HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-05-15 TranscriptionMay 15, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 1
Council Present: Champion, Dobyns, Hayek, Mims, Payne, Throgmorton
Council Absent: Dickens
Staff Present: Markus, Fruin, O'Brien, Hansen, Fosse, Davidson, Rackis, Dilkes, Karr,
Cohn, Moran, O'Malley, Ream, Boothroy, Dulek, Jordan, Hightshoe
Others Present: Uttermark, UISG
Council Appointments:
Hayek/ Okay. Welcome to the work session, everyone. Why don't we get started. First item is
Council appointments, but I don't believe we have any. (mumbled) So we'll move on to
questions regarding P &Z items. Everything is fair game except for, uh, b. 5b.
(mumbled) we can only take up during the formal.
Planning and Zoning Items:
Throgmorton/ Could I ask a question about 5a?
Hayek/ Yes!
ITEM 5a CONSIDER A MOTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR JUNE 5
ON AN ORDINANCE REZONING APPROXIMATELY 1.3 -ACRES OF
LAND LOCATED SOUTH OF HARRISON STREET BETWEEN
CLINTON AND DUBUQUE STREETS FROM PUBLIC (P -1) TO
INSTITUTIONAL PUBLIC /CENTRAL BUSINESS SERVICE (P- 2 /CB -2).
(REZ12- 00007)
Throgmorton/ Uh, it'll be kind of a very general question. If...I'm wondering if this particular,
uh, item would affect the Sabin School building?
Davidson/ And if I turn to that item ... uh, yes. This is an item that would rezone the property so
that it would go from public use to a proposed private use. Uh, the University is trying to
affect the acquisition of the Midwest One drive -up facility, and Midwest One would then
relocate facilities to (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ...Midwest One would have the option to do it. Have they decided that they're
going to do it?
Davidson/ This action is being taken to facilitate Midwest One doing that. What they, uh, seem
to have at this point, Jim, as far as we're aware is kind of an interim plan, and then
they're developing their long -term plan. Their interim plan is to reuse the Sabin building
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for some type of a drive -up facility during an interim period where they figure out what
their long -term plan is.
Throgmorton/ This is the main thing I was wondering about, whether they have explicitly stated
an intention to tear down, to demolish the Sabin building.
Davidson/ No. There has been no expression of any, uh, of anything in the future regarding the
Sabin building. I ... I think to be perfectly honest with you I think that's still up in the air.
Throgmorton/ Okay.
Davidson/ But there is no stated intention at this time of tearing the building down.
Throgmorton/ Okay. That ... that helps.
Davidson/ And in fact the stated intention at this point is to reuse a portion of the building as a
drive -up facility for (both talking)
Throgmorton/ A portion of the building, so is there any intention in the short-run to tear any of
the building down?
Davidson/ None that we've been apprised of.
Throgmorton/ Okay.
Payne/ I have a question regarding that drive -up facility. So does that mean they would have to
go to the Board of Adjustments (both talking)
Davidson/ They actually have two items at the Board of Adjustment right now, Michelle. Um,
one for the ... reuse of the existing Sabin building, and then what the bank has requested is
to at the same time, uh, go after the special exception for a new facility that would be
built there, so that they basically have that in their back pocket, should they decide to go
that direction. So you'll see two items on the Board of Adjustment agenda, and it's a
little bit confusing if you don't know what I just told you, because it's like why are they
requesting two special exceptions. That's the reason.
Payne/ Thank you.
Dilkes/ You know, I should just note that there's an error in the agenda. Um, 5a really shouldn't
be discussed at the work session. It's a ... we didn't include it because it's normally we
don't even talk about motions setting public hearings, but if you are going to talk about,
um, a rezoning at the time you set it, then you should wait till the formal.
Dobyns/ If we set a meeting usually we have an opportunity to talk about it later, when it's
actually set.
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Dilkes/ Right.
Hayek/ Okay, other P &Z items?
Dobyns/ Um, Eleanor, on item 20, uh, can you give me an example of what...
Hayek/ Um, we're still on Planning and Zoning items.
Dobyns/ Oh, I'm sorry! Okay.
Hayek/ You know what, at this time I'll open it up to agenda items as well. Let's (both talking)
is there anything else on the ... on section ... Item 5?
Throgmorton/ I ... I do have a question about...
Hayek/ Let's hold (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ...about 5e. Uh, we can discuss 5e, right? The parking ordinance?
Hayek/ Yes!
ITEM 5e CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 14, ZONING,
ARTICLE 5A, OFF - STREET PARKING AND LOADING STANDARDS,
TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF REQUIRED PARKING SPACES FOR
CERTAIN MULTI - FAMILY DWELLING UNITS WHEN LOCATED
WITHIN A DESIGNATED UNIVERSITY IMPACT AREA (UTA). (PASS
AND ADOPT)
Throgmorton/ Uh, yeah, I ... I sent each of you Council Members a ... a copy of an article
(mumbled) called "My Car, Your Car," and I know that some of you have had a chance
to take a look at it, but uh, it... it refers to, um, an entrepreneurial activity called zip drive
or zim ... zip car and zim drive. Geoff, I wonder if you could help us understand what
those are and how ... how that might affect, um ... parking in various buildings around
town.
Fruin/ Yeah, you're referring to a concept called `car sharing' and it's something that, uh, Chris
O'Brien has been looking into, along with the University, so I think Chris'd be probably,
uh, best to address that point.
O'Brien/ What we're working on, uh, we've had a joint RFP that the University of Iowa and the
City of Iowa City placed out, oh, we're going on what? Several months now I think that
we've had out there. Um ... to bring a car sharing company into the campus /community,
uh, where we would have multiple cars placed around various locations for people to
utilize. Uh, the main ... one of the main purposes is to ... there's kind of twofold. One is
for people who, uh, maybe are not interested in car ownership. It gives them an
alternative to where they can utilize, uh, these vehicles for, uh, trips such as doctor
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advance and have access to a vehicle. Um, also for people who may be, uh, can ... have
other modes of transportation to and from their places of business or where they have that
access to a vehicle for appointments or emergencies as they occur. Um, and it's more of
your short-term, hourly basis that those vehicles are normally used. So is there ... so, right
now we're looking at ... you know, we ... we don't have a whole lot of details that ... that
we can share because we're still in the process of negotiations on that. Um, we're
looking somewhere in the range of six to ten cars currently, um... and like I said, spread
amongst different locations in the community, and on campus.
Throgmorton/ So, exploratory investigations and negotiations are currently underway?
O'Brien/ Correct.
Throgmorton/ And, uh ... they focus on providing a ... an innovative way of enabling people to
drive ... get around town in automobiles without owning (both talking)
O'Brien/ Correct. That's one of the ... that's one of the reasons, or for people who own, are one-
car families that, uh, someone can utilize transit, for example, to get to locations, places
of work, um, classes and still have the opportunity to utilize, uh, a car at times if they
need it.
Payne/ So how is it different than renting a car? Other than ... I mean, is it different than renting a
car?
O'Brien/ Yeah, the... certain... it is in that, in the reason the University's involved is that, uh,
once the University gets involved it opens up access to people, um, 18, 19, 20; whereas
otherwise you have to be 21 or older in order to (several talking)
Hayek/ You know what, let's ... I think I kind of need to clamp down on this a little bit, I mean,
we're veering off the actual P &Z item itself, and whether, you know, the extent to which
we're exploring this option is not on the agenda. So, if we want to talk ... we're doing...
we're looking at stuff, but if we really want to get into the details, we really ought to
(mumbled)
Dobyns/ I guess we're curious! (several talking)
Throgmorton/ I must say, Matt, I thought it was relevant because I ... I have suggested that we
amend that particular ordinance to make it possible for people to develop a ... um,
apartment buildings without having to, uh, provide a parking space for every bedroom.
And this is a ... a, potentially a mechanism if elaborated, uh, that could help out on that.
That's the reason (both talking)
Hayek/ ...and I understand that, but ... but if...and if Eleanor allows us to, we ... we can but I'm
getting the sense that we're moving off.
Throgmorton/ Okay.
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Hayek/ So...
Payne/ So is it something that we can ... put on a future agenda, if we wanted to? If enough
people wanted to?
Hayek/ Sure.
Champion/ (several talking) And Karen Kubby and her group tried a shared -car concept. You
might want to call her and see how that worked out. (mumbled) long time ago.
Throgmorton/ Michelle, were you encouraging us to get it on the work session?
Payne/ No, I was just saying if other people wanted to learn more about it, if...that's what we
should probably (several talking)
Champion/ ...when they have more information (both talking)
Dobyns/ There's three of us.
Champion/ ... ever come back.
Hayek/ Let's put it on a work session and... and... whenever it comes up, maybe a memo just
about where we ... where we've come and where things stand (mumbled) think things'll
go. Thank you.
Throgmorton/ Thanks, Chris!
Hayek/ Okay, any other P &Z questions? If not, let's move on to general agenda items.
Agenda Items•
ITEM 20. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 2 OF THE CITY
CODE, ENTITLED "HUMAN RIGHTS," CHAPTER 4, ENTITLED
"ENFORCEMENT," TO PROVIDE THAT THE HUMAN RIGHTS
OFFICE MAKE THE PROBABLE CAUSE DETERMINATION. (PASS
AND ADOPT)
Dobyns/ Item 20, Eleanor, can you give me an example, um, of a ... what kind of complaint
would be, I mean, that's consider an ordinance, um... enforcement to provide that the
Human Rights office make the probable cause determination; it's a pass and adopt. I was
just trying to figure out what sort of complaint would be (both talking)
Hayek/ ...mic on?
Dobyns/ Oh! (noises on mic)
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Dilkes/ I think I heard it, believe it or not! (laughter)
Dobyns/ I thought you were just hard of hearing! (laughter)
Dilkes/ I am! (laughter) Um, it ... this would be the case with all complaints. So, we're
changing the process so that when, um, now when a complaint is filed with the Human
Rights, um, Department, it's investigated by the staff, uh, they make a recommendation
as to the probable cause finding, and that comes down to my office to make the probable
cause final decision. What this ... the change that this will make is for all complaints that
probable cause decision will be made, uh, by the investigator.
