HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-04-05 TranscriptionPage 1
Council Present: Botchway, Cole, Dickens, Mims, Taylor, Thomas, Throgmorton
Staff Present: Fruin, Dilkes, O'Brien, Karr, Andrew, Ralston, Boothroy, Hightshoe,
Havel, Rackis, Laverman, Kopping, Yapp, Grier, Kelsay, Bockenstedt,
Knoche
Others Present: Neal, Simpson (UISG)
Agenda Items•
ITEM 4f(5) Chelsea Bacon; Hannah Russell; Michael Hector; Stephanie Chin: Rose
Oaks [See staff memo in Information Packet]
Throgmorton/ All right, well let's begin our work session for the night of April the 5'h, 2016.
Agenda items. So ... I thought because of the significance of the topic, we might begin by
addressing Rose Oaks, mainly because there are letters in the agenda packet, uh,
concerning it, and uh, Geoff, uh, in the most recent Information Packet, you have a
memo, as well, about it. I thought maybe there would be, uh, more people here right at
this moment, uh, interested in Rose Oaks, uh, but I guess for the record I want to say that,
uh....that, uh, City government is taking the situation, uh, involving Rose Oaks and its
residents very seriously. Uh, City staff have been tracking the situation pretty
aggressively, uh... making connections, pursuing possibilities and so on. So ... I thought it
would be wise at this moment to give Geoff a chance to summarize what, uh, appears in,
uh... the, uh... the ... the memo that's in our Information Packet and ... provide us with an
update, as well, because I know there's additional information that could be added. So...
could you take a shot at it?
Fruin/ Yeah, sure! Um, so I wasn't going to walk through the ... the memo point by point, um, we
can certainly go through that, uh... with you, but this situation has been very fluid. Um,
you know, information is coming in, it's changing, um, as the management group has
more conversations with tenants. So, what we hoped to do today was just provide you an
update from what you received on Thursday. Um, a couple of, uh, items before I have
Doug Boothroy come up and ... and ... and uh, give you the update. Um, one, I'd like to say
the management group has been very responsive, uh, to our requests for information.
Um, we've found that they've been, um ... um ... quick to get us the information that ... that
we ask for and I think that they've, uh, tried to be a ... accommodating. It ... it may not, uh,
it may not meet what some people feel is needed in this situation, given the circumstances
out there, but ... frankly they're doing, um, more than they're legally required to do, and I
think they're doing more than a lot of, urn ... uh, corporations would do in these
circumstances. So again, tonight we're gonna provide you with the latest information that
we have on the ... on the numbers, uh, out there, um, how many people are out there, how
many, um, units are vacant and ... and so forth. Also want to talk about our discretion with
approvals that's come up in a couple of emails and a couple of you have asked me about
that. Uh, Eleanor's going to give you an overview of, uh, the ... the type of discretion that
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 2
we have, um, and ... and what we don't have, um, given the site plan approval, uh, that's in
front of us, and then, uh, we hinted at, in the memo, um, some coordination with local
service providers to assist the tenants out there and we have some more details for you,
uh, this evening. So, with that I'll turn it over to Doug for the update!
Boothroy/ Thanks! Uh, Doug Boothroy, Director of Neighborhood and Development Services.
Uh, let's start with, um ... where we are with the applications for, uh, site plan, uh,
approval and, um ... uh... they have filed an application, uh, for site plan approval, uh,
under the City code. Uh, the site plan approval process is a process by which, uh, we
look at, uh, a redevelopment of a site to ensure that they comply with all of the existing
codes and regulations. So the ... the purpose of the process is to ensure compliance with
existing codes and regulations. Uh... we have, uh, looked at their site plan, uh, a couple
times now and uh, it's currently been sent back to them with a ... a list of, uh, of changes
and things that they need to address, uh, to be fully compliant with City regulations, uh,
and we expect that we're going to be moving that site plan back and forth, as we typically
do with all site plans, over the next two to three weeks. So, uh, the site plan is not, uh,
close to being, uh, ready for approval at this moment in time. Urn ... I think the question
came up about, uh, whether or not the site plan, uh... uh, could be denied, uh, and ... uh, the
process delayed as a result of that. If they, uh, can show full compliance on the site plan,
uh, then the site plan, uh... um, must be approved. Uh... uh, there are processes where, uh,
aggrieved individuals can appeal the building official's, uh, decision, which is, uh... uh,
would be either approval or denial, but in this case could be approval, and, uh, that would
go to the Board of Adjustment, uh, and the Board of Adjustment then would review the
building official's, uh, decision to see whether or not, uh, there was an error,-uh, in the
approval of the site plan, and uh... uh, so that would be the process by which somebody
that's aggrieved could ... could, um, move forward, uh, in that situation. Um ... there was
some question I think in an email that went to you all about whether or not you could
deny, uh, the site plan, uh, based solely on the Comprehensive Plan or part of the ... on the
Comprehensive Plan and we determined that's... that's not, uh, possible, and maybe,
Eleanor, you might want to clarify that (both talking)
Dilkes/ I can give you some more ... details if you want those now.
Throgmorton/ Seems timely!
Dilkes/ Okay. Um ... the ... the site plan review is an administrative process. Um ... ifs a decision
made by the building official. As Doug said, it's a review to ensure that all the existing
codes and regulations are complied with. Um, it must be done in accordance with the
design standards, um, which are included, um ... uh, in ... in, uh.... the site plan review
provisions of the code. There has been a suggestion that ... um .... it can be evaluated in
accordance with the Comprehensive Plan and ... since it is allegedly not in compliance
with the Comprehensive Plan, it can be denied. Uh... that is not the case. Um ... the
provision that was being cited in that particular email was taken from the purpose
provisions of site plan ordinance. Um ... and the intent provisions of the site plan
ordinance. Urn ... which says that, um, one of the factors to be considered is, uh, whether
the site plan is ... or the Comprehensive Plan and the other specific community plans have
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 3
been complied with. However, if you look further in that chapter, Chapter 3 sets forth the
site design plan standards and state that these are the standards that are necessary to fulfill
the intent of the zoning ordinance, the Comprehensive Plan as amended, and other
specific community plans. Um, it ... administrative rules that are ... that are implemented
administratively, one of the tenets of that is they have to be s .... specific and to avoid an
administrator from having, urn ... too much discretion. Um, so it would not, for instance,
be appropriate to give an administrator the authority to grant a site plan because it was or
was not in compliance with the Comprehensive Plan and not have any more indefinite
standards. So the way I read the chapter is that the design standards are what Council, in
adopting the ordinance, has said will assure compliance with the Comprehensive Plan.
Those design standards relate to things like utilities, um ... paving, um ... those kind of
things that are not policy decisions but are rather things that the administrator can look at
and determine whether they have been met. I think the other important thing to ... to talk
about and (clears throat) Doug mentioned this, is that by State law ... the administrator's
decision must be reviewed by the Board of Appeals ... or Board of Adjustment if there is
an appeal. That is not Court ... that is not within Council's, uh, purview. So ... um ... I ... I
don't believe the Council has the authority to deny the site plan, nor would an appeal of
an approval of the site plan come to Council. It would go to the Board of Adjustment.
Boothroy/ Okay (both talking)
Throgmorton/ I'd say it's very helpful, uh, it he ... gives us a sense of what we cannot do. That's
very important. Uh, you're going to talk more about what we have done, right?
Boothroy/ Just ... for your information as well, uh, there has not been an application received for a
demolition permit, and uh, the demolition permit, uh, can be applied for and the property
posted, but it would not be, uh, we would not be able to issue the demolition permit until
the site plan has been approved. Okay? So there's a distinction — they can apply for it;
uh, there's a posting requirement in the code for seven days; uh, they can ... they can go
through that in concert with, uh... uh, the site plan review process, but the permit itself,
uh, would not be issued until after the site plan's been approved. Okay? Everybody got
that?
Throgmorton/ (several talking) Make sure I heard correctly. The ... the demolition permit cannot
be approved until a ... cannot be issued until after the site plan is approved.
Boothroy/ Yes!
Dilkes/ Let me just ... one clarification. That's with respect to the redevelopment.
Boothroy/ Yes!
Dilkes/ ...of the site completely. A demolition permit does not apply to anything that's not the
complete removal of a building or a structure.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 4
Boothroy/ Right. So remodeling, uh... uh, within the building to remove kitchens and ... and walls,
uh... that type of demolition is not controlled by the demolition permit and they
could ... they could proceed with, uh, renovation... of existing buildings, as long as they're
not taking down the building. So there could be some confusion if there were dumpsters
out there and they're rem ... removing (mumbled) building as if that's a demolition. As we
generally think of demolition, but that's not the case. Okay? Make sense? Okay. So,
the, uh, property has been, uh, posted as required by the site plan review ordinance. It
was posted on the 25h of the month and, uh... uh... uh... everything seems to be in order as
far as, uh, that particular process. Um ... any other questions about the site plan or the
demolition permit before I move on to some specific numbers and things?
Throgmorton/ Any questions? Think we're good!
Boothroy/ So ... the, just to. -just I think for context, the, uh... uh... the object of the, uh... this new
development group or this new ownership, uh, is to, uh... uh, completely, uh, either
renovate or build new buildings, uh... on the property that was previously know ... known
as Dolphin Lake Enclave. Uh, they took possession of this, as you know by the memo, in
late February, uh, and they have, uh, been working through our existing processes to put
them in a position where they can, um .... uh, literally touch every part of the project with
new paving, uh, some new buildings, and uh, renovation of, uh, existing buildings, in
order to upgrade these buildings and to deal with some long-standing, uh... uh, issues, uh,
with regard to infrastructure, uh, that they ... that previous owners have struggled with and
the City has struggled with in terms of, uh, code violations and ... and things of that nature.
Um ... historically as I indicated in the memo, you know, we pull the vouchers out of that
particular development in December of 2012 because of management issues, as well as
some site, uh, issues, and so, uh... uh, some of this work that's being done is addressing,
uh, some of the infrastructure issues as well as the condition of the units, um, and
modernizing some of the units. So, everything... my point is that everything on the ... on
the site is going to be touched in some fashion, pavement removed, buildings demolished
or rehabbed, uh, and, uh, during that process, uh, it was ... it's their goal to, uh, move the
tenants off site so that they ... they're not, uh, in a construction area, uh, that could be
dangerous, uh... uh, or difficult to live in. The goal is to have everything ready for
occupancy the fall of 2017. So I think it's a very ambitious plan to get the housing back
on line as quickly as possible, uh... uh... uh, and hopefully they can meet that ... that
particular, uh, deadline. Uh... as you probably know, uh, and I wanted to mention this,
they did send out a letter that ... that, uh... uh.... to encourage, uh, tenants to, uh, seek other
housing by offering an incentive of full security deposit and $500, uh... uh... as a way to
get them to, uh..uh, be moving to a ... a ... not a penalty to leave the, uh, or terminate the
lease early, uh, or to incent them to, uh, leave the, uh... uh, development early, so that the
remodeling, uh, won't be a problem for them or, uh, cause a problem for the developer as
they move forward with the project. Um ... some of the numbers that I would want to
update, uh, for you. Uh... as you know the building... the... the development is a 400 -unit,
uh, building, project I should say, uh, and, uh, there's a total of 100 ... today, there's a total
of 158 units occupied. Uh, some of those numbers changed from the memorandum
because some of the leases that expired in March were extended, so the numbers went
back up. So originally we had 133 in there. When they extended leases, it went back up
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 5
because more people stayed and were not asked to leave. So ... uh, there's been some talk
about the March leases, uh, that, uh, were in place that were expiring and that people
needed more time in order to find housing, uh, as well as, uh, maybe staying to the end of
the school year. Uh... uh, so they've been working to ... to extend a lot of those leases.
Um, they still ... they have, uh, of the 33, they still have 15 living on site as a result of...of,
um, some of those extensions. So they have 158 occupied units, uh, 36 units have given
the management company a definite move -out date, all within 40...45 days. So of the
158, 36 have given a definite move -out date, all within 45 days. Uh... an additional 38
units have indicated they, uh, want to move and are currently looking. Uh, they've
received some negative feedback. Five units have, uh, questioned the move -out and three
have said, uh, that they don't intend to move out. Uh... they have indicated that they do
not, uh, they will honor the leases, uh, they will try to relocate people, uh, in the
development during the remodeling. Urn ... uh, that they don't intend to evict anybody, uh,
unless it is for cause, uh, lack of payment of rent or, uh, other issues that ... that, uh, can
cause people to get evicted from, uh, rental property. Um, any questions about those
numbers?
