HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-10-04 TranscriptionPage 1
Council Present: Botchway, Cole, Dickens, Mims, Taylor, Thomas, Throgmorton
Staff Present: Fruin, Dilkes, Hightshoe, Karr, Andrew, Knoche, Kelsay, Yapp,
Boothroy, Rackis, Bockenstedt, Havel
Others Present: Simpson, Nelson (UISG)
Review Strateeic Plan Status Report lIP # 3 Info Packet of 9/291:
Throgmorton/ Okay, so let's convene the Iowa City City Council work session for Tuesday,
October the 4'h. The first item is to review the s .... our, uh, the..... status of our strategic
plan and I think, Simon, you intend to speak.
Andrew/ I do! I do! Hopefully it's a conversation and not just me boring everybody, but .... um,
a couple of housekeeping items before I begin. Simon Andrew, Assistant to the City
Manager. Um, please interrupt me with questions, comments, suggestions. I'm really
hoping that this can be a dialogue. I think it'll be a lot easier to answer questions with
each point rather than trying to circle back to everything (mumbled) so if you have any
comments as we go, please, uh, jump in. Um, also feedback on the, uh, layout in
information presented. If this is how you want to view future updates, this is the template
we're working with at this point, but we can certainly, uh, change that to give you what
you want to see. Um, and I also want to spend as much time as Council wants to discuss
each, uh, given item. You know, for instance affordable housing is, you know, one of our
top, if not our top priority, but we've discussed it a lot in, uh, recent weeks. So, uh, if
you want to speed me up or slow me down, just please let me know. Uh, these items
have been moving incredibly quickly, especially in recent weeks. Uh, before I came in
here I just, uh, glanced over our list of RFPs that have been, uh, recently released or, uh,
received proposals on, and they included the form -based code analysis, tree inventory,
bike share program, bicycle master plan, natural areas inventory and mat.... management
plan, uh, the park master plan and ADA audit, and the climate change task force
facilitator, and so those are all since August the ... urn, those have either hit the street or
we've received proposals on those. So, uh, these are moving very quickly, and just since
yesterday, um, just coming through the email today, um, we've opened a new application
period for the help program, uh, in an announcement that Sycamore Street will have
travel lanes reduced next week to add bicycle lanes, um, two new outreach initiatives
from the Police Department, using our, uh, community outreach assistant, and advertising
for the, uh, `building and crossing bridges together' event at the Public Library that
Mayor Throgmorton will participate in and, uh, former Congressman Jim Leach will be
there as well, so .... that was sponsored by the Iowa, uh, City Human Rights Commission,
so... uh, moving very quickly. Just as soon as we get one of these published it seems like
it (noise on mic, unable to hear speaker) update already. So, um, we're very proud of
some of the work that we've been doing. Um, so starting on page 8 of your Information
Packet, it's, uh, page 5 of the actual strategic plan document, but I'm gonna be using the
page numbers from the Information Packet because I assume that's how it displays on
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your screen. So starting on page 8, um, is the list of the 36 initiatives that Council
identified in the strategic plan. Um, and these are incorporated into all of our decision
making processes and you'll see when the budget document comes out later this year
that, uh, performance measures have been included, um, that talk ... that speak to the
strategic plan in each of the departments, uh, budget pages. Um, we discussed strategic
plan goals at, uh, not only every budget meeting, but every department head meeting.
Uh, the City Manager's office has regularly scheduled meetings with every department
head and the first item on every agenda is what we are doing to further strategic plan
goals, uh, so it's definitely, urn .... in the forefront of our minds and all of staff s minds as
we, uh, disseminate the goals throughout the organization. (clears throat) Uh, find a
couple of running themes tonight. I hope I don't get too, uh, repetitive with, uh, the
words collaboration and partnership and support. Um, I only mention this because, uh,
many of these initiatives are, uh, City -run with input or help from others, but um, others
are, uh, really initiatives from other organizations that the City has helped support. So I
don't want to make it sound like on some of these that we're tryin' to take credit for any
of `em, but uh, just to speak to the fact that we're, uh, doing our best to work with local
organizations and stakeholders on each of these items. Um, so of the 36 initiatives
identified by Council in the strategic plan, uh, 26 already have very significant progress
on them. Now these include, uh, some that were completed very early on, you know,
televising work sessions didn't, you know, take a whole lot of work on our part, so, um,
that's not to say that all of them are, uh, terribly difficult but we have made significant
progress or completed, uh, 26 of them. Uh, seven are in the very early stages of planning,
and three have yet to be addressed. Uh, the three items not yet addressed are the
industrial arts and crafts facility, uh, which we will likely have, uh, a need to have
another discussion with Council to get an idea of what kind of scope that you envision for
that. Ub, develop strategies to diversify the membership of neighborhood organizations,
and providing input on the School District's planned, uh, bond referendum. So those are
the three items that, uh, haven't seen progress yet. Um, but largely, uh, the other items
are .... are well underway and we are very proud of the progress, uh, that we've made on
those, and of course this doesn't include all of the initiatives and programs that, uh, are
intended to meet Council's broad goals but weren't, uh, specifically identified in the
strategic plan. So moving on .... to pages 11 and 12 of your packet. So this is starting this
strong and resilient local economy, uh, broad goal. (clears throat) So, uh, first mentioned
in here is the farm -to -street dinner. This was a fantastic collaborative effort. This was
one that was really a .... an effort that took a lot of agencies to make happen, including
Field -to -Family, the Parks and Rec Foundation, and the Downtown District. Um, it was
a .... a stunning success from what we can tell. Uh, all the feedback has been very
positive, and we're hoping that this can become an annual event, uh, that we use to not
only raise money for local non -profits, but that helps support local food growers and local
restaurants. Um .... and even beyond that, it's the collaboration with these other agencies
and building these relationships that we think has lasting benefit outside of just this one
night event, so .... uh, we're looking forward to working on this more in the future. Uh,
the next one is, urn .... the double -up food bucks. So we budgeted $5,000 for this. Um,
this is something that we need to explore ways to, uh, advertise this better, essentially,
and awareness of the program will, uh, build as it's been in place longer, but it's
something that we would hope that in the future more people do take advantage of. And
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the key to, again, the key to the success of these initiatives is the large number of
community partners. Um, Backyard Abundance collaboration, uh, is also mentioned on
here. There were a couple of initiatives, urn, that they worked very hard on and City staff
was really proud to support, including the edible classroom at the, uh, Rec Center across
the street, and the, uh, plant sale fundraiser, uh, that helped raise money for Backyard
Abundance. Uh, several Farmers Market events are also, uh, called out in, uh, the
strategic plan document and if you have questions about any of those, just please let me
know. Those include the Taste of Market and local food fair.
Botchway/ Simon, let me stop you for a little bit, and this is kind of, uh, question, statement....
question for you more so and then statement for Council. Um, going back to the Farm -
to -Street dinner, which I know .... I believe was, uh, you know, an amazing success.
Andrew/ Uh huh.
Botchway/ I can't remember if I brought this up the last time we discussed it, but you know
when we have, um, City funds being designated for a particular event, um, and then
again, this is just looking at the picture — I wasn't actually there — and hearing some of
the anecdotal things, making sure that we're, you know, thinking about diversity, and I'm
not necessarily talking about, you know, diversity as far as, um, you know, uh.... uh,
color of skin, but I'm also thinking about, you know, individuals able to, um, pay
for .... cause I think it was $50 to maybe $75 for the ticket (several talking) 75 ... for the
ticket, and just in the future, I mean, I think it's a wonderful thing but then, you know, as
I think about how wonderful that is, uh, of an opportunity, wanting to ensure that, you
know, everybody's able to take place, and so even if that money was used .... and again I
know it was a collaborative effort, but thinking in the planning for next year and the
years, um, you know, to come, um, thinking about how we can, you know, tie in different
community pieces and figure out some funding from that standpoint. I wouldn't say
scholarships but, you know, things along those lines.
Andrew/ Sure! Absolutely, and that was a discussion that I had with Brenda Nations after the
fact. Um, tickets for this year, I believe, were only available on the Downtown District's
web site, um, and we talked about maybe reserving a number of tickets that are available
at different places to buy and perhaps having some reduced cost tickets. Um, you know
we are sort of constrained by the size of the street, so adding, you know, more tickets
wouldn't be, uh, necessarily feasible but if we could use some of those City funds to
purchase those tickets and disseminate them through local organizations I think it would
make the event more successful and have a broader base of participants in it. That's a
very good point.
Botchway/ The other point was, um, I was going to ask about was the SNAP. How successful
was that? I know you talked about the double -up food bucks not being as successful, just
based on advertising, but what about SNAP? How frequently was it used and was it a
great program or....
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Andrew/ That's a very good question. Uh, I don't know exactly how many, um, people took
advantage of that. Um, it, again, it's sort of builds, um .... builds momentum over time as
it's in place longer. I would suspect that usage probably wasn't as high as we would
hope. Um, I don't have the specific numbers on it but .... um .... you know, one would
think that if, uh, families hadn't been in the habit of going to farmers markets, assuming
that it was going to be too expensive that they wouldn't necessarily go there to find out
that this program was in place. So .... really I think awareness is .... is a key piece to those,
but um, we can certainly come back with actual figures on .... on how much that was used.
Thomas/ I'd just .... I'd just quickly like to mention the Farm -to -Street I think, you know, which I
didn't attend but just from the photos was a fabulous event and process. Uh, just wanted
to mention that just the ... the idea of occupying the street, or occupying public space in
that way, I think was also why it was so important and I think it can be expressed, uh, at
different scales. It doesn't have to be the big formal 200 -person event, you know (both
talking)
Andrew/ Sure!
Thomas/ ...hosted by all the great restaurants of Iowa City. It can be something, you know, of
neighbors potlucking in their own neighborhood park, but doing it in a ... in a somewhat
different way, you know, in terms of its formal character. So I .... I think it really, I hope
anyone who saw it, urn .... can appreciate how that idea can be .... expressed and .... and...
and done, um, throughout Iowa City. It doesn't necessarily have to be in Northside
Marketplace.
Andrew/ Sure!
Thomas/ You can reclaim your own park or adapt it to your own park and .... and use it in that
way as well, at least that's the way I've been thinking about it and I know my neighbors
are interested in pursuing it in that way.
Andrew/ Absolutely, that's a great idea! We do have, uh, a number of block parties that happen
every year, but I don't know that they've, uh, been sort of that potluck format, as you
described, and I think that that's a great neighborhood building exercise. It's a great use
of public spaces. Um, we're excited to hopefully move forward in the coming years on
cleaning up our downtown alleys too. Um, we're looking at alley.... consolidating alley
hauling services so it's not a ... a line of dumpsters all the way up and down each alley, but
we had a recent event that used a small portion of the alley next to Buzz Salon and, uh,
we think that if we can get people thinking in those ways and get the alleys in a .... in a
place where they're more usable for events like that, that that's a really big opportunity
for maximizing the public spaces downtown and that's a very good point. Absolutely!
All right, turning to pages 12 and 13 of your Information Packet. Um, still on strong and
resilient economy. Um, we've, uh, started the TIF policy review, uh, the Council
requested. Um, Wendy has been holding a number of stakeholder meetings, uh, they're
eight that are going to be scheduled in all. So far we're through five of them. Um,
gamering input from a number of community organizations and interested individuals
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that can give us feedback on what they see the strengths and weaknesses of our current,
uh.... uh, TIF incentives and, um, possible ways to make those better going forward and
make those more, uh, useful for, uh, the community. Um, also the economic
development policy was updated this year, and you all approved that in May, um, and it
added a requirement that residential projects that receive City funding, uh, must, uh, have
15% of affordable units and they must remain affordable for 20 years, and this is at a
maximum of 60% of area median income. Uh, so that was a .... a good progress on that,
uh, count. Um .... so the next one on here, uh, so you want to start a business workshop.
We found this to be incredibly, um, helpful and we think that it's also going to aid our
micro -loan program, uh, going forward. So these were, uh.... Lib, partnership with
Kirkwood Community College, uh, five, uh, workshops were held at Kirkwood,
approximately 50 unique individuals attended the five workshops, and the Power Point
slides, uh, from the presentations are available on our web site if people weren't able to
attend the event. Uh, so the retooled micro -loan program with better loan terms, coupled
with this event, has renewed interest in the micro -loan program. We went a very long
time without many applications, um, both because of the loan terms and probably
because of lack of, um, awareness of the program and a lack of, um, education on how to
put a bid .... uh, a business plan together that would be successful under the loan program.