Dobyns/ Okay. Thanks!
Dilkes/ And that's recommended for a couple reasons. One, it's just a lot more efficient, um,
they have access to credibility assessments that we don't have access to, and we will
ultimately be involved in making the litigation worthy decision, if concil... conciliation
efforts fail, um, for a complaint that's got a foun ... founded probably cause in deciding
whether we're going to take it to public hearing before the Commission.
ITEM 3e(2) CONSIDER A MOTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR JUNE 19,
2012 REGARDING AN AMENDMENT TO IOWA CITY'S FY11 ANNUAL
ACTION PLAN, THAT IS A SUB -PART OF IOWA CITY'S 2011 -2015
CONSOLIDATED PLAN (a.k.a. CITY STEPS).
Payne/ I have a question on 3e(2). It's in the comment, the last sentence says ... a 30 -day public
comment period started on May 18, 2012. It isn't May 18, 2012 yet. Is it starting on that
date or is it starting ... when we, if we pass? Or is it the, I mean, if it's the wrong date, or
it should say something different.
Dilkes/ (mumbled)
Markus/ This is the City STEP program.
Karr/ There's a 30 -day public comment period required. Setting it for June 19th. My guess is
that it starts ... on May 18 to June 19th.
Payne/ Okay. So it should say (several talking) instead of (mumbled). Okay. Thanks! (several
talking) Um...
Hayek/ You've got a reputation for (laughter) ...fine tooth comb!
ITEM 3e(1) CONSIDER A RESOLUTION OF INTENT TO CONSIDER THE
PROPOSED CONVEYANCE OF UTILITY EASEMENTS ON AND OVER
PORTIONS OF 1807 AND 2001 LOWER MUSCATINE ROAD AND
SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING ON SAID PROPOSAL FOR JUNE 5,
2012.
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Payne/ I have two questions for Eleanor, and I probably should have just emailed you this, and I
apologize for not doing it. 3e(1) references MidAmerican and it's an easement. Should I
abstain from that? And that would mean we'd have to pull that one item out?
Dilkes/ Probably.
Payne/ Okay.
Champion/ Which one was it, Michelle?
ITEM 12. CONSIDER A MOTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN A
LETTER OF SUPPORT FOR THE MULTI - FAMILY DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAM.
Payne/ 3e(1). And then ... #12. These are CDBG funds that, um, would be awarded for a multi-
family project. I happen to be on that committee that selected that builder. Should I
abstain from that since I was ... on that committee?
Dilkes/ No.
Payne/ Okay.
Dilkes/ Uh -huh, I think it's fine for you to be a representative on that committee and still vote on
it at the Council.
Payne/ Okay. Um ... let's see! Can I ask two more?
Hayek/ Keep going! (laughter and several talking)
ITEM 25B CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER
TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST A CONCESSION
AGREEMENT WITH FIN AND FEATHER FOR THE PROVISION OF
RECREATIONAL RENTAL EQUIPMENT AND FOOD SERVICES AT
TERRY TRUEBLOOD RECREATION AREA.
Payne/ 25b. That's the one for Fin and Feather. Did that go out for bids, or how did we pick Fin
and Feather?
Markus/ Mike, why don't you come forward and respond.
Moran/ We went to Fin and Feather for two or three different reasons. One, because they were a
local vendor and two, they had the knowledge of the area and they were local to, uh, the
lake and when we went to them and asked them if they were interested in doing it, they
said yes and we also thought they were the only company... one of the only companies
that had capacity to do what we're asking them to do.
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Dobyns/ Who's doing the food?
Moran/ They'll be doing some of that, as well.
Dobyns/ Fin and Feather?
Moran/ Right. They probably won't ... it'll be more like candy bars and pop and stuff. It won't
be (several talking) ... full service kitchen or anything! (laughter) No bar -b -que and
burgers, hot dogs, none of that.
Dobyns/ Okay. All right.
Hayek/ You raise a good point, Michelle, and I talked to Tom about that earlier today. You
know, if there were like a bicycle rental shop, where we know we have multiple, local
businesses, I think it'd be a different story. We'd have to RFP that.
Markus/ We're going to do a full presentation on this during the formal meeting, so...
ITEM 7. AMENDING THE FY2012 OPERATING BUDGET.
Payne/ Okay. And my last question is Item 7. You already know your item?
O'Malley/ Yes!
Payne/ I just don't get it! (laughter) Why are we doing it? What ... what's the point of doing the
amend ... I don't understand.
O'Malley/ Uh, with ... the point is that, uh, the State law requires us, or does not allow us to over -
expend our appropriations. So, uh, twice a year we do amendments. We do one at the
beginning of the fiscal year around August, September to carry over appropriations from
the previous year. And then this second amendment is, uh ... really for all the changes
that happened during the year. We had bond sales come up. We had CIP changes. We
had, uh, some other ... fuel costs went up. So we have to amend the eight program areas
that the State ... uh, dictates to us. So, it's a formality in one sense, but it is something that
the State law requires.
Payne/ Because we have to have a balanced budget.
O'Malley/ Not so much a balanced budget. It's so that we don't spend when we don't have
appropriation authority. Even if we went over, like in the ... like in Public Safety. If that
went over a dollar, the auditors would have to comment on the City not having authority
to spend that extra dollar on our $12 million program. So it's ... it's kind of...inane in one
sense, but it's also an opportunity for the public to find out what we're spending our
monies on, or why we change from our projection 18 months ago when we put the budget
together.
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Payne/ Okay! Thank you.
O'Malley/ No problem!
ITEM 3d(5) CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING AN AGREEMENT
BETWEEN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY AND ELIEZER A. SOTILLO
RODRIGUEZ (ARTIST) AND MARC MOEN (SPONSOR) FOR
INSTALLATION OF MURAL ON CITY OWNED PROPERTY AT 220 S.
DUBUQUE STREET AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE
AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST THE SAME.
Mims/ I've got a question on ... wait for my i -Pad here! (laughter) Urn ... (laughter) ... yeah, this
getting used to this technology is (both talking)
Dobyns/ Do they know out there what we're dealing with today! (laughter)
Mims/ Um ... 3d(5) ... this is in the Consent Calendar and this is a resolution on the art work for
the, uh, parking ramp, and I just ... I have a concern just from a ... um, I guess a procedural
standpoint of us approving art work on a public facility that has not gone through some
sort of an approval process through the Public Art Committee or through the Council or
something else, I mean, I think...
Davidson/ It has been through the Public Art Committee.
Mims / And they have approved it or... (several responding)
Markus/ Yes, they've actually... they've actually seen it. This is ... this is a bit unusual in that, uh,
Mr. Moen has requested I think to create a little more drama about the process itself
when, uh, the art is actually, uh, prepared on the wall and uh, so ... technically I think
Legal would advise that the public has a right to see this if they pursued it, urn ... but we
put it on and based on the request, uh, to create ... to go along with the request to create
that drama in the process to actually see it develop. So...
Mims/ So the Public Art Committee is appointed by the Council, so anything they do or see is
public record, is that correct?
Markus/ That's correct.
Dilkes/ I think there's a misconception here about ... the words being used. The decision was
made not to include it in the packet for the reasons that, um, Tom suggests. It is a public
record, meaning that it is ... the City has possession of it. It has not been requested. We
have not provided it.
Mims/ I would like to request it. I won't support this without (both talking)
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Mims/ I would like to request it. I won't support this without (both talking)
Throgmorton/ I think we need to pull it from the Consent Calendar anyhow, so ... I'm gonna raise
some other related questions and maybe we can do it now, but I think it ought to be done,
um, you know...
Hayek/ You want to talk about it now? (several talking) We're on ... we're on the subject.
Throgmorton/ Well sure, I mean, well ... what I would say is I love the idea in general and uh,
have said that as many times as I can. I think having, uh, murals, public murals
downtown, especially in large spaces like that is just a terrific idea and would really be
good. I really admire, uh, Marc's willingness to ... to contribute $10,000 for this, uh,
particular site, and I ... I kind of like the theme, uh, but I've ... I've looked at that particular
site and 1, I mean I have one straightforward question. Where on the building will it
appear? I mean, this is my sketch of the north face of the parking structure, and based on
the written stuff we have, I have no idea where on this building it's going to go! I don't
know how big it's going to be (unable to hear people away from mic) and so on.
Moen/ It's just basically that ... that entire space on the north side is a solid concrete wall. So it
would cover a large majority of that concrete (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ...when I look at it, I see a ... a big rectangle, uh, that's divided into 10...10 panels
by 10 panels. The, uh, and then there's the tall tower just to the east...
Moen/ Tower will not be included. It's on the...
Throgmorton/ Okay. So will the whole, the entire ... uh, face of the, uh, north face of that
structure be covered with the mural? That's what I'm asking ... at this point, and I don't
know! And ... and to support, what Sue said, uh ... I ... I don't know what the individual
members of the ... of the design, of the art committee had to say, uh, about it. So ... I'm
uncomfortable about ... about proceeding just like that on it.
Markus/ We ... we did have a bit of a heads -up and we kind of warned, uh, Mr. Moen that this
conversation might come up, so we have, uh, renderings that we can share with the
Council so that they can see this. I would also ask that the Council, uh, consider allowing
Mr. Moen to maybe answer specifically, uh, Mr. Throgmorton's question about where
it's specifically located, if, uh, we can get him to the podium to do that.
Hayek/ We ... we can do that now. I ... we do have a lot of stuff to discuss. We may want to do
that tonight. If we can talk about this for five or eight minutes, maybe we can just do it
now? (several responding) So Marc doesn't have to comeback later tonight.
Davidson/ Like Marc to come up?
Hayek/ You want to do that, Marc? Thank you!
