that rolls out. I will say that the diversion or mobile crisis teams dispatching directly from 911 is something that's generally driven at a local level of government. There is no state that's rolled that out and that's the complexity. You want your local communities to drive how that would look because you don't want the state to drive that. So there's not a state that's rolled it out that way. It's always municipalities within states. [00:23:10] Page 9 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 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. Would you so people with Denver 911, which is what their organization is called, that have rolled stuff out like this. They said that one of the main, uh, things that you need to do in order to make something like this effective is to have, um, mobile crisis and professionals within the call centers like the lack. Um, and because training is different, expertise is different, so then you have the people that are have the capability to divert calls. Um, and because we don't have that, that's why it says on the bottom of the sheet 911 diversion remains flat, right? [00:23:50] Yes. [00:23:511 Okay. You get into that. [00:23:52] Yeah, let me speak to that a little. So I intentionally put that on here because it's really important. We launched that pilot, Johnson County. Um, I was really excited. We were one of three counties in the state to be selected, um, to pilot transfers 911 to 988. And it was something that all of our law enforcement entities supported, um, Jack supported. And the state I requested from the state at the time of this pilot that they invest in paying for salaries for crisis counselors to be on the dispatch floor, supporting dispatchers because it's a massive systems change. And you're looking at things a little bit differently. And so I predicted that it would not be successful if you didn't have the proper support and there's models throughout the country that show that to be true. So I think the reason that we're seeing and it's flat. It's like two, I think, two calls that have- have been transferred since its inception. We know that there's more mental health calls that come in on 911, but that's a lot of risk for a dispatcher to take without the proper support to feel confident in doing so which is very understandable. So that's why I think we're seeing that model not working right now in terms of transferring 911 to 988. 1 also think that 911 dispatchers are going to feel more comfortable doing something like dispatching a mobile crisis team because they're notjust handing someone off to a phone line. They're actually going to have somebody responding with eyes on that could also call law enforcement if they got on scene and felt like we need EMS, we need law enforcement, we whatever the situation may be. Um, that in- in terms of our data, this isn't in my report, but that happens about 2%of the time for us right now with mobile crisis that we go out on a mobile crisis call that was dispatched off of life, Iowa and determined that law enforcement is needed on scene. So we already do that, essentially, um, and have strategies and training to ensure that we're all working together in a way that's going to best serve that community member. Um, the other thing that was really interesting when I was in Pittsburgh, there's an organization called Canopy Roots, which is just north of us in the Minneapolis area and our -our first L liaison Joe actually works there now. Um, and there was a- a former elected official from that area that was talking to me about their program up there. I was asking him what- what did he like, what wasn't working well. And he said the thing I really miss or underestimated when we were building that out was how important it was to have crisis counselors embedded in the dispatch center. And I think that that is what has made it so successful. So that was nice to hear because it's a program that's running and Page 10 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https,//ciMhannel4.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. working really well and that that's what they also do in Los Angeles. So it's nice to hear that very near us, that's working well, and that's the approach they've taken. [00:27:04) You had mentioned that you had talked to the state or requested funds from the state and I'm trying to think back to the last check meeting I was at but I seem to recall that that hasn't yet been fruitful. [00:27:14] Yeah, it has not, and I don't think it will be. 1 really think that as a community, we decide that's something we're interested in, it's going to have to be a local thing. It's going to take so much work for the state to invest in dispatching mobile crisis off of 988. They don't have the funding or infrastructure set up for that state wide. So I would think by the time the state got around to supporting that or offering dollars for that, we would be looking a decade from now. And truly. And I think- and I think that the other thing that we have to be realistic about is all of the grants that we could have applied together for, Department of Justice, BGA, Bureau of Justice, uh, Council of state governments. All those three funding entities are who supports initiatives like the ones that I'm talking about and all of those funding opportunities have been pulled. There were a number that we were interested in pursuing and they just are not being funded at this point and we're seeing that with the Vira Institute and pretrial justice. So a lot of those funding opportunities for collaborations are not going to exist for a bit. [00:28:30] Exactly. I guess when I ask you, you mentioned there is some local model for providing crisis counselor in the dispatch. If you can mention give us an example and if you know how they fund it, whoever have it. How they fund that? [00:28:541 So the folks that I just met with it was all local funding. I mean, it was either through a ballot initiative or it was through various ways of piecing together funding from municipalities to fund it. It was not state funding, and it was not grant funded because they wanted the sustainability of. [00:29:111 Like local government funding, whether it is county or cities together pitching in. [00:29:16] So like in Allegheny County, they had the Department of Human Services funded it. They shifted money and they funded it. Um, but what's important because when I worked in Boulder County, it was this way too, is that what's different in Iowa is Department of Human Services doesn't get funding at a county level the way it does in some other states. So in Pennsylvania, they really push all those funds to the county to provide those services. So they had more robust funding to be able to pay for something like that. So the cities that- that opted in didn't have to fund it. And they have cities that opted in that are very small, like 3,000 people live there. Um, and so obviously, they're not going to have any funding for Page 11 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 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. that. And then there's other models that use ballot initiatives to pay for it. There's other models that have larger municipalities that -that pitch in to pay for it. It's really different in every community. [00:30:17] Thank you. [00:30:181 1 have a couple of questions that are. First of all, thank you, Councilor for asking those questions because I was like. But I do have a couple of questions just specific, a little bit more small. Um, with the, um, youth served, does that 268% increase since 2022? Is that inclusive of the LGBTQ hotline or is that something separate? [00:30:48] No, that. [00:30:50] It's impressive. [00:30:52] That is just mobile crisis. So the LGBTQ line. [00:30:561 Is separate. [00:30:57] That we answer off of 988 will probably serve about 50,000 youth this fiscal year when we end. Um, and then our farm, Healing Prairie Farm has had 152 youth so far this fiscal year. And that's a new programs, new crisis programs take a while to get that word of mouth. I mean, when they started mobile crisis in Lynn County, Drew Martel, who's our chief clinical officer now at Community, started that in Foundation two. And he would get up in the middle of the night to see if they had a dispatch because he was stressed out that they only had four and a whole month and he was going to lose funding before he ever got it off the ground and now it's a thriving program. And that's what we know with crisis services is it takes a lot of word of mouth and outreach for people to know this is here, this is here for me, this is here for everyone, this is how we access it. And so, like right now, we're at Full Census today as we speak. Um, and that has only the last two months, we might fluctuate down to only four or five kids and within 24 hours, we're back up at eight youth and youth crisis stabilization. So it's definitely people are getting the word. We've had a lot of wonderful feedback from families and kids that have said I don't think I'm ever going to have to go to the emergency department again. I don't think I'm ever going to have to go to inpatient psychiatry again, um, working with our peer support specialists. They said I have hoped for my future that I never had before because I got to work with somebody that's been there and is now on the other side of it. It's doing the things we really wanted it to do. The other thing that I'm particularly proud of is that we've only had to go hands on one time with a youth and that was just Page 12 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https•//citychannel4.cQm/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. because they were going towards the road. That is not common. When you serve youth, people, those programs use restraints. It is not uncommon for the professionals to have to go hands on with a youth multiple times a day. We were- we were trying to build a model that was going to be based on relationship and connectivity that was going to ensure that we weren't having to go hands on with kids because we know the trauma that that can cause. And so I'm really proud to see it actually playing out that way that we are able with that relationship and connection to create safety for those kids and ensure that they don't experience trauma in our care. Having overseen lots of different programs with youth where we go hands on, it's a big difference, and it's something I'm really proud of. [00:33:37] And I just have one other question, and thank you for that. Um, kudos to the decrease in the response time. Can you remind me what it was and what it is now then? [00:33:49] Oh, boy. I think it had gotten up to do you remember, Jeff? (00:33:54] Close to 30- 30 close minute. [00:33:56] And in the city of Iowa City, it's down to 19 minutes is the average response. And then for the county, it's more around 27, 28 minutes county wide. But we've gotten it consistently under 20 minutes within the city of Iowa City. [00:34:111 Thank you. (00:34:17] Speaking about the stabilization aspects of dispatching mobile crisis into the community. I know