So, um, we are currently assisting four businesses and three of those businesses are
minority owned. Uh, the City also, um, provided scholarship funds for Kirkwood
students to participate in an internship. Again, we think that this will help, um, draw
interest to both the workshops and the micro -loan program. Uh, the students
participating, uh, in the internship program earn college credit. Uh, they were helped to
put together a business plan and then will be helped to put together a micro -loan
application with the City. So that's been very successful. I think that that's one of the
key ways that we can, um, help grow local small businesses and, uh, diversify business
ownership within the city. The Merge, uh, co -working space and prototype laboratory is
an incredibly inci.... exciting project on the ped mall. Uh, it's a partnership between us,
ICAD, and the University of Iowa. The City, uh.....the project has secured $2.3 million
in outside funding and Council has authorized up to $100,000 in City funds to be
contributed to the build -out of the space. They are, uh, currently under construction and
hope to, uh, reopen in January. Uh, the co -working space has, uh, temporarily moved out
of the facility. They were already working out of the Library space, um, which is
provided to ICAD at reduced rent, uh, but they hope to be back in their new and
improved space in January. So, exciting development on the ped mall. It's really a
perfect location, I think, for what we want to do with the ped mall and what ICAD and
the University hope to .... hope to accomplish with their facilities. Um, I already
discussed the micro -loan program and facade improvements. Uh, you all approved a, uh,
facade grant to, uh, Big Grove Brewery, uh, in a really important area of town that is in
need of redevelopment. Um, we hope that that'll be a great facility and really, um, spur,
uh, development in the area, along with, uh, the park in Riverfront Crossings that we will
be, um, developing in ... in the coming years. All right, so page 16 of the Information
Packet, um, historic preservation support. This again was one of Council's identified
initiatives in the strategic plan. Um, we all remember the Houser -Metzger house move.
That was, uh, big news here around City Hall, but uh, that was something that wasn't led
by the City, again, you know, Friends of Historic Preservation but the City provided a lot
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of operational support and, uh, as did MidAmerican Energy as well, so ... uh, that was, uh,
good to see the ... one of the houses across the street here saved, um, from demolition. Uh,
City Park cabin restoration is also something we're very proud of. We received a
$25,000 grant, uh, to, uh, redo those. Those are on the, uh, National Register of Historic
Places, and .... they have been, uh, falling in disrepair and it is really important that we,
um, make sure that we maintain those, uh, in a way that preserves the historic nature of
the City Park cabins. Uh, also mentioned on here is the funding that was approved in the
last budget process for expanded staff hours to ... devoted to historic preservation and a
couple of, uh, National Register and historic designations that you all approved, uh, in
recent months as well. That is the progress on historic preservation support. Okay, so
moving on to ... uh, broad goal 42, encourage a vibrant and walkable urban core, and this
starts on page 17 of your Information Packet. Um .... this is something that we've
scheduled many events for and, uh, we have upcoming events as well. Uh, you all
remember Dan, uh, Parolek's, uh, presentations to both staff and the public. Uh, Jay
Walljasper also, uh, spoke to us on place -making in the commons. Gave two
presentations while he was in town. Uh, the Robin Hamilton visit leading the inclusive
city, that was one that was funded by a number of, uh, local organizations, including the
City of Iowa City. Uh, Jeff Speck will be here on the 201 and 25a' of this month, uh,
something that we're very much looking forward to, and next spring, uh, Zach Benedict
is scheduled, uh, to discuss a lifetime community at the Senior Center. So we're looking
forward to that as well. Um, these have been very well attended by and large and have
been not just a good job of initiating that public dialogue, but have been informative to
staff and have spurred discussion internally here at the City as well. So .... and we're very
glad that these speakers are coming into town and, uh, we look at these events as having
been very successful. Uh, the next, uh, City Council identified goal was, uh, to support
diverse housing types and price points. There'll be more on this later in the, uh, social
justice category as well. Affordable housing appears a couple of times, uh, in your
document. Um .... so, uh.... the inclusi.... the inclusionary housing ordinance, uh, for
Riverfront Crossings, those code amendments were adopted earlier this year. Um, I
already mentioned the affordable housing requirements for City -incentivized projects, the
15%. Uh, Housing First and the Fuse project moving forward is also very exciting. Uh,
Shelter House has, uh, done a lot of work on this for years. They've been, um, reaching
out to community organizations and, um, have done a great job of, uh.... of not just
building momentum for it but really educating the public on the need for it and how it's
in all of our best interests, both financially and, uh, what's right for the .... the people that
would be living there. Um ... we also have an item on tonight's consent agenda that you'll
be considering, um, that is an update to the housing joy ... housing choice voucher
administrative plan, uh, that provides a special admission to residents at the Housing First
facility, um, which once this facility moves forward would provide a revenue stream for
the facility, um, cause obviously, uh, they wouldn't be getting a whole lot of rent
payments, so .... uh, this is something that should help the project move forward as well.
And that's in addition to the code mend .... uh, code amendments that you all have already
approved, and the $275,000 in City funding for the project. Uh, Pine Grove had, uh, that
development had a number of diverse housing types, uh, in the development and
preserved approximately an acre of pine trees, but again I'll be speaking more in-depth
on affordable housing as we move forward (mumbled)
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Thomas/ Simon, um....
Andrew/ Yeah!
Thomas/ ...on the Pine Grove....
Andrew/ Yes!
Thomas/ I don't really view that as being in the urban core. It's, um....
Andrew/ Sure!
Thomas/ ....out (both talking)
Andrew/ That's absolutely (both talking)
Thomas/ ....Scott Boulevard (laughs)
Andrew/ Absolutely true! It couldn't be further (both talking and laughing)
Thomas/ So .... so what I would suggest, and I'm, you know.... have some personal involvement
to, uh, put that out there as well, but I ... I would hope, uh, Council would agree that a
good example of a project in the urban core would be the Prairie Hill co -housing, in
terms of the, um .... the same issues. It .... it has diverse housing types, actually draws
pretty strongly from the missing middle range of housing, uh, it is .... in the urban core. It,
um, I believe, applied for workforce housing credits as well as got funding through the
Johnson County Affordable Housing Trust. So, it's .... it seems it's actually also, cause
with Pine Grove we don't really know if there will be affordable housing.
Andrew/ Right! Right.
Thomas/ ... with .... with Prairie Hill I think we, I mean we could confirm this, but I believe there
will be both affordable and workforce housing. So that would be my suggestion in
terms ... you know, I .... I think it's ... at this stage, one of the things I'm really hoping we
can .... use this (mumbled) to promote examples of what it is we're talking about (laughs)
Andrew/ Sure!
Thomas/ So, you know, what is the urban core, where are we achieving diverse, affordable
housing that's affordable, and point to it, so that people understand, you know, the
vocabulary, the housing type vocabulary, and ... and what exactly constitutes what
we're.... envisioning when we ... we talk about these goals.
Andrew/ Yeah, that's a very good point. Absolutely, and you are correct on the affordability of
those units out there. That's really, from what 1 understand, at least was a large part of
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the impetus of why the group came together to pursue it was a lack of, uh, housing in the
price range that they were looking for, so .... no, that's a very good point. Absolutely!
Frain/ And just (mumbled) real quick on the Pine Grove and ... and perhaps it's .... uh, better suited
for the healthy neighborhood section, I ... I slipped that in there at the end, um, because I
do feel like it's a .... it's a good example of in -fill development that you all approved that
has a mix of housing types that it is walkable to really a lot of services with the Old
Towne Village, uh, you know, probably a quarter mile or less away there. Um, you have
access to healthcare facilities, to restaurants, to ... to other services in that area. Um,
and ... and hopefully, um, you know, depending on where the attendance boundaries fall
and what not, it'll also be very accessible to .... to schools in ... in that area too, so ... um, I...I
feel .... I feel really good about that one. I know there's a lot of discussion at this table,
but maybe we can move that to the healthy neighborhoods area.
Andrew/ Sure, that makes a lot more sense. Yeah, you're right. It's not in the urban core, so....
Mims/ Well and I .... I would agree, I mean I agree with John — it's not in the urban core, but I
think when you look at the subheading of encourage diverse housing types and price
points, it doesn't say affordable housing by definition. It says, you know, a variety of
price points, and when you've got, you know, a 36 -unit apartment building all the way to
single-family homes, you're definitely going to have different pi .... price points within
that development. So I think it definitely fits that, yet not in the urban core, so....
Andrew/ Which provides us a good segue to healthy neighborhoods! (laughs) That is the, uh,
next broad goal, starting on page 21, uh, going through page 23 of the Information
Packet. Uh, not mentioned on this slide here, um, are the Help program and the
UniverCity program, um, which are very important programs, you know. UniverCity
we've discussed in the past isn't, uh, tailored specifically to affordable housing, but, um,
more to, uh, make sure that neighborhoods have a good mix of rental, home ownership,
families, students that, uh, those neighborhoods are diversified in that sense, but .... um,
again, isn't specifically tailored to affordable housing. Uh, the first one on the Power
Point slide here is, uh, the annexation policy. Council recently directed us to, um, look
into a policy and that is something that we are currently researching and will come back
to Council, um, with a recommendation on that. Uh, form -based code RFP is out and this
would include the, uh, on -street parking study as well. Uh, so that will be, um, reviewed
soon. Proposals are due October 241h, so we look forward to seeing what the results of
that request for proposals, uh, is. Um ... and the recent and planned park developments are
incredibly impressive. Um, there are several that are detailed in the document, um, on
page 22. Uh, but this is something that we're really proud of. Julie and her staff, in a lot
of ways, have been really.... knocking these out of the park. They've really taken the
spirit, I think, of what, uh, Council wants to see in terms of our public spaces, uh, and our
parks and, um, we'll get to more on their programming later, but .... uh, I think that
they've really been, uh, running with this in a way that ... it was surprising even to us how
impressive that was. Um, and we also have the ADA access and facility master plan, uh,
coming up, so .... um, that RFP is out and, uh, we .... do look forward to what that has to
say, especially how we can improve the accessibility of our public spaces. So that'll be,
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um, accessibility in terms of the outdoor parkland. Um, we have some ADA audits on
the facilities themselves, um, but this will be more the outdoor spaces that, uh, that that
RFP is specifically tailored to. Uh, we've had a lot of discussion of curb ramp projects,
uh, before Council. Uh, this year we not only doubled the funding for the dedicated curb
ramp program, uh, up to $100,000, uh, but we also added two $50,000 each projects, um,
one added a bunch of curb ramps near, uh, Grant Wood Elementary School and
Fairmeadows Park, and the other was around the County Administration Building. So,
um, the ones I know around Grant Wood have already been installed. It's a great
improvement to the neighborhood. You know, that's a school that has a lot of children
walking to it, and it's a heavily used park, so it's really important to make sure that all the
features in that neighborhood are accessible. Uh, complete streets funding. We have
$300,000 in the upcoming budget, um, for that, and I've already mentioned the tree
inventory and natural areas plan. Uh, the tree inventory proposals were due on
September 28a' and are currently under review. Um, we've also received proposals for
the natural areas inventory and mas.... management plan. So again, that's separate from
the park master plan. It's not so much the, uh, the uses of the park but more our natural
areas and, uh, the unprogrammed, uh, areas that the City owns in our parks.
Throgmorton/ Simon, I'd like to second what you said about, uh, Julie and her staff and the
quality of improvements that they've managed to produce in our neighborhood parks.
Uh, the ones I'm aware of have been really pretty dramatically improved. So .... you
know, praise goes to her and her staff.
Andrew/ Absolutely! I was just at, uh, Mercer Park this weekend with my son and, you know,
that .... I've never seen that playground empty. I mean it's always busy with children out
there and it's a huge improvement over what it was, so, uh....
Dickens/ Yeah, I drove by on Sunday, but my wife wouldn't let me out of the car to go play
(laughter) it was packed Sunday after .... it was about 11 or 12, it was....every toy was
being used. So it's ... it's quite a project over there, so .... (several talking)
Mims/ And I think it's important to remember that a lot of these things have been done, and it's
important that we continue, but because of monies that have been budgeted in the CIP for
years, I mean, this .... this whole plan of really trying to upgrade these parks started years
ago as we start putting more and more money into the CIP, specifically designated for the
parks. So .... what we're seeing now fortunately is the fruition of, you know, money that
was planned years ago. We need to make sure we try and keep that going because we've
got (laughs) we've still got a lot of work to do! (laughs)
Andrew/ Absolutely. As you saw at your recent meeting there's a lot on the agenda for
prioritizing park improvement projects.