Dickens/ So they are phasing in ... some of those buildings or ... as they remodel 'em they'll try to
get people in there as quick (both talking)
Boothroy/ Um, some of the buildings are already empty. Uh, and some of it ... some of the
buildings are nearly empty. Uh... some of the, um, one of the buildings that they want to
demolish is already currently empty, which is an apartment building in the center of the
area. Um, the management, um, representative is here tonight and can probably go into
more detail as to where they are with regard to what buildings are still occupied and what
buildings are not occupied, but ... the idea is to phase, uh, the idea is to ... to .... to, uh, try to
get tenants that want to stay to move to other buildings so that they're not, uh, in harm's
way, uh, when they're doing demolition or removing paving or ... or have access issues to
their units because of the construction. Uh, I ... in one of the things that I think that makes
this project, uh, complicated is that those four ... I think it's four buildings that are
apartment buildings, flats if you will, that go down a center, they are on an integrated
system of boilers so they ... they're interconnected with underground, uh, steam lines and
cooling lines, and so ... uh... uh... they're all sort of tied together with all this system, and
when you begin to remove this system, uh, it's hard to keep the other buildings in play
because one building may control, uh, the other building in terms of its, uh, heat and...
and ... and, uh... um, cooling. So, uh, that's a ... that's a complicated part of the site, and
those are ... those particular buildings, uh, over the years, that system was poorly designed
to begin with and it's ... it's been a problem to maintain and keep operational. Uh, it seems
like every year we're dealing with ... the inability to ... to keep the heat on and ... and dealing
with that. It needs to be replaced. It needs to be fixed, and it needs to be removed and a
new system put in, uh, that ... that is reliable. So, that's one of those ... issues that
they ... they just must address and they need to address it before next ... next, you know,
before they move people back in.
Cole/ If I may, the site plan review, as you're going through the site plan review, is there
anything that takes into consideration the human impact on the residents? I mean
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 6
because as we look at this, the concern is ... does our current ordinance require any review
in terms of what the moving plan is, because we have... obviously have nearly 400 people,
or not 400, but 133 units that are ... they're going to be dislocated. So as of right now
there's no, nothing in our ordinance that requires them to plan at all?
Boothroy/ No.
Cole/ Would we have the authority to do that, to change that ordinance prospectively, is that
something for future consideration that we could do, Eleanor, um, in terms of...cause it
seems like to me if we're concerned about the building, the technical building, we should
also do the human impact as well.
Dilkes/ I think there's various ra... ways to address the human impact. I'm not sure that's the most
appropriate one, but you certainly could talk about it.
Cole/ That it would be possible.
Boothroy/ Yeah, I think when... and ... in ... in a situation where, and I think the developer's looking
at it appropriately, uh, obviously they ... they're going to have to have the buildings
vacated when they demo, and we wouldn't ... you know, that just isn't ... they can't do that.
Uh, the remodeling is a little more complicated. They may be able to, uh... remodel some
floors while the other floors are occupied and it wouldn't have an impact, depending on
what they're doing with regard to the remodeling. I'm not sure the scope of that at this
point, but the demolition, uh, you could have to have those ba ... uh, buildings vacated
because you couldn't ... you can't take the building down with people in 'em. So (several
talking)
Dilkes/ Let me ... let me also say with respect to your question, Rockne. Um, what is ... basically
going to govern the rela ... governs the relations... the legal relationship between the tenants
and the owner is the tenant -landlord law. So ... even for instance if there was something in
our site plan approval process, there could be and there was, that said thou must consider
the human impact, and there's a lot of issues there.
Cole/ Yeah.
Dilkes/ The tenant -landlord lease is what governs that relationship ... between the tenant and the
landlord, and if..and if the ... if the lease ends ... the tenant doesn't have a legal right to
continue occupancy of that lease.
Cole/ Oh. But I think especially as it provides ... it pertains to low-income units. I think that's the
concern, is that we essentially have ... uh... potentially have ... what is it ... what's the total
number of units, is it about 400?
Boothroy/ Four hundred, but most of them are empty at this point because they've only got, uh,
158 occupied (both talking) So, um ... less than 50% of the project is currently is currently
oc... or development is currently occupied.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 7
Cole/ And when did we first get indication that this was going to happen in terms of the
remodeling? When did staff learn of that?
Boothroy/ Um ... sometime in, um, March was the first, uh, they ... they submitted a site plan on
March 7`t', so it was slightly... just be ... before the 7'h of March. They came in, uh... uh,
indicated that they had... introduced themselves as the new owners, indicated that they
were interested in ... in, um, moving forward with the redevelopment of the site, and ... uh,
the discussion was about the process, what needed to be done. I think they also met with
engineering about storm water management, um ... uh, they indicated ... as I recall, that they
were going to ... they were not renewing leases and that they were, uh, in the process
of...of, uh... uh, making sure that the tenants were either, you know, moved out of
buildings that they wanted to work on or, uh, would be relocated before, uh, much of the
project started. But we didn't get into details at that point. It was mostly about the
process, the technical requirements and that's a lot of information to go over. So ... um...
Throgmorton/ Doug, I'm ... I missed one of the numbers that you cited. So you said there's 158
currently occupied units, 36 have been given definite move -out (both talking)
Boothroy/ Thirty-six of the occupied ... 36 units have given the management, um, families, uh,
have given the management definite move -out date.
Throgmorton/ What was the ... what was the next number that you mentioned?
Boothroy/ Thirty-eight have indicated a willingness to move, uh, and are currently looking. So
that's a total of, uh... uh, well, we've got about 74 of the 158 units that are still, uh... not
determined. In terms of what's going to happen at this point.
Dickens/ Is there any asbestos issues because of the age of the buildings? Is that going to play
into the (both talking)
Boothroy/ Well, they were built in the mid .... they were built in the 60s. Um, that would
be ... that has to go through the State. The State does the, uh, inves... asbestos enforcement.
Uh, they're notified, uh, they, um, through the demolition permit they get notification
of...of that, and so then, um ... uh, there's that follow up through the State. And there's, uh,
I believe the inspector comes up from Wash... Washington, Iowa comes up, um, at least
that's the one that did the ... has done other projects here in town. So they'll come up and
they'll do a ... take a look at what's on site if there's some questions and then, uh, determine
whether or not it needs to have full ... full abatement. And they may have already done
that assessment — I don't know.
Fruin/ So obviously there's some real, um, short-term challenges here for a number of families in
our community and as we look for ways for the City to get involved, I really think the
focus needs to be on how we can help those families and I ... I don't think the answer lies
within the site plan review process or the building permit process. That's not going to be
an effective way to get help to these families. We have been talking with local service
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 8
providers. I think that ... the local service providers, many of whom are here, um, are
willing and anxious to try to help and have been working hard to try to coordinate
services. As, uh, we alluded to in the memo, we have some funds and ... and we've been
working with them to try to figure out the best way to ... to put those to work to help those
families in need. So, Doug, maybe you can talk about that, uh, what we intend to do.
Boothroy/ We have met ... Tracy Hightshoe's met with, uh, the various service providers in the
community, uh, to talk about this ... this issue. Uh, and the, um ... there's the $15,000 from
Home funds that can be, uh... uh, used, uh, through... through the rapid, uh, housing, uh,
program that I think is ... is coordinated by the Shelter House. The Shelter House has
indicated that, uh... uh, they are willing to be the contact or the point on this. Uh, I think
that the .... my understanding is that the landlord is very interested in having, uh, the
Shelter House, the Crisis Center, or others on site, uh, to, uh, meet with tenants, uh, to
help them. Uh, I think that, uh, the money that we're looking at is ... is income -targeted.
We don't have any idea, uh, what the numbers of low-income families are out there. Uh,
so we don't know, uh... uh, you know, how much we need, but we will assess that as we
go forward. Uh... uh, I think there is a ... a need for, uh, communication. We've ... we've
identified, uh, an additional translator that can help. Um ... uh, the whole goal here is to
use our existing service provider network that are familiar with the community, familiar
with what is available, uh, and to help the landlord work through this, uh, as it appears in
the ... that the landlord is willing to extend leases, so the ... so that the families can stay in
place at least through the school year. I don't know if they'll go beyond that. Uh... so I...I
think we're putting together, uh, a process, uh, and a ... and a ... a net that can help, uh, folks
out there, uh, with their decision making. Um, I understand that ... that the, uh, the
developers also use ... letting tenants use their truck to ... to move their things. Um, so I
think there's... there's a spirit of cooperation that ... that, between the service providers, uh,
willing to step up, the landlord willing to work with them, and to try to, uh, make this, uh,
work for the folks that are confused and don't quite know, uh, what their options are.
Um ... uh, there is a need for I think just, uh, people to help people, uh, go to, uh... uh, sites
to ... to see if they can get apartments, so it's just.. just transportation needs to get to, uh,
places to look for apartments as much as, uh, there might be a need for, um, money. So I
think it's ... it's, there's a whole basket of needs out there that ... that I think that, uh, we're
looking at and I'm very encouraged, um, by the, uh, support that we're getting, uh, from
these folks, uh, to help out, so they're here tonight if you have any questions, um ... uh, as
well as the developer's here tonight in case you have any questions about that, but ... you
know, it's kind of a process that evolves as we get more .... more involved with it, we get
more information, uh, and we're bringing together, uh, more support as that happens.
Botchway/ Doug, my biggest question is the overall timeline.
Boothroy/ You need to speak up, I'm sorry!
Botchway/ My biggest question ... oops! That's why it's not on! (noises on mic) My biggest
question is the overall timeline, and so we've talked about maybe the number of residents
and you know who's been contacted or who's given contact to the, um, developer or the,
uh, owner, but ... I ... I guess my question is is where is that from a lease standpoint? Do we
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 9
have that information? So, for example, we're in April now, so some of the residents
were able to extend their leases, um, maybe to a month-to-month standpoint...
Boothroy/ Uh huh!
Botchway/ ...moving forward, but what about the individuals from April, May, and then
ultimately in June, and the reason why I ask that is because, you know, as we talk about
families and it says ... you know, I think you said it appears that, you know, landlord
intends to extend, you know, leases for families throughout the school year. I mean, I
want to make sure that information was, you know (both talking)
Boothroy/ Yeah, I think you could ask ... (mumbled) you know if Jim's okay you could ask the
developer directly about that ... that particular question. I don't ... I can't really speak for
them. What I can tell you is that ... because they didn't take ownership until February 26t',
the ... the previous, uh... uh, landlord was still renewing leases, uh... you know ... late
into ... into the ... into this year and so they have leases that ... that don't expire until, uh,
2017.
Botchway/ Okay.
Boothroy/ Uh, only because they didn't own it, and so now we're going through a transition
period, and I think it ... I think they've done the appropriate thing where they had some of
these leases that were from the previous owner expiring in March, giving more time for
people to ... to look because it's relatively short notice. So ... uh... you know, I ... I think that's
a question for ... for the developer, to ask about, you know, what's their flexibility in terms
of extending those leases. All I can say is that they have done it already in some
situations, uh.... I don't know about going forward in ... into June, July, and that kind of
thing.
Cole/ What kind of capacity does Shelter House have in terms of placing this number of units?
Boothroy/ Well, I think you'd have to ask Chrissy, but I ... I don't know the answer to that without
talking to her directly. I think the ... that the idea is that they would, uh... would be a, uh, a
contact to bring their resources to help people find units. Um, I don't know whether
placing is the right word, but, uh, you might ask her about that. She's here tonight.
Throgmorton/ With regard to the 75 or so residents who continue to live there, do we have any
knowledge about how many of those residents are ... uh, I don't know, Sudanese
immigrants or Congolese immigrants or ... uh, are not fluent in English, either because
they speak Swahili or French or ... another language?
Boothroy/ We ... we have looked, we have found somebody that ... that can, uh, translate some of
those languages. We don't know those numbers in terms of the total number. Um ... but,
uh... we would ... we would get that person on site to help out in those conversations, but I
just don't know the numbers, Jim, and I don't know whether, you know, if it's one, you're
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 10
still gonna have to have a translator, or if it's 20 you're still going to have to have a
translator on site to deal with those ... those issues.
