HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-01-14 TranscriptionPage 1
Council Present: Botchway, Cole, Dickens, Mims, Taylor, Thomas, Throgmorton
Staff Present: Markus, Fruin, Craig, Dilkes, Karr, Carrie Fox-Rummelhart, Boothroy,
Bockenstedt, Korpel, Andrew
Others Present: Simpson (UISG)
Strategic Plan:
Throgmorton/ Okay, so let's call this meeting, this work session of January the 10 to order, and
as Terry wisely recommended, we should welcome our fellow Councilwoman, Pauline
Taylor. It's great to see you, Pauline! (applause)
Taylor/ Thank you! It's great to be here! My special thanks to Marian and the IT staff and that
for settin' up the conference calls. That did make it a lot easier. So, I thought ... Ineeded
to be here face-to-face for this one. So, we'll see how it goes!
Throgmorton/ Yeah! Well we have a lot to do tonight!
Taylor/ Yes!
Throgmorton/ And I ... who knows whether we'll be able to get all the way through it. I would say
that ... the, uh, announced agenda lists the budget discussion first, strategic plan second.
Uh, Tom and I have talked about this and .... I'm recalling our last, uh, CIP work session,
we all agreed that it'd be much better ... much more appropriate, to do the strategic plan
discussion first. That would lead us into the budgetary implications. Uh, so that's what
we'll be doing tonight. Uh, we've discussed, Tom and I have discussed how we might go
through the strategic plan and ... we've shared ideas, and I've asked Tom to lead us through
that discussion, to facilitate the discussion for us. Uh, so I'm going to turn things over to
you, Tom, and...
Markus/ Sure! (mumbled) So I should probably start off by, you know, I left messages for
some. I hope everybody got the message that, um, I have accepted the position as, uh,
City Manager in Lawrence, Kansas. Quite frankly Lawrence has a lot of similarities to
Iowa City. It's about 20,000 in population larger and it has larger organization and .... and
uh.... some other aspects that I've really found interesting. So, I say that in part about the
discussion this evening. I think we need to go about this with a certain sense of urgency,
um, to get these things done and I think it would be advisable to try and have them done
before I go. Tentatively I would be, um, leaving, uh... the week of March 21 ", but I do
have some leave time scheduled in there, so ... Jim and I talked about all of those things,
and the other things I'll tell you at this point right now is that Jim and I also talked, and I
said I would be glad to offer a suggestion, kind of format, for the Council on how to go
about, uh... naming an interim how about ... uh, to go about selecting a search firm if that's
what you decide to do, and give you some, um ... guidance in terms of how to go about
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handling that, so that, um, you get a good start on that. There's a ... there's a lot of timing
involved in that, and you do have a certain amount of expertise sitting at this dais as well
in both Marian and Eleanor because they were through this with me and... actually they
were through this a couple times before they got to me. Um, so there... and... and there's
some really pretty ... um ... I think more advan ... advantageous ways of going about getting
this done and ... and doing it in a timely fashion, and doing it in a very, uh, transparent way
for your public. So, I'll lay those things out for ya, uh, even try to get it to you next week
if, you know, if the phone stops ringing (laughter) Um ... so ... with that, um, we did decide
that, um, of course... the... the idea was that the budget would follow the strategic plan.
The budget's required to be approved by mid-March. And so ... to try and, you know,
so ... and ... and the budget, as you recall, this conversation at this table was that the budget
needs to be informed by the strategic plan, so ... what I would suggest is that we ... as Jim
has suggested we alter the, uh, the sequence of items tonight and go with strategic plan
first. Having said that, um ... when we started the strategic planning process when I first
came here, uh, we ... we deliberately decided the first one would be after, um, the next
election in the cycle, and we deliberately decided to include both outgoing Council
Members and incoming Council Members in that process. And the process then was that
the newly... elected and incumbent Council that's seated after the first of the year would
be the Council that would approve the strategic plan. So, despite the fact that ... that, uh,
we went through the... the... the process, uh, I think in November. In November, um,
it's ... it's clear that, uh, Council Members, um, had, um ... maybe ... been thrust into their
very first meeting in a fairly complex discussion about items and so it's now, um, I think
an opportune time to, and then the Council's had a little more time to acclimate, you're
not veterans yet but you know, you're:..you're startin' to get a sense of how things get
done and so ... uh, Jim and I talked about .... so just how would we proceed going through
the plan that was submitted, the draft plan, that was submitted by, um ... Jeff Schott and
how would we then incorporate the thoughts that the Council has now had a chance to
evolve and after reading the ... the plan that Jeff submitted, how would that be, um ... gotten
to a point where the new Council could approve it. So ... what we decided to do is kind
of... be somewhat, um ... um ... systematic in going through that document, and using that
as the base document, and then breaking it down into different segments. First would be,
um, to actually look at the overarching intention of the plan. And have that discussion.
And I have some handouts for you ... that I just printed (mumbled) and um, basically, um,
they are the preamble of the City Charter, and ... (several talking) I'll just hand those out
for the time being, but what we want to do is talk about that, because normally when you
do strategic planning, you have a mission statement kind of at the beginning of the
strategic plan itself that kind of sets the general parameter of...of where you're headed.
The next thing we would do is that we would go through the ... I believe there are seven,
uh, specific focus areas in the ... in the strategic plan document themselves, and I'll have
Simon come up here, uh, while we're studying the first one and identify those, uh, seven
areas in ... in a, maybe abbreviated fashion, and then walk through each of those for the
Council to kind of discern if those kind of meet the Council's, you know, perspective on
what those seven focus areas are, whether that, you know, whether you want to add a
focus area, subtract a focus area, or redefine a focus area. The next thing we would do is
after we've established those focus areas, we look at Mr. Schott's comments, uh,
objectives, goals for each of those areas, and you'll find that in the document that he
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prepared under the section on page 11, entitled "2016/17 Strategic Plan Focus Areas and
New Priorities, Projects, Programs, Policies, and Initiatives." And so what we'll do is
we'll go through those and you can then comment on those under each one. This is going
to take some time, obviously, but I hope to make some serious headway tonight into that
and the other thing we talked about with Jim was to ... is potentially to kick this over, uh,
to another continued work session cause like I said, I think it's imperative and there's a
sense of urgency to get that part of it done. That then can inform the budget document,
and we'll pick up those kinds of projects and then incorporate those into the budget
document themselves. Finally we would, you know, we'd take all that information, um,
Geoff is a master at...at assimilating that information and ... and A .... you know, creating
the appropriate prose for each item and ... and then incorporating that into the document.
That document then becomes the document that we continue to monitor and measure for
how we're progressing, and you get a report out — I think it's three times a year, about
every four months — after we've got that done. Um, in terms of vetting, um, I think, you
know, you can ... at some point if you choose to, you could call for a public hearing or
something to that effect, and you can distribute it, and you can have staff or you can have
elected officials out vetting this particular, you now, strategic plan itself. Um, but what I
would say is that, again, I think time is of the essence to get this all moving, and quite
frankly it's just ... it's the reality of the timing between the Council being ... the new Council
being seated and then the budget document being required under State law, and like I
said, we start the budget process in the October period, uh, of last year and so we've been
in budgeting — October, November, December — uh, we've been actually in it for three
months there before the Council was even seated. So a lot of those numbers were
crunched before, you know, the Council really..•.had a chance to be seated and started
going through it themselves. So, that's the proposal I would recommend at this particular
time. Um, and that we start, you know, with the global picture of what the general
statement is and then we refine all the way down to the document itself. If that's
acceptable, we'll get started. Okay! Let me drink something. I've been talkin' too much
today! All right, so, um, one of the things that, you know, when you go back to the
original strategic plan, uh, process ... um, we had, um, a discussion about mission
statements, and I recall pretty specifically that, um, and I didn't recall this in our
conversation today, but, um, one of the things that we say in ours is that the strategic
focus areas and new priorities, but we always talked about an overarching plan of
sustainability and inclusivity. But ... when you start to look at the preamble, the preamble
is ... is pretty....pretty good in terms of, you know, the statement on behalf of the City, and
this is something that was just vetted through the whole Charter Commission. They took
a look at that, as well, when they went through the Charter Commission review, which is
done every 10 years. Let me just read it out loud for the benefit of the audience. Uh, we
the people of Iowa City, Iowa, pursuant to the Constitution and the Statutes of the State
of Iowa, and the principle of self-determination, proclaim that the government of Iowa
City belongs to all its residents, and all share the same responsibility for it. We hereby
adopt this Charter and confer upon it (mumbled) Home Rule powers of a Charter City by
this action we adopt the following principles, and I think this kind of gets closer to your
mission. Resident participation, and there's the word that we already had added to it, on
an inclusive basis in a democratic self-government. The provision of service relating to
health, safety, and welfare of its residents in a fair, equitable, and efficient manner. The
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conduct of City business and conformity with due process, equal protection of the laws,
and those individual liberties protected by the Constitution of the U.S., the State of Iowa,
and local ordinance, and civility by City employees in their interactions with the public.
Um, that's kind of a statement of not only purpose, but kind of what our mission as a
government is. And I think it's... it's... it has stood the test of time, and that can be refined.
You know, you could work on that. Uh, Jim, you had an idea about a statement as well,
but um ... I think the reason we kinda did not go down the root of a specific mission
statement for the strategic plan is, as my recollection, we had a real comfort level with
that preamble, and I'd ... I mean it ... I've read a lot of preambles. This one, I think, was
written for Iowa City and .... and really kind of speaks to Iowa City in my mind. Um, so
I'd .... I think it's pretty good statement. I don't know that you need to go a whole lot
further that. The only thing (mumbled) suggest is that maybe you reduce it to a
paragraph or somethin' and ... and make it a bit more succinct. But ... that said ... (both
talking)
Throgmorton/ (mumbled) ...but it doesn't state what the purpose of the strategic plan is.
Markus/ So ... offer your suggestion.
Throgmorton/ The last one that we adopted said ... tell me if I'm wrong about this, this strategic
plan intends to foster a more inclusive and sustainable Iowa City.
Markus/ You suggested...
Throgmorton/ I suggested adding the words 'just, and,' well (mumbled) so it would be 'this
strategic plan intends to foster a more inclusive, just, and sustainable Iowa City.' So...
Markus/ See I think that's.... summarizing I think is fine and I think that is consistent with the
preamble, personally, so... So ... that's the first topic of conversation, you know.
Hopefully you guys engage in that conversation, see if you want to refine it in any way.
Thomas/ One ... one thought I've had regarding... how we're approaching this and what I hope will
be one of our, um, achievements would be that we ... the strategic plan'll have a
measurable aspect to it, that it will help us actually gauge our progress in terms of, you
know, we've talked about leading indicators and um ... that, you know, having that in place
will help us understand if the actions we're taking are in fact having the effect we had
hoped they'd have. Um ... you know, I tend to view all of the work (laughs) you know, life
is kind of a hypothesis and you quite ... don't quite know if what (laughs) what you, uh,
your, you know, you actually meet the goals of your hypothesis and having measurable
indicators gives you .... at least some sense as to whether you're heading in the right
direction. So that was one thought was, you know including a phrase such as 'measurable
progress,' to try to capture that.
Throgmorton/ Other thoughts?
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Cole/ I guess I'm comfortable with the preamble. Um, I think that that does adequately reflect
what I'd like to achieve as a Councilperson. Um ... my overarching thought is that I'm as
concerned about, you know, the ... the language that you had talked about, Jim, but ... you
know, regarding the participation, I just felt that there needed to be more participation,
um, by Councilors in the, um, preparation of the document. So ... I'm comfortable with the
language in the Charter.
Throgmorton/ When you.. just to (mumbled) to clarify. When you say that, you mean (both
talking)
Cole/ Yeah.
Throgmorton/ ...all the text?
Cole/ Yeah. And I'm not, you know .... I'm fine with alternative point of view too.
Mims/ Well, the intent here is not to change the Charter, correct? I don't have any problem with
your lead-in language. I mean I think, you know as John says...it...it really comes down
to where the rubber hits the road in terms of what do we actually end up with in the City
Charter, and do we get things accomplished.
Throgmorton/ (mumbled) Kingsley? Terry?
Taylor/ I ... I agree with John as far as the measurable, um, sort of progress kind of language in
there, uh, otherwise as far as our ... our intent with our strategic plan, the ... this certainly
reflects the, um, inclusiveness and sustainability of the community. So ... (mumbled) good
language.
Botchway/ (mumbled) I would agree. It's ... it's, uh, I understand the need for, um, you know,
kind of wordsmithing this and wanting to provide more maybe direct language, but,
urn .... um, I ... I truly believe our ... our focus should be more on the focus areas and some
of the other, uh, issues and so um, you know, I'm fine with that. I do agree with John,
you know, the addition of measurable progress, um, is a ... can be a powerful statement
and so if...if that's... that's what the rest of folks want to put in, I mean, I ... I don't ... I don't
have any particular opinion other than I think it makes sense.
Throgmorton/ Any objective to finding some way to incorporate language about measurable
progress into that overarching statement? Rockne, I don't mean to ignore you but, you
know, it sounds like there's six people that support (both talking) Uh, Geoff, can you try
to...
Fruin/ Yeah, we'll put somethin' together.
Markus/ All right. So the next, uh, the next area we want to move into, um, and don't forget,
urn ... we're....we're also working on this whole STAR community process, and we
gotta ... and I think, John, you had some comments about that. At some point we gotta
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figure out some way to mesh that into the, um, strategic plan area itself, and I think that's,
urn ... really a great opportunity... and... and I think that there is measurable,
um ... urn ... indicators that we can roll especially into that, um, document, and I ... I haven't
quite figured out how we'll do that, but maybe as we progress through the discussion we
can get to that as well. All right, so .... urn ... I would refer you to page ... I l and I'd ask
Simon to start, um...
Throgmorton/ You mean of Jeff Schott's report?
Markus/ Yes, of Jeff Schott's report, and the title of that is "2016/17 Strategic Focus Areas," and
then under that were listed new priority projects, programs, policies and initiatives. So...
the first one is strategic... there's, let me just read'em off first. Um, and then we can talk
about how you want to progress through this. There's seven of them. Strategic economic
development activities, a strong residential and commercial urban core, healthy
communities (both talking)
Throgmorton/ No, neighborhoods. (several talking)
Markus/ Solid financial foundation, enhanced community engagement and inter -governmental
relations, sustainability, social justice, racial equity, and inclusivity. So there's seven of
those items at this stage. Are there ... more or less that you'd like to see in this group?
Um, maybe that's where we start the conversation. You all have that .... you all have a
picture of that in front of you? (several responding)
Botchway/ Quick question! We did pair it down during the strategic planning session, correct? 1
do remember that. (several talking)
Throgmorton/ What do ya... what do ya mean pair (both talking)
Botchway/ Didn't we have some discussion as far as, you know, some of the language or
urn ... urn, some ... there might have been some other points that we decided to pair down or
maybe change the language a little bit?
Mims/ From those seven?
Botchway/ From those seven, yeah.
Throgmorton/ During the November strategic planning (both talking)
Botchway/ During the November strategic planning session.
Throgmorton/ I don't think so, cause this is what Geoff came up (several talking)
Taylor/ ...paired down to (both talking)
Karr/ You did pair down to get to the seven.
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Botchway/ Okay! That's what ... I just wanted to make sure! Um .... I don't know if we want to do
the same thing, um, I think this is a pretty, um ... um ... strong seven. I actually .... my
favorite number's seven, so there's some parts of that that make it equally interesting.
Um, the only issue that I have is, uh, the inclusivity part, I think, is redundant, um, since
we do mention it in the beginning of the strategic planning, you know, kind of mission
statement. Um, so I would just ask for removal of that, um, for consideration.
Throgmorton/ And ... and at least as the text currently reads, there would be enhanced community
engagement, uh, which I take to be connected to this idea of inclusivity. So it's ... already
there.
Botchway/ Right.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, I have some thoughts too, but I want to hear from others, so...
Thomas/ Well I ... in looking at these... goals, uh, one hope I have with the structure our strategic
plan is that it's .... a really powerful ... um, set of goals that, um, the ... the community at
large will be able to get. You know, that ... that it will be something that won't have a lot
of language in it, that will really try to focus as clearly as possible on what it is we hope
to achieve, and that if we quizzed citizens on it or residents on it, they'd, oh yeah! I ... I
know the elements of the strategic plan (laughs) That would be my goal (several talking
and laughing) That would be my goal. I know it's a ... it's a bit of a stretch, but um.. just
keeping in mind that, uh, you know, how can we keep it simple yet, you know, pithy
somehow. Uh, so some of my suggestions, and that would sort of ...maybe lodge in
one's memory, um ... so not necessarily in the order that they were listed, partly because I,
you know, I think there are some good resonating, uh, goals. I think healthy
neighborhoods is a ... is an important ... goal and um ... I think the, a strong residential and
commercial urban core is a good goal, and I think both of these, uh, together
reflect ... s ... an ... an important aspect of the geography of Iowa City, that we do have,
which is unique in Johnson County and um ... one of I feel our great strengths is that we
have a strong residential urban core. Uh, so ... so I think .... and it's good I think that it's
expressed that way. I added to that phrase ... uh, the...the notion that it's the ... a complete
residential and commercial urban core, walkable Iowa City, with the idea of being
that ... um, the completeness of our residential and com, uh, commercial urban core, I
think, is one of our challenges. I ... I view it as compact and multi -use and so forth. I ... I
would say the... what... what we as a community need to work on as to make it more
complete.
Throgmorton/ John, could you stop there for a second. (mumbled) I want to make sure we're
clear about one theme that you're drawing attention to. And that is to have a set of goals
that the... the... with your caveat, that the community will sort of recognize and say, ah,
yeah! Ah ha! Okay, you're going to do that. I ... I would agree and ... and then I personally
would also say I'd like to see them action -oriented, and for me the ... the actions in the
verbs, and there aren't any verbs in these things. So I'd like to see, you know, some real
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action -oriented verbs, but ... but I just wanted to get your point clear at the start and then ... I
know you have particular ideas about particular titles.
Thomas/ Uh huh.
Throgmorton/ Other people surely do, so... Go ahead!
Thomas/ So I ... I wanted to try to bring into the ... I feel bringing the notion of walkable is very
important in terms of, uh... how we think about Iowa City and what, you know, this notion
of the ... the strength of it being its residential, commercial core and one of the qualities
that make it strong is the fact that it's so walkable, which has a lot of elements associated
with it. Uh, that as ... you know, you get deeper into the, uh, or the strategic plan you have
a better grasp of. Um, sustainability I think is a good ... a good goal. I would ... I'd ... I
wanted to try to personalize it by saying sustainable Iowa City, as a way of providing a
theme. Uh, with social justice and racial equity and inclusivity, my thought was ... what if
we just say just Iowa City, you know, this is one of our goals — to make Iowa City a just
place. Um ... a solid financial foundation, I think, is a very good goal but I'm hearing, you
know, through the presentations that it's been ... with us for a long time, and um ... so
it's ... it's in one of those categories again where I feel is ... is it really a strategic goal? I
mean, it's ... it's something that I feel we almost take to be foundational. And ... I think it's
good to have it in our strategic plan but actually having it as a goal was a question I had.