when, um, so many different organizations came together to form GuideLink and get that up and going, a lot of the driving force, I think behind getting entities to fund that related to the cost savings to the community of diverting folks out of hospital, out of jail. Keeping them, you know, in a place where they could stabilize and get back into the community. I'm hearing you say the mobile crisis response also has a really high rate of stabilizing people in their homes or in, I know you respond to schools and workplaces as well. Um, so do you have any of that data, or do you- can you give us any thoughts on how we could get it to understand what we're saving as a community when we are diverting and stabilizing people at that level where they don't even come to a place like GuideLink? [00:35:18] Sure. I don't have that data. It's- it is probably a project, like six months to a year for us to really put that cost savings together. But what I said when we opened GuideLink, that I think is really important and it's the same with Healing Prairie Farm that's really important to remember is crisis response is a Page 13 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https•//citychannel4.com/ciy-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. continuum, and you want to use the least restrictive intervention necessary to stabilize the crisis, both for the best outcome and for efficiency and for cost. So 988 is considered the first stop on the crisis continuum. Then you have mobile crisis. Then you have GuideLink or youth crisis stabilization, and it goes on up from there. And so that was one of the things that I just cau- cautioned people about. When we have something like youth crisis stabilization and GuideLink, don't skip the steps of making sure that this couldn't be handled by mobile crisis because it's effective, it's efficient, it saves money. And they can assess, right? They can assess, does this now need to escalate to GuideLink, to Healing Prairie Farm, to the emergency department? And that's part of the assessment and that liaisons do this all the time. You know, that's an important part of getting that expertise out there is that we evaluate and screen for that, what's going to be the safest environment, and if it needs to be escalated, it's always escalated. [00:36:56] Can you speak to the- the particular chart and guidelines that are given to dispatchers when it comes to what they are to, um, what it currently is, and the current dispatchers that we have right now? Um, I looked at it, uh, when we had, like, a tour of the lack. And I was kind of surprised to hear that when you gave that number of, well, two calls, you know. So, uh, also hearing from you know, places like Denver, places like Los Angeles, Oakland, Pittsburgh, Atlanta. The criteria is a little bit different, and they've kind of crossed that point of things that maybe in the system we have now are considered an immediate law enforcement response, but not necessarily abiding by that criteria, and it's been very successful. Like things that might have, um, a little bit more risk, you would say and how people have been shocked and surprised at how well that has gone and how crisis counselors, um, are very adept at handling even those situations that are consider- considered higher risk. Sorry, that was a lot. I hope that made sense to you. (00:38:09) Yeah, so, I mean, I think the important thing to remember is there's a big difference in diverting 911 to 988 versus 911 to mobile crisis. So people are going to have a lower risk tolerance by transferring someone from 911 to another phone counselor on 988. So that criteria for when it's appropriate to go to 988 is going to be a much smaller window that if you were say dispatching mobile crisis onto the scene, who can then elevate it if it needs to. So it makes sense to me that you're seeing a much smaller number because the flow chart is kind of, you know, if the person is ju- if they're delusional, or if they're sad or if they're feeling suicidal, that feels very challenging to determine I'm going to transfer this to another phone call, counselor. But I think the important thing to remember is that on 988, we do what's called active rescues. So- Um, and I think this isn't always known or understood. So we've been doing this for over a decade. We've answered the national line, as well as the local lines. And if we believe we cannot safety plan with a person on phone chat or text through 988, um and oftentimes it's because they have imminent- an imminent situation. I have a loaded firearm in my lap. No, I won't contact a family member. No, I won't let you contact a family member. I plan to use it. We're going to call 911 immediately and initiate active rescue. If somebody calls and says, I just took two bottles of pills, nobody's home, we're going to initiate active rescue. Now, we initiate active rescue on our over 80,000 contacts a year, less than 1%of the time, and there's quality standards for that nationally. So it's not a significant amount of time that we can't safety plan on phone chatter text to ensure someone's safe, but Page 14 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 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. we do escalate it. So- but that's where I think it's different. Like, when you look at Denver and you look at LA and you look at those models, they're dispatching mobile crisis counselors into the community. I think anybody is going to feel more confident about doing that off of 911 for a wider variety of situations than they would transferring to 988. Does that make sense? [00:40:36] Yeah. [00:40:37) And it was- it was interesting in Pittsburgh to see the list of, you know, the flow chart, and what they decided was appropriate for mobile crisis. They called it the A team there. They played the music. A team versus law enforcement versus law enforcement and EMS versus EMS law enforcement and fire and they had a flow chart for all of the different situations that they decided what the appropriate response would be. They also did what we do with law enforcement liaisons, which is have them on the radio. Sometimes departments are a little bit nervous about having civilians on the radio. Um, but a lot of times law enforcement end up liking that because they know that mobile crisis, if they're on the radio, it's easier for them to call for help or backup, if they get in a situation that does become dangerous, volatile, or unsafe. Um, and so that's what we saw there as well. And it was interesting because the police chief, who's also the president of the Chiefs Association in Pennsylvania, talks to a lot of other chiefs. Those were all of his biggest concerns, which is what we've seen in Iowa about radio, safety, all of that stuff. And so getting that data on what we've seen nationally, and mobile crisis has been operating for a couple decades at this point in different areas of the country and over 10 years here in Eastern Iowa. [00:41:56] As far as Iowa City support of mobile crisis, I know that that was our first ARPA grant of almost a million dollars back in 2021, 1 think. Um, and I don't think we've provided any funding for mobile crisis since then, is that right? [00:42:15] No. I don't recall any extra. No. [00:42:18] 1 think I would remember to be excited about it. Um, so just as far as if there was- if we see this as kind of a progression of, you know, we have 988, the 911 to 988 has those limitations if the dispatch center was able to dispatch mobile crisis, do you have a sense is really putting you on spot? Do you have a sense of what the scope of that would need to be for as far as the capacity of mobile crisis and eventually what that would cost? [00:42:50] 1 don't off the top of my head, it's something that I could easily work out. I think the important thing to think about is that the differential response is still important. So even if like we build those other layers, Page 15 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https�//citychannel4.cQm/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. it's still important to have- to have the liaisons, to have the co responder, because there's different - again, it's different right intervention, right time. So it would be something that would have to be built in addition to um, our current mobile crisis teams, our co responder model, the law enforcement liaisons, because when you flow out the different instances of who can respond to what when and where, all of those different layers are needed. So it would never be a replacement, just so off the top, and that's why I say it's typically a local investment, because the state will often fund all these other layers of response that I'm talking about, and it's usually localities that decide to take it the next couple of steps for based on what they want for their community and how they can fund it. [00:43:561 So just some information for the -the rest of Council. I'm currently the vice chair of the Zech Board, which, of course, has representation from the county and the municipalities within the county where we have our um, everyone contributes through a levy that the board of supervises- board of supervisors approves to fund the operations of the jech itself. I did have a conversation with Tom Jones, the director there, that the capacity for the jeck to be able to do this is pretty simple and straightforward, um, is something that, you know, could probably be absorbed in what they're doing with maybe a slight increase in the levy, which, of course, would require all the entities to be on board with that. And so that- that's sort of like the technical side, as I understand it of getting the dispatch to happen. He did speak to the like, that there are certain channels that essentially, if they have civilians on the radios, they can't access. Certain, like their specific radios are tailored to the type of responder that they are. And so there doesn't need to be that specific concern with, like, do they have access to absolutely everything. And th- but then just to be, again, trying to kind of map out what we're talking about here. The actual responders in our community are community employees, right? And that's also the case with our liaisons who are embedded in our police department. yeah, and the reason- [00:45:281 Fund those positions. [00:45:30] The reason for that model, which is important, to me, too, it's a- it's a Sams best practice. It's a national best practice, that the partnership between mental health community based mental health and crisis response organizations with law enforcement brings both of our knowledge and expertise to the table to ensure that you have that moving forward. Otherwise, it could just be a civilian with no clinical oversight or support to do that job. And so I really, you know, the partnership that we have with the City of Iowa City has probably been my favorite, um, law enforcement liaison project to work on. We have a really strong partnership, and I feel we really do value the expertise that each of us brings to the table. And so that models worked really well. And it's -it is a best practice nationally, and so it's good that we're following that and doing that in the community because it really puts everybody's minds together. [00:46:29) Page 16 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at httos://citychanne]4.cQm/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. Great. Council Bergus, when you talked with Tom, did he mention how many people, like, were you talking about actual staffing of a second counselor to be in the 911? Which thing, when you said something that could easily ramp up? What exactly? 