Throgmorton/ I'm sure other Councilpeople have thoughts about this but it seems to me that ... that
this is a really critical feature of...of this particular situation, uh, that ... that there are
residents who are not fluent in English. Maybe some of them work nearby and walk to, I
don't know, Procter and Gamble or wherever, uh, to work, uh, and then suddenly,
unfamiliar with the language and unfamiliar with the culture, they learn ... somehow learn
that they have to leave and have no idea where to go, how....how to ... what to do, uh, so
it ... I think we ... we have a moral if not a legal responsibility to do everything we
can ... (both talking)
Boothroy/ And I think we ... I think, you know, if you want ... we ... we ... we have heard that
and ... and we want to make that possible...
Throgmorton/ Yeah.
Boothroy/ ... uh... you know, until there was a meeting the other night, uh, we weren't ... that aware
of how many Sudanese or ... we weren't aware of that issue as much, and when that came
up last week, late last week — maybe Thursday — uh, we did some research to find
somebody that would be able to address that issue, so ... um, that's one of those things that
sort of happens as we ... as we go through the process and you're right — some speak, uh,
limited English and so it gets more complicated when they try to go out in the market and
find a ... another suitable, uh, site because they can't work through it as quickly as others.
Yeah. Do you ... have other questions of me or do you (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Any other questions for Doug?
Taylor/ Could you remind me again when you first got the, uh... uh, the site plan from (both
talking)
Boothroy/ The first site plan came in on March 7t'.
Taylor/ March 7t'.
Boothroy/ Okay. So they took ownership the 26b of February, uh, and then the first site plan
came in ... I think just a few days after we, uh, after they introduced themselves to us
and...
Taylor/ And was there anyone ... in the City government, uh, departments that red flags went up
that said we ... we might need to get involved in this? At that time? Cause my concern is
that ... from what I've heard is that there were a number of residents whose lease was
expiring March 31" and they were given about seven to 10 days notice.
Boothroy/ We didn't know about the notices.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 11
Taylor/ Right, you ... you weren't aware of that, but... the... some community members got involved
and spoke with the new management, uh, and I applaud them because they, uh, told those
folks that they could extend that, that's when the month-to-month was given.
Boothroy/ Site plan review process has nothing to do with their schedule.
Taylor/ Right. Right.
Boothroy/ So we weren't aware of their schedule for demolition or moving forward. What we
were talking about was the scheduled for the site plan approval. They're two different
things.
Fruin/ Yeah, the ... a site plan, uh, of this nature, um, is ... is a fairly complex review. It's not
something that's going to be turned around in a week or two. So when a site plan like this
is submitted, uh, we're not necessarily thinking that, okay, constructions' going to start
happening in a few weeks here. Um, I think Doug mentioned earlier, we're almost a ... a
month into the site plan process now from that March 7th date. We still have several
more weeks to go. There's... there's complicated issues that need to be worked out with
storm water. So, to ... to try to directly answer your question, Pauline, um, no, I don't think
we had any red flags go up initially. It wasn't till the notices went out and the
conversations in the community started to where we really realized the extent of what
was going on.
Cole/ But I do think though we should try to get in the practice of notifying residents as early as
possible if we think there's going to be a dislocation, and I don't know if that's been past
practice (both talking)
Boothroy/ We post the property.
Cole/ What was that?
Boothroy/ The property is posted.
Cole/ Okay, and when did that occur?
Boothroy/ Uh, on the 25th of, uh, March.
Cole/ Okay.
Throgmorton/ Which is pretty close to when we first started hearing about it (several talking)
Boothroy/ That's probably when the .... yeah. They posted the property at that point, and it's
required of the code that the property be posted so it provides notice not only to ... if there
are tenants or to abutting property owners. So that they know something .... so ... so
everybody's informed and they can either contact the City and find out what's going on
or ... or possibly look at a site plan if there's one to look at.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 12
Throgmorton/ So, um, I ... I don't want to get into a public hearing kind of situation here, but I ... I
wonder if there would be merit in asking the management representative....
Boothroy/ Yes.
Throgmorton/ ....to come up, uh, I ... I don't have any... personally I don't have any specific
questions to ask, but it...it may be that, uh, other Councilpeople do. (mumbled) find out.
All right, so, uh, I think it'd be helpful if...if...
Boothroy/ Well Kyle's here tonight and ... and, uh, Kyle, can you come up and ... I think Kingsley
had some questions about extending leases, so...
Throgmorton/ (mumbled) pretty difficult situation for you as well. Thank you for coming.
Smith/ We're trying to be accommodating, and we will continue to be accommodating. So I
think the easiest thing is (both talking)
Karr/ I'm sorry, Kyle, could you state your name for the (both talking)
Smith/ First name Kyle. Last name Smith. And ... I'm in charge of the development, per se, and
Reggie Reed has spoken with a lot of the people, um, organizations and the tenants.
Unfortunately wasn't able to make it tonight, so I'll do the best I can to answer a lot of the
operational questions, although it's not really my department. I know enough knowledge
I guess on ... on what's happened to try and clarify and maybe get to some of the future
questions that are out there. So ... whoever wants to start, we'll just (both talking)
Botchway/ So going back to kind of the timeline, um ... because I know there was ... kind of
Pauline's, um, question a little bit but also going back to ... we've talked about how there is
an extension of the March 31 St leases in order to accommodate and so I'm just interested
in, you know, the following leases and, you know, April 30th, 31St, um, May, you know,
I ... because I'm ... I'm worried that we're going to run into the same problem every time we
get to, you know, another month closure, and so I guess I'm just trying to figure out what
the plan is in regards to that.
Smith/ Kingsley, that's a great ... great question. Let's go ... let's answer the question and then let's
go back to a little bit of history just so there's a little clarification, cause I think that's
important cause some of the history's created some of the issues at hand. The answer is
there'll continue to be flexibility, uh, we will continue to operate on-going as we have for
the month of March, both on the time factor and the compensation factor. There's two
important issues here that I think the past management company, um, mistakes that were
made. Number one ... uh, the ... there's two Rose Oak's letters. The first Rose Oak's letter
that was sent out, uh, issuing a non -renewal for the month of March was done by the
previous company. And so some of the issue there was ... urn ... call it a, uh....error in
judgment was ... the question was ... given to our group as do we want to renew March
leases. And our stance is we don't want to renew 'em on an annual basis, but we're going
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 13
to renew 'em on a month-to-month basis, and that mistake was made given the fact that
they sent out non -renewals, and so we've done the best we can with ... Tracy and some of
these other organizations to clarify that, although I think it.....got carried out of hand. I
wanted that clarification. The other clarification, which is a really good question is why
is there March leases that were signed when ... our group has known since mid-February
that this was going to be our business plan. And in fairness to Doug and his crew, you
know, they haven't... they've done a great job and they weren't given the notice because
we couldn't move any quicker than we possibly had moved, um, given our plan to
redevelop or re .... renovate the property. So the reason there's March leases signed,
which I would agree with everybody in this room makes no sense, is because the previous
company signed forward leases. So for instance, there may have been a family or an
individual that came in in the month of December and asked for a March lease. They
signed that lease future per se. So our company never went in and signed a March lease,
given... knowing that this project was going to move forward. Now, from the very
beginning we've been transparent. From the very beginning we've been clear. We're
willing to give tenants time and we're willing to compensate for any inconvenience. Our
belief at this point, as we have enough positive response, given the numbers and given
the facts, that that will continue. And so we'll take that as a case by case basis as we
continue to see leases come up on their term. If that makes sense. I think the... the... grand
picture here is ... the sooner we can renovate units, the sooner we can create the process to
allow people to move. If that makes sense. Of the ... of the 400 units... hundred to 125 of
'em, they aren't even livable. They don't even have kitchen sinks, bathrooms, nothing! I
mean ... we have to put those units together ... to be able to rent those units out. If that
makes sense.
Throgmorton/ I ... I'd say this point needs emphasis. The ... the complex needs renovation.
Smith/ And Doug got into that and ... and ... and I don't want to create an over -complication
because that's... that's not the goal here. The central nervous system, per se, of the
complex is operated in a central boiler and a central cooler. That equipment is shot. I ... I
would say that equipment's been shot for five years. Previous owners ... 29t' Street Capital
who bought the loan and ... and operated this for a short period of time, I ... I can't give you
an exact time they operated it, have band -aided it to the point where ... it needs major
repair. And in turn, the best move for this development is going to be a complete
renovation. An individualized system with central air and central heating, rather than a
central system, that when it goes down it affects 48 units, whereas if your heater and
your, or your furnace and your air conditioner goes down, it would affect one unit. If that
makes sense. It's a central boiler, central cooler system.
Throgmorton/ Okay. Uh, any other questions for Kyle?
Cole/ Just very quickly, on the question of...obviously it'll depend upon when you actually get
the permit, do you have a sense of when the major construction will begin such that it
will likely really start impairing residents' ability to ... to remain?
Smith/ I don't.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 14
Cole/ Gonna be a staged process, I understand that.
Smith/ (both talking) ...I'll answer the question (both talking)
Cole/ Just approximately (both talking)
Smith/ We would like to get started ... as soon as possible... under the circumstance we're not
causing inconvenience. At the same time, we understand we have to get the permit and
we have to create the process, but at that point, that's the point at which we'll move
forward.
Cole/ Okay.
Smith/ And it's not a complete renovation. It's a phased renovation, with the goal of getting as
many units operational as possible ... as quick as possible.
Botchway/ So are you....is there going to be some communication, I mean, and I don't
necessarily know that you have to, back to City Council as far as the rest of the 74 units?
Smith/ I'm happy to do that. I'm happy to do that on a weekly basis. I will warn because in
fairness to Doug and John, they probably feel like they've been jumping rope because the
numbers change constantly. Right? So ... today was another example. A lot of the
process in which we have this, we have ... people who give notice of willingness to ... to
move or relocate and in turn ... come back and say, 'Hey, I found a unit, but it's not
available until May 15th.' Okay. So we take that commitment and another key ... point of
this that ... that I want people to understand because Tracy and Sally and some of the other
people that we've met with in the community, um, asked us this question directly too.
We are forwarding that deposit and that compensation to allow those people to then go
pre -pay for an apartment that may not be due for another 30 days. So if...someone needs
future money to pay for a new security deposit, we're allowing that to go all out the door
before the unit's vacated.
Botchway/ Just to be clear, when you're using the term 'forward,' I was thinking, you know,
moving like to the next apartment that is going to them in the current apartment.
Smith/ The compensation that we give them is prior to them moving out.
Botchway/ Okay!
Smith/ Which ... is meant to be a benefit to allow somebody to either pay first month's rent or pay
a security deposit.
Taylor/ Do you have some idea of how many of the tenants that might be able to stay within the
complex?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 15
Smith/ I will know in the next 30 days, based on what this infrastructure phasing looks like. I'm
happy to report back, um, I wouldn't want to guess at this point. But I would say ... 50, I'm
guessing.
Botchway/ And to that question as well, um, and I know that, you know, I don't know where
you're at on this, but ... thinking about, you know, the families that's been reported in the
newspaper that have kids in the area, has there been any preference for, um, you know,
looking at those families remaining as long as possible, um, in that situation? Or do you,
I mean, or is it just kind of looking at it from a lease structure standpoint and saying, you
know, we're willing to work with you based on, you know, when your lease ends
and ... how long you have to stay?
Smith/ I don't know ... uh... particular to answer your question, we have asked groups with families
to let us know, and again ... it's kinda a situation where they come to us. We're not forcing
the issue. It's more the tenant base comes to the management group, but we are aware of
the families. We are aware of the school district. We've had those conversations and
so ... we're gonna continue to accommodate because we understand it's important for these
children to ... to finish out their school year. We understand that.
Throgmorton/ Okay! Good deal. Any other questions for Kyle? I guess not. Thank you for
coming ... and for doing what you can, as well!
Botchway/ I have two more questions.
Throgmorton/ Oh I'm sorry!
Botchway/ No, not for ... not for Kyle. I have one for Chrissy and then one for Doug, and since
Doug is closer I'd ask Doug to come first.
Throgmorton/ (mumbled) Doug! (laughter)
Boothroy/ Yes! (both talking)
Botchway/ ...going back to Kyle's comment about, you know, there being apartments where
there's no, you know, kitchen sink, bathrooms, I mean ... that's problematic. And so...