And then, urn ... the ... the notion of the strategic economic development activities, I
translated to resilient economy, that you know we have an economy to Iowa City, uh,
that ... that is, has a little bit broader reach, I think, than ... than our current goal, which is in
my view tends to focus more on specific actions and activities rather than what the goal
would be. Uh, and ... and there too, I feel resilient is a very important word to bring in to
our conversations because it suggests, uh, a quality which I feel is absolutely crit ... critical
to ... to any city, any town, and that is ... the, in fact I think it's more useful in some ways
than sustainable and it's the notion that you bounce back. You know, an economy that's
resilient can bounce back. An economy that cannot bounce back is fragile. And so ... I'm
very interested in ... in ... in that word in terms of how it might apply to our economic
objectives that would flow from that. So I would delete, and my last words would be, so
you ... you would end up with resilient economy, complete residential and commercial
urban core, walkable Iowa City, healthy neighborhoods, sustainable Iowa City, just Iowa
City, and the ... the last two would be folded into those five.
Mims/ I personally think it's really important to keep the financial one in there as a focus area.
Um, we're probably, and Dennis can give us a better idea, but we could easily be four to
five years away from feeling the real impact of the change in the State legislation on ... on
property taxes, etc. We haven't... begun to see, you know, the difficulty that may very
well be coming down the road, the ... the changes on the multi -family have not come close
to being, you know, layered down or ... or taken down to the residential property rates in
terms of the rollback, etc. Um, knock on wood as of right now, the State is still doing the
backfill, um, based on history that will end here at some point. So ... you know, we've got
a triple-A bond rating. We're one of only two in the state of Iowa. I think it's really,
really important that this stays, even though we've been doin' it for a long time. I think
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it's really important that it stays one of our key focuses as part of the strategic plan so that
it's clear to this community, and it's clear to this Council, and it's clear to this staff that
this is not something that we are going to take our eye off from. Um, because if we do,
then we're going to find ourselves down the road in a few years in ... in much greater
financial difficult than we otherwise would be, and that will also impact the service level
that we can provide, um, not only to everybody across the city but to the most vulnerable
in this city, and so I ... I think it's really important that that one stay a part of...of the group.
Um, I ... I kind of like the resilient economy, but ... I don't like limi... totally eliminating the
words 'economic development,' because I think those are important words and I think
those are things that people focus on, as well. Um ... and the just Iowa City, if anything I
might say'a just Iowa City' (laughs) My first reaction when you said that, John, was 'just
Iowa City' (laughter) Forget Coralville and North Liberty! (laughter and several talking)
Depends on the inflection. Um .... so anyway, off the top of my head those are my initial
reactions.
Dickens/ And didn't we talk the other night about getting rid of the word 'thicken' in the, uh.. .
Cole/ That's down below (mumbled)
Dickens/ It's down there but ... I still think economic development's very important. People tend
to gravitate toward that term. Somethin' that's kind of used nationally and .... and I ... I just
think it draws a lot of attention to that particular area. Um ... the other changes, I like
John's suggestions on those. I think 'a just Iowa City' would work, because I think that's
where a lot of the focus is, for this incoming Council, and that we worked on previously.
So ... I don't have any problem with that either. I think that would be a good way to put a
focus on that.
Botchway/ I ... I would actually disagree, um, with I guess... some of the statements. Um, I
actually think, um, separating social justice and racial equity is very important. Um, I'm
not understanding ... how..just making it 'a just Iowa City um ... (mumbled) (laughter)
Um ... brings that level of importance, um ... and ... and ... yeah. I ... I just....I just don't see it.
I don't ... I don't see it, um, you know. If we...
Mims/ So you want to keep the words' social justice,' 'racial equity.'
Botchway/ Yeah.
Mims/ Okay.
Botchway/ (several talking) And .... and to speak back to redundancy, I mean, I have the same
feeling about sustainability. I was hoping we'd wordsmith that one, but ... I'm willin' to
leave that one alone just for the simple fact I know it's an important... important thing, and
I know that people... understand that particular word, and that's why I go back to
removing inclusivity because we state that, um, earlier on and so I think that the initial
statement kind of reverberates through the entire, um, seven of those things, you know,
not to put you on the spot, John. Um, cause I ... I do like some of the terminology. I just
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don't ... like the terminology, um ... the, from a public standpoint. You know, even when I
was thinking about what does it mean to have a resilient economy, and if you asked me
that question like, you know, a week from now I wouldn't be able to tell you, and that's
where, you know, I think it goes back to Terry's point. There's certain words in here that,
um, or actually, to be honest with you, a lot of these things need to stay the same.
(mumbled) outside of the ones obviously from a biased standpoint that I said I wanted to
remove, um, I don't want us to get into too much of a, um, a wordsmithing standpoint that
um, we then make this, um, more than plain language, and if anybody has done any
research around plain language, I mean, um, plain language is just language that, you
know, we can ... you can automatically know what the person is talking about, um, without
having to think about or having any type of discussion around (several talking) Yeah, I
feel like if we start ... doing that or messing with these things, I think we're gonna ... we
might get to the point where ... we're gonna have to explain 'em each and every time and I,
you know, I ... I just, that's personally my ... my thought on the matter. Um, and again, you
know, to be consistent, that's why I .... I feel some type of way about sustainability as
well, because we do talk about a sustainable Iowa City and so I think some of your
comments actually play out in the previous sentence, I mean, as far as making those
things, um, come to life, so to speak. Um, I just don't .... I just don't, I guess personally
don't want to see it here.
Throgmorton/ So let me toss my two cents worth in. Uh, with regard to the two economic
development oriented categories. I agree with Susan that it's valuable to maintain the
solid financial foundation as a priority. I personally would advocate inserting a verb
(laughs) 'maintain' a solid financial foundation. With regard to the ... to the category
'strategic economic development activities,' I personally like the word 'resilient.' It means
bouncing back from shum... some shock and at its best it means bouncing back better than
ever after the shock. So ... I would suggest something like ... I don't know what the right
verb is here, but I'll say build, develop, maintain — I don't know what the right verb is — a
strong and resilient local economy. With regard to ... I want to skip the healthy
neighborhoods, uh, and strong res... residential core for a minute. Uh, with regard to
sustainability, I personally believe ... it doesn't need to be a separate category. I think
the ... the specifics about sustainability can and should be embedded in the other larger
categories. So that the whole...it...it runs through the whole thing. Last, with regard to
social justice, etc., um John's suggested, uh... um ... a just city. I ... I agree with Kingsley. I
think we need to foreground the words 'social justice' and 'racial equity,' that that is a
(mumbled) that that ensemble is a major priority. So that's my thinking about those
particular topics. Got all that, Simon? From all of us? (laughter and several talking)
Andrew/ (away from mic) ...go through each one (several talking) Oh, sorry! Each one
individually and sort of combine your comments into each of those (both talking)
Throgmorton/ So let's see if there are some other... general comments about ... the ensemble.
And... and.... once we do that we can move on.
Cole/ I like John's concept of the walkability. Um, you know, on the one hand as we're
wordsmithing here, it does sort of seem sort of esoteric. Are we spending too much time
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on words, but as you look at the development proposals that come through, walkable, um,
in fact will have a specific policy impact in terms of how we design the city. So I think it
is important that, you know, that ... that we focus on the walkability. Resiliency, I agree
with Kingsley. It is sort of a $5 word, but ... I think it is a word that's becoming more
prevalent, and it guides decision making and here's how it will guide decision making in
a very specific way, is that it builds redundancy into the economic environmental systems
to assist with possible shocks that we could have to the economy, to the environment.
So, yes it is sort of a $5 word, but I think it's important that it remain in there, but I think
the rest of it I think we're really on the right track. I agree with Kingsley on the racial
justice part of it. Or the racial equity. That's also very specific term of ours that will
guide proposals that come forth with us, and so I think we ... we do need to have enough
detail that as our staff considers these reports they can say, yeah, it falls under this
category I'm comfortable with, or no it doesn't really fall into this plan. So those are sort
of my initial thoughts.
Markus/ So what I would suggest in ... in an effort to move through this with some degree of...
productivity (laughter) is to ... is to somebody proffer a, you know, a....a revised statement
and see if there's concurrence for that, for each one of these. So let's start with the first
one on the list and somebody suggest, um, how you'd like that worded and see if there's
concurrence from the rest of the Members. John? (laughter)
Thomas/ One ... one thought would be to say resilient economic development. If we wanted to
keep economic development in there.
Throgmorton/ It's ... it's the economy that would be resilient, not economic development that
would be resilient.
Thomas/ Yeah. Well I ... I was, yeah ... that's true. Um...
Throgmorton/ So I'll toss my words out. Y'all do with'em what you want. Develop a strong and
resilient local economy.
Cole/ I like it!
Markus/ Now ... now what Jim's point is, is he's trying to develop kind of an action item, right?
That ... that they're just not, you know, words that ... he's trying to complete a sentence with
action to it.
Throgmorton/ Correct.
Taylor/ (mumbled) certainly sounds ... but I was thinking I like your term 'maintain' and ... and
maintaining a solid financial base, um .... but that I guess it doesn't give you the...
Mims/ That's for the next (both talking)
Taylor/ Right, that's the next one, yeah. (several talking)
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Mims/ I mean I like ... I kind of like what you're saying, Jim, but I still think we are so ... I still
think economic development in and of itself is a really... important part of...that.
Because...
Markus/ I got a suggestion! You use that, maybe underneath you can describe those economic
development initiatives that support that. (several talking) Well, because under all of
these you have .... you identify areas that you're trying to work, and I think, you know,
one of the things you're probably going to get into is, um, a ... development of an
economic development policy that's consistent with the overall goal. Right? Because
one of the things you talked about doing is takin' a look at the economic development
policy itself. So ... that would tie that back into that general category.
Thomas/ Yeah, I ... I had ... and, you know, in terms of the larger picture on this, uh, a number of
objectives... below the goals. So, whatever the heading would be, for example, was
promote the local economy. You know, that was one goal. Another was promote
neighborhood commercial districts. That tried to capture the, you know, the Lucky, uh,
Marketplace. Um, so ... so there can be a number of...you have a subheading, in other
words, underneath the goal, which gives further definition and articulation to the goal.
Botchway/ I guess, you know, I actually agree with Susan. I mean I disagree with, you know,
I ... I think that economic development is ... it's a strong term and I think it plays to a lot of
the stuff that's been happening. I mean I don't ... I don't think of...when I think of
what's ... what Iowa City has done in downtown, I wouldn't have thought about develop a
strong and resilient local economy. I would have said'a strategic economic development
activities,' but at the .... seems like we have a pretty good component of people who want
to do that, so if we want to do it, let's just do it. (mumbled) I just ... I guess I go back to
Rockne's comment that he kind of...changed on me, cause I was actually going to say,
here, here. I don't want us to spend a ton of time on this.
Cole/ And I agree!
Botchway/ But if...but if the rest of the Council feels differently then I'll obviously continue
but...
Throgmorton/ Well maybe we can use that as a placeholder, uh, and at some point we're going to
get into the details (both talking)
Mims/ ...details, then come back (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ...see if that feels (several talking)
Markus/ Why don't you circle that? (several talking) And we'll go to the next item.
Cole/ Well and I think with the Mayor, I mean, his would be the starting plan for most of our
bullet points (noises in background, difficult to hear speakers)
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Markus/ (mumbled)
Andrew/ (noises in background) ...get down to the specifics.
Markus/ All right, the next one was...
Andrew/ A strong residential and urban core.
Throgmorton/ A strong residential and commercial urban core (mumbled) So I know John
suggested some language, so we ... we'll hear that. I want to toss out some language and,
uh, I don't ... I'm not fully invested in it. Uh, but it would ... the language I would propose is
'continue improving downtown and the urban core.' Just a possibility.
Andrew/ (away from mic) ....downtown and the urban core? (mumbled)
Throgmorton/ Yeah, that's ... yeah, that's what I was ... that's what I'm suggesting, yes.
Markus/ John, your emphasis was on walkability.
Thomas/ Right. So I mean you could say'a strong residential and urban core; walkable Iowa
City,' or something to that effect.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, cause I .... Ii know from talking with, at least with Rockne and John, because
off and on we've had many conversations about this, that there's a strong interest in, um...
a walkable city, walkable and bikeable, and in, uh... yeah, what's the other word I'm after?
Uh, a ... a more compact or thickened (laughter) Yeah (mumbled) We've agreed not to
use that for a while! Uh...
Dickens/ Cause isn't it the LEED certification does a walkability, give a lot of emphasis to that?
Throgmorton/ Um, I think the answer's yes, for individual buildings (mumbled) but there's, you
know, there's a neighborhood, um, development LEED certification process (several
talking)
Thomas/ One reason, um, you know, the ... the STAR system had as one of its, um ... subheadings
under built environment, 'complete, compact communities.' Those were the two words
that were used to ... um, describe in a ... in a sense in another ... it's basically the walkable
city concept, or the walkable neighborhood concept, uh, and those are two qualities that
are associated with it. I've just always liked the walkable because it's sort of a
friendly... term. It's a little bit misleading because walkable... actually includes bikeable.
You know, if it's a walkable community, biking is a part of that. So it ... um, but it seems
to be a ... of all the words I've heard associated with the so-called new urbanism,
walkability, walkable, uh, is ... is a very, I think, inviting term. It's a friendly term, much
more friendly than, you know, the notion of new urbanism, which I think is a very...
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Dickens/ I think when you use walkability that it...it in a sense says bicycle friendly too, cause
(several talking) when you go to Europe or anything, most of theirs are set up.
(mumbled) you gotta watch out for the bike paths down the middle of the sidewalk
(laughter) or you get run over, but ... but when you're sayin' walkability, generally I think
that would include that, but it can be added on as a ... separate (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Yeah, I agree but there's a hazard going down the road of walkability and
bikeability, if those are the only words, because, uh, northern England is very walkable.
Lots of great trails. Uh, have nothing to do with cities. Bike -wise, they're a wonderful
bicycling trails. All over the ... this country. Yeah, but they have nothing to do with cities.
So ... somehow it ... I mean I like the words 'bikeable, ' and 'walkable.' Somehow we've
gotta connect it to the core of our city, that it's a, you know, a really, really healthy ... I
don't know (mumbled) the right words here. Really healthy economic environment,
um ... but also walkable and bikeable. I don't like that language but...
Cole/ (both talking) ...like his original suggestion of strong... wasn't it strong residential,
commercial, and walkable urban corer Is that too many words? Cause I think it gets
back to Kingsley's point. The walkability, um, is simple. People understand it, but two, I
mean I think as we have policy discussions going into the future, a walkable
infrastructure is different than other types of infrastructure. And so it will have tangible,
I mean let's be candid about this. This is not insignificant and so as we have these
discussions in the future, we need to go back to this point and say, look, we, you know,
this is the walkable urban core. Um ... and I think we already have nice walkability within
the city, but I think as we guide the discussions going forward, that will guide what sort
of decisions we're going to be making. So I like, you know, putting the walkability into
the phrase.
Botchway/ Is there any way that, you know, put the two together. I mean what is the phrase
or ... what is the ... what is the generalized, um, discussion around walkable and bikeable? I
mean, what are you talking about when you're talking about those (both talking)
Fruin/ I keep thinking you're getting' back to complete streets, and complete is a word that John,
uh, offered early on. It may not be as clear to people that you're talking to, that when you
say a complete res... residential and commercial urban core that you're referring to the
transportation network, but complete streets is something that many people can relate to.
So, the word complete to me encompasses bikeability and walkability, and that could be
further elaborated on in the details of the plan, and based on some of your comments at
the November 30th session, I think it will be. There will be action items associated with
that.
Thomas/ Yeah, complete and walkable, either... either/or I think are very powerful, uh, words
to ... incorporate into this goal. I think it's much better than'strong.' Strong is just too ... too
vague.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, uh, so ... build ... build a complete and walkable urban core.
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Thomas/ That's not bad.
Throgmorton/ I guess... the... the meaning of that would have to be fleshed out with the
particulars, but ... what are you thinkin', Tom?
Markus/ Well I ... I don't wish to disagree with my colleague here but (laughter) I'm not sure
complete resonates out in the public, and um...it...it seems to me that what you're really
trying to create is a non-autocentric environment, but I don't know how you'd say that
(laughs)
Thomas/ Well walkable I think (several talking) is the most, uh, accessible way of putting it, I
think.
Botchway/ (mumbled) ...that's a word. Accessible.
Markus/ ...accessible gets misinterpreted as to ADA -accessible (several talking)
Throgmorton/ How bout vibrant? I mean that's a term of art, uh... of...a vibrant and walkable
urban core.
Taylor/ How would you measure that though or define vibrant? Some people (laughter)
(mumbled) be different (laughs)
Cole/ ...overarching things, not the action goals, right? I mean these ... these are the set of goals
that we (mumbled) policy discussions and in terms of the measurability, that gets down
below really, right?
Markus/ Okay, so you've spent quite a bit of time on this. Why don't you look at the list there
and somebody suggest which one you really like and see if there's concurrence? (several
talking)
Throgmorton/ I'm on board with it.
Taylor/ The bottom one.
Cole/ Yep, the bottom one.
Thomas/ I'm not sure we need the verbs, but you know (laughter)
Mims/ Well, and I was thinking that (several talking) The ... the thing that I don't like so far about
the verbs is it makes it sound like none of this has been done.
Throgmorton/Yeah, that's a good point.
Mims/ Like develop a strong and resilient local economy. I think we've already been doing a lot
of that. It makes it sound like we haven't done any of that. You know, build a vibrant
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and walkable urban core I think Councils for 20 or 30 years here have been working on
doing that, and it sounds like we're starting from scratch to do this.
Throgmorton/ So it ... I ... hearing you, I ... I think if the outcome that we desire is a vibrant and
walkable urban core, I mean there'd be others but, you know, if that's the ... this particular
outcome, you don't need the verb. Yeah, as long as it's clear that that's ... the desire (both
talking)
Thomas/ Well I think like healthy neighborhoods is okay. That's (several talking)
Mims/ I mean if you look at it and even, I mean, if you took your introductory statement that you
had about the ... you know, city and everything, and simply said, you know, the ... the key
focus areas for the next two years are ... you know .... yeah. You know, this is what you're
going to focus on — a strong and resilient local economy. You're going to focus on
vibrant and walkable urban core, or .... I don't know that we need ... all the verbs, as a way
to... (several talking) Geoff s really good at wordsmithing.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, I was always taught put the action into the verbs. But...