100:46:44] On the technological side. So if- if-. (00:46:47] Side of that. [00:46:47] If mobile crisis counselors were being dispatched directly from 911, from the jack, they would be on the radio system, right? And so the jack maintains the towers, maintains the radios. You know, that's- it's the infrastructure to support that dispatch system. It employs the dispatchers, but not it wouldn't be the counselor themselves. Right. So I think the counselor could be stepping in on certain calls, or you know, if they are there as support for the dispatchers themselves. We talked about how counselors in the jack could provide peer support for dispatchers, because these are very traumatic calls that you know, these are folks who the crisis counselors are engaging in that consistently, and they might be different types of calls than the sort of traditional 911 dispatchering answers. So that's why I was trying to draw that distinction between the staffing of the actual counselors versus the infrastructure. So the jack is the infrastructure to support that. [00:47:50] Yeah. I'm just trying to wrap my mind around what things would have to come together to make all of this work. So with pieces. So it sounds like the tech piece is easy. The human resource piece is probably still more not as easy. [00:48:05] Certainly. [00:48:061 Easy is not the right word. 100:48:07] We know it's more expensive. Right? That is, you know, that having people, uh, employed to do the work is for all of these systems, the greatest expensive. [00:48:181 Sure of them. And that would be a 24 1 mean, and goals, 24/7 somebody at lack if we were to do that, that's what we'd be shooting for, right? lust okay. Cool. Thanks- thanks for the clarification. [00:48:271 Page 17 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https,//citychannel4.com/citY-council.htD2l) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription through Verbit: AI -Based Transcription & Captioning Services. For greater detail please refer to the meeting recordings. Or even starting with, you know, they know, like, certain times of day and days where calls might be more likely to commence. So even if, you know, piloting something where you were limiting what that would be, but, yeah, ideally all the time. [00:48:40] So just to clarify, the, um, the levy for the jack on the county level cannot fund, say salaries for staff. For the counselors themselves in the jack. Is that what you're saying? [00:48:54] 1 mean, I- I think that's- that's my understanding of how it's currently set up. You know, we- the jack itself is based on a 2080 agreement between all the entities. So I think we could, you know, sort of look at that and see what might be possible. But I do think the levy itself is intended for the communication infrastructure. [00:49:161 Okay. [00:49:17] As far as the state authority to levy the tax. [00:49:211 And I also heard you saying that this would require the localities within Johnson County to get on board if they were to levy this tax. I just don't know if- I don't know the process if the board of supervisors has the direct authority to themselves to say we're levying this tax, and Coralville and Iowa City just get over it, or through some formal process, do they need permission from us to levy a tax on the county level? [00:49:49) It would be the lack board. So each entity has representation on the Jack board. [00:49:54] Okay. Thank you. [00:49:561 Which is Shaun and I for Iowa City. [00:49:59] And in Allegheny County, they did do- it wasn't everybody at the county that opted in to do it. And they also have a dispatch that's like the lack, where they dispatch for every s- they have 130 municipalities that they dispatch from at one dispatch center. So it was the same model as ours in terms of, we have one dispatch center for everywhere in Johnson County. They have a lot more. But they were able to manage because I've been curious about this myself. Like, what if Iowa City was interested in doing this, but nobody else was, and that is how they've been operating. So they had, I think, 13 agencies out of Page 18 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https,//city.channe]4.com/cit3Lcouncil.html) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription through Verbit: AI -Based Transcription & Captioning Services. For greater detail please refer to the meeting recordings. their 130 that participate in that. They're only in their second year. They launched it in 2023. So they have 13 agencies. So they're- they were able to figure that out and make that work without everybody being ready to do that. [00:50:58] And also, I think you mentioned more than 50 is Iowa City of the crisis. [00:51:04] Yes. [00:51:04] 1 see. Yes. I think we just have to highlight that even if we try to invite people to opt in or to do this with us, we have to, like, know the fact that Iowa City is having the majority calls so- [00:51:19] But then there's also, you know, like with- like with shelter house, um, not to put anybody on spot here, but we give shelter House quite a bit of money, rightfully so like 200k, I think. Does that sound like a decently accurate number, Jeff? Per year. Probably incorporating [00:51:40] the winter shelter and operations funds. (00:51:421 Yeah. So $200,000 versus Coralville's $10,000, right? That's all that Coralville gives shelter house. And so, you know, I don't like the argument used of well, all the calls are happening over here, all the homeless people are here. Well, why are they here? It's because your police pick them up in Coralville and dropped them off in Iowa City at our shelter House. So if anybody from Coralville is listening, maybe revisit that one. Um, but, uh, what I'm getting at is, you know, it would be awesome, you know, like you were saying, the main thing about stuff like this is where does the money come from? Um, how are we going to fund this thing? It would be awesome if the county could just levy something to not only fund the technological infrastructure, but also salaries for these, the most important component, it seems for getting this off the ground, which is the counselors embedded within the check. But, you know, talking, I feel like we should start talking with other localities about this as well in a more formal way. And I don't know generally the best way to do that. If anybody has any suggestions, let me know. [00:52:491 Joint entities the right place to start. [00:52:51] Joint entities, yeah, but, you know, the last one was canceled because there was nothing on the agenda. 100:52:56] Page 19 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at httl2s�//citychannel4.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. [LAUGHTER] Now, we have some [00:52:58] Now we have something to put on the agenda. So where do we go about putting something on the joint entity's agenda? Like, what's the best way to do that? [00:53:06) Typically the week or two before the meeting, [NOISE] we'll ask, council. The clerk's office will put a memo in one of your information packets, and you'll have an opportunity at the work session to add anything that you'd like. Really just look for a majority of you to do that, and then the clerk's office would update the host city on whatever agenda items we want on there? [00:53:291 The next one is tomorrow then the next one. [00:53:32] The next one? [00:53:33] Yes. (00:53:34] Isn't it in July. [00:53:351 July. [00:53:36] Tomorrow's Metro poll. [00:53:38) Tomorrow is MOJC. 100:53:401 1 mean, okay. Sorry The joint MPP was in the school district and we cancel it, right? [00:53:45] Yes. [00:53:46] Yeah. Yes, mixing up things. Page 20 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https,//citychannel4.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. [00:53:49] It's in July. [00:53:491 July? [00:53:50] Yeah. So can we do that? Can we add that to the agenda? [00:53:55) 1 don't mind. Okay. I think maybe direct the staff to do that 100:54:02] We can do that. I can do that now. [00:54:051 Thank you. [00:54:06] There's one other thing I'd like to add that I think is really important. And, you know, we all have a number of social issues, we're probably concerned about how they're- how they're going to look moving forward. But if I'm just speaking on the mental health piece, I'm extremely concerned about what is going to happen to our hospitals and the access to mental health care for people in our community when we are already in a crisis. It is already incredibly hard, these are the most cost effective services. They have good outcomes. And my biggest fear is that we're going to have kids and adults with a higher acuity level of suicidality given the things that they're facing and not have anything to support them or not have the capacity in all of our systems to support them at the time when they need it. And so appreciate you guys being proactive in having these conversations and bringing them forward with seriousness, because we see it every day. Our mental health crisis is not getting better, and, you know, to plug all the other services out there, we gotta have housing, we gotta have food. All of those things contribute to, um, suicide prevention. And so it's a really important time to be thinking of all of the aspects, um, that people in our community are going to need. [00:55:37] Great, yeah. Thank you. Really just listening, uh, for this from somebody who have hand on things. This is will give us like really opportunity to understand how big the issue is. Thank you for coming to today and providing this. [00:55:571 Good afternoon, Dustin Listen, Chief of Police. I visit with Sarah quite a bit, but one thing I know is every time I talk to her, I learn about 10 new things, so I need to visit with her a little more often. But thanks for the opportunity. One of the things, I think, Sarah buried the lead a little bit, but the increased Page 21 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 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. capacity of mobile crisis since I have been here has been exponential, really. Um, I think she said went from about 500, and now it looks like you'll be close to 2000, [00:56:25) that's enormous. Um, and one of the things that was [00:56:28] a concern when I got here was their response time, and they've done a really good job of addressing that. Because you can imagine a police officer standing out there with someone who's is and calls for mobile crisis and has to wait 30 minutes and thinks, well, we could probably solve the problem hopefully by then. But so increasing or lowering their response time