Boothroy/ (both talking) ...he was referring to the empty units.
Botchway/ Oh, okay! Okay! All right. All right. Clarification (both talking)
Boothroy/ That's what I understood. I'm not aware (laughter and both talking)
Botchway/ I was a little worried... (laughs) and I was going to start going through a litany of
questions (several talking) (unable to hear Smith away from mic)
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 16
Boothroy/ Some of the units were demo'd prior to the ownership and that's why they ... they,
they're missing some of their, uh... appliances or fixtures.
Botchway/ Okay. Thank you!
Throgmorton/ Okay, you had a question for someone else?
Botchway/ Crissy! (mumbled) ...question. I just wanted to hear it.
Throgmorton/ Hi, Crissy!
Canganelli/ Hi! Crissy Canganelli with Shelter House.
Cole/ Why ... I guess I'll just follow up with Kingsley, um, asked to come up. Um ... I'm just trying
to get a sense of what you think your capability is in terms of the number of people that
you can place on short notice. Do you have a sense of that, in terms of...the ... the
anticipated numbers and where you could likely be able to place them, cause I think one
of the numbers ... and I think the concern is is sort of...where're people gonna go, um...
Canganelli/ Right and I'd love to have this conversation with everyone every day, cause that's the
challenge that we face every day at Shelter House. Um ... so there's no magic wand, uh, I
have no, um ... control over the low vacancy rate that we have in this community. I can't
change that part of the equation. What I can do is bring people to the table who have
years of experience. We have over 20 years of helping people find employment, find
housing, placing them in a ... in housing. We have over five years of rapid rehousing, um,
and relocation, uh, experience directly. Um, we've got that experience, we have that
knowledge, um ... relationships with landlords in the community, um ... the professionals to
help work side by side with people, but, Rockne, what I can't do is change the fact that
affordable housing for more years than I've been working here has, um ... been clearly,
clearly a significant need for our community.
Cole/ No, and I ... I (mumbled) organization does a fabulous job, but I ... I'm just trying to get a
sense of how unusual this is in terms of the numbers that you're dealing with. Is there
something we can do to give you additional capacity or assistance or those sorts of things,
cause obviously this would be a little bit unusual, I would think.
Canganelli/ Well, it ... it's unusual if the numbers are significant all at one time. As Geoff said, it's
a fluid situation, so until we can really quantify what the numbers are, if...if people are
coming in, you know, five and six households at a time, we can accommodate that. Um,
if we have the flexibility to work with our partners and communicate out that, you know,
no, it's not five or six and it's a more significant number at one time, we may need some
additional, uh, support. Um, this does provide some opportunity for other staff within the
organization to move into different positions temporarily and help, um, but I, um ... I don't
have that answer now because I can't quantify. Is that fair?
Cole/ Totally fair!
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 17
Neal/ I wonder, have you, um, directed people to look at student, um, sublets? Because I know a
lot of students are trying to sublet their apartments and at usually a discounted rate. Um,
and that would just be even from May to July that could help some of the people short-
term to find a longer term home. Have we done anything to direct, um, any of these
tenants towards that?
Canganelli/ Well I haven't worked with any of these tenants yet, other than the tenants that we've
already placed in Rose Oaks under the former management and the ones that we're still
working with in case management. Urn ... the ones that, uh, really are going to need the,
uh, more substantive support, um, because remember these people are coming with
financial resources to the table and the ... many of the people at Shelter House don't have
that, so they have a leg up, but many of the folks who are going to need the additional
support are going to have some other, urn ... barriers that more sophisticated landlords
may, uh, have processes and um, requirements that would, um, normally vet them out.
So ... uh, even in that instance I'm not sure that that's a feasible, uh... solution.
Throgmorton/ So I'm very conscious of the time. This is an imp... tremendously important topic
but, um ... we can't solve it all tonight. So...
Botchway/ One quick question.
Throgmorton/ Be brief, please. (both talking)
Botchway/ In relation to the rapid rehousing, the presumption is that as to ... as tenants lose
housing, so it can be before that.
Canganelli/ The entire intention is to avoid people, uh, from losing their housing. Um ... when
HPRP first came out, which was the first iteration of rapid rehousing, back in 2009, uh,
we worked by side ... side by side with other providers to roll HPRP out and that was on
homeless prevention. It's over time the federal dollars have restricted and prioritized it to
actually homeless households and ... and uh, more rapidly transitioning out of shelter and
homeless situations. Uh, with the flexibility, um, of Home TBRA funds, we have no
intention of requiring that a household become homeless. That's absolutely ridiculous.
It's absurd and uh, cruel. So if we have flexibility to not ... force that situation upon a
family or an individual, we of course would want to do that and help, urn ... be there to
assist in relocating on a more prevention side. So people are moving from housing to
housing; not housing, shelter, housing. That makes no sense.
Botchway/ Thank you.
Throgmorton/ Okay. Thank you, Crissy. So, um, Geoff, please make sure the staff stays on top
of this issue, as you have been doing. Keep us posted about, uh... actions that are taken,
uh, and do what we ... everything we can.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 18
Fruin/ Yeah, we'll plan to update you not with this week's Information Packet, but next week,
um ... un ... unless something significant changes in the next couple of days.
Throgmorton/ Okay. Thank you all for speaking... Doug, uh, Kyle, Crissy, so on. All right, so
it's a work session, right? So ... uh, other agenda items?
Dickens/ Are there any additions or deletions? That we know of right now?
Throgmorton/ Yes, urn ... I think we're going to do the Domestic Violence resolution.
ITEM 4d(8) FREEDOM FROM DOMESTIC VIOLENCE - IOWA CITY
RESOLUTION TO RECOGNIZE FREEDOM FROM DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
AS A FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHT
Karr/ We ... we have ... we don't have any additions to the Consent Calendar. We have revisions
and the Domestic Violence resolution'll be pulled for separate consideration, after the
Consent Calendar, and then you have additional correspondence on some items, but no
other changes.
ITEM 7. ASPHALT RESURFACING PROJECT 2016 — APPROVING PLANS,
SPECIFICATIONS, FORM OF CONTRACT, AND ESTIMATE OF COST FOR
THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE ASPHALT RESURFACING PROJECT 2016,
ESTABLISHING AMOUNT OF BID SECURITY TO ACCOMPANY EACH BID,
DIRECTING CITY CLERK TO PUBLISH NOTICE TO BIDDERS, AND FIXING
TIME AND PLACE FOR RECEIPT OF BIDS
Fruin/ I'd like to just ... briefly mention two items. Item 7 is our street resurfacing program. Um,
I plan to have Ron Knoche come up and just talk in general about that program a little bit,
show you the map of the streets. We haven't done that before, but ... um ... I think it's
important...
Throgmorton/ That's good.
ITEM 8. TRAFFIC CALMING
a. LANGENBERG AVENUE - RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE
INSTALLATION OF SPEED HUMPS ON LANGENBERG AVENUE, BETWEEN
SOUTH SYCAMORE STREET AND COVERED WAGON DRIVE
b. SEVENTH AVENUE - RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE INSTALLATION
OF SPEED HUMPS ON SEVENTH AVENUE, BETWEEN GLENDALE ROAD
AND COURT STREET
Fruin/ ...to give an overview of that pro ... that program and how we, uh, determine which streets
are, uh, resurfaced in any given year. Um, Item 8 is two taf...traffic calming items. Uh,
we have one on Langenberg and one on Seventh. Uh, if you notice the recommendation
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 19
is to ... uh, move forward with the Langenberg speed humps but to not move forward with
the Seventh Avenue. Uh, we are going to ask Council to, uh, go ahead and move
forward, consider the Langenberg item, but defer the Seventh Avenue item. We'd like
another opportunity to sit down and ... and talk with the ... the neighborhood, uh, before
coming back to you, um, so I don't think there's a great urgency there. If you'd give us
some time, that would be appreciated. And just as an aside, I think going through these
two processes, and we can talk more if you want to, I think we've noticed some ... some
flaws in our traffic calming pro ... program, in the ... in the process, and so we're going to be
taking a look at that process and ... and hopefully trying to avoid a situation like we have,
uh, with ... with Seventh Avenue; and we spend considerable staff time researching
something; we engage the neighborhood, only to deliver a ... a negative recommendation.
That's a ... that's a flawed process when ... when that's the outcome, so ... we need to rethink
that and, uh, we'll do that and come back to it at a future date.
Karr/ So 8b will be a recommendation from staff to defer indefinitely. Not to a specific date.
Throgmorton/ Yeah. Got it.
Thomas/ Geoff, on that particular issue on Seventh Avenue, uh, if...since it's going to be deferred
I ... I might just mention that I was ... I was looking at other traffic calming.... devices that
could be applied, one being a speed table, which I was not seeing as one of the options,
and that speed table's, from my reading, were a solution that were more amenable to
emergency response.
Fruin/ Sure. We can consider that.
Thomas/ I'll just ... put that out there as possibly one that may work.
Fruin/ We'll take a look. Thank you.
Cole/ What is a speed table? (laughter and several talking)
Thomas/ No, it's a ... a speed table would be like what's, uh, over near the Art Building -West.
Cole/ Okay.
Thomas/ You know, where's it an extended... it's like an extended speed hump.
Cole/ Okay! That makes sense.
Throgmorton/ Other agenda items?
ITEM 9. TRANSPORTATION NETWORK COMPANIES (LIBER) — ORDINANCE
AMENDING TITLE 5, ENTITLED "BUSINESS AND LICENSE
REGULATIONS," BY ADDING A NEW CHAPTER 3, ENTITLED
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 20
"TRANSPORTATION NETWORK COMPANIES". (SECOND
CONSIDERATION)
Cole/ The question of Uber ... I don't know if it's appropriate to talk about it now, um, I'm a little
concerned about this issue of the chauffeur's license. Um, it's my understanding that ... uh,
State law requires a chauffeur's license and Uber is a fee-for-service... process and ... I don't
see how we can get out from under the requirement of State law, that they require that.
So, I think one of the things we should possibly consider is that if required by State law,
we should have a chauffeur's license here. Um, I understand that that could cause some
complications but ... I don't know if our officer could talk about ... what would the
expectation be if an officer's pulled over someone and it's an Uber driver and they don't
have a chauffeur's license? (several talking)
Throgmorton/ My gut feeling is that it would be better to talk about this during the formal
meeting, as part of the discussion concerning the ordinance.
Cole/ Okay!
Throgmorton/ Certainly we can do either one but it ... (both talking) you know, public might be
interested (both talking) paying attention to. Okay, other agenda items?
Botchway/ Well like ... before we move on, are we going to have ... well, never mind. I'll just
leave it ... cause I have questions based on Rockne's question, but go ahead.
ITEM 4f(2) Sally Scott: Affordable Housing Goals for Iowa City
Throgmorton/ Do that later, yeah. I'd like to bring up Item 4f(2), which is the Affordable Homes
Coalition's suggested goals with regard to affordable housing. I don't want to talk about
the suggested goals, but uh, I do want to mention that because of the discussion we just
had about Rose Oaks and what Chrissy just said about the fact that we have such a low
vacancy rate and affordable housing is such a challenge, uh, I ... I want to just observe that
our strategic plan indicates that we intend to set a goal with regard to affordable housing
and figure out how to achieve it. So Geoff and I have had, uh, an extensive conversation
about how we might proceed, and I want to ask, uh, whether, uh, the ... the Council would
agree to the following suggestion. Uh, namely that ... uh, that we direct staff to develop a
preliminary framework for new affordable housing action plan by our second meeting in
June. At that time the staff would present the framework to us, and to the public,
and ... you know, that's two months from now I guess, but that would give the staff enough
time to bring various components together and to a coherent preliminary framework that
we could really make sense out of. Geoff, you might want to comment on that.