Cole/ And along those same lines, I really encourage the public to take a look at Chaddick Green
Gardens. Um, that has been a tremendous success. I know the concern of public gardens
is is well are they going to be maintained. I walk by there with my dog all the time and
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it's a terrific space and so major kudos to staff in terms of that particular project. I think
that's exactly what we're talking about in terms of healthy neighborhoods. So, great job!
Andrew/ Absolutely, and that's a .... that was a unique opportunity to get that size of open space
in a built -out neighborhood. It was ... we were really lucky to come across that, and yeah,
it's been a great addition to the neighborhood.
Throgmorton/ Simon, I .... pardon my faulty memory here, but does Chaddick Green appear in
the .... the strategic plan update?
Andrew/ I don't think so. No. That's a very good point. We'll make sure that we add that in
there.
Throgmorton/ Yeah.
Andrew/ Absolutely! Thank you for pointing that out.
Botchway/ One criticism. Um .... from Susan's comments is that big kids can't necessarily play,
um .... on the swings and stuff, so .... you need to think about that in future CIP budgeting.
It's been really..... (several talking and laughing) It's been really tough to get up
sometimes when my son's caught up in the (both talking)
Dickens/ ....take the grandkids. I have to play on somethin' too so (laughter) You
wanna... wanna have all the ages.
Taylor/ Just some glider swings, you know (several talking) for the adults. Those are nice!
(several talking)
Andrew/ Absolutely! Absolutely! All right, I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on this
si... slide. We're entering into budget season here and you all will be hearing quite a bit
about each of these items over the next few months so ..... I'll try and fly through this
fairly quickly. Um, so this starts on page 24 of your Information Packet. Um, and I do
want to point out that not every city has the flexibility to provide mid -fiscal year support
or to pursue initiatives in the middle of the year. Usually ... or ... often those have to come
at the expense of something else in the City budget, and the flexibility that we've had to,
uh, take on initiatives mid -year is really the result of just prudent financial management.
So we have a lot to be proud of here and it really allows us to provide the services that
our ... our community wants to see. Uh, one of the items in, uh, the strategic plan is to
diversify revenue sources. Uh, we discussed this in conjunction with the affordable
housing initiatives. It was, uh, part of the 15 -point plan and, um, it's something that we
continue to look at and, uh, will discuss more during the budget process. Uh, the
emergency fund is, uh, very healthy and, um, it's something that we need to look at, um,
how we, uh.... treat general fund sur .... uh, surpluses going forward and what those are
used for. Our triple-A bond rating, it's a challenge with, um, our City's .... Moody's
reports state that it's ... we have an unusual profile for, uh, a triple-A city. We have, uh,
lower than average for their median income for cities that do have a triple-A bond rating.
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Uh, they largely attribute it to our healthy fund balances and prudent financial planning,
so it's something that we .... should be proud of, but it's not just a designation. It's not
just a badge to wear on our sleeve. This produces real .... real dollar savings that translate
into services and projects that, uh, we want to accomplish. Uh, the Council identified
reducing the property tax levy rate again in fiscal year 18, and that'll be determined this
winter, but we plan to come back to Council. We haven't seen, um, the projected
valuations yet, but we plan to come back to Council with a budget that does reduce the
levy rate again.
Thomas/ Since that is something I .... I don't know if other Councilors experience.... this in
conversations with .... with residents, the, you know, complaining about their property
taxes, and um, you know, I think we .... we have to explain (laughs) what we have control
over and what we don't. And, um, you know, that we are doing what we can, but you
know, if a property is reassessed at a higher valuation, urn .... I mean that alone can be the
difference.
Andrew/ Absolutely, and typically homeowners look at the total dollars of the property tax bill
and don't really parse out how much is the School District, how much is the City, how
much is the County. Their assessment goes up and, you know, last year the School
District levy went up, County went down a little bit, we went down a little bit. Uh, they
don't really parse out what caused that (several talking) Right. That's a very (both
talking)
Throgmorton/ Simon, with regard to solid financial foundation.
Andrew/ Uh huh.
Throgmorton/ Uh, I want to say something that echoes what Susan said a few minutes ago with
regard to prior initiatives ... uh, initiatives by prior Councils. So ... one thing I'm aware of
is that, uh, the .... the current status, uh, strategic plan update does not identify some key
projects that are under construction right now.
Andrew/ Uh huh.
Throgmorton/ And which in many cases were... well, were initiated by a prior Council, in some
cases approved by prior Councils. In other cases just gotten to a certain point where we
did the final kind of approving, but their key projects and, uh, you know, I think of the
Court and Linn, The Rise at Court and Linn and....
Andrew/ Sure!
Throgmorton/ ....uh, two or three others, and then the Gateway project, First Avenue upgrade,
um, I mean, the underpass.... these are major, uh.... in .... construction projects that
contribute to a solid financial foundation.
Andrew/ Absolutely!
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Throgmorton/ So....
Andrew/ That's a very good point. Uh.... we'll flush this out more, um, with the next report with
those. Um, you know this was one, again, that I didn't focus a whole lot on, knowing
that we were going into budget season but.... that's.... it's hard to speak to this topic and
not mention those. That's a very, very good point. Yes, once Court -Linn comes online
(mumbled) tax rolls, that's gonna be of huge benefit to the City and will help support a
number of services or projects moving forward. (several talking) ....affordable units in
the building too.
Botchway/ And also back to Jim and Susan's point, you know .... this is the opportunity to brag a
little bit. I know that .... I can't remember how many meetings before, you know, when
we got our, um, our bond coming in, we were you know .... we saw a .... a really good
benefit from the bonds that we were looking at or approving, and making sure that that's
incorporated somewhere in the document, I think, is key and then the other thing I was
thinking about is what is health fund balances? I mean I know what it means (both
talking)
Andrew/ Sure!
Botchway/ ....is there any way that we can, you know .... word that out to where it makes sense
for, um, you know.....the general public, as far as what that means and what it means to
not be healthy. I mean is it over a certain percentage that makes it seem more healthy
than not. It was a conversation I had, um, rather recently about, you know, ensuring that
residents are, you know, um, a part of it. I know that comes later on in our packet, cause
I looked at that, um, kind of snapshot of the budget and so that's great. I'm just thinking
that if people are looking at the strategic plan, if there's certain things that we could, you
know, one line in there would be great as well.
Andrew/ That's a very good point. You know, our budget document and the transmittal letter
has a .... a couple of tables that I think I could easily copy and paste into here that are
pretty informative to what the current fund balances are and what, uh, targets should be,
so .... that's a good point. Sorry, Geoff, did you want to....
Fruin/ Nope! Spot on!
Andrew/ Right! Moving on to community engagement. So this starts on page 26 of your
Information Packet. Uh, televising work sessions, mentioned it earlier. That was an easy
one to knock out early on, so that one's done. Um ... engage the public on complex topics.
Uh, so this is one that we've begun, um, and we still have plenty of work to do on this,
but uh, this includes, uh.... uh, the Police Department outreach efforts that I mentioned
earlier. They've been participating in, uh, any number of trainings and forums and, um,
the two outreach initiatives that I mentioned earlier. Uh, the community outreach officer
position, uh, Henri Harper's position has been, uh, very successful in reaching out to the
community, which has, uh, helped quite a bit. Um, I mentioned the TIF stakeholder
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meetings earlier as well. That's been both very informative to us and I think informative
to the participants in those discussions. Uh.... the key to, uh, making sure that we have
productive conversations on these complex topics is that we're all starting from a similar
base of knowledge; that we're not talking past each other; that, uh, we understand, you
know, sort of what the baseline is before, um, you know our preferences and values are
interjected into the conversation, so, uh, those TIF discussions in particular have been,
uh, very successful at that. Uh, the Mayor's had, uh, very successful, uh, neighborhood
walks from what I understand. We get a lot of positive feedback from that and I'm sure
that you get very important feedback from the community as you, uh, do those. Um, and
many public events that we continue to participate in. This is a new item since the
strategic plan but, um, Juneteenth we had, uh, a number of staff out there — Police, Fire,
um, our office, urn.... Neighborhood Development Services, Finance. We had plenty of
people out there and it just helps with that interaction that people in a ... a casual setting
can ask you a question about, um, you know an upcoming project or the City's finances
or, uh, whatever the case may be. So .... uh, it's .... it's been a very, uh, fruitful, uh.... uh,
project there. Um, so we've also had strong collaboration with local government
agencies since the strategic plan was issued. Uh, CIT is something that we've been, uh,
working with the .... the County on. That's really a County led effort but ... uh, again those
conversations have benefits outside of just the topic that we're discussing. You know
I've become acquainted with and built relationships with a number of officials from other
governments, from County, from neighborhood organizations, any number of agencies
and organizations that, uh, really .... make it easier to pick up the phone, call somebody, if
you have a question, if you have a favor to ask, um, whatever the case may be. Um,
we've.... got a call recently that the courthouse needed some parking, uh, during
construction out there, that we were able to provide for them — not a big deal in and of
itself, but I think it's more of a symptom of that relationship building that somebody can
just pick up the phone and ask for a fairly simple favor and, um, it's not something that,
uh, has to be, you know, more in-depth discussion or more formalized activity, so....
Throgmorton/ Simon, on that point, I'd note that Geoff wrote letters to Mayor Amy Nielsen and
Mayor John Lundell, thanking them for all the help they provided with regard to the
Cyclo -cross World Cup event.
Andrew/ Absolutely!
Throgmorton/ Both were excellent letters, and those kinds of things really do help build
relationships and enable .... make it possible to do other things as time goes on, so .... a
simple act but a good act.
Botchway/ Kind of along those same lines, there's two different events that occurred. One with,
uh, David Schwindt at, urn .... I can't remember the meeting that it was, but it was kind of
a community discussion on, um, policing, and then also, um, Officer Smithey at, um, the
Black Lives Matter event. I thought that they did amazing jobs, um, from a Police
Department despec... perspective, discussing different issues, um, so obviously I think the
training's working. I think that from a community engagement standpoint especially.
Um, I know that just recently from happening like in the last week, law students and
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other community members that were there .... it was well done. I ... I didn't get an
opportunity to thank `em because everybody was like rushing to him to ask him a bunch
of questions, um, which made me somewhat jealous, but (laughter) he did a wonderful
job, so....
Andrew/ Yeah, we really .... the City has very few, uh.... uh, employees that are better
representatives of us and what we've trying to do than Officer Schwent and Officer
Smithey. They've, you know, really like you said, they understand what the goal of the
training is. They .... they really get it, they take it to heart, and they act on it, and we
really can't ask for more from them. So, yeah, it's .... it's been very successful. I
appreciate you saying that! All right, environmental sustainability. Starting on page 30
of your Information Packet. Again this is one that, uh, Transportation and Resource
Management and Neighborhood and Development Services teams, uh, have really been
knocking out of the park. Um .... I encourage everyone to review the planning goals that
were included in the request for proposals for the bicycle master plan. Uh, those are
presented in, uh, the, uh, strategic plan document in here. Uh, but here's a long list of,
uh, things that we're doing to try and achieve that gold status and work toward platinum
in the future. Not only the master plan, the bike boulevard demonstration wasn't a City
initiative, uh, students from the University came to us and asked to do it. We did provide
some operational support and some financial support, but this is something that we really
were helping them accomplish and, uh, by all accounts if was incredibly successful, um,
150 I think, 170 people used it and it was really a .... a good way for families to, um, enjoy
a Saturday to, uh, get in the habit of riding their bikes to the Farmers Market, uh, instead
of driving down. So it .... it's something that we hope we see more of in the future and
gets people thinking about the .... the benefits of bike lanes and, um, and biking to ... as a
mode of transportation, not just something that you do for exercise.
Cole/ Along those lines, Simon, I was just up in Madison this past weekend and I think it's really
helpful for someone to actually go and experience what a totally connected street grid
looks like in terms of bike infrastructure. Sort of as we focus on trying to obtain gold,
issues pop up, you know, how is that going to effect busing. How is that going to effect
other modes of transportation. It's good to just go up and experience that, to see what it
looks like and see how well it works. So I ... I commend staff for the progress we've
made. We're really looking for that commuting infrastructure focus. That seems to be a
key area, and so hopefully we'll see more progress in that area, but ... I'm really excited
about what you guys have in store.
Andrew/ Uh, bike share .... thank you very much, uh, bike share RFP, uh, has also been released.