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mural art, both in New York City, elsewhere, and Iowa City, and gave them, or showed
them an image of what he intended to do on this wall. When I went to him I said I want
something that's not political. I want ... I just want something ... I just want to do
something for the city, and ... and so he showed them this image. They were very, very
supportive of it and liked it ... a lot. What we asked was that because of ..we don't know
exactly how long this is going to take, so what we suggested is that they give us
permission to do that entire wall from the part, the tower where the elevator is, all the
way over to basically where the Sheraton starts to block that wall.
Throgmorton/ From the top down?
Moen/ From the top down! And we have a lift, uh, leased for the month at several hundred
dollars a day to do it. Elie has taken ... he's working extra shifts and has been for some
time, so he's already taken the month of June off, so he can commit the entire month to
this project. As excited as anybody I've ever seen about doing something, uh, of
significance for the city. $10,000 doesn't begin to cover it. Um ... and ... and so ... the
paint arrived today that was approved by the City... staff. Um, with several thousand
dollars in paint, and so we've got all that set up. This was last September when I
approached and we had the meeting with the committee, and I said, you know, do we
need to do anything else, and they said no. You've got approval, and so I ... this is, I've
been told this was going to have to go to Council a while ago, but I hadn't, you know, I
hadn't known that. We scheduled all this for June. We'd been working with the Director
of Parking. They wanted to do some, uh, repair work on the wall, which has been done.
They asked us to pick ... they asked us, I asked them what would be the best date and they
said June, and then Elie scheduled a month of vacation. So I'm committed to that, I
mean, I've got to cover that somehow. Um ... the area that we showed them that we know
we can do ... I don't want to get started on this and then not be able to have it look
unfinished, you know, so the area that we know we can do is where that walkway from
Plaza Towers goes into the ramp, would be to the ... east I guess of that, um, and then over
to ... um ... to a similar distance this side of the Sheraton, but time permitting, we may be
able to cover that entire wall, and we asked specifically that the commission consider
that, in other words give us permission to do the wall but with the understanding that we
may use that more limited section, which is still very large, and they said that was fine.
So that's what we've been basing this on. Um ... it's ... it's a ... it's not a controversial
image. It's based on solidarity and what ... Elie grew up in a gay family with, in ... in a
very conservative area and ... and he was very ... very much, um, I think he would use the
word overwhelmed when he came to Iowa City and how he was embraced, and the
difference between Iowa City and every other community he had lived in when he was
growing up, and he felt like he wanted to give something back, and I wanted to give him
an opportunity to do that. And the firestorm that has resulted is ... is discouraging, to say
the least.
Champion/ It's Iowa City!
Moen/ And I understand the ... the personal attacks on me is what ... have been discouraging, and
my family ... the fact that there's a public discussion about ... a public wall being used, and
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the press saying that it was without any ... any disclosure is ... is not accurate, but I
understand that discussion. The personal attacks are ... it's like, okay, enough now.
Hayek/ I ... I don't think, and I think our goal should be to ... to mitigate the firestorm or however
you want to term it. I mean, I don't think there's any doubt as to the sincerity or the
generosity or the quality of...of the project. Um, I think this is a great thing. It seem ... as
I understand it, a typical protocol, or our protocol, is ... is to have these go through the
Public Art Committee. Um, projects are vetted and approved within that committee.
And then ... but they have to be sent on to Council, um ... uh ... and ... and when that occurs,
the materials come with the recommendation to the Council. In my experience that's
how we've done it in the past. So I think, you know, the difference between the protocol
and how it was done here, I think that (both talking)
Moen/ ...two things to that. One is ... it wasn't my request, and frankly, I don't care much. Elie
requested that ... that, because of his experience and his knowledge, he teaches art, and
because of his experience in ... other mural projects and ... and he's been asked and has
donated countless hours of time to, um, the festivals downtown where's he's done with
children and painted murals and it's always been this sort of .. it's ... and he can show you
a number of videos from very famous artists that have done this in other cities where
they've been allowed to let the public watch this as it unveils and so it doesn't... isn't
made public, and he made that one request, and so I passed it on. The other thing I would
just mention is my ... the reason we did it this way, and I thought that we had permission
to do it, is I serve ... it's a great privilege to serve on the ... on the Art and State Buildings
Committee where we have budgets ... of staggering amounts for single pieces in the
hundreds of thousands of dollars. That committee selects ... we interview the artist, we
select the pieces based on concepts. We don't pin `em down to how it's going to exactly
look. And that's it! We don't need approval from anybody else, and ... those images
aren't necessarily made public. And ... and that's what that committee does. I viewed the
Public Art Commission much the same as a branch of the gov ... of the Council, which
appointed it. And ... and when Elie made that request, I thought it was a reasonable
request after he gave me the reasons why he made the request.
Hayek/ Well, and maybe the enabling legislation's different (both talking) and I ... I don't know
that it is explicit policy to send it to Council, uh ... to send the materials (both talking)
Champion/ ...we don't always get ... we get kind of...sometimes we've gotten rough drawings.
We haven't always gotten like a photograph or what's going to happen. I mean, I think
you have to trust the judgment of the Art Commission, I mean, that's what their job is
and I ... have total trust in them. What I like you might hate, and you might hate what I
like and vice versa. So, I don't think we can be the judge of the merits of the art, I mean,
look at the controversy that... overhang bridge caused! (laughter) ...on Dubuque Street!
I mean, this is nothing! (laughter)
Throgmorton/ But you do have to judge whether or not a ... a public structure should be used for a
particular purpose, and... Marc, I hope you do understand, I really am a big fan of... of the
idea and so on, so I'm not trying to be critical at all. Let me convey some of my own
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personal experience of looking at this. So we get a packet. And the packet contains a
memo from, uh, one staff person. It does not really describe the ... the Arts Committee's
review or what any individual members of the committee had to say. Uh, and the
recommendation is to approve it. We don't know what it's going to look like. We don't
know where on the wall it's going to go. And ... and, uh, people are concerned about it
for whatever reason, because people, you know, are members of... of the city here. They
live here and so on. So ... I, that's why I feel uncomfortable just on the spur of the
moment, uh, responding. I ... I think we need a little more ... a little more heads -up about
what the content would be and ... and what the members of the committee said in, as they
deliberated over... over the proposal. Not the exact text (both talking)
Moen/ ...you want the ... it was unanimous and it was ... a huge, I mean, I can tell you that. I was
there for the entire presentation, and it was ... it was a unanimous... move forward,
immediately! I mean they were... overwhelmingly supportive.
Markus/ I can kind of, um ... I anticipated that we would have this kind of discussion, and I know
that the time constraints that Marc and the artist are under, we do have copies. My
suggestion is we let you see the rendering of this. The ... the reality is, if the press is
going to pursue this, they're going to pursue it and they have every right to pursue it.
Eleanor's made that very clear. We've shared that with Marc. Marc understands that.
So ... rather than have this be delayed, take a look at it. If you have any concerns after
you see that, you know... but... but I would like to see this continue on the agenda, have it
approved, and move on.
Moen/ Well, and I can tell you if it's delayed it's not ... it just goes away. (several talking) ...he
can't schedule another month.
Mims/ No, I don't want to see it delayed. I was just concerned some about the process in it
coming to us and...
Moen/ Well I've learned a ... I've a learned a good lesson. (both talking)
Hayek/ What I would suggest is that we ... is that we look at the materials, um, and I would like
us to ... go ahead and approve tonight. Um, and then going forward, clarify how we want
to handle projects like these, so we avoid these unnecessary blowups. Uh, because we
don't want to occur is for, uh, you know, an act of generosity and an investment into our
downtown artistic landscape to be marred by something like this unnecessarily.
Mims/ I would agree... entirely!
Markus/ We'll hand `em out.
Mims/ Okay. Thank you. (several talking)
Champion/ Thanks, Marc.
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Hayek/ Thanks, Marc.
ITEM 3f(3) Jesse Burns: Safety Concern - signs in center of street
Mims/ I have a quick question on ... okay ... 3f(3). This is, um, correspondence related to the
pedestrian markers on Market and Linn and Jefferson and Linn. I haven't seen any real
problem with those, but evidently some other people are. I just was curious as to staff's
thoughts on those. They were talking about putting in different signage and some of
which, you know, pedestrian activated light, which obviously is a lot of money, I mean
it... other than this one letter, have you seen or heard other concerns about those?
Davidson/ Uh, no, and we have ... this is probably I don't know, year four or five. They're in
various places. I think we started out on Newton Road and ... and that the, uh, Ann Cleary
walkway across Market and Jefferson, I think those were the first installations of the...
the signs that are ... they're spring- loaded in the middle of the street, and they've ... I have
to confess to you, I ... I went into that with a lot of skepticism and they've worked really
beautifully, uh, and we have assessed the initial installations and determined that there
weren't any problems with them. So, you know, the ... the points are well taken from Mr.
Burns, but overall as a... as a strategy for trying to increase pedestrian safety and get
vehicles to yield, um, they ... we think they've worked pretty well.
Payne/ I can just tell you from experience of driving on Market and Linn, nobody knows what to
do when they come up to those signs. People just stop. You know, they ... cars behind
them are squealing their brakes to not hit them. People don't understand the point.
Mims/ I don't get what's so hard to understand about a yield for pedestrian sign.
Payne/ Because the sign is only like this tall. You know, you don't see it till you're right on it,
and ... people just ... (several talking and laughing)
Davidson/ I tell you what ... I'll check with the Traffic Engineering people and maybe we can just
do a memo to you with an overall assessment of how they work. You know, I certainly
can't stand here and ... and say that what Michelle just described doesn't happen, cause
I'm sure it does! But, uh, you know, we look at it overall in terms of do we believe
they're effective in providing that ... it's essentially reinforcement of the fact that at a
marked crosswalk a vehicle is supposed to yield to a pedestrian in the crosswalk. That's
what they're trying to reinforce.
Hayek/ And they already were supposed to.
Davidson/ Yes. Yes, even without the sign you're supposed to do that. The sign is to reinforce
it. (several talking)
Mims/ Yeah, I mean, I don't drive through there real often, but when I do it...it appears to me it
...that it's working pretty well.
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Champion/ Is it painted like a pedestrian crosswalk?