has really, I think, helped our utilization of that. But in 2021, we added mental health liaison. We added one position, and she mentioned it was Joe. I thought he went to New York City. Okay, cool. Yeah. He travels quite a bit, but anyhow, he was- it was groundbreaking I thought. Um, he was what we now call a station based mental health liaison. He wasn't embedded with- he didn't have a police officer partner. Um, he would basically listen to the radio, and officers would call him, he would go out to the scene. Um, he would jump a few calls here and there that he thought were important even if the officers didn't ask him to be there. And I thought it went well. In 2021, he handled 377 calls, excuse me, 2022. In 2023, we added a second mental health liaison. Again, the Council put out a goal in 2028 to have 24/7 coverage. So we added a second one in 2023. Um, we handled 372 calls for service that year. And then in 2024, in September, we transition to what we now call the co -responder model. We kept one of our mental health liaisons as a station -based mental health liaison, and then we embedded one of our mental health liaisons with a police officer. They're here right now, and I'll let them talk in a little bit. So Kelsey started working with Katie, Officer Davis. Officer Davis is our co -responder officer. She's a sworn officer with the Iowa City Police Department, and Kelsey is a mental health liaison with community. They're partners like Star Ski and Hutt, only a little bit cooler. Um, yeah. But in- in four months time, they handled 427 calls for service. So they handled 100- almost 100 more calls for service in four months time than the station -based had handled the year prior. And the station -based actually picked up their game, as well, and they handled 587 calls for service in the year 2025- 2024. So the benefit I see is the co -responder, the mental health liaison embedded with our co -responder gets them out there, and they'll tell you what they do what their day to day looks like. But they're what we call jumping calls. Listen to the radio, like, that sounds like that one might have a mental health aspect, and it gets them out there. And I always maybe I didn't appreciate the value of the station -based mental health liaison, but now that we have a co -responder in the field, and a station -based, Katie has a lot more time to do some of the follow up, because Kelsey and Christie are running around with their hair on fire going to multiple different calls, and Katie's able to do the station base is able to do a lot more of the follow up and make sure they have wrap around care and things like that. So I think it's very important to maintain, for a while, I thought I would prefer all just embedded co -responders, but I really now see the value of the station based liaison, because I think they have a little more time. I would like to add to our co -responders, I would like to get more coverage with that, but I certainly wouldn't want to lose our station based liaison. So those are the numbers. I'll direct you to our webs- to the city's website. We just published our last annual report, and that was done with help of our new crime analyst. I think you'll see the difference in quality. There's a lot of really Page 22 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at httos• //citychannel4.com/ci-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. neat stuff in there. And you can get a lot of these numbers that I just listed on that, too. So without further ado, the A team, I guess. yeah. 101:00:281 Christie. [01:00:29] I'll let them introduce themselves. [01:00:33] Hi, my name is Officer Christie Davis. I'm our crisis co -responder. I've been with the department for 10 years. I started out on late nights. Spent most of my time there. A lot of my focus has always been victim service oriented. I've always had a passion for helping the individual who's going through a crisis or who just needs that extra help in a dark time in their life, whether it's a few moments, or it could be a long stretch of time. So with my time here, um, finally made it to this position with a crisis co -responder. What we do kind of on a day to day basis is we've built up a rapport with so many individuals that they see us, and they trust us that we're going to give them a little extra time. We're going to talk with them. We're going to treat them with respect and dignity. And with that, they just open up to us to talk to us about what's going on with their life, what they're going through, people who are maybe they're trying to get in touch with or maybe we've been able to get in touch with they've given us information on who their providers are. So with that, we've been able to connect with a whole bunch of individuals from University through guide link, um, different resources like our place and community the shelter house to be able to touch base with individuals where we can kind of connect hands, connect resources and get them to maybe the guide link as if that's where they need and compared to going to the emergency room. So we kind of on a day to day basis, kind of out over here. Um, Who? Kelsey and I, we start our day off. We go through the calls for service, see if there's names that we recognize that we've built ports with that we might need to follow up with. Kelsey has a in her calendar, number of people that she talks to on a daily basis, whether it's a quick text, check in or a phone call. There's some people that we stop by their house and just see how they're doing, we how maybe their appointment with their provider went a couple of days prior. And just doing that follow up with them. With that, just I go back to building that report that they feel comfortable when they we us at their door. They recognize my name. I have some people who just recognize my name from the 10 years that I've been here on the department, and instantly know that I trust Christie. I know her, I've seen her through my 10 years, and I'm willing to trust her that she's going to help me get to the right spot. Kelsey? [01:03:24] Hi, I'm Kelsey. Mental Health Liaison. I've been with Community Crisis Services Lima City Police Department for almost a year now. Um, this is, just to kind of piggy, back off of what Christie was saying. This is something that we're both extremely passionate about, something that we love to get to do to serve our community and provide resources for individuals in a crisis. Um, we understand that we're in a very privileged spot to be able to do that. That everyone gets to have this kind of opportunity to do that. And the biggest thing is being able to, I don't know if you guys can hear me. I'm sorry. Um, [LAUGHTER] Page 23 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at httl2s•//citychannel4.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. knowing and building relationships in our community, understanding that, you know, how important it is to be able to lead with empathy and respect to these individuals who are calling for us, for families who are calling, because what's kind of different us between mobile crisis, um, and mental health liaison work and co -responder stuff is that Typically, it's not always the person calling for us to come and talk with them. It could be family. It could be a passer by saying, I saw this person talking to themselves. I'm worried, can somebody please check on them? It's I haven't talked with my neighbor. I haven't seen them come outside. I'm noticing mail piling up. The mail carriers are worried, you know, things like that. So being able to approach these kind of situations very delicately and seriously is incredibly important. And it's something I'm so again, privileged to be a part of. [01:04:511 Katie Wade, the Station base mental health is on. I don't know how much more I can say that they haven't already, honestly. Um, in the 11.5 years that I've done mental behavior healthcare and crisis response services. Fulfilling this role is the proudest I've been. And a definitely working along these guys, the police department, and community. I think I can we all share that opinion. Um, but just being there in the community that I grew up in, so getting back to where I come from and being able to fulfill this role for them. Like, they've said, building that relationship and bridging that gap between care between law enforcement, EMS, fire, whoever's initially responding, and then showing up after is just- is just astounding. So yeah. [01:05:36] Um, I'd like to learn a little bit more about how you guys interact with Johnson County Ambulance and their new paramedic program. And I know there's certain groups of people who probably need help that they might get different touch -points, if their shelter house or the community paramedicine program. And how does that work? Is it formalized or informal? [01:05:56] It's right now kind of maybe a little bit informal. We're still trying to figure out the logistics of HIPAA and what we can share back and forth with each other. I have I probably have the most contact with Mike Motherhood is probably who you're referring to. We just there's multiple calls that we go on that police respond to, EMS responds too. He's already tracking a lot of those calls, and we end up showing up on some of the same calls for service, which is how him and I started to kind of form a relationship together. [01:06:32] So it's a matter ofjust kind of connecting with I'm seeing this on our side, we are having, um, more calls for service for this particular individual, um, and just kind of passing on that information. And he's able then to pass on certain information to his network of people as well too. So just making sure that we can kind of bridge that gap where we're still, as I said, following HIPAA and what we can release with person - private information, but then helping to get that person diverting them from, it could be a situation where that person may have went to jail because of all the specific calls for service, but now that we know a little bit more of a background, we can tag team together, work on getting that individual more Page 24 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 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. to the emergency room or to substance abuse counseling, where we weren't able to connect that to previously. [01:07:31] Is- are there different privacy requirements for your two different agencies, and is there a legal mechanism for us to stitch them together? [01:07:40] Um, I don't know, maybe that might be a question for Sarah. [01:07:44] So Johnson County Ambulance and Community both have to follow HIPAA guidelines in away that is, um, different than law enforcement. So that's we have to be kind of creative in how we communicate because there are things that are protected mental health information, protected substance use has an even higher threshold of protection under the law, um, and so all of those entities can't share as freely, just like law enforcement, if they were had an active investigation, they're not going to be able to share with us, but in other situations, they can