That was one of the ones I mentioned earlier. Uh, bike park ... park lift will be coming to
Dubuque Street, uh, near the intersection with Washington Street as that construction
moves farther east. Um, and it is, uh, pictured here on the Power Point slide, but it's
something that the Downtown District has also been heavily involved in and we look
forward to that coming. Uh, we do plan to add, uh, bicycle amenities throughout the city
as well, including fix -it stations, um, some stackable, uh, bike parking racks in our
parking ramps, um, so we're really looking forward to, um, to people using like you said,
uh, cycling is a mode of transportation, commuting into work or school. Uh, bike to
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work week and bike month events are something that we continue to support. We
provided $1,500 in support for bike to work week. The Mayor issued a proclamation for
bike month, uh, supporting these and the cycling community is something that helps us
achieve these goals as well. Like I said with the bike boulevard that's .... that wasn't a
City initiative. That we really, um, count on and hope for, uh, community organizations
and uh, other groups to, uh, really take the lead on this. We can only, um, encourage it so
much but uh, we really need those partners to help us and to educate us and to help us
achieve the goals that we're looking to, uh, achieve. (mumbled) for presentations, this
could have been in the other category with community presentations, but, um.....those
were both successful. We've done some, uh, trail, street, and sidewalk improvements, so
there was the Highway I trail. There were several, uh, mentioned in your strategic plan
document. Um, Highway 1 trail extension, uh, Riverside Drive pedestrian tunnel — that'll
move things forward, uh, and the road diets on Mormon Trek, First Avenue, and
Sycamore Street, and again .... and you've already been presented with the downtown
traffic model and, um, what we hope to do with these road diets moving forward,
so .... uh, those are underway and we look forward to, uh, completing more of those. Uh,
plastic bag policy, uh, Chris will be coming to you later this year with a, um, proposed
plan on implementation. They've been reaching out to businesses and trying to figure out
what the best way to implement this is, but it's something that he'll come back to you
later this year and, um, and .... either get, um, redirection or a blessing on the ... on the plan
that he presents to you. Uh, the carbon emission reduction projects are, um, very excited.
If you have been downstairs you see the AmeriCorps sign in the window. Uh,
AmeriCorps is underway with their efficiency audits of our public housing stock, uh, so
that's exciting. Again, not just to, um, reduce carbon emissions but it also benefits the
tenants of these, that, uh, that pay utilities, that their utility costs will go down going
forward. So it's really a ... a win-win program there. Uh, the, uh, remaining $30,000 for
the partnership with a non-profit facility, um, will move forward in December. They'll
be part of the Aid to Agencies process. Uh, so we look forward to seeing what kind of,
uh, applications that we get for those funds. Uh, Climate Change Task Force, the ... the
facilitator, uh, RFP is out and, uh, that will be reviewed by Council Members Taylor and
Cole, um, and they'll make a recommendation to the full Council as to how to move
forward with that but that will be coming, um, back before you soon as well.
Fruin/ One .... one quick note on that, that has not .... that is not quite out yet.
I_R:1.7011W
Fruin/ ...we're still workin' through the ... the draft language there.
Andrew/ Okay! Thank you. Thank you! And you also had, uh, collaborate with community
partners as one of the items, uh.... we, uh, really lean on this STAR framework quite a bit
on this. Uh, we did have a public presentation educating the public, getting feedback on
that. Um, electric vehicle charging stations is something that we're excited for too. Um,
that's something that'll be, uh, a joint proposal with the University of Iowa, um, to install
those in our parking ramps to, um, hopefully.... build momentum for people hoping to
purchase an electric vehicle. You know, it's hard to .... it's sort of chicken or the egg, you
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know, it's hard to purchase a vehicle without the infrastructure for charging it but ... urn,
one has to go first. So we're hoping that this provides an impetus for, urn .... for more
electric vehicles here in town. And I already mentioned the local food partnerships.
Waste minimization — going to be talking about this quite a bit at your, uh, next Council
meeting. Um, Council will consider code changes for curbside organics, uh, multi -family
recycling, and electronics ban at the Landfill and a tarp policy for the Landfill. So those
will, um, all be, um, part of the, uh, code amendments that are on your next agenda. And
uh, Chris'll be here to discuss those and answer any questions, but we're really excited to
be moving forward with those.
Cole/ Will that include the multi -family recycling?
Andrew/ Yep, sure will. Sure will!
Cole/ Encourage you also to invite a lot of different community members, but in particular
students. I know that this has been an issue that they've been fighting for forever, so
hopefully we'll get a good turnout from them as well. I'm really excited about that
particular (both talking)
Andrew/ Absolutely! Absolutely. Um, that will be, um, something that .... it feels overdue for
the amount of input that we get on it, and it .... it'll be something that's, uh, great to move
forward with. Uh, single -stream recycling and a cardboard ban at the Landfill will also
come back to you next spring. (several talking and laughing) It wasn't my phone! I
thought it was at first (several talking) Urn .... so those'll be coming back to you, and I
already mentioned the plastic bag ban, um, will be later this fall. Uh, monarch
conservation efforts — this was one that, um, you know, wasn't specifically identified in
your strategic plan, but, um, Sustainability Coordinator Brenda Nations really did a lot
with this along with other, uh.... uh, Transportation and Resource Management and, uh,
Neighborhood and Development Services staff, uh, and there's quite a few initiatives
detailed in the report that I won't go through each one. Uh, sustainability newsletter, uh,
hopefully you're all getting this and ... and reading this. It's a fantastic way to, um, both,
urn .... educate the public in terms of what we're doing and, uh, opportunities that we see
moving forward. Um, and to, uh, help us refine, um, what our .... our goals are and how
we communicate these things to the public. Uh, Covenant of Mayors, uh, formerly the
Compact of Mayors. Um, one of the requirements of that is a greenhouse gas inventory.
Uh, and the data collection here is necessary to analyze these trends and outcomes. You
know this isn't one that lends itself well initially to performance metrics, but once we get
more data on the baseline, um, that will help us track how well we're doing, how
effective our efforts are going forward.
Throgmorton/ Simon, a little bit of feedback (coughing in background, difficult to hear speaker) I
dearly love monarch butterflies and, uh, I know I've... signed some... stated some
proclamation about it, which I was happy to do. Uh, but I think there's too much material
in the.... strategic plan update with regard to monarchs.
Andrew/ Sure.
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Throgmorton/ Uh, it probably could be condensed to about, I don't know, a third the length of
what's in there right now.
Andrew/ I think that's a good point. It ... we don't want to make it look like that's a higher
priority than something that doesn't (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Yeah, it feels like, you know, it's being ... and I mean I think it is important but not
(both talking) exercise some judgment here.
Andrew/ Sure! Absolutely.
Dickens/ Six items.
Fruin/ We love our butterflies! (several talking and laughing)
Andrew/ Uh, the million gallon challenge — this is something that didn't get a whole lot of, uh,
press. This is turning to page 38 of your Information Packet.
Mims/ That was impressive!
Andrew/ Absolutely! (several talking)
Mims/ That was the first I'd heard of it. I was .... they should be congratulated.
Andrew/ Absolutely! This is another one where Julie and her staff really, uh, took the .... the
spirit of what Council's looking to do and ran with it. Um, so this wasn't one that, uh, as
she was directed to do but it was clearly very successful and, uh, we hope to continue this
into the future. Um .... again, didn't get a whole lot of press, but uh, nearly a million and
a half gallons of water conserved over the course of the summer. So just in terms of how
we water our ballfields and how we use, uh, water in our facilities, so....
Taylor/ That was just over the summer!
Andrew/ Yep! Yeah, just since, uh (both talking) April to September I think is where that data
came from.
Taylor/ ...(both talking) quite a role model, I think (both talking)
Andrew/ Absolutely!
Taylor/ ...community even.
Andrew/ Absolutely! So yeah, it's something that we're very proud of.
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Fruin/ The reason there wasn't a whole lot of press is because the staff had no idea if they could
meet the goal or not (laughter) in all honesty they were really excited to try, but um, they
had never done anything like that before and so it was really this fun internal experiment
that Parks did within itself and .... and then, you know, as they progressed through the
summer and ... and a little bit of the wetter summer than we normally get helped, certainly,
but they realized that, gosh, these small changes they were makin' were, you know,
resulting in huge impacts, so ... it's pretty .... pretty fun to watch it unfold. (several
responding)
Dickens/ Well and the big (mumbled). They've been kind of. ... couldn't get to `em during the
construction, but since they finished that area there, it's ... I've seen a big upswing in
people really working at recycling in downtown. I know for the last three or four months
you couldn't get to those cause they were kind of cornered off, but....
Andrew/ Sure!
Dickens/ It's a great addition to downtown cause there isn't a lot of recycling in some of the
buildings, so....
Andrew/ And, you know, one of the things we were concerned when we first installed those was
contamination of the recyclable, uh, materials and, um, the .... the contamination rates
have been much lower than we were expecting or fearing, so .... it's been very successful.
We, uh, plan to install more downtown, uh, so .... uh, those positive results will, uh, lead
to doubling down on that effort. Uh, craft your environment fair — again more
community partners, more collaboration. Uh, this was a partnership with the Friends of
Historic Preservation, salvage barn, and Habitat for Humanity out at the Eastside
Recycling Center. Um, we really are trying to ... schedule more events out there and to
publicize these better. I think we have a lot of folks in the community that maybe have
never been there or don't realize, you know, where it is or what we do out there, so .... uh,
it's very good that, uh, we're getting this type of community collaboration and, um .... and
having more events out there. And the Arbor Day partnership, uh, small mention but
again, working at Willow Wind School, um, an educational presentation for Arbor Day
and a tree planting that, um, Parks staff helped out there. All right, on to the final one —
number 7 is social justice. So the socioeconomic equity review toolkit, uh, I believe you
had a memo, was it in, uh, the previous week's Information Packet. Uh, the reviews
underway with several different departments and the results will be presented to Council
in, uh, 2017. So, it's something that we're reviewing a number of City processes and,
um, and we hope to achieve good results with this. Another mention of Housing First
Fuse. This is another one that could be in a number of categories, but I've already
discussed this. Um, and engaging community's youth. Again, Juli and staff, um, did a
fantastic job with this, and the sports summer programs and the summer fun program
were incredibly successful. Um.....again really taking the spirit of the str.... the strategic
plan goal and run with it. The summer fun program had 70 participants who all received
a nightly meal too that was provided by the School District and the use.... youth sports
program had 77, uh, participants and, uh, we hope to build off that. They were open to
anybody, but the youth sports programs were specifically marketed, uh, to the
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immigrants, Sudanese populations, um, and making sure that, um, children that maybe
hadn't been involved in organized sports, um, in our community felt comfortable in
joining other sports teams or recreation leagues and, you know, the basics of the .... the
sports and how, uh, to participate in those, so .... again, very successful there. And not
pictured on, uh, the Power Point slide, uh, is the not a box program and any given child,
uh, which are mentioned in your strategic plan report. Any given child, um, is a program
that's largely led by the School District, but it's something that, um, we helped support,
and not a box program at the Public Library, again very successful and a really, you
know, keeps those educational efforts in the forefront of the community.
Disproportionality and arrests — you know this is one that's in the early stages. Um, you
had a presentation from, uh, the St. Ambrose traffic stop study earlier this year. Um, and
we've really, you know, Kingsley mentioned the, uh, trainings that we've been doing
with the Police Department. Um, and it's not just the Police Department. It's across all
of our City departments, um, supporting the government alliance on race and equity, um,
and sort of doubling down on our involvement with that. Uh, we've already had, uh,
mandatory city-wide trainings, um, including the one that was conducted last year. Uh,
the racial equity grant program, the applications will be posted December ls` of this year.
Uh, both online and in hard copy. Uh, and they will be reviewed by the Human Rights
Commission; will make a funding recommendation, um, based on those applications.
Um, we also have a .... a important stakeholder partnerships, again this is one that's in the
early stages and this .... the City Manager's conference last week was, uh, one that had
several, uh, panel discussions on how to recruit a diverse workforce, especially in a
community, um, that, um, isn't as diverse as most large cities, that, you know, how do
you recruit that applicant pool and, uh, we got a lot of good information from there. Uh,
and we've agreed to ... this is very early stages that we just had the conversations with
Diana I think within the last few weeks, but the Higher Education Recruitment
Consortium, uh, we hope to, uh, to have some benefits in .... the applicant pool for our
workforce through our partnership there. Uh, we supported workplace... revolution, uh,
Diversity Focus had put that on the last few years. Uh, we were a sponsor of that again.
