HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-11-18 TranscriptionNovember 18, 2014 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 1
Council Present: Botchway, Dickens (5:05), Dobyns, Hayek, Mims, Payne, Throgmorton
Staff Present: Markus, Fruin, Hargadine, Bramel, Dilkes, Karr, Hart, Hightshoe,
Davidson, O'Brien, Bockenstedt, Boothroy, Yapp, Clark, Bowers, Fosse,
Reichart, Bollinger
Others Absent: McCarthy (UISG)
Questions from Council re: Agenda Items:
Hayek/ Okay! It's 5:00. Why don't we get started with the November 18, 2014, work session.
Uh, Terry dickens will be here about 10 minutes late but asked that we (noises on mic) go
ahead and get started. First bullet point is questions regarding agenda items (noises on
mic)
ITEM 4f(2) Peninsula Area: Peninsula area access
Throgmorton/ Uh, I have a few, Matt. Four ... 4f(d), uh, a letter from representatives of... of the
Peninsula area. Uh, they asked what if Foster Road floods before the redevelopment
occurs and the new road is constructed, and they request that we, uh, prepare a short-term
contingency plan that would give the residents piece of mind and allow them to stay there
in their homes, should Foster Road flood before a second road is constructed. So what
they asked for is a short-term contingency plan about what ... we will do in the event that
there's a ... a ... a flooding of Foster Road. Yeah. That sounds like a pretty reasonable
request to me.
Hayek/ I ... I agree. I think ... I think we could ask staff to look at some sort of interim plan. I
mean it may be quite a while before we have any sort of permanent solution to the issue.
Throgmorton/ Right.
Hayek/ But ... if you guys...
Markus/ We'd be happy to.
Hayek/ Okay. If everyone ... if there's concurrence by the rest (several talking)
Throgmorton/ Yeah, I think they completely understand the rationale be ... behind us doing what
we propose to do, but they really want that short-term contingency (mumbled)
Hayek/ Yep.
Throgmorton/ I have three other items, but I don't want to take up...
Hayek/ Just go ahead.
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ITEM 4d(2) 2015 LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES — ESTABLISHING THE CITY'S
2015 LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
Throgmorton/ All right. Um, I ... Item 4d(2), the legislative priorities for 2015. I wonder if we
can pull that from the Consent Calendar and ask someone to briefly summarize it during
our formal meeting?
Hayek/ Okay.
ITEM 4d(6) TRICKLING FILTER MERCURY ABATEMENT — RESOLUTION
APPROVING, AUTHORIZING AND DIRECTING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE
AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST AN AGREEMENT BY AND BETWEEN
THE CITY OF IOWA CITY AND NORTH SHORE ENVIRONMENTAL
CONSTRUCTION, INC. TO PROVIDE CONSULTANT SERVICES FOR THE
TRICKLING FILTER MERCURY ABATEMENT FOR THE NORTH PLANT
SALVAGE AND DEMOLITION PHASE OF THE IOWA CITY WASTEWATER
TREATMENT PLANT RELOCATION PROJECT.
Throgmorton/ Uh, Item 4d(6) about trickling filter mercury abatement. Sounds like a pretty
nasty, uh, project that requires considerable expertise. So, then the, uh, I think what
we're doing is passing a resolution authorizing a ... hiring of a consultant to do work that
would cost somewhere in the order of $1 to $2 million, we don't really know exactly
what... so my question to Rick is, at least I assume to Rick, uh, am I right in
understanding that the consultant would be hired to do, um, basically the technical labor
and ... all that kind of work, or just the analysis indicating what we need to do?
Fosse/ Ben will cover that (away from mic)
Throgmorton/ Okay!
Clark/ (away from mic ...going to hire, they are going to, um, they're going to do everything.
They're going to do the reporting. All the reg... regulatory management, and they're
actually going to do the work. They have to have to equipment to do the work and they'll
profile the waste stream and write a closure report.
Throgmorton/ I thought you'd say that; I was hoping you'd say that because I was thinking $1 or
$2 million (laughs) That's a lot for just hiring a consultant, so ... good deal! Thanks!
Hayek/ Thank you
ITEM 4d(1) CONTINUING DISCLOSURE COOPERATIVE — RESOLUTION
AUTHORIZING REVIEW OF DISCLOSURE ACTIVITIES AND
PARTICIPATION IN THE MUNICIPALITIES CONTINUING DISCLOSURE
COOPERATIVE INITIATIVE (MCDC) OF THE SECURITIES AND
EXCHANGE COMMISSION (SEC)
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Throgmorton/ Uh... could I bring up one other thing, and then I'll be quiet for a while? Item
4d(1), the Security and Exchange Commission continuing disclosure initiative. Uh, I
found that pretty hard to track. May ... maybe I'm a little slow in the uptake, and I was
wondering if someone could briefly explain what's going on with that.
Dobyns/ I'm not sure that's possible but (laughter)
Bockenstedt/ Well, I'll try and give you the Reader's Digest version (laughs)
Throgmorton/ Super!
Bockenstedt/ Um ... it's complicated, and I think it's complicated for a lot of people and um„ it's
kind of an SCC initiative to ... um, look at municipal disclosures and assure that they're
being done accurately. So, but the way they've attacked that is through the underwriters
that are selling our bonds, and so they've required our ... the underwriters who have
purchased our bonds, to report to them whether or not they feel our disclosures have been
accurate or not. At the same time, we have to go back and evaluate for, back to maybe
2004, um, whether or not we feel we have accurately made, uh, disclosures in our bond
statements, as well. And so you've got the underwriters saying that there've been
accurate disclosures or inaccurate. We're making that evaluation, and you have the SCC
who's kind of overseeing the whole process. And so really this resolution just allows us,
the City Attorney, our bond counsel, our financial adviser to sit down and determine
whether or not we feel we've accurately reported our bond disclosures over the last... 15
years or 10 years.
Markus/ Dennis, give `em an example of a disclosure that might occur, uh... (both talking) that
didn't happen and that should have.
Bockenstedt/ Like each year we're required to file our financial report by January ... 21 st, and if
one year we reported that or disclosed on a financial statement, like nine days late. If you
go back five years ago, instead of January 21St we filed on January 30th. We would have
to determine, or our underwriters would, whether or not that's a material violation of our
disclosures' requirements. Some may argue it's not, some may argue it is. Um, and so...
really we have to look at all our disclosures, from water revenue bonds, sewer revenue
bonds, GO bonds, over that period of time and determine whether or not any of those
disclosures were material violations of what... of the statements we made in our... in our,
um, offering statements.
Throgmorton/ So... so there's no reason to believe that we have, literally made any inappropriate
disclosures. And there's no claim that we have, but we're being safe, uh... uh, exercising
due precautions to look back at the record.
Dilkes/ I ... I don't think that's an accurate statement. The ... I ... I think it's very difficult to
condense this down into...
Throgmorton/ Okay.
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Dilkes/ ...that kind of language. The problem is that there's no definition of `material,' and the
underwriters have the incentive to disclose everything that even is quite obviously not
material because they're only going to pay it (mumbled) $500,000 penalty regardless of
how many official statements they disclose. So, we're in a little bit of a different
position, because there is no monetary penalty. So, for instance, if something was one -
day late, it's very hard in a lot of situations to see why that was ... would be material to
anybody, but it's a question of strategically deciding whether it makes sense for us to go
ahead and ... disclose every little thing, even if we don't consider it to be material, to be
done with it or not, and that's the exercise that we're going through.
Bockenstedt/ And the way the SCC's done this is they've cast such a wide net on this, getting
basically all underwriters and thousands of governmental entities who've issued GO
bonds, or any bonds, over the last, uh, 10 years, um, is ... is being covered by this. So I
mean (mumbled) talking about thousands of transactions or official statements that the
SCC is trying to monitor through this activity and they've given everybody a really short
window to determine whether or not you've complied or not and to add another wrinkle
on that, if you go prior to 2009, most of the disclosure reporting was very poor and ver...
very intermittent. So, it went electronic in 2009, which is a lot easier because it was all
posted out on the internet but when you go prior to that it was all manual, so then you
gotta go back and look at postage dates on envelopes that were mailed, when they were
received, and there's... and... you know, the agencies that actually did some posting on
that, maybe had some transactions and some not. There was three or four different, um,
organizations that were posting those disclosures. And so, um, as Eleanor said, it's not a
clear-cut ... this is what went right, this is what went wrong. It's ... it's a lot of gray area,
and ... and we have to determine whether or not we feel how gray it was, I guess (laughs)
you know, but that's where I think we need to sit down with the Council and look at...
the anomalies, what the underwriters are saying, and saying is this something that
(mumbled). Did we do something right or wrong here, and figure out what we're going
to do about it. But it ... but it is a fairly complicated area.
Markus/ So we have a choice in this? There's... there's some discretionary decision that has to
be made?
Bockenstedt/ There's some discretionary decision and that will be made, yes. But it's going to
be heavily relied upon our Counsel's advice. So...
Hayek/ The... the... but the incentives are to the underwriting community, right? I mean, they're
the ones who gain the most because of a cap on exposure.
Bockenstedt/ Well, they gain the most by reporting us. So...