Davidson/ Pedestrian crosswalk is painted there...
Champion/ Okay, I couldn't remember...
Davidson/ ...and then the sign is in the middle of the street...
Champion/ Right!
Davidson/ ...just to reinforce that, hey, you're supposed to yield here.
Mims / And my...
Payne/ I haven't seen the problem over on ... Jefferson and Linn, where it's the T- intersection, but
at, you know, by T- Spoons. Every time I ... like on Linn Street, people that are on the
one -way going west...
Mims/ Well quite frankly I'd rather see `em stopped, because my concern is a
pedestrian... somebody stops on one side, the pedestrian starts across in front of them,
and then keeps into the next lane, and the car doesn't stop.
Davidson/ Yeah ... yeah, and...and by the way, when I said the assessment of how they're
working, that isn't just the assessment of how it's working for the pedestrian crossing the
street.
Mims / Right.
Davidson/ If it's causing a preponderance of rear -end crashes, then that's a problem too, and so
our assessment includes all that. Why don't you let us do a summary memo for you...
Hayek/ That's great!
Mims/ Okay.
Davidson/ ... and... and...
Throgmorton/ Jeff, I'd like to add one thing. I think there's considerable uncertainty about what
bicyclists are supposed to do, and whether drivers are supposed to yield to people who
have bikes and they're standing at that walkway.
Davidson/ If they're walking their bike, then absolutely they're supposed to (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ...kind of on their bikes ... I mean, I see this all the time, cause I'm at those
intersections very, very frequently.
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Davidson/ Yeah, a ... a bicyclist on an intersecting street is basically subject to the rules of the
road, just like if they were a vehicle.
Throgmorton/ Bicyclists behave like walkers ... many do.
Davidson/ Right.
Throgmorton/ And ... and cars treat them as walkers, at least many drivers do. So there's
uncertainty about that particular point. I'm sure of it!
Davidson/ Well why don't you let us follow up with you, and then if you decide you want to
have additional discussion you can (mumbled)
Hayek/ Other agenda items?
Payne/ Are we going to talk about the resolution now, or (several talking)
Hayek/ ...two or three bullet points down.
Payne/ Oh, it's ... okay, it's got its own (mumbled)
ITEM 10. ADOPTING IOWA CITY'S FY13 ANNUAL ACTION PLAN WHICH IS A
SUB -PART OF IOWA CITY'S 2011 -2015 CONSOLIDATED PLAN (CITY
STEPS) AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMIT SAID
PLAN AND AMENDMENTS AND ALL NECESSARY CERTIFICATIONS
TO THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN
DEVELOPMENT, AND DESIGNATING THE CITY MANAGER AS THE
AUTHORIZED CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER.
Throgmorton/ I guess I want to get myself to the right place here on my ... document, um ... the
uh, on ... I think it's Item 10, City STEPS action plan. Uh, I'd just like to observe that as
sort of a newbie that the action plan's pretty complicated. There's a lot of material there.
And if we don't already know the City STEPS plan and what's contained in it, it's pretty
confusing. I don't know, do I have the right item number or ... yeah, item ... Item 10, and
I'm not looking for a huge, long explanation. I'm just observing. It's pretty complicated
and there's a lot of material there and ... and some of it is probably pretty unfamiliar to
some of us.
Hayek/ Well okay, can we get a, I mean, are you asking for a summary of our City STEPS plan?
Throgmorton/ I think mainly I'm making an observation, that it ... that it's difficult to process, uh,
as a ... incoming Councilperson.
Hayek/ Yeah...
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Markus/ We can ... we can arrange for a brief explanation during the formal meeting, so that the
public can hear it as well?
Hightshoe/ It's confusing cause it's a HUD document. (laughter) Yeah, so I can explain it in
(laughter and several talking)
Dobyns/ I didn't take it as something, Jim, I had to master for this meeting. So...
Throgmorton/ Yeah, yeah.
Dobyns/ ...there's other issues that I want to get to so...
Champion/ I've been doing it for a lot of years and I haven't mastered it yet either!
Throgmorton/ So, yeah ... I ... I like Tom's suggestion, if you don't mind (several talking)
Hightshoe/ So at the formal meeting? (several responding) Okay.
Hayek/ Okay. Now ... while we're on that subject, um. ... or no, that's not the HCDC
recommendations, is it? That's the...
Champion/ Right.
Hayek/ ...yeah, it is! (several talking) Yeah, so 10 has the HCDC recommendations. You
know, the way we have done this historically is, you know, we receive the
recommendations from Housing and Community Development Commission, um, we are
free to go with those recommendations; we are free to tweak them; urn ... we ... and if
there's interest in doing that, we could talk a little bit about that now, or do it at the
formal. Um, Andy Chappell, I think, or someone from ... okay, Andy Chappell
representative of the Commission will be here to, uh, briefly go over the process they
followed, and... and the recommendations that they're making, and then answer any
questions we might have about the various funding recommendations. So...
Throgmorton/ Yeah, there's that, uh, request from the Crisis Center that's in our packet, as well.
I don't know if we want to talk about that right now or...
Hayek/ Why don't we ... put that off to the formal. I'm just mindful of what we want to
accomplish here. And that ... that way we'll have Andy Chappell here to answer any
questions as it relates to that, as well.
Throgmorton/ Okay.
Hayek/ If that's okay with everybody? Other agenda items? Okay. Let's move on to the, uh,
snow clearing ordinance.
Sidewalk Snow Clearing Ordinance (IP3 of 5/10 Info Pkt.):
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Boothroy/ We, um, sent out the memorandum ... I sent out, uh, in April ... early April, uh, about
uh, snow removal, so you should have got that again. There was no changes from, uh, in
that memorandum. Uh ... like to start out by indicating that Jann Ream is here, in case
some... somebody doesn't know her. She is the front line of snow complaints and snow
removal, and so (laughter)
Champion/ (mumbled) (laughter)
Boothroy/ She ... she's our firewall! (laughter) And, uh...
Hayek/ ...month for you, isn't it? (laughter)
Boothroy/ We loved this winter, and we're here ... we're here to (laughter) uh, give witness to
this winter as being, uh, if we ... if we have a winter like this next year, this is a discussion
that really isn't that important. However, uh, as you can see by the previous two winters,
um, by the statistics, we do get quite a few complaints about, uh, snow removal and those
do occur, uh, in the high pedestrian areas of the community primarily. Um... one of the
things that, uh, I wanted to point out in the memorandum is that, uh, you know, the
second paragraph I just wanted to emphasize that, uh, it's our experience that if property
owners make the effort to clear their sidewalks, it's our experiences that citizens don't
complain. And don't call us. And I think that's a really important thing to keep in mind
as we talk about this today is ... is that if a citizen makes the effort, even if it isn't 5 -feet
wide or 4 -feet wide or 8 -feet wide, people don't call in. And we do enforce on a
complaint basis, uh, and so, uh, where we get the complaints is where nothing has been
done. It's just sittin' there! And then we go out and then we take care of it at that point
in time. One of the things I also indicate in the memorandum is that the, uh, citizens are
really doing a quite good job with 8 -foot sidewalks, and this did come up about whether
or not 8 -foot sidewalks were a burden. Uh, we have a lot of 8 -foot sidewalks as you
know. Uh, Dubuque Street corridor is an 8 -foot sidewalk out to Park, uh, Road, which is
a high - student area, uh, in terms of traffic, uh, it's well used. Uh... Rochester, we're
putting them in. Scott Boulevard. Dodge Street. Uh, Muscatine, from First to Scott
Boulevard. Uh ... west side, so forth, so we have a lot of...of 8 -foot sidewalks that go
through both commercial and residential area, and uh, we only got 22 complaints out of
all of those complaints, and we only cleared ... we only had to clear one. All the rest of
`em were taken care of when we went out and did the inspection. So, uh, that's a pretty
good record with regard to 8 -foot sidewalks, and that tells me that people are taking
responsibility. They're getting the job done, and we're not getting complaints and so
we're not really having a problem with clearing 8 -foot sidewalks, as far as code
enforcement is concerned (mumbled) excuse me, is concerned.
Mims/ But, Doug, I guess I would go back ... to me you said kind of two things that are ... that are
a little bit contradictory in that... basically you're saying if property owners make an
effort, then you don't think people complain. So if you ... if you inspect based on a...
based on a complaint, and somebody has an 8 -foot sidewalk, and clears 4 -feet of it, and
the neighbors and people who use that sidewalk feel like an effort has been made, then
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they're not necessarily filing a complaint. So how do we as a city really know if the
people who have the 8 -foot sidewalks are clearing all 8 -feet?
Boothroy/ You answer that ... since you deal with most of the direct... complaints.
Ream/ Yeah, you know, it's a good question because if we don't get a complaint, we're not out
there looking at those sidewalks.
Mims/ See, and that ... that's my whole point on ... in kind of bringing this up is that ... I think, one,
I don't think people need... personally, I don't think we need to require people to clear all
8 -feet! And I think there's an inherit unfairness, if you will, in that having a policy that
you have to clear all 8 -feet, but then it's only enforced on a complaint basis. So, if
somebody's got an 8 -foot sidewalk and the people in that area say, hey, you did 4 -feet;
that's good enough for me and that's all they do, and somebody else has an 8 -foot
sidewalk in an area where people want to hold `em to the 8- feet ... they're getting forced
to clear the whole 8 -feet, when personally, to me we put in those 8 -foot sidewalks more
for bike riding and trails and a lot of more of the summertime activities that it could very
well be a burden for people to have to do the 8 -foot sidewalks, and to me we don't, based
on a complaint basis, we don't really know if people are clearing 8 -feet or not. I mean...
Ream/ We also because we're on a complaint basis, we don't know ... there may be a lot of 4 -foot
sidewalks out there that aren't cleared.
Mims/ Oh sure!
Ream/ And we don't get the complaints, so...
Mims/ But that's not what this issue is! (laughter)
Ream/ Yeah, but in some ways (both talking) you could apply that same unfairness issue to that,
and that's something I hear a lot, is that, you know, it's, uh, selective enforcement. We
hear that quite a bit. Um, there's just no other way, quite honestly, to administer the
program.