Botchway/ That's a really good point as far as, you know, if we're going to continue to build,
cause that's what I was thinking about, you know, Simon could you just do that, continue
to build a vibrant and walkable urban core, you know, then we'd have to say continue to
develop a strong and resilient local economy, cause to your point, you know, we've been
doing that. We've been doing it for a number of years, and so ... something to think about,
but ... let's move on.
Mims/ Yeah.
Throgmorton/ Well the next one was healthy neighborhoods. Guess we can't get too far ahead of
Simon here, but...
Andrew/ You're good. That one's short to write!
Throgmorton/ Yeah, so, uh (noises in background, difficult to hear speakers) ...just to get it
started, I don't know, uh... does anybody have suggested language with regard to this
particular category, assuming we want to keep something like this in our strategic plan?
(several talking)
Mims/ I think if we're going to do some kind of introductory that here are our focuses, I think
healthy neighborhoods says it all.
Taylor/ Kind of includes if you're thinking about the well-being of the community in general.
Mims/ I think it includes walkability. I think it includes good streets. I think it includes good
nuisance ordinances. I think it includes good schools in the neighborhoods. Um ... a
balance between rental and ownership. I think it ... you know, can include a lot of things.
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Throgmorton/ It would apply both to existing neighborhoods and prospective neighborhoods,
right? Any other particular thoughts about this?
Cole/ Is develop mixed-use neighborhoods, is that too specific?
Thomas/ I think that's a sub (several talking)
Cole/ ...sub -category.
Throgmorton/ Yeah (several talking) Well I want a verb, but we can (noises in background,
difficult to hear speakers) (laughter and several talking) Susan, I hope you recognize I'm
trying to, you know, stand fast with the literary folks. (laughs)
Markus/ The next is, what? A solid financial fina ... foundation?
Botchway/I would leave it as is.
Throgmorton/ Ot... other than saying 'maintain a solid financial foundation;' I'm good with it.
Cole/ I am too. I think one of the things that Susan said that was spot-on is that we can't take for
granted the triple-A. I mean we only need to look to other communities where that's not
the case. So, um ... I think we need ... we can't take that for granted and it's ... as you talked
about, you know, constantly referring to the Moody's, um ... you know, I ... I think we do
have to actively work to ... to make that happen.
Dickens/ We're one of two in the state.
Cole/ Yeah. (several talking)
Thomas/ I had it as an objective underneath the goal, but whatever, you know. I mean I think it
needs to be in there somewhere...
Cole/ Yeah.
Markus/ I just want you to understand, you do not want to be city council members (both talking)
Cole/ Number one.
Markus/ ...head of administration when that drops below triple-A. (several talking) You do not
want to be here (laughs) I suspect there'll be a big pushback.
Dickens/ Can we get a little heads up? (laughter)
Markus/ Naw, it's not happening any time soon!
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Dickens/ Okay! Phew! (laughter)
Markus/ I'm not leaving because (laughter and several talking) You're being left in very good
financial (several talking)
Botchway/ All right, let's go! (several talking)
Andrew/ Community Engagement and Inter -Governmental Relations.
Botchway/ Jim, you had a point with this. You were saying we're ... get rid of community
engagement?
Throgmorton/ (laughter) No! (several talking and laughing) Recall! Recall! (laughter)
Cole/ ...or community engagement.
Throgmorton/ No, I didn't ... I did not in ... intend to imply we should get rid of community
engagement. I was trying to say we should get rid of the word ... words 'and inclusivity,'
at, you know (both talking)
Botchway/ At the bottom, okay. I (both talking) Okay (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ...because there was a ... I think there's a duplication there. Well I ... on this
particular one, uh, I agree with the thrust of this. I personally think one of our strategic
priorities should be to improve the Council's policy-making capacity, and ... you know,
I ... I have particular ideas about that, which I kinda tossed out now and then .... and if in
fact we put that in as a, one of our priorities, this is where it would go.
Cole/ Oh, okay.
Dickens/ How does that affect our Charter? The way the Charter's set up?
Throgmorton/ Th ... there wouldn't be any, um, conflict. I mean like for example, I don't mean to
be saying we should directly elect the mayor, you know, or something like that, that
violates our existing Charter. I ... I mean, using our... basically powers as a Council, enable
ourselves to do our Council work, uh.... uh, well, I'll just put it this way — to ... to do it
better, and you know, we can disagree about whether it really needs to be done or not, but
that's what I have in mind, by increasing our Council's policy-making capacity.
Dickens/ (mumbled) ...like what kind of policy?
Throgmorton/ Well, all right, yeah. (both talking)
Dickens/ ...example...
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Throgmorton/ (both talking) an example would be, right now we have one Council committee.
It's the Economic Development Committee. Serves a very useful purpose. It should
continue. I personally believe we should at least consider creating a couple other
committees, that are Council committees. One might focus on racial justice... social
justice and racial equity. The other might focus on ... sustainable built environment. I
think, you know, having this sort of tripod of Council committees would enable us to ... do
what we're saying we want to do, in our strategic plan. Or at least it appears we're saying
we want to (mumbled)
Botchway/ To that point though, I mean, is there any reason why that couldn't be fleshed out in
some of the other, uh... points, such as sustainability and such as social justice and racial
equity?
Throgmorton/ Yes, could be.
Markus/ So .... you guys keep going back to performance standards, um, rating (mumbled) I
think the whole STAR program could be that tool that evaluates, measures, and you could
have a committee work with the staff so that you're monitoring your strategic plan and
we're pumping out the report, based on the STAR committee status, which would address
your strategic plans and then also all the elements under the STAR ... um, program.
Throgmorton/ So, shorthand version would be create a Council STAR Communities Committee?
Yeah.
Markus/ But ... it would encompass all of these things under your strategic plan and even more so
under the STAR community.
Dickens/ (mumbled) still have the ability to have ad hoc committees.
Markus/ I think that would ... that would cover a lot of it, uh, I think it would be a pretty intense
committee, quite frankly, to keep monitoring that.
Cole/ (mumbled) I guess I support Jim's position on this, because I think ultimately... um, the
participation, uh, democracy is act of participation by its citizens. We as citizens run
because we want to develop policy for the city. Um, but consistent with the City Charter,
which we have to be very mindful of. And the Ci ... City Charter very specifically
delegates those powers to the Manager to implement policy, but the Council I think
retains the policy-making authority and I think it is good that we have that as a separate
goal because I think sometimes what can happen is is that we want to be mindful of our
roles under the charter, but I think in doing so, that's I think why we've had some bumps
so far is that those ... that's not specifically set out. So I think if we can have the
committees ... it ... it's a process where we can meet, that it's routine, that it's not ad hoc, um,
and that we're ... we're comfortable with a procedure that we're all used to and we all know
what's going on, so we can ventilate the policy proposals in a ... in a structured way, and
so that's why I think like walkable, this is not an insignificant part, just like this particular
issue.
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Mims/ It seems to me we're kinda gettin' ahead of ourselves. In terms of talking about possibly
adding committees. Um, I mean, in terms of the language for this particular item, um, I
think ... as far as I'm concerned, I'm comfortable with what we've got, unless somebody
else has something to add or change, other than maybe 'enhance' instead of'enhanced.' I
mean it gives you your verb, Jim, on this one (laughter) But I think it (several talking and
laughing) I think it kind of...I think it's kind of necessary or ... I mean ... again, I ... I think,
personally I think we're spending way too much time on verbiage, on headings.
Throgmorton/ I would agree with Susan on that. I don't think we need to go down that road
(both talking)
Mims/ The detail of what we put under these is...
Throgmorton/ Yeah...
Mims/ (both talking) ....is really going to be the most important. (noises in background; difficult
to hear speakers)
Throgmorton/ Well, I...
Cole/ (both talking) ...the sub -heading would be then ... the committees.
Mims/ But we're not doing sub -headings yet.
Cole/ I know but we're talking about the overarching thing, and then after we agree on that ... then
we go down to the ... the sub -headings (several talking)
Throgmorton/ ....only question really is do we want to insert words like 'improve policy-making
capacity,' 'inter -governmental relations,' and ... and the stuff that already exists right there,
but just inserting this policy-making capacity. That ... that (several talking)
Mims/ I don't!
Botchway/ I don't either. I think it ... I'm not sure why, I guess, and I know you just explained it.
I just ... I'm still (both talking)
Mims/ I think it's something that needs a lot more discussion.
Botchway/ Yeah. Cause I ... I think, I mean, if A guess I agree with Susan. I don't want to go
into the ... talk about the sub -headings. I just feel like, you know, what sub -headings
you're talking about can be placed in some of the objectives that we're talking about.
To ... to say, one, to improve policy-making, again, goes back to Susan's point as far as
stating that we haven't been doing good policy-making. Um, on top of that I feel like
it's ... keep using your word redundant, but we are policy-making body. I mean ... it's
almost stating what we do. I ... I don't think we need to do that.
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Mims/ I think if we put that in there now, I think it's almost a foregone conclusion we're gonna
add those committees, and I'm not ready to make that decision right now. I think that's
something that needs a lot more discussion.
Dickens/ Kind of like to let the STAR program maybe move in a little bit and see if it takes care
of that. Cause...
Taylor/ Well that was .... we talked about that though, that would be sort of a subcommittee
(mumbled) not ... not (several talking) the whole group (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ....not necessarily, cause we haven't created it but ... but that's a possibility
(mumbled)
Cole/ I don't think the committees are necessarily inevitable. I mean we could say improve
policy-making... capacity and then the sub -heading could be something else. It could be,
um, you know, promote ... more citizen engagement of public forums, or have more
(mumbled) or uh, increase citizen participation. So to me it's not inevitable. I think it's
likely, um, so I guess I still support the policy because I think that ... um, of
course... previous Councils have done really good things, but it's an active process, and I
think that's why someone runs, is that they want to affect policy. And if we don't have
the language to support us in that, um, we can feel unnecessar... so I...I think it's
important, so... I ... I vote we have the word policy, but it's a democracy (laughs) so we'd
have to have four votes.
Throgmorton/ John, do you have a thought?
Thomas/ Well this was one I dropped out of the (laughter) well I tried to incorporate it in other
areas, but if...but if we're going to keep that, I ... I actually think, um ... that ... it reminds me
of keeping a solid financial foundation. I mean it does sort of foreground the fact
that ... uh, it's important, the policy-making role of Council is extremely important, and
um ... you know ... I don't know what the right ... improve Council's policy-making sounds a
bit.. .
Mims/ Sounds insulting (several talking)
Throgmorton/ How bout ... how bout (several talking)
Dickens/ ...new and improved! (laughter and several talking)
Thomas/ Uh, yeah, I'm not sure what the verb should be, but uh, I ... I do like the idea of
highlighting the fact that policy-making is an extremely important part of what Cou
...City Council does.
Botchway/ And that's ... and I guess that's my question, or issue. Yes it is. I mean, I just don't see
how that's a strategic planning priority. Policy-making is what we do, and I think it's
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very important — don't get me wrong. I don't want to make it seem that my wanting not to
put it in there is saying that, you know, I don't believe that policy -making's important. I
just ... I don't see it as a strategic planning priority.
Mims/ I agree with you, Kingsley. From the standpoint, I mean, that is what the Council does
and our policy-making is what should... impact these various areas in terms of, you know,
our ... our developing a strong and resilient local economy. It's our policies that should be
impacting that. It's our policies that should be helping to build a vibrant and walkable
urban core. It's our policies that should be helping continue and improve and ... on healthy
neighborhoods. It's our policies which should make sure that we continue to have a solid
financial foundation. To put ... policy-making in as a ... as a, one of our focuses of the
strategic plan says, to me says ... we're gonna spend all this time talking about how
to ... how we make policy.
Cole/ How we implement policy, I mean, I think that's ... I .... I think we should keep it.
Throgmorton/ (mumbled) have a 3-3 vote at the moment on this, but, Pauline, do you have an
opinion?
Taylor/ Well I agree with him saying, um, I mean policy is a very major part, but if...one way we
would word it would sound like we don't think past Councils have been making it, been
making adequate decisions and policies. Um, you're thinking more of a decision-making
sort of, making decisions, improving the decision-making process or having more power
or more strength in the decision-making? Would that make a difference?
Throgmorton/ No (both talking)
Taylor/ ....some language as far as the (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ...let me just say this and then I'm going to change my vote so we can move on.
Urn ... not that we're voting (laughs) Uh, but my ... my thinking was ... that there are lots of
new things afoot in terms of how cities grow and develop and change over time. And this
whole idea of walkability, etc., and complete streets and bikeability and, uh, young
people movin' downtown to live ... wanting to live closer to the urban core and all ... all
these kinds of things create ... new challenges that are ... are new policy -oriented challenges
that we don't have time to really discuss in our formal meetings and our periodic work
sessions. We just don't have enough time to do it. So with regard to the sustainable built
environment for ... for example. I was thinking, okay, well there are lots of questions
about street design. But we never discuss from a policy point of view street design.
Never's quite a little bit too strong a word but it ... very, very, very, very rarely, because it's
a Public Works engineer kind of activity, ordinarily. And yet it has huge implications for
how neighborhoods get developed, how ... how people use the core of the city and so on.
Uh, likewise there're all sorts of new ideas, fairly new ideas, about how neighborhoods
should be designed, newer neighborhoods and older ones, how older ones can be renewed
and improved. How new ones can be built, and ... see, you gotta think about that in
relationship to the streets, to ... so there're policy questions that merge, but we don't have a
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capacity, it seems to me, as a Council to really consider... what, if any, changes in policy
are called for to consider that new kinda stuff. And, uh, a third component to this, it
seems to me, really has to do with ... um, topics having to do with the ... um,
basically... building inspection, design and inspection, having to do with the sustainability
of buildings, having to do with, you know, uh energy use and ... and the relationship of
that to the other two topics that I already introduced. So there's... there's this overlapping
stuff. Uh, and you know, we ... we wouldn't be able to talk about all that in a formal
meeting, or even in a work session when we have like 15 minutes to focus on any one
topic. So I'm just thinking, okay, well let's give ourselves the ability to focus some
attention on ... on, with regard to sustainable building environment, on ... on to that complex
of...of...stuff.
Mims/ Yeah, and again, my position is, we haven't had any time to talk about, as a Council, the
idea of adding Council committees and doing stuff. So I'm not comfortable putting it into
a strategic plan ... to me then it becomes a foregone conclusion that we're going to do that.
I'd rather go this route, have more detailed discussion later about what you really trying
to get at, and either decide that we can set aside time in work session to do some of that
stuff ..get guidance from staff in terms of how much they can bring to us, um, in
terms ... in terms of that before we look at it, to decide if additional Council committees
are ready ... or ... or really needed, I mean, I'm not ... I'm not adverse to talking about looking
at those things. I'm just not ready ... to commit that we need committees (both talking)
Throgmorton/ I hear ya!
Mims/ (both talking) ...and I feel like putting that language in kind of commits us to (both
talking)
Throgmorton/ I hear ya. So I think there are four ... who would prefer to retain ... uh, the original
language.
Andrew/ Sure! Sorry, I pulled (mumbled) early. Uh, enhanced community engagement and
inter -governmental relations.
Throgmorton/ Yes! (unable to hear person speaking away from mic)
Mims/ Jim, was this one you were talking about maybe pulling and trying to incorporate it in
our... action items under each of the others?
Throgmorton/ Yeah, because... mainly because you know if you look at the origin of the word
sustainability as a concept and it's all about what they call a tripod, a triple E, economy,
equity and environment. So it's ... it should be embedded in all of these things, that's the
way it seems to me.
Dickens/ I agree that... it's... it's pretty much embedded in all the things we do anyway, but it ... I
don't know that it needs a separate category because it is in each of those different things
— sustainability's kinda been the way we've been moving.
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Throgmorton/ What's really crucial is that the particular... the particulars that we put under these
various categories actually move us toward the sustainability situation.
Thomas/ So, Jim, just as a ... trying to project ahead here. Say ... say we wanted to, and I think I
pulled some of these from the STAR rating system. Um, mitigate greenhouse gases.
Where would that go, what would that fall under in terms of the ... our existing goals?
That we've been identifying.
Throgmorton/ I think of it as an economic development activity.
Thomas/ Okay.
Botchway/ It could also be (several talking)
Taylor/ Healthy neighborhoods, yeah.
Botchway/ I actually like it ... oh, I didn't mean ... John, were you not finished?
Thomas/ Well I just ... you know, greenhouse gases is ... is, you know, more than healthy
neighborhoods, right? It's a ... it's our whole (laughs) it's the whole kit! Um ... anyway, I'm
not ... I don't know that I would put it under economic development in the, at least in the
way that I think, you know, you were thinking, but urn ... so, yeah. I .... I thought it was
useful to have it because it ... it, I think in the ... in the public's sort of understanding of
what ... what we mean by sustainability, which is a somewhat vague term that I'm not
thrilled with, but it does give a ... a category to put things like reduce solid waste, green the
energy supply, you know, a whole range of things that I think in a way ... it seems to me,
don't fall under economic development really. It's ... it's more about, um, how we're
dealing... it's, you know, with these ... these environmental issues. It's not economic
development. It's environmental more in its ... its emphasis. Um ... maybe if it said (both
talking)
Throgmorton/ ...I think they're so intertwined.
Botchway/ I mean I ... I actually think it should be separate. I guess I'm thinking about, you
know, from a jobs standpoint, when I look at what, you know, we're going to give to City
staff, as far as strategic plan, you know, it kind of...to me it fits. I mean, we're ... we're
providing a greater emphasis in regards to sustainability. Um, we're providing a greater
emphasis or enhanced community engagement in intergovernmental relations, I
mean... separately I'm not saying it loses anything because I think you can embed it in
different things, but ... I just believe that it needs to stand out on its own. I don't
necessarily like the word cause I think we're being redundant cause we said sustainable
early on, but um, I think... whatever we mean by this needs to stay. Maybe we do use the
word, I mean (mumbled) in the interest of time I guess I'm okay with that, but I just...
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Mims/ I agree with both (mumbled) sound contradictory but .... I agree with what you're saying,
Jim, from the standpoint that a lot of the sustainability issues can be and should be
embedded within these other areas. Okay? And so initially when I said, you know, this
is what you're thinking, right, I was thinking I was going to agree with you, but then as
John points out with certain specific... ideas, I think it's very difficult to find a place for
those... because they don't ... if we remove sustainability as a category. Because I don't
think they fit really well ... under any one of the ones that are remaining, and so...