Uh, and our youth, uh, police and fire academies continue and we're hoping to see some,
uh, results from that but again, we're in the very early planning stages here and, um,
don't have strong data to present on those. So .... uh, affordable housing action plan — uh,
begins on page 42 of your Information Packet. Uh, at your next Council meeting you'll
be considering a resolution to, uh, disperse the Housing Trust Fund dollars, uh, from the
affordable housing fund. Uh, I serve on that board and I can tell you that, um, that you
were, um .... they were really singing your praises at the last (laughs) board meeting
so .... um, that's something that's excited, uh, exciting to move forward on and, uh, we
really hope that those dollars can leverage additional outside funding. You know, that's
something that that organization is very good at, you know, putting together several
funding streams to .... to make a project happen. Uh, the Diamond Senior Apartments, uh,
this is possibly the quietest $600,000 that we've ever spent on affordable housing. It is a
fantastic project, didn't receive a whole lot of press but ... um, we really need to thank the
Council for committing that $600,000. It's a .... a $7.4 million project. They'll provide
36 affordable units, uh, for seniors with four market -rate units in the building as well.
Uh... and the funding from the City also helped to secure an Iowa Finance Authority
funding of over $560,000. So this is again an instance when we can use our public
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dollars to help, um .... to help leverage and incentivize other organizations to help make a
project happen. Um, but this is something that, um, the Council should very much be
commended for. This was the .... the third time around for trying to get the Finance
Authority dollars, uh, for this project, so it was very good to see that move forward.
Throgmorton/ Simon, just to be clear, this is the, uh, the project on Williams Street in Towncrest,
correct?
Andrew/ Yes. Absolutely.
Throgmorton/ Where .... where does that stand now, Geoff? Do you know?
Fruin/ Urn ... Tracy, can you fill us in on where that is? Come on up and....
Throgmorton/ Hi, Tracy!
Hightshoe/ Tracy Hightshoe, Neighborhood Services Coordinator. Um, we've .... we've
allocated the funds. We have not ... they've not closed. They're supposed to close this
month. Um, there was a problem with the demolition of the property between the
pur... property owner they were buying the property from. They are resolving that.
They're trying to bring down their cost to get under the construction ..... construction cost
cap that IFA has. Um ... but it's proceeding; we're just delaying the closing. So we hope
to close this fall.
Throgmorton/ Great. Thanks!
Andrew/ Really that project couldn't be in a better neighborhood, with the proximity to grocery
store, services, uh, medical facilities. It's .... it's a great project, something that you all
and, uh, the developer should be very proud of.
Mims/ Simon, this is simply apartments, right? It's not any kind of assisted living or anything,
it's just straight... okay. Tracy's nodding. The reason I ask, I just want to kind of raise
the point here. People have raised issues about the cost of. ... for example the affordable
units that are going to go in the Chauncey. Okay. If you take that 7.4 million and divide
it by the 40 units, the 36 affordable and the four market rate, that's $185,000 per unit.
So, you know, people that are sitting out there thinking that .... you're gonna buy or build
affordable housing for, you know, 100,000 or 125,000 .... are not in touch with reality.
Urn ... this stuff is not cheap to build, and whether, you know, whether you're going out
buying and having to rehab stuff or building brand new, urn .... just taking the 7.4 divided
by the 40 units is 185 apiece, so it's .... people need to understand that when you .... when
you look at that 200,000 per unit for what we're getting out of the Chauncey (laughs) and
you look at the difference in location, I mean they're both good locations, very different
locations, but both have strong amenities right around them, I think that really puts in
perspective the .... the re .... the very reasonableness of those units downtown.
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Throgmorton/ Geoff, you gave us a lengthy report, uh, from the White House that indirectly
relates to this point about ways in which the cost of construction can be brought down.
Uh, we don't need to get into a conversation about that right now, but uh.... it's a pretty
substantial report.
Fruin/ What I like about this project and ... and frankly the Chauncey project too is you're
investing in affordable housing, but you're doing so in a way that accomplishes other
goals of the City at the same time. So the Towncrest redevelopment. The redevelopment
of a .... a .... an empty parcel downtown, um, I think that's going to be a key going forward
as we look at the money that's going in the trust fund or the money that's going for land
banking and .... uh, perhaps through the HCDC process is it's not just the creation of the
units, but what other goals can we accomplish? Can we tie this into the walkable urban
core? Can we tie it into downtown redevelopment in Riverfront Crossings or whatever
the Council's goals may be at the time and ... you know, this one does it and I think we've
been successful through TIF on, you know, the ... the picture there is the Sabin
townhomes, urn .... so hopefully we can keep that rolling.
Andrew/ Yeah, Sabin townhomes'll have, uh, three affordable units that were .... will be managed
by the Housing Fellowship. So that's a good point. Uh.... human rights ordinance — the
housing choice vouchers. Uh, this was something that, again, you approved earlier this
year, uh, prohibiting discrimination based on source of income. It was an important
addition to the housing ... or to the human rights ordinance. Um ... review of City job
requirements. I don't know that this has been discussed in-depth with Council. Um, but
every department has undergone a review of all of their job descriptions and the
requirements, uh, therein to ensure that all requirements are appropriate and needed for
the position. You know the goal here is to .... to recruit a more diverse applicant pool, and
we want to make sure that a requirements in a job description are necessary and aren't,
uh, discouraging people from applying that would otherwise be, uh, qualified. So, if
they're qualified to do the job, uh, we don't need to put unnecessary educational
requirements in there. So we're hoping that this broadens our ... our applicant pool, and
we also added, uh, a diver... diversity and inclusion statement to every job description as
well. So a number, uh, had a high school diploma or a bachelor's degree removed from
the job description, and all of them have that diversity statement added to it. So, um,
we're hoping that that, again .... uh, it broadens our applicant pool. Uh, Invest Health, uh,
Pauline can speak to this better than I could, I'm sure, but uh, this was again something
that was very exciting for us. We were selected from a very competitive field. Uh, it's a
partnership with, uh, University fiel.... uh, officials on the Housing Fellowship. Uh, and
really the, one of the main tenants of the documents from Invest Health is how much, uh,
safe, decent, affordable housing, uh, affects a family's health, uh, their
physical.... people's physical health is very much impacted by the type of housing that
they live in and the type of neighborhood they live in, so .... uh, this is something that, uh,
we hope we can ... get some good.... good benefits out of.
Taylor/ It is a very exciting project and Tracy's one of my other, uh, persons that are on that,
group of five, and we just got back from Denver and came back I think very enthused to
continue to pursue this and, uh, we've been looking at what we call the maps, mapping of
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where asthma is and it's quite obvious that it's in some of the lower income
neighborhoods and so we're looking, and we came back enthused, talking to other cities
about things that they've done, uh, just, you know, mold and such things as fur... furnace
filters that we hadn't even thought about that perhaps some people can't afford to change
those and that affects their health too so we're pretty excited to continue over the next
year in looking at these things and what we could do.
Andrew/ Absolutely. Absolutely! Thank you for your involvement in that. So this is my final
slide here. Uh, community outreaching collaborations. Uh, again I mentioned this
earlier, relationship building has benefits beyond the immediate, um, the event initiative
program, uh, it's really, uh.....uh, building those relationships. That helps us accomplish
all kinds of other things that .... that we hope, uh.... lets these initiatives move forward
more easily in the future. Uh, we've had a number of, uh, board and commission lunch -
and -learns that, uh, continue, uh, conversations on diversity with a .... an official from the
University of Iowa College of Education. Um .... Black History Month event line-up, uh,
you can see a number of organizations listed here and again, it's those .... those
community contacts and collaborations that we find are beneficial to us as an
organization and us as individuals, so .... uh, we ... we hope to build off that momentum.
Uh, great stories club is the final point on here. Uh, partnership with Tate High School
and the Iowa City Public Library, um, that is .... again, it's something that is outreach that
helps us in any number of ways, so .... uh, we hope to ... to continue to build on.....that.
And with that, I have gone through the whole presentation. Uh, any other questions,
comments, uh, concerns?
Mims/ Great work!
Botchway/ Yeah, I would just say (both talking)
Mims/ ....great presentation.
Botchway/ I didn't mean to cut ya off! Um, I would just say with, uh, you know, going back
about..... September, it's October now, 10 months, um, to see the amount of work that's
been done, and again, some of that is, you know, continual work, but .... um, I .... I was
skeptical, I mean, it's ... it's a lot of work and you know, from a staffing standpoint in my
other job, I mean, sometimes it's tough to, you know, make some manageable progress
from what the elected officials want to do on particular initiatives, but .... this is
something I feel good about and I ... I just really appreciate the work and the
thoughtfulness that has gone into a lot of these, these different points, and I feel like, you
know, six months, 10 months from now, um, you know, it's gonna be, you know, an even
bigger document. If you can cut it shorter that'd be great but .... um, this is great. I .... I'm
just amazed honestly. I have nothing else to add.
Andrew/ Thank you for your comments. We definitely recognize that we have a lot more work
to do, you know, a lot of these are in progress and we certainly, um, don't want to rest on
our laurels but uh, we are very proud of the .... of the amount of work that we've gotten
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done in the, uh, since March I" when this was adopted, so.... I very much appreciate
your time tonight.
Fruin/ Yeah, and this is also a really good time, I mean, I think your plan was adopted in March
and we're sittin' here in October, um .... uh, if there's any redirection that needs to occur,
if you see us goin' down a path that.... that.... you know maybe is not what you
envisioned or .... or perhaps isn't, um, you know .... you yourself want to course correct a
little bit, now's a good time to tell us cause what we plan to do from here as a staff, um,
take any comments that you have, but really think about, okay, we've got one more year
before the Council jumps into a new strategic plan. Um, and ... and what can we .... what
can we do in this year to further all these goals. So, if you do see any changes you want
to make, now's a good time. Um, or if you see some areas frankly that, uh, you know,
maybe we've made some progress on but you were hoping to see a lot more or you hope
to see a lot more within the year, urn .... you gotta give us some of that direction now.
Thomas/ I have one minor comment. I was ... you didn't go through it page by page
which ... which made a lot of sense, given the time constraints, but I ... on page 10 I ... I
noticed.... you, there was a reference to the economic policy update that, uh.... uh.... 15%
of residential units must be affordable for a minimum of 20 years when .... when the
project receives City funding. As I .... if I'm not mistaken, I thought it was 15 years, but
um....
Andrew/ I'll verify that. Um, I .... is it 20 for sure? Okay.
Thomas/ It is 20.
Andrew/ Yep!
Thomas/ Okay.
Throgmorton/ And that's for rental units, isn't it?
Andrew/ Correct. Correct. Uh, there is, um, for, um, owner -occupied I believe it's 110% of
AMI, um, so that's an option too, uh, with City incentivized projects, but for rental it's at
or below 60% of area median income.
Throgmorton/ With regards to Geoff s point, I ... I first want to say I think you've done a brilliant
job in presenting this information to us orally and in the ... in the written document itself,
Simon. So, bravo to you for the quality (both talking)
Andrew/ Team effort! (laughs)
Throgmorton/ Well I'm sure! I mean, you couldn't have done that by yourself.
Andrew/ Right.
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Throgmorton/ And bravo to staff (laughter and several talking) Oh, you're down on your knees
now (laughter) Suddenly we're in Monty Python material (laughs) um, yeah, so .... and
bravo to the staff for all the great work that's been done, and uh, my own personal sense
is, yeah, I'm a little disappointed we haven't made quite so much progress here. We've
had a lot of progress there. But on the whole, you've done great work! And ... and I'd say
just keep on keepin' it on. I'm sorry, keep on keeping on. Uh, so that we can just see the
fruition of, uh, the challenge we gave you, and then revisit it a year from now.
Mims/ I would agree!
Thomas/ Yeah, I would just add that ... I think your preliminary comments, all these RFPs and...
so forth that are coming out, I had expected that this .... first year would be, uh,
assessment and analysis. You know, that we wouldn't be necessarily seeing the im... the
impacts of these initiatives on the ground in the ... in the first year because you .... you have
to base those ... those actions on ... on an understanding of what it is you're trying to
accomplish. Um, nevertheless (laughs) you know, there is this sense that, um .... you
know, the pace of the strategic plan and wanting to see results. I know some members of
the community are frustrated by ... by that, you know, that they're not seeing the results
they were expecting. Um .... I think on ... on the question of racial justice, I think that's
one that I'm personally, you know, you noticed... noted in your presentation that it's in the
early stages, um, that's one that concerns me, and ... and it's partly I think because of the
larger events that we are all experiencing. So, you know, that gives a sense of urgency to
the question of racial justice. Climate change, we're seeing everything from local events
to global events, reinforcing the importance of climate change. So there's certain things
that have an urgency to them and I'm con ... you know, I think all of us are concerned that
are our actions meeting the urgency of the situations and .... you know, context in which
we're ... we're working.