Mims/ No, I understand that.
Ream/ Um, so...
Boothroy/ I think one of the ways we handle that selective ... and it comes up every year! Uh,
because uh, not everybody... well, let me ... the way we enforce it is if we go for ... for a
full block face because we'll get a complaint on maybe one or two properties in that
block area, but not all the properties have been cleared, but we didn't get a complaint on
all the properties, for whatever reason. And so the way that we define fairness in that is
that we go from intersection to intersection and say, well, you know, everybody has to
clear it. We do the same thing with all sidewalks; it has nothing to do with width.
Uh ... but it does happen, I mean, it...it's...it might be odd, but sometimes you'll get a
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complaints where you'll get one or two properties out of a block face, but not everybody
has done the job. And uh ... why that happens, who knows. The other thing is that ... is
that, I think it's really important to remember too is that ... is that our message is very
clear, simple, and con ... and ... and as effective in terms, whatever you've got out there
you clear. When you get into saying, well, we're... we're... what do you have to clear
with snow, and what do you have to put ice melt on it gets more complicated, and if the
message from the inspector is at all, uh ... more complex than it is right now, with ... which
is if you've got the sidewalk you take care of it, and ... which is what the state code says,
uh, I think that there could be some misunderstanding, and ... people doing the west or the
...the curb side (mumbled) 4 -feet or the ... or the street side ... or the, uh, property line side
4 -feet, or the middle 4 -feet, or maybe they zip ... zigzag down the middle 4 -feet and then
what do you do in commercial areas where you've got 10 -foot sidewalks and ... and larger
sidewalks where we require more than 8 -foot cleared. Uh ... and we do have problems in
commercial areas where people don't always clear the sidewalk of ice anyway. So, I'm a
little reluctant to start sending out mixed messages, well, in commercial areas you do
clear 8 -foot sidewalks because they have commercial snow removers, and then in this
area you don't, but then ... the property owner looks down the street and says, `Well,
they're not clearing it,' so why should I clear it ... uh, because we've had problems with...
with commercial, uh, areas outside of the downtown in particular that sometimes people
don't clear their sidewalks.
Hayek/ (both talking) Yeah, we have 4 -foot sidewalks. We have...
Boothroy/ 5 -foot sidewalks! We have 8 -foot sidewalks, and we have... downtown is 10...
Ream/ Downtown they're required to clear 10 -feet, out from the... from the wall of the building.
Boothroy/ They stack it at the curb until the City picks it up.
Ream/ Correct.
Boothroy/ So that's why it's only the full 10 -feet.
Dobyns/ See, I have a different view. In my work I'm compelled to convince people to stay
active 12- months out of the year (laughter) um, and so, uh, you know, with the obesity
epidemic, with the blue zone initiatives coming up, um, I think the City has championed
these specific 8 -foot sidewalks as an area we're supposed to increase activity, and for
myself... for my perspective, I think I need to champion the opportunity for people to use
the 8 -foot sidewalks 12- months out of the year in the way that people, or the City,
intended. So I ... I would vote for the 8 -foot.
Mims/ I thought you were championing it from the standpoint of the activity of removing the
snow! (laughter)
Champion/ Yeah, I did too! (laughter)
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Dobyns/ Either or, whatever it takes! (laughter)
Boothroy/ We're not getting feedback from abutting property owners that clearing an 8 -foot
sidewalk's a problem! This is the only time we've had any feedback. So, uh, if it ain't
broke, don't fix it! I mean, I'm not sure that there's an issue here, uh, at least from the
people that are out in the community, because we're not getting any pushback on it.
They're cleaning it!
Throgmorton/ I guess I would echo that. I ... I've certainly received no complaints at all, but of
course we had a pretty generous winter, uh, recently. I wonder what the winter of 2007
and 8 was like but...
Ream/ Oh you don't want to know! (laughter)
Throgmorton/ I'm not interested in kind of moving ahead on this one so...
Boothroy/ Yeah, it ... and there's a thousand excuses for not clearing your sidewalk, regardless of
the width.
Throgmorton/ I know, ice that deep, you know! It's a pretty good excuse!
Hayek/ Well what do we want to do with this?
Champion/ Leave it alone!
Throgmorton/ I agree.
Mims/ I'm in the minority! That's fine!
Hayek/ Okay. Thanks for, uh, that! Appreciate it.
Boothroy/ I'm here for the next one too.
Hayek/ Okay, next item is, uh, disposition or relocation of public housing units. It's IP4.
Disposition or Relocation of Public Housing Units (IP4 of Info Pkt.):
Boothroy/ (mumbled) ... step up? Steven Rackis is the Housing Administrator for, um, the
Public Housing and Section 8 program and ... and there's a memorandum in your packet
where we tried to identify what we thought the questions that the Council had in terms of
the selling of public housing. Public housing was a gift from the, uh, from the, uh, from
HUD. All of the money that went into buying the sites and building it was ... came from
federal dollars. All of the money to support public housing is federal dollars. There are
no General Fund dollars used, uh, for maintenance. There ... or any other kind of support
of public housing. So, uh, that's... that's the one thing that distinguishes it from, um,
maybe some of the other, uh, types of programs that are around. Uh, so it's self-
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sustaining. The question... I'll just kind of go through these questions kind of quickly
here, uh, and then we'll get into the meat of the discussion, but the first one was can we
sell all 81 public housing units. The answer is no. Uh ... um ... we had a phone
conversation with the, uh, Chicago office that, uh, and the individuals involved
specifically that approve disposition and sale of public housing, uh, and, um, they would
not approve that. Uh, and the second question, what can we sell, uh, we can sell the 43
single - family units that are approved under the, uh, Section 5H homeownership program,
uh, which was approved a number of years ago. Uh ... I ... I can tell you that the reason
that single - family are in there is that at the time that ... that was drafted, uh, we didn't see
that Shamrock, the four ... the two four - plexes on Muscatine could be con...
condominimized, if you will... if that's a word, uh, and sold. It created some
management issues if you sold one unit out of four, and so we ... we chose only to get
approval for the single - family units which are scattered site. And we have sold some, as
it indicates, we've sold about 26, uh, through this particular program. Uh, can the City
use it to support any other non - public housing related, uh, programs, and the answer is
no. Public housing dollars can be only used for, uh, public housing purposes, and/or
purposes that are approved under the Section 5H program. And down there, uh, you can
see that, uh, number one is a Section 5H; number two is public housing essentially, and
number three is other federal, state, or local homeownership programs that meet the 80 %,
uh, standard for homeownership. With that in mind, the City ... the Housing Authority did
provide $100,000 to UniverCity for, uh, down payment assistance, and in the
recommendations at the ... at the end of the memorandum I indicate that we could use
more ... we could use more of those funds for, uh, UniverCity as long as they met the
income guidelines, uh ... uh, in that situation. Uh ... we put in a section about how we feel
public housing benefits the community. It meets our goals and... and the City, uh, City's,
uh, Consolidate Plan. Uh, it doesn't take any dollars from the City, but it actually
generates dollars. Uh, last year was a ... or FYI 1 was $334,000, uh, we uh ... or ... in 1995,
we basically got public... 1995 to 1996, we ... I was involved in getting public housing to
about the same ... the level it is today. It was actually 100 -and some units, and we've
been generating that kind of money, leveraging that kind of money on an annual basis,
that goes directly to, uh, local contractors. The other thing I think to point out is that...
that the housing ... the public housing units, we do trans... transfer $43,000 a year
presently, uh, to support, uh, other services that ... that the Housing Authority buys, like
legal, accounting, uh, and ... and an inspector from, uh, Housing Inspection Services. And
then on the next page, uh, we can ... we sold down to 80 units and uh, we based that on...
on a... a break -even formula in terms of trying to maintain, uh, enough housing units to
bring in enough cap funds that would ... would, uh ... uh, maintain the units at a level, uh,
that they should be maintained. Remember, most of these single - family houses, with the
exception... you may argue about Whispering Meadows, but most are scattered
throughout the east side of Iowa City, and so we try to maintain them, uh, and we need
those funds, uh, to adequately maintain roofs and so forth. I think the other thing too is
that, when I built those units back in 95, they were brand now. When we did those units
on Shamrock in 19, uh, 84, uh, they were brand new. Uh, these units ... are older and so
there are more maintenance responsibilities than there were when they were first built.
So, as we expanded public housing over the years, it's been ... it's been important to
leverage those kind of funds in order to keep up the maintenance, new roofs, new siding,
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new, uh, and we replaced... in many of the units, like Shamrock, we've replaced entire
kitchen cabinetries, uh, you know, all of that kind of stuff takes money and we have to
have those cap fiords in order to keep them quality units, uh, that, uh ... uh, are good for
the neighborhood and ... and ... and in particular like Shamrock, uh, I recall ... I don't recall
ever getting a complaint, uh, in terms of the, uh, those, the location of those public
housing units. So 80 is one that we feel is ... is the best level, uh, to ... to keep us, keep our
housing stock in good condition, uh, and ... and ... and vital. So the recommendations we
made to you at the end, and ... and ... is that we think that 80 is a good number to keep.
Uh, it can fluctuate a little bit both ways, up and down, depending on how we're trying to
balance. We ... we looked at what we have down in Whispering Meadows. Uh, we, uh...
we concluded anyway that Indigo Court is an area where we could sell. Be much more
aggressive in selling, uh, are the units that we own. We own eight units down there now.