actually share more freely with us than we're able to share with them under the law. So when it comes to follow-up, um, for example, like, Katie couldn't just share every single thing she learned on a follow-up call that she went on independently and protect, uh, private health information, but can share the gist of what law enforcement need to know to be aware of if they call again, you know, what might be going on. So it's- it's a fine line that we walk to make sure we're respecting people's privacy, but also able to give a heads up that there is something going on that might be best if somebody else respond. Stitching it together is a conversation I feel like I've been having for almost three decades of this work at this point. It's complicated. There's no quick and easy answers. There's a lot of- there's a lot of misinformation about it. And one of the things I'll give an example is that, um, a local attorney asked me if I could just have my law enforcement liaisons get people to sign releases of information. I said, I will never do that or instruct my staff to do that, because if you have someone in a mental health crisis, I am not going to courage or have my staff encourage anyone to sign a release of information to, ah, a legal entity that could potentially have some effect that I don't know about, right, because it's unethical if you are a mental health professional. So there's some of those things that we have to be really mindful of, and it's not, you know, we all just have our role and our job to do. And so it's not a slight or I don't trust you with that information, right? It's just we have to uphold what we're legally required to and ethically required to. So that stuff can be tricky. I think we do a pretty good job of managing it, always focusing on the best outcome for the individual we're all trying to help, but it can get a little tricky. That is. [01:10:291 1 guess let me ask, Kelsey, a question. When you respond to a call for services, especially if the- the caller is not the individual themselves, do you get, like, a lot of time push back or things will go smoothly? 101:10:43] Page 25 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at httos•//citychannel4 com/ci-council.htmll This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription through Verbit: AI -Based Transcription & Captioning Services. For greater detail please refer to the meeting recordings. So it can go either way, and I think that's why it's been so important. So I've been doing Christs intervention work since I graduated college in 2018. 1 know that's not along amount of time, but a lot of my work has been in Christs intervention. So being able to have the- that skill bank, being able to build report fairly quickly, obviously providing space. So for someone who's, like, I don't- I'm not ready to talk to you, I don't know why you called me. I don't know why you're here. It's like, hey, so- somebody's worried about you. What -what might be going on or, hey, are you okay or do you have, like those basic needs? You know, things like that, just building that rapport. We don't have to always jump to why this person might have called because you're feeling, you know, this high risk mental health stuff going on, right? You're not so highly escalated. So again, just building that rapport. I will say, me and Kristi, we have a pretty good dynamic going. Um, a lot of times, some people are more comfortable talking to me. Sometimes they're more comfortable talking to her. And I'm now- if they're more comfortable talking to her, I'm not going to force myself into that conversation or like, force that- that call, if that makes sense. And so it's just like letting that person know, like, hey, we're here to support you, we're here to help you, and just trying to, you know, say, pretty much, like, you're in control here, right? We just want to try to help you out. So that's what I've had, like, the most success, and it's just, again, always leading with empathy and respect. Okay. Thank you. [01:12:091 Are there examples of what like the law enforcement engagement that leads to the call response might be? That's so, and I really appreciate the distinction between, like, someone else can call, right, because mobile crisis is voluntary and the person who wants the support, I think, is supposed to be the person kind of initiating that contact. But other than that, what's- how does that engagement usually begin, that is, law enforcement versus the pure mobile crisis? [01:12:41] Yeah. So we're not dispatched through mobile crisis or any sort of crisis lines, unless the crisis line is deemed mobile crisis is not, um, appropriate for this oil out. So a lot of time people are calling our non - emergency line, calling 911. Again, if it is a mental health, um, component involved, we're jumping those calls. We're in dispatch, as well ore n route as well. I apologize. And we've kind of built enough report in the community where people are starting to call us directly. Like, hey, I ran into so and so. I'm worried about them. Can you please do a follow-up? You know, things like that. So I will say, we're dispatched through Jack. People are calling and requesting either mental health crisis response or calling, like, I'm in a mental health crisis or you know, something along those lines where our team, Jack, understands to dispatch us out. [01:13:34] That's helpful. Thank you. (01:13:35] Yeah, of course. [01:13:36] Page 26 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 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. We also- we also have officers that if they're dispatched first, they acknowledge the fact that there is some sort of crisis on here, and they will, too, disp- call for us to be dispatched out there as well too. [01:13:50] Okay. [01:13:52] Officer Davis, just curious, having been in the patrol, which I'm aware of, I actually got to do a right along with Officer Davis here two years -two summers ago, something like that, and got to see a variety of the different calls that as a patrol officer, you were dealing with, you know, every day. For me, it was an unusual thing. For you, it was just another day on the job. How is your job different now working in this capacity and with the liaison versus when you were doing patrol? [01:14:18) When I was on patrol, it was, um, a lot of, let's say, we still have highs and lows, but it was a lot of the highs and lows responding immediately to all dispatch calls that I was- that I had a little bit different with us. We're doing more follow-up with the individuals that we meet. We also do follow-ups with, you know, Guidelink, shelter house, just kind of touch base with them regarding maybe people that we're seen on a regular basis. Uh, I think though the types of calls that I went on when I was on patrol is very similar based. I would go on domestics, and I would always be the officer that was, um, speaking with the victim of the situation or somebody that was in the accident, the one that got their car crashed up. So I've always just been gravitating towards that victim. So I think in that aspect, I'm still doing the same thing. It just kind of changed a little bit with more follow-up and stuff like that. [01:15:18] Okay, thank you. And more part of what everybody here is doing is- is exploring, right? And this is experimental, and it sounds like a lot of already some interesting insights, such as there's really a place for both in the field and the station, which is great. That's valuable information. Any other kinds of things, and if not, now, in the future, if these come up, but any other sorts of things that, oh, surprise to learn this works really well or I thought this would work well. We have to do something differently, and that could be for anybody. [01:15:49] You do. [01:15:51] 1 can talk. So one of the things- I mentioned this to you all before, we- one of the things we want to look at with our data analysts was how this impacts calls for service, specifically repeat calls for service. We got a very limited data set when we first did it. I think we had three or four months worth of the co - responder position. And I think we may have found out why, but the calls for service with those individuals actually increased. But I think it was because they were really happy with the service they were getting and sometimes they're calling them directly, um, which is not a bad thing. That's fine. If Page 27 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 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. that's the result of this, I'm fine with that. I think, intuitively, we thought it was going to reduce calls for service. And I- I still think that it will in the long run. We get people connected to the right services. They're going to not be calling 911 as much. But in about three months time, we'll have a year's worth of co -responder data, and I'm really curious to see what those numbers look like. I think it'll be eye opening, either way. I- of all the programs that we've ever done, this is one I think I'm most proud of. You can see the people that we've picked have really found their niche. They- they really are passionate about it. They do a great job, and I think we're really lucky to have the quality of people in the positions that we do. [01:17:06) 1 know, one of the things we still have as a council is a goal to have ultimately 24/7. So, you know, what do you see as the future of this program next steps, and this could, you know, this could include some city manager types of input, possibly, but where -where do we go next? [01:17:23] Great question. We talked about this about a week and a half ago. Um, I don't think we're at the point now where we need 24/7. 1 think the council outlined the goal of maybe in 2028. 1 think the next, right now we have 15 hours of coverage today, Monday through Friday, um, so I would like to see that increased. Um, I would like- my preference would be another co -responder that works evening hours. Katie typically works kind of evening hours. [01:17:55) Evening into the night. [01:17:561 Evening into the night, but she's our station based. So I would like to see maybe a co -responder those hours or a co -responder even later than Katie works, more of like some people call it a swing shift or a baker shift, you know, that would go maybe to 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. I wonder right now, um, what a co -responder or a mental liaison would be doing at 4:00 in the morning. There's a few calls, but typically our calls for service overall really- really go down, and that might be a tough- tough shift to, um, staff as someone sitting at the station at 4:00 in the morning with no calls going on. But that's something we could- we're a ways off from 24/7 coverage, but I think we would plug them in just like what we're kind of talking about if we get someone out at the deck, if you start with one, where do you put them? You put them in the hours where you're seeing the most calls for service, and then you work out from there. [01:18:46] Would your data- excuse me. Would your data analyst be able to look, perhaps, also? I immediately went to weekends, just because there tends to be more calls for service due to a variety of things on the weekends. So I was just thinking, is that something that actually your data analyst could perhaps take up and sort of parse out the types of calls that happen? And if you were looking to increase, actually, I was Page 28 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https�//citychannel4.com/ciiy-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. surprised to hear that there weren't anything on the weekends. Just to, again, as a- as another place to look and to investigate, given that. 101:19:161 Absolutely. [01:19:16] And it might already be on your radar? (01:19:18] Yelp. [01:19:19] I'm curious. Some -just clarification on some numbers here. It says that with total dispatches, uh, being 173, and it says two of which led to jail/arrest. Does that sound right? 