Hayek/ Right.
Mims/ Whether it's material or not. (laughs)
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Hayek/ No, I ... I get that but you ... you've capped ... is there ... is there any resultant... resulting
savings to cities or...
Bockenstedt/ If we ... voluntarily report ourselves, then we cannot be held ... we will not be held
responsible or liable for any ... material disclosures we may have made, or material non-
disclosures we may have made. So, there is a little bit of a ... a carrot for us to say we did
something wrong, even if we didn't, because then we're automatically off the hook.
(both talking)
Markus/ But the problem is is the definition of what `material' is, and so ... you know, to meet
that bar sometimes I think you're going to go overboard in describing what may or may
not be material.
Dilkes/ I ... I mean I have to ... based on what I have seen so far, I can't see ... I mean (laughs) it's
very hard for me to characterize it — anything is material but ... that being said, it may be
to our advantage to disclose what really are immaterial, urn ... things to ... just because
that's a good thing to do.
Markus/ That way you avoid the penalty.
Mims/ Right.
Botchway/ (mumbled) come before Council to make a decision on whether or not that's material
or immaterial?
Dilkes/ No, the ... the resolution in front of you gives staff the (coughing; unable to hear speaker)
make those decisions and file or not file.
Botchway/ All right. I was getting confused with the discussion (mumbled)
Markus/ You ... you're assigning this minutia to staff.
Botchway/ Right. Okay.
Throgmorton/ Sounds like great fun, uh, thanks (several talking)
Dilkes/ ...has not been fun! (laughter)
Hayek/ ... good memo though, Dennis. I appreciate that.
Throgmorton/ Thank you!
Hayek/ Anything else, Jim?
Throgmorton/ No thank you!
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Hayek/ Okay. Anybody else?
ITEM 4b(5) Parks and Recreation Commission — September 10
Payne/ I have a question on 4b(5), it's the Parks and Recreation Commission approved meeting
minutes of September 10. And there's a section in there that talks about snow routes, and
with the ongoing budget cutbacks, staff will be reviewing their current snow routes. One
possibility is the decision to not do any snow removal on weekends. Can anybody talk to
what happened with this and is that really going to happen?
Markus/ I think what their ... the real ... the real question there is is about overtime, because you're
paying overtime on the weekends, and if you can move the plowing to the regular
week... you avoid, um. ... an increased cost for performing the same service. So it comes
down to scheduling and maybe delaying a day. This is ... we're talking about trails too.
We're not talking about roads and...
Payne/ Okay, it's ... it's not roads. It's ... okay.
Markus/ It's trails.
Payne/ That helps clarify! (laughs) Thank you.
ITEM 7. APPEAL OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION DECISION - DECIDING THE
APPEAL TO CITY COUNCIL OF THE DECISION OF THE HISTORIC
PRESERVATION COMMISSION DENYING A CERTIFICATE OF
APPROPRIATENESS TO REPLACE THE WINDOWS AT 220 E.
JEFFERSON STREET, AN IOWA CITY HISTORIC LANDMARK
LOCATED IN THE JEFFERSON STREET HISTORIC DISTRICT. (ST.
MARY'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH RECTORY)
Dobyns/ Eleanor, I had a question on Item 7. Uh, are we allowed to discuss the appeal from St.
Mary's? At work session?
Dilkes/ You know you ... I don't think there's anything that says you can't, but I think it would be
better to leave it for the formal.
Dobyns/ It's a clarification question, but you just want me to save it?
Dilkes/ Sure!
Dobyns/ Okay. (laughter) That's a lawyer (both talking)
Dilkes/ I should tell you my plan is to start off by kind of summarizing what the standard of
review is.
Throgmorton/ Good idea!
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Dilkes/ At the ... at the formal meeting, but it's my preference that ... I mean, I think it's a better
process if they're here and they hear that.
Dobyns/ No, thank you!
Hayek/ Other agenda items? Pleased to see us renewing our lobbying relationship with the
Davis firm. I think they do very good work at a reasonable price. Going once...
Dilkes/ Oh, I ... I did have one comment on the developer's agreement, just a minor comment, for
the Core, and that is the one that we sent out to you last night, cause we wanted to get
it... get it to you as soon as we could, um, we did a final review of that and there were a
few typos in that, Michelle, which have been corrected (laughter) but I chose ... I chose
not to send that back out to you (several talking in background) with ... with the typos
corrected.
Payne/ I've gotten so much ... grief from bringing up typos that I just don't do it anymore.
(laughter)
Hayek/ Be strong!
Payne/ I have several of them. I'll just give them to Marian!
Council appointments (Item #15):
Hayek/ Okay, let's move on to Council appointments. I think the only one we have is on HCDC.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
Mims/ Well I would suggest we reappoint Michelle Bacon Curry. She's finishing her first term.
Payne/ That was my thought too.
Dobyns/ I agree!
Hayek/ Me too.
Throgmorton/ I would agree though it's pretty clear there are at least ... at least two other really
good candidates, maybe all three of `em, so...
Hayek/ Yeah. Okay! Think that's it for appointments. Next is, uh, discussion of the equity
report and NLC report. Stefanie!
Discuss Equity Report and NLC Report:
Bowers/ Good evening, everyone. My name is Stefanie Bowers and I'm the Equity Director for
the City of Iowa City, and I'm going to present to you this evening on the equity report of
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2013. Now the actual, uh, equity report is over 200 pages with attachments, so this will
be an overview of the equity report and not a full presentation on the entire document.
And the equity report actually started as a, uh, a recommendation from the Ad Hoc
Diversity Committee, and the Ad Hoc Diversity Committee was established by the City
Council in 2012 to look at City operations as they relate to minority populations with a...
a view toward promoting just and harmonious interaction between local government and
minority, uh, segments of the community, and there was a specific emphasis for that Ad
Hoc Diversity Committee to look at the Citizens Police Review Board, the Police
Department, and Transportation, uh, Services. The, um, Ad Hoc Diversity Committee,
uh, was in existence for I believe about nine months, um, and held 22 meetings, and the
meetings, uh, were with, uh, community members, as well as City staff, and based upon
those meetings, uh, the Ad Hoc, uh, Diversity Committee came up with a series of
recommendations that they presented to, uh, the Council in the spring of 2013. The
Council, uh, then sent those recommendations to, uh, staff, staff added comment, and
then those recommendations, with the comments, were, um ... I guess, uh, enacted in ... it
would have been June of 2013. And as part of the, uh... process of reporting out on the
recommendations from the Ad Hoc Diversity Committee, uh, staff created what we call
the Diversity Implementation Form, which shows all the recommendations which I
believe, um, there are at least over 30 recommendations. It shows the status of, um, each
of those recommendations, um, and ... a lot of the recommendations have been completed.
Uh, some are ongoing and some are continual. Um, as part of the process in ensuring that
those recommendations get, uh, followed through and that they're implemented, there is a
... a internal, uh, staff committee that we call the, uh, Diversity Task Force and it is, uh,
meets regularly and uh, we, uh, go over updates for those recommendations, as well as
talk about new initiatives, um, that the City can look at, um, as far as matters of equity.