Uh, and what I mean by being a little bit more aggressive is that we would take, you
know, those are only ... they're only valued at maybe $90,000 to $100,000 per unit. So...
uh, now we own those, you know, without any debt or... or anything like that, but in order
to I think to get them marketed, they're slab on grade. They're small. At the time I built
those in 95, HUD required them not to exceed a certain square footage. They require
them to be, uh, you know, they didn't want garages, which ... which I had to get a waiver
for, uh, so when we're dealing with a small 900- square foot unit, uh, one ... single-car
garage, slab on grade, I think we're going to have to go in there and do some... some
good upgrades in order to sell those units, uh, new kitchens, uh ... uh, significant
landscaping and stuff like that. So we're going to eat into that equity that, uh, of that
90,000 and ... and won't be able to replace it, because the units are not going to sell for
more, uh, even after we make those kinds of upgrades, but that's the kind of thing, a ...a
really aggressive marketing to get those units to move. Uh, and then we would like to
look at, uh, as they become available, uh, scattered site outside of the Whispering
Meadow area, in the areas where, uh, affordable housing is allowed to develop, uh ... to
try to replace those over time, and then ... and then we think that ... the UniverCity
program has been an excellent program for the, uh, the area. It's proven to be, uh,
something that works, at...at this point, and so we think that, uh, we should... should, um,
look at, uh ... using more of the, uh, top ad hoc funds or the proceeds from the sale of... of
these public housing units to ... to beef up our participation in ... in the, uh, UniverCity, uh
...um, program. So with that, I guess I'm ... we'll start with questions!
Champion/ Well my main concern has always been the scattering of our public housing, and I
know you understand that, and (mumbled) being addressed here. Um, I'm not interested
in getting rid of any more of it. I'm interested in dispersing it. Um ... it shouldn't, but it
causes bad connotations in neighborhoods. I don't know why, but it does. It's just one of
those perceptions, whether it's Iowa City, Chicago, or Cedar Rapids. And I think
dispersing it is healthy for the people living there, and for the neighborhoods. So that's
my main objective in this (mumbled)
Boothroy/ And we were looking at Indigo Court as an area to start that dispersal because it's a
cul -de -sac. It's ... it's a tight area. There's a lot of...almost all the other housing units on
there have been assisted by the City. Uh, at some ... in some fashion.
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Champion/ Uh -huh.
Boothroy/ And so ... we think that if we take our eight units there and we go in there and hit
the ... hit the landscaping in a significant way to ... to, that would beautify a lot of that cul-
de -sac, uh, beyond what we've already, you know, actually put a lot of money into that,
and then make these units attractive, uh ... uh, inside in terms of...of new carpeting, new
paint, maybe new windows in some cases, uh ... uh, cabinetry and so forth, uh, we think
we can sell them, but we're ... but we may end up putting $30,000 into each unit, and
we'll ... we'll only walk away with $60,000. So we're not going to get ... we're not going
to get much out of it, and if we have a second mortgage on that, uh, we may be coming
out with a, you know, a net of, uh, 20,000, 30,000 to reinvest, and if that's not an issue
for you, that's fine.
Champion/ No, it's not an issue for me! I think the issue is that it is a way, again, for
homeownership to take place at a very low level, and I think that is a high objective... one
of my high objectives.
Boothroy/ And we keep a ... we like to keep a contingency fund in there so in case ... we have had
to take some of these units back over time, and instead of having them come back in a
bad condition in a neighborhood, we ... we've taken them back, gone back in there and
fixed `em up again, and uh, and re- rented them or tried to sell `em again, and... and in this
area I think we sold one unit twice, one house twice I think, or three times maybe, so
that's ... so we ... we keep some operating capital within the homeownership program
to ... to bail out or ... or fix up units that have been sold.
Hayek/ What I would, um, I would throw out, cause there is this nexus to ... to university, uh, that
...that program. What I would throw out is that we ... we set a target, a modest target of
10 or 20 units to ... to sell and get back, uh, into the private market. (mumbled) I know it
would take funds to get those to marketable position, etc. There are expenses that go
along with that, but the net of that we could pour into like the UniverCity program
(several responding) because at this point going forward, we don't have the outside
funding for that. We're supporting that with General Fund dollars, and so that would
help us continue what's been recognized as a really fantastic program. Um ... and give
some relief to the General Fund.
Boothroy/ It's limited to 80% median income (both talking)
Hayek/ What's that?
Boothroy/ It is limited to 80% median income.
Hayek/ Yeah.
Throgmorton/ What, UniverCity is?
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Boothroy/ Well, UniverCity started at 80 %, but I think they went up to 100, but anything that our
dollars would go into would have to be 80 %.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, well, um...
Boothroy/ That may be fine (both talking)
Hayek/ ...target a different... range of the spectrum.
Boothroy/ Right ... I'm just ... want to qualify that so you know that there's a limitation on that.
Hayek/ (mumbled)
Boothroy/ Yeah.
Throgmorton/ Well I'm obviously a big fan of UniverCity program, but uh, I'm hearing Matt use
numbers, uh, 10 or 20 units. But I...
Boothroy/ We'd like to replace those 10 or 20 someplace else then.
Throgmorton/ Well, I was hearing you say that you ... you have a target of 80? You currently
have 80 ... how many? (several talking) 81.
Boothroy/ A target of maintaining at least 80.
Throgmorton/ Right. So, um, when, Matt, when you say 10 or 20 units, you're thinking about
10 ... scattering, uh, 10 or 20 units, is that what you had in mind?
Hayek/ I'm talking about selling 10 or 20 of the 81, and I understand that a sizable portion can't
be because it's multi - family. We're talking about the single - family dwellings, I think.
Boothroy/ There's 43...
Hayek/ Right.
Boothroy/ ... single - family.
Hayek/ So ... um, and ... and not acquiring new public housing stock.
Boothroy/ To replace those 10 or 20.
Hayek/ Instead putting it into the UniverCity program, which I think we can do.
Payne/ But I think what ... what he's saying is, in order to have enough capital on hand to keep
maintaining, we need to stay at 80. (several talking)
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Boothroy/ Right ... right around 80, that's... that's the, go ahead, Steve.
Rackis/ HUD ... HUD measures everything in unit months. So, one unit has 12 unit months.
And, our funding comes from the number of units that you have, and the number of unit
months that that, uh, public housing unit is occupied. That is the basic formula for how
they determine how much operating subsidy that we get, and how much capital funds that
we get. The ... the analysis that we did shows that when we go below 80, that's ... that
really is the break -even point of maintaining at least $100,000 in capital funds, and
assuring that we receive about $300,000 a year in operating subsidy that puts us in a
position to keep these homes well- maintained, and well - managed. If we start dropping
below 80, we're ... we're not going to have sufficient funds to ... to maintain them. We get
below 80 then we start having staff concerns about who's going to drive the properties,
who's going to make sure that the tenants are following the rules, you know, who's, you
know, we don't rely on Housing and Inspection Services. Certainly they're
going ... going out and find ... you know, looking at complaints for sidewalks, but when it
snows, it's the public housing coordinator that goes and drives all our properties and
makes sure that the sidewalks are shoveled, makes sure the grass is cut so that we're not
getting complaints. So the ... the 80 really does represent a break -even point, that we get
below that 80 threshold, we're going to lose our ability to maintain the properties and
manage the properties to the level that we're at right now.
Hayek/ And ... and I understand that, but ... but it seems to me that if you've reduced your, let's
say you have an even 40, number of 40 single- family dwellings. If you reduce that by 10,
I ... I understand that you'll reduce your income stream by let's say 25 %, but you've also
reduced the stock you have to maintain and reinvest in by ... by 25 %.
Rackis/ But it's ... but it's not the way ... the way the HUD formula works, it's not a dollar -for-
dollar exchange, because for example, they have an assess... assessment system now that
they're looking at occupancy, and they score you on the basis of occupancy. In... in order
to get the top score in occupancy, you have to have 98% of your units occupied. That
means we can only have one vacancy, 12 unit months per year, in order for us to score in
the top occupancy. So we can have 80 out of our 81 units rented for every month of the
year, but we can only have that 12 -month vacancy... it... it's sort of the reverse of the law
of large numbers. The smaller the public housing units you have, the more you get
penalized in the HUD funding formula. So yes it's a smaller amount of units, but you're
...you're progressively receiving less money than ... than the number of units.
Hayek/ Well and I ... I understand that. I guess... it's... and maybe we just need to continue the
conversation on this, but I ... it'd be helpful for me to see some quantification on that.
Um, you know, how much... how... what is the funding hit we would expect, you know, if
we ... if we move one unit or five or ten or whatever the number is. You know, what is
the corresponding hit to the income stream and the budget implications that...
Boothroy/ Yeah, it's, I mean ... if it gets down to a certain level, uh, it impacts the amount of
money we give back to the General Fund, for example. We're giving right now 43,000.
At some point...
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Champion/ But (both talking)
Boothroy/ ...we won't be able to support that, and so it's ... it is a, you know, it's a moving target,
depending on where you are with regard to the number of units. One of the things that...
that um ... I think is important to remember a little bit is ... in my mind is that we have this
goal about having a certain amount of affordable housing in this community. And ... and
the beauty of public housing is that it costs you nothing. It doesn't cost you any CDBG
dollars. No ... any Home dollars. It doesn't cost you a cent! Not only does it not cost you
a cent, it brings in money, uh, in ... hundreds of thousands of dollars, that goes into the
local, uh... economy and... and has been doing that, uh, at... at about this level, or close to
this level, since, uh, since the 90s. So it ... it, you know, to ... to reduce public housing and
then make it up with CDBG or Home funds, and then turn around and maybe make that
up again because you need... somebody needs money for maintenance, uh, doesn't seem,
uh, as good a deal.
Throgmorton/ I ... I'd like to focus the discussion on your recommendation, and to begin I'd like
to say, first of all, I think we have a very good public housing program. Secondly, I see
no compelling reason to change it fundamentally. Thirdly, I ... I'm attracted to the idea of
scattering some of the units. So I hear the recommendations. I'm concerned about
Malt's, uh, suggestion linking this, sales of houses to the UniverCity program. As much
as I admire that program, I think it has a very different target clientele, and we ... we
should have that in mind, if I'm wrong somebody tell me! Uh, but the one thing I want to
hear from the two of you is do both of you strongly believe that the recommendation you
make at the end of your memo is a good one? You're fully behind it, about scattering
some units.
Boothroy/ I wouldn't put my name on the memo if I didn't believe it (laughter and several
talking). I don't make recommendations that I don't ... I don't think are the right
recommendations. You all might not agree with `em, but I agree with my own.