Dickens/ Trying to make it fit.
Mims/ Yeah, you try to make 'em fit where they don't really. I ... I realize it ... there may be some
repetition, um ... but I think as we all look at that sustainability and ... and I think it's, you
know, we've may look at this ... you know, as you look at, you know, strategic economic
development or, you know, develop a strong resilient local economy, there's certain
things we'll put in under there that certainly refer to sustainability, from an economic
standpoint. I mean you just talked about the 3 E's. We may end up with a lot more of the
environmental sustainability issues under a separate sustainability category. So I (several
talking) with John.
Cole/ And I think ... I think it has to be a ... I really feel strongly about that, a separate category, and
the reason is is I'm thinking of the staff person that gets the proposal, like for example we
don't know what we're going to do with plastic bags. I'm not suggesting anybody's going
to propose anything, but just by way of illustration only. They...
Dickens/ Grannies have (several talking and laughing)
Cole/ Well I like the Grannies! They get a proposal from the Grannies saying we would like to
do plastic bag reduction. Um, and then the staff person, being diligent staff people that
they are, look through this and say, well, is it a social justice, economic development
activities. You know, it might ... there might be a marginal cost to me, maybe 5 -cents a
bag or whatever, but if it's not a separate category, and I think of one of the comments
you had made, Tom, during one of our initial strategic planning sessions, like the optimal
way to do greenhouse gas reductions. Do you do it through, hey, let's have Mid
American Energy, get the lowest possible cost, um, or do you sort of say, well yeah, that's
part of it. Um, what we're also looking for, to promote certain types of energy
reductions. So if we don't have the separate category, I think it's going to be hard for the
staff person to have the hook when they recommend to us in our report, and then it's
going to be hard for us to evaluate it if we don't have these benchmarks. That's how it'll
actually come back to us. So I support leaving it in.
Dilkes/ Sounds to me like, is you're talking about the separate element being environmental
sustainability.
Cole/ Yeah.
Thomas/ Yeah, the emphasis would be on (both talking)
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Dilkes/ So maybe you want to add environmental sustainability to this... sustainability. You've
already got the overarching sustainability in your.... preceding...
Throgmorton/ (mumbled) use the word ecological, instead of (both talking)
Dilkes/ ...ecological, whatever! I don't know (several talking and laughing)
Botchway/ ...then it goes to something, a word that, you know, is not going to (both talking)
Throgmorton/ He's right! So environmental (several talking)
Taylor/ ...just environmental.
Throgmorton/ All right. Sounds like we got that. All right, and the last category I guess is social
justice and racial equity, right?
Botchway/ All right, so I have a couple issues. Um, not about this particular category but, you
know, in ... (mumbled) (noises in background) purposes, you know, we've
done ... (mumbled) to Susan's point. We've done some verbs for some, we've not for
others, I mean, are we just going to direct staff to kind of add a verb, to make it
actionable later on? And I'm fine with that (several talking and laughing) I ... it's bothering
me now cause we've, you know, maintain ourselves, um, financial foundation, healthy
neighborhoods.
Throgmorton/ Let me suggest a possibility. Geoff being the good wordsmith that he is (laughter
and several talking) could, uh, sort of put in brackets for ... (both talking)
Botchway/ Okay, that's perfect. That's what I wanted to say (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ...and when we see this next time, we'll decide.
Botchway/ Speaking of which, I wanted to add commit to social justice and racial equity, or
(several talking) No I'm not! (laughter and several talking) ...on that, but uh, removing
inclusivity, and actually I shouldn't say commit cause going back to Susan's point — we
have committed, so ... you know... something else there. Like you know... sustained
or ... um, not sustained commitment but ... you know, something that speaks to, um,
continuing. Main ... I don't want to say maintain commitment because I think we need to
do more. Um...
Thomas/ Well Jim has the word progress in your alternative. (several talking)
Throgmorton/ Well I used, uh, several (both talking)
Thomas/ Progress toward...
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Throgmorton/ ...make significant progress toward or something like that. How bout advance?
Advance social justice and racial equity?
Cole/ Oh I love that! (several talking)
Throgmorton/ Sounds like we've got a winner! (several talking) All right. Tom, you were
thinking we'd go back through each category (both talking)
Markus/ ...pull up each one of those items, the ... the selected topic, put it on the top of the
flipchart and then we'll start identifying the areas, but I would suggest that you go back
into your document on page 11 and under each of those (noises in background; difficult
to hear speaker) specific items (noises) um, came out of that November session, and what
we need to do now is ... determine if those can be enhanced, reduced, um, or if there needs
to be additional items added to those. So ... right at the top, okay...
Throgmorton/ We ... we could be at sort of a break point if we wanted to. Does anybody need to
take a short break? (several talking) Let's ... let's take a short break. (noises in
background) ...three or four minutes.
BREAD
Throgmorton/ You ready, Marian? Okay, so we're, uh... we're back to work! So we're gonna go
back to the first category — develop a strong and resilient local economy, and ... fill in
some details. Speak out!
Botchway/ So, Tom, the way you're envisioning this is if you have any issue with the ones that
were talked about, um, the previous ones speak out and then add ... or whatever.
Markus/ And the other thing I want to tell you is ... just because these are listed does not mean that
the staff during the course of the year doesn't pick up items and then attribute them to
these items as they evolve and develop. So it doesn't....this is not an exhaustive list of
what we will incorporate under here and we'll show you that actually relates to one of
these things. You know when you sit in a meeting and you try and come up with all the
things that you're talking about and you ... you can't possibly hit 'em all, but what I think
would be best is ... that if the Council were to tell us if they had items that didn't get
included in that November session, and you want to see something added, put those up
for debate and we'll pl... we'll plug those in there, but... you'll... this list will be, uh,
expanded during the course of the year, cause items come up that we think fits into one of
these categories.
Thomas/ Or ... or we could propose ourselves...
Markus/ That's what I mean! Yeah. (several talking)
Throgmorton/ So ... so let's look at the first category. Maybe we'll move through these fairly
quickly (both talking)
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Markus/ ...like for you to go through each one.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, so the first one's, uh, identify how the City and local partners can
effectively market and grow the local foods economy. (several talking) I'm surprised,
Rockne! (laughter) So I heard two!
Dickens/ Three!
Throgmorton/ Three (several talking) Me too! (several talking) All right so (both talking)
Mims/ I would just ... I won't, no, I'm fine with (several talking) I want to stress the non-profit
part of this. I don't...
Cole/ Oh, yeah, yeah!
Mims/ Yeah, in terms of...versus the City just plunking money (mumbled) Totally supported
through the IVF.
Throgmorton/ Okay. Second one, develop and economic development plan for Iowa City
Marketplace region. I don't like the language too much. But anyhow...
Markus/ I ... I'm trying to remember who brought that up.
Botchway/ That was me and I was waitin' on comments to see whether (mumbled) questions.
You know, and I guess...
Mims/ We don't want to do a third round of TIF. I think that ... but I'm not sure what.
Botchway/ It was a ... it was a, really related to my discussion about how do we help, um ... I don't
know... businesses, not relocate, but how do we help, you know, I was really thinking
about SSMID. Creating a SSMID, you know (several talking) so that's where it went to,
but I think we had some disagreement, um, from a majority of folks that were saying, you
know, we shouldn't get in that particular business, which ... which is fine, but I still wanted
to maintain that we did something, um, around economic development, and I agree. Not
a ... maybe a third, um, time TIF around...
Mims/ Yeah!
Botchway/ ...but something, and there's a couple different points I want to just kind of walk
through. One, I think Jim made a great point when he was talking about, um, I don't
know if it was our CIP... CIP or something along those lines where if you just take a look
at it, we were spending, you know, $13 to $14 million in our urban core. Not saying
anything's wrong with that. Um, and I'm not saying they're... these projects that were
presented aren't good projects and shouldn't be done, but ... you know, as we look at
the ... the South District Plan, and as we, you know ... you know, as we look at the South
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District Plan, as we see build -out from that particular point, I ... I feel like if we're going to
start talking about walkability and bikeability we need to do something differently in
some of our, um, other economic development centers. Um, I've spoke about this, you
know, years back, um, because, you know, living on the west side, um, you know, I think
that ... while I'm not saying it's not important to go downtown and, you know, figure out
ways to go downtown. I understand Iowa City's small. There's a lot of folks that, you
know, don't want to, for whatever reason, or, um ... want to have more in their particular
area. So I thought that's why Lucky's Market was such a huge thing, because people
could walk to Lucky's Market. People could participate and then the amount of things
that came, I mean, just the traffic that came from it really kind of bolstered, um, the,
um ... the vibe there! I want to see us do more of things like that. Now I didn't want to
necessarily focus just on the Iowa City Marketplace region, but ... if we are just going to
focus on it, I ... I would like that. I mean that's... that's my .... (both talking)
Markus/ Let me react a little bit. First off we've exhausted TIF. We've committed TIF to that
Sycamore project and quite frankly that's one of those projects that is now ... I think that's
its second round of funding for that area. However, we kind of made the argument that it
wasn't a project -specific. We used the district TIF to support that because of the
economic spin-off that occurs as a result of the whole Sycamore Mall. The other thing I
want to tell you is from a public in ... infrastructure standpoint, you talk about a focus of a
lot of public dollar investment this area has really received it! That doesn't mean you
couldn't tweak walkability or bikeability, but the other thing is we extracted in ... internal
improvements to the Sycamore Mall in terms of walkability that have not been made yet.
And, you know, we ... we knew that that wasn't going to happen right away, but before
we ... we make payments to them, they're gonna have to ... they're gonna have to make those
internal improvements, which make it a little more, uh... uh, a little better, uh, facilitate,
uh, to facilitate walkability into that. So what I would say to you is, we've exhausted our
economic, uh, public dollars into this area. I would also tell ya, I'm not sure that the...
that this will support a ... a, um ... voluntary ... voluntary funded SSMID on a tax kind of
basis. But what I think would be beneficial, particularly in this area, is to create kind of
like a business persons' group, and ... maybe what we could do is talk to the people at
Lucky's, who seem to have a ... a pretty good community orientation, and see if they
couldn't start hosting meetings, um, with that whole group of businesses down there, to
talk about things that they can do themselves to create some special events, to attract, uh,
more, uh, activity into their area. But .... I can tell ya from a city standpoint, we've pretty
much spent our dime and then some. So there is no (both talking)
Throgmorton/ I think it's a great idea, Tom, uh, so ... partly, uh, because my ... my sense has been
that ... well I'll speak for myself. I can't speak for any other Member of the Council, but...
I do not have strong connections... with any of the managers or owners of businesses out
there, or ... uh, the ... the, out by Fairview on the west side. Or in the Blackstone area.
Forgot what that... development's called. So I think it would...just speaking, again only
for myself, I think it'd be very, very helpful to organize ... try to create an opportunity for
business... owners, managers and so on, to coalesce and for ... the Mayor or other Council
people meeting periodically with'em, and of course the City Manager would, you
know ... I think that's a good idea!
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Markus/ Yeah, so we've done that. I ... I've had some experience with that in the past and the ... and
the thing that it does is it...it gives them a collective voice where if you don't do that sort
of thing, you kind of get what you get now, and that's a lot of chippiness from different
businesses on and off, and you get kind of a ... doesn't lead to an informed kind of, uh,
group, and so you know they may have a police issue there. They may have, um ... a
traffic issue there. They may have, you know, they may need something, you know, in
terms of building codes or ... or curb cuts or something like that, and ... and just having a
common voice gives them a lot more credibility, and there's some people down there that
have run those businesses and own those businesses for a long time and I think just
giving them that kind of opportunity, you get a lot of...you'd get a lot of, uh, benefit from
that relationship and ... you know, maybe what we could do is work that through
Neighborhood Services and kind of start that conversation with some of those businesses
to generate that idea. But, you could reword ... we can re ... reword that statement to get
there. Um, but you're talking about other parts in the community too.
Botchway/ No I mean ... and to Jim's point, I mean if...if we're willing to do that, where we're
going to talk with the business groups and have some conversations around that, I mean I
think that gets to my point, that the issue that I think is what I'm thinking about, you
know, two years down the road after we do have these conversations is, you know, and
maybe I'm wrong. I feel like, you know, the resurgence of downtown has been because
of a commitment by the City, and so in the same fashion, I would feel like, you know, the
City would have to make a similar commitment, um, to, um, the other kind of
development areas I'm talking about. Now that being said, maybe I'm trying to get too
far down the road, and so obviously if we have these conversations with, um, the business
groups and they're just, you know, not interested at all, then maybe we shouldn't have it
in the strategic plan. I guess I just don't want to miss this opportunity, because Cedar
Rapids is doing it. You know, Cedar Rapids really did a great job, and Rockne shared
with that article where, you know, they kinda built that, you know, um (mumbled) New
Pioneer but that's (mumbled) (several talking) the New Bo and they've made that now a
SSMID, and so ... that wasn't something that was something... that's big and I think we
have more, um, businesses within our Sycamore Mall, um ... area or Iowa City
Marketplace area than the entire ... I mean half or ... double the amount at New Bo, and so I
guess that's what I'm trying to get to, and I want to talk about it really quick, and I know
I'm taking up time, about it from a ... another city standpoint. My issue is, and this is kind
of my overarching issue, is that when I've gone to differ ... lived in and gone to different
cities, at times there's a focus on downtown; I think is necessary, but the issue is, is that
the other areas seem to fall to the wayside, and that's my problem, and it's really around
economic development. It's not necessarily around the neighborhoods. It's around the
fact that, you know, because there's not necessarily economic development there, the
neighborhoods then deteriorate because people want to be close to something that's good,
and that's my issue, but ... if we can approach it differently, then I'm okay with it. I just
don't want us to lose sight of..
Markus/ Well I ... I would say that you should try that kind of an approach first, because I think if
in fact they wanted to self -assess themselves, that might evolve out of that conversation,
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rather than going at'em first with a SSMID approach or something else, or offering'em
all sorts of money that we don't have (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ...emerge from discussion (both talking)
Markus/ Yeah, let them ... (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ...one other suggestion, which really goes in the direction of...of Kingsley's point
about basically equity with the city. There may be other basically commercial areas in
the city would benefit from a similar kind of organizing effort. Pepperwood Plaza, for
example, that area and the Fairview area. Yeah, and ... and others. (mumbled) There are
possibilities. So I ... I would think what might ... what might be beneficial is to ... to have a
priority for identifying possible areas for the kind of -business, owner, manager
organizing kind of effort that you had described. I don't know, the language for this, I
don't have the right language, but ... there may be more than one is all I'm trying to get to.
Cole/ Well I think part of it too (mumbled) each district a destination, and I ... and Kingsley's
right, downtown has done extremely well and that's because of policy decisions and
I ... we should invest in the downtown, but there's been a huge amount of money that's
been focused on the downtown as well. So it should be doing well! Um, and we have
some capital improvement projects also that we're gonna, you know, be supportive of. Sc
I think it's time that we make sure we orient ourselves that there are other parts of the
community that we need to keep our eye on too. Um, and so I think in terms of...in terms
of us communicating this to staff, uh, we need to indicate that it needs to be throughout
Iowa City.
Thomas/ What I ... what I tried to do was (clears throat) and I don't remember if this specific one
was in the STAR rating, but ... you know, we have our goal — develop a strong and
resilient economy — and then I tried to develop objectives below that and so my .... with
regard to what we're talking about, I had promote neighborhood commercial districts as
an objective under which ... you know ... the, whether it's, you know, wherever it may be,
that's the objective and it could play out in a variety of different locations. But
neighborhood commercial districts ... in my experience in cities are really the life blood in
many ways of the, at least for the residents, um ... how commercial districts are
experienced.
Taylor/ And by promoting, John, you don't necessarily mean handing over boatloads of money.
Thomas/ No, no!
Taylor/ (both talking) You'd do as ... as Tom said, even encouraging them to have ownership, the
businesses to have ownership in ... in their area, and ... and developing businesses on their
own, and ... like the Northside Marketplace. I mean, there's not tons of City money
invested in that. There's... those businesses have ... have built that up and it's wonderful,
and it's walkable and it's great, but the south side, I agree, Kingsley. Um, it ... there have
been many efforts to ... to bring the Sycamore Mall back to life again, and I think the
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Lucky Market, uh, helped significantly, although I ... I'd heard recently that perhaps its
customer load had gone down somewhat since of course when it first opened, but that
it...it was still vibrant. So, um, but ... but again, we wouldn't have to put boatloads of
money into that. Just encourage them to have ownership in ... in developing their area.
Throgmorton/ I'd like to offer a suggestion. Uh... and that is to ask Geoff to craft some language
that responds to the discussion we've just had.
Botchway/ No I like what John said!
Mims/ I do too (several talking)
Throgmorton/ Sorry, okay! (several talking)
Botchway/ That's perfect!
Throgmorton/ Okay, but I'd ... I'd like to...
Fruin/ I can do (both talking) that's pretty good! (laughter)
Throgmorton/ I just ... I just mean to suggest building into it, the Tom suggestion about (several
talking) working with business owners (both talking)
Markus/ Told you he was smooth! (laughter)
Thomas/ That would be, in my ... the way I structured that would be then an action below promote
neighborhood commercial districts. (several talking)
Throgmorton/ Okay! The ... the next sub -category or whatever here is review the City's TIF
policy. I know I have pushed this, so let me offer something, uh... um, review and
possibly modify the City Council's criteria and process for considering possible TIFs.
Too many words, but... the... the idea, what I ... what I would like to see us focus on is
having... having us intentionally review what our City Council does with regard to
adopting criteria and having a process for considering possible TIFs.
Markus/ But I think doesn't... doesn't the ... these few words allow you to do that as well?
Throgmorton/ Could be. I ... I was simply... really trying to draw attention to the City Council's
process, not ... the City's, cause that's, I mean, you and I have talked about this a lot. I
have a lot of respect for the ... the work the staff has done behind the scenes. My concern
really has more to do with the ... the Council's review.
Markus/ And ... and as you and I discussed, one of the things we've listed on our next EDC agenda
is just this item. And I think to start with it would be good to have that EDC committee,
which is you, Susan, and Rockne, um, start that review of the policy and see if we can't
get some concurrence as to where you want to go with that policy and then expose it to
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the full Council at a work session and ... and go from there. I think... personally I think the
words will get you there anyway. You can do ... you can ... you can go here or you can go
here with those words, in terms of your evaluation of that.
Throgmorton/ I'm okay with that. How ... how bout the rest of you? All right. I'm good with that.
That was easy! Uh, let's see, was there (several talking)
Botchway/ ...work closely with the University of Iowa on future facilities and economic
development opportunities, especially in Riverfront Crossings.