Fruin/ Yeah! We've certainly been thinking a lot about this for the past ... year or more as it's
become a ... a heightened conversation in the community. Um, we do have some ideas at
the staff level on some different strategies that we can take, um ... some involve, uh, new
types of City incentives, some involve, uh, policy changes, um ... many of which you guys
have discussed during the strategic planning, but we're not at a point right now where we
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 21
can pull that together in a cohesive manner. So when Mayor Throgmorton mentioned
this to me about ... let's get out in front and set the goal, I asked him to give us a couple of
months to, um ... uh... further our ideas a little bit, package 'em for ya. Um, they ... when we
present them there won't be full details on how a particular program might work,
but ... there'll be enough for you to I think give us a head nod or tell us to ... to consider, um,
you know, other ideas. So that second meeting in June is something I feel comfortable
with. We can present a preliminary framework. You can give us your ... your feedback,
and then we can really get to work on puffin' the ... the meat to the bones, if you will, and
um ... I think from there we can really extrapolate, um, a goal for the community and you
can determine if it's aggressive enough.
Neal/ Can we include students in this, as well, because I feel like in the past that students have
been excluded from affordable housing, and that's definitely an issue that students are
facing.
Fruin/ I think as we put together our framework we won't be distinguishing between ... I think
whatever we put forward would apply to anybody, um, and...
Botchway/ Are we going to have any conflict for the June meeting, that we're aware of right
now?
Karr/ As far as scheduling?
Botchway/ Right.
Karr/ Potentially. I haven't heard from everyone yet.
Botchway/ Okay.
Karr/ But I think, judging from this, it's a tentative schedule that would be ... we would take a look
at. We're going to come back to you, uh, probably the next meeting with some
scheduling issues.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, we ... we can figure that out.
Botchway/ Okay.
DISCUSS CREATING TWO NEW CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEES WITH A FOCUS
ON (1) THE SUSTAINABLE BUILT ENVIRONMENT AND (2) SOCIAL JUSTICE AND
RACIAL EQUITY. CONSIDER ASSIGNING ADDITIONAL STRATEGIC PLAN
RELATED TOPICS TO THESE COMMITTEES UP # 3 INFO PACKET OF 3/311
Throgmorton/ Uh... is that okay with you, folks? (several responding) Okay. Good deal! Any
other agenda items? All right, hearing none, uh, the next topic is to discuss creating...
the possibility of creating two new City Council committees, one of which would focus
on sus... sustainable built environment and the other, which would focus on social justice
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 22
and racial equity. Uh, since I've been the one kind of pushing this idea, uh, I should
probably provide, uh, a brief summary of what ... what I had in mind, and then it will be up
to the Council as a whole to decide how we proceed. If at all. So the two prop ... and
some of this would be for members of the public who haven't read stuff that we have in
our packet. The two proposals contain common elements, but differ with regard to the
substantive focus. So one of 'ems about what I'm calling sustainable built environment
and the other's about social justice and racial equity. So with regard to the common
elements, both of the proposals explicitly lay out connections to our strategic plan. They
both state a need to increase the Council's ability to make policy on its own, with advice
from the staff, and they both recommend, uh, a structure for the committee, committee's
life span, a frequency of meeting, and a couple other details. So I'm sure y'all read that
material so I don't want to go through it in great detail. But of course the substantive
focuses would differ, uh, with one focusing on sustainable built environment and the
other on, uh, social justice and racial equity. So ... my .... my computer just jumped like it
occasionally does, so I'm having to find my notes (laughs) again. Bear with me, please!
Dickens/ And you said there was some legal...
Throgmorton/ Yeah (both talking) exactly... that's what I was going to get to, Terry, so ... I'm .... all
right. So, I ... I think there's several questions we would need to answer, if in fact
we ... proceed, um, affirmatively with this idea. But the first is ... basically .... is there merit
in ... in creating the committees, just in principle, in general. Is there merit in doing that?
It may be there's not enough support to do that, in which case ... that's the end of the story.
Uh, if we do think there's merit in creating committees, and this gets to your point, Terry,
then the question basically becomes are the constraints imposed by the State's open
meeting's law severe enough for us to reject the idea of creating the committees. I think
that's a fair way to put it. And ... you know, maybe they are! (laughs) But that's ... we
would have to discuss that. So....let's deal with the first question first. Do you think the
idea of creating these committees is in itself worth ... worth pursuing, unless we get to, uh,
item number two and decide not to?
Botchway/ Yes, but in a particular way. And so the way that I've kind of...envision this
particular committee, um ... (several talking) the racial equity committee, um ... being
formed, I mean I ... I appreciate the policy making aspect of it, but I feel like there's an
opportunity here to bring in some of the experts, um, at the University, various
community groups, urn ... to have a ... a greater discussion. I mean I .... I can think off the
top of my head, you know, four or five people from the University that, um, have done
extensive research in this particular area that would be great to have kind of, uh, City
government/University deliberation on. I don't know necessarily about the community
groups just yet, but ... I ... I know there'd be interest in individuals that have a ... a high
background in doing this work as well, and so ... I guess I'm supportive of...of um, that.
Now I'm assuming that the sustainability committee would be along the same framework,
um, at least that's what I would propose, um, and so I would be supportive in that way, as
well.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 23
Throgmorton/ If...if I could I'll answer that, uh, your .... your point, very briefly. Um ... with
regard to the social justice and racial equity committee... actually with regard to both of
'em. The idea was to have a three-person City Council Member committee with ... that
would receive advice from the staff ...and would be authorized to seek expert advice from
the kind of people you just referred to, would be authorized to seek input from
community members ... a cer... a different kind of expertise, and would authorized to,
uh... uh, conduct, uh... forums and public hearings. So, there's ample opportunity for
involvement in that sense, but the committee members themselves would be three
Council Members.
Cole/ You know, I guess the model I like is sort of the way they did the Senior Center review
committee, where there was one Council ... it was one Council Member, it was Councilor
Dobyns, correct? (several responding) And so that way you have a council, um, that's
sort of organizing, you're working with a staff person, and you're also getting input from
the pertinent people. So that's sort of the model I like, but I think in terms of the first
question, yes and yes. Um, but I do have concerns about the second one, but I like that
Senior Center model and they came up with a very good set of recommendations, which
I'm not going to talk about cause I know that's not on our agenda tonight but ... um, that's
what I would like to see.
Thomas/ I would just ... in a way ask for background, how did .... did you arrive at the three
Council committee concept? Was that your...
Throgmorton/ Yes!
Thomas/ What was the rationale behind it, in that sense?
Throgmorton/ Yeah, the rationale was we already have a similar committee — it's called the
Economic Development Committee. It has three members, three Council Members, and
my sense was (several talking in background) that we should have parallel committees
that focus ... uh, on these other two topics — sustainable built environment and social
justice and rac... racial equity. But we already have a model. It's the Economic
Development Committee.
Mims/ To me ... I guess I would answer the questions in reverse order. Because I think that
second question on ... the open meeting's law is an absolutely crucial one in terms of going
with a three Council Member committee. Um, based on what you've written, Jim, and
what I think Eleanor sent to us in a memo, there's some huge issues here. The minute
you have a three -committee member, just like with our Economic Development
Committee, two members are a quorum, and under open meeting law then ... no two
members of that three-member committee can talk to each other outside of the open
posted meetings. Which I think puts a huge (both talking)
Cole/ About the topic...
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 24
Mims/ About the topic, yeah, which ... I mean I think puts a huge restriction on those committee
members on topics that, you know, as you've proposed, Jim, that these would be two-year
long committees. There's some similarity, but I think there's a real significant difference
between these committees that you're proposing and the Economic Development
Committee. And that is, the primary purpose of the Economic Development Committee
is to review projects that come before us and typically we don't see those projects until
we get the packet ... you know, a few days before the meeting. So it's not ... and we've done
a little bit of policy work in there, but not ... I mean, the six years I've been on it, there's
not been a whole lot of policy stuff that we've done. So here you're looking at potentially
a two-year process with three Council Members that under ... State law cannot talk to each
other outside of those meetings about the topics ... that you ... that those committees are set
up to review, which are... incredibly important topics. I, I mean, if we do this, I'm
interested in being on one, but at the same time I'm not, from the standpoint I don't want
to be restricted from talking to two other Council Members about these really, really
important issues for two full years unless we're sitting in a meeting. We ... we're just
totally limited. Um ... so, and I think ... I think there's a major problem from the open
meeting law in terms of really being ... as effective maybe as we want to be in moving
forward on these. Um, on the social justice and racial equity one, back in December, I
think it was in December, um, I asked Council to ... look at the, uh, My Brother's Keeper
program, which is, uh, a President Obama promoted program and one of the reasons that
I put that forth is I don't believe in reinventing the wheel. I believe that if there are good
models out there, and people have already, you know, done a lot of that background and
research work, let's take what other people have already done and try and build on it.
Now, one of the things that's absolutely essential, and I think, Kingsley, you brought this
up in terms of...of this particular committee, bringing in experts from the University, um,
these are not issues that we as a city or a city council can solve on our own. In reading
your memo, Jim, you talked about education. You talked about income. You talked
about jobs and training. Again, we have to engage the School District. We've gotta
engage the University. We've gotta look at Iowa Workforce Development. Uh, housing,
transportation — many issues that go way beyond City Council. What .... and whether we
use My Brother's Keeper or not, I just use it as an example of something that all ... people
have already figured out how you do it. Before we would ever sign on to something like
that, we would need....because it, you are accepting a challenge, and before we would
ever agree to that, we would have to get the other major stakeholders to agree that they
are willing to be involved. Iowa City Community School District be ... would be
absolutely number one, because a huge component of My Brother's Keeper is education.
It's ... it's called 'cradle to career.' You know, a second big component I believe would be
the University, as you said, you know, so there's .... I just don't believe in reinventing the
wheel and ... and the fact that we're going to need a lot of assistance and expertise outside
of the City, um, I just think that's a more effective way, at least starting by looking at that
program in more depth, um ... and so that's my preference in that direction, and I don't like
the three -committee member, uh, three Council Member committees because I'm really
concerned about open meetings and what ... how restrictive that is in our conversation.
So....
Throgmorton/ What do the ... what do the rest of you think?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 25
Taylor/ Would you ... be in favor of it if it were just two, I mean, how does that work with the
open meeting's law if there were just two Council Members on each of those committees?
Mims/ Well, I think we've done ... I guess I'd ask Eleanor to answer that. We've always done open
meetings, I mean, with the Ad Hoc Senior Committee we ... that was an open meeting,
wasn't it, that was posted and minutes were taken?
Dilkes/ Yeah, to ... the same principles would apply. Those two could not speak except ... aboutthe
topic, except at a posted public meeting.
Cole/ And that's why I like the Senior Center model so well. I think of it as the Dobyns' model.
Um, you know, it was a very well done committee, um, that I think gave a number of
really good tailored recommendations. Council had access. It had staff. That's the
model I really like.
Botchway/ I mean, to be honest with you I was (both talking)
Cole/ ...didn't like that model (both talking)
Botchway/ Well ... I ... I (both talking) I didn't say I didn't like the model, but (both talking) I think
the decision you kind of need now, I was kind of coming to your side (people talking in
background) coming to your side as far as you know the... reduction, or not maybe ... you
didn't say that. Pauline ... as a reduction or two, or maybe Rockne as one, but then, you
know, now I'm thinking about, you know, if we're not able to do it with two, I mean, I
still think the committees important. I don't necessarily agree with one, because as I was
thinking about it, if I was to be on the committee, I'd want to ... say for example, and I
literally... not to say I was thinking while you were talking, but say if it was Susan and I
(several talking and laughing) instead of listening to you (laughs) but um..uh, if you
were ... if like for example ... you and I were on the committee together, um, I would want
to talk to you about it, and this would preclude it from an open meeting's law standpoint,
right? But ... (several talking) but I don't necessarily disagree that we couldn't talk about it
during the meeting. I mean ... (several talking) My point is is that I don't necessarily
know that we're ... I think we might be thinking of this too expansively from the standpoint
of...do we need to have those conversations outside of the meeting. I think the work is
still important, um, but then it goes back to, you know, two not three. So ... now I'm more
kind of thinking that why not three, because it's the same concept, and again we don't
necessarily... have to talk outside of the meeting. I mean, it's just that when we are in the
meeting, the potential work has to get done and we have to have those discussions, and
along the same lines, which you were talking about, again, that's why I was thinking
about My Brother's Keeper, it would have been so interesting that ... to bring that, and I
know we're getting that vetted by ... or we did get that vetted by the roundtable, and some
other things, but if that was brought forth to ... a three-member, uh, committee, discussions
could have been had as far as the viability then obviously we could have gotten some
weigh in from hopefully University participants, School District participants, as well, and
then brought that board ... back to Council, um, in a, you know, heavily vetted way, similar
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 26
to the Economic Development Committee. And so I ... I actually think, you know, based
on kind of the example you gave, that it would work, um ... from having that three-person
committee moving forward, especially since, you know, we ... we do kind of have a model
and I do think it's ... I do think it's different. I do think it's (both talking)
Mims/ I think it's very different.
