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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-02-19 Transcription February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 1 Council Present: Champion, Dickens,Dobyns, Hayek, Mims, Payne, Throgmorton Staff Present: Markus,Fruin,Rackis,Bentley, Dulek, Long, Karr, Davidson, Knoche, Scott, Hightshoe, Reichart, Brotherton, Purdy,Morris, Andrew Others Present: Bramel (UISG) Agenda Items: Hayek/Okay, we're going to go ahead and get started with our,uh,work session for February 19th,2013. Want to welcome everyone! Let's get through a couple of,uh, items before our presentation this evening. First is questions from Council regarding agenda items. Champion/(mumbled) Hayek/(mumbled)have anything? Payne/Well I do! But... Champion/Is there a misspelling somewhere? ITEM 11. RESIDENTIAL SOLID WASTE CONTAINER STORAGE-ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 16,ENTITLED "PUBLIC WORKS," CHAPTER 3, ENTITLED "CITY UTILITIES,"AND TITLE 17,ENTITLED "BUILDING AND HOUSING," CHAPTER 5,ENTITLED, "HOUSING CODE," TO REQUIRE THAT WASTE CONTAINERS BE STORED BEHIND THE BUILDING LINE OF RESIDENTIAL STRUCTURES. (FIRST CONSIDERATION) Payne/No, I was going to let Jim go first if he had something. (several talking) Num...Item 11. The solid waste container storage. Just, I mean, I obviously...I read what's in the packet, but... Champion/Well right. Right! Payne/I really am...kind of at a loss as to why we would do this and make all of the people suffer for the sins of a few. Champion/What do you mean? Payne/It's...everybody in town doesn't have a problem putting their...with their trash can, and we're making all...everybody follow a rule that it may be a burden to follow the rule! Champion/But we all...most people follow it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 2 Hayek/Do we have staff here that could talk to us about this,maybe walk us (both talking) Payne/There isn't the rule though, at this point. (laughter and several talking) Markus/So this was out of uh HIS...and I think...I think the,um, I think in particular the...the neighborhoods on the north side and some of the inner,uh,neighborhoods had some pretty serious concerns about these dump...dumpsters being unsightly,urn, in the front yards so they've tried to shape an ordinance that would push these back a little bit further. Payne/ So...this is my house. This is the street, and my trash can sits right here. Markus/Is that the front yard? Payne/Yeah. And with this ordinance I can put it right here? Did it fix the problem? Markus/Yes. Payne/It did not fix the problem, because it's just as unsightly here as it was three foot away right here. Fix the problem rather than make an ordinance that everybody has to...follow something that doesn't make sense! Fix the problem! Markus/Well, and I think...I think the...I think you have some correspondence the northern,uh, neighborhood suggested that this should apply to multiple as well, and the ordinance doesn't do that. So I think...you're probably going to see this thing evolve over time,but I think this was their first stab at it. So... Dobyns/But we're voting on it! I mean, aren't we? Payne/Yes! Champion/Yes. (several talking) Markus/Yes,uh, Sue wants to join in on this. Dulek/I know Doug isn't here but Doug wanted to keep...if I could speak for him,the two issues separate. That is the big dumpsters that you'll see in a multi-family, uh, unit as opposed to the...the...recycling and trash containers in a single-family or a...a duplex separate. Um...and on the north side wanted to have them address now, but Doug decided just to do the one initially, and it...so it is just the blue recycling,uh,whatever container you put your sticks and grass and twigs in, and then the City-issued, uh,rolling, uh...solid waste container. Those are the three that this ordinance addresses. Champion/Oh wow. Dulek/Just to clarify the distinction there. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 3 Payne/So what do you do for people that don't have a place to put it on the side, or...and there's no way to screen it in the front. Champion/Well who would that be? Payne/Me for one! I don't have a place to put it on the side, and there's no way to screen it (both talking) Champion/Oh really? Oh! Throgmorton/Do you...do you have suggestions about how to fix the problem? Payne/If people don't scoop their sidewalk we send `em a letter. If they still don't scoop their sidewalk,we go scoop it for `em and bill `em. So do something similar to that! Dulek/The problem, it's not illegal right now, Michelle. That's the problem. Payne/But...make an ordinance that makes it illegal,but I don't have to put my trashcan on the side of my house. I mean, some people just don't have a place to put it on the side of their house. Markus/So would you argue that...those that do have a place to put it on the side, should put it on the side? Payne/Yes! Markus/And that maybe what we need to do is put in some provisions for special exceptions? Payne/And there is a...I think there is a provision for special exception, but you have to screen it! What if you don't have a way to screen it? Champion/Michelle,where do you put your trash can? Payne/On the front of my house at the edge of my garage. Champion/Oh, okay! Oh, okay! Payne/And putting it around the corner would move it three feet. I mean, it would move it from where I'm sitting to where Rick is sitting! Is that really going to change the issue? Champion/Oh, so you could put it on the side? Payne/In...it would be in front of my door into my garage. My walk-in door. Champion/Well that wouldn't be good. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 4 Mims/I'll have to say, when I read it...one of my concerns was...how much legislation do we need for picky-une little problems and is there some other better way to get at this, and I'm...I'm not sure yet what that is,but...I mean, it seems to me that...maybe we need a little bit more discussion and thought on...I mean, especially if people don't have a way to do it, and then are you ta...how much is it going to...I don't recall from reading it what they said constituted acceptable screening, and how much is that going to cost. Is that...you know, a real issue for somebody to have to...have somebody come in and build screening for it. I'm not quite ready to vote on this. I think it needs a little more thought personally. Markus/Well, I...again, going back to our strategic plan,neighborhood stabilization, neighborhood issues... Mims/Yep! Markus/ ...and I think that's what this is born out of, and I think it'd probably be good to hear from Doug as to what the genesis of this was and...and what they considered in drafting that. We believe, urn...that,uh,Doug will be here for the regular meeting and maybe we can hold the conversation until that point and have the conversation and...and if you want to kick it over for more information, we can do that, but um, I think this was as much born out of...uh,the citizenry raising the issue as it was. Staff just, you know, imagining a problem. Payne/And I totally understand that there is an issue,but I just don't know this is the best...solution! Mims/Yeah, I...yeah, I agree that... Dobyns/Would it be okay to take like a litmus test about how people feel, I mean, I...I'm trying to determine what we'll do in public session, I mean, an option was we could defer it. Mims/Right. (several talking) Dobyns/I'm just wondering...if we're... Throgmorton/I have a suggestion along those lines, and...I know the people in the northside neighborhood who have been,uh,promoting this, uh, and understand why they're doing it, but what I don't know is whether they've kind of worked it through the neighborhood association, and...and involved a variety of people, so that anybody who might be like Michelle and has a situation where they don't think they can actually move the trash can and resolve the problem, would have an opportunity to,you know,help shape, uh,this suggestion coming from the north side. So that...that's one thing I would suggest to... to Tom,that he have Doug or somebody kind of...encourage the Northside Association to process it a little more internally. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 5 Payne/But it isn't...doesn't just affect them. It affects the whole city(both talking) Throgmorton/No,but...but what I mean is,because it's coming from the Northside,they ...they feel it very intensely and...and therefore it would really be helpful for, uh, differing points of view to be processed within the neighborhood association,uh,before we fully, uh...uh, act on it. And,yeah, it affects other neighborhoods too and then maybe they should be involved(both talking) Hayek/Yeah, I mean...I guess where I am on this is...I don't...I'm not as bothered by this as you are, but I also think this would be a good opportunity...I don't see a great reason to move forward on something like this with a split vote. I mean, maybe we ought to consider deferring and I...I question whether this ought not be lumped into a broader bucket or conversational opportunity about...about other,you know, about other things that impact,uh...um,the...the look of homes and the look of neighborhoods. I mean, I can think of a lot of things maybe bother me more than something like this,whether it's you know, and a lot of it's with rental properties, you know,just the...the filth or, you know,unwashed,you know, siding or...or the things that really make them look bad from the street and...and dragged down a block(several talking)maybe we ought to take that up under the neighborhood stabilization rubric,but you know as...as several things we could consider, as opposed to a stand-alone. I don't know. Dobyns/Is there stuff coming up, Geoff? You know,that are similar to this that could be aggregated? Fruin/Could you say that again,Rick? Dobyns/(mumbled) sorry, is there like...like Matt said, are there things similar to this that could be aggregated,urn,that are like in the next six months that you can think of, or (mumbled) (both talking) Fruin/ ...we'll have an update,you know, where we'll spend a work session going over all the neighborhood issues with you again. One thing that comes to mind that's timely and somewhat related is the release of the mobile app which will help, um...uh, help people, urn, forward on concerns and complaints to us. It doesn't necessarily,uh, deal with a specific issue like this, but it...it all relates to property maintenance, infrastructure maintenance,that sort of thing. So,um,there are some things that are...that are related, but...uh, we could certainly hold it until the work session dis...discussion. Mims/Well, I think certainly to hear what...if Doug is here for the formal to hear what he has to say might influence our decision, as well. (mumbled) Hayek/Okay, so we'll...we'll do an audible this evening,based on what we hear. Okay. Other... Throgmorton/And I guess I have a couple things, uh... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 6 Hayek/ Sure! Throgmorton/ ...uh,now that Michelle's taken up all that time (laughter) Payne/I told you you could go first! (laughter) Hayek/She did give ya a chance! (laughter) ITEM 5e(2) WEST SIDE LEVEE -RESOLUTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING ON MARCH 5,2013,ON PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS,FORM OF CONTRACT,AND ESTIMATE OF COST FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE WEST SIDE LEVEE PROJECT,DIRECTING CITY CLERK TO PUBLISH NOTICE OF SAID HEARING,AND DIRECTING THE CITY ENGINEER TO PLACE SAID PLANS ON FILE FOR PUBLIC INSPECTION. Throgmorton/Uh,with regard to, uh, Item 5e(2),the west side levee. I'm just wondering whether residents have been informed, uh, of the forthcoming public hearing. Reichart/Council,urn,Jason Reichart, Special Projects Engineer. Urn,not at this time. We are planning on having a...another public meeting, I guess. I don't know if that'll count,but we can send something out about the public hearing so...was there a concern with the CDBG requirements (both talking) Throgmorton/No, I'm just thinking it's,uh, really fruitful to make sure that people who will be affected by something like a levee know about it far enough in advance so they don't get surprised. Reichart/Okay. Throgmorton/That's all! Reichart/Okay! Thanks! Hayek/Thanks,Jason. Mims/It does make sense to wait till we've actually passed the resolution(mumbled)to send it but(both talking) Throgmorton/Yeah(both talking) Mims/ ...get that out there now makes sense. (both talking) ITEM 5f. Correspondence: ITEM 5f(6) Cindy Roberts: Family Skate time returns to Grant Wood Elementary. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 7 Throgmorton/And one other thing, I see Cindy, uh, Roberts out in the audience and uh...we received an email from her about family skate time returning to Grant Wood Elementary, and(both talking) Champion/On Sunday afternoon or(mumbled) Saturday afternoon? Throgmorton/Sorry? Champion/Saturday afternoon or Sunday afternoon? Roberts/(in audience, away from mic) It's Sunday afternoons. Hayek/Yeah, Sunday afternoon. Throgmorton/I...just wanted to acknowledge that and say it's very pleasing to see. Hope it goes great! Hayek/Any other agenda items? ITEM 7g MACKINAW VILLAGE —RESOLUTION APPROVING THE PRELIMINARY PLAT OF MACKINAW VILLAGE—PART FIVE,IOWA CITY,IOWA. (SUB12-00015) Dobyns/I had a question on 7g,uh, Sue, is that one I think we can talk about in work session? (mumbled)Planning and Zoning items. (several talking) That's okay? All right. I just had a question. I was taking a look at the plot and I was thinking...I guess that trail next to the Iowa River is...is going to have to work its way through the cliffs. Is that...it's called Manitou Trail now, I guess it has a name? Davidson/Uh, no, it does not have a name. Dobyns/Oh, okay! All right. I read that some place. Um... Davidson/Rick's... Dobyns/Oh,the street is Manitou Trail. Okay. Davidson/Yeah, street's (mumbled) Dobyns/And I was thinking, is there... Davidson/Let's see...okay, I thought I had something that showed the whole area. I don't. Well... Dobyns/It was the one after that,but you can(both talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 8 Davidson/Yeah, you can kind of see it here. Bas...basically where the well access field trails are down,uh, in the water park, uh, or the, excuse me, Peninsula...well,by the dog park down in here. Dobyns/Uh-huh. Davidson/We will pick up at the terminus of one of those trails, and the idea is to run a trail up (clears throat)along the river(clears throat) excuse me. Uh, along the river, as Rick mentioned,there are...in this area, some cliffs that Irving Weber used to dive off of or jump off of, something like that, uh,that we will have to get around, and I don't know that we've exactly engineered a solution to that yet,but that's the idea, and then eventually once we get up here,right here's where the,uh, outlot is that they dedicated for the trail to extend,uh, existing built trail,that extends underneath the interstate and ties in with the water plant trails. This trail that comes up along the riv...river will tie into that, forming a nice... Dobyns/Okay! Davidson/ ...uh,nice network, and we have a...a REAP grant right now for$200,000. We...we haven't exactly figured out how we're going to use it—if we're going to build part of the trail or try and get a federal grant to match it with and build the whole thing,but...we do have the $200,000,uh, so far for that. Dobyns/Thank you! Payne/Thank you for answering my, uh, email today too, by the way. Hayek/Other agenda items? ITEM 7d CONDITIONALLY REZONING ROBERTS DAIRY/HY-VEE GROCERY-ORDINANCE CONDITIONALLY REZONING APPROXIMATELY 7.79 ACRES OF LAND LOCATED AT THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE INTERSECTION OF NORTH DODGE STREET AND PRAIRIE DU CHIEN ROAD FROM MEDIUM DENSITY SINGLE FAMILY(RS-8),NEIGHBORHOOD PUBLIC (P-1)AND HIGHWAY COMMERCIAL (CH-1)TO PLANNED DEVELOPMENT OVERLAY COMMUNITY COMMERCIAL (OPD-CC-2). (REZ12-00026) (PASS AND ADOPT) [Discussion only at formal meeting] ITEM 7e VACATING THE RIGHT-OF-WAY ROBERTS DAIRY/HY-VEE GROCERY-ORDINANCE VACATING THE RIGHT-OF-WAY FOR A PORTION OF ST. CLEMENT STREET (VAC12-00005). (PASS AND ADOPT) [Discussion only at formal meeting] This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 9 ITEM 7f PRELIMINARY PLAT ROBERTS DAIRY/HY-VEE -RESOLUTION APPROVING THE PRELIMINARY PLAT OF ROBERTS DAIRY ADDITION,IOWA CITY,IOWA. (SUB12-00012) Karr/Mr. Mayor, Items...urn, d, e...and f,the Hy-Vee/Roberts Dairy matters have been requested to be deferred to March 5a'. Champion/Oh my gosh! Karr/Thank you. Hayek/Thank you! So...uh...7d, 7e, 7f. Karr/Yes. Hayek/I'll need a motion to defer to March 5t". Payne/Motion to...oh, you don't mean right now! (laughter) Hayek/You can try it! (laughter) Champion/D! E! and F! Okay. Karr/You can do it in one motion. Champion/Yeah. Council Appointments: Hayek/Okay! Other agenda items? Okay, let's move on to board and commission appointments. We have a number of them to make this evening. Champion/Yeah, I couldn't get a hold of all of those. Hayek/Um...the...basically if you want to just go to your agenda. It's Items 3e through the end. Uh, or 13e through the end,rather, um, are all ones with openings. Mims/Airport Commission was the first one that we had, uh, anybody apply for, and I don't know if everybody got the email today, um...Minnetta? Is that how you say...okay, and I thought her, um...information was very enlightening in terms of historically they've always had it...tried to have a balance of at least two people on the Airport Commission that either are pilots or have a strong aviation affiliation. It looks like they've gone out and done some recruiting,but those, you know, applications didn't make it in by the deadline. So I would be interested in,urn, not acting on that one tonight and waiting to see,uh,what else we get in on that one. (several talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 10 Dobyns/ ...one applicant for that.... Champion/Yeah, and I thought... Dobyns/ ...applied... Mims/Other places, right(both talking) Dobyns/ ...the male position for the Planning and Zoning Commission, which... Champion/But I also thought he was really new to Iowa City. He wants to get involved and I don't want to discourage that. But I didn't think he really qualified for the Airport Commission, and there was one other commission I thought he was more qualified for. Mims/So, I...I would just be interested in just leaving the Airport Commission open right now. Karr/ So we'll have to...we'll re-advertise that one then? Re-advertise? Hayek/Yep. Payne/So do we have to say that at the meeting? That we're going to... Karr/Yes,we do have to advertise that one...to allow for new applications we'll have to, yes. Hayek/Okay. Civil Service Commission,uh, one vacancy. Uh,three names. Throgmorton/I'd like to, uh, recommend Jesse Case, um...uh, for that position, and when I say that...when I do that, urn...I'm conscious that Bill Cook is, uh, served now, I guess for two full four-year terms, and I know Bill; he's a good guy, so I don't mean anything critical of...of him in suggesting someone else,but I'd just like to put Jesse's name out there. Champion/Well I think that's...I think that's fine! I...I...I think...(mumbled)has served two full term commissions, we like to replace them with somebody who's qualified(several talking) Dobyns/ ...and so we would have... Hayek/I... Dobyns/ ...and the other one was... Hayek/Retired police sergeant. Dobyns/Yes. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19,2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 11 Hayek/I'd be fine with...with Jesse. I...I've known him for a while,um...uh, and he's a very, uh,reasonable,responsible guy, who's done everything,uh...that I worked on with him (mumbled)the city,uh, with a great degree of responsibility,takes it seriously. I'd be okay with that. Mims/Sounds fine... Payne/That's fine with me too. Mims/Yeah. Hayek/Okay. Mims/I mean, I don't know him but again, I would agree. When somebody's done two full terms, I think we need to look at that option of...depending on the need for continuity and stuff. Switch it up some. Hayek/Okay. Um...13g is Historic Preservation Commission. We need to fill spots for the Brown Street, Summit Street, and at-large positions. Mims/Well, if we go with the districts, it kind of takes care of itself. Throgmorton/Yeah. It's (several talking) Mims/Kent Ackerson for Brown Street(several talking) Frank Durham for Summit and then if we did Kate Corcoran for the at-large,that would meet our gender requirements and the district requirements. Throgmorton/Right. Champion/I agree. Payne/I agree too! Dobyns/Jim, can I ask...you were mention for...Mr. Elias. Throgmorton/Yep. Dobyns/Urn, did he have a sense of where he might have the best role, if any? Throgmorton/Well,uh, to be honest, it looks to me like he's got,uh,terrific qualifications and a really good background (both talking) Dobyns/For this or... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 12 Throgmorton/No. I...I think he doesn't...I...I'd recommend other people for every one of the positions... Dobyns/Yeah. Throgmorton/ ...but...you know, he...he's only been here for a year. I...I think we need to connect with him and...try to get him into the...into the loop in some particular way. Champion/I agree (several talking) Dobyns/' But none of the things for which he's applied for. Throgmorton/(both talking)yeah, for these particular positions... Dobyns/Okay, I was just clarifying. Throgmorton/ ...yeah... Dobyns/No, I would agree with that. I was just...okay. Hayek/Okay, so...all right...Kent Ackerson for Brown Street, Frank Durham for Summit Street, and then at-large Kate Corcoran? Is that what I'm hearing? (several responding) Okay. P&Z. Champion/That's a difficult one. Dobyns/Well I had a chance. I appreciate the, uh, I...I suspect all of us got them from,uh, Connie Goeb,however you pronounce that. I know Jodie Theobald very well. I think she'd do a great job,but I...Michelle and I chatted the other day cause you were on the Planning and Zoning Commission while I just had a question about, okay, how many of these people have been on the P&Z Committee for what period of time, and my sense is I'm still trying to figure out Planning and Zoning, so I asked you how long it took, and you said five... Payne/Five years! Champion/Yes! Dobyns/Five years, um, and you were telling me a lot of the people have been there less than five years, and so...even though Ann has been there a long time, I think she's done a good job and it sounds like we need her experience (several talking) Champion/ ...and that would be unusual for me to do that, but I think that commission takes so long, and it has a lot of fairly new people on it now. Mims/Yes, especially because of that! (several talking) I think it's important. (several talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19,2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 13 Dobyns/ So the corollary of that is Bram Elias's for the same reason, I mean,we appreciate him applying but there is a male position, so we ha...we have a male,but if we didn't put him in there, we'd basically have to keep it open. (several talking) Hayek/ So, uh...okay. Um...do we want to appoint...reappoint Ann Freerks and reappoint, or re...re-advertise? That position? (several talking) Champion/Yes! Yes! Dobyns/ ...that's what I'm thinking. Mims/I guess my only question is,he's relatively new to the community,um, anybody applying for this, for the P&Z I think is... Champion/Brave! (laughs) Mims/ ...is like learning Greek. Is he learning Greek more than somebody else is (both talking)? Champion/Oh, I see! Mims/I mean... Champion/ So maybe we ought to put him on it! Mims/Well, I don't know! Payne/He seems very enthusiastic. Mims/Yeah,he's very... Champion/I'd hate to discourage him! Mims/Well, in going...going to the last one then is the Telecommunications. We've got Hans Hoerschelman who is finishing up his second three-year term. Champion/And we want to keep him. Mims/Or...well, do we, or do we put Bram Elias on there? Champion/Let's put him on Planning and Zoning. Throgmorton/I think... Champion/Let's see how tough he is! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 14 Throgmorton/(laughter) (mumbled) ...would be a mistake to put him on(several talking) Dobyns/But, okay, I acknowledge he could learn Greek,but he doesn't know the language of Iowa City. (several talking) Champion/Maybe that's better. Dobyns/(several talking) Planning and Zoning is a...I mean, I think it's (both talking) Champion/I didn't know the language of Iowa City and I ran for City Council! Dobyns/Yeah. Champion/I mean,he'll learn! (several talking and laughing) Hayek/Don't go there, Connie! (laughter) Dobyns/(mumbled) we think he's been here long enough to be on...one of our most important committees—Planning and Zoning—he certainly's been here long enough to be on Airport Commission and Preser...and the other things he's applied for. So I guess... Mims/ Some of those were gender...issues too in terms of meeting some of those. Dobyns/Okay. Mims/I mean... Dobyns/But if we think he can be on Planning and Zoning...then I would suggest we...certainly could be on... Mims/Well, if we've got questions about P&Z then why not Telecommunications? Dobyns/Okay. Hayek/Maybe we should. Jim,make...you were going to make a point about why you would not appoint him to P&Z. Throgmorton/Uh,well...I think the reasons have already been articulated,but mainly,uh, because it takes so long to really understand what's going on with regard to Planning and Zoning issues and secondly, you have to know the town. You really have to understand the people. You have to understand where things are. You gotta understand how things fit together. And...it takes time for that to happen, and I...I'd feel really uncomfortable with somebody coming in after only having lived in town for one year and taking on that responsibility. It's that simple! Mims/I'm comfortable(several talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 15 Champion/Okay! Hayek/Okay. So we will...we will,uh, go with Ann Freerks and...and re-advertise for the other P&Z, uh, item and then on Telecomm,what do we want to do? (several talking) Champion/Well, I think we should put...the person who has only had one full term. Mims/But hasn't he had two? Payne/ Second...he's currently serving second three-year term. Mims/Yeah, he's finishing his second three-year term. Champion/Oh! Mims/If I read it right. Throgmorton/Do we know anything about the...the make-up of the commission and how many people have been there for how long? You know,would we have a big turnover challenge... Champion/I don't think that commission ever has a big turnover. Payne/(mumbled)at the end. No. Champion/I don't know. Payne/That one doesn't have a...oh here it is! There's not very many people on(both talking) Hayek/ ...either way on this one. Payne/Yeah. Mims/I...I guess I would do...I would do the Telecommunications. Hayek/You'd put him on? (several talking) Champion/Yeah, let's put him on something(several talking) Mims/(both talking) give him a chance. Sure! Hayek/Okay! (several talking) Okay,that takes care of that. Uh,next item is,uh, local homeless services, so (mumbled)that discussion. Hi, Chrissy! Local Homeless Services (1P2): This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 16 Canganelli/Do I need to sign in? Okay(laughter and several responding) Hi! Um,this evening I,uh,have been asked to just,uh, give an overview of homeless services, urn, issues in our community, and hopefully you have questions that you have for me and then, urn, I have brought a couple of people who serve with, uh, Shelter House, um, in other capacities. Stephanie VanHousen who's with the Iowa City Community School District and is our liaison for homeless children in the school district, and Professor Will Liu who's with the Counseling Psychology Program at the University of Iowa and has worked with us for over six years in delivering mental health services. Throgmorton/Chrissy, could you say their names again,please? Canganelli/Sure! Stephanie VanHousen. Throgmorton/Yeah. Canganelli/And Professor Will Liu. Throgmorton/Thanks. Canganelli/And time permitting, uh, Phoebe Trepp from our own staff who's working on one of our new initiatives—The Lodge. So,um, it's been a little over two years since we moved into our new facility and that meant that for Johnson County,um, we went from providing 29 beds of emergency or transitional shelter services to, urn, 70 beds. Urn... technically there are 56 shelter beds at the Southgate facility and 14 transitional housing beds for veterans. For the 14 transitional housing beds,those veterans can stay for up to two years. So they're not the typical,urn, you know,they don't fall under what people typically consider shelter, so I just want to make sure that folks do understand that we have 56 shelter beds and 14 transitional housing beds. Urn,we've run at capacity most every night,uh, since opening. It's been rare that we ever drop below capacity. Um, I brought a fair amount of information to share with you. Uh,there are different...formats of presenting information that have everything to do with activity level,urn, of services to outcome and impact that we feel we're being able to achieve with folks who are experiencing homelessness in our community. More narrative information on program overview. Urn, so I'll just try to provide a highlight of the services and...and not be brain numbing in the information that I have to share(laughs). Um...so the core of what we do is that we provide that shelter, uh,that emergency assistance, and again,that's those 70 beds that are made available. Men, women, children, disabled, elderly, veterans,um,the entire general homeless population. That is,uh, atypical for many organization providing homeless services. There's a tendency to want to compartmentalize. Um...in the last year over 50% of who we worked with were women and children, urn, 15%of the entire population that we served were veterans. Urn, which constituted 19%of the adults. If you look at the general population for Johnson County,veterans are only representative of 5%of the population, so we have over three times representation of the general population for veterans in the shelter. Uh, recently I think that there's been, uh, information that was shared as far as homeless counts across the state, specifically,uh, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 17 Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, Dubuque and how that compares to Iowa City,uh,that was provided in local media coverage. Um,there is a higher per capita of incidence of homelessness,uh, in our community than say in Dubuque or Waterloo,um, and I often times people have questions as to why would that be, and there's the supposition that we have this extensive,extraordinary support, urn, continuum of services here that are not to be found elsewhere, and um, whereas we have a really strong network of services. We have amazing partners that we work with, which include the Iowa City Community School District,the Iowa City Police Department, and the City of Iowa City staff. It is not atypical that these services and relationships,um,you know, exist. They exist in other communities across the state. What is different and what makes Iowa City different is some pull factors that I think that are extraordinary, which are the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics,the V.A. Medical Center,um, and the fact that we are right off of Interstate 80,uh,those things do have an impact and...and they should not be discounted. One of the founding purposes for Shelter House, it's in our articles of incorporation dating back to 1983 is to provide shelter and services for people and their families who are seeking medical care at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and the V.A. So it was an issue more than 20 years ago, and it's still an issue today. And it has to do on the margins with increased numbers of people that we see here, not just as they're coming through the Shelter, but as people who are very vulnerable remain in our community, and need help ongoing. U1n...I spoke a little bit about the transitional housing program for the veterans. So there're participating veterans that, urn, can stay for up to two years, as long as they're working with our case managers and addressing their health issues, mental health issues, maintaining sobriety; urn, if they're able to work that they're working with our vocational coordinator to find employment,maintain employment,um, and then working towards their own housing stability, meaning a more permanent housing placement outside of the Shelter. Their average stay is six months, even though they could stay for up to two years. We're really not seeing people wanting to remain in a shelter environment for that long. It's just available to them if it's needed. Urn...a core service that we offer that makes us so much more than just a roof over people's heads is the Star Program. Um,the Star Program is one of the only programs in our community that's actually a strategic goal within the,uh, Iowa City's Consolidated Plan—City Steps —and I think that that's noteworthy that it's an articulated goal, continuation and support of the Star Program. It's the number one ranked program in the state of Iowa,homeless program by, urn, a...a committee of our peers and the Iowa Finance Authority. So, we're really proud of the work that we're able...we're doing, and the impact and the performance that we're able to achieve in working with other providers in our community and employers in our community to address people's health, mental health,their sobriety, and working with MECCA, for example, urn, and then employers to get people into employment so that they're earning income and able to eventually move out of the Shelter and into their own housing. So that's...essentially what we're doing through that Star Program. Individuals and families work with a case manager to address all those issues as they're staying with us and help them forward and beyond the Shelter. Throgmorton/What...what does Star stand for? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. mimmorimini February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 18 Canganelli/It's an acronym, a name for our program—supported training and access to resources. It's a HUD-funded program with a local match,which the City and local businesses and donors also support through contributions. Dobyns/Do they have a requirement as far as,uh, square footage of space necessary in the facility that receives grants? That... Canganelli/Pardon me? Dobyns/Do they have a requirement to participate in Star and to get funding from them,that you have certain square footage devoted to it in your facility? Canganelli/No! 1 Dobyns/Okay. Canganelli/No,uh-huh. Dobyns/Just...it's just a service. It's not a...you have to have this much room. Canganelli/No, no...it's a HUD-funded program. It's considered supportive services only. Dobyns/Okay. Canganelli/Um,there's not...space requirements to that, but there is a delivery of services and...and a scope of services that are essential. Does that... Dobyns/Yeah. (both talking) Canganelli/Um...we've really recalibrated that program to focus in on vocational coordination, vocational services, and have taken a case management position to focus on literally vocational coordination, building relationships with employers,building employability skills, urn, and working within our own internal programs, and I'll talk a little bit about those,to help build the...the skill set of the individuals who are coming through our doors and able to work,want to work, and...and just need some additional employment skills. Urn...we have a similar program,but it's entirely focused on employment and it's for veterans. It's a partnership with the Department of Labor,um, it's Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program, and we're working with Department of Labor and the V.A. to identify veterans that are interested in employment, able to work, want to build skills,want to enhance the experience that they've had from their,uh,military service, urn, or maybe go in a different direction,work with us to gain employment in the community and then maintain that employment. So the focus is on employment placement and then retention. Um...we have a series of skills workshops that we've offered as we've opened the new facility and those focus in on, urn, some soft skills, life skills, essential skills necessary for success in the work environment, um, skill sets that are necessary,uh,that I think many people might take for granted, but...but,uh, housing This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 19 skills, for example,what it is to be a good neighbor, what it is to be a tenant, what are my responsibilities, urn,what are the responsibilities of my landlord. So we've turned these into skills workshops,urn, some other subject matters that are discussed: anger management is a six-weeks series that we offer at the Shelter,um, self-empowerment and uh, Will will speak a little bit about that, and he takes leadership in coordinating these series of,um...skills workshops that are offered...offered and often times required of people staying at the Shelter. Um...we offer a daily drop-in center. So Monday through Friday, 1:00 to 4:00 P.M.; Saturdays and Sundays, 8:00 A.M. to 10:00 A.M. We are open to the public; anybody who wants to come in,take a shower, do their laundry, uh, sit down and meet with an individual staff person, urn,to access services,uh, get referrals to different organizations and support services,that can happen for anyone who wants to come in. Um...we have ventured into the area of permanent supportive housing recently, and a lot of this has to do with I think, urn, or is in response to the manifestation of homelessness if we've...as we've seen in our community, and in response to people who we've seen over the years coming back through our services. Um, so the recidivism and who is coming back through. So our response to that so far has been to focus in on permanent supportive housing and developing,urn, two properties that are, uh, consistent with the Fair Weather Lodge model. If you, uh, you're interested in researching more of that,we worked very closely with an organization up in Minneapolis called Tasks Unlimited, and so we have two functioning lodges. Urn, I think that we have seven people placed now in those lodges. Urn,people in the lodge program have serious, persistent mental illness so Axis I diagnoses. Urn, often times they've been told that they shouldn't work,they will never work. Work is a requisite for participation in the lodge program. We've launched a janitorial service. They're employed from day one of their training, urn,to be in the lodge program,uh, so it's,urn, a very comprehensive model. It's a community living model and community working model. And very new. It's the first, uh,program of its type in...in the state of Iowa, and was ranked number one as new program proposals,uh,to the state of Iowa this year. Ur...let's see...uh, additionally, uh, something that we feel,uh,we're very proud of, and is quite innovative is part of our social enterprise work, and I touched on that with,uh,mentioning that we have a janitorial service. Uh, we also have a culinary training program,um, 12-week, uh, culinary training program at Shelter House. We have a commercial-grade kitchen,uh, for individuals who are interested in gaining skills in the culinary field. We have a chef and staff who work side-by-side and help people build skills in the kitchen and then, uh, work towards placement in the industry and in our community. In doing that,we're also able to not only produce healthy, nutritious meals for the clients at the Shelter, but we do,urn, food production,meal service for MECCA clients and for youth homes. So we're then able to generate revenue to offset the costs of our program, urn, and also service health, nutritious meals for other at-risk populations in our community. Furthermore, we're open for business to,urn, other local businesses and organizations for catering. We opened, uh, a deli in partnership with the University of Iowa this past summer, and um, do food ...food service,uh, out of that location and again, generate revenue to help offset our cost of operation. So we're very proud of those innovative small business, like micro- business enterprise that we've started that help to build employment skills and then actual employment for the individuals that we're serving. Um...so I hope that gives you a flavor of who we are and what we're doing, and the direction that we're going. Um, in This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 20 particular I've invited,um,the folks that I mentioned to speak about two sub-populations that I think are very vulnerable and um, consistently of interest to not only the City Council,but our community at-large, and that would be,uh,the youth that are experiencing homelessness. Urn,the School District(mumbled)more children than we ever do in a year that are experiencing homelessness and so Stephanie VanHousen is here to speak about that, and then after that if Will Liu could just share some information about folks who are dealing with mental health issues,unless you wanted to specifically ask me a question right now cause I can be available later. Throgmorton/I...I'd like to, Chrissy. Urn, is...could you provide an estimate of the total number of people in our town who are homeless at any one point in time? I mean, what...you know, and how does it vary from season to season, I mean, what...what's known about that? Canganelli/Um, I apologize. I don't have the point in time count with me,but Tracy Hightshoe, I know, helped us with coordinating that. Um,but I can tell you that it doesn't vary largely from any one point in time in the year to another. What does vary is that HUD has, um,the requirement that a point in time count is done at a certain time in the year, and that's typically the last week of January, and urn...what is difficult is at that point in time of the year is to find people. It's not that they're not out there at other times in the year with the same numbers. It's just finding them becomes more difficult. Does that... make sense? I... Throgmorton/Fifty people? Two hundred people? Canganelli/Who are homeless? Throgmorton/A thousand people, I mean...you know, is there any rough estimate about that? Canganelli/Well,there's at least 70 at the Shelter(laughs) Hightshoe/ ...the street and time count is,urn, volunteers went out with,urn, local police officers and there was 26, and that was about the same number as last year, and that was people that they found out in...the streets,under bridges, in camps, urn, so the number hasn't increased. It's about the same. But we're waiting for the State numbers because ,urn, they also ask in all the, uh, individual service providers for transitional housing, like HACAP, Shelter House, DVIP—will be sending their numbers directly to the State, and then we'll get a count for the County, and I don't have that information yet. But the street count was 26. Hayek/Thanks, Tracy! • Canganelli/That's the unsheltered numbers, versus those that are, um...currently sheltered at different providers throughout the community. What that does not touch on are people who are living doubled up. There's not ever a really good number or estimate on that. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 21 Champion/Chrissy, could you talk a little bit of why those 26 aren't in the Shelter? (mumbled) that there's stipulations for that. Canganelli/Sure. I think that that's been a significant concern over the last few months, or really not so much as to who we are serving but who's kind of being left out and...and not getting into services, and urn,by and large,those are individuals that we consider service- resistant, um, serious,uh,health issues,but primarily, uh, chronic substance abuse issues, co-occurring issues with mental illness,but there's a...a consistent chronic substance abuse,uh, issue. With Shelter House, as far as getting into the Shelter,we do a Breathalyzer; if you blow over a.07 you're evicted. It's a three-day eviction. If you blow any amount,urn, it leads to a progressive engagement...or a progressive discipline process and it will lead to eviction. So we do have some barriers that Shelter House...we've got some rules and restrictions,uh,that we feel necessary because we're running a shelter for men,women, children;with the number of people that we're working with—we're not a detox center. So there...there are some limiting issues and... and that is primarily the population. There's been a fair amount of conversation and I've seen some,urn, material that was included in your packet to, uh, offer,urn, opening up overflow,urn, and just conversation in general about overflow,the need for overflow. Um, I...I'd like us to be a little more careful as a community as...when we talk about that. You're not looking for overflow. That's not what people are looking for. They're looking for a wet shelter. When the Shelter had a capacity of 29 beds, and we had overflow through our faith communities,um,the individuals who are out on the street tonight, and were out there last night, would not have been in the overflow. So that's not what we're talking about as a community. It's a wet shelter, or...an entirely different program approach, which would offer greater health and dignity, which would be, um, a program more along the lines of a`housing first' initiative. That would take a lot more time than the band-aid of a wet shelter,but it...it is not overflow. We've operated within capacity. We've had a certain ability to extend that capacity as long as there are not complaints for...from the neighborhood and we've operated within that expanded winter capacity that we've been able to make available at Shelter House. We've not exceeded that. So the people who are not coming in are just not able to ask...access the services in the manner that they're made available. Does that... Champion/I don't think,yeah, I don't think people are worried(mumbled) why I wanted you to kind of explain it to them. Hayek/What...what is the expanded winter capacity? Can you...explain that a little more, quantify it? Or do you...if you don't want to (laughter)retract my question. (laughter) Canganelli/Well I...I just prefer not to... Hayek/Forthwith...forthwith(laughter) Got it! Little slow to the take sometimes! (laughter) Canganelli/I want to,uh, address your concerns honestly, and I also want to (mumbled) (both talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 22 Hayek/Sorry I asked! (laughter) Canganelli/ So,urn, could I ask Stephanie to share information? Okay. VanHousen/Hello, my name's Stephanie VanHousen and I'm the Homeless Liaison for the Iowa City Community School District. And I imagine none of you knew such a position existed. Um, since 1984...84, 85,the federal government has mandated that there be a homeless liaison in every school district in the United States. Urn, some are more active than others,but urn, it is to ensure that students that are considered homeless are receiving the same free and appropriate public education as their peers. Um,there had been a history of problems in the past in some communities and so the federal government,Republicans as well as Democrats, got together and created this law and they've maintained it and we authorized it through No Child Left Behind. Urn,with that said, urn,they define students that are homeless. Last year we had...471 students that we knew were homeless in the Iowa City Community School District,which is a lot of children. Urn, and those are just the ones we know about. Mostly elementary, a few junior high,and a few high school,but mostly elementary. Throgmorton/Sorry, Stephanie, I...I missed the number. Could you... VanHousen/471 last year. Throgmorton/Thank you. Mims/Do you have any idea how long that homeless period is going on, on average, or... VanHousen/Urn,that's something that we can figure out. We don't have data right now,but I know,urn, it...it appears that we have more students that are homeless this year than last year,but yet when I run the numbers today of who's enrolled in school and listed in the ...in the system as homeless,today it says there's 200 and...eight or something like that. That's because of students coming in and students leaving. So it's...it's a different number... Mims/Every day. VanHousen/ ...and...and what time of day you...you run it. Um,but there's a lot of students that are homeless and it does seem like that they're homeless longer. It seems like we started out the year with more homeless families, urn, and...and a lot of them are still homeless. Um,you're considered homeless,um, under the Department of Education if you are living in transitional housing, if you're living in shelters, if you're living doubled- up, and mo...or half of the students that we know about that are homeless are doubled- up...because most families don't go to the shelter. They're not able to get in to the shelter or they're not comfortable,um, yet going to the shelter, so they go and stay with family or friends. And they sleep on floors,urn, sometimes with no blankets, often with no,urn,mattress or anything under them. U1n...we have a lot of families living in motels in the...in the area, and...we, you'll see school buses going into motels or near motels to This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 23 pick up kids and get them to their school. Um...students that, um...we even have had some students living in campgrounds at the beginning of the year, until it got cold,until November. So,um...we...probably none of you see them, but the teachers see them as they're coming in to school and these students have a lot of need. Urn, I thank you for the opportunity to come in and tell you about this. Urn,the district does a lot of things for these students. Um, as they move around. When you...when you're homeless you often bounce around from couch to couch, or you may be in the shelter and then you'll start in one school and then you get a,maybe you get a temporary house. You move out and move to that, and then you may get...a better place and move into that. So you... there could be lots of moves for children, and the school...the federal law and...and what the School District does is we make sure that kids can stay in the school they started out the year in when they became homeless, if that's their preference. Or they can attend in the school in the area they're living in. Urn, and I'll give you an example of...of how we collaborated and worked together, urn, on one student, and really had a good outcome recently after a couple of years' worth of work,because it takes about that long for families to get stable. It's hard when you start out with nothing. Um,the School District, urn,will bus or cab kids from where they're living to their schools. Um, I'll often get a phone call from someone at the shelter. We had somebody move in over the weekend. Urn,they have three kids need to get enrolled in school and they need to get started in school. Um, I can get...get them to school and registered or starting school right away, so that those kids don't have to sit around and wait, cause every day that they miss school,they're not learning. We know that. Or they're learning,but they're not learning the things that we want them to learn. Uln...and, urn, I work with both of the shelters and um...we work to get kids in as fast as possible always. Urn,the School District can provide the transportation to the school for the entire year, even after the family becomes housed, for the entirety of the school year. Urn, we can set kids up with tutoring. They can have up to two hours of tutoring, urn, oftentimes if they're...if they're moving into a...a school that would be considered a Title school, one above the poverty,urn, average in the District,they will have, um, extra programs, extra reading support in that,but if they happen to move into a school that doesn't have the extra programs,urn,we can find tutors for those kids and get the tutors out to the kids, if...if they want to have each one of their children(mumbled) staying at the shelter for example. If they want each one of their children to have tutoring twice a week for an hour, for each child,we can do that and we can pay a tutor to go out to the shelter. If they want the tutoring at the Public Library,wherever they want it, we can...we can make that happen. We heave measurable goals and we work to get those kids,urn, closer to proficiency,because most of them,not all of`em,but many of them are not proficient because of all the stress of...of being homeless. It's one of the biggest stresses that a,um, child can have. Um, we...we have medical, dental,psychiatric, counseling and case management services through the schools, and we...we have free services for people who...that are homeless, urn, and the family resource centers are the connection point. In every school there's a family resource center. Um, I believe that it's been recommended that they...that some HCDC funds, is that right—HCDC? Urn, funds are going to be maybe allocated towards family resource centers, and I want you to know that that person in each school is the one that...when they find out that a family is having difficulties or might be homeless,they are the connection point of that family to many of the recourses in the community. To This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19,2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 24 the trans...they tell them about their rights and they...and they can help families, cause a lot of families they don't know when they become homeless what to do. They've never been in that position before. Um,they don't know how...their biggest worry is how am I going to get my kids to school tomorrow. You know, I don't have enough money to put gas in the car to drive all the way across town, and that kind of thing. So it's...it's a really,um, I think wish investment to have those family resource centers and sustain them in the schools because that's who's helping this whole population of people that are living out, doubled-up,that are trying to get back on their feet, and we connect them with the services that,um,maybe the Shelter House might connect them with. Sometimes we connect people with housing services at the Shelter House,you know, go in and talk to the Shelter House every day at 6:00 and try to get a place there,because you need their more intense case management services. You need...you need some help. You can't continues doing what you're doing, and...and get where you think you want to go. But, um...we..we work with kind of a different population of homeless than shows up at the Shelter House. You know,we couldn't move those 210 kids into Shelter House tonight. We could,but I don't know what Chrissy would do about that(laughter) Urn...let's see...one example of a family that we have,that I think is rather interesting in that, and uh, she was a homeless mom. She had four kids, and, urn...two of them were school-age children, and they were at the Shelter House. Urn,they started at a school and...and then mom started worrying,because as she moved out of Shelter House, she moved into transitional housing, and in transitional housing you can only stay there for two years. And mom didn't...didn't want her kids to have to change schools. Well, it's a different attendance area for the Shelter House and transitional housing,but we told her she had a right to keep her kids where they were, and...and we would get `em there. She really liked that. She liked it, and her kids were so happy to be able