Markus/ So ... so the University is, um, they've got a number of different policy approaches to
how they're developing the University campus. There's the general campus itself and
where they own property. They typically don't build, uh, through a public/private
partnership, but what's happening in different parts of the community and adjacent
communities is they're taking on a couple of different ways about ... going about
development. Um ... they're doing public/private partnerships, uh, they've done a clinic up
on Dodge. Is that the University? Yeah, they're doing one down on ... off, south of
(several talking) Highway 1, and those are public/private partnerships. Now what that
means is that ... (both talking)
Dickens/ Blackstone's too.
Markus/ Blackstone's, and they do ... so they ... they work with a private developer. The private
developer builds the building. They lease it. The significance to Iowa City, or to any
governmental agency, is they pay the full load of taxes. Okay? Contrary to them
building a completely tax-exempt facility. So when they went into Coralville, they went
and did a pilot agreement, which was, um, kind of a ... another iteration of how they go
about things, and, um ... not only did they buy the property, but they paid the full amount
of the TIF in that area (clears throat) and of course we raised that ... that concern. So the
conversation kind of...has been evolving around Riverfront Crossings ever since it was
initially developed. And how, um, we could potentially kind of move them in there. You
may not know this, all of you, but there has been kind of some chipping about, uh,
Oakdale Research Park, which the University owns, as being too auto -centric. It's too far
away, and so Riverfront Crossings of...offers that dense, thick, you know, connection
back to the University for those things to happen. The other thing I think, you know, is
the whole dorm approach. You know, if you had the University build the dorms, they're
tax-exempt. If there's a private interest that builds 'em, they're taxable, and mighty
taxable! So you gotta think about those things when you try to engage the University. So
I think this talks about our relationship with the University, encouraging the University to
take a hard look at Iowa City. Um, I have to tell you that when I first came there was
kind of this ... and it ... and it wasn't ensconced in policy but there was kind of this mindset
that, you know, the University is viewed entirely as just tax-exempt and, you know, we
don't want'em encroaching in here and we don't want'em movin' in here. I have a very
different attitude about that. My attitude is, you know, let's scatter'em, you know,
different parts of the University in different parts of the community. They create great
density. They create great mixed-use. They create great foot traffic that supports all of
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the other use ... uses, and quite frankly they're... they're great investments. This University
doesn't build anything that's marginal. I mean (laughs) they put real dollars into some
substantial buildings, and they add to the character, plus that foot traffic and the demand
for the adjacent areas. So, I think this talks about us having a better relationship,
engaging, try to get them to ... to work with us, you know, this .... this museum and our
music building, I mean (laughs) you know, that's ... that is going to create such a huge
asset for Riverfront Crossings and ... not just the immediate surrounding areas, but think
about the spin-off. There's 300 concerts in the music building. All those people coming
into town for free entertainment, hoping to attract 'em into our downtown to support those
businesses. Those are great things!
Throgmorton/ (mumbled) Any objection to retaining this? We're good?
Markus/ So were there other items you wanted to add under here?
Throgmorton/ Right. Are there?
Markus/ But, remember this is not exhaustive. We will plug in areas throughout the course of
the year that we ... you know, that probably didn't get necessarily identified in the budget,
but that do make sense under certain categories.
Cole/ We just want to say'and Kirkwood,' you know, um, cause it does seem like Kirkwood's
(both talking)
Markus/ Absolutely!
Cole/ (both talking) ...engaging (both talking)
Markus/ That's a good idea! (several talking)
Mims/ The only other thing ... I've been trying to sit here and think and I'm not sure how to ... how
to articulate it, and Tom, maybe you can help and maybe ... maybe it doesn't need to be on
here, but ... we have ... and we've talked some about it. We have the potential for a lot of
different areas and I know staff is always working on these, and I don't know ... um ... you
know, we have limited staff time and ... and we sometimes just wait for people to approach
us on certain things. I'm just thinking about, I mean I'm thinking about our industrial
park. I'm thinking about Moss Development. I'm thinking about the Cole property.
Um ... you know we've talked about the fact that, you know, we ... we've only got two
interstate interchanges, okay, and when those are developed we want to make sure they're
done well. Uh, we want ... we want good quality development, good jobs, something that
really ... is really landmark — this is Iowa City — kind of thing. Um ... those things don't
always happen by themselves and I'm not suggesting that we are at a point of being ready
to, you know, pour money and stuff into these, but I ... I don't want us to forget about
them. I ... I think..I think we really need to kind of have these top of mind and be having
those, you know, periodic conversations with people to see where they're at, and maybe
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that's just naturally going on and we don't need to have it on here. I'd be interested in
your response.
Markus/ Yeah, I ... I, it's not entirely natural that it goes on, and you know, I think historically the
University has been, uh, pretty close to the vest about when they actually release news
about where they're going and ... and, uh, so we monitor the Board of Regents, um,
minutes, uh, because you ... you pick up a lot of things that are being proposed and
reviewed at that level, and um, they have to be vetted. Um, I know more about the
University's procedure than I ever expected to, but that was because of some review we
were doing on some other issues and so ... um .... I would say I think it's more critical to
develop the relationship with the key players in the University, and to understand they
have a physical plant, uh, long-range plan and ... and ... and keep working with them. Um, I
can tell you too that, um ... it's my belief that the Cole property probably would have been
a very, um ... desirable area for the University. But I think they were very sensitive to the
population up there and they did not want to get into a situation where the University got
tagged with displacing, uh, families of...of lower economic, uh... uh, means. And so I
think that's why they got steered or, uh, started to look more at that, uh, Iowa River, uh,
Landings area (mumbled) because if you think about, you know, where that property is,
it's kind of a key corridor right ... right down into the University, coming down Dubuque
versus kind of sticking over, um, where IRL is, so ... I, you know ... having, you know,
having an active, engaged, um, kind of strategy discussion with the University all the
time and knowing what they're thinking, knowing where they intend to grow, I think that
can help inform us and ... and work with us in terms of how we infuse 'ern more into the
community itself, so... - - - - - - - -
Throgmorton/ So it looks to me like we would not have to change the language (several talking)
Botchway/ Wait a minute! Wait a minute! So I ... I kind of disagree with you, Tom. Not
necessarily about that particular part, because I agree. I think it is within kind of the ... the
language that we discussed, um, within our strategic plan. But I actually agree with
Susan in ... in this sense, that the University doesn't necessarily have to be the folks that,
you know, are the people that, um, look at that particular interchange, and so I am
interested in putting language in that makes us think or makes us ... I don't know, put some
feelers out, um, around what we can do in those areas, because I think they're huge areas,
that you know, in other cities and other towns, you know, a lot of thought, a lot of...well,
a lot of thought, a lot of things are put in those places because of what it means to the
particular city. I think it's awkward that we don't have anything there. Um, and so I think
that we need to make a concerted effort to do something. And I don't know how that
should be languaged and so maybe, you know, concerted effort to do something on the,
um, I-80 and 380 interchanges.
Dickens/ (mumbled) developers that are looking at north Dubuque.
Botchway/ Okay.
Dickens/ (mumbled) know right now (mumbled) (both talking)
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Mims/ And I'm not ... and I'm not sure we want language. (both talking) Yeah, and I'm ... I'm not
sure we want language that ... that details certain locations. Um ... because I know we've
got developers looking at certain pieces now and they're... they're working things out,
but...
Dickens/ You want entryways to Iowa City (mumbled)
Mims/ I mean, one, I agree with the language on the University and especially Riverfront
Crossings and I like what Tom said about just... increasing our engagement with key
people there in terms of understanding and ... and being familiar with what they're
thinking in terms of facilities and ... and having the right staff and/or Council people kind
of doing that, to also maybe prod them along or make them aware of particular locations
we think, you know, would work really well for certain things. So I ... that language I
think is fine. I'm just kind of looking beyond that, of making sure ... making sure that as a
city we are not just sitting back and being too complacent, waiting for everybody to come
to us, in terms of...other kinds of development, because our neighbors aren't sitting back
and being complacent. They are being I think active and aggressive, and .... going out
after businesses that sometimes we don't even know until it's too late. And so ... somehow
with our, whether it's with our Economic Development Committee, whether economic
development staff, a combination of the two ... somehow putting together a plan where
we're a little more, um ... (several talking) Yeah, aggressive, we're just ... we're out there a
little bit more, being more proactive, um ... about things.
Throgmorton/ I'd like to pick up on that theme. I ... I understand the idea of being more
intentional and proactive and all that. I would think we would want to ... to the extent that
we're going to be proactive, we would want to ... seek out the kinds of developments that
are consistent with the overall themes that are embedded (both talking)
Mims/ Oh yeah!
Throgmorton/ ...in our strategic plan. I, cause, you know, we could end up with ... we could be
very proactive and end up with something that's really quite (mumbled) to what we want
to do, right? So...
Cole/ But I think to what Susan's saying, I think, is spot on, because...just in sort of my own
observations in terms of looking at some of the zoning requests that have come before us.
Um, we've seen a couple of instances I think of light industrial, industrial areas that now
are converted over to residential, and that's fine. It may be that we as a community
decide that it does make more sense for residential development, but (clears throat) it
begs the question ... in those individual instances, was there anything from a policy
standpoint that we could have done to get a large-scale employer there, a Google, a
Facebook and it's easy to say that, harder to implement it, but I think we really need to
think about that and that gets into the resiliency, so we get these huge employers, um, that
are in addition to the University of Iowa, again, hard to do, but should be a focus of ours.
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Throgmorton/ Yeah, I ... I personally can't get on board with that, cause the ... the tax outlay for
that, the tax incentive, is mind boggling. To bring a Facebook, a Google (both talking)
Cole/ (mumbled) that's the detail, not the goal, right? I shouldn't even of mentioned those.
Unnamed employer (laughter)
Markus/ Put a fertilizer plant (laughter and several talking)
Thomas/ Did we need to emphasize or highlight ... I have in my write-up here small business
development and retention. Is that ... is that an area that we, the City, covers very well? I
mean it seems to me we've lost... particularly in the downtown a number of small
businesses and it may be that we already have a robust program in terms of...making sure
our small businesses are prosperous. Uh, but it is ... it's something that I'm concerned
about. Maybe it's covered. I ... I don't know.
Markus/ Well the, um, of course the Downtown District does a pretty phenomenal job in
working with those downtown businesses to make that all work. Um ... and we've created
some programs to enhance their, you know, their, uh, facilities and ... and visibility.
Dickens/ The Chamber offers some (mumbled)
Markus/ Yeah, and...
Botchway/ I think we ... well, go ahead!
Markus/ You know I ... I actually like the idea about encouraging, you know, small business
development and retaining what we have. Um, the other thing, you know, we heard a lot
of complaints about, um ... is for example like the, um ... the cottages, you know, and you
can think what you want about the cottages, but ... um ... not necessarily the cottage
development specifically, but .... as development occurs and there is a potential for, you
know, dislocation, um, maybe there ... there, maybe there does need to be some
consideration for assistance ... if there's going to be assistance from the City, not just, you
know, not just a cash outlay but ... if they're asking us for assistance, maybe there needs to
be some sort of effort in that regard towards those businesses. And ... to be honest,
some ... some places, they're little more than warehouses. They're not really engaged
businesses. Um, so you get some of that, but ... I don't have a problem in making a
comment about small business. I ... I think there's some merit in that actually.
Throgmorton/ I think it would be a good idea. It ... did you write some language down there,
Simon?
Andrew/ I wrote, uh, small business development and retention. Is that... accurate?
Throgmorton/ Yeah.
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Mims/ I'd like to go back to mine. Cause we don't have it up there, and it sounded like (both
talking)
Throgmorton/ Which one is it?
Mims/ Well, being more proactive. I mean, again, I'm not sure how to word it.
Botchway/ Oh I thought you were saying you didn't want ... I mean you started talking about the
EDC, I thought you were saying you weren't going there. You were going to bring it up
in that way.
Mims/ I don't know! I mean I just ... I think...
Botchway/ I actually like Jim's seek out. Maybe ... maybe trying to wordsmith between the two —
seek out, kind of be proactive — about... question mark. We'll come back to it (laughter) ]
mean, I ... I mean there's a lot of different ideas (mumbled) my head, you know, I don't
want to throw out Google, even though I kind of agree, but I mean there's, urn...it...it
could be anything. You know, it could be the University, um, thing. I mean that's
something that we already have language for. It could just be ... something innovative. I
mean we don't know, but I think maybe that's where we seek out certain things that are
happening... maybe in some other cities and gets to that point.
Throgmorton/ Geoff, I ... I wonder if you might have some ideas about what could possibly... what
we could possibly state here that would make sense.
Fruin/ Sitting here, not right now, but I ... I get the gist of your conversation and think I could put
something together for ya. You could react to at a later date.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, why ... why don't we do that and ... we'll have to come back to it. Anything
else to put into this category?
Botchway/ One of the things that I had, um, kind of as an addition was... leveraging our
community partners to, urn ... I may actually look at the language instead of trying to think
of it myself. Leveraging our partners to, urn... support, um, the development of, uh,
businesses owned by people of color. Now maybe this is a wrong place to put it, um, but
I don't think so. So ... I feel like we need to ask ourselves, one, whether or not we're doing
something along those lines, and also whether or not, you know, our... community
partners, ICAD, CVB, Downtown District are doing something towards, urn ... that
particular aim.
Markus/ Do we have any past practices out there about any of that?
Botchway/ Yes and no. I mean, some of it was kind of what we were discussing from a grow -
your -own, um, discussion when we were talking about staffing, and so you know, it kind
of follows along the lines of entrepreneurial type of thinking. Um, I'll be honest with
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you, that's the only thing I saw from when I looked at it kind of from a Google research
standpoint.
Markus/ See we had that micro -business enterprise program where we fund and ... and that has the
opportunity to at least, um, socio-economic, but I think also potentially to work with
diverse populations to ... to actually make that work too, and ... and I suppose what we
could do is use that model and not just rely on ... uh... CDBG, uh, type funding, but maybe
infuse some of our own funding to help that sort of activity, but you gotta be ... you gotta
be very, you know, structured on how you allocate and ... and deal with all that. In fact,
we extract security from ... um .... a lot of these individuals, including their cars and all of
this sort of thing, that they pledge security to ... behind these loans to some degree, and
you know, you have to remember whether it's a micro -enterprise, uh, loan or any ... any
new start-up business, you know, the ... the success/failure rate is just ... it's really a
challenge for those businesses, and so ... there is ... there are a number of programs, um, that
work in that regard, and .... maybe that's one of those things where we work with our
partner.
Botchway/ Yeah, that's what I was ... yeah.
Markus/ Yeah, ICAD and maybe what we say is work with our partners to, um ... to come up with
a program. Let's ... let's (both talking)
Throgmorton/ I've had at least one long conversation with Mark Nolte and (both talking) and
Andre Wright (several talking) uh, about precisely this topic.
Markus/ Right! And that's ... and you know we were ... we were kind of, I think the Chamber, the
ICAD, um ... the ICDD were all challenged by Reverend Landry in that regard, and I
think, you know, quite frankly there isn't a ... a local program besides this micro -enterprise
approach. So ... maybe that's something that we could list as a ... as something we want to
see achieved and see if we can't come up with something like (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Yeah, Simon's gettin' some pretty decent language down there with it (mumbled)
y'all can wordsmith it a little bit (several talking)
Cole/ And I think Mark, by the way, has actually done that. He's done entrepreneurship classes
for people (mumbled)
Markus/ Oh yeah!
Cole/ ...so that's really exciting.
Markus/ Yeah, and I think this whole merge has the potential to, you know, and maybe ... maybe
figuring out how to scholarship some of that and work in that regard too. So...
Throgmorton/ Are we ready to move on to the next... category? Which ... which was, I don't know
what it is now. It was a strong residential and commercial urban core. What is ... what are
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we ... is that what we stayed with? (noises in background) No (several talking) Build a
vibrant and ... (several talking) and walkable urban core. Okay! So if I remember
correctly, Geoff did not insert, at least on our behalf, did not insert any sub -categories
under there, so we'll have to figure out (both talking)
Fruin/ That's correct!
Throgmorton/ John, I'll bet you have ideas! (several talking and laughing)
Markus/ How bout brick streets, John? (several talking and laughing)
Throgmorton/ Yeah...
Thomas/ Well I had a, uh, a ... objective of, and I ... came out of, um, I believe it came out of the
STAR rating. Provide safe transportation choices. Urn ... as a ... as an objective.
Markus/ Elaborate John.
Thomas/ Okay. So what ... what that might mean, uh, what I have down would be ... reviewing our
parking policies, both on -street and off-street.
Markus/ Okay, for that permit idea that we talked about (both talking)
Thomas/ Well that would be one aspect. Yeah, I think ... you know the background on that issue
for me is that the City seems to have a very... unstructured approach toward, uh, street
parking in the ... in the down ... in the core.
Markus/ In the core residential areas.
Thomas/ Yeah, there's ... you know, a considerable amount of the parking in ... in the, uh, in the
core is unregulated. It's just first-come, first -serve. Uh, there was a question of whether
we, as the Blue Zones recommended, having parking on both sides of the street. Um, the
idea of a parking benefit district to generate revenue through... through that process.
Actually allowing as we mentioned the, urn ... the, it would depend on ... on the
circumstances. If...if a neighborhood in a ... in a particular area wanted the parking for
themselves, then they would not allow, uh, visitors to purchase permits, but ... up in the
area where I live, further up on Brown Street, um, the residents don't have that much of a
demand for the on -street parking, but the outsiders do. They'll park and ... their car will be
there all day and they'll ... hop on Cambus, say. So anyway there's a ... it's a concept that,
you know, many people have emphasized. If you're concerned about parking, you really
have to be mindful of how you manage the street aspect of that, um, both for revenue and,
you know, just making sure that you're maximizing the value of your ... your streets.
Markus/ See now that's one of those things that I think we should do some pilot projects on. You
know, instead of trying to develop a ... total policy im... immediately. Let's see what
works, because there's ... I can tell you with ... at least my experience with parking districts,
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there's a lot of unintended consequences that occur. And maybe what you can do is ... is
test some of those areas, uh, with some very lit ... limited signage and paint, and set some
of that up to see how that works, before we go into a full-blown capital improvement and
then find out we have a huge public reaction that has to ... be reverse directions (both
talking)
Thomas/ Well it's an area where I would at least like to consider bringing (mumbled) consultant
to ... to sort of walk through, you know, how we might implement, or at least study, uh,
these ... these questions.
Markus/ So ... your objective isn't necessarily to create more parking.
Thomas/ It is in part, yeah. I think ... I feel the downtown ... uh, would benefit from more parking.