And the, um, City departments who make up or have representatives on that, um,
Diversity Task Force include the City Manager's office, the City Attorney's office, the
City Clerk's office, uh, Communications Department, the Human Rights Department, the
Police Department, and then, uh, Transportation Services are also represented on that task
force. And if you visit the, uh, City's web page, there's a diversity initiative link located
there. It has all the Council resolutions as it relates to the, uh, Ad Hoc Diversity
Committee, as well as the implementation of those recommendations. It also, um, has
the, uh, diversity implementation form, or you can find all of the recommendations along
with the, uh, status of those, um, as well as the, uh, complete, uh, Equity Report is
available on this link, as well. So when we think about the objectives of what the, uh, Ad
Hoc Diversity, uh, Committee and what the City Council was trying to, uh, establish
when they, um, set up, uh, a ... a City committee to look specifically at relationships
amongst the City and minority segments of the community, um, when we think about
objectives or goals, um, one of the obvious objectives is the City is trying to, uh, be a
more welcoming and inclusive community. Um, in addition to that, I think the
recommendations and the establishment of the Ad Hoc Diversity Committee, um,
continues to, um, and started conversations about race, ethnicity, um, within the
community, with the community and City staff, um, and are ... much needed
conversations and probably very, uh, much overdue, uh, conversations that this
community needed to have. Uh, the recommendations also create accountability and
transparency on the part of City staff in making sure that, uh, the recommendations get
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completed. Um, and the ... the hope is that we improve outcomes and that we provide
better access to, uh, City services and programs. Um, the ... Equity Report, the
recommendations specifically ask for certain (coughing, unable to hear speaker) reports
to be included as part of, uh, reporting out in the, uh, Equity Report, and the ... I'm going
to say reports here a lot in the next few minutes (laughs) so I apologize, but there was, uh,
specific reports that were requested and they, um, fall into three general areas, and one
were, uh, the reports of boards and commissions, specifically the Human Rights
Commission and the, uh, Citizens Police Review Board. Uh, a series of reports from the
Police Department, including the traffic stop demographics, uh, by age, race, and sex;
youth report; uh, school visit report; the school incident location report; the arrest report
by charge, race, gender, and age; um, incident based reporting report; uh, discipline
summary report; and then it also requested two reports from, uh, the Human Resources
Department, uh, which, uh, one is the equal employment opportunity report, which is
something that we're required to file, uh, each year with the federal government; and then
the, um, employee statistics. So all of these reports are from 2013, the two from, uh, or
the one's from the Human Rights Commission and the one from the Citizens Police
Review Board would be, uh, fiscal reports as opposed to calendar, but all of the reports
are from, uh, 2013. So I also thought it would be a good idea to define equity and talk
about it in terms of how I'll use it tonight and also how it is, uh, used in the report, and
um, equity and I'm just going to read this, um, involves trying to understand and give
people what they need to enjoy full and healthy lives. Whereas equality aims to ensure
that everyone gets the same things in order to enjoy full and healthy lives. So like equity,
equality aims to promote fairness and justice, but it can only work if everyone starts from
the same place and needs the same things. And you'll also hear me refer to minority, um,
groups, minority individuals, and uh, for the Equity Report we use the definition that the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission uses, or the EEOC, and they, um, define,
um, for particular groups as, um, being minorities and they are, uh, groups who share a
race, color, or national origin. And this next slide, uh, shows those four groups. So you
have American Indian or Alaskan Native. You also have Asian or Pacific Islander. You
have black, um, except Hispanic, and then you have, uh, Hispanic. And those are just the
definitions that the EEOC provides. Also when we think of diversity and inclusion, um,
diversity (mumbled) all diverse in our, um, own way. There's always, uh, things that, uh,
differences amongst people, um, that we can all recognize sometimes. Sometimes we
can't. Sometimes they're cultural. Sometimes they're, uh, based upon race, maybe age,
ethnicity... and then looking at diversity, I think diversity's kind of a ... buzz word right
now, but urn ... what the City is trying to do is not just, um ... promote diversity. We're
also trying to become, um, inclusive and I, um ... really like this, uh ... statement that I
found that says that inclusion puts the concept and practice of diversity into action, um,
and it basically creates an environment of mutual respect, connection, where the richness
of ideas, backgrounds, and perspectives are harnessed. So when we talk about diversity
inclusion, this is what, um, City staff, this is what we're, um, working for and working
towards. Disproportionality is something that also, um, is discussed in the Equity Report.
It's something that will be mentioned, um, here this evening, and um, for purposes of this
presentation when we're saying disproportionality, we're ... we're kind of specifically
looking at, uh, race and ethnicity, um, looking at over, under representations of a group,
uh, in comparison to their, uh, population, um, in that particular community. Um, and
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disproportionality is, uh, useful red flag in measuring the effects of what we often term,
uh, disparate impact, where something may ... like if there's a policy it may be neutral on
its face, but the, um ... the effect of that policy may have a ... adverse, we call it an adverse
action a lot up in the office, but it...it has a negative effect or it harms a particular group,
and so that's what we're talking about when we refer to disproportionality. And we use
the, uh, 2010 Census for the Iowa City population, uh, which, uh... is the most recent
Census that has been, uh, completed. Uh... the Iowa City population approximately about
72,000. Um, of that number, the majority of residents in Iowa City identify as white at
82.5%. Um, followed next by Asian or Pacific Islander at 6.9, uh, black follows that at
5.8%, then Hispanic at 5.3, and American Indian or Alaskan Native at, uh, .2. And so I
thought I would start with the, uh, Human Rights Commission first, and the Human
Rights Commission was established, um, here in Iowa City in 1963. And the Human
Rights Commission has two parts. So there's staff, myself, and one other person, and
then there's an actual commission made up of nine, uh, residents of Iowa City. And the
commission, uh, does a lot of advocacy and outreach in the community on, um, matters
of human rights, civil rights, illegal discrimination. Uh, they also do a lot of
programming and activity around those issues, as well. The, um, focus in the Equity
Report is more on what staff does, as far as the Human Rights Commission, and so it's
our responsibility to investigate, uh, complaints of discrimination and ultimately make
decisions on those complaints. Currently in Iowa City there's five areas that are
protected in the area of, uh, discrimination, and those areas are credit, education,
employment, housing, and public accommodation. And then in addition to that for, um,
us to have jurisdiction over a complaint, it's going to have to have occurred in one of
those five areas, and it's going to have to be based on ... upon at least one if not more of
the protected characteristics. And currently there's 15 characteristics that are protected
here in Iowa City, and um, you can see the list, uh, starting with age and ending with
sexual orientation. Um, and uh, protected characteristics are things that we each have.
Usually they're things that, uh, we can't change about ourselves and we as a community
have decided that we don't, um, believe that somebody should be treated differently
because of those, uh, characteristics. So...
Dobyns/ Excuse me. Is color and race, how are those different in that chart?
Bowers/ Uh, color, the definition of color goes more to, uh, complexion, whether somebody's
light, medium, or dark. Whereas race would be more specific as to somebody identifying
as black or Caucasian or some ... or some other racial, um, category. So they're very
similar and most of the time when someone checks race, they also check color. Um, the
analysis really does not change that much, but color does have more of a definition of,
uh, being more related to pigment.
Dobyns/ So if put color on top of race that would be the overwhelmingly largest bar. I guess.
That's what I'm...
Bowers/ Um...
Dobyns/ Or is a ... are they substantively different to you ... in terms of...?
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Bowers/ They're... they're not substantively different, no. And I would say more ... you know,
like I said most of the time if somebody checks, uh, race they're going to check color too.
Dobyns/ Thank you.
Bowers/ So ... and in, um, FY 13 we received 52 complaints alleging discrimination, and as, uh,
the first image shows, the majority of those complaints were in the area of employment,
followed by public accommodation at 20, um, then housing, uh, credit, and we received
no complaints, um, in the area of education in FYI 3. So, um, what we're looking at
when we're investigating a complaint of discrimination is simply whether or not there are
reasonable grounds to believe that discrimination occurred, um, in this particular, um,
case. And we usually say whether or not there's probable cause to believe that
discrimination occurred. So when you look at the 52 complaints that were filed, five of
`em were mediated. Um, we, uh, found no probable cause in nine of those, which means
that after, uh, what we considered to be a... a thorough investigation, we are comfortable
and confident in saying we do not believe that there's reasonable grounds to, uh, believe
that discrimination occurred in ... (noises on mic) in this particular case. Um, nine were
administratively closed and a complaint can be administratively closed for, um, a few
reasons. Uh, one, it could be if the complainant no ... is no longer cooperating with the
investigation. Uh, we've attempted to contact them on numerous occasions, um, and
they're... they're simply just not responding to us at all. So that's one way a complaint
could be administratively closed. Uh, a complaint could also be administratively closed
at, um... any point in the investigation if we receive information, um, either through
interviews or, uh, request for documents that it's unlikely that we're going to get to a
probably cause determination and so there's not a need to continue with the investigation,
and those complaints would also be, um, administratively closed, and then we also close
three for, um, lack of jurisdiction. So lack of jurisdiction could be if it's filed outside of
the, uh, 300 days that we require for a complaint to be filed, or it could be, uh, something
that's related to, um ... even if too it would be something that's outside of what, you
know, we're covered to do in the ordinance. So generally speaking, issues of hours and
wages. If somebody's just not getting their paycheck without more, without an allegation
of it being based upon a protected characteristic, that would be outside of our jurisdiction
and we would refer them to the, um, appropriate agency to ... to try to, uh, address that.
Mims/ Stefanie, seeing that lack of jurisdiction made me think. What would be the difference, or
how would somebody make a decision if they would file a complaint with the city versus
the state versus the feds, assuming that all three of those had jurisdiction, like a racial
(both talking)
Bowers/ Sure, sure.
Mims/ ... complaint?
Bowers/ Um, you know, when people call, well it's ... well one, um, if somebody files at the
federal level, um, you know, there... there's certain responsibilities and rights that a
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federal employee have that are outside of, you know, what our office does. So if
somebody's a federal employee, that's something that automatically you need, you know,
contact the EEOC.
Mims/ Right.
Bowers/ But, um, if...if the State and the City have, um ... concurrent, you know, jurisdiction
over something, you know, I guess my thought is, and the thought in the office, is that it
really doesn't matter who investigates, as long as the person files. So we, I mean, we
always tell people you, you know, you can file with us. You could file with the State,
urn ... there is a certain convenience, I think, to having an agency locally...
Mims/ Uh huh.
Bowers/ ... urn ... uh, I mean people stop by. Um, I think it's easier for them to kind of keep in
touch with us, um, when we're here. We also because we're local, um, can do in-person
interviews, as opposed to sending out like questionnaires. Um, so I think there are a lot
of benefits to filing on the local level, um, that maybe a State agency can't just by their
sheer nature of their coverage over the entire state, but having said that, at the end of the
day I think the goal is just to ... to stress to somebody to ... to file at .... and a ... and a person
cannot file at both places. So it is one or the other, but if a person files with us, we do
cross -file with the State.
Mims/ Okay.
