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Home My WebLink About10-23-2025 Senior Center Commission IOWA CITY ; SENIOR CENTER CITY F I_OWA CITY _ UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE Senior Center Commission Thursday, October 23, 2025 4 PM Iowa City Senior Center, Room 311 Agenda 1. Introductions/Welcome—J. Gilchrist 2. Minutes (September 18, 2025) 3. Public Discussion for items not on the agenda 4. Operational Overview—L. DeLoach ❖ Senior Center programming update ❖ Senior Center facility update •'• Gray Wave information and discussion S. Commission Discussion—J. Gilchrist •'• Senior Center master plan discussion ❖ Commissioner's report of community correspondence •'• Future agenda Items 6. Adjourn **Next meeting is Thursday, November 20, at 4 PM ** Meeting Packet Contents: 1. Agenda: Thursday, October 23, 2025 2. Minutes: Senior Center Commission,Thursday, September 18, 2025 If you will need disability related accommodations to participate in this program or event, please contact LaTasha DeLoach at latasha-deloach Iowa-cit ,or or 319-356-5225. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your access needs. Preliminary Minutes September 18, 2025 MINUTES SENIOR CENTER COMMISSION September 18, 2025 Room 311, Iowa City Senior Center Members Present: Nancy Ostrognai, Jay Gilchrist, Kate Milster, Lee McKnight, Warren Paris, Betty Rosse, Mary McCall Members Absent: None Staff Present: LaTasha DeLoach, Kristin Kromray, Kirk Lehman Others Present: None CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order by Gilchrist at 4:00 PM. RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL: None. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM THE AUGUST 21 2025 MEETING: Motion: To accept the minutes from the August 21, 2025 meeting as amended. Motion carried on a 7/0 vote. Milster/McKnight PUBLIC DISCUSSION: None. LOST SALES TAX: Iowa City's Assistant City Manager, Kirk Lehman, presented information on the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) ballot measure. A LOST tax is a 1% retail sales tax. Ninety three percent of communities in Iowa have this tax in place. Necessities including rent, groceries, and utilities are not taxed with this additional 1%. The Iowa City Council decided to put his measure on the ballot based on a community wide survey. The measure will be on the November 41h ballot and needs a minimum of 50% approval to pass. The reason this measure is being considered now includes state property tax reforms, limited taxable property valuation growth and inflation pressures. The amount of revenue is projected at 8-10 million per year for Iowa City. Coralville is also considering it on their November ballot, and it is already in place in some other Johnson County municipalities. The City of Iowa City previously had a LOST sales tax that was in 1 Preliminary Minutes September 18, 2025 effect from 2010-2013 for flood mitigation measures after the flood of 2008. It was on the ballot in 2014 but did not pass at that time. The distribution of LOST funds if approved would be 50% property tax relief, 25% for affordable housing, 10% public infrastructure/faciliites,15% for community partnerships. If adopted it would go into effect July 1, 2026. Commissioner Milster asked if affordable housing funds include off campus student housing. The City of Iowa City normally follow federal guidelines regarding affordable housing opportunities regarding students. McKnight asked about increasing the LOST amount above 1%. It cannot go above 1%, per state law. There is no sunset on the measure, which will be better for long term planning. Milster asked for some talking points on how to discuss this with community members and how it might affect seniors and the Senior Center. Impacts could potentially include public facilities funds, community partnerships to help local seniors, or affordable housing/property tax relief. Lehman noted that the City and commissioner's role is to inform the public. Greater Iowa City or City staff can also do a presentation at the Senior Center if there is interest. OPERATIONAL OVERVIEW: DeLoach asked for help getting the word out about the Senior Center's new program, Grandbabies. She also highlighted the art class You Can Draw, the gourd crafting classes, and the Russian and Frech classes. The Pickleball Jamboree will take place on September 27t" at the GreenState Family Fieldhouse. September 20t" will be the Soul Train Block Party with live DJ and food trucks; entry is a suggested donation to the pantry. There are a few remaining windows to be installed. Exterior door installation will occur after that. The BAS project will start on September 29t". Interior design for future renovations will start next year. COMMISSION OVERVIEW: Gilcrest noted he had some people question what the Senior Center Commission is for. LaTasha noted that the duties of the commission are on the Senior Center section of the City's webpage and people could be directed there. She noted that the commission helps set and review policies, report to Johnson County and the City Council. DeLoach also noted she is working on a special project in regard to the increasing number of seniors in the US and will be asking for assistance in the near future. McKnight asked if there is a large increase in seniors in the area. DeLoach noted that the US is in the middle of the so called "Grey Wave", which refers to the fact that around 10,000 people in the US are retiring each day. Iowa has the 4t" oldest population in the US and currently approximately 18% of Johnson County's population are seniors. Paris asked if there had been any 2 Preliminary Minutes September 18, 2025 feedback regarding the increase in locker fees. There have been minimal comments from members. Discussion regarding status of 21 S Linn St property. Meeting Adjourned. 3 Preliminary Minutes September 18, 2025 Senior Center Commission Attendance Record Term 10/17/2 11/21/ 12/19/ 1/16/25 2/20/25 3/20/25 4/17/25 5/15/25 6/19/25 7/17/25 8/21/25 9/18/25 Name Expires 24 24 24 Betty 12/31/26 X X O/E X X NM O/E X NM X X X Rosse Jay 12/31/25 O/E X X X X NM X X NM X X X Gilchrist Mary 12/31/27 -- -- -- X O/E NM X O/E NM O/E X X McCall Angela 12/31/24 X O/E X -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- McConville Lee 12/31/27 X O/E O/E O/E X NM X X NM X X X McKnight Kathryn 12/31/27 -- -- -- X X NM X X NM X X X Milster Nancy 12/31/26 X X X X X NM X X NM X X X Ostrognai Ross 12/31/24 O O O -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Taylor Warren 12/31/25 O X X O/E X NM X X NM X X X Paris Key: X=Present O=Absent O/E =Absent/Excused NM=No meeting --=Not a member 4