Markus/ I wouldn't of thought you'd go there (laughter)
Taylor/ I think you're also thinking of revenue, aren't you? Generating revenue (both talking)
Thomas/ ...thinking of the revenue, I'm thinking... because of our one -side only approach, we end
up with, um ... excess lane widths.
Markus/ And ... and it isn't traffic calming. Usually you load both sides to create traffic calming.
Thomas/ Right, so ... so, again, this was noted in the Blue Zones' report that it would have a traffic
calming effect, and it's ... it's allowed after 5:00 P.M. It's not as if we prevent it, and it's
allowed on Sundays. So ... on certain, at certain times we do allow it, but not through the
work day, which is when the demand is highest for it.
Throgmorton/ If I could, rather than ... drilling down further into that particular topic, I ... I'd like to
have us step back just a little bit and ask ... well, what do we mean by a vibrant and
walkable urban core? So what I'm personally mean by that is, uh... uh, the ... the core part
of the city would ... would be such that people would really enjoy walking from ... wherever
they live to wherever they work, or to wherever they want to have ... dinner outdoors, or
you know, and some other place ... so that it's all about ... the quality of the walk.
(mumbled) Geoff (mumbled) language about this. I'm trying to remember what it...
(male)/ It's a safe walk. (several talking)
Thomas/ ...in part the safe walk (several talking)
Throgmorton/ ...four things, right? Safe, comfortable (both talking)
Thomas/ ...interesting walk.
Throgmorton/ Interesting.
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Thomas/ Useful.
Throgmorton/ Useful walk. All right, so for me, that's what it's all about. So...
Markus/ So!
Throgmorton/ So, how to get there!
Markus/ Yeah and so maybe what we do is instead of just looking at, you know, a parking person
coming in, we'd ... we'd do it a little bit more comprehensive, because, John, you and I
have talked about these one -ways and...
Thomas/ Yeah!
Markus/ Maybe we bring in somebody that can give us some cover to ... to really change some of
those things in terms of (both talking)
Thomas/ That was my ... my, yeah I ... was ... was really looking at bringing in (both talking)
Markus/ ...which gets to yours, Jim.
Thomas/ Someone like Jeff Speck who could look at ... all those aspects of the walkable city as it
pertains to Iowa City.
Markus/ Movin' people not metal. And Susan and I have had that discussion. (laughter)
She's ... she's about movin' some metal. When it's her metal! (laughter and several
talking) I think we're all kinda that way (both talking)
Thomas/ Mine would accommodate the automobile but it needs to be put in its place.
Throgmorton/ Simon, there were four words John tossed out there just a minute ago.
Safe .... help me out, John, four...
Thomas/ Useful.
Throgmorton/ Useful.
Botchway/ Interesting.
Throgmorton/ Interesting.
Thomas/ Um. ... comfortable.
Throgmorton/ But ... but another point has to do with, um, the, you know, the possibility of
inviting Jeff Speck or some other well-known speakers to come in to talk about this topic
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in a way that helps all of us understand what's involved, what's really at stake, what can
be done. So, I would suggest that ... to build a vibrant walkable urban core we should
intentionally invite a series of highly respected professionals who can ... help all of us
understand what's going on and what can be done.
Cole/ If I could say just one thing too, and by suggesting this I in no way mean to imply that we
don't already have incredibly talented people that already work here. Um, one phrase that
comes to mind is Duany who talks about locals are the experts in the art of the
impossible. I think it helps to bring someone in, just for that outside voice, um, and then
to sort of...it's not intuitively obvious why two ways work as opposed to one, but you just
can't intuit that and importantly he can give you the data and the, um, the ... the stats in
terms of traffic flows. So it's not necessarily true that you have less transportation
capacity if you do the -the street. Well that's true!
Markus/ Jim and I are not smiling about that. (laughter)
Cole/ So...
Markus/ I've used Andre Duany before.
Cole/ Okay.
Markus/ ...in planning, so ... (several talking) substantially (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Saw him speak in 1996, Charleston, South Carolina when the ... the charter of the
new urbanism was signed.
Cole/ Wow! That's (both talking)
Throgmorton/ I signed it (several talking) ...third to last line or something like that, so...
Markus/ He did ... he did our, uh, what we called our 2016 plan, uh, back in Birmingham and
when he came back he said it was one of the few plans that he'd ever seen actually
implemented. (laughter) But what I would tell you about, um ... Andres or anybody else
in that area, they are very, um, committed to the new urbanist principles, but you do
need ... to have a, you know, a staff and ... a community that takes that plan and fits it.
Okay, because they tend to be, um ... there's a lot of things that ... that don't get confronted
in the plan itself. It, you know, can take on a form -based code kinda approach, but there's
always those nuances that have to take place. We had that kind of a community, a very
engaged community, but ... he has interesting contracts, let me just say that about Andres.
He's kinda the rock star of planners and his contracts sometimes look like that.
Cole/ (mumbled)
Throgmorton/ So with regard to the...
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Markus/ Oh he's good!
Throgmorton/ With regard to the series of speakers I was just referring to, um, we could, um,
initiate, uh... urn ... public dialogue, public discussion about ... the meaning of a walkable
city, and how to accom... how to bring it about. Or something like that. Before we've
talked about possibly converting some streets from one-way to two-way. Uh, for me that
fits into this, but I know, Tom, you and I and ... I think you and John have talked about
doing a ... doing such things on a ... test basis for several months to see how it goes, learn
from the experience.
Markus/ I think that covers it.
Throgmorton/ Okay. This is where the rubber meets the road, so to speak (laughs) Any other
ideas?
Thomas/ Yeah, um ... I have, uh, provide affordable, diverse housing types for ra... a diverse range
of households.
Throgmorton/ This is where the missing middle idea comes in.
Thomas/ Yeah, this would...
Throgmorton/ Yeah.
Thomas/ ... there ... there are a number of sub -headings that could be considered, but the urban
core, uh... you know, one ... one thought I'd like to ... to note in my view is, you know, we've
had a lot of conversation about affordable housing, and one way I'm feeling is useful to
think about that issue, um, in a slightly different way is to consider affordable living, that
you know... households have ... have costs associated with housing and they also have costs
associated with transportation, and it's really the two things that, um ... are critical in terms
of...uh... households getting by with ... with whatever their ... their income is, and so
with ... with regard to that, in my view the, you know, the urban core of Iowa City is an
ideal location for... affordable housing because it's ... has the most mixed use, it's the most
walkable, it...it actually is car -optional. Uh, so there ... there are ways you can reduce your
household expenditures in the ... in the downtown core. Granted the housing costs are an
issue, but the ... but that's precisely one of the ... things that Iowa City, I feel we as a
community need to address is creating more... availability and ... and uh, diversity in terms
of the housing types. I ... I met with Mark today. He would love to live in the north side.
Said I can't find anything. And I have this conversation all the time. You know, there are
many people who need ... you know, in need of affordable housing, wanting just a place to
raise their family. Mark would like to live in the north side. He has five kids. Um, so
anyway there, you know, there are just a whole range of. ... of, um .... households that
would like to live in the center of town and can't.
Markus/ And ... and so why is the property so expensive there?
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Thomas/ Why is it so expensive? It's ... well (mumbled) availability as much as it is cost.
Dickens/ Historic, keeping the houses up to the historic costs.
Thomas/ Well, another point I ... I have here is the ... the, really the elephant in the room in the
center of Iowa City is the fact that ... the vast majority of housing is for students.
Markus/ Yeah, that's my point, John. That's what's driving the cost of the housing.
Thomas/ Right, so...
Markus/ Mark is no different than me. I took a hard look at the downtown area, and the reason
that you know I ended up in, uh, what we call 'beigeville' is that ... I could buy more house
out there, even though I had to drive, and you know, then you can down here. And I
didn't have to worry about ... some student walkin' into my house in the middle of the
night, cause he was kinda lost! And yet ... I think that ... that that's a market condition that
exists. UniverCity was an attempt to kind of counter that to some degree, but I think
what you need to do is you need to ... you need to create supply of student housing that's
more attractive to .... and I suspect what it will do, just from my knowledge of economics,
is it will start to devalue some of those neighborhoods, which then make them more
conducive to be redone for ... livable family housing. So, that's my push about moving
more fam... or, uh, student housing south of Burlington, into River Crossings area. To
take the demand off those areas, but it's going to include ... it's going to have to be some
sort of infusion from the City to some degree there, as well, to make that happen. Not
only can you almost buy the same house out in'beigeville' uh price -wise that you can in
the north side area. It doesn't require another $100,000 infusion to bring it up to
standard! Now, John, I know you bought in that area. You bought a completed house,
but...it...it still was a pricey purchase, I know that! So ... and that's not the ... that's not the
norm throughout that whole north side neighborhood. So, I think we have to ... we have to
kind of change the market condition, and I can tell ya, I think that works because I can't
tell you ... how many of the major ... uh, dorm housing or student housing projects in this
town came and ... and indicated them being threatened by the Court/Linn project.
They ... they feel that. So I think (both talking) economics though too.
Thomas/ You know, I ... in ... in response to that. One ... one thought, cause I've been here now six
years, and I've heard a lot of theories about, you know, the ... the housing market
conditions in the ... the core of Iowa City, you know, that in terms of well ... it's moving
south, it's doing this, there seems to be, there surely must be an oversupply of student
housing, you know, many people have ... you know, we've expressed a variety of ideas,
theories with respect to what ... what the solution is. And ... and one .... one thing that I
would like to propose would be the idea of having a market... housing market study
analysis.
Markus/ Have you seen the Casey Cook study on the ... the rentals and...
Thomas/ He's just looking at rents.
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Markus/ (mumbled) applies to the student housing here.
Thomas/ Right, but I ... a more detailed analysis of what ... what is the housing market in the ... in
the UniverCity impact zone, in terms of the supply, the ... the demand, the expectations
with respect to the student population, you know, a .... a much clearer idea of what is the
nature of this problem, uh, so we .... we do have a better understanding and baseline upon
which to base our strategic plan and any action items that might flow from that.
Markus/ I don't have a ... I don't have a disagreement with that, but I would tell you despite the
fact that we're building Court/Linn, some major ... uh, student housing developer in town
found ... that it was a good investment to pay top dollar where the old West Bank site was
to put student housing in there. That tells me that we have not even come close to
approaching the student housing market that could be built to take the demand off of
those areas.
Thomas/ So I would like to get a better handle on that, and ... and I think it's ... might be something
we approach ... the University with, you know, partnership with the (both talking)
Markus/ We talked about that. But we ... I think the University should be doin' that study. I have
a little reluctance to be (both talking)
Thomas/ I'm not suggesting who should do it, but it...it could be a partnership.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, all right. Kingsley raises a ... a very good point. We seem to be going very
deeply into this particular topic and, so you know, we don't want to do that with every
single topic. So, I ... my personal sense is that this is a pretty good topic to focus attention
on. Whata y'all think?
Mims/ I think it's a topic to fos... focus attention on. I'm not comfortable with an action item of
providing diverse housing types and price points for a variety of income levels. I ... I'm
not comfortable with the idea that the City is taking that on. (several talking)
Taylor/ ...say encourage? Rather than provide?
Andrew/ And I was going to ask about the language there, whether I accurately ... (several talking)
Mims/ Yeah ... no I do, yeah I think you actually (both talking)
Thomas/ ...certainly not advocating that the City take the lead on pro... providing it, but ... but in
order for the ... the core to ... to be complete, it has to open up to a wider range (both
talking)
Cole/ Why don't we say promote diverse housing types? And price points?
Markus/ Encourage was a good word.
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Cole/ Encourage? (several talking)
Throgmorton/ Yeah, let's go with encourage. (several talking and laughing) Okay, are we good
with that now? Is there any other important sub -category... that you believe should appear
under this, uh, build a vibrant and walkable urban core? The subject.
Thomas/ Um, I would add protect historic... residential and commercial buildings and promote
their restoration. (unable to hear person away from mic) Residential and commercial
buildings. And promote their restoration.
Throgmorton/ Any ... any objection to that?
Dickens/ I don't know how you'd put in there rents for business (mumbled) the urban core area's
(mumbled) It's some of the highest in the state of Iowa. The urban core, and then it
discourages... small businesses from locating there and...
Throgmorton/ (several talking) It's true.
Dickens/ I don't know how you'd do it, but that ... that's (mumbled) (both talking)
Mims/ I think it is really difficult. I was talking to a ... a small business owner today who was
talking about possibility of a business right downtown moving out and ... going to rent that
space ... to a national food chain. And so the ... the kind of shift that we're getting in, and
the reason is because they can get top dollar from this company, versus other small
locally owned businesses. And so what that's doing in terms of the overall mix, um, of
businesses downtown is not good, but how do you prevent a property owner
from ... getting the top dollar out of their property?
Botchway/ So I would agree. My only question is isn't that, um (coughing, difficult to hear
speaker) underneath Terry, cause I agree with your statement and your comments as well,
um ... where we had it under develop a strong and resilient local economy, where
we ... work with our partners to devise ... oh, okay! Never mind. I was focused on ... people
of color, but I mean I thought that we were talking about (coughing, difficult to hear
speaker) businesses, I thought that it was going to be under that umbrella. I mean I think
that you make, both make great points and I think we should. I just don't know if we
need to put it (both talking)
Cole/ Can I ... can I say one thing? I promise I'll be super short! Um ... yeah, okay! Put the
stopwatch (laughter) Very quickly, one of the things I've seen though is that ... we just
finished essentially a ... a zoning revision for a certain parcel where we're looking at
eliminating a residential use. I'm sorry, the commercial use on first floor. It has been a
big problem along Gilbert or other areas. Why we have this under -performing
commercial space in prime areas! And my hypothesis is is I think it's because the
landlords have a set number as to what a commercial space should perform, and if they
don't get that they just leave it empty, as opposed to the person that you were talking
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about, Susan. Well there might be something less than that. But I may be wrong on that,
so I think we should assess and analyze that internally. We don't have to hire a
consultant or anything, as to how we effectively utilize our first floor, uh, spaces
throughout the downtown.
Throgmorton/ It's a crucial part of having a vibrant urban core.
Cole/ Yeah, when we're (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ...good reasons to walk (both talking)
Cole/ ...and we're concerned about supply.
Throgmorton/ Yeah. I ... I'd like to say I support that last item. I ... I think it's clearly an important
topic for, um, a large number of people in the city. It's important to me. Uh... with regard
to your point, I don't know, do we want to add ... what, can you put it into language that,
you know, could...
Cole/ Optimize... first floor commercial area, I mean everybody knows what I'm talking about. I
mean, we need more commercial space, um, but it seems like a lot of the commercial
spaces are empty. So assess and analyze why the commercial spaces are under... utilized.
Markus/ Cause it's oversupply.
Fruin/ Well, partly ... partly may be oversupply, but I think in large part due to poor design and
unappealing retail space. You know, you take for example, uh, the ... the retail space on
College as you're moving from Gilbert towards the Library and you've got an elevated up
half a level because the ... the way parking was structured. It pushed it up. That's not
attractive for retail space, despite being a fantastic location. So it's probably a
combination of supply and design, and over the years the City has refined our
commercial design guidelines in such a way that hopefully you will see fewer, um, of
those types of, um, situations.
Throgmorton/ All right. I'd kinda like to see us move on to the next topic. Are we still (several
talking) Pauline, how you doin'? You okay.
Taylor/ Good, thanks!
Throgmorton/ Yeah. All right. Nobody's fading too much. (noises in background) (several
talking and laughing)
Dickens/ Almost past my bedtime!
Throgmorton/ (mumbled) fading I'll want to ... (mumbled) Okay, so uh, healthy neighborhoods,
right? All right, I'm gonna throw out a ... component of health neighborhoods and it's
going to be some redundancy here between building a vibrant ... or urban core and healthy
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neighborhoods, but anyhow... what... what I would say is ... substantially improve the public
realm, meaning existing streets, sidewalks, ADA -compliant curb ramps, streetscapes, and
neighborhood parks. So ... uh, I'll go over it again so Simon... substantially improve the
public realm. And the rest is just me explaining what I mean by that. So..."existing
streets, sidewalks, ADA -compliant curb ramps, streetscapes, and neighborhood parks."
Botchway/ I don't think you need to write all that, Simon. Unless you wanted to.
Throgmorton/ I ... I don't need to have it written, but I just want to make sure that, you know, it's
clear what I (coughing, unable to hear speaker)
Taylor/ I thought you would probably say something about, uh, the carbon footprint.
Throgmorton/ Not (both talking) Not under this (both talking) That's gonna go under
sustainability I guess (both talking) So in fact, uh, you know, just as a sidelight, our
budget, proposed budget, actually moves in this direction, thanks to staff. You know,
the .... more money for comple... what, doubling money for a complete streets, uh,
increasing, uh, street resurfacing. Several other things (both talking)
Taylor/ ...sidewalks...
Throgmorton/ The important point is the public realm, which means the streetscape.
Thomas/ Are you including parks in that? Or just...
Throgmorton/ Yeah, I did mention neighborhood parks, right.
Thomas/ Yeah, I think it's extremely important.
Throgmorton/ So ... are we on -board with that?
Cole/ I'm on -board with that!
Taylor/ It's a big one in our budget. Lot of things in the budget ... under there.
Throgmorton/ Okay. Other ideas?
Dickens/ (mumbled) realm is understood. Instead of kingdom or something (laughter)
Throgmorton/ Yeah, you know it's a funny thing cause it's a ... it's a very commonly used phrase
within urban planning, development kind of stuff, and ... and all that and architecture,
but...
Dickens/ Just a note.
Botchway/ Can we highlight that (several talking)
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Dickens/ Realm fits once you explain it.
Botchway/ Not saying we change it, but just (mumbled) have another word.
Throgmorton/ It really means this. Enhance the quality of...parts of the city that the ... the whole
public has access to, and ... and can use. Not just the privately owned parts of the city. I
mean it's good, it's important to maintain them and make sure they're well kept and ... and
viable and all that. But, public realm's different.
Taylor/ Public space?
Throgmorton/ Well it .... yeah, it's similar to public space.
Mims/ ...transparent so people understand it (both talking)
Taylor/ ...(mumbled)
Throgmorton/ Yeah ... yeah.
Taylor/ I would say more understandable from a layperson's (both talking)
Thomas/ ...public open space.
Throgmorton/ Yeah ... public open space tends to mean large (several talking)
Dickens/ Put space in parentheses underneath there and...
Throgmorton/ Okay we see the challenge. Let's not wordsmith it. (several talking)
Mims/ The only thing I would say, I mean, philosophically I agree with it. I think ... I'm already
getting concerned with ... budget implications. I mean I ... so ... but we'll get to the budget
later.
Throgmorton/ I ... I get your point. Uh, but there's already an increased amount of money in the
draft budget.