Bowers/ So they do have rights and, urn... responsibilities under the State law, as well as the
local law, so ... does that...
Mims/ So when you cross -file with the State, does the State cross -file with the feds, cause I
know if you file with the State, they automatically cross -file (both talking)
Bowers/ Generally speaking that's true, assuming everybody has jurisdiction, yes.
Mims/ Okay. Thank you!
Bowers/ Uh huh. And I think the only other thing to point out here before I move on is that, um,
if you look, it looks like we closed approximately 26-30 of those complaints filed in, um,
FYI 3, which ... which is correct, but because we end our year, um, June 30th, um, if
complaints are coming in in April, May, or June, it's highly unlikely that those are going
to be resolved by that June 30t cut-off date, which is why it appears that we, you know,
closed only about half of our cases when it's just a matter of when they came into the
office. So...
Payne/ So of the 26 that you did close in FY 13, none were substantiated?
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Bowers/ Well, this is one thing the numbers show but don't necessarily shout out is that we
mediated five complaints, and so complaints that are mediated are usually those
complaints that have a little more bite to them, and so ... when somebody's alleged to
have discriminated against another person, and perhaps they realized, you know, a proper
policy wasn't followed or they could have handled things better. Maybe they just in fact
did intend to discriminate against that person. They're going to be more likely to want to
set down at the table and work things out, than to go through the process of us making
that determination. So, that's correct in FY13 we did not have any probable causes, but
I ... I would, um, definitely say that out of those five mediated cases you probably would
have seen a probably cause. So ... the Citizens Police Review Board was, uh, started here
in Iowa City in 1997, and Iowa City is the only city in the state of Iowa that has a
Citizens Police Review Board that is established to review investigations into claims of
police misconduct. The, um, Citizens Police Review Board also has the ability to make
recommendations as it relates to, um, polices, practices, and procedures of the Police
Department, as well as under the ordinance they are required to hold at least one
community forum, um, each year, um, to allow members of the community a time to
speak on, um, thoughts on the policies, practices, and procedures of the, uh, Iowa City
Police Department. In the FYI report for the Citizens Police Review Board shows that
there were five complaints filed, and of those five, uh, complaints, there were 16 total
allegations made against eight, um, Iowa City police officers, uh, basically alleging
misconduct. The, um, allegations ranged from harassment to excessive force, uh,
violation of civil rights, um... and... of those five complaints they did not, um, the
Citizens Police Review Board did not sustain any of those complaints, but they did make
a recommendation in one of those complaints for more education on individual's rights
and responsibilities, uh, when responding to the, uh, directions of a police officer, or, uh,
police officers. And, just so ... we're familiar with what, uh, definition they're using for
`sustaining' or `not sustaining,' a complaint. Um, if they do not sustain a complaint, it's
that the investigation fails to discover a sufficient evidence to clearly prove or disprove
an allegation, and if they, uh, sustain a complaint, then, uh, they're basically saying that
the investigation disclosed sufficient evidence to clearly prove the allegations made in the
complaint. Um, one of the, um, things that I should also point out as far as the Citizens
Police Review Board is, um, one of the recommendations from the Ad Hoc Diversity
Committee was the, uh, changing of the name. So in the fall of 2013, um, the ... what the
Citizens Police Review Board name, um, was established, but prior to that it was called
the Police Citizens Review Board. So that was one change that was made as a result of a
recommendation from the Ad Hoc Diversity Committee. In addition to that, um, there
was also a procedural change for ... based upon one of the recommendations from the Ad
Hoc Diversity Committee that, um, places the City Manager in the, um, room with an
officer when they're being interviewed, um, concerning the alleged misconduct. So those
are two, um, changes or recommendations that came about from the, um, Ad Hoc
Diversity Committee.
Mims/ Stefanie, can you go back one slide. You talked about the recommendation for more
education. Are you talking about ... the officers themselves explaining to an individual
what their rights and responsibilities are, or the ... the officers being better trained on what
the individual's rights are?
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Bowers/ I ... not being on the (laughs)
Mims/ Okay! Okay! (laughs)
Bowers/ ...and I don't know if, uh...
Mims/ Sorry to put you on the spot!
Bowers/ No, that's fine. I ... I, you know, to answer your question, I took it to be more education
on the part of the Department to members of the community on, uh, what a person's
rights are when they're stopped by the police.
Mims/ Okay.
Bowers/ That's how I interpreted that recommendation.
Mims/ Okay. Thank you.
Bowers/ Okay. And I wanted to point out on the Citizens Police Review Board on their, uh, web
site you can actually, uh, look at, um... summaries from those community forums, uh, that
they hold once a year. You can also view their annual report, and you can actually read
the, um, public complaint reports. So those five complaints that I ... I, uh, referred to for
FY 13, if you wanted to read more about the facts and circumstances of those, there is a
public, uh... report, uh, that is available for people who would want to read those, and I
also would like to point out that, um, there are brochures available, not only on the City's
web site, but at City facilities that explain to, um ... the public how to go about filing a
complaint alleging police misconduct, and those, uh, brochures are currently available not
only in English but in Spanish, as well. So when we look at the role of the Human Rights
Commission in the, uh, Citizens Police Review Board, um, to the community allowing,
um... community members to file complaints alleging discrimination or police
misconduct, I think it's very obvious, uh... uh, of the need to have diverse boards and
commissions here, um, in Iowa City that reflect the community. Um, I also think
because, um, boards and commissions have the ability to make recommendations to the
City Council, um, that it's important to have a diverse group of people serving on those
boards and commissions, uh, to, um, offer input and advice on future policy, budget
initiatives, and other matters that may, uh, come before the, uh, City Council. And I, uh,
the City Council also mes... mentions, uh, the, uh, diversity, I believe, the boards and
commissions in their strategic plan. I think that's also mentioned, but urn ... in the spring
of 2014, staff, uh... uh, devised a voluntary survey to, uh, send to and make available to
current board and commission members. Because, uh, prior to that date we really didn't
have a good idea of the demographics of the people who are serving on City boards and
commissions. So we, um ... sent out, and by sent out I mean ... uh, most of the boards and
commission members, the ... the, um, surveys were available at their meetings, their
monthly meetings, but for those boards and commissions that maybe don't meet that
frequently, then they were sent via mail with the, you know, self-addressed, stamped
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envelope. But, um, we sent out 131 of these voluntary... voluntary surveys and we
received 80 back, which was about a 61%, um, response rate, and the Council was
included in these, um, surveys, but based upon the, um, 80 responses that we received,
you can see that, uh, 67 of those, um, individuals identified as white, uh, 53 identified as
being married, uh, 51 identified as being heterosexual, uh, 51 reported their age to be 65
years or older, um, 38, uh, had an annual household income of over, um, $100,000, and
then we had a few more males respond than females, um, at 43 to, uh, 35. So, uh, some
of the plans for, um, City staff to initiate in the coming year, starting January 1 st, is to,
um, when a person applies for a board, um, or commission, a vacancy, um, there will be a
voluntary survey, um, there that they can fill out that allows us to track those individuals,
at least as far as race, ethnicity, age, and things of that nature. Um, of course it's
voluntary, so a person doesn't have to fill it out, but trying to get a sense of the, uh... the
pool of folks that we're getting who are applying for, uh, City boards and commissions,
and then at the same time, uh, doing outreach in the community on, uh, ways the City can
better advertise those vacancies and the opportunities to serve on City boards and
commissions, um, stressing, you know, the important role that they do play, um, in... in
our future. Um, and then also... resurveying current board and commission members, uh,
probably in July, um ... of 2015. Um, just to ... to see if we can get a better (coughing;
unable to hear speaker) uh, to get more of an idea.
Payne/ 61 % is a really good percentage on a survey though.
Bowers/ That's what I heard, but I ... somebody told me that but I didn't ... yeah (laughs)
Payne/ ...huge!
Bowers/ So ... so if we look at City employment for, um, 2013, it shows that in the year 2013 the
City had a little over 1,100 employees, and of that number, uh, slightly more males than
females, uh, with males representing 59% of the City's employment, and females
representing 41%. When we look at the, um, minority staff, uh... uh, numbers, uh, we're
about at 6%. So 30, um, City staff members identified as black, 26 Hispanic, 21 Asian or
Pacific Islander, and then 4, uh... uh, Native, and that's the terminology they use, so I
tried to match the terminology with exactly how the, um ... the charts, uh... are actually
presented. So when... (both talking) Sorry!
Payne/ Do you have a chart that compares that to the population? I remember the white was 82.
I don't remember all five of them.
Bowers/ Oh, so um ... the, in 2010 the black (several talking) the black population was about 5.8,
Hispanic was 5.3, Asian/Pacific Islander was, uh, 6.9, and um ... (both talking)
Payne/ I think (both talking)
Bowers/ ...American Native, uh... (several talking) was .2 (both talking)
Payne/ I remember those two for some reason (laughs)
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Hayek/ Does that ... uh, 11, 12 does that include summer and seasonal...
Markus/ Yes!
Hayek/ ...employees?
Bowers/ It does.
Hayek/ Okay.
Bowers/ And that's the next slide.
Hayek/ Okay!