Champion/ I want to ask a question about the 43,000 that goes into the General Fund. What do
you mean you're giving the General Fund ... you're reimbursing the City for certain
expenses, you're not...
Boothroy/ For services.
Champion/ ...you're not giving us $43,000! No, you're (both talking)
Boothroy/ Well, let me put it in context. It ... back in the, Connie, back in the 90s, we didn't have
...we were ... uh, public housing bailed the Housing Authority out because we were in a
process of...of not being able to ... to meet our obligations in terms of the ... of uh, of some
of the expenses. And so we pulled back, and for several years we gave the general ... we
did not reimburse the General Fund any money for anything. Uh, we didn't pay for legal
services. We didn't pay for accounting. We pulled all that back until we got our
financial, uh, so it is optional. There is nothing ... uh, we do it because we do use these
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services and we think we should pay for these services, and we ... and you are leveraging
these ... these federal dollars. So I don't have a problem with it. I'm just ... I'm just saying
that is that it ... when the Housing Authority has gotten strapped for cash in the past
because the opera... operating money that we're bringing in doesn't support us fully, uh,
then the way we found those dollars is we pulled `em back out of the General Fund.
Markus/ It's typically referred to as overhead reimbursement for expenses associated (both
talking)
Champion/ Well, departments do that, isn't that correct?
Boothroy/ Some do!
Dilkes/ Generally speaking departments that have sources of money that come from other than
the General Fund.
Mims/ I ... yeah ... I am inclined to go along with what Matt is talking about in terms of looking at
the potential decreasing the stock. I think what we have to do, and I, you know, I'm a
quantitative person like Matt mentioned too. I like to see more specific numbers in terms
of, you know, as you start getting rid of some of these houses, you're going to in...
decrease obviously, uh, some of your fixed costs may not decrease at first. Your variable
costs are going to decrease. You get rid of a house; you don't have the maintenance, etc.
Those kinds of things. At some point, you get to a certain ... you get down to a certain
level that you should get rid of some of your fixed costs. I mean, whether it means one
less person that we need on staff or whatever, and so I'd like to see staff do an analysis
of, all right, if we go below the 80, you know, if we go to the 75. If we go to 70, you
know, at what point can we ... what are those decreases in ... in, uh, variable costs as we
decrease the housing stock, and at what point could we expect to start decreasing some of
those fixed costs also associated. Um, I like the idea if we are ... I like the idea of
dispersing any of the public housing that we have. So I would certainly agree with
starting by trying to sell some of those on Indigo Court. Selling any of these, you know,
whether you're talking five, ten, twenty is not going to be a short-term process. I mean,
as you indicated, Doug, it's ... it's time to fix `em up, it's, you know, you gotta look at the
market, etc. So I think we certainly have time to look at starting to get these fixed up,
getting them on the market, doing that more detailed analysis of what it's going to do to
our finances, and then make a decision as to how we ... how we move forward with that
money that we get out of those houses.
Champion/ I need one more clarification. When we talk about city -owned houses, are those
these houses? (unable to hear response) Okay. So the City doesn't have like other
houses out there that the City owns. Is that true?
Rackis/ (several talking) ...just the one on, uh, Muscatine that, uh, I think, Transit, Public Works,
uh...
Boothroy/ Essentially it's just the public housing.
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Rackis/ No, well, yeah, Peninsula. The Peninsula apartments. It's not public housing, it's
affordable housing.
Champion/ Uh -huh.
Rackis/ And there is the one on, again, Muscatine that, uh, the Public Works bought for the
construction, and we're rent ... we're managing that for them and uh, they're going
to ... when the construction's done they're probably going t sell it, and the family that
we're renting to will probably buy it. Those are the only ones that...
Hayek/ Why don't we do this ... cause I want to preserve time for the ... for the next item as well.
Is there a majority that's interested in this sort of follow up (both talking)
Champion/ Yes, I am!
Hayek/ Um, so maybe we do that. Get... get the numbers and... and put this back on a work
session (several talking)
Throgmorton/ ...how many said they were interested? (several talking)
Rackis/ The ... the other point that ... when we take a public housing unit off -line to sell it, HUD
does continue to give us money, but only for a year. So, if...if (both talking)
Hayek/ ... included in, yeah...
Rackis/ ...if they're ... if they're off -line for too long, then they stop giving us money for it.
Boothroy/ (several talking) Even if we haven't sold it.
Rackis/ Correct! (several talking)
Throgmorton/ At some point, uh, I think it would be valuable for the Council to articulate why it
believes it's appropriate, necessary, to sell more public housing units. What's the
rationale for doing that?
Hayek/ Why don't we have that conversation when ... when this ... when this expansion of
information, if you will, comes back to us. Okay. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it! Okay,
next item ... is, uh, discussion of resolution regarding diversity issues. Uh, Rick and Jim.
You want to walk us through.
Throgmorton/ Go ahead, Rick.
Resolution Regarding Diversity Issues:
ITEM 25. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION REGARDING DIVERSITY ISSUES.
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Dobyns/ Sure, let me, uh, this is based on a resolution that Jim, um, submitted in consideration
about maybe a month ago. Um, just to ... I think the most important thing is the last
paragraph. From my point of view, and Jim, certainly want to hear what you have to say,
is that it's really where this goes. Um, where this ends up. Uh, this is a beginning.
(mumbled) um, I personally don't have any, um, you know, investment or ownership in
any of those. I think its ... the whereas, uh, to my point of view just sort of, uh, gets us
started, uh, as a recognition of things, you know, sense of what we think's going on. Um,
most of the, uh, discussion I would like to see in the last paragraph. So from my point of
view if any of you are concerned about any of the "whereases," you know, if it causes
some concerns, my ... my view is just ... I would just eliminate them from my point of
view because I think it's important to get this started, to get the process going. Uh, make
it evaluative. Eventually formative. Jim, any comments?
Throgmorton/ Well, uh, I ... I want to thank you, Rick, for working on this so diligently and for
joining with me to meet with, uh, a group of very ... people who are very interested in this
topic. I think it was a very, uh, enlightening conversation that we had, certainly
influenced what we ended up writing.
Champion/ Well, I ... I'll start out. Thank you for saying what you said, because I can certainly
support that now there are four. Um... and I would like to... if we decide to move on with
this, I would like this committee to be outside of City Council, like when we do ad hoc
committees (mumbled) to be only community involvement. We have a lot of great
people who could be very helpful on this. I don't like the idea of that young man from
Florida being inhere. It makes us sound like we're the judge and jury on it. Even though
it's a horrible thing that happened, I'm not willing to be the judge and jury. I don't like
the word "many." What does that mean? A hundred? A thousand? I mean, we don't
have any absolute details about what "many" means. I mean, I could support some of
those if it said "some," uh, but I do totally support now ... from "now therefore." The rest
of it I have real problems with. I understand there's some problems and I'm willing to
address `em, but not with the "whereases." So thank you for (mumbled)
Payne/ I do agree with, um, Connie, um ... the very first "whereas" if you just started at the word
"among," and took the rest out. You don't, I mean, to me ... that ... I totally agree with
Connie. It's like we're ... we're judging something that we shouldn't and whether we
intend it to be interpreted that way or not, it could be. Um... so then the next "whereas"
would have to be wordsmithed a little bit to make it ... to make it work without having that
event in there. Um ... I ... I think that this is something that we should do, regardless of a
specific incident that happened. I mean, that's... that's why I agree with you that "now
therefore" is the right thing to do, um ... and I think that also ... having the ... the Treyvon
Martin case, um, specified in there diminishes other minority groups. I mean, that's not
the only reason to do this, is because of one incident. I mean, it's ... it's a good thing to do
regardless of whether that incident happened or not.
Dobyns/ And it would be consistent with some changes that changed, uh, the wording to include
the word minority, to be more expansive. So I ... I'm hearing to ... a sense of sort of get rid
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of the second part, uh, of the first paragraph. Any other concerns? People have any of
the "whereases" that make, you know...
Hayek/ We've ... and we've got three essential decisions to make. One is the wording of a ... of
this first resolution. Uh, we'll have to have a second resolution implementing the ad hoc
committee, but ... but (several responding) this one is before us. Second is, uh, the
makeup of the committee, and the third is the ... the marching orders we give to that
committee, the request that we broadcast.
Champion/ Well I've already stated — I will support from "now therefore" on.
Dobyns/ How about any of the "whereases ?" Any ... just sense...
Champion/ Oh, the one ... where it says "Iowa City's population is becoming more racially and
ethnically diverse," I mean how can you not support that? It's just a statement of fact.
Dobyns/ Any other "whereases" that people are uncomfortable with or think that aren't
necessary for...
Payne/ I mean I do agree with Connie that the "many" is maybe a little ... little over - broad.
Dobyns/ Uh -huh.
Payne/ Um ... the "whereas" it says "most minority (noise from audience, unable to hear) to Iowa
City in search of a better life." (mumbled) (noise from audience) ...people that move are
searching in a ... for a better life, whether they're minority or not, I mean that's ... is that
just like a fact?
Champion/ Well they could be coming for a job.
Hayek/ Uh, the word "unsettled" maybe semantic or minor but... that... that word bothers me.
Well, I ... I think it sort of ..I think it could be interpreted as dismissive of...of someone
in that ... in that position, uh, it almost suggests that they're just ... they're flustered.
Dobyns/ Uh -huh.
Hayek/ Urn ... I don't know.
Throgmorton/ Can you think of a different verb?
Hayek/ Well I would ... I would ... I would just say ... the shifts have contributed to increased
tension.
Dobyns/ Okay. Get rid of the clause?
Hayek/ You know ... um...
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Dobyns/ Okay.
Hayek/ ... are you using (several talking)
Dobyns/ She insulted me by handing me a piece of paper but (laughter) Any other ... well I think
the important thing, if any one of us is uncomfortable with it, I ... I would recommend that
we delete it, because what I initially said.