101:19:401 1 don't know what number. Are those? [01:19:41] Your quarterly report. [01:19:431 The quarterly report. Yeah. I'm super sorry. Yeah. The quarterly- the Quarter cumulative data. And then it also says that. [01:19:521 What page are you on? [01:19:54] That's just on Page 2 that it says the jail arrest for two out of 170 something, and then I get to probable cause/diversion on Page 4, and it says probable cause present, arrested. And that's three, um, I was just wondering if we're looking at different circumstances here or if that was. [01:20:16] So chief would probably say the same thing that- that I will. This is, well, maybe not, but one of the things that's challenging is that when a call comes in, that is not often the same coding as when it resolves. And so that can make it challenging with the data collection, and it's one of the things we talked about in our recent meeting that we want to dig into more. Because that can, you know, when I first started my first program like this 30 years ago, I was like, let me see your calls for service at 911. That's going to tell us, right, no, because what actually happens in the field might illuminate that it wasn't what we originally thought it was, and it really was mental health or vice versa. And so that Page 29 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at httos• //citychannel,lcott�citv-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. makes the data collection a little more challenging because there's a lot of moving pieces to make sure we're really painting an accurate story. So the probable cause, um, is the data piece that I would say, I have the least confidence in, like, you know, take that with a little bit of a grain of salt because those are harder to get- get to. [01:21:24) And as mostlyjust for clarification for me, making sure I wasn't missing something, and also, it says, in terms of types of contacts, in person with officer was 126, in person without officer was 16. And in the probable cause/diversion, it also says, no officer involvement on scene to be 46. So that's where I'm a little bit confused. I was just trying to understand what the ratio was with- with these co -responders and the station versus the co -responder. Um, how many calls are we actually seeing with a police officer present? That's what I'm wondering. [01:22:04] Yeah. [01:22:06] So I think that's a fantastic question, (01:22:091 because I will say, [01:22:10] most of the time, um, we're responding with an officer or Katie, even though she might be considered station, she's still going out of our PD and meeting out with officers on scene. Um, so there are sometimes where we might be taking calls in our office, um, because it's somebody calls, and they might, um, want to talk with mental health as about resources, uh, for their son. We can handle that over the phone. We don't need to, you know, meet them we're out in the community or maybe they're calling from a different area, but it's for their son in Iowa City. Um, so that kind of might be the skewing data a little bit or just kind of explain that. Does that answer your question? [01:22:48] I think so. [01:22:481 Yeah. [01:22:49] 1 was just wondering if there was a- I think I heard someone say that sometimes the station will, you know, just hear the calls and jump before the- so I just didn't know if there were any circumstances where, um, the station based responder would come and just say, we don't actually need police here, or if- if you all are being contacted, it is always with law enforcement, is what I'm asking? Page 30 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https,//citychanne[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. [01:23:12] Mm hmm. Absolutely. So on those calls that I'm like, jumping in on that I'm not immediately called out to. I'm always meeting an officer on scene. (01:23:20) Okay. [01:23:20] That's for safety purposes. That's just a half time they're beating me there. Uh, and from there, we kind of will then just intermingle and figure out what, like how Sarah said, like, what picture is actually being painted in that moment. And if I deem this is something I can handle, just like mobile crisis can determine what they're going to handle 988. I'm gonna kick everybody else out that's okay with that. If the scene is safe and secure, and I will take over from there. So half of that scene might have an officer present, but my interaction with them will not. [01:23:481 Okay. (01:23:48) Much similar to how mobile crisis just interacts on their own. I would do that independently. [01:23:52] And I'm just asking because, you know, the officer responding to a lot of these things is in and of itself, like an escalation. So I wasjust curious if there was any, um, for you all, any actual way that you could do this just through your own reconnaissance, or cost. (01:24:12] Like, going to the legally independently, is that what you're saying? [01:24:151 Yes. [01:24:151 There are calls. If it's a recurring client, like people that we've known I mean, I've had a client I can think of in my head that I've known for years I've worked with, and it's typically substance use related with intoxication. I'm half time meeting EMS out there on scene. 101:24:26] Okay. [01:24:26] Page 31 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 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. So if it's someone that we know and I know it's going to be safe and secure. It's someone that I've had that port with for a good enough time that I feel very confident in my decision making and like, judgment on that call, then things like that, then I can take over. yeah. (01:24:39] Okay. Thank you. That's very clarifying. [01:24:401 And I think if we kind of pull this together, we're talking about 911 dispatching mobile crisis, because 911 doesn't do that now. It has to be an officer or the warm, you know, someone else is involved, and so you all are 911 dispatched as opposed to mobile crisis by itself is not currently, which is why we're talking about that progression. [01:25:02] Then I didn't have the data on this, but, um, also keep in mind that Iowa City police refer to mobile crisis more than any other law enforcement department in the county. So that means they might go out on scene, and they decide this is better, and the Liaisons help facilitate this, too. Decide that this is more appropriate for mobile crisis. They call mobile crisis, mobile crisis comes out, they leave. Again, that's going to have an officer interaction just because you're always going to have that if it's going off of 911, right? Until mobile crisis can dispatch from 911, there's that responsibility, and it has to happen that way. Um, but ICPD do call, um, quite frequently for mobile crisis to come and then they leave. [01:25:491 Just one other thing on my mind is we're talking about a continuum of response. Uh, I know the county Is hoping to put on the ballot in November 2026, the jail initiative and the questions at that. Um, the criminal justice coordinating committee continue to come up of, like, what's the right size, and how do we know? And what are the trends and patterns? Um, and Johnson County, as I understand, is one of the very few places in the country that the rate of people landing in jail is not increasing, even, you know, adjusting for population, we're doing really well with that. Is that something maybe our data analysts can help look at, or you know, I'm just thinking holistically, as we're talking in the community about the possibility of a new jail/Sheriff Department/ Iowa City Police Department. you know, are we also looking at all these services that can help keep people out of jail, which I think is a goal that we all share? [01:26:48] Yeah. She's certainly busy with mini tasks regarding the CJCC Committee working at. So, absolutely. Great question. She's- I know the Sheriff asked her for a lot of data on what's going on. So she's been very helpful. [01:27:03] Page 32 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at httl2s,//citychannel4.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. I think for us and imagining, you know, how what Iowa City's investment in these kinds of things might be thinking forward to that very large capital investment that we're going to be asking the community to consider. Something we should just kind of trying to pull it all together. To your point, Sean. [01:27:22] Is this the soft uniform? Is this the duty uniform? [01:27:26] Yes. I think it's kind of still maybe a work in progress, so we are trying to figure out what would work best. But this is kind of what we've come up with at this point in time. Um, it does one of the thought processes was- was. So I would have a clear dis- distinction between a regular patrol officer and the crisis response officer. So when anybody on the street were to look at me, they are not going to one instantly think. Oh my God she's patrol police officer. Um, they also know that there's a little bit of a difference in my role than the regular patrol. Um, I think I've gotten a lot of response that I just don't look like that typical police officer, um, that people just are more comfortable talking with me regarding that. There's been times where we've been on a scene where somebody just did not want to speak to anybody, law enforcement, but they were more open to talking to the two of us because they look at us, and they don't have that image of that patrol officer. [01:28:30] 1 knew that was something that had been discussed when this position was first being- being thought about, and the chief had shared that, like, just the visual approach would be one of those things to Councilor Williams. Yeah, soften it, you know, it kind of avoid, you know, inadvertent escalation. 