Bowers/ So, yes (laughs) So when you break out, uh, permanent employees from temporary/
seasonal employees, uh, you'll see that, um, there are differences. Um, we, uh, do a lot
better as far as gender with temporary or seasonal employees, with females being 57% of
our, uh, temporary/seasonal employees, and we also do slightly better in regards to, um,
minority staff. It goes from about 6% with permanent to about 9% with, um, temporary
or seasonal employees, and urn ... just, I provided some examples of what would be a
permanent job here at the City, and so a permanent job would be something like a
maintenance operator in water or an information technology, uh, services coordinator.
Whereas a temporary or season employee would be, uh, maybe somebody who, uh, does
transcription for the, uh, City, a school crossing guard, or a fall or winter, uh, forestry aid.
So, uh, one of the things that the Human Resources Department is, uh, has ... started
working on this fall and continues to work on is doing more outreach in the community,
and it ... and making it more known how a person, uh, can go about applying for a job
here at the City and also what the hiring process is like. Um, many of the jobs at the City
are going to be union and civil service, uh, which generally speaking is where
individuals, um, are either hired or promoted based upon, um, merit and seniority. So,
trying to get information out to, uh, the public on, uh, collective bargaining, just briefly in
that this is how, you know, jobs become available, um, in civil service, and ... not only is
the brochure — that's a picture of a brochure that, um, the City currently has that, um, is
distributed, um, here at City Hall, but I know the Human Resources Department is also
working on a video, um, that will play on City Channel 4 that talks about how to apply,
um, for, um, employment here at the City and then, um, Human Resources has, uh... uh,
recently participated in a job fair that the Commission actually sponsors each year called
the "Building Blocks to Employment Job Fair," which is a job fair that is gained at, um,
entry-level employees of ... trying to find gainful employment with, um, employers here
in town, um, and then I know the Human Resources Department also plans on doing
some recruitment, urn ... fairs in, um, the spring of 2015 to advertise the, uh, seasonal and
temporary jobs that will become available for the summer of 2015, and I think, um, there
would be about 50, uh, available positions in that seasonal, uh, group for that time period.
So trying to get the word out to the community about those jobs and how to apply for
those jobs. In addition, um, some of the other things that, urn ... uh, Human Resources
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and the City are trying to do is we're trying to, um, improve advertising, trying to find,
urn ... venues where we can advertise to a more diverse, uh, population of Iowa City. Um,
some of that will, um, take, um ... effort on our part as far as getting out in the community
and asking folks, you know, how do you hear about jobs, um, you know, is it, uh, through
the internet? Do you, you know, read a ... a hard, um, a newspaper or just kind of getting
more information on the best ways to get people, um, information about City jobs. Um,
also increasing internship opportunities. Uh, currently most internship opportunities here
at the City are associated with somebody who's probably working on a two- or a four-
year degree. Um, so, uh, possibly looking at expanding those internships to include, um,
high-school age, uh, students who could get, um, hopefully class credit, um, but also, um,
kind of use it somewhat as a recruitment tool to introduce, um, youth to, uh, work here at
City Hall, or working for the City.
Hayek/ Question ... on the previous slide, um ... to what extent, if any, have the collective
bargaining units... participated in this effort or, uh... or (mumbled) been approached to
play a role.
Bowers/ Sure, sure.
Hayek/ I mean cause... that... that seems to me to be an impediment at the ... at the local
government level to...
Bowers/ Uh huh.
Hayek/ ... some of this stuff.
Bowers/ Uh huh. And ... and I agree that ... that it is, because it does prevent the number of jobs
that are advertised externally to ... to the public. I, um, it's a great suggestion to reach out.
It's not something that ... that I, um, have personally done at this time, but it's definitely
something that, um, I will add to the list and talk to the Director of, uh, Human Resources
about. So...
Throgmorton/ I wonder if this ... could be a ... a subject of collective bargaining discussions with
the unions. My impression, based on various conversations with union members over the
years is ... is that their ... their not remotely hostile here to the idea of diversifying the, uh,
the employment base of...of the various unions who ... who work for city government.
But, there are... they... they like things to be negotiated collectively, through collective
bargaining. That's crucial for them. So, I ... I, you know, I'm just kind of tossing this out
here. I don't know that we need to have a full-blown discussion about it, but I'm just
wondering whether that should be dovetailed into this?
Bowers/ And that's something that I can follow up on. It's ... the Human Resource Director, and
it's not something that I specifically do, but I can ... I can follow up on that.
Throgmorton/ Uh huh.
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Bowers/ Um, and I think where I left off was talking about, um, increasing internship
opportunities. Also providing training to current City staff on cultural competency, on,
um, implicit bias. Uh, this past June we held, um, cultural competency training. It was,
um, probably the first time in a while that the City has offered, you know, training to, uh,
City staff. City staff has always had the opportunity to attend, you know, other sponsored
cultural competency events, but this was actually something that was sponsored by, um,
the City for City staff. Um, and so ... growing from that, uh, for 2015, the, uh, plan is to
do, um, more specific -type training, like on implicit bias, um, do a few on diversity and
inclusion, and ... the one thing I want to point out is that ... the training for City employees
is not going to be just a, you know, one-time a year, you know, so we can say that we did
this training. Um, but really trying to, uh, engage, uh... uh, City staff, um ... on the
importance of, you know, us being a... a culturally competent workforce, um, but also
really incorporating it into the culture here. So, the whole (mumbled) provide trainings
on multiple subjects, uh, throughout the year, um, and ... and really, urn ... provide the
training to City employees, um, but also stressing the importance and getting a sense
through the surveys, um, that are filled out afterwards, uh... trying to engage whether or
not the information is being received, um, that the outcomes are being met of the ... of the
training is basically what I'm getting at. Um, another, uh... uh... initiative of the Human
Resources Department that will be, uh, starting January 1St is they're switching to an on-
line application, and as part of that, uh, process the online application, uh, will no longer
ask for criminal history. And, uh... basically what that means is when somebody applies
for City employment, their, uh, criminal background will only be checked, one, if they're
interviewed, and two if they're being considered, you know, as the person to be hired.
Um, my understanding in talking with the Director of Human Resources is that the
criminal background checks would only go back 10 years for ... for most applicants, um,
who would qualify, meaning that have been interviewed and are being considered. Um,
some jobs do have a ... a, require a higher level of, uh, background check than just 10
years, but the majority of City jobs would ... would only be a 10 year, uh, looking back. It
would only look back at convictions and not charges, and even if somebody had a, uh,
criminal conviction, it does not, um, bar them from still being hired. One, the conviction
is going to have to be, you ... you know, related to some job responsibility or some job
function that they would actually be doing for the City. Um, and even assuming that's
true, um, Human Resource staff plans on contacting those individuals who, uh, would
have a conviction, uh, and getting more information from them to see if there are
circumstances that, you now, wouldn't be available on ... on the form that they would
read, that just says the conviction, to see if there were circumstances that, um, may make
that conviction not seem as important as, you know, it did on ... on paper. So that's
something that will start with the new year, and the new online process also allows the
City to, um, efficient ... to be more, uh, efficient in collecting information on who's
applying for City jobs, um, and then tracking that as to who's hired. Right now with the
paper, um, applications it's a, you know, it's, you know, it's a lot longer process to do
that. So this is one thing that we hope will make that easier and that we can report out on
in future reports.
Payne/ Will the ... I know you're talking about employment here, but will the application for
commissions and boards also be online?
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Bowers/ Well... technically they ... they are available online, but if you're asking can somebody
fill one out and submit them online...
Payne/ That's what I'm asking.
Bowers/ Yeah, that would not, um, be something that would be starting as soon as 2015, so...
Botchway/ Well is there any, um, hindrance on, you know, making, I mean, I have (mumbled)
questions but I guess since we're talking about online applications, is there any hindrance
of making everything online, I mean, every ... uh, application that we have, and I was also
thinking about the CPRB, you know, of making that complaint, uh, a situation that could
just be online, uh, and available, um, you know, you can do it on your phone, um, from
that standpoint? Is that something like ... is that a consideration or ... or maybe that's
something that we need to talk about.
Bowers/ You know I think ... I don't ... I don't know if there's been specific discussions about
that, but I should ... I want to make sure that the online application will be available for
employment, but that's not taking away somebody's ability to still walk into the Human
Resources Department and get a hard copy.
Botchway/ Right.
Bowers/ So I just want to make sure that it ... I'm not giving the impression that it will totally be
online. Um ... and then as far as putting boards and commission, um, applications so that
they can be filled out and submitted, I guess that would probably have to be something
that we would have to discuss with City staff to ... to see whether or not that is something
that could be looked at or done in the future.
Fruin/ Actually I ... I think that's something that we're looking at with the web site redesign,
making a number of our permits and applications available online. So hopefully that
would trigger at that point.
Botchway/ Well I guess with that ... with that redesign, cause I don't want to get bogged down
too much in it. I mean, hopefully the thought would be that it would move beyond, um,
just like, you know, obviously a laptop, being able to make that ... fill out the application
via phone if possible, and again, I'm specifically thinking about the complaint process.