Botchway/ ...I do think it's different, but I ... I think that it could work in a way of people bringing,
and this is ... I'm thinking of the Seattle model as well, and I don't mean to take too much
time, but ... um, that's what people do — they bring proposals to the, um, City Council.
Now granted there's a funding mechanism tied to it, but ... they bring proposals to the City
Council as far as ... or excuse me, this committee, as far as what they would like to see,
and then, you know, grants are given out, but this could be different where people could
bring us proposals as far as what they would like to see from a City Council perspective,
and then we can go forth and do those things. So anyway I'll stop talking, but ... that's my
thought.
Throgmorton/ Geoff, looked to me like you wanted to ... contribute? No?
Fruin/ No, um, I ... I can give you, you know, my perspective. Um ... if you wish. I think
there's... there's some pros and cons that ... that you need to consider. Um, and I ... and I
understand, um, what ... I ... I think the intention of this is, um ... you're trying to get involved
with issues earlier, make sure they get the ... the proper vetting, uh, often times you're
faced with very difficult policy issues that, you know, show up in ... in your packets, you
know, and you have a few days to ... to really contemplate those before you have to weigh
in on those. So, I understand, um .... that that's what you're trying to do, and I think, um,
you know, this is one way ... one way through this committee to keep issues in front of the
public for a longer period of time. You know, you're going to get media coverage at
these small committee meetings. We do at the EDC, and often times it's at the EDC
meeting where a development agreement news breaks, you know, that's when the
proposal first comes out. So, it gives the community more time. It provides more
exposure. On the flip side, um, formal committees take a lot of staff time. Now I don't
think that's necessarily a reason for you to say that it's not worth it, and I'm not suggesting
that you should abandon it because of it, but ... just the administrative work that goes into
formal committees, when you have to arrange schedules, particularly if there's external
folks, uh with the University or School District or ... or outside experts. You have to
arrange meeting schedules. You have to post packets. You have to take meeting
minutes. There's transcripts. All those things take quite a bit of time. Most of those fall
to the City Clerk's office, um, but for whoever is staffing it, it takes time to ... to go
through that as well. Uh, the ... the communication complication, um, I think is ... is, uh,
very real. Um, if you have three Council committees, each with three people,
and... there... they're arguably your top three priorities on your strategic plan. You've got
economic development; you've got, uh, the built environment; and you've got social
justice. Those are arguably your three top objectives when I look at your strategic plan,
and now you're slicin' and dicin' the Council in a way where you all can't talk to each
other very freely, or at least in ... um, certain combinations can't talk to each other very
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 27
freely outside of formal meetings. That's a ... that's a concern. Um, and then ... uh... I think
it...it will slow projects at times. Depends on what the scope of the committee is, but any
time ... any time from a staff point of view, you have to stop and check in at a committee,
that's a ... that's just a milestone. It's gonna slow things down. So let's take a road project.
Let's say the sustainable built environment committee wants to look at a road design, uh,
before it gets to that final approval stage of Council. That's just a point in the process
where we have to press pause, get additional feedback. It's ... it's not a whole lot different
than, uh, you know, a neighborhood meeting or anything like that, but ... I just want to
make you aware that depending on the scope of the committee, that can slow some things
down a little bit. Um, so I, you know, I think this is ... this is a pure policy decision. Can
we handle it at staff? Yeah, we ... we can handle it. Um, but, um, there are some
implications that ... that, um ... um, that will occur if you move forward. The other thing I
want you to, um ... uh, to ... to consider is ... um ... on the social justice, racial equity, um,
committee, I think you really need to think about the overlap with the Human Rights
Commission, what they're tasked with. Um, are there components of this committee
that ... that they can help ... they can assist with? Uh, for instance, uh, with your strategic
plan and with your budget, you created a new racial equity grant program. Our intention,
um ... to date has been to work through the Human Rights Commission to develop that
program and ultimately offer a recommendation to you. So I think there's some things in
your strategic plan that the Human Rights Commission can work on, um ... if you don't go,
uh, down this path and create your own committee. So I think you, particularly with that
one, you need to think about that overlap and ... how you would interface with that
committee, because whatever you decide to do, I think is going to be of great interest to
the Human Rights Commission and what they're doing will be of great interest to that
subcommittee too, so I think some thought needs to be there. If you move forward to the
extent possible, I would encourage you to ... narrowly define your scope and that will help
limit the exposure of the open meetings, um ... requirements, um ... you know, and ... and Jim
has some of this in his correspondence. What specifically do you want to work on? If
it's ... open-ended, sustainable built environment, I think you're gonna have real
challenges, because that's all encompassing, but if you say ... we want to focus on the
housing study or the form -based code or ... whatever X, Y and Z are, that's going to
package it a little bit neater and make it a little easier for you all to proceed.
Throgmorton/ Geoff raises some important points. I'd like to emphasize that ... what I drafted did
in fact try to be as specific as possible, so please don't carry away the idea that it was both
of 'em were just kind of open-ended. Also, uh, the intent was to focus on policy, not on
vetting specific projects. Uh... there was one other point ... I'm going to make an argument
for creating the committees and then I ... I have a sense (laughs) I think I have a sense of
where y'all are at on this, but ... one of the merits of creating these committees is that over
a period of the two-year term of the committee, the three members would develop
considerable knowledge, policy -based knowledge, about the substantive area they were
looking at, more so than they would be able to develop just by going through our routine
processes. So there's, uh, I think considerable merit in that. That said, you know, I think
about ... I think about the, uh, Economic Development Committee and I think at our
meeting next week we're going to be, uh... thinking about possible revisions to the
Economic Development policy. I don't know exactly what, you know, but ... it's part of
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 28
our strategic plan, so I think that's going to happen. So, if in fact we do that ... you know,
then we're ... we're in that situation that you described, where ... you know, you and I would
not be able to talk about it away from the meeting, and ... and so on, and the same would
be true with, uh, with regard to, uh, Rockne. We wouldn't be able to talk about it. So I
think that's a ... that's a challenge. So, I don't know. There's ... I guess the basic question
is ... given the discussion we've just had, uh, do you think we should proceed with this idea
of creating two new committees. And all you gotta do is say no if you think the answer's
no for the reasons that have been discussed, or say yes if you think it ... that ... that we
should.
Dickens/ It's a little tougher than that! (laughter)
Throgmorton/ Well the details (several talking and laughing)
Dickens/ I look at it as ... shrinking what we can talk about, and so I would vote no on that.
What's here is very important, but I think we can accomplish a lot of that other ways, like
you said, bringing in speakers for talking about complete streets and walkability and all
that. I think that encompasses everybody and that we can all talk about it any time.
The ... the constraints of the open ... open, uh, meeting's law really ... kinda persuades me to
vote no, just because of that reason.
Cole/ I would say yes in terms of the committee, but I would like to modify the format. Um, and
so I don't know if we want to take that up at a different meeting, but I think we should
explore the concept of the committee, but I'd say if it was three Council Member
committees I would probably say no at this point, but ... I'm open for format revision.
Throgmorton/ Uh huh.
Thomas/ Um (clears throat) I think the ... I like the idea, Jim, of...of having kind of a ... a
committee, a focus group, discussing these two topics. It does seem the opens meeting
restrictions are truly a restriction, urn ... I ... I feel that I ... if...if we were to go that route,
what would be the alternative? I mean, how can we ... I, you know, how can we address
these issues...fi...find the time to ... to get into them in depth, urn ... in the way that I would
think the committee would allow. Uh, would we have additional work sessions? Uh, you
know, I do ... one concern I have with your proposal, Rockne, is just with the one Council
Member, then everyone else is kind of left out of that discussion, and it seems ... useful to
have more Members of Council engaged in the discussion, in the process, of trying to
develop policy. Um ... and then addressing the need for more people to come in from the
outside by ... as we're saying, just inviting them as necessary, depending on the topic.
Um ... I mean, the thought of having additional work sessions, you know, I don't know if
that would be one way of trying to, on a .... on a topical basis as a way of...as we did say
with the budget or the strategic plan earlier.
Throgmorton/ Well I'd say ... we're gonna have to do ... we're gonna have to have special work
sessions, if we want to make progress on particular elements in our strategic plan.
Otherwise the staff won't get the guidance they need.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 29
Mims/ Well I would say ... first of all if you're going to have two committees with three Members
each, assuming that no one Councilor serves on both of those committees, you've already
got six of the seven Council Members theoretically having one more meeting a month, if
you do as Jim proposed and each of these committees meets once a month.
Throgmorton/ That's right.
Mims/ So ... I guess that's part of the question — is everybody here willing to take on a third
meeting a month? You know? And if everybody is, then ... why not do it as one special
work session a month and focus ... you know, maybe alternating one month that's on one
of the topics and the next month it's on the other and you work through them. Now I'm
sure staff is sitting there saying, 'Oh no! Not another meeting a month,' (laughter)
but ... but (several talking) but it might be better than two committees meeting once a
month and... them having to be staffed.
Cole/ But I like that concept of like a brown bag noon where we'd post the agenda. We're all
here. We'd make progress on that, um, so it wouldn't be the Saturday all day meeting that
we had during January, but where we could do that more frequently and then we'd all be
here. I'd ... I'd frankly love to do that, cause this format isn't a very good format at this
time.
Throgmorton/ Yeah. Yeah. I ... I think we need to do something like that. It's a pretty good
suggestion, if we don't do the committee thing and (several talking)
Dickens/ It'd have to be a night, or otherwise I can't participate, cause we're so low, I mean, as far
as staffing goes. They already want to fire me the way it is (laughter) just for some of the
meetings I have to go to, so I ... it'd have to be (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Okay (mumbled) brown bag work session at night.
Dickens/ It can be an early brown bag or (several talking) early supper or whatever (several
talking and laughing)
Taylor/ I was kind of thinking along those lines, because uh... there was talk about, uh, engaging
community and the School Board, etc., etc. We certainly don't have time in our regular
Council sessions. There's barely enough time to get through our agenda, to have those
kinds of folks come and engage with us, so that's why I was thinking the separate
meetings would be, or committees, would be a good idea, but ... if...if we did the, another
work session, that might be helpful. If we could accomplish what you'd like to
accomplish in those committees.
Throgmorton/ All right. Uh, yeah, Geoff?
Fruin/ I ... I would say just ... (mumbled) you're going here. If you're lookin' at special work
sessions, I don't think you need to necessarily define what that schedule looks like right
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 30
now, whether it's a third work session every month or not. I think, you know, every time
we meet, we'll do it again here in five minutes, we go through the pending list and if you
start to see somethin' hanging out there that you're just ... you're not... it's... it's not
happening and you're not gettin' to that item, that we need to move it forward, then we
can consider a special work session. Um, but, you know, from where we sit right now
with your strategic plan, I personally feel pretty good. Again, this is a two-year plan and
yes, there are some things we need to get kicked off, um ... you know, I've got some
thoughts on ... on what we look at in May and in June, and I'm ... I'm thinkin' by mid-
summer, um ... we've really, uh, I think we can get those heavier items off and running,
um, so I'm not too worried about gettin' through your strategic plan right now, as long as
we stay focused and when we identify work session items, we're focused on those
strategic plan items. So ... if you're not inclined to create the committees, then I would just
urge ya to ... to ... you don't need to necessarily feel like you're compelled to make a
decision now, but each time when we consider that pending list, think about it if you want
a special work session and ... and we can help you schedule that and ... make it happen if
you ... if you feel we need to, uh, to create that opportunity.
Mims/ I think we should start that way, I mean really try and focus what we're doing in those
work sessions and ... see how much we can accomplish in our regular work sessions and as
we go see if we need a special session and if we get six months down the road, Jim, and
you think ... you feel it's ... you think we really need the committees to get things
accomplished, we can always talk about it again.
Thomas/ I thought ... I thought these summaries were very useful in that sense. I mean, that we'd
begin to see what the issues were that related ... (mumbled) built environment and how all
these pieces could be brought together, um ... for a very productive meeting (mumbled) if
necessary.