Andrew/ Sure.
Thomas/ But as ... as Jim said, we just, you know, we just have to carry on. I'm .... um....but
nevertheless there is this sense of...you know, how can .... how can we be more strategic
(laughs) in our strategic plan in terms of identifying and responding to those urgencies.
Andrew/ Absolutely, point well taken.
Taylor/ On the flip side, I mean, when you mentioned we just had sort of formalized these in
March. It's only October. That's only seven months, uh, so I think we've made
considerable progress, and as ... as Susan said, it...it kind of -some of them had started
even prior to this. So, uh, and they're seeing their fruition now. So, you know, we just
have to be patient with some things. So....
Throgmorton/ Right! Let things happen.
Taylor/ Right!
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Throgmorton/ I mean .... action, let action (both talking)
Taylor/ Right!
Cole/ Along those lines, John, I think the hiring of the community service officer, um, was
fantastic. Um, Susan and I went to a neighborhood council meeting and as I understand
it, those ... those, um, neighbors and ... and community members were really striving to get
more of precisely that sort of advocate and that sort of officer in the neighborhoods, and
they were trying for PIN grants and these sorts of things, so they were very
complimentary of that. Um, couple different things. Um, the ... the GRIP program wasn't
mentioned and I think that's a really terrific program that you guys have. Um, and I was
also very pleased to see that the micro -loan seems like it's really starting to come to
fruition. Um, and that seems like it had some struggles earlier on, and so what I'm
wondering is, and maybe this'd be a Tracy, um, response, um, as you have these
programs, how frequently do you monitor utilization rate in terms of, you know, here's
what we've sort of budgeted; here's what we've sort of spent; um, how are we marketing
these. I think the GRIP is a great program that lot ... not a lot of people probably know
about. Um ... how do you go about that process in terms of implementing those goals?
Fruin/ Well I think the individuals that administer the programs are probably reviewing them on
a much more frequent basis than Simon or I. Um, you know, we get a crack at...at pretty
much every program that's offered in the city once a year through the budget process
and....
Cole/ Okay.
Fruin/ ....so that's when Simon and I and our office will engage and we'll ask questions about,
you know, is this program producing what it needs to be, is this the appropriate budget
level, should we scale it back, push it forward, I mean UniverCity is always the easy
example for that. How many homes should we do? What's, you know, we go through
that discussion every... every fall during budget, but.... the.... the staff in the various
departments are, um .... you know, lookin' at that stuff on a much more frequent basis.
Cole/ And I'm really looking forward on that micro -loan because the ones that I had seen that,
uh, had requested the loans have an established track record, so I think they have real
opportunity to expand, so great work!
Throgmorton/ Okay, anything else for Simon?
Andrew/ Thank you very much for your time!
Council Appointments [Agenda item # 111:
Throgmorton/ All right. We can move on to Council appointments. Uh, there are two vacancies
on the Human Rights Commission. Are we supposed to address these separately, Marian,
or ... you know, we have six applicants for two positions.
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Karr/ We simply advertise as one, and we identified them as two because they appear twice on
your agenda that way. So we kept `em that way. You can discuss `em as one. Just let
me know which one are matching up to which seats.
Throgmorton/ Uh, and the first seat is ... is that the male requirement or...
Karr/ It doesn't .... (both talking) The end result is one male and one .... either. It doesn't matter
which one is first since they're both being appointed at the same time.
Throgmorton/ So, uh, does anybody have suggestions about two appointees?
Mims/ Well there's only one male applicant.
Throgmorton/ Right.
Mims/ And when I read his, uh, materials I was comfortable with .... uh, D'Angelo Bailey, for
the, uh, satisfying that position. When I looked at the females, um, I narrowed it down to
two and I'd be interested to hear what other people have to say. Jessica Furdig, she's
lived here six years; she's got her masters in public health, specializing I think in Latino
health; and then Barbara Kutzko, urn .... she worked in the College of Med, worked a lot
in terms of recruiting minority students and... and working with minority students while
they were enrolled in the College of (both talking)
Dickens/ That's the two I had.
Mims/ So that's.... those are the two I had narrowed it down to.
Dickens/ I had D'Angelo and Barbara (mumbled)
Mims/ That's .... I would probably go with Barbara. That's my number one I guess on the
female, but....
Throgmorton/ That ... that's what I had written down as well, but I don't know what the rest of
y'all think.
Thomas/ I'm okay with (several talking) Barbara (several talking)
Botchway/ ...obviously there's Council majority but um, I would just say that I think that, you
know, from an age standpoint, um, Jessica is rather young, but .... we've already gone
through.... that's fine. I mean just looking at the .... I don't know that necessarily the age
of the group and I don't see Stefanie in here but, um, in the future let's just think about
that to make sure that we're, you know, providing opportunities for, you know, younger
members as well. But I ... I'm fine. That was my top three as well too.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, uh, there'll be another vacancy on that commission.....
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Dickens/ Shortly.
Throgmorton/ ...shortly so, um .... there are possibilities there. If..if, uh.... um, gotta find her
name, if Jessica continues to be interested. All right, so, uh, I should write this down,
shouldn't I? (mumbled) Barbara Kutzki.... Kutzko.
Karr/ l la is Barbara Kutzko and D'Angelo Bailey 11 b.
Throgmorton/ All right. Thank you! So we can move to the next item, which is questions from
Council, uh, with regard to agenda items.
Questions from Council re Agenda Items:
ITEM 3e(1) Candice Odell: Various issues
Dickens/ I do have, since we've received so many letters from this Candice Odell, is there
anything we can do to .... since most of `em do not ... or almost all of `em do not concern
Iowa City, do we have to continue publishing those in our packet?
Dilkes/ That's the policy that you have now (difficult to hear) prevent you from saying don't
include any more of those letters from her.
Karr/ Council's policy is everything addressed to .... if you'd like to direct staff not to include
that, unless there's some connection to the Iowa City community, that's fine.
Mims/ That sounds good to me!
Taylor/ There was the other person too.
Throgmorton/ I know in our .... what was it, in our last Information Packet we had something like
76 emails, am I right... am I right in remembering that correctly? (several responding)
Botchway/ Before we make that decision, is there any way we can reach out ... I don't know if we
have before, just say you know.....with, I mean, not necessarily chill but that's the word I
was thinking of (several talking)
Dickens/ Why is she sendin' `em to Iowa City is my question.
Taylor/ The other person addressed him as the Mayor of Iowa. (several talking) I don't know if
she's confused about Iowa versus Iowa City, I mean, I ... I agree, is there some way we can
send a reply to these people and say....
Karr/ I believe sometimes in the, urn .... cyberspace world there was some of them referring to the
state of Iowa on a number of occasions and I think Iowa, rather than Iowa City, and
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Council in Iowa kind of got confusing. Um, we've had this happen, not as ongoing as
this but in the past as well.
Throgmorton/ Well I think we're agreed there's not much .... not very much that's fruitful about
receiving this flood of emails from this one particular person. If they had to do with Iowa
City actions, uh, how she was affected by them or anything like that I'd ... I wouldn't say
that but .... (several responding) There's no legal reason why we cannot..... stop
print... publishing (mumbled) how would we put this? What's the right verb? Stop
printing them or including them (both talking)
Karr/ Staff can make contact with her indicating that there is not an Iowa City connection and
that we will not pass it along unless that connection, and we can see.
Throgmorton/ Okay. Well, let's do that.
Botchway/ I still have a problem with that policy, I mean I think ... can we just reach out and say,
you know, the same thing but just.... there's no .... there's no relevance to Iowa City, um,
unless there is, please send communication and if it doesn't work, next meeting make this
change? Have you already done that?
Fruin/ We can do anything you want. I guess my ..... my hunch is that, um .... you know,
sometimes when you engage you're just inviting more of it. Um ... and so .... um, I'm not
sure reaching out is going to accomplish anything. Um, but .... we're happy to try.
Mims/ I mean I look at it this way, if Marian is still going to receive it. I'm assuming somebody
in your office still has to skim through these, to see if they have any relevance to Iowa
City. And so if...if they've still gotta do that, we'll get `em if they have any relevance to
Iowa City. If they don't have any relevance to Iowa City, then it's not gonna add 50 or
60 pages to our Info Packet.
Botchway/ I mean there.... but there's literally a ton of different things that come (mumbled) our
packet that, you know, from a reference standpoint doesn't necessarily need to be in our
packet. I'm a little wary of like (both talking)
Dilkes/ (difficult to hear) ....this one (both talking)
Mims/ Person, yeah.
Dilkes/ (unable to hear)
Botchway/ Yeah, but if I looked at the correspondence over the course of the year, there's a
couple of, you know, things that are, you know, that... frankly racially insensitive and
have nothing to do with Iowa City. They're just comments to make comments at times.
So I mean I ... I just....
Dilkes/ I just wanted to be clear that it's just this one particular (both talking)
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Botchway/ I agree, no! No, no, I agree (both talking)
Dilkes/ (difficult to hear) ....screening correspondence (several talking) relates or doesn't relate
or (both talking)
Botchway/ Right, right, I just .... I, I mean, obviously there's a majority so .... I'm not gonna say
anything else, but .... I just don't like it.
Dickens/ And my second one is on the agendas .... I have some concerns about the lack of any
planning and zoning coming to us. I don't know if there's something coming along the
lines, but we only have one thing and it's only about the precincts. So I guess it's just
more of a question — is there things coming that we....
Fruin/ Um, there's.... there's..... items that are being discussed among the staff level. I don't,
looking at John here, I don't know that there's a whole lot on the P&Z schedule.
Dickens/ Six and a half years, I don't thunk we've ever had (both talking)
Fruin/ But I would say (both talking) in general, um (mumbled) just kind of my .... my, uh, take
on things right now is ... is residential subdivisions are going to be slow for a while.
We've brought on a lot in the last couple of years. You think of all the in -fill
subdivisions, Pine Grove, Windmill Heights, Polisa... uh, Palisades, Churchill Meadows
was a huge addition that put a number of single-family and ... and multi -family lots onto
the, urn .... onto the market, and then we have some in the, uh, developments on the south
side as well. So I ... there'll probably be some activity around the elementary school sites,
but I would expect residential's gonna cool and urn .... uh, I think the same could be said
for the student housing market. We've seen a huge run on student housing the last couple
of years, and University, you're not hearin' the same enrollment refrain that you did, uh,
for the last couple years. So I wouldn't be surprised if there's some .... letting the market
settling out in that... in that area. I can't explain really commercial office. I still think that
there's strong demand there, but we're not seein', um, our discussions materialize into
applications at this point.
Dickens/ Thank you.
Fruin/ Do you have anything from P&Z?
Yapp/ Uh, John Yapp, Development Services. We do have one, uh.... uh, fairly significant
rezoning on our Planning and Zoning agenda this Thursday, which will, uh, come to the
Council after Planning and Zoning acts on it. Uh, a serie... staff has been working on a
series of...of code amendments and, uh, research related to several of the initiatives that,
uh, have come from City Council. Uh, and also several concept, uh, fairly large concept
plans that we've been, uh, reviewing but no additional applications yet. Uh, to pick up on
Geoffs comments, these things are cyclical. Uh, last year there was, uh, an almost
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record number of new lots approved. Uh, this year an almost record number of building
permits, as those lots are getting absorbed. Uh, so it is a somewhat of a cyclical process.
Dickens/ Thank you.
Throgmorton/ Okay, other agenda items?
ITEM 3a(1) September 20 Work Session
Thomas/ I just wanted to mention that on the .... it would be 3a, uh, (1), the minutes of our work
session. On the discussion of the affordable housing action plan, uh, it seems to me to be
mostly kind of a .... a recapitulation of the ... of the items as they were..... presented, um, to
us. I ... I had recalled making a number... personally had made a number of comments and
raised some concerns on Item 9, considering regu... regulatory changes to City code, and
I'm not seeing any of those comments. So .... um .... or concerns. So .... you know,
I ... there is the record, uh.... of ..of the ... of the meeting. Uh, I don't know how important it
is that they're reflected in the minutes. Um .... but I just wanted to note that some of
the .... some of the discussion did not seem to be captured in the, uh, in the summary.