In the event that I was in the situation where I had a complaint with a ... an officer or
whoever, and if I was able to think about it at that time and fill out a complaint online at
that time, um, you know, the facts that I'm running in my head, whatever the case may
be, I think would be a lot better than me, you know, walking back and trying to, you
know, open up my laptop two hours, three hours, whatever the case may be after the fact.
Fruin/ Yeah, and we're ... we're currently expanding the functionality of the icgovexpress mobile
app that we have right now, which was initially launched, um, I guess early last year for,
um ... housing and... complaints, um ... uh, property maintenance complaints and such, and
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we have expanded that. We're kind of going department by department, uh, the Police
Department has been a part of that. Right now you can submit complaints to the ... the
Police Department. They're more general in nature. So if someone wanted to, uh, file a
complaint against an officer, they could file that today through the mobile app —
icgovexpress. The Police Department (mumbled) contact them and let them know of the
...the options, whether they want to go through the CPRB or just make a ... an informal
complaint with the Department. So there's some follow-up there, um, that's already
being done.
Bowers/ When we, uh, talk in terms of the Ad Hoc Diversity, uh, Committee and their
recommendations, a lot of their recommendations, uh... were in reference to the Iowa
City Police Department, and one of the, um, kind of themes riding throughout a lot of
those recommendations involved a more... opportunity for community policing, and the
um, Iowa City Police Department has, uh, taken those recommendations from the Ad Hoc
Diversity Committee very seriously. Um, if you look at the, um, diversity
implementation form, I think it shows the progress of many of those recommendations
and um, those that are completed, those that are in progress, and those that are ongoing,
but ... but one of the, like I said, the underlying themes was this community policing, with
particular emphasis on, um, minority youth in minority communities, and as part of those
recommendations the, uh, Police Department, um, has created a, well I shouldn't say
they've created. They collaborated, um, with, um ... local organizations, schools to, um...
try to, uh... engage with, uh, youth, particularly youth of color, um, in a setting that, um,
is more relaxed for everyone. Hopefully in settings that create, um, conversation, build
relationships, maybe dispel biases on both sides, but I thought I would just take a moment
to talk about some of those programs, and one of them is the, um, `badges for baseball'
program which was, um, started, uh... 2013, um, and it was a, um, collaboration between
the Iowa City Police Department, United Action for Youth, and Children of Promise, and
it teaches youth, um, junior high through senior high, um, life skills and conflict
resolution through the playing of sports. The, uh... Police Department also started this
past summer a youth police academy, and the use ... the youth police academy, um, as I
mentioned, is an opportunity to build relationships, uh, for, um ... officers and youth to...
to interact in, um, more positive ways. Um, and also 1, um, the youth police academy
serves the, um ... purpose of hopefully serving as recruitment, uh, for future Iowa City
Police officers by introducing youth to, um, what it's like to be an Iowa City Police
officer and kind of giving them that exposure and hoping that maybe they'll consider a
career in law enforcement. The, uh, Police Department in 2013 did over, uh, 300 visits to
area schools. I don't have the numbers yet for this year, obviously. Um, and the Police
Department, uh, has always participated in National Night Out, but this last year, um, and
the year before they have made efforts to, um ... um ... hold those in more diverse
neighborhoods, and this year they did hold one, um, at the Pheasant Ridge, uh,
Neighborhood Center. And I ... I think I mentioned this already, but for, uh, a more
thorough list of some of the activities of the Police Department, if you do visit that
diversity initiative, uh, link you ... you can see that. So when we look at the arrests of, uh,
2013, um, based upon age, gender, and race, it shows that the, uh, Police Department
arrested, uh, 6,405, um, individuals. Of that number, the most were white males at about
3,500, um ... you were most likely to get arrested in 2013 if you were between the ages of
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18 and 25, and then, uh, 26 to, uh, 35. Those represented the two largest age groups for
...for those, uh, individuals arrested. Um, when we look at the breakdown of total arrests
by race and ethnicity, uh, we do see over -representation as it relates to, urn ... black, um,
individuals or ... or black persons who are arrested and also Hispanic persons. Um, if you
look at the bottom of the, uh, image, it shows that blacks represented 29% of the total
arrests of 2013, and uh, Hispanic represented 9, uh, percent. And ... we do have
information on what ... charges someone is charged with most, based upon their race or
ethnicity, at least for 2013, um, which... if, uh, in 2013 if you were white you were most
likely to be charged with public intoxication. If you were, uh, black, uh, driving while
license under suspension. If you were Asian or Pacific Islander, um, operating while
intoxicated. If you were, uh, Hispanic, public intoxication, and then American Indian or
Alaskan Native, uh, public intoxication. And when we turn to the traffic stops by age,
race, and gender for 2013, um, it shows that you were most likely to be stopped if you
were between the ages of 20 and 29, regardless of race, ethnicity, or gender. Uh, you
were least likely to be stopped if you were, uh, 65 years of age or older, uh, regardless of
gender or race or ethnicity. When we look at that largest group of individuals arrested,
that 20 to 29 ... excuse me, I said arrested and I meant to say stopped. Um, if you look at
that group of those, uh.... arrest ... excuse me! Stopped, uh, between the ages of 20 and
29, it shows that, um... of all females stopped in that age category, uh, black females
represented 13.5% of those stops. Um, if you look at the black males within that same
age group, it shows 14.9%, and if you look at the total stops, um, by the number of, uh,
black, uh, males, it shows that, uh, black males represented, um, 9% of those total stops
for 2013. When we turn to, um ... juv... juvenile referrals and citations for 2013, um,
youth in 2013 were most likely to be charged with fifth degree theft, followed by
disorderly conduct. Um, the juvenile curfew ordinance, which was put into effect about
four years here in Iowa City, uh, shows that 30, uh, youth were cited in 2013, um, of that
number, uh, the majority were, uh, males. It shows that 23 of those, uh, youth that were
cited would... or, identified as white. Whereas, uh, 4, um... identified as black, and 3
Hispanic. So the action plan from the, um, Police Department as far as some of the over -
representations, um, that, uh... uh, were viewed, and also as part of their, um,
commitment, um, to community policing, um, is to participate and look at diversion
programs, and one program that the Department is currently, um ... participating in is the
`ladders program,' which is a diversion program, uh, for ... for youth who are first time
offenders of disorderly conduct, or charged with disorderly conduct. Um, as I mentioned,
they also have the youth police academy, um, that they hope to expand on for, uh, 2015.
Um, working on more engagement and getting out in the community more as far as, um,
community policing, and then the Department, um ... is also, uh, participating in the St.
Ambrose study, of which you had the work session back in June on, and it's my
understanding that Dr. Barnum, uh, is currently, uh, doing the traffic stops for 2013 and
he'll be doing `em for 2014, um, and then at that point, um, those results will be analyzed
and they will be added as part of the, uh, Equity Report, um, and then I'm guessing that
probably wouldn't be until maybe the end of 20, uh, 15, but... speculation on my part.
Um, the Department is also trying to increase diversity within the police force, um,
advertising in urban metropolitan areas such as, uh, St. Louis, uh, Kansas City, and
Omaha. Also, um ... advertising and trying to recruit, uh, at historically black colleges
and universities that have criminal justice majors. They also, uh, require ... um ... cultural
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competency training of the entire, um, police force, and they have training coming up in,
uh, January of 2015. They also attend forums and trainings, um, that discuss, um,
inclusion, diversity, um ... cul ... uh, implicit bias and things of that nature and the, uh,
supervisory staff of the Police Department does, um ... monitor for indications of racial
profiling, uh, through reviewing audio videos, um ... of interactions, and then the Police
Department, the City Clerk's office, and the Human Rights Department all work, uh, very
hard at trying to, uh, get word out to the community on the various ways a person can, uh,
file a complaint, um, whether that's a formal complaint, um, or an informal complaint,
um... either with the Citizens Police Review Board, uh, with the Human Rights office, or
just going directly to the, uh, Police Department. So we do, uh, really try to ... to ... to
make those options known, um, to the public.
Botchway/ Who reviews the cultural competency training? I mean, I guess not just specifically
looking at the Police Department, but all departments.
Bowers/ Uh huh. Since I've been working with the City on the initiatives, um, it would be ... I
would be the one that has been reviewing `em. Um, Helen Jamison is the person who did
the training, um, in ... in Ju ... in June of this past year. Um, and like I said, we're looking
now at really expanding the training and offer it ... offering it obviously more than just a
one-time year deal, um, but I would be the one that reviews that. And just to, um, briefly
mention these things and they're, um, in a little more detail in the actual Equity Report,
but the City, um, as mentioned, um, here this evening is working on a web site redesign
that is hopefully going to make the web site ... easier to navigate, more accessible, um, but
also, uh, try to reflect the goals of, uh, what we're achieving here and trying to achieve,
as far as, uh, equity and making this, uh, community, um, inclusive for ... for everyone.
Um, also the community identification card, um, is something that came from the Human
Rights Commission originally a few years ago, but it looks like that will be moving
forward, um, hopefully in the spring/summer of 2015. Um, international student outreach
is something that the Communications Department here at the City, um, has been
working with the University of Iowa and participating in, uh, orientations for
international students, um, introducing themselves, talking about what the City does, City
services, um, and making themselves available. And one of the, um, other items for the
work session tonight was the, uh, City leadership to promote black male achievement,
and going through that, uh, action guide, there are specific things that, uh, they suggest,
uh, that City... a city council could do, um, to help improve outcomes in their community.