to stay where they were. Well there's a little bit of an attendance problem and then mom started thinking that maybe she might be wanting to move out of transitional housing. She was ready to go out into a neighborhood. She'd been working really hard and saving money, and she wanted to get a house out in a neighborhood for her kids where she had some green grass. So we had a meeting with HACAP,where she was getting some services, cause she lived in transitional housing, and the principal, who was kind of worried about the attendance issues, and myself who was going to be there to help with the transportation issues, and...and with mom, and...and we sat down and we tried to figure out how this mom was going to make things work. Urn...we got it figured out. Here it is now six months later. Mom is almost done at Kirkwood with her education. She has two kids...she's living in a neighborhood. She has two kids at Mark Twain School that were...that are in preschool and kindergarten, and the two got to stay in Longfellow where they wanted to stay. They all take the bus to school, and then they split off on different buses, and another adult watches two kids that's going to Longfellow on...anyway, you know, they...they have it all figured out so that these kids are safe, and...and this mom is really...she's making it! She's making it,but it has taken a w hole team of service providers to get these kids and this mom, okay, now the ki...the kindergartner is proficient in reading. In spite of being in homeless situation, you know, from three on has been homeless and transitional, and has been moved to three different places. It is amazing what working together and...and managing these kids together, I mean,this was a group effort in...in the community and I could pick out any family that's do...there's This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. immommirommmour February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 25 ...there's a bunch of`em and...and it's all...you're going to see collaboration with... with community agencies, urn,to...to set up these kids. Um...we work with every agency. Our...our goal is to remove barriers to learning. Okay. We might want to do things cause they're nice and that,you know,but we're all about education. We want to make sure kids are learning. And...and what the family resource centers are doing to help these kids,urn, and the homeless kids in the district, is making a difference. We're...we're collecting the data and...and it is making a difference,and when we see cases like this, it's...it's obvious. But we...we need to work even harder to catch all the homeless kids to make sure they're gettin' the supports they need. So what kind of questions do you have about the homeless services. This is like a new thing. (mumbled) all sorts of perplexed looks on your faces. Throgmorton/Sometimes I'm a numbers kind of guy. VanHousen/Uh-huh! Throgmorton/ So,uh, when I ask Chrissy how many homeless people there are...at any one point in time,uh, she said something like 26, and I'm sure she was referring to a particular population. VanHousen/Uh-huh. Throgmorton/And you just said 471 kids. VanHousen/I said...we knew about 471 kids in the Iowa City Community School District last year. The last school year. I believe we're going to have...if I knew how to run the reports and that I could find how many that we've known about this school year,urn, because when we say `know about' it's...you know,does...does someone at the school know, and have we gotten the...the number,that status,put into the computer system. Um, I know that today,because I know how to run a report for what today says,that there was 208 or 210 kids that...we know are registered in the district that are homeless and haven't le...haven't been, urn,transferred out or anything else. But...but the four kids that...that transferred out Friday aren't listed in that 210. And...that kind of thing, so... Throgmorton/But...so...so I'm just...maybe Chrissy can contribute. I...I'm sure there's an obvious explanation. I'm just wondering why the difference in the numbers. VanHousen/Oh, Chrissy's going to...Chrissy was talking specifically about the population that's living outside and under the bridges, and...and that they...that the Police Department and urn, folks from Shelter House go...and the V.A., go out and they count,they knock on tent doors and they go under bridges and they count people. Families typically do not live outside and under bridges. Families...all the ones we know about,most of`em are doubled-up. A bunch of`em are in hotels and motels. And a bunch of`em have gone, are in transitional housing, where they can stay up to two years, and a few of`em are in the shelter or have been in the shelter. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 26 Canganelli/ So that was just your un...unsheltered street count and... Throgmorton/Right. Canganelli/ ...point in time. Thro morton/Right, I...I was just trying to make sure I understand. Canganelli/Yeah, so the... Champion/So when you're talking about children,they're not...you're not saying they don't have shelter. It's just not...a house, or a place of their own, so to speak. VanHousen/Okay,the...the federal government is going to,urn, say if you're not...if you're living in housing that's not adequate, and it's...and it's not permanent, and you know, in other words, if...if you can't stay there, if somebody finds out,you get kicked out, or if somebody gets mad at you, you get kicked out, or if it's not adequate. If there...if there aren't enough...if there isn't enough space. Like Chrissy can only have so many people in her space. Urn, like when you...when you have apartments you say you can only have so many people of unrel...okay! The house...housing says that there's only so much space...you have to have a certain amount of space per child,per whatever, um, if you have...two families and they each have three or four kids, and you have a two-bedroom apartment, is that adequate? Are the needs for...the social, emotional needs for the children and their health needs, are they going to be met from sleeping on a(mumbled) kitchen floor? Um...yes,they have a roof over their head. Um,the...the politically correct way now is to talk about it being a student in a temporary housing situation. And ...and I think we'll be, you know, kind of switching over to the...that language because it does better describe it. It is...it's a very temporary housing situation,but for some kids, it has been their whole life. I know kids that have been in a temporary housing situation since they were born. Champion/Right. VanHousen/And they might be in kindergarten or first or second grade now. Dickens/Do the numbers within that so many students,does that change or is that the same families year after year or... VanHousen/It's different families, and for different reasons and... Dickens/I know my daughter teaches fourth grade out in Coralville Kirkwood and she'll see students, all of a sudden they disappear. VanHousen/It's...it's really hard to find your way out of poverty and it...it's really hard,um, it's hard to find affordable housing in our community. It's a hard thing, and anybody that has children knows children are expensive. And if you were working at a minimum wage This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 27 job right now, I don't imagine many people would be able to support a family...very well. And it's hard. So...and then your child gets sick and you know,my job pays sick time, but if I work at...at a fast food,minimum wage job, I...I'm not going to get sick time and I'm not going to get sick time for my daughter's illness either, and I'll...and if she's throwing up,that school's going to be calling me. You know? So it...it's really hard when...when you don't have very deep pockets. So... Hayek/Well we appreciate your... VanHousen/Yeah! (several responding) Hayek/ ...your perspective and the work you do for the district and for the community. VanHousen/Well...we...we do a lot in the district and...and it's thanks to folks like you that are helping...helping us keep these positions that we're able to help. So...thank you! Hayek/Thanks, Stephanie! Liu/Good evening,my name's William Liu. I'm a Full Professor of Counseling Psychology, licensed Psychologist and uh,training director for the Counseling Psychology Program at the University of Iowa. I've provided counseling, mental health services,psychological testing, group therapy for the shelter for over six years. Um,we provide sort of three clusters of mental health services. One is individual counseling and psychotherapy,uh, the other is psychological testing and assessment, and the third one is, urn, group counseling. Uh, our services are all pro bono,uh,they happen at the shelter. They have to happen in the, uh, shelter itself. Since we've been able to move over to the new, uh, facility,we've been able to have larger capacity,uh, most of the psychological services are provided by myself, as well as, uh, students who are doing their, uh, counseling practicum down there,they're working under the license of licensed psychologists like myself. Uh,they provide,uh, services...they're doctoral level students. These are students are,uh, advanced level students who have worked at, uh,UIHC, at the V.A.,uh, Counseling Services, Community Mental Health. So I...I'm proud to say that the clients at the shelter are getting services on par with doctoral level clinical services that they would get anywhere else. Um,they also get, uh,psychological assessment services. The psychological assessment services range from personality assessments, urn,they also get intellectual testing. Uh,they can also get, uh...uh, attention deficit, ADHD assessment, Asperger's assessments. We have clinical capacity from the faculty to supervise those kinds of assessments and um, I'm not sure if you're aware the...any one psychological assessment for an individual paying out of pocket or even insurance reimburse is, uh, over a thousand dollars, and so we're able to provide these free services for the...for the clients down at the shelter,uh,pro bono. Our students get the experience,they get the testing experience. We sign off on all the protocols. The clients then are able to use that for, uh, any purposes that they need, in terms of,uh,the most,uh, direct one is SSDI applications, for instance, so uh,we're able to assist in those capacities,uh, for the residents. Wanted to make it sort of brief and see if you had any questions and uh, I'll take any questions or... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 28 Champion/What,uh...I, what kind of rough percentage of people who are homeless, I'm not talking about families that have been evicted but the general homeless population. What percentage of those people do you think have real mental illness problems or personality disorders? Liu/Uh, if...if(both talking)they're homeless, uh,the likelihood is,uh, most of them. They have some type of mental illness, uh,result of...they have some kind of mental illness, uh, sometimes it is,uh, substance use. It's co-occurring with,uh, other factors, such as, uh...um,trauma, uh,the vets that we see have some history of trauma in the background. Some of the vets that we work with,uh, especially the enlisted personnel that are,urn, honorably discharged have, uh, can have a history of combat trauma,but they also have, uh, interpersonal trauma predating the combat trauma. So there's multiple what we call `poly trauma' experiences with a lot of the vets, and so,urn, it's often confused with PTSD,but there's a...an aggregate experience of trauma for the vets. The substance abuse is the most visible presentation of mental illness for a lot of the,uh, clients. But they also have,um,undiagnosed,uh...uh, anxiety, depression,um...also personality,um, problems...problems in personality styles that also conflict with,um, conflict with day- to-day living and so all of those things occurring simultaneously contribute to their homeless situation. This is one of the things I think,uh...um...when we talk about homelessness,we talk about poverty especially,these are inter-generational issues so, you know, any...this is...it's unlikely that it's...it's a person from my research and from our students' research. It's...unlikely it's a person who suddenly finds themselves economically without means. For most normal individuals who might lose a job,they can call on their family so there's a buffer. When we talk about families and individuals in homelessness,we're really talking about the inter-generational transmission with poverty and homelessness. So any contact a child has with poverty at a young age, increases multi-fold their,the potential to be in homelessness in the future. So,what we try to do is stabilize kids as,uh,previously mentioned and try to get them out of the homeless situation as poss...as quickly as possible,with the hope that...there isn't going to be that inter-generational transmission of poverty in the future. Dobyns/Where do they receive psychiatric services, Impact or from Community Mental Health or(both talking) Liu/Where do they? Dobyns/Yeah. Liu/Um...sometimes it's referral to Community Mental Health,urn, and I think they've absorbed as much capacity as possible,but you know,they also are working under a wait list. The one benefit that we have at the shelter is that we have a licensed nurse practitioners that also can prescribe a limited range of psychotropic medication and they do that for residents, as long as they're seeing counseling services from us, so we work in collaboration with them. Um,the lodge, for instance,the permanent housing pro...um, program,uh,they...we have a on-call psychiatrist that can help,urn, with the psychiatric This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19,2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 29 medications. Short of that, urn,most of the residents are on a emergency psychiatric medication basis. So most of`em are down to their last pill sometimes,um...and so they're constantly scrambling around so, uh...uh, often it is,the psychiatric, uh, it's a severe psychiatric concern in terms of the medication. Dobyns/They're not involved in the Impact Program at the...okay. Liu/ ...the Impact Program. No. Dobyns/No. Liu/And uh...uh, Iowa Cares doesn't pick up any of that cost, and so there's...quite a few individuals,uh...um,just without their psychiatric medication. So...or at the...at the very end of their psychiatric medications. Throgmorton/Well I...I have a question. I'm not sure if you're the best person to answer it, maybe Chrissy is,maybe Stephanie is. Uh, I'm not sure. Urn,what...when,urn...I...I have a feeling like the,urn,the common perception in...in our town, maybe elsewhere, tends to conflate panhandlers with the homeless. Liu/Right. Throgmorton/So...and yet they...they aren't identical. Of course, and yet they...when people walk around downtown or go to major intersections,they'll see somebody with a sign and think,homeless panhandler. Liu/Correct. Throgmorton/Um...I don't know how to answer the...or ask the question,but what...what, you know,what percentage of the homeless are"panhandlers?" And who...who are those who...I don't even like the term but... Liu/ Sure. Throgmorton/ ...given me a better term, but those who...who are those who panhandle? (laughs) Canganelli/I don't know a percentage,um, but it'd be very small. Um...those who panhandle more typically, I can't say across the board,but it's been my experience that they're...who I would, again,refer to as `service resistant.' They're not going to come in to the providers,urn,to seek help or address their health issues, mental health issues, or their sobriety. Um,they're typically in their disease, and um, frequent, well not frequently but from time-to-time,not homeless. Uh, I look at them sometimes as also being part of a small cottage industry. I mean, some of the folks who panhandle live together, work together, drive to work together and have shifts on different corners together. It's quite a...industry. Um, but that's not everyone...at all. I mean, it's just... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 30 you know...different people...but it's a very small number of people, and it's...not consistently people who are coming through the shelter or DVIP. They might be a free lunch program because of course you can still get lunch but...they're not individuals who are...ready to address their disease. Does that answer the question? Throgmorton/Yeah. Hayek/Thank you, Chrissy. Mims/Just want to say thank you(several talking) Dobyns/Yeah,your whole group. Hayek/Chrissy, Stephanie, Will—thank you for spending the time with us. Urn...I think it's important to hear,to be reminded of...the need in the community and the services that we collectively bring to bear, address those needs, and have this conversation. So...thanks for your time. Throgmorton/Could...could I ask one... Hayek/Oh yeah! Throgmorton/ ...just one question. Hayek/Absolutely! Throgmorton/Ur...you folks know a substantial amount about the...the population, so thank you like Matt just said but are you aware of any obvious missing link, obvious,uh, service that could be provided but isn't. Uh,you know, something that we could think about doing that isn't already being done. Canganelli/There is definitely in our community about those who are not able to successfully access the services that exist, and those would be,uh, again the folks who are in the more chronically homeless population,um,the folks that have been kind of centric to that topic of what I would refer to as a `need for a wet shelter.' It's an opportunity, I feel, for our community,urn, across the county to look at a different housing service, which is called, uh,housing first. It's a model that's been implemented across the country in different areas with different levels of success. Um, if people in our community are interested in helping individuals to get off the street and housed, and see housing as a right,uh,not a, uh,requisite on somebody following rules or addressing their sobriety or their mental illness,but just the fact that someone is homeless and that's a housing issue,housing first is an approach that has been used well,uh, and successfully in...in communities and addresses this very vulnerable population. So that's something that's non-existent. I think Omaha has a program. Urn, and...and that has been working well for the chronically homeless there and uh, I think there's interest in our community to,um,work on initiative, collaborative to...to offer some type of service like that. Um, other research This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 31 that's been do...that we're doing locally through the local Homeless Coordinating Board and part of our strategic planning within that board is,urn,to look at,uh, fuse systems, which are frequent user systems. Urn, and uh, in Hennepin County has, urn, implemented some programs that have addressed essentially, again, chronically homeless individuals that cycle through,um, our jail,prison,uh, emergency rooms, our shelters, uh, substance abuse providers, and co...and cost over time inordinate amounts of not only private contributions but tax dollars, federal and local tax dollars. And,urn, in working together across these different systems that we invest differently as a community and address t his population by collaborating and working differently,um,to help individuals not cycle back through the system and cycle back onto the street, so those are two different things in approaches that, uh, I know that there's interest in the beginnings of some...some work being done. Throgmorton/Thanks. Information Packets: Hayek/Thanks. Okay! Let's get through the remaining bullet points here and then break so they can set us u ...uh,up top there. Next is info packet discussion. We got two, one is from February 7m. Any questions from that info packet? Dobyns/Geoff, I had a question about the, we were talking about the,urn,recycling as far as toxics. Do we save that for public or for...work? Fruin/No, you...now would be appropriate. Dobyns/Okay. All right. Um...so,what I was going to ask about is that,um(mumbled) interested in the toxic,the nasty stuff that we have to make the schedule for and bring it out to the landfill, um, is there an opportunity to perhaps,urn,recover that? Urn,because it's tough to be able to get your stuff out there. Urn, and so I was asking Geoff a question, is that something that can be made a periodic,urn,pickup around the city. Um...(unable to hear person away from mic) Household hazardous wastes,you know, the stuff that you're not supposed to throw down the drain, but you certainly can't put into the...trash or the recycle. Fruin/Rick, uh,had an opportunity to talk with Jenn Jordan our Recycling Coordinator after we spoke and um, of course we do have that service on a regular basis at the landfill but to make it a little bit more accessible,uh,we do have a mobile trailer that we take around, urn, four times a year. We'll be at the Eastside Recycle Center—the next one is March 2nd,where we'll invite people to come in...and dispose of their household hazardous waste on...on site there. Uh,the other thing that they do,they make available to large employers or special events, even other communities that...that our landfill serves, is they'll, you can take that mobile trailer onto, uh, onto those...you know,to the work place is essentially. So an example would be this April, uh,they'll take the trailer out to ACT and uh, do some...some targeted initiatives there, and then even when you get into household hazardous waste,there's some specialty collections, like pharmaceuticals and This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 32 we'll do special pharmaceutical collections throughout the year. So we attempt to...we attempt to get around as much as possible,urn, but...you know, curbside type of service just isn't feasible(both talking) Dobyns/How are those advertised,the four times a year around the city? Is that like put...sometimes the newspaper will have that...um, cause I've actually not been aware of it, and I'm looking for it. Fruin/Yeah. Dobyns/Uh... Davidson/Rick,we do use the neighborhood association newsletters for...we know we're going to be in the vicinity,we try and get something in the newsletter. Dobyns/And if you have a neighborhood association that doesn't have a newsletter you're just out of luck? Davidson/It's more difficult then. (several talking) Payne/ ...the city web site? Could it be put on the City web site? Fruin/It's on the City...it's on the City web site,urn...we will promote it through. (several talking) We'll promote it through Facebook and Twitter and...and some of those channels,um, but we typically don't do direct mailings,urn,just from a cost point of view. Champion/And why do we only do it four times a year? Doesn't seem like very often. Fruin/It...it's, again, it's available on a regular basis at the landfill every day,um...it...it's costly to set up,uh, we have to take the trailer out and it's usually staff on overtime on a Saturday that...that puts it together. Urn, otherwise we'd do it more frequently. Dobyns/Thank you. Mims/I would just comment on this,urn,particular info packet. There was an awful lot of good information in there. So really appreciate staff putting all these different memos together. Throgmorton/ Sure. (several talking) Hayek/And well because...the...SEATS, uh, materials were part of the info packet we're considering(both talking) Champion/Right! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 33 Hayek/ ...very quick update that the subcommittee that is Terry, Rick, and yours truly have been working with staff, communicating with the other cities,um, and working toward,uh, ongoing communication with the County. Point is that we're on it,we've been putting some time in on this and...see what happens. (several talking) Dickens/ ...meetings to 1:00 for you, so you can make them. Dobyns/Thank you. Dickens/ ...paratransit. Hayek/Um...February 14th info packet. Payne/I have something on...the Economic Development Committee attendance record. Hayek/Oh oh! Payne/Well, it says Matt and Susan's term expires on 1/2 of 13. (several talking) Markus/I think Marian has that all (several talking and laughing) Karr/Those...those appointments were two-year appointments and the attendance chart was not updated. It will be updated. Payne/Thank you. Well,we voted on something and if you're not really on it, does it count? (laughs) Markus/They just had the wrong dates on the attendance. Payne/I know, I'm just givin' him a hard time (laughs) Hayek/ ...work session without you pointing out a typo! (laughter) Champion/Right! Dobyns/(mumbled) I was going back to the 7th on,uh, information packet 5 about Gilbert, um, and College and Gilbert. Michelle's on the Economic Development Committee and I think at some point it's going to go back to the Economic Development Committee. There's only two of you, urn, I mean, I assume you'd be recused on that too. Payne/I don't know why I'd have to be now. Dobyns/Okay. Payne/Do you? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 34 Markus/I'm not legal counsel. I think you(laughter) over there. Payne/Or we can, I mean... Dulek/You mean for the developer's agreement? Payne/Yeah! Dulek/Think about that and I'll get back to you on that one. I mean, and there's still the issue, obviously, of MidAmerican purchasing or maybe not purchasing, or selling. Payne/Right. Dulek/ So that's still up there too. But that's...would be between the developer and(several talking) MidAm, not the City, right. I...I'll get back to you! Hayek/Okay. Urn, 14th,February 14th? Susan,thank you for, uh, your efforts going to Ames with the team that... Mims/Oh! Hayek/ ...and landed that RISE grant. Champion/Oh yes! Mims/It's an interesting process. You go in and the DOT staff kind of presents it to...they've had a work session in the morning, and then the staff presents it to the Commission. Urn...who basically is already...the staff has already ma...has their recommendation ready and then we get a chance,the people who are applying, get a chance to present briefly to the Commission and then five seconds after you leave the podium,the staff indicates what their recommendation is and the Commission votes on it. So,um, it's good to be there and be seen, um,but I think the most important thing also is the background work that our staff has done and the relationships that our staff has developed with State DOT staff. That's critical. Payne/Is that what you went to last week after our Economic Development(both talking) Mims/Yeah, went over to Ames for that, so...drove two and a half,presented for five minutes, drove back(laughter) Yeah, got 1.9 million so...(several talking) So like I say, I...need to thank staff for all the background work that...and relationships they've developed over the years that I think is very beneficial to us. Hayek/Jeff Davidson and his team. Mims/Yep! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19,2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 35 Markus/I think she's underplaying her role in this a little bit. I think they do appreciate the elected officials,uh, attendance in that and that's not to diminish the staff role at all,but we do appreciate you...your willingness to go over and...and I think the State does appreciate that, as well. Mims/Yeah, and I know when Jeff, you know,had sent that memo out about you know, asking if somebody could go. It's something that they ask for and I think as Tom and I have talked a little bit, and Jeff and I did over there,they do seem to appreciate it and I went with,um, Jeff and Ron to Clinton last...fall was it...we went up there when they were doing their...they go out periodically, um, so it's the second time I've gotten a chance to meet the Commissioners and, as Jeff said,they start getting a face of an elected official from Iowa City,which is beneficial I guess so...be glad to do it! Hayek/KXIC? Payne/I can do either March 6th or March 27th. So if that fits into somebody else's schedule. Dickens/I'll do February 27th. Hayek/Could do March 13th,I believe. Payne/So I'll do March 6th. Champion/Oops! (noise on mic) Mims/So what do you have left now? Karr/March 27th,April 311, April 10th. Mims/I'll take April 3rd Champion/And I'm flexible; I can do what's ever left over. On Tuesdays. I don't go anywhere. Payne/Wednesdays. Mims/Wednesdays. Champion/I mean Wednesdays (laughter and several talking) Karr/Connie, March 27th then! (laughter) Dobyns/I can do February 2nd, 2015! (laughter) Payne/Are you sure? (laughter) Dobyns/I like to plan ahead! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 36 Karr/So I only have April 10th, I believe. Dickens/Then I can do that one, as well. Hayek/Okay! Karr/I'll put a schedule. Thank you. Meeting Schedule: Hayek/Uh, meeting schedule generally? Everybody okay with that? It's IP1. Okay. Council time? Council Time: Dickens/I just have something quick. I...I'll be as brief as possible. I met with HR Green, Chris Daniels,uh, I know he's spoken to Rick Fosse. I don't see Rick here,but the...he says that he didn't want to go around our staff but I've known his family for quite a few years. It's a option to, since I don't know where we're at with the other recycling company right now,that...from Virginia,they have an idea that's already been done in, I believe, Lake Mills where they put up a greenhouse. They'll grow organic tomatoes using the methane gas and the heat from the methane gas. They can actually grow and sell these. They're already doing it. It's called Perfect Circle. I'll give it to Marian or staff to look into it and talk to HR Green. There would be no cost to the City. We would get royalties back from the selling of the methane gas and...other ways. It's about an$11 million project but it's...seven to ten years for it to...to pay off, so it'd be something we couldn't go the other direction with landfill if we're going to (both talking) Champion/They might...oh...yeah! Dickens/So I will give that to them,but it was...it was an interesting meeting. We (mumbled) Champion/That is very interesting! I'm not going to eat those tomatoes! (laughter) Markus/One of...one of the issues that we came up with,um...talking about Fiberight and that whole concept, urn, Eleanor amongst the staff, we raised the issue of,uh, whether we needed to go (mumbled) competing types of projects, and so what we decided to do is bring on a little fire power in terms of consultant to...to help us kind of,uh,wind our way through(mumbled)we're using consultant services at this point. Uh, in fact I think, urn, Rick is...at a conference right now, and coincidentally the consultant we're using is at that conference as well. So they're comparing notes about where they're at at this point. We were kind of surprised to see a number of different, uh, applications, uh, for the conversion of waste,uh, to ethanol and to other byproducts that people are creating from the waste stream. So...uh,we're...we're kind of working our way through that issue right now. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013. February 19,2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 37 Hayek/Okay. Um...anything else? Markus/Just one other thing. Um,Mike Brotherton is in the audience this evening. Uh, Mike was,uh, featured on the,urn,kind of the expose about house, or homelessness,uh, here in the community that Mark Carlson produced, and I don't know if Mike wanted to comment on that or you were just here to observe,but I did want to call it out. (mumbled)nice job representing the City of Iowa City(both talking) Hayek/Did! Markus/ ...special, so...(noises on mic) (unable to hear person away from mic) Champion/Mike, come to the microphone! Come tell us about it! Brotherton/ ...here mainly to answer any questions you might have. I think Chrissy and Stephanie did a...marvelous job of explaining the whole situation. Uh, I agree with everything they said,uh...I think the issue that we're mainly focused on is the 26 people, if that's what the count is,uh,those individuals who are, I like the term, uh...uh,resistant to, uh,programming, or being involved in sort of activities and so forth that we can do for them. Uh, I think that from a police perspective, you know, it's sort of a drain on our resources because we,uh, encounter them most frequently,pretty much on a daily basis. Uh, whether it be during the daytime for business community downtown or other public, uh, departments,uh,parking,uh, (mumbled)problems, stairwells issues, and well...as well as the neighborhoods where,uh,they frequently branch out into...and the northside is one area, as well as,uh,the near downtown. Uh, where they're a continual problem. I think there're, uh, are ways to...to,uh,try and solve that. I think you're taking the right steps to talking about it and getting some perhaps some ideas generated on what can be done. Uh, certainly it's a challenging proposition. Uh, and we...we look forward to,uh, taking direction on what, uh, what you think might need to be done,uh,because certainly incarceration isn't the answer for these folks. Champion/No! Brotherton/That's all I had to say about it. Champion/Thank you. Upcoming Events/Council Invitations: Hayek/Thanks, Mike! Appreciate it! (several talking) Okay! Upcoming events, Council invitations? Okay. Well, let's end the work session and we'll take up again at 7:00! Thanks for your efforts! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 19, 2013.