Throgmorton/ All right, so ... I ... I think I have the sense of our group here. So, uh, well the way
Geoff articulated it just a minute ago makes good sense to me so we will not proceed
with, uh, the idea of adopting, creating these two new committees, but instead... basically
meeting by meeting decide whether we think we need to schedule a special work session
to ... make better progress on particular strategic plan items.
Cole/ I wouldn't mind having a, trying to do a monthly special work session meeting time would
be my preference. So that if...as opposed to sort of on an ad hoc basis.
Botchway/ I think we wait at this time, I mean I agree ... I think I agree to a certain extent,
but ... I ... I think we wait, I mean, if we're not going to do the committees, then I think we
wait, cause my .... my biggest impetus with the committees was that we get some
University involvement, and ... um, I'm not saying that they can't come to any work
session, but ... um, you know, they have a lot of expertise and I'm just ... again, Diane
Finnerty, I'm looking at your, uh... uh, screen right now, Jim, and I know Cochina Sanders
is doing something... tomorrow at 12, and so I mean there's folks that can do, um, some
good stuff, and ... kind of to your comment, Geoff, I'm not sure ... and I haven't thought
of...I mean I thought about it, but you know, and maybe we just need to talk about the
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 31
Human Rights Commission and how that would work out, because again I'm ... I'm
thinking about the University being more involved and I don't know if necessarily that's
the best place to do so, but it's a good conversation.
Fruin/ You identify in your strategic plan, one of your specific objection... objectives is for staff
to work closely with the University and other stakeholders on an effort, uh... uh, to recruit
and retain a greater minority workforce, and I know that's not exactly what you're
articulating right now, but .... we're gonna start making those connections, uh... uh, frankly
the connections are made. Diane did our all -staff training, uh, last fall, but really
exploring ways that we can, um ... truly collaborate with them, so some of this stuff is
happening at...at the staff level already.
Botchway/ Okay.
Mims/ And I would say, Kingsley, I think ... I think as we talk about these at the work sessions,
whether it's the racial equity or whether it's the built sustainable community, I would see
us coming out of some of those work sessions directing staff ...um ... or maybe forming
very, very short-term subcommittees of the Council to do, you know, one real specific
focus that we want to get done, but not necessarily a two-year long committee, because I
agree on both of these issues ... we have got to collaborate with outside entities (several
responding) to get ... to have success.
Botchway/ Yeah, I agree.
Mims/ So...
Botchway/ I like that.
Mims/ Yeah.
Information Packet Discussion [March 24, 311:
Throgmorton/ All right. Um ... we have enough time ... we can stop at like quarter till. Is that
enough time, you know, for everybody? Okay. So let's turn to the Info Packet
discussion, uh, we can start with the March 21 st...I'm sorry, March 24th packet.
Botchway/ I would just say for March 24th, IP2...just want us to do abetter job. It's just an email
that, uh, Cedar Rapids, um ... you know, has done great as far as, um, third in the nation
for minority-owned businesses. I ... I don't know if we've even been, you know (both
talking)
Mims/ Vetted (both talking)
Botchway/ ...vetted or anything, so I'm not saying anything from that standpoint, but I just
wanted to bring it to Council's attention.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 32
Fruin/ Good things comin' on that, just stay tuned! We're workin' on things! (laughter)
Mims/ Good! (several talking)
Throgmorton/ Any other March 24th packet?
Mims/ Um, IP ... 5. I need to pull it up here real quick. What's the date? Yeah (several talking)
There's an event on ... (several talking) Thursday, April 28th, 6:00 to 8:30 P.M. at the Iowa
City Public Library on, urn ... the impact of racial injustice on youth. So would invite
Council and community to attend that.
Throgmorton/ Likewise, I ... IP #4, conversations on diversity. So ... Professor Katrina Saunders is
going to conduct a luncheon discussion for City board and commission members right
here, from noon to 1:00 tomorrow. So, I ... I guess that includes us too, if we wanted to
attend, but I ... I don't think I'll be able to.
Mims/ I can't!
Throgmorton/ Maybe some ... maybe somebody can. It'd be a good thing.
Botchway/ Terry!
Dickens/ What's that? (laughter)
Throgmorton/ Anything else on March 24th? Okay. March 31. Already dis... discussed the main
one, IPS, which was, uh, the memo about Rose Oaks. We don't need to go over that
again.
Cole/ Well I guess maybe I have a little, uh, I have a question, just as a new Council Member;
it'd be IP 11, um, the Housing and Community Development funding recommendations.
Um, I understand that the Council used to do that and now the, um, HCDC does the
recommendations. We for the most part just accept those. Um ... do we ever modify that,
I mean how frequently do we ever modify those in the past? Is that done, I mean I know
theoretically we'd have the power to do it (mumbled) I mean for example, I look at for
example a Habitat for Humanity, 80,000 bucks, allocation of zero. Um, of course there's
a lot of great entities here that got zero as well, but maybe if someone could just elaborate
in terms of how that's been done in the past.
Mims/ Yeah, I mean ... we (both talking)
Cole/ ...ever is amended?
Mims/ Yeah, we had a subcommittee of the Council that did it for a number of years and
then .... gave it, thought that was a good place for it actually to be done. Um, people who
(mumbled) more time than some of the Council Members, and there's also a scoring
criteria, um, because a lot of this, and actually, Tracy, would you want to come forward,
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 33
Tracy and explain, cause Tracy can tell you in a lot better detail and depth (both talking)
than I can, yeah, it's hard decisions and there's scoring from City STEPS program,
so ... (both talking)
Cole/ (mumbled)
Hightshoe/ Um ... since I've been here we have had the Housing and Community Development
Commission, the Community Devel... Development Needs I think preceded that, they've
recommended funding, um ... since I've been here. I'd say 95% of the time the
Commission, the Council has accepted the Commission's recommendation. Aid to
Agencies, which does receive a sub -section of CDBG money used to be done by Council,
and then a few years back, um, Council directed the Housing and Community
Development Commission to make those recommendations, but for your CDBG and
Home recommendations, the Commission does go through a ranking process.
Cole/ Uh huh.
Hightshoe/ We've had a major cut in funds over the last 10 years, so we have pre... prioritized
projects that make a larger impact, so you are seeing less agencies get funded, but making
a larger .... they have a larger award, and it's, you know, we're looking at complete
renovations of facilities. We're talking about complete housing projects. So we're no
longer funding ... 15 agencies at a third of the request. We're funding, you know, maybe
four or five at almost their full request, just to make sure... housing's complicated. There's
a lot of parts, there's, um, financing that you have to secure. It's just...
Cole/ Yep.
Hightshoe/ That's the reason why you're seeing fewer projects, but more funding.
Cole/ And the budget then's affixed at 450 in terms of what can be awarded. Okay. Thanks.
Hightshoe/ And that's been quite a bit, I mean, we've lost about 40, 50% of our funding the last
10 years.
Mims/ Thanks, Tracy, for correcting me too (laughs)
Cole/ Thank you, Tracy.
Mims/ I was thinking Aid to Agencies.
Cole/ Question answered!
Throgmorton/ Anything else on March 31? Okay, we have enough time to touch on Council
time, so, Pauline, uh, you have anything you want to bring up with regard to Council
time?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 34
Council Time:
Taylor/ (mumbled)
Throgmorton/ John?
Thomas/ No. No.
Mims/ Um, I'll just real quickly mention that Rockne and I did a listening post on Friday evening
at the Pheasant Ridge Neighborhood Center. Um, had about 25 people turn out. Um
(both talking)
Cole/ They apologized for the low turnout too (both talking)
Mims/ Yeah (laughter) Yeah. It was primarily the Sudanese community. We had a great
conversation, got a lot of input. Um, I sent the, all my notes to Marian today, so those'll
be in the next packet, kind of summarizing all the topics, but... everything from
transportation to housing to jobs ... um ... just very detailed, but we can discuss it more later,
but pretty short.
Botchway/ You know, uh, I wasn't going to (mumbled) Council time and I know there's going to
be ... we've talked about it kind of, as we've talked about the Rose Oaks' situation, and I
know there's good people in the audience that are going to be looking towards that
particular, um, you know, those families, but I still feel like we're not doing enough and
I ... I plan on talking with, you know, City staff about, you know ... um, I know that
we've ... what our legal obligations are and things along those lines, but ... um, you know,
doing some research, and I know this isn't necessarily a rezoning effort or there's a need
for a relocation plan or things along those lines, um, I feel like this is an opportunity to
possibly look at, um, doing something differently, um, when we ... when we talk about
these particular situations and I hate to say an opportunity cause you have families losing
housing, but um, I ... I just don't want to miss this particular interval, not only for the
families that are currently, um, being displaced, but also as we ... I think all know of, you
know, various situations throughout our community that we've all kind of kept an eye on
that we ... we need to have some, you know, deeper conversations about, so we never run
into this particular ... I shouldn't say never. I hate saying never, but we don't run into the
situation, um, again ... any type of, you know, large, expansive way. So ... that's all I'll say.
Dickens/ Nothing.
Cole/ Brief follow up, and maybe we should do it at the end of the meeting, but (mumbled)
listening post went very well, but I'm wondering in terms of procedure whether as a
matter of course we should do a follow-up meeting, you know, so it'd probably be the
two people that came to the listening post, cause I want to make sure that when we listen,
we then come back and say 'okay, we've checked with staff,' and we're going back to the
community. So that would be my recommendation, and I don't know if that's
something...
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 35
Throgmorton/ I think feedback to the people who attended would ... is a good idea!
Cole/ Yeah. So I guess I would like (several talking) Well I guess I'd like to, because I think it's
one thing to listen ... and of course we can report it out here, but to go back into the
community and say, okay we've gone to our staff and now we're coming back and here's
what the answer is. So I guess I would like to do that, and I don't know if...
Throgmorton/ Were there specific questions that were asked that can be answered, right?
(several talking) Okay. Yeah, I think it'd be good to provide feedback.
Cole/ Yeah, and I think to just ... and we don't have to do that for everyone, but I guess that'd be
my preference, if Susan's willing to do that, um, and reschedule another meeting.
Mims/ We can talk about, figure it out.
Cole/ Yeah.
Throgmorton/ Okay, I'm going to mention a few things, uh, and then we'll have to break.
(several talking) So ... let's see, on March 20 ... the 25`h, Kingsley, Geoff, Simon and I met
with the Legislative delegation, had a really good conversation with them. I mean the
State Legislative delegation. Uh, Susan and I have participated in the employee service
awards lunch at the Rec Center on the 31 st also. It ... it was a fun event.
Dickens/ I snuck in late!
Throgmorton/ (laughs) ...didn't see ya! (several talking) Ahhh, a few days ago I had the
opportunity to hand out awards at the NCAA Women's Regional Gymnastics
Championship and I can tell ya that was a real treat! I've never seen gymnastics live
before, so it was great seein' em rotate and all that kind of stuff, and handing flowers to
the very skilled young women who, you know, finished in the top six. Actually (laughs)
one ... there was a 10 -way tie for sixth (laughter) or ... or for third, whatever, 10 -way tie
(mumbled) An hour ago Kingsley and I helped break ground for the new Hoover
Elementary School. That was pretty fun. And ... on the 14th I'll be meeting with the
Chamber's Local Government Affairs Committee. I'm looking forward to that. Maybe
staff could give me a talking point or two. Okay! So ... that's it. So let's take a break.
We'll have to pick up, I guess, right after our formal meeting ends.
BREAD
Meeting Schedule:
Throgmorton/ (several talking) All right, so we're back to the work session, folks. We had just
finished, uh, Council time. So the next topic was meeting schedule and I'll just mention
the Economic Development Committee is meeting on April the 12th. Others? Meeting
schedule?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 36
Mims/ Well, Marian still needs to hear from some people (both talking)
Karr/ ...summer schedule, even if it's tentative, I can pencil it in and be tentative, but we see
some patterns showing, and the sooner that we see those patterns and adjust them,
perhaps that will affect some of your tentative absences, as well.
Throgmorton/ Right. Okay, so, uh... if you haven't contacted Marian about that, please do.
Cole/ (mumbled) June 22 through the 26', I'm going to be gone.
Botchway/ Where ya going?
Cole/ The National Lemur Center in, uh, Durham, North Carolina.
Botchway/ I might join ya!