Mims/ Right, no, I know.
Throgmorton/ That moves in this direction. Yeah. Okay! Others?
Botchway/ (both talking) ...would ask are we going to consider the rest of the things that were
put under, uh, health neighborhoods?
Throgmorton/ Right, did I skip something? I'm sorry!
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Botchway/ There was just (both talking)
Throgmorton/ You're right, there's a whole series of things. I apologize.
Botchway/ No, you're fine. I was just...
Thomas/ If we want to be a little more generic, my .... my objective is, and Jim mentioned
the ... the question of redundancy with the core....urban core, but providing affordable,
diverse housing is also important in the ... for healthy neighborhoods. In part because
health neighborhoods is, as Jim also noted earlier, it's not only existing but ... any new
development moving forward.
Throgmorton/ Yeah.
Botchway/ So, uh, if we're gonna use that, and I think we can, a ... I would take ... I would take
the ... the first bullet point that's there and we would just put it underneath that particular
one. Maybe that makes sense.
Throgmorton/ I'm not sure I follow ya, but ... but by first bullet point you mean consider (several
talking)
Botchway/ ...policy.
Throgmorton/ All right so which, uh, for sake of consistency, uh, I ... I should go over these, one
by one, the ... the items that are already listed in Jeff Schott's report, under healthy
neighborhoods, right?
Markus/ Yep.
Throgmorton/ So the first was consider amending the City's annexation policy to require the
provision of affordable housing in residential areas. So it's not directive. It doesn't say
do it, but it definitely says consider doing it. I ... is, are we on -board with that one, just for
considering it? (several talking) Okay. The second is incrementally, oh god, here we
are! Incrementally repair, thicken, and improve pre -1950 core neighborhoods through
infrastructure upgrades and appropriate neighborhood scaled private development. We've
actually just done ... we just did that one (several talking)
Dickens/ ...gets rid of that thicken word (several talking)
Botchway/ No I'm not gonna (mumbled) just yet. It's like (several talking) I'm gonna agree with
it (several talking)
Throgmorton/ Okay, so the ... third one in Jeffs, uh, report, Jeff Schott's report is ... evaluate the
implementation of a form -based code in other parts of the community.
Thomas/ Which actually achieves ... the bullet point we just went over.
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Throgmorton/ Right. So, do ... do we want to be a little more specific about that? Cause ... you
know, there's a lot of diversity within our city in terms of...neighborhood design and ... the
housing and all that kind of stuff. So...
Dickens/ Weren't we going to see how ... Riverfront Crossing works before we .... go all out?
Throgmorton/ Well...
Dickens/ ...I mean we can move ahead with it, but I thought that was the idea, was...
Throgmorton/ I think (both talking) I think that was the idea, yeah.
Mims/ I think we're going to have so many things on here that ... and if this is a two-year strategic
plan, we could put it on but maybe with the idea that this is (noise in background, unable
to hear speaker) year out potentially, I mean ... and I think we could easily see at some
point, you know, different form -based codes for different parts of the city, but ... but I
think, again, we're ... we're gonna have to balance ... our staff time, capabilities with a lot of
the stuff that we're putting on here, as well.
Thomas/ (mumbled) I think the advantage of the form -based code is I ... I feel, and staff actually
recommended or listed it as an item under ... in a memo to the City Council regarding
affordable housing, so I ... I think the form -based code would be more effective as a tool to
achieve affordable housing.
Botchway/ So are you say .... are you stating that you would be okay with not putting it on there
and just having under that heading? (mumbled) I ... I guess my point is is that you have
encouraging affordable and diverse housing. Are you stating that that's going to go under
there or ... is this a separate item?
Thomas/ Well if we ... we are just going through the ones on the Schott report and ... and, um, if we
wanted to ... to reference the fact that, you know, that it was a form -based code.
Botchway/ Okay.
Dickens/ Well it says evaluate (several talking) ...looking at (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Yeah, so ... we're ... we're gonna (several talking) we're going to hang on to the
(several talking) Okay. Good deal! All right, see the last one on Jeffs list was develop
strategies to promote the establishment of neighborhood associations. And I gotta say, I
don't ... I don't track this one cause we have 20 -some odd neighborhood associations
already, and they're all, as far as I know, all homeowner oriented associations. So maybe
there's some other idea in mind.
Botchway/ This was mine, Jim, and my thought around it was, you know, how City Council
process works, I mean, we have very strong neighborhood associations that, um,
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participate in some of the public discussion and at times can ... I wouldn't say lead us to,
but um, do a good job as far as, um....helping us get to a particular decision. There's
other neighborhoods throughout our community, cause I spend a lot of time looking at
our own neighborhood association map that don't have the same neighborhood
association, to be blunt, um, you know, I'm thinking about the southeast side of Iowa
City. I mean you have the, um ... you have the, uh... what'd you say?
Cole/ The neighborhood center or the other one?
Botchway/ No I'm not talking about the neighborhood center. You have the, uh...
Mims/ Grant Wood?
Botchway/ Grant Wood... association but ... it's not all encompassing of that entire neighborhood,
and because of that, or I shouldn't say because of that. My theory is that for that fact
there's a lot of. ... there's a ... there's a lack of a voice at times when we're having, um
discussions at City Council level, and so that's why I was talking about helping to
develop strategies, um, around those particular things. Um, and it kind of feeds
in ... maybe it's in the wrong place. I mean it kind of feeds into the ... enhanced community
engagement as well, but when you have that you don't necessarily have to do, um ... um, as
much community engagement as, uh, you might have to if you had maybe a central
neighborhood association that you could have that discussion with it, in that particular
area. And so it was me really trying to figure out how we can do a better job, as far as,
well I guess it was engaging the community in a different way, especially around
neighborhood associations because I've seen them be so strong.
Throgmorton/ I think the point is an important one, Kingsley, and I would support it in the sense
that you've just articulated, uh, we've had several conversations over the past year or two,
I can't remember exactly, with regard to certain neighborhoods and, um ... uh, objections
from some property owners about various kinds of activity, behavior on the part of
young, uh, young people, often people of color, uh, and ... and yet ... the residents who are
people of color are never part of that process.
Botchway/ Right!
Throgmorton/ So I ... I think we do need to find some way to help our neighborhood
associations ... hmm, I don't know how to say it! Be more open to including, or include
the ... the diverse people who actually live in the neighborhoods. I don't know how to put
it in a way that is, um ... viable. (several talking)
Dickens/ Some people don't want to join!
Botchway/ Right.
Dickens/ That's part of the problem. My neighborhood where I live now, I'm my own
neighborhood association cause there isn't anybody around me (laughter) but I know I
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was ... I lived out on Court Street. I've lived in several different areas and ... lived down by
Mark Twain and ... that was before there was really any neighborhood things, but Court
Street had, at one time, had a fairly... fairly busy, but the kind of...it depends on whose
heading it and how strong they get, and then trying to get people to come is ... it's tough.
Throgmorton/ Maybe we could do some experimentation. (both talking)
Dickens/ ...north side is so strong but you know .... as a model ... you know, it...
Throgmorton/ Well but the north side has its own challenge, because students who rent in the
north side really don't participate in the north side association. Uh, but maybe we could
experiment with various ... uh, neighborhood associations, uh... with regard to various...
actions that could be taken to (both talking)
Dickens/ (mumbled)
Throgmorton/ ...to bring the ... the full diverse population into the... association's activities.
(several talking)
Dilkes/ ...diversify the membership of neighborhood associations.
Thomas/ It kind of in my view...
Cole/ Perfect!
Throgmorton/ Did you get that, Simon? Sorry, John.
Thomas/ It ... it runs in tandem with improving the public realm, you know, if we create places...
where members of a community can become acquainted with one another, that's sort of
the first step toward building associations.
Dickens/ And parks are very important.
Taylor/ And the healthy neighborhood. (several talking)
Thomas/ ...places for people to have that first encounter, and then over time the association will
follow.
Throgmorton/ Yeah. It's... actually you know in terms of all that literature I've had to read over
the years, this is absolutely fundamental. That ... that you ... the quality of the public realm
in large part depends on who participates, and in many cases, you can have... fantastic
public spaces, public places that really don't ... aren't open to the diverse populations that
could be using 'em.
Cole/ (both talking) ...the neighborhood centers come into this discussion because they're not
really neighborhood associations, but do we want to say increase effective collaboration
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and cooperation with the neighborhood centers, or something along those lines, or is
that... cause that's different than a neighborhood association. Thinking like Broadway for
example.
Throgmorton/ You know we ... we've kind of already opened up that topic by your suggestion.
Botchway/ Yeah, I mean that's kinda my ... my, I mean I think that falls under that (both talking)
Cole/ Yeah.
Botchway/ That's my point. I think the, you know, the neighborhood center is what it is in and
of itself, but then you know if there was an ability to strengthen, um ... diversify, excuse
me, the membership within that particular neighborhood association.
Dickens/ (mumbled)
Cole/ Yeah. And centers, yeah, I like that.
Throgmorton/ Add the words 'and centers?' (several talking)
Dickens/ ...and maybe they can work together with some of the neighborhood (both talking)
Cole/ Cause I'd really like to have the listening posts out at some of the neighborhood centers.
Throgmorton/ Yeah. Yeah. We, well me too. Uh... are we good to go with that? (several
talking) (noises in background) I think we can turn to, uh, the... the... what's... what's this
one titled? (several talking) Solid financial foundation. Susan, I bet you have an idea
for this!
Mims/ I have a lot of ideas for this! Um ... continue building our emergency fund. I'll just throw
a few out and you guys can react to 'em. Um, maintain... healthy fund balances.
Throgmorton/ You mean as a ... as in the enterprise funds or...
Mims/ Anything that has a fund balance. Be attentive to Moody's, uh ... evaluation process.
Dickens/ Criteria.
Mims/ Criteria, yeah. Thank you.
Throgmorton/ What would that entail in terms of our ac ... in terms of being attentive to it?
Mims/ Well I think for ... it really is directing staff, which I'm sure they're already doing, but to
me it puts it kind of on that front burner of making sure that we are paying attention to,
cause Moody's has changed their evaluation criteria. That's why a number of cities in the
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state of Iowa lost their triple-A bond rating over the last year or two, correct, Geoff and
Dennis?
Fruin/ That's correct, yes.
Mims/ Okay. And so if...they were to make additional changes, um, or ... or indicate that they
might be making changes, to make sure that we are paying attention to that so that we can
react, I mean that ... some of the stuff that Dennis and Tom and Geoff (mumbled) put
together in terms of...we're ... we're not a typical triple-A bond rated city. Um, but the way
we've managed to maintain that, even though we're not typical is because we've done
some other things, like making sure we're maintaining really health fund balances,
making, you know, starting to build up this emergency fund, um, you know, we already
have policies in place that ... that control enterprise fund money and that was one place
that Coralville had issues with Moody's and made some ordinance changes on their part.
Um, so just making sure that we're attentive to what they're doing so that we don't get
blindsided and lose our triple-A rating, not because we've done anything different, but
because we didn't do something different and they changed the rules on us.
Throgmorton/ Got it! Thanks. So, but the main ... the main point is maintain our triple-A bond
rating.
Mims/ Maintain our triple-A bond rating...
Throgmorton/ And be attentive to ... right?
Mims/ Yep! So yeah, we could combine those as one (mumbled) Um ... uh... I think, uh... another
one that I would put as part of that is, and again, a lot of this is ... is really staff and staff
informing us through their knowledge and research, but ... um, continually updating...
continually updating projections on impact of property tax reform. We ... Tom talks about
having a soft landing. Okay? You know, at some point if...the State tops..stops doing
backfill, um, as the ... as the multi -family valuation continues to go down until it hits the
residential rollback. You know, all of those things, um, you know, we've got the
maximum 3% growth based on ag land, etc. Um, we want to make sure that when some
of these things come together at the same time, and all of a sudden we have a significant
drop in property tax revenue, that we're prepared ... to do that soft landing. So, by
continually monitoring those impacts, we can be ... continually adjusting what we're doing
to prepare for that.
Dickens/ As Dennis and Tom both said when we had our ... first meeting that they're coming
pretty close to the projections...
Mims/ Yep!
Dickens/ ...dollar -wise is fairly close to where you projected it was going to be, so...
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Mims/ ...$50 -plus million over 10 years. Huge! Um, I think, uh... at least trying to continue to
reduce our property tax level. (several talking) Uh, we're way above ... our neighbors,
um .... and it's, Tom did a great job the other day of talking about, you know, affordability
is not just the cost of buying a house or just the rent on the house. Um, it's ... it's the
property tax, which if you own it you obviously pay. If you rent it's gettin' figured into
your rent, because the property owner has to pay it. It's ... what are they paying for water,
what are they paying for sewer, etc. So, I think that's really important, again, because I
think we're going to hit a point where we're going to be forced to start raising that levy
when all of the impacts of property tax reform take place. We're probably going to have
no choice but to raise that levy. So in the meantime if we can continue to bring it
gradually down like we are now, it just gives us a little more cushion, uh...
Dickens/ ...the growth isn't going to be able to match it.
Mims/ No, the growth... unless we can ... just really start gettin' somebody in the industrial park
and getting Moss property developed and Riverfront Crossings going crazy, our tax
revenues are going to go down, folks. I mean ... (mumbled) I shouldn't say down. They're
not going to grow the way they were.
Throgmorton/ I ... I'd like to ask Dennis, uh, one question, uh, having to do with that. Uh, how
much property tax revenue is generated by a one -cent change, or increase in our current
millwright?
Andrew/ It's like $33,000, I think.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, I was trying to remember and I couldn't remember. Okay. Good. That'd be
kind of a ... it's a rule of thumb that's kinda helpful to have in mind. Thank you, Dennis.
Did you have anything else you wanted to...
Mims/ Um ... not off the top of my head. (laughter)
Throgmorton/ Okay, uh, well, how bout that first one, folks, uh... continue building the
emergency fund.
Botchway/ Let me state this. I'm actually okay with all the ... so I guess if there's anything that
people might be interested in not doing (mumbled)
Cole/ I'm fine with all of 'em. Uh... one quick point related to what Susan had said and this just is
a feasibility issue for staff, for the Moody's principles, is it possible in, um, reports that
come to us with the budget to actually identify the principle and say here's how we're
applying to it or is that too granular a level of detail? Um, you know cause presumably
there's a guide, um ... and you implicitly do that, but I think in terms of our own internal
review, to the extent it's feasible, is that possible? (unable to hear response) Yeah,
essentially we (unable to hear response) Okay.
Bockenstedt/ (unable to hear)
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Throgmorton/ We can't hear...
Fruin/ Dennis, can you come up to a microphone?
Bockenstedt/ (laughter and several talking) Yeah, Moody's has a scorecard mechanism, and
what we've been workin' towards is ... with our financial policies, our debt policies, has
been tailoring them around their scorecard. So when we looked at some of the tweaks in
our fund balance levels, uh, some of the ... the debt levels and debt targets we've set in the
debt management policy, it ... it's targeting what's ... what Moody's is measuring. So we've
already been kind of.....kind of lookin' at that and ... and movin' in that direction. Because
they ... they have more specific measures than they've used in the past.
Cole/ Okay.
Markus/ And so the .... the scorecard, post 2008, has been, um ... become more conservative
because of what happened during 2008, and um ... they ... they put a lot of emphasis on
municipals, and so as a result of that score carding change, there were some declines.
There's certain drops in those, but ... at some point we can just give 'em a copy of the score
card, ploc... plop it in the Information Packet and let'em see it.
Bockenstedt/ You know it's...
Cole/ I mean if it's too technical (both talking)
Bockenstedt/ Well ... (both talking)
Cole/ ...generalities that we could then (both talking)
Bockenstedt/ They have some statis... yeah, they have some statistical measures that they apply
and ... it ... they don't give you a nice, neat... scorecard like you would get maybe at school.
Cole/ Yeah, okay.
Bockenstedt/ And last time I think it was more informal what they gave us. It was kind of here's
what your ... some of your numbers came in at.
Cole/ Okay. (both talking)
Bockenstedt/ I mean we can supply them what they give us, but it's not as ... as standardized as a
format as you would hope to see I guess.
Dickens/ (mumbled)
Cole/ Yeah, exactly.
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Markus/ Well one big thing that changed, for example, was unfunded accrued liabilities on
pensions, and they started to pay a lot more attention to that. Um, you know, for years
they didn't even evaluate, um, that unfunded accrued liability, which was amazing not to
be showing up in that direction. So...
Bockenstedt/ Yeah, and some of those.... grades like that, they grade on a statewide basis. So,
we can't control all of of the variables, so if the State sets pension levels, it may grade say
Illinois as a'D' or a'D-'. They may grade Iowa as a ... a B or a C or something like that.
So they ... they grade some of those things ... on a ... on a much larger level and some at a
much granular level, um, and like one that they evaluated is your managerial policies and
principles, managerial, uh, how you manage your finances. And so anything you do to
demonstrate that you're being attentive to your finances, but those are more of a
subjective kind of a measurement.
Cole/ Okay.
Bockenstedt/ So...
Cole/ Thank you. (mumbled)
Throgmorton/ Okay, um ... I ... I don't have any objection to any of these, uh... though I'm conscious
a potential conflict between goals. No big surprise there. So we'll see how that plays out.
Well, Pauline, John, did ... are you okay with these?
Thomas/ Guess my only question would be, um, and I ... um, doesn't talk about it on those bullet
points, but the 1%, uh, local option sales tax. Is that something that ... you would put
under this category?
Markus/ (several talking) What I would always encourage you to list that as is alternative
sources of revenue. I wouldn't (several talking)
Throgmorton/ That should be up there.
Markus/ But I think that that ... you do not want to focus from a standpoint of having negotiate.
You want to keep all your options open, and there's other revenue sources that you could
select that you, you know, would avoid using the local option sales (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Yeah, the franchise tax I guess, right? Yeah.
Thomas/ Well that's an interesting category then to have as a sort of (both talking)
Markus/ An alternative. Yeah.
Andrew/ And there's a bullet point in Jeff Schott's report to that effect. Is that language suitable
to what you're looking for? (several talking) Okay. (several talking) (noises in
background)
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Throgmorton/ Okay, we have three items left and they're n ... they're not trivial items. So ... how's
everybody doin'?
Cole/ I hate to say it. I actually have to go pretty soon. Um....
Throgmorton/ Can we do ... can we do one more of 'em?
Cole/ We can do one more, yes. But the ... the Council too could continue on without me. I don't
want to be a...
Throgmorton/ All right. So let's play it by ear. Maybe we'll do that. Okay so the next one, uh, if
I understand correctly is, urn ... enhanced community engagement and inter -governmental
relations. Yeah, okay, it's over there. Uh, but Jeff actually in his report changes that
when he gets to the detail and it becomes communications and marketing.