Karr/ I think the direction the work session, uh, minutes have gone in the past is more of a
summary, and a consensus, and um, I certainly can go back and review the transcriptions
of that, but potentially though the transcriptionist will show that discussion. I didn't pick
up on a consensus of direction, and a lot of times it was discussion where no one said yes
or no, and perhaps I didn't pick on ... up on the affirmative nature of that. So again, uh, it
was a summary of the end result, but I certainly can review it again.
Throgmorton/ So it's not a transcript of what .... what people said (both talking)
Karr/ The minutes certainly are not, but we do a transcript. We have transcripts and they are
available on the web site. We do transcribe each of the meetings. Work sessions and the
formal.
Thomas/ I think my main concern would be, you know, in terms of staff moving forward on this,
um, what is it they're basing their .... their work on? You know, I ... in other words, will
the comments I made .... reach them, you know, if, uh, cause it's not .... it's not reflected
here. So it's a question, as .... as staff moves forward....
Fruin/ We, you know as you have these discussions, particularly with the affordable housing one,
you know, I have notes, Tracy has notes, um, Simon would have notes, and I can tell you
Tracy and I met last week and .... and talked through some of those issues and ... and kind
of what the scheduling of items may be and ... and what the approach would be,
so .... hopefully we've done our job and captured what the, you know, what the consensus
of the Council is. Most if not all these items will come back to you. They require code
amendments or some other action, um, but I understand your point. You don't want to
see us go down the wrong path so .... urn .... maybe I can follow up with you outside of the
meeting and see specifically what you're concerned about and we can .... I can work with
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Tracy and make sure that we have that in mind as we're crafting our recommendations to
you.
Mims/ Well and I think we have to be careful too, I mean, you know this kind of gives a
summary and supposedly what, you know, we discussed and maybe came to consensus
on. We've got transcripts, we've got video now. I mean to print the transcripts and to
put those in our packet, I think is an awful lot in terms of, you know, people necessarily
planning to read back through a transcript of three hours or four hours of meetings. Um,
and I think, I mean I always see, you know, Geoff and Simon taking notes and, you
know, like Tracy and other staff members if the topic relates to them, and I do think we
have to be careful because one of us as a Council Member makes comments, that doesn't
necessarily change what staff is doing. I mean, it's the consensus of the direction that all
of us as a group of seven are giving and I mean staff obviously has to take all of that into
account as each of us gives our own different comments, that just cause one of us thinks
strongly in one direction that doesn't necessarily mean that staff is going in a particular
(both talking)
Thomas/ Well I, yeah, and I wasn't meaning to imply that that should be the direction (both
talking) but I just wanted to make sure that those comments were not lost and ... and so
I ... I'm comfortable that they have not been lost.
Throgmorton/ Okay, other items?
ITEM 3e(13) Richard Walton: Waterwork Treatment Plant gate
Taylor/ I had a question on one of the late additions, the 3e(13) from a Mr. Walton, his concern
about the, um, gate at the waterworks plant, and I seem to recall earlier this year we had
gotten some correspondence regarding this issue also, so apparently it's still continuing,
and since part of our strategic plan has to do with the bicycle -friendly community, I
wondered where we're going with this, if it was a security issue with the waterworks
plant or .... why they haven't made it accessible.
Fruin/ I don't know that it's a ... a whole lot of it's security issue. We have a gate at the drive at
the ... at the water plant but the ... the facility itself is not gated. Um, so anybody can walk
in to that area. You just can't drive in. Um .... we're looking at that. You know, when
we extended the trail with the pedestrian bridge, we connected it all the way down to the
parking lot at, um, Waterworks Prairie Park there, so, um, there is paved access into the
park just a little bit, uh, north of the gated area. Um, I ... I know Ron, uh, Knoche's here
and he was, uh, we had a conversation earlier. He's talking with the .... the folks at the
water plant to see if, uh, perhaps, uh, we might be able to work in a .... a kind of paved
sidewalk that goes along... alongside of the gate, um, Ron makes a good point. I don't
think we want to tinker with opening and closing the gate, um, but if a simple sidewalk
path, trail path, can be constructed next to it, it would save people I guess a quarter mile
or so trip up the trail north to access the park. So we'll look at that and .... um, that would
be something that we would probably just lump into, uh, sidewalk in -fill program or we
have an annual line in our budget for, um, minor trail improvements, um, so I don't know
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that that would necessarily come back to you, but we'll talk it through and see if there's a
solution.
Taylor/ Okay. Thank you.
ITEM 3e(5) R. J. Johnson: Bike Riders on Sidewalk
Cole/ I have a question about correspondence Item, uh, 3e(5), the bike riders on the sidewalk.
Um, I walk to work every day and I've noticed that's been a bigger issue too. Um, has
that been an enforcement issue or is it just a question of getting the information out to the
community not to ride on the .... the sidewalks. I've noticed it being a big issue lately.
Andrew/ It's, uh, this, uh, gentleman we've had several conversations with. It's the ... the only
one that I'm aware of that, um, has brought it to our attention. Um, it really is an
educational effort, I think. Um, Officer Schwindt daily reminds people to get off their
bike. The thing is he's never reminding the same people twice. Um (laughter) and I
think that that's the issue, is that people just aren't aware of it and .... we'll look at signage
going forward (both talking) ...upcoming ped mall projects.
Dickens/ And with the construction, it's tougher to get around and so a lot of people are riding
on the bikes that would usually be in the streets. I understand that, but they're .... (several
talking) Yeah, they need to be walking (both talking).
Andrew/ ...absolutely true.
Throgmorton/ I sense that this is an annual thing and .... with due respect to our students, uh,
Jake, I think what often happens is that students arrive at the campus, don't know what
those particular rules are, ride on the .... ped mall and whatever, downtown sidewalks, get
called out for it by, uh, Officer Schwindt or whoever else, and gradually the word filters
down. And then that's another year (laughs) and then another year and then another year,
so .... they'll be all right.
Fruin/ It's hard. You know we, uh, have had these conversations and we could sign it, but
there's... there's already signs downtown first of all that you can't ride on the sidewalks
and it just becomes clutter with multitude of other signs we have, whether it's smoking
or .... kiosk signs. It just becomes a blur to folks so .... you really have to have someone
like, uh, Officer Schwindt or a neighborhood officer, you know, out there, flaggin' people
down and tellin' `em you have to walk.
Andrew/ You'd hate to write an 80 -some dollar ticket to somebody that legitimately just didn't
(several talking) so .... you know, we're hoping that the education has an impact but I
think Mayor Throgmorton's right, that it's each fall it's an educational (mumbled)
ITEM 7. MIDAMERICAN ENERGY ELECTRIC FRANCHISE - ORDINANCE
RENEWING THE FRANCHISE GRANTED TO MIDAMERICAN ENERGY
COMPANY, ITS SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS, TO ACQUIRE, CONSTRUCT,
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ERECT, MAINTAIN AND OPERATE IN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY, AN
ELECTRIC LIGHT AND POWER SYSTEM TO FURNISH, DELIVER AND
SELL ELECTRIC ENERGY TO SAID CITY AND ITS INHABITANTS FOR A
PERIOD OF TEN YEARS
ITEM 8. MIDAMERICAN ENERGY GAS FRANCHISE - ORDINANCE RENEWING
THE FRANCHISE GRANTED TO MH)AMERICAN ENERGY COMPANY, ITS
SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS, TO ACQUIRE, CONSTRUCT, ERECT,
MAINTAIN AND OPERATE IN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY, A NATURAL GAS
SYSTEM TO FURNISH, DELIVER AND SELL NATURAL GAS TO SAID CITY
AND ITS INHABITANTS FOR A PERIOD OF TEN YEARS
Throgmorton/ Okay, we're runnin' out of time. I ... I want to bring up one question havin' to do
with Items 7 and 8, which is MidAmerican's, uh, franchise, uh, agreements and
continuing those agreements for another 10 years. Uh, I'm wondering about the process
for the formal meeting. And I'm going to make a suggestion. I don't know what, uh,
whether the two of you had anything in mind, but Eleanor, it seems to me it'd be helpful
if you could briefly review how we got to where we are now and Geoff, if you could
briefly review your recommendations.
Fruin/ Sure!
Throgmorton/ Uh, and then right at the start of the public hearing.
Fruin/ There will be a representative from MidAmerican here if you, uh, have questions, but my
understanding is that he does not plan to ... plan to address the Council but rather just
respond to any questions that you have.
Throgmorton/ Yeah. Is ... is that okay with the rest of you? (several responding) Okay, yeah,
now .... and here's a substantive question. I .... I don't remember the timing of this, and...
the date by which we must act.
Mims/ December 4a'.
Throgmorton/ December 4t', okay. And that's pretty much right at the end of the third... reading I
guess, or pretty close to it. Can .... can we consider proposing any new conditions .... uh,
to the franchise agreement? You know, if any one of our Council Members said I .... I'd
like to propose a ... an amendment to the proposed franchise agreement, could that be
proposed? Could it be discussed, and then it'd be a matter of negotiation, but it would
have to happen pretty quickly I guess, right? Okay. I mean I'm not pushing any one
thing. I just want to understand the process here. Okay.
Dilkes/ (unable to hear)
Throgmorton/ Yeah. Okay. All right, uh, any other agenda items? If not, uh, it's 24 till. Maybe
we should stop there. What else could we do in like four minutes?
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Botchway/ Updated events, work session items, meeting schedule.
Throgmorton/ Well, the next item is discussion of joint agenda items for the meeting on October
the 24`s.
Discussion of ioint agenda items for October 24 [IP # 4 Info Packet of 9/291:
Mims/ Well and I think Geoff s reconda.... recommendation was maybe none, given the two kind
of major things that are already on the agenda. So (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Yeah, and that makes sense to me (several talking) That's what I'd suggest too.
Uh, let's skip the Info Packet discussion I guess. I don't know. Can we .... is there
anything else we could do?
Mims/ (mumbled) take time. Might as well just come back to it.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, we'll have to come back. Susan's right about that. Okay, thank you. So,
uh, we'll, uh, what's the right verb again?
Karr/ Recess!
Throgmorton/ Recess.
(Recess to fortnal meeting.)
(Reconvene work session.)
Information Packet Discussion [September 22, 291:
Throgmorton/ We're gonna pick up with the Info Packets for Sep ... the Info Packet for September
22 n Any questions about the material in that Information Packet?
Botchway/ Not so much as a question but IP ..... uh.... 2, it was just a conversation. This is kind
of the proposal and I talked to Geoff a little bit about it as well. Um, just three things that
I didn't necessarily feel was necessary to put in some type of formal written
documentation, and honestly I write a lot so I didn't want to, you know, write this
particular piece. Um, but just a kind of community based, um, organizing around
alternatives to calling the police. It's not something that is new, but it's something that I
think was obviously discussed at the 30, um, and um, multiple community organizations
are, um, starting to get behind. Um, I don't necessarily think that this is any type of
negative on our Police Department and their abilities to do their job, um, but it is, you
know, looking at some of the racial, insensitive things that come out. Um, if you have
the opportunity to look at the police blotter, um, it focuses on, you know, a three-step
process by which individuals will work through, um, some of the bias that may play a
role and mitigating some of that bias at that time, and then also just talking to the ... the
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broader community as far as how to address situations with, um, individuals. We just
recently, um, heard from DVIP. There's multiple non -profits in our, um, our jurisdiction.
I think Susan at one time had counted out the list of non -profits that are in our
community...
Mims/ Hundreds!