Cole/ Certain seven-year-old likes lemurs!
Throgmorton/ Oh, wow! (several talking) ...full report when you come back! (several talking)
Okay! Anything else on meeting schedule?
Dickens/ Do we have, uh, KXIC to fill in or not?
Throgmorton/ Yeah, where do we stand on that?
Karr/ Um, I don't have that. I'll check on that tonight.
Throgmorton/ Okay. I think I'm pretty much due to do one of those, so...
Karr/ Okay, I'll check!
Pending Work Session Topics UP # 4 Info Packet of 3/311:
Throgmorton/ Okay, pending work session topics, uh, we have our list, um .... uh, I think the only
real question is anybody want to add to the list at the moment? (several responding)
Cole/ I think in terms of, I mean I hate to (mumbled) I think we should have a listening post
there immediately (noises on mic, unable to hear speaker)
Karr/ Rockne, do you have your microphone on?
Cole/ Sorry! End of the meeting! Um...
Botchway/ Rockne, I absolutely (mumbled) (both talking)
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 37
Cole/ I ... I, we need to have a ... an emergency, um, work ... I don't know if work session or
listening post, and I think we should have a staff person there so we can answer those. I
mean obviously we made some progress on that, urn ... but I just think we have to do
better, and um, I think each one of us has to assume that ... you know, starting with me, I
probably fail in some ways, I think we all have to acknowledge that we need this ... this is
absolutely critical and I think we need to do something. Um...
Botchway/ I would just (both talking)
Cole/ ...listening post or whatever. What do we think?
Botchway/ I would disagree with the listening post.
Cole/ Okay.
Botchway/ Just because I ... I think that, especially from what was, you know, um, commented
today and has been commented from previous conversations I've had. People don't want
to be listened to. They want some type of action, and so I feel like, you know, um, Jim,
at the meeting, and I know that ... just to be clear, Geoff s been working on this for
some ... some time now, I mean, City staffs been working on this for some time, and so I
feel like, you know, all of our resources would, you know, be best spent spending the
time, you know, really kind of digging deep and finding out, you know, what we can do
with community partners, what we can take on ourselves, I mean I have some thoughts
around, you know, some of the things that I feel like we could possibly do as well, um,
but ... I do not think a listening post would be good. I just think that would be
another ... (mumbled) people upset, because they're going to ask for answers (noises on
mic) and we're not going to have anything to provide. And I ... and I get that, I mean,
there was nothing wrong with, you know, saying we want answers. I just think
that ... outside of what Geoff said, there was nothing else at this particular time that we
could have given, um...
Mims/ I agree!
Botchway/ ...we could work towards doing something, you know, tomorrow and, I mean, Geoffs
working on this, I mean ... I just felt like ... you know, it was not conducive to have a
conversation to say you know we don't have anything right now, but I ... I don't think that,
you know, the same situation ... or I would hope not, the same situation that happened with
some of the March 31St residents, what happened with the April 30th residents, especially
when the gentleman got up and said what he said. Um, I wrote everything down and so I
expect to kind of follow up with him...
Throgmorton/ Yeah, he was pretty clear I thought.
Botchway/ (both talking) ...points.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 38
Taylor/ And I understand where Rockne's coming from but you know maybe it wouldn't be
called a listening post. It's more of a follow-up kind of meeting, um, but I ... I think
somehow we need to involve the new management and ... and keeping them on track and
keeping them up to their promises, because ... to be honest, I'm terribly concerned and I ... I
got teary-eyed with their stories because I've heard these stories, and ... and they're
different than what ... the City folks are hearing. Uh, they ... they actually had security
going to these people's doors, uh... saying if you're not out by Friday, which was Monday
of this last week, we will take you to court, and they're using fear tactics and that's just
not right, but they're not ... you're not knowing that, you're not hearing these things cause
you're not, you know, you didn't hear from these folks. So some means of following up
with these people and/or management ... to make sure that ... that they're... they're being
cared for and looked after.
Botchway/ I would agree.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, I agree with that, but I think (both talking)
Fruin/ We'll continue to be ... you know I think what I can pledge at this point is we're going to be
engaged at a staff level. Um ... I think ... I think the challenge is that ... one, we don't really
have the case management expertise, I mean, as a city we tend to be a funding agency for
those types of programs and they're executed at a non-profit level. Those agencies have
the expertise to make the connections that... that... that folks need to get 'em through this
difficult situation. So ... staff engagement from that standpoint is ... is a little challenging
because I think we're creating a, maybe a false expectation that we ... we can send folks in
there and immediately start to make the connections. I could tell ya the providers are
committed to making this work. It's just we've gotta ... we've gotta go about it the right
way and I think that's coming together. I think you'll see the ... the community rally to try
to provide the support. Um, in terms of interfacing with the management, um ... we
can ... we can put pressure on them. We can ... tell them what we want and ... and what we're
hearing and ... and really plead with them, but we have to ask ourself, what's the leverage?
You know, we talked about what the discretion is tonight with the site plan, with building
permits. That's not leverage. I ... I don't feel like we have that leverage. So ... I think our
role is to really try to facilitate conversation to make sure that we are getting correct
information from management, that management's talkin' with the tenants, but ... I'm not
sure that there's a central role for staff. (several talking)
Cole/ ...dollar figure in terms of what we're going to be able to infuse, in terms of Shelter House?
Fruin/ $15,000.
Cole/ $15,000.
Fruin/ And ... and we don't ... as I think Crissy said today, we don't fully understand the need now
because Shelter House hasn't had their case management folks down there to talk with
folks, um, about what the need is and who's ... who's eligible and who's not. So, 15 may be
too much; it may be not enough. Um, there's limits to those funds in terms of what they
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 39
can be used for. They can be used for security deposits. They can be used for short-term
rental assistance. They can't be used for things like transportation or, you know, moving
trucks, things like that. There's going to be ineligible expenses. Once we get our arms
around that cost, then we can figure out, okay, is there a role for the City to play? Is there
a role for another agency that maybe has a program that can ... that can fill those gaps?
Um ... you know, United Way has been at the table, and um ... you know....they want
to ... they want to play some role. I don't know what that is. It could be, again, facilitating
connections. It might at some point be, uh, considering bringing funding to the table.
We don't have our arms around this quite yet. We know it's serious. We know it's
urgent. We know it's scary for a lot ofpeople ... and I know the last thing folks want to
hear is we need more time to figure this out, but we do! And... and... management may be
giving conflicting information out there. I ... I don't doubt that that's happening. They're
tellin' us they're workin' with folks. We have no reason to believe that's not the case.
Um ... obviously some things are falling through the cracks and we need to follow up on
those and say, okay, we heard from this tenant or that tenant. Can you tell us what's
going on there?
Throgmorton/ So ... so I would agree. I don't think we have that much leverage (mumbled)
Mims/ Yeah, I mean I think the thing that we have to remember as a Council from what we've
heard from our staff tonight is ... and ... and previously in the memos, is right, we don't have
a lot of leverage. What they are doing is legal. It may be immoral. It may be, you know,
unconscionable from the standpoint of giving people reasonable time and assistance to
move, but from anything I've heard from staff, what they're doing is legal. That in and of
itself really limits what we can do, and particularly when... ordinances we currently have
on the books, in terms of approval of the site plan, etc., you know ... we can't really
do ... there's not enough time to make changes in that to, you know, effect ... I hear what
you're saying (several talking) No, you can't do that retroactively. So I mean I hear what
you're saying, Rockne. Maybe that is something that, you know, if you're talking about a
major development and site plan and it's going to have huge impact on people's living
situation should that be in there. We'll have to figure that out. But... obviously that was
not what people wanted to hear tonight. Sometimes people need to vent, and I ... I totally
agree with Kingsley. I think doing a listening post is going to do nothing but inflame
things more because they are going to want specific, concrete answers now of how we are
going to solve their problems, and I don't think the City can do that. I think it's gotta be
staff working with the non -profits and the other partners in the City to do as much as we
can, as fast as we can, and Geoff gets that, and so I trust that Geoff will ... you know, do
whatever he can from that seat to ... to facilitate those conversations and those actions.
Botchway/ The only added piece I will say and I know we're running out of time is ... you know,
as ... and I think Rockne made this point, as Shelter House, and I know that the Housing
Trust Fund and other folks are going to be helpful. I'm not saying that, but ... as they take
on this burden, and I don't mean to say that in the negative way, but they're going to be
taking on a substantial amount of possible individuals, um, if there's any way for us to
help, um, with designating, you know, a staff person or something along those lines, I just
feel like you know ... (several talking) they just talked about people that would, you know,
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 40
are low income but don't necessarily need homeless assistance, but you know, they also
will be short-staffed in some of the other areas, and Shelter House is already short-
staffed, so I just don't want us to, you know ... do something over here and then lose a lot
of people (both talking)
Fruin/ I understand! Frankly that's... probably on the table (several talking) We just ... need to get
our arms around it first.
Throgmorton/ So ... (several talking) so I'll ... I'll say it ... I'll say a word about this. I think you're
exactly right, Geoff. We don't have much leverage. But I do think it would be
worthwhile for you to contact the owner or the manager of...and (both talking) and
mainly convey to them what we heard, and I'll tell you what I heard. I heard a lot of
frightened people, for good... frightened, for good reason, and I heard a lot of people
saying things like 'I have this letter that told ... that tells me I have to get out by March
31s',' and we know that that ... that can be, you know, just kind of by the by, all ... so we
gotta get the manager with the individual, uh, renters who still remain. So that they deal
with 'em one by one. (several talking)
Thomas/ Pauline and I and Rockne were there, out at ... the complex on Thursday, and I walked
away with a very different impression from that event to what I saw tonight. So
that ... that troubled me, that my sense that ... that things were being worked out. Um...
Botchway/ But, John, I will say that ... this particular event, I don't know necessarily was, you
know, there was a lot of information that, one, I think that you know, what was shared
but no information was shared from what we potentially had talked about, and
then ... there's a lot of people that were in the audience that, you know, um ... don't
necessarily have all the information and I ... I don't, I mean I don't want to go too much
into it and we can talk about it afterwards, but ... you know, I think (mumbled) said some
things that weren't necessarily what some of the other folks that came up to the table had,
uh, discussed, and I don't want us to take away ... I mean, there's a lot of people, especially
folks or residents that came to the table that I think are ... were important to kind of open
our ears to hear, and I think everybody was important as far as what they brought to the
table but ... there's some misinformation there that, um, was a little cause for concern but I
don't think this was necessarily the forum to, you know, say that that wasn't true or
something like that, so...
Upcoming Community Events/Council Invitations:
Throgmorton/ Okay! So ... one more topic — upcoming community events, Council invitations. I
want to mention one invitation. Uh, I got a phone call from Rick Dobyns several days
ago, uh, President Harreld has appointed Rick to the University of Iowa Committee, uh,
which, um, focuses on or concerns CIT. So Rick has asked me whether a member of our
Council would like to go to San Antonio on May 2nd and 3rd. I don't even know if there's
money to afford that, but ... but that's the question that came to me. And he tells me that
people would probably leave on Sunday and return on Tuesday evening. So I'm
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.
Page 41
wondering if any of you might be interested in going and if so ... if it can be afforded
because I don't know what our standard is on that.
Fruin/ We can make the travel arrangements. Yes.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, so would anyone like to go?
Karr/ May I just interrupt? (several talking) There is a Council meeting, and that was mentioned
earlier.
Throgmorton/ Right. Right.
Karr/ Um, and discussion was there would also be other trips coming up, but we certainly can
take a look at ... rescheduling the Council meeting and/or ... but that is going to affect
potentially the summer schedule as we move forward, when you readjust.
Fruin/ We ... I don't know that we need to reschedule, you know, if one person is ... is gone. I
think, um, you know, absences occur, but that's just completely your call.
Mims/ I'd be interested in going.
Throgmorton/ Anybody else?
Botchway/ Personally I would not. Seeing that Rick (laughter)
Throgmorton/ I think it'd be (both talking)
Dickens/ I don't trust myself (several talking and laughing)
Throgmorton/ Okay. Anybody else have something else? (several talking) I guess ... (several
talking and laughing)
Fruin/ Susan, we'll assist you with travel.
Mims/ Okay! (several talking)
Throgmorton/ Yeah, okay. Nothing else, right? So I think we're done. That's it? All right.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 5, 2016.