And so one of the, um ... things that they mention is that the City Council has the ability to
really bring attention to, um, disproportionality, um, and other issues of equity that may
be occurring within their communities. Um, you also have the ability through your role
as the City Council to allocate funding for, uh, things that, uh, may improve outcomes.
Um, they look at why we have certain outcomes, but really trying to, um, fund those
things, whether it's job creation, education, um, that help, uh... promote, um ... positive
outcomes as opposed to some of the outcomes that a community may see. Um, the City
Council also has the ability through your constituents to garner support in the community.
Um, you can advocate for change obviously here at the local level, but also at the state
and federal level, as well. You can collaborate with others here in Johnson County,
whether it's the other, uh, governments here, um, also the School District and working
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together and sharing accountability on, um, working towards improving some of the
disparities and outcomes that, um, certain members of our community, um, experience
here in Iowa City. And one of the things, when we talked about disproportionality, part
of that definition was, uh, you know, a policy or program that may be neutral on its face,
but inadvertently has this, uh, disparate impact on a particular group. Um, one of the
things that the, uh, City leadership to promote black male achievement, um, mentions is
kind of this equity impact review tool, um, that could be used by Council or staff when,
um, evaluating policy programs or budget initiatives, um, to kind of look at things prior
to enactment, um, to see whether or not at that point we can see whether or not they may,
um, impact a particular group more so than others, and ... and if that is the case, are there
things that we can do, um, to modify that policy or that initiative, um, so that we can
lessen, um, that impact on that particular community group. So, um, in closing I just
want to again, uh, stress that, uh, we are working and committed to creating a more
welcoming inclusive community here in Iowa City, um, I feel like the, um, action plan
presented in the Equity Report, as far as some of the initiatives that I've discussed here
this evening, um, are ... are goals and objectives that, um, we can meet, and I feel like they
have, uh, measurable outcomes by looking at our, um, the ... the statistics, you know,
annually each year to see if those things improve. Um, working with, um, others,
community members, um, other governments, other institutions here, um... in trying to
address, uh... some of the disproportionality that we see and also, uh, celebrating the
diversity that we do have and welcoming that, and ... the ... the final thing I think I want to
mention is this was the first Equity Report. So, um, the future one, um, is planned to be
released in, um ... probably the spring of 2014, and the move from the fall to the spring is
really to make everything more timely. Um, most of the reports that are required as part
of the Equity Report, for example the Citizens Police Review Board and the Human
Rights Commission annual report have been approved and are, you know, available at
this time. Um, the reports from Human Resources and the Police Department I think
should generally be available by the, um, end of February, early March. So just trying to
get that information out, um, in a little more timely fashion than we were able to, uh, with
this one, um, and also, uh, looking forward to, um ... any suggestions for, uh...
improvement, um ... imports ... reports that maybe we didn't include that we should.
Maybe reports that we included that maybe, you know, should be re-evaluated, um, but
really looking for input from the Council, from the community, um, on ways that, uh, the
City can, um ... produce the Equity Report in the future. So, that's all I have planned!
Mims/ I'd just like to say thank you very much. I know you've put a lot of...lot of hard work
into this and for the first one, starting from scratch (laughs) um, with everything we've
done in the last couple years, and you know, I ... I would just like to say that, I think we
still have an awful lot to do in this community. I mean I just think there's no question
about it — we're not ... we're not unique in this state or in this country in terms of racial
issues and things, and we still have a lot to do, but I ... I do feel good that we've ... we've
gotten a good start on some things in the last couple years, between the Ad Hoc Diversity
Committee. I think you look at some of the things, initiatives that the Police Department
has put into place, um, with their ... their youth academy and things like that, and I think
the Fire Department's doing the same ... trying to do the same thing. Um, and I know,
you know, with the, uh, Human Resources starting to get more information out about
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civil services, which I know I've talked with the City Manager about, which can be a
huge obstacle in terms of hiring and diversifying, um, the staff and so ... trying to get
more information out to people about how that ... that process works, and I think from the
Council perspective, you know, the fact that we have, you know, continued the funding
for St. Ambrose, um, so that we can continue to have that data collected and analyzed,
and you know, hold our police officers accountable and... and yet understand, you know,
as we got some of that information when that professor came in terms of, you know, the
disparate numbers don't necessarily mean bias, yet obviously that's what people initially
think, but to be able to dig deeper into that and really see what's happening and why. So,
um ... you know, not ... certainly not to pat ourselves on the back too much because we
have an awful lot of work to do, but I think ... I think we've done some good things in this
community to get started, and we need to continue.
Botchway/ I would echo those comments. Um, especially just kind of putting together this, you
know, slab of a document, uh, to go through. I mean, it was a lot of information. I think
it was good information I think a lot of the public will be appreciative of. I didn't know
how this process was going to work, and whether or not I could, you know, throw out
some questions and suggestions right now?
Hayek/ That's fine. We do want to leave time for the balance of the work session agenda. So I'd
say we go another five or 10 minutes and then break away, wherever we are.
Botchway/ Well, just ... I, again, and I can save this for an email maybe later on, but just some of
the things that I was thinking about from going through the report. You know, the
Diversity Task Force was comprised of internal staff, and I was wondering whether or
not, again this is a suggestion and obviously Council included, whether or not there could
be something done to where, um, public members could be a part of that task force, that'd
be, you know, the Human Rights Commission maybe looking at the community, um, in
other stakeholder areas, like the BVP, um, the Center, uh, the Coalition for Racial Justice,
the CWJ, um, and adding, um, those members to the task force as well to, you know,
remove the thought of...there not being transparency within that particular task force.
Um, there ... a couple of questions I had about the data itself. Well one because I thought
the data that couldn't be collected for, um ... uh, cause we talked to ... talking with the
County Attorney, um, and uh, working with the CJCC committee, um, some of the data
was said not to be able to be collected but I was seeing it here, um, where you could go
through and pull out, um, the race, gender, and ethnicity for charges especially when it,
you know, dealt with, uh... uh... possession of controlled substances. Um, and so ... I
guess, you know, from that standpoint, I was wondering if we could think of initiatives
or ... um ... or ways of, you know, working on diversion programs, um, in regards to, um,
for lack of a better phrase, um, areas where, you know, Iowa City in particular in Johnson
County has come under fire nationally of being terrible. Uh, it would just be nice to want
to do something towards that, just because you know I mean as soon as I go back home
and, you know, again read the paper for whatever reason, you know, there's just going to
be a lot of comments made about this place that I live, that I've now decided to, you
know, stay at that, you know, has ... I think the article was also in the works ... the packet,
as well, you know. Iowa being one of the five worst states. I mean, that's absolutely
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ridiculous. Um, on top of that the ACLU report that spoke about, you know, being eight
times more likely to be a, um, a black individual being arrested for marijuana, and that
information was actually shown in the report, um, for the PCS, possession of controlled
substance, and why we couldn't figure out a way to, you know, work on a diversion
program to speak to those particular issues. Um, there ... I don't know, there's a ... there's
a ton of things ... I think that we need to have another work session, or ... yeah, a work
session to discuss what we as a Council could do to, um, or maybe suggestions... what we
as a Council could do to better, you know, uh... handle these problems. You know,
another thing would be, and this is something that you mentioned, as well, was that the
racial equity tool kit would be, you know, a wonderful tool that, you know, if we could
use that. Granted it would add extra work on City staff, but literally going through, um,
each policy, and maybe you could just start with newly enacted policies and make sure
that we're going through some type of racial equity analysis. I mean, there's one simply
on the web site that I looked up from Seattle that, you know, has been talked about in
multiple conversations over the last, um, couple of months. So, again, I don't know the
mechanism how we're speaking about it — I know we'd have a little time, but uh, I think
there's the ability to do a lot of stuff, you know, even I think ... I see Sam in the audience,
you know, I'm not sure about this, I don't think we talked about it, you know, the, um,
the youth police academy didn't get, you know, huge, uh... a lot of diversity as far as the,
uh, people that were there, but you know in that case, a suggestion could be, you know,
working with other community organizations. You know, you could have pulled from
the Dream Center or United Action For Youth and asked them... (unable to hear person
responding) Oh they did? Okay.
Bowers/ They're working with Diversity Focus and the Dream Center for next year.
Botchway/ Okay! So ... never mind. But ... stuff like that would be, I think, a good, I don't know,
work session we can sit down and go through suggestions, um, that, you know,
everybody could have to possibly, um, help the process. So...
Throgmorton/ I'd like to throw out three suggestions. If my voice will work that is (clears
throat) Um, first I agree with pretty much everything that Susan said and... and would
echo what Kingsley has said, and thank you, uh, for putting the report together and for
sharing the National League of Cities report with us, having your memo attached to it.