101:28:52] Yeah. I don't know, but also, like, but it can be when I look at you, but it's still, like holding all those women and everything, and you still is concern. (01:29:03] Yeah, so one of the things that we have to kind of keep in mind is safety. You know, 1 am keeping Kelsey safe as we walk up to the door. Um, so those are things that unfortunately, when we get dispatched to a call, a lot of things could change from the time that the caller calls into dispatch, and then dispatch relays the information to us. And then when we get on scene, so many different things can change and information not provided. So, you know, there are some basics that just for safety aspect of everybody Involved. I as a law enforcement officer need to have handy, um, but it's stuff that try to keep it to a minimum, and try to keep it discrete. It's like, I don't have the outside carrier, like everybody else does, so I do have that interior one. Um, kind of try to keep things, not as many things on my belt, um, just to kind of help soften that whole idea. [01:29:56] Sure. Any another question for them? Page 33 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at httos,//citychanne]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. [01:30:01] Thank you. [01:30:01] Right. Thank you so much. This is very informative. Thank you. Thanks. I think still we have time we can talk about Burlington Street Bridge Project Update by the staff. Yeah. [01:30:22] Good afternoon, Council. I'm Justin Harlan, Senior Engineer here at City of Iowa City. Um, Back in November, uh, we selected HDR Consulting to be our consultant on this project. [01:30:36] Harlan speak to the mic, please. [01:30:39] Excuse me. So anyway, behind me here, I have Michael Carrick. He's a professional Engineer with HDR. He's licensed, both Illinois and Iowa, and he's here to give you a detailed update about what we've been up to so far. So thank you. [01:30:53] Sure. Thanks. [01:30:54] Watch that presentation? [01:30:55] Yeah. [01:31:051 Okay. Perfect. All right, as Justin said, I'm Mike Carrick with HDR Engineering, and I'm the project manager for our consulting team. And the City hired us to do the planning study here for the Burlington Bridge, Building Better Connections Project. [01:31:21] Sure. [01:31:22] Yeah. So just to touch on a few things that I'll go over today, um, touch on the project background and overview a little bit, then dive into our stakeholder involvement to date. How that developed some of the needs and wants of the project, and then go over our technical advisory committee who advised on the wants and needs of those, uh, feedback items there, and then how that ultimately developed, um, in concepts that we carried forward. So the project background here, uh, the purpose and need really of Page 34 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at httos•//citychannel4.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. the project is that the Eastbound bridge, um, owned by the city was built over 300 years ago, um, through some structural report and a study, it was deemed to be deficient and needed replacement. So that's why we're here today. And through all those adjacent structures, the scope of the project, um, really wanted to capture everything that we're doing here, so now's the time to look at all of these different items. So we're looking at replacement of the Eastbound and the westbound bridge with the single bridge. We're looking at all the modification options with the Burlington Street Dam. We're looking at the pedestrian crossing options over Riverside and Grand the two waging of Melrose and Byington, along with the other roadway geometric improvements, alignments, and how we can get multi modal, uh, through the area. And then just a quick graphic just to show lines on a map. These are the physical project boundaries that we're going to be working within- within this planning study. And then first some context to the Burlington Street and Riverside intersection is the second highest volume in all of Johnson County. So we have lots of pedestrian modes, transit modes, and vehicular [01:33:18] modes all through this intersection. So lots of traffic volume, [01:33:221 lots of considerations that we need, uh, to account for herewith this planning study. So the stakeholder engagement to date, we've been collaborating and working with a lot of these different groups, um, shedding a lot of light onto the true project constraints. So just taking you through a couple of the different groups that we've been working with, um, within the project here. So we have a stakeholder working group. This is a group of individuals that is kind of a true representation of who would be impacted by the project. We deemed everybody on this list to have a critical function relying on the Burlington Street Dam or the Burlington Street Bridge. So that ranges all the way from the student government, byte groups, um, all the way from neighborhood organizations and historic, uh, friends of historic preservation, Iowa City. So kind of a broad spectrum there to give some equal representation. Then we have our one on one stakeholder meetings. These are stakeholders that are impacted directly by the project. So we meet with them virtually, talk to them pretty frequently by phone, email communication, and they'll [01:34:36] give us the true constraints, [01:34:38] some non starters of the project. Basically, everything that we need to consider with all these different elements within the project. And then we have everybody here, um, elected officials and governing bodies, making sure that we're checking in with you. You represent the community, create policy, guide staff, making sure that we're in alignment. So actually, anytime, uh, throughout this presentation or through the planning study, if something comes up that we need, uh, to be realigned on or get back on track, definitely speak up and let us know. It's still very early in the beginning stages of the project. And then we have the general public. So we've reached out and engaged with the public in a handful of different ways. We have Flyers, postcards, uh, project website, and email that was set up, press releases, Page 35 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 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. social media blasts. And to date, we've had one public meeting so far that had about 30 attendees, and that was recorded and is actually on the City Project website as well. you can watch the whole thing from there. And one of the other, um, higher responses that we got was our electronic survey had almost 300 different responses where we were able to ask the public some very pointed questions, um, some samples of data that was pulled from there, but some clear outliers on some of the questions that we asked, and then left a number of things open ended, uh, to just be a write in of whatever's on your mind about the project. And then lastly, the existing studies, data, traffic, future plans, making sure that we're accounting for everything that could be in the project area that we need to account for. And then all the existing plans that, a lot of time and effort went into them, making sure that we're carrying forward, um, that vision and implementing that where we can within the project itself. So all of that public involvement, basically gathered, collected, and (01:36:41] our data analysts, along with, um, [01:36:43] my direct team, went through all of that information, found common issues, outliers, um, constraints, things we weren't thinking about, and basically compiled all of that into about 35 key items. And we presented those items to our technical advisory committee and had them, uh, rank that as a project need, or a want, or a constraint. (01:37:10] So our technical advisory committee is kind of our governing body for the project itself. They provide insight onto how these concepts get developed. And that technical advisory committee has representation from the 10 DOT, University of Iowa, the MPO Johnson County, and the City of Iowa City. So all of that information kind of goes in and helps again align and guide our technical advisory committee decisions. So for this planning study, we have three planned kind of milestones, um, that we're calling workshops. It's a work session and very collaborative in that manner. But our first technical advisory committee meeting was really visioning, very high level, just establishing the project wants and needs. And then our second workshop is starting to whittle all of that down into feasible concepts and advancing just a few preliminary alternatives that we would carry forward and dive into the details a little bit more. Then lastly, that last workshop is a, uh, kind of preferred alternative singular that we would advance this single option forward for outside funding to go through the environmental process, and then ultimately, um, that concept would be carried forward into design. So here is a summary of those key items and how the Technical Advisory Committee scored those either, uh, need or a want. And just to clarify the need was just shouldn't not be, um, discounted yet, just making sure that we're carrying forward all of that and not eliminating any option too early. So we took, uh, those key items, for instance, um, bike and PD here. We had, um, everybody respond that there should be dedicated bicycle and pedestrian space, should be ADA compliant, lowering the bike stress through the corridor and lowering the pedestrian stress through the corridor. So we summarized that and named it to create lower stress ADA compliant areas to walk and bike. So just kind of a nice summary of maybe a handful of different items that we could group together. And then, um, up on the top showed where that paired Page 36 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 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. with the Council strategic area. So it's a transportation project, lots of mobility, um, components in there. I think it hit almost every element on that mobility component. See, I had a bullet point here. So your mobility strategic area was to design, maintain complete streets that are comfortable and safe for all users. Grow and prioritize bike and pedestrian accommodations, and then expand access to convenience, uh, environmentally friendly and regionally connected public transit. So a lot of, uh, strategic actions actually just got brought into the needs category for this project. So I'll just read some of the, um, summaries that we had there. So for roadways and intersections, we had design safer roads and intersections that function for all modes, uh, create and enable safe, reliable, and convenient transit service and stops, prioritize emergency service access to the medical center during design and construction, and develop a sense of place that is safe and attractive. Minimize construction impacts and disruption to traffic and adjacent land uses. And then the Burlington Street dam was safety. So a lot of the needs focused on operational improvements and safety, and then to go over to the wants. So a lot of the wants was ownership maintenance agreements, um, eh, emergency response implementation that would kind of be county wide. So if we could incorporate that, uh, that would be great. So additional campus considerations, and then lastly, the recreation component of the Burlington Street dam. So if we can get, um, a recreation element into there, um, then we would carry that forward. And then the project constraints here, um, just kind of consistent with