Fruin/ I think that's just a carry-over from last year's strategic plan that didn't get caught.
We'll ... we'll fix that.
Throgmorton/ Yeah. So I'll read what appears, uh, in Jeffs, Jeff Scott's report. First, meet
regularly with the ... the School District, uh, Board of Supervisors, and local units of
government to discuss policy issues of mutual concern. Uh, well I ... I (laughs) that's
gonna happen. I ... I don't know that that needs to be a strategic (several talking)
Dickens/ It's already being done, but it can be done more ... without having (mumbled)
Throgmorton/ What ... what I would say is, uh, be ... you know, two or three months ago I was ... I
would have said we should consider institutional innovations, that ... that would improve
our, um ... connections with these other governmental units, but Tom has convinced me
that we can't take on too much (laughter) so I've already advocated a couple Council
committees and dah-dah-dah-de-dah, so ... so I think, uh, we should do this on an informal
basis instead of having it be part of the strategic plan.
Botchway/ So take that out.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, I say take it out.
Taylor/ Just on an individual basis encouraging people to...
Throgmorton/ Yeah and ... you know, the (both talking)
Taylor/ ...or Coralville city council meetings or....
Throgmorton/ ...or Mayor Pro Tem and..and others will be involved in all sorts of conversations.
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Markus/ And there's other... there's other regularly scheduled activities that bring you into contact
with them — the MPO, the joint meeting schedule, the conference board — you know,
we're not .... we don't doubt that there's other ways that you could, you know, that those
aren't the only things that get discussed at those meetings; brings you into contact with
'em. You'll be surprised how many interactions you have with 'em. The County's kind
of...um, always kind of advocated for some regular, uh, annual meeting I think between
the County Board of Supervisors and ... and uh, you know ... my ... some of what I see, I
think we ... you know, we bring those meetings together and I see so little, urn ... being
accomplished because I think everybody's trying to be ... trying to avoid the real issues
most of the time (laughs) so...
Throgmorton/ That's what I had in mind, you know (both talking)
Dickens/ Didn't we have that legislative, you know (coughing, difficult to hear speaker)
representatives too that (mumbled) I think we did it one morning, that we met with the
County Board of Supervisors and (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Yeah, we haven't done that for a year or so, have we?
Markus/ We can do that. Yeah. What...
Dickens/ I think I got a lot more out of that, just seeing what our representatives were...
Markus/ The reason we didn't do it that way, um (laughs) quite frankly is we took each
individual legislator and met with them, because what we were finding out when we took
the whole County delegation was that ... some have different interests in terms of Iowa
City and neighboring jurisdictions and what your legislative agenda was. And so we sat
down with them individually, and quite frankly that worked a lot better than bringing
them all together. And I think we could stress the legislative points that we were trying
to get across to the individuals so that we didn't have a ... inherent conflict with other
issues that we were dealing with. It was a strategic way of dealing with them.
Throgmorton/ Right. Okay. Let's move on to the second, uh, sub -heading or whatever, uh,
support the District, School District's bond referendum efforts in 2017. Do we know
exactly what will appear in that bond referendum?
Markus/ Well (both talking)
Throgmorton/ I guess we don't, do we.
Markus/ Well you...it...it was pretty well laid out, you know, what was going in there, what do
they call it? Their...
Mims/ The master plan (several talking)
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Markus/ Facilities... it all lays out what's going to be part of the original projects and then what's
going to be subject to bonds, so you have that but ... quite frankly the way the ... the School
Board's kinda.... going through all those issues, you know, they may drop a project that
you want to support, so I wouldn't ... you know, I wouldn't necessarily commit to doing
that ... without evaluating that to begin with to see what they're gonna actually go with,
and it's going to be ... I ... I gotta tell ya, it's gonna be dependent on their financial capacity
and that has been a real struggle between the State and the school districts across the
state.
Cole/ No, I think that's going to be a big issue because of course the other elephant in the room
is ... is the future of Hoover. Um, there's three members on the School Board that are
adamantly opposed to closing it. Um ... we do have to give due deference to their role in
that decision, um, but I think we have to be cautious before we commit either way, um, to
that particular process. So, um, I think for now, um...
Markus/ You could just say weigh in.
Cole/ ...weigh in, yeah. Evaluate.
Markus/ ...at the time the details of that referendum are known.
Throgmorton/ Yeah (several talking) definitely some language right there. It's a big deal, so
(both talking)
Cole/ (mumbled) big issue.
Throgmorton/ Okay, can we move to the third sub -heading. All right, uh, we've already acted on
this.
Cole/Yeah.
Throgmorton/ So we don't ... we don't even need to (both talking)
Cole/ We're done!
Markus/ Next week you'll be televised.
Throgmorton/ Yeah.
Botchway/ Yeah, one thing I wanted to add (both talking)
Markus/ ...and we'll have make-up a half hour before the meeting so just come in (several talking
and laughing)
Botchway/ Um ... develop ways to remain relevant and innovative with the community, or with
our communication with the community.
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Andrew/ Sorry, could you repeat that?
Botchway/ Develop ways to remain relevant and innovative with our communication, uh, with
the community. It's a lot of (mumbled) bear with me.
Dickens/ (mumbled)
Botchway/ That's as far as City Council's concerned and so I know we've talked about our ... I've
heard over the ... um, from a campaign standpoint, um, getting out in the community in
different ways, um, whether or not having City Council sessions in the community. I'm
not necessarily.... married to any particular proposal. I'm just stating, you know, what
was kind of, uh, brought up from a (mumbled) standpoint back and forth, um, but also
when I talk about being innovative, I'm thinking about ... yeah, different meetings. You
know I mean I think Geoff has done a good job as far as, um, you know promoting the
new web site, some of the other things that have happened, and I just want to make sure
that ... that we continue in that way, um, you know, looking at what folks have done, um,
in various jurisdictions to, you know, do a better job as far as community engagement.
Cole/ I agree (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Yeah, I completely agree. (several talking) Yeah. Okay, we're good with that.
I ... I ... I'd like to suggest, uh, I have three suggestions under this general topic. So, one has
to do with those temporary committees. I'm just (mumbled) the suggestion is to create
two new temporary City Council committees.
Markus/ Ad hoc.
Throgmorton/ Ad hoc committees, but City Council ones with three members each, uh, one of
which would focus on sustainable built environment. The other which would focus on
social justice and racial equity. So, did I say consider? I should have said consider
creating, cause I ... certainly heard what Susan said earlier. I was ... we would have to
workshop ... (both talking)
Mims/ I was ready to disagree with you (laughter) Wait a minute, when were we gonna talk
about this? (laughs)
Markus/ (mumbled) Jim. Talk to me about the Manager's roundtable and then talk to me about
the Human Rights Commission and how you see these two ... how those all fit together
with this.
Throgmorton/ Good question and in a work session we would probe that. Right? So I ... I sat in
on my first roundtable...
Markus/ Right.
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Throgmorton/ ...last week...
Markus/ That's why I had you (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Yeah, it was really good and interesting to sit in on. Maybe what would be good
is to have three Council Members sit in on that.
Markus/ Think it would be a great idea. We'd ... we'd love to have you in there. That's okay!
Throgmorton/ And there are ... there, are there already members of the Human Relations
Committee .... Commission?
Markus/ Yeah.
Throgmorton/ ...in it?
Markus/ They're invited to attend.
Throgmorton/ I know Stefanie is the Equity Coordinator (both talking)
Botchway/ Actually I have a different take but ... you know ... since we're considering it (mumbled)
Throgmorton/ Yeah so ... I ... I .... we would have to work....work session this particular (both
talking)
Markus/ I just, you know, the potential when you have multiple committees is to ... is to overlap,
you know, miss cues, left hand doesn't know what the right hand's doing and I prefer if
you're going to do those things, let's get the people in the room and have those
discussions. Um ... they've done a lot in terms of talking about different issues, what we
need to do. I think it'd be good to have a connection back to the City Council. I don't
have a problem with that.
Throgmorton/ Are we okay with the language that's up there right now? Okay the second
proposal I have is...
Markus/ You could call it the Mayor's roundtable too. Be all right with me.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, good! (laughter) Could ... could call it Col. Sanders (several talking and
laughing)
Markus/ Naw, I don't think you wanna say that!
Throgmorton/ No! Only kidding. So, all right, the next one forget because I already decided not
to do that. Um, but all right so the ... the other one I would strongly encourage is that we
should significantly improve the Council's and the staff s ability to discuss TIF, the
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budget, and the CIP with diverse publics. I think we have a huge communications...
comprehension kind of challenge.
Markus/ And I think the first step for that would be a, uh, a conversation with the EDC and
flushing out the types of information that maybe .... we would try to put together and
the ... uh, mediums that we would use to communicate that information.
Botchway/ Who's on the EDC again?
Markus/ Rockne, Jim, and Susan.
Botchway/ Right, and so there's no like other business folk or other folks that are a part of that
...particular group?
Mims/ No. Council committee.
Markus/ It's a Council committee.
Thomas/ But staff, uh (both talking)
Markus/ But we regularly have business attendees and uh, the Quarter Business Journal is a
regular, you know, visitor and watches what we're doin', and...
Mims/ Chamber, Downtown District are frequently there.
Markus/ Yeah, Nancy or Rebecca are usually there and so we have pretty good ... pretty good
attendance.
Throgmorton/ (several taking) So I'm done... what.... what...
Mims/ I mean I get where you're coming from, Jim. I ... I guess where I sit on that one in
particular is ... and I don't know if we're going to have a chance to kind of go back through
these when we get this all done. Again, I get concerned that we've ... we're starting to gets
lists here that... either we need to increase our staff size or ... add about two meetings a
month to our workload in terms of getting these things done and I also think ... I'm not sure
what you mean there by diverse populations. Often times when we're talking diverse
populations, we're talking, urn ... you know, getting away from the business community, so
to speak, and you're talking maybe low income populations. Maybe you're talking,
uh... people of color, etc., and you know quite frankly I guess depending on what it is
your... populations you're really talking about, how many... people, uh, care, have the
time, have the interest, urn ... or want to take that, I mean ... we've had a couple budget
meetings. We've not had a single person here. Um...
Botchway/ Well wait a minute. Charlie was here. (laughter)
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Mims/ Okay, I'm sorry! Charlie's back there. You don't count, Doug, you're staff (laughter) um,
I know, Rebecca's here (laughter) but I, you know I'm talking we don't get general public.
We never have in the six years I've been on the Council, um ... I mean, philosophically I
totally agree with you, but sometimes it's like banging your head against a wall. What...
Cole/ But hasn't that been part of the problem, I mean, at least from ... you know, I think as
(mumbled) gotten past the election, but as I see the election, I think a lot of people were
surprised by the outcome and because there are a lot of things start going really well, but
I think the reason why were people that were surprised is because we didn't have those
mechanisms in place. So it's not that (mumbled) so I think that this is along those lines a
very effective way for us to meet routinely, urn .... while we're respecting the core of the
City Charter in terms of how we effectively do that would be my thought process. So I
support Jim's efforts to do that. I ... sort of the first impression too, it's like, ah geez, is this
going to be another committee, but I do think it's important that we make this routine.
Everyone else knows what's going on. So that then we have effective partnership and
collaboration with ... with Tom. So...
Throgmorton Just to be clear on this particular topic significantly improve, uh (both talking) that
has nothing to do...
Cole/ But it gets to diverse populations, which was related to (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ...one key part of this is ... is, uh, the fact that different people learn in different
ways. So some people are visual learners, some people are ... you know, intellectual or
contextual learners, I mean there's a whole... some are graphic learners, some are math, all
right, so there's a whole bunch of ways to ... engage other people, and I think we really
need to explore those possibilities and ... I don't ... I don't think we're talkin' a huge, uh,
burdensome kind of staff effort here but I ... I ... I strongly believe it's a very important,
significant issue.
Mims/ I think what it comes down to is people care what their water rate is. They care what their
sewer rate is. They care what their tax rate is. I ... I don't think you're gonna find many
people that have the interest in taking the time, um ... and so my only concern is about the
time and effort, and what, I mean ... if somebody wants to talk about it, I'd be happy to
explain it and talk whatever, but I ... I don't see it rising to the level, uh, of a strategic plan
issue.
Throgmorton/ How bout the rest of you? I think I've heard Rockne. Terry, Kingsley?
Botchway/ I would ... I would disagree, you know, simply from the fact ... simply from the
standpoint of, you know, I think it's an opportunity. I see where you're going and ... and I
get the, you know, kind of smacks of, you know, people should show up, um, kind of
argument that comes up and ... I just have a fundamental disagreement with that argument
because I totally, you know, respect an individual's, you know ... right to ... pay attention or
weigh in whenever they're gonna weigh in and I also don't necessarily speaks to maybe,
you know, diverse populations outside of the business community, because I know that,
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you know, not necessarily even recently there's been a lot of folks that, um, from the
business community standpoint have been very interested in, you know, the financial
issues in relation to, um, what we've been doing on City Council, and you know me
explaining it is one way. Um, providing a more detailed analysis, when I say detailed I'm
not talking about going into, you know, the really, really detailed things but maybe
focusing on some of the ... the highlights that we get at staff level is an important thing to
do. And you know I ... I just ... I see it as an opportunity, and again, I don't
necessarily... maybe after we assess it, it's something that doesn't work, um, but .... it
could ... it could mean a lot for some folks. I mean it could mean a lot for some folks to
really talk about some things. I mean as we're talking about the property tax reduction,
there's a lot of people have no idea about it. I mean granted it's been in the paper. It's
been in ... we've frequently talked about the ... the necessity for having some discussions
around it, and maybe we need to go about this a different way and you know ... bring up or
try to figure out a different way to kind of engage the community, especially when it
comes to financial issues because if we don't do it now, what I feel .... feel is gonna
happen is...um, if that, you know, what is it? Are we 10 years out? (mumbled) roll back,
10 years out? When that... whenever that occurs, um, we're gonna be put kinda to task,
and I guess we, whatever the Council might be at the time (mumbled) to task from the
standpoint of well we're gonna have to cut this or we're gonna have to cut that, and I feel
like the community will have no knowledge from the standpoint of this was a consistent
theme for the past 10 years. I mean, I know that you're weighing in now cause obviously
affecting a City service but I think it's a conversation that we can really incorporate the
community ahead of time to have a better discussion.
Dickens/ Think it's a great theory, but ... I'm kind of on Susan's line that ... I think we're
overestimating how many people really care. And I ... I hate to be a cynic like that,
but ... we've seen elections all over the country, not just Iowa City, that have continually
dropped. People aren't interested enough to vote. I mean there's a lot of passionate
people out there but they don't care to vote. They don't come to meetings on a regular
basis. I ... I mean in theory I think it would be wonderful to get all these things happening,
but .... I just don't see it. So I guess that's ... trying to be brutally honest (laughter)
Taylor/ I think when people start to get concerned and interested... if it affects them, if it's
something that affects them then they're ... then the red flags go up and they're like what's
the Council doing with our tax monies, etc., etc. Um, and ... and that may avert that if...if,
uh, somehow we were more open, maybe that's what you're meaning, more open about
financial. We don't have to disclose private little details but uh a lot of people about the
triple-A rating or the Moody's, uh, I know I didn't really. I needed to learn a lot about
that and they need to know that, and they need to know that's what's guiding us with a lot
of these things in our budget and what we spend and what we do. So I think it's
important.
Thomas/ I'm having thoughts about how could we make it entertaining? You know (several
talking and laughing)
Throgmorton/ Sure!
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Thomas/ You know ... Robert Reich has done some wonderful pieces on, um ... you know,
discussions of economic issues, uh, that are fun to watch. You know, how can we make
talking about finances fun? (laughs)
Taylor/ He packed the Englert, you know, he ... people were interested in that.
Thomas/ I'd like to leave it up there, just because I think it's worth trying to imagine how we
could better communicate these issues.
Throgmorton/ Okay, sounds like we've decided that. Hmm, is there anything else that anybody
wants to get under this category?
Markus/ Jim, I have a suggestion.
Throgmorton/ Yeah?
Markus/ Why don't you end the meeting at this point, but before you do, select the time you're
going to meet next week to continue this discussion, and ... and you remember you gotta
get back into budget then after that. (noises in background)
Throgmorton/ So we have two more categories to go — sustainability and ... social justice, racial
equity. Very important and we gotta, uh, focus on'em. So ... what's possible for next
week? We have a meeting Tuesday night, regular meeting. Uh, could we meet on next
Thursday night?
Mims/ I can.
Throgmorton/ You say I can? (several talking)
Cole/ Anyone have an iPhone charger?
Mims/ Uh, yeah.
Throgmorton/ So .... and as ... as Tom just said ... we will be able to get through these next two
topics and then focus on the budgetary implications, right?
Karr/ You have a ... you have an invitation to an event next, um ... uh, ribbon cutting next
Thursday.
Mims/ What time is that?
Karr/ 4:00 P.M.
Throgmorton/ That's the ... (several talking)
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget
work session of January 14, 2016.
Page 69
Karr/ Pauline said we already had something scheduled. I think it was an event.
Taylor/ That must be what (both talking)
Karr/ There's a Planning and Zoning meeting next Thursday.
Throgmorton/ And they would have to be in here?
Karr/ I don't know. I'll work something out. I'll have to see.
Throgmorton/ Um, this is more important than a ribbon cutting.
Karr/ No, I was just responding to (several talking)
Throgmorton/ Yeah. So ... Thursday night, 5:00. Does that work for you, Pauline? Are you just
checkin'? John, does that work for you?
Thomas/ ...didn't bring my calendar but I think it does.
Throgmorton/ Kingsley?
Botchway/ I'm good. Terry?
Dickens/ (several talking) I don't think there's any (several talking)
Karr/ 21 St is on the table.
Throgmorton/ Right. (several talking)
Cole/ Yeah, I think that works.
Karr/ 5:00 P.M. Thursday the 21St works.
Throgmorton/ We got five so far. Pauline did you say (both talking) You're okay? Sounds to
me like all seven of us can meet. Rockne, did you (both talking) Okay. 5:00 P.M.
Thursday the 21 st we meet again, and we'll focus on the last two items and the budgetary
implications.
Karr/ And I'll send a confirmation out tomorrow just so you all have an opportunity to check the
schedule again before we...
Throgmorton/ Yeah, okay, excellent. Oh boy! Thank you to everybody. Simon, great job, uh,
helpin' us with the tear -off sheets. Tom, Geoff, thank you so much. Geoff, uh, good luck
with the other thing. Thanks to everybody out in the audience. Good grief! What
durable character you are! (laughter) Okay, we're done!
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget
work session of January 14, 2016.