Thank you for doing that! Uh, but part of what you said, Kingsley, makes me think about
the importance of trust, uh, and it's one thing to have data ... that indicates the various
things we've done, that compares, um ... excessive ... you know, disproportionality in one
way or another, etc., but it's, uh, it's also really crucial to have strong connections with
diverse members of the community, and ... and I praise the Police Department in having
the initiatives that you referred to in your report, Stefanie. But my guess is that we as a
city council could take some action on our own to try to establish, um, great ... a greater
sense of trust with ... with diverse members of the community. That's one thing. The
second thing is, with regard to your suggestion there at the end, Kingsley, uh, maybe,
Matt, we ... you could invite each of us to submit ideas about how we as a council ... some
steps we as a council could take, and then we could, once we get those suggestions from
each Councilperson, we could decide what we want to do, whether we want to act on any
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of those or some of `em or whatever. The third thing I'd like to mention is ... is that you
gave us two reports, one the Equity Por ... Report, and the other is the, uh, National
League of Cities Report about city leadership to promote black, uh, young ... black male
(several responding) Thank you! Uh, and so what I'm conscious of in the Equity Report
is that it...it focuses primarily, if not exclusively, on things city government can control
directly about city operations, and therefore it doesn't really pay much, if any, attention
to unemployment, income, education, health, and ... and the other categories mentioned in
the NLC report. So (laughs) that's a big thing! You know, so I would think maybe the
next time around, and maybe in the interim, we could be paying more attention to
disproportionality or inequity with regard to income, housing, unemployment, etc., in our
city, not in city government, but in our city. And then reaching out to the larger
community, which is something I think ... the Iowa City community... which is something
I think you refer to in your memo of...conveying the NLC report. So anyhow, bravo!
Bowers/ Thank you.
Hayek/ Well I would, yeah, I mean there are a plethora of... of ideas enounced and probably
others on ... on lists that weren't mentioned and I would ... I would suggest that ... people
submit those to the full Council and we'll figure out ... what we want to do, if anything,
with ... with them. I mean, I think that's the best way to communicate... what appears to
be a lot of information. And, I would echo the previous comments, Stefanie, while I've
got the floor here — excellent work!
Mims/ Yeah, and I think with looking at all those then it's, you know, what can we either do,
what can we provide leadership on, and ... what can we coordinate with other people,
cause, I mean, you talk, Kingsley, a lot about diversion programs. I mean, that's not in
our hands at all (both talking)
Botchway/ No I agree! Yeah.
Mims/ ...that's the court system, that's those folks, but ... you know, can we make suggestions
when we ... can we try and, you know, be there and involved as citizens to give our input,
those kinds of things, but I mean I think as we make suggestions and ideas, we've also
got to be cognizant of, you know, what we can and can't do as a council.
Throgmorton/ Yeah.
Botchway/ And a lot of this, I mean, I don't even think that was mentioned in the conclusion of
the Equity Report was that, you know, um (noises on mic, difficult to hear speaker) uh...
oh, there it is. The, um ... you know, the action plan ... uh, wherever it is. This is
ridiculous. Um, that this is going to be, you know, a countywide, citywide, I mean,
incorporating obviously different municipalities as well as the county, as well, is going to
be very important for, uh, to work ... for work to progress in this particular, uh, situation.
Mims/ Definitely.
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Throgmorton/ Matt (both talking)
Hayek/ Your points about, uh, about these other, um, factors, whether it's socioeconomic or
otherwise, th... those are salient points and you know the ... and the ... the numbers... don't,
are not further broken down by, for exam ... to use your example socioeconomic status.
There's a chart showing differences, um, within the Iowa City population but ... it's only
on that page. It's not translated into the various other analyses. Um, but what, you know,
whether that's something a local city government can do much about is another question.
Throgmorton/ Well maybe we can do some things about it, so let me ask a follow-up question of
you, Matt.
Hayek/ Yeah.
Throgmorton/ If... if... if it's agreed that we should submit suggestions about actions we could
possibly take, to whom shall we submit them? Shall we submit them to the Council as a
whole, or shall we submit them to you?
Hayek/ Oh not ... no, to the Council. I mean (both talking) unless you want to run them through
staff, I think ... I think they're something that everyone would need to and want to see.
Throgmorton/ Sounds fine to me!
Hayek/ Okay, let's wrap up. Thank you, Stefanie, once again. (several talking) Info Packets.
There's one from November 6th.
Information Packet Discussion (November 6, 13):
Dobyns/ (mumbled) Rick Fosse on the multi -modal roads. I forget which packet that was. Rick.
Hayek/ Hey, can you put your mic on (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Oh, about snow... about snow removal?
Dobyns/ Yeah, regarding multi -modal. Yeah, Rick, that was ... what streets that are... currently
exist or ones that are planned, and I guess I was sort of thinking about Burlington. But,
uh, was this article about some of the unforeseen consequences of multi -modal planning
and... snow and other things?
Fosse/ It is, and to a certain extent we're already there, cause we have a number of streets that
are multi -modal and ... and um, so ... we have some bike lanes on our streets. We ... we
certainly have the, uh, the transit stops, the curb ramps at the intersections, and all those
things. If you want to maintain those modes throughout the year, uh, you need to
dedicate resources to that, and ... and I thought that article did a good job of articulating it.
Mims/ It did. I agree.
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Fosse/ Yeah, and ... and one of the areas that I struggle with there is ... is like our ... our trails in the
parks. We'll need to make a decision on whether or not ... how much effort we want to
put into maintaining, uh, bike lanes on streets for plowing, cause you know if you're
looking at...at the carbon footprint, that's a loser. You know, you're gonna ... you're
gonna consume a lot more energy plowing those than you'll save by the few hardy souls
that ... that bike throughout the whole season. So those are policy decisions that we're
going to need to face as a community.
Hayek/ Hell hath no fury like the wintertime bike lobby! (laughter)
Fosse/ They're a hardy bunch! (laughter)
Dobyns/ Thanks, Rick!
Fosse/ Sure!
Hayek/ All right, that was actually on the November 13 packet. Let me just open it up for both
Info Packets. Does anyone have any questions as to the ... November 6 or November 13?
Mims/ Well, just on the 13'', I was happy to see that hopefully the Governor's looking at
transportation funding as being important, and maybe between the Governor and the
legislature we'll get a gas tax increase to help us.
Throgmorton/ Seems likely.
Hayek/ Going once, going twice! Council time!
Council Time:
Throgmorton/ On the 7th ... oh, a week ago or whenever that was, um, the first of our three, um,
artist candidates for designing a potentially iconic art project on the Blackhawk Mini -
Park came through. Did a walkthrough of, uh, ped mall area, and then made a
presentation at, uh, the Public Library. The second candidate is coming through this
Friday. Well, not coming through — he's a local resident actually, but he ... he will do a
walk-through at noon, on the ped mall, and then make a presentation at 2:00 P.M. Friday
at the City Library. Right, Jeff, City Library, Room A?
Hayek/ Anything else? Okay, meeting schedule.
Meeting Schedule:
Mims/ Lot of `em! (laughter)
Hayek/ Yeah, and we're about to...
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Mims/ ... about to hit the rough side of (both talking)
Hayek/ About to hit the rough cycle, yeah.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, and I've got ECICOG. You could go if you wanted to, Terry!
Dickens/ No thank you!
Throgmorton/ And City of Literature on Thursday, their board meetings. (several talking)
Botchway/ ...come up, so how does it work again? We don't go back to the strategic planning
session. That's every other year.
Markus/ After... after each election.
Botchway/ All right. And then, so, but we'll still go through the budget pro ... I mean obviously
we'll go through the budget process (several talking) Okay.
Mims/ You have all those meetings on your calendar, don't you?
Botchway/ Of course I do!
Mims/ Okay! (laughter and several talking) You better cause there's a bunch of `em in January!
Botchway/ No I'll ... I'll have `em in there! (laughter)
Pending Work Session Topics (IP #7 Info Packet of 11/13):
Hayek/ Pending work session topics.
McCarthy/ I have a question about the taxi regulations for the meeting on the 2nd. Does review
mean that there's... would be opportunity for additional input, because I'm planning on
meeting with members of the Women's Resource and Action Commission on campus
because they have some input that they'd like to put forward. So would that be the
proper avenue for that or ... would I address that to staff first? Or...
Markus/ You could bring it to our attention first.
McCarthy/ Okay.
Markus/ (mumbled)
McCarthy/ Great!
Markus/ But you should still have opportunities whenever we got an ordinance amendment
(mumbled)
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McCarthy/ Just wanted to double check on that.
Markus/ The sooner you can get it to us though the more likely we can (mumbled)
Upcoming Community Events / Council Invitations:
Hayek/ Upcoming events.
Throgmorton/ So we've been invited to meet with Uber representatives. I got an email invitation
about that.
Markus/ I've arranged, or we are arranging a time to meet with them. The staff is going to meet
with them initially.
Throgmorton/ Ah, so I know they're meeting... they're having a meeting at the Chamber on,
what, Friday? Is there ... yeah, on Friday. There's no reason why I couldn't go to that if I
wanted to, right?
Markus/ Have at it! (laughter) You can call `em up and get a ride over! (laughter)
Hayek/ Okay! We'll take a break and come back at 7:00 for the formal. Thank you!
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