every project, can't get away from cost, uh, looking at environmental impacts, utility impacts, and then whether or not the bridge would be staged or closed, um, for phasing. And then that hit on the financial aspect, or actually scope to look at some outside funding sources as part of this study as well. So then the needs, uh, started shaping how these concepts would be developed. So all the concepts carried forward would be feasible, um, and then really focused on these four primary areas. Those areas are really going to dictate how the shape and function of this corridor is going to be, and then the areas in between just kind of fall in place. So first, we have Byington and Melrose, so looking at the current one way and converting that to a two way. Then we have the road and bike/ped crossing options. We've got the Burlington Street Bridge itself, and then the Burlington Street Dam. So lots of options still on the table since it's really at the beginning stages here, but our Burlington Street dam alternatives range all the way from, um, no modifications with some minor safety improvements that don't physically impact the dam itself, all the way to full removal with the Burlington Street bridge. We have kind of a more traditional bridge that would have a medium to high aesthetic, all the way up to a signature bridge with a separate pedestrian multimodal structure. So that signature bridge is something that would range from the very high aesthetic, um, be kind of unique. And then the roadway bike and ped crossings. We have anywhere from at grade, kind of, as it is today, um, all the way up to grade separated under and grade separated over. And then for the two of Melrose and Byington, these are kind of sub options, but look at how EMS and transit would navigate through that area. Um, so the two way, I guess is consistent for every option, and then we're looking at how time impacts and efficiency, uh, for EMS and transit happen through that corridor. So looking at two way, kind of, as it does today, then looking at just the one way westbound, one way eastbound, and then a no vehicle option, that would be more of, uh, a ped mall or collegiate space that doesn't have vehicles running through there. So similar to the ped mall downtown. So you can kind of see lots of options still on the table. We can't- we haven't eliminated any yet, except the ones that were just unfeasible so far. And then for next steps is really that next milestone meeting. So actually later this week, we'll start to narrow down some options. And then we'll have kind of another Page 37 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https://citychannel4.com/city-council.html This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription through Verbit: A[ -Based Transcription & Captioning Services. For greater detail please refer to the meeting recordings. round of public involvement. So let's see. So kind of summer, we have another round of public meetings, another electronic survey will go out that I'm sure everyone here will take. Uh, and then we'll plan to revisit with Council later this summer, and then probably expect to see maybe two or three concepts that were sifted out from that larger table that would be, um, on the consideration for that singular concept that would be advanced. And then with that, Justin, again, is the main project point of contact for the city. And then our project email is right there, if you want to test it out or send that out to your constituents, um, we'll respond to that. (01:45:23) Thank you. Any question by the Council? [01:45:25] Yeah. I'm excited about this project, though. Um, I guess first, thanks for putting in ties back to our strategic plan. I think that's really nice. I appreciate that very much. So, um, I am curious about- can you go back a couple of slides in the alternates? Um, the start in the green box because I was curious what exactly some of these things mean like separate multimodal treat bridge. Does that mean like bikes and pedestrians, maybe have a different bridge somewhere? [01:45:531 Maybe different bridge, it's separate from the vehicles. [01:45:57] And would it be right there on Burlington or would it be maybe-. [01:46:01) Burlington, so running parallel with the road itself. 101:46:04] Okay. And then just signature bridge. Like, I'm curious. 101:46:101 For instance, that would be kind of on the range of the Park Road bridge. [01:46:141 Okay. [01:46:161 Which ranges all the way up to, like, a very aesthetic cable stayed bridge, something very unique that's not really seen in Iowa. So can- the range is there. I think cost will come into play, but anything is still on the table at the moment. [01:46:32] Page 38 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https,//citychannel4.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. And I think I saw on a previous slide that somebody had desired a aesthetically matching was a word, I think I saw. [01:46:401 Yeah. 101:46:40] 1 wasn't sure whether that was tied to that concept of you want multimodal things? It all look like it's part of the same project or something, or. [01:46:461 Yeah, contextual for the area. So all of the streets caping aesthetics would kind of carry through the campus area, and then all the way to go through the library and stuff. [01:46:561 Okay. And then, I guess, if you go back to the alternate slide. So how did- how does this all get teased out as far as the technical advisory committee sort of make recommendations like, we want option three, Option two, option one on all of these after a costing exercise? [01:47:15) Yeah, so what we'll do. So there's probably 100 different sub options that you can kind of combine this with. But it's Allcart, at the moment. We basically started at the 10,000 foot level with the needs and wants. And then now we're at 1,000 foot level, where we kind of need to define these key areas first, and then we'll start to get into the sub categories there. But really, what we'll end up doing is aligning those with those project needs and wants. And then kind of in a simple format in a table, kind of summarize the information that's backed with the technical information. So kind of present it nicely in a nice, I guess, non technical, easy to understand way. And then if there's questions about, you know, how we've ranked anything in particular, we have that technical backing that we can pull up and discuss in that work session. [01:48:09) And when do you actually put lines on paper for what maybe not a rendering, but what it could look like? When is that? [01:48:16] We have some initial concepts that, um, putting the final touches on now that'll be available for that second workshop this Thursday, and that'll kind of be the first pen to paper exercise that shows all the ranges of these alternatives. But the hope is that we'll start to narrow it down, and then at the next public meeting, we'll start to we some nice three dimensional renderings, um, something kind of visually setting within the space. [01:48:45] Page 39 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https�//ciMhannel4.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. Okay. I have one last question (01:48:46] Yeah. [01:48:47] What my other consorts asked questions, and that would be about the dam. And what's the current - first of all, just describe what's in the dam and my understanding, it's the university's stuff, and what you're seeing their attitude is about the possibilities of that being relocated. [01:49:02] Sure. Yeah. And there's kind of a range of different options, as you can see here. There's a whole bunch of utilities that run through that dam, and there's actually, um, it's a potentially eligible historic structure that contributes to a potential historic district. So we'll be working with Chipo through these options as well. So there's utility constraints, there's environmental constraints, and, um, there's kind of a process forward to carry out all of these different alternatives. But those are under consideration. Um, cost is a big one in evaluating these options, and then if we go all the way down to the dam removal, there's a lot of upstream and downstream impacts. Um, the water level changes, so we are accounting for, you know, what to do when that occurs and make sure that there's no negative impacts with that option. [01:50:03] And since NG is the company that produces the water for the university, do you work with the university or do you work with NG on? 101:50:12] So we work with actually both, but our main point of contact is the university, and they're contracted through the university. So it's, um, they're maintaining it, but it's the university's decision. [01:50:25] Okay. Thanks. [01:50:26] Mm hmm. (01:50:27) So it's the University's decision. Ultimately, what happens with the dam, is that what you're saying? [01:50:32] It's our technical advisory committee decision. So as a whole, the way we've established that committee, it's a unified voice forward, so not just a single entity, it's a project team. [01:50:50] Page 40 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 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. Um, so I've been trying to get to the bottom of, like, the history of the dam and the hydro electric electric power aspect of it. That went away a long time ago, right? [01:51:051 Correct. [01:51:05] Correa? [01:51:06] Yes. [01:51:061 Like how long ago? [01:51:08] 1 want to say 30 years or so. We've been working with Larry Webber at IHR, and that's been non functional for a while. I don't know if you remember the exact date but not for a while. [01:51:19] 1 just didn't see, um, in the damn alternatives to rejuvenate the hydro electric power or anything. I just didn't know if that was anything that's even possible or desired. I just don't know. Um, I was just going to ask about it. [01:51:38] I'm sure anything is possible. But I'm getting a lot of look. That's still on the table, but that's something that we could work with IHR and see if the, um, system is still in place. (01:51:50] 1 just want to remind you, guys. If you have more question, let us be it after the meeting because we don't have- we need like a few minutes before our meeting. [01:52:01] 1 have no further questions at this time. [01:52:03] Do you guys have we can invite them to come back if you have any question? Okay, then, thank you so much for all this information. [01:52:11) Thank you so much. Page 41 Iowa City City Council Work Session of May 20, 2025 (audio and video recordings can be found at https,I/citychannel4.com/city-i;guncil.htmll This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription through Verbit: AI -Based Transcription & Captioning Services. For greater detail please refer to the meeting recordings. (01:52:121 Yeah. I think we're going to get a and pickup item six after the meeting. Thank you. Okay, we again from the- formal meeting. Now we go back to the work session. Uh, we have Item Number 6, which is already being addressed, basically. If there is no any additional information, I will close the work session. [01:52:37] Thank you, Mary. Page 42