Hayek/ That ... that the important thing is to get to the committee and do the work (several
responding)
Throgmorton/ Well there's got to be a reason for doing the work though.
Champion/ (mumbled)
Throgmorton/ The "whereases "...just to articulate one particular point here. Uh, the
"whereases" come from conversations with minority members of our community. Um,
we didn't dream `em up!
Dobyns/ Yeah. But again I think for the, um, I think the service to the mission is to get this
going, and I think it would be nice to have, you know, the whole Council comfortable
with this. I think that gives it, uh, irrespective of the wording I think it gives it, uh.. .
power.
Hayek/ I ... I think ... I agree, I mean, I think it would get off on the wrong foot if a split vote
authorizes this resolution, because that ... then it distracts from the work of the committee.
Payne/ So can you have a resolution without all those whereases? Just start now therefore?
Dobyns/ Well, we're getting close (several talking)
Payne/ I mean obviously it couldn't start that way but...
Dobyns/ Well I think (mumbled) but that's what I'm asking, if someone is uncomfortable with it,
um, because it...it suggests something that doesn't need to be said, that can be assumed,
expected, um, or...
Payne/ Can you have one whereas?
Champion/ Yeah, like the one with the...
Payne/ The population?
Champion/ Right, the population.
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Hayek/ We could.
Champion/ I mean I...
Dobyns/ I would suggest the whereas of the demographics and the last whereas. The last
whereas, I think, is fairly symbolic.
Champion/ Yes. I ... I think that's good. I like ... I don't mind.
Throgmorton/ I'm sorry, I didn't hear ... you said...
Dobyns/ The last whereas, Jim. Um, including the third and the last whereas, and... deleting the
rest. I mean, I...
Champion/ I can totally support that!
Dobyns/ How about the rest of you, is there other things that we should include or is that...
Mims/ So are you talking about ... with the word changes we've talked, including... essentially
the first three then, taking out the reference (both talking)
Dobyns/ Well where we are now, Susan, is that, um, basically we'd include the whereas Iowa
City's population as the first whereas. The next whereas would be, uh, it is vital for Iowa
City's long -term prosperity, and only have two whereases, and then launch into the now
therefore. That's what I've ... I'm hearing.
Mims/ I think there's some valuable information in those first two whereases, that ... that really
are the gist of what got us back here, and I agree that this is a good thing to do and we
should have... should be doing it regardless of... of anything that has happened. I would
suggest, and I ... I hear the concerns about... referencing a specific incident, um, I
personally don't have a problem with it, but if it's an issue with other people then fine. I
guess what I would suggest is starting with ... the first one, whereas periodically events
occur around the nation or world that cause widespread concern, and whereas these
events and their aftermath serve as a reminder of the need to focus on issues of cultural
and racial awareness and acceptance in our own community.
Champion/ Can you read ... read that again for me? (several talking)
Mims/ The second one being ... where these events...
Hayek/ Yeah, Michelle's already...
Payne/ Do you want to just see it...
Hayek/ ...write down as you were listening to what...
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Payne/ Yeah, I just wrote it and then copied it onto all these pieces of paper! (laughter and
several talking)
Mims/ Basically taking that ... leaving out, stopping at concern on the first one. Right? And
urn ... um ... (several talking) and then making it plural in the second one — these events
and their aftermath.
Dobyns/ Uh -huh, okay.
Mims/ Serve as a reminder... keep the third whereas that talks about, uh, the racial changes
(several talking).
Dobyns/ Eliminate the fourth one?
Mims/ Um ... you know, quite frankly I wouldn't. I would take out the middle part of it. I think
the comments that people made early (several talking) yeah, whereas these demographic
shifts, uh, contribute to increased social tensions. Because they do! From both
directions.
Dobyns/ Okay. (several talking)
Throgmorton/ I like (both talking)
Mims/ I would ... and then go down to the last whereas — it is vital for Iowa City's long -term
prosperity to create a stronger and more inclusive sense of community... now therefore
the... directing that we set up a committee.
Dobyns/ Which whereases do you want to delete, Susan?
Mims/ I would delete ... the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth ones.
Payne/ Minority newcomers twice and minority residents?
Dobyns/ Uh -huh.
Payne/ The feeling watched.
Champion/ All right, can you re -read your sentence about the demographic shifts to me? You've
changed that a little bit.
Mims/ Whereas these demographic shifts contribute to increased social tensions.
Champion/ Okay!
Dobyns/ Which ... which one was that?
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Hayek/ That was the fourth...
Mims/ That's the fourth one.
Dobyns/ Okay. Okay.
Hayek/ Well if...if...if those changes collectively as marked down by Rick would get the buy -in
of the full group, we could, um ... we're going to have to ... we're not ... we wouldn't lose
any time by taking this one up with the second, enabling resolution... in two weeks' time.
You could come back to us in ... we could ... we could defer for one meeting what's on the
formal tonight and take both up.
Dobyns/ Okay.
Hayek/ At the second meeting, if that's what people...
Dobyns/ The second, uh, work session? I'm sorry.
Hayek/ No, I'm sorry, the meeting two weeks from now, because we're going to have to, um
(several talking) whenever our next meeting is. Whenever we ... get the second resolution
recommending the composition of the committee, etc.
Dobyns/ Okay. S
Mims / Are you saying not ... not approve this tonight?
Hayek/ Well we could, I don't know if we could get it back... and we could... for formal action
by...
Karr/ I think it's possible if you adjourn by 6:30. I can, um (laughter and several talking) You
can always defer it! (several talking)
Dobyns/ I would like to get it to Marian by 6:30 and (several talking)
Karr/ You can always defer it, I mean, when you see another clean copy you can still do as Matt
has suggested and double -up the ... the organizational matter with the administrative
manner on June 5th. Is what you're thinking, for the two resolutions.
Mims/ But I would agree, if we can get adjourned so that they can get a clean copy typed for us,
I would like to move forward on it (several talking)
Throgmorton/ I ... I would support that. I want to see us move ahead. (several talking)
Dobyns/ Any further comments or questions for...
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Mims/ Well, and I would thank everybody, I mean, some of the things we've talked about, I
mean, Michelle and I had talked about before the meeting and so ... yeah! Just some of
the things that I was reading she already had written out cause she had... she had
suggested them, and so I think it's ... I think it's a good adjustment.
Hayek/ Okay!
Dobyns/ Okay, thanks y'all!
Payne/ Good job, guys!
Mims/ Yes, thank you for your work!
Hayek/ Let's, uh ... let's move here cause we ... they have to have about 20 or 25 minutes to set us
up up there.
Mims / Right.
Hayek/ Okay, info packets. We have two, one from May 3`a; one from May l Otn
Information Packets (513 and 5 110):
Mims/ I would just um ... I think probably people ... if they read through this on ... IP2 for, uh, oh
gosh! For the May 3`d one. The rail presentation at the Chamber of Commerce, May 24th
at 3:30. So anybody who's ... need to RSVP for that if you're interested.
Hayek/ Anything else on the May 3`d?
Throgmorton/ You know, I ... I have a couple items, but I think our time is too short to ... really go
into it.
Hayek/ Well let's see what there is on May l Otn. If there's much interest on the May l Otn.
Remember your, uh, radio show, uh...
Dobyns/ Tomorrow!
Hayek/ ... commitments. (several talking) Anything else on, uh, on the May l Otng
Payne/ Do we need to give Marian our, as an IP6 to give her...
Champion/ Oh, for the ... next one?
Payne/ Yeah.
Mims/ I'm just going to raise this quickly... because in some sense it relates to what we just
talked about, but we don't have time to go into it in detail. We have in here ... oh... hang
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on just a second, IP8, the employment, equal employment opportunity commission
report, um, I ... I would like at some point to have a discussion and ... and information
from staff in terms of what is done in, uh, recruiting and hiring efforts to increase the
diversity of our City staff.
Dobyns/ Equal opportunity (mumbled)
Throgmorton/ If I could elaborate very briefly. It seems to me that's the kind of topic that could
be picked up by the committee that we will be creating. (several talking)
Markus/ That's... that's exactly where we thought that would go.
Mims/ Okay!
Hayek/ Back to KXIC, Marian, do you need signer- uppers? All right, let's do ... so we've got
June 6th, June 13th...
Payne/ I'll do June 13th.
Karr/ I'm sorry!
Payne/ I will do June 13th. Then put me on, um ... July l ltn
Throgmorton/ I can do June 6th
Hayek/ I'll do the 27th of June.
Mims/ Did anybody take the 201h already? I'll take the 20th !
Champion/ I can take anything that's open. Well, not all of `em but...
Hayek/ July 25? That gets us through July. (both talking)
Champion/ Oh, yeah, that's okay. I can do July 25.
Hayek/ All right (several talking) Okay. Um...
Payne/ Did you get all those, Marian?
Pending Work Session Topics:
Hayek/ Thanks! Why don't we just do Council time tonight at the end of the formal? Any, uh,
pending work session topics we need to modify or look at again?
Throgmorton/ Next three look pretty good. (several talking)
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Mims/ Yeah, I would agree.
Upcoming Events /Council Invitations:
Hayek/ Upcoming events? Do you want ... we might have five minutes here if you wanted to
touch upon the May 3rd Info Packet, Jim, there were a couple of items (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Well it's ... I'll be really briefly, if I can find my ... find my note!
Champion/ That'd be the first time! (laughter) I'm just joking! (laughter)
Throgmorton/ Okay, May 3rd, um, just a question. Why don't we receive information about
persons being placed on the civil service commission's preferred hiring list ... in our
packet? Why ... why don't we get that?
Markus/ I think it's just a notification of those that made eligibility lists.
Dilkes/ Yeah, I'd have to go back and check whether it's an actual requirement of the civil
service law. It maybe.
Throgmorton/ If it's required then obviously we do it. If it's not I don't see why we're doing it.
(several talking) Uh, maybe that's all I wanted to say. (laughter)
Hayek/ Okay! Well good! Okay, anything else for the good of the order? Okay, well I, uh, will
adjourn the meeting. We'll have a nice little break and come back at 7:00. Thanks!
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