Botchway/ ...that do a lot of work and that I think at times, frankly, citizens don't know about. I
just recently.... or residents don't know about. I just recently, um, I wouldn't say found
out but I didn't know was as, um, organized and impactful, but there's like an African
association or group that, um, works with, um, immigrants from different countries, or
mainly from Africa, um, to, you know, help them get ingratiated in this community and,
you know, that's another group that's, you know, lending their expertise, and I think at
times we get, um, we start to call the police for, um, things that, you know, necessarily,
um, the police don't have to work towards. (mumbled) two things and it'll be quick is a
needs -based assessment and after talking with Geoff, you know, he said that was
something that the police chief, the new police chief, can work towards, um, but I do
think in the national climate and, you know, being a progressive city, so to speak, you
know, having that needs -based assessment based on what the community, um, would like
to see in this, um .... uh, police beyond just, you know, kind of the interview process I
think is a .... is a step in the right direction as well. This kind of ties into what I was
talking about with the, uh, diversity roundtable and seeing that maybe reconstructed to
discuss some of the community needs as it applies to different policies and procedures. I
know that Marian had kind of chimed in last meeting about the fact that our CPRB
currently does it on an annual basis, but doesn't necessarily have the perspective of, you
know, looking at it from different models that are used in different cities that I think the
diversity roundtable could bring to the discussion, and then last but not least, and again,
I'm going to not ... I didn't write this down, but a pilot program for kids to, um, work on,
you know, basically putting some money in kids' pockets. Um, I thought that, you know,
this isn't necessarily .... (mumbled) talking with Geoff, isn't necessarily appropriate for
the Council at this time. Um, the DMC committee meets next week. I plan on, uh,
talking to them about it, but it's just something that, um, actually Geoff gave me some
great advice as far as, um, some of the things he's seen and ... or done in communities that
he's worked in as far as how those initiatives could work and how, um, they could be
good for the community, and so, um, again, just a lot of different things but kind of to,
um, Councilor Thomas' point during our discussion, um, about that heightened nature
and what we can do more. I think there's different things that we can do as Councilors
and I think we're doing that, but also, um, you know, asking our community to step in as
well and provide some of that action. I think it's going to be great and I think it's going
to be better in the long run when we have that buy -in as well. That was a long... sorry....
monologue about ... but I just wanted to get it all out, be done.
Throgmorton/ Okay.
Mims/ I want to talk about IN, this was the employee transportation benefits memo. Urn ... I
totally agree with what, you know, staff has done and .... and, you know, I think a lot of
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the stuff for .... for staff .... is done through the bargaining process and I don't think we
want to get in the middle of that or messing with any of that. My only comment relates
to, um, parking passes for Council. Um .... I would like to see us amend the City code,
um, so that City Council Members still get the pass.... parking passes. Um, I look at it
this way. I see it as .... as simply a convenience. Um, when I come down here for a
meeting in the middle of the day, I'm driving. I don't live here. I mean, I don't live near
downtown. I don't work near downtown. So I'm having to drive from my place of work,
take time out of my day to come here for a meeting which frequently is going to go more
than an hour, which means I can't park in the visitor parking right next to the building
cause that's limited to an hour, plus I don't feel comfortable parking there because I want
to keep that open for people who are coming here to conduct business with City staff—
residents of the community. So if I don't have the parking pass that means I'm going to
go across the street, park in the ramp; it's going to add another 10 to 15 minutes for me
each way from work, by the time I get over there, find a spot, pay for it, and walk over
here. It's not an issue of the money, but in the same token I'm not going to pay $400 or
$500 a year for a parking pass that I use two or three times a month to come down here
for meetings cause it's ... to me that's a waste of money. So I think for the amount of time
as Councilors that we contribute to this work, I don't see it as the City losing money
because I will bet the majority of these Councilors sitting here at least right now aren't
going to pay that $400 or $500 to buy the par .... passes at half price, because we don't use
them that much. But at the same time, it's .... I see it as a significant inconvenience not to
have that ability to pull into the parking lot out back, to be able to walk right into the
building for a meeting in the middle of the day. Or to get here at 4:15 or 4:30 before a
Council meeting and be able to park there and not get ticketed before 5:00. So my
recommendation is that we do ask staff to bring forward a code change to ... to give, make
it legal (laughs) to follow the code, to give Council Members parking passes free.
Cole/ I would agree with Susan. I think probably the hardest thing to do is to talk about benefits
for yourself. Um, so .... thanks for bringing that up. I agree for the reasons that you
stated. It's hard to talk about it, but it is a practical reality of access for, not only for us,
but for future people that serve on Council, um, so I would support that.
Dickens/ I .... I support it as well. I .... I don't use it. I have a parking pass in the ramp that I pay
for and the reason I do that, in 452 days when I'm no longer on this Council (laughter) I
would have to be on a waiting list (several talking) three or four years to get back into
that ramp, so ... that's why I chose not to (laughter) keep my space cause I plan on working
downtown for another eight or 10 years. (laughter) But I do agree that ... you know, if
you have to drive to get here, that there .... that you should be coming in here because
it's .... it's, I know it's part of our job but I think it's very important that we have easy
access to get in here if we need to, because we're called at all different times or ... whether
it's coming down for a .... or a retirement or whatever, I think it's very important that
you're able to get here and not have to pay for parking.
Taylor/ Thank you, Susan, for bringing that up because as Rockne said it is uncomfortable to talk
about your own sort of benefits, but uh, I was absolutely thrilled (laughs) can agree to this
when I got my placard to be able to park there because part of that I scrambled to find a
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meter and then I'm using a meeter up that some of the folks probably running into New
Pi would have .... would have rather had that meter and then worried about whether I'd
plugged enough money into it. So, you know, I ... like the others, I don't use it that often
but urn, I ... I do appreciate having ... being able to park in the lot.
Thomas/ Well I don't .... I don't take advantage too much of that benefit because I live so close.
I .... I would .... but I support your .... your thoughts on that. I .... I do think that the ... I do
have some concerns about the employee transportation benefit program. I don't feel it
aligns in my view with Council's goals in terms of addressing, you know, the
environmental sustainability of trying to promote and incentivize reductions in
automobile use. Urn .... I realize that .... you know, the ... this gets into, um, union
negotiations, uh, with the staff, but it seems to me we would .... and I would also add that
I would defer this analysis until we're doing our parking study for the .... the greater
downtown area because, you know, I think as Geoffs memo stated, there's.... there's
kind of an inter -relationship between off-street and on -street parking, you know, if we
were to make changes now, then staff would.....no doubt just park on the street because
that would be the most convenient thing to do. But I .... I do think what we ... I would want
Council to incentivize reducing ... uh, reminded me in some ways, you know, the single -
use bag discussion with the plastic bags, single -occupancy vehicles commuting to work.
I would like to promote the use of public transit, carpooling, any means by which we can
reduce that, urn .... use of off-street parking, reduce greenhouse gases, uh, make more
efficient use of the parking that we do have, uh, for all of those reasons. It seems to me
what we're doing is incentivizing, um, you know, convenience for single -occupancy
vehicles and I don't see that as being, uh, something we should support.
Throgmorton/ John, I'd say you make ..... you raise a valid point, but uh.... I'm sure you'd agree
this is not the moment to really discuss that in great detail. So ... can we make sure that
this topic.... either appears when we're .... when we're discussing the ... on/off street
parking topic?
Frain/ Well that's... that's going to be a consultant review. I mean we can ... put that variable into
the mix there, but I'm ... I'm not sure how the consultant's gonna .... dive into that one.
Throgmorton/ Well (both talking)
Mims/ Can I ask a quick question?
Frain/ Yeah.
Mims/ I don't know if you can give me a number off the top of your head but of staff that work
here .... that have that parking privilege or you know that incentive, that half-price
parking. What percentage... how many are there and how many are union? Cause to me
that impacts it entirely, cause we can't get into a big discussion here about negotiated
benefits.
Frain/ The majority would be union, um (both talking)
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Mims/ I think we've gotta just leave this one alone (several talking)
Cole/ ....I would agree, and I think we can maybe encourage, you know, very tiny little programs
for people to voluntarily do, but I think it's hard to sort of mandate particular benefits in
this context.
Botchway/ (several talking) .....I think to John's .... oh!
Fruin/ There may be smaller things we can do. We haven't discussed it in great deal with staff,
but you know, one of the ... one of the primary concerns an employee would have if they
were to shift from, uh, a .... a vehicle to ... to transit is one, what is that transit schedule. I
can tell ya that the bus that runs to my house, just the ... it comes once an hour, and that it
falls at....at a time, you know, in the hour which just ... it doesn't match up with the time I
need to be here at City Hall, but um, a lot of employees are in a situation where they need
to respond if their kid is sick at school or they have to run to a Dr. appointment or, you
know, those... those unplanned trips come up mid-day, and the City doesn't have the, uh,
vehicles to support that, and so there's this uncomfortableness and, uh, lack of
commitment to going to pure public transit. Now some employers, um, would offer a
pool car for those types of situations. Our fleet size doesn't accommodate that and we,
right now we don't allow pool car uses for personal use. We can dive into those things,
but uh.... we would need to think a lot more holistically at the staff level about what that
looks like.
Botchway/ I was just going to say, I mean there's .... I mean is there any reason why we can't
have that conversation during, I mean, the next union agreements, I mean that's .... I
understand, I mean, it's a negotiated, um, situation now but .... there's no reason why, to
John's point, we can't have the conversation in the future. I don't know how far we are
(both talking)
Fruin/ Well, I .... I mean you know what the union's always asked for, right?
Botchway/ Right.
Fruin/ They don't want to pay half price. They want free parking. So .... you're not really startin'
from (laughs) you know, they .... they want more, and you're talkin' about takin' away, if
I'm pickin' up on the conversation. You don't want a discount at all or you ... you want to
remove the parking discount and push it to a different mode and.... urn.... you know,
that ... that brings in whole other variables to the mix because if we're gonna ask them to
give up something, we typically have to give something and ... and keep in mind, a lot of
the union workers don't work an 8:00 to 5:00 shift. They're overnight at the Police
Department or they're .... (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Yeah, I think ... I think rather than discuss this particular point more thoroughly
right now, a little more ground work needs to be done by anybody who wants to advocate
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changing the way things are. And ... and so that we have somethin' we can actually chew
over, and ... and know that we're gonna be doin' it.
Mims/ Yeah. I .... I think the huge implications because of a large unionized employee base
makes this really, really difficult (both talking) philosophically I understand what you're
saying.
Thomas/ ...City of San Francisco had many union .... I was myself in a union and .... and we had
benefits related to incentivizing the use of alternative means of transit, or transportation.
So it...it can be factored into the union negotiation.
Fruin/ We will prepare the code amendment and, urn .... am I safe to assume wait further
direction from Council before pursuing any other changes to benefits?
Throgmorton/ Yeah, I wanted to say one thing about the suggestion that Susan made, which I
support, urn .... uh, and that is, if we were earning something like 60,000 or $70,000 a
year, I'd say yeah, let's get rid of the deal, but that's not the fact of the case. We get
something like $8,000 a year, I don't know .... $7,000, I don't know what it is (several
talking) $6,000? (laughter and several talking) Give me 5! (laughter)
Mims/ Seven.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, so it's ... it's, uh, you know, a very small amount and .... just from a financial
point of view, it....it is just not the same as being a fully employed, salaried person, and
then getting some special deal.
Mims/ Yeah, and it's not like .... we would have to park here all day anyways. So that this is a
benefit to get it half price. It's .... an inconvenience at times to come here in the first place
and so...
Throgmorton/ Okay, so Geoff, you know what we want (both talking)
Fruin/ I got it!
Throgmorton/ Let's turn to the September 29th packet.
Botchway/ IPI O. So I would like to propose we agree with the recommendations given. Um, on
top of that .... we would remove .... the, urn .... uh, I can't read my notes! Geez! My notes
read remove last three. Um ... an Information Packet discussion wrapped into Council
time.
Mims/ So you're referring to meeting schedule, pending work session (both talking) topics, and
upcoming community events (both talking)
Botchway/ Correct.
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Mims/ ....Council invitations.
Botchway/ Correct. Thank you!
Throgmorton/ Before we dive into that further, can I say one thing here? Uh, in preliminary
conversations with Marian, I ... I thought what we would be considering tonight is the ... the
possibility of. ... uh, shift ... the possibility of shifting the order to work sessions, relative to
formal meetings. So that the work sessions occurred after the formal meeting, rather than
before. And I'm not advocating, I'm just saying we could consider that, that we could
consider changing the day of the work session to ... back to like doin' it on Mondays
instead of on, both of `em on Tuesdays. Or any other particular details that we wanted to
consider changing with regard to the work session. Uh, so, um. .... not all that appears in
the .... in the memo, uh, that we're looking at tonight. That said .... there is value in
looking at the agenda itself and considering deleting certain topics so that we can focus
more attention on the, uh, on more important topics .... than we have the opportunity to do
right now. So ... uh.... so I just wanted to make ... make sure you understood that
there ... there was some desire actually to ... to open up this broader conversation cause I
know there have been conversations on one-on-one kinds of basis among Councilpeople
about changing the work session agenda or timing or whatever.
Mims/ Well, in response to what you just said, Jim, personally I'm not interested in going back
to a different night. Um .... we combined these not ... not too long after Tom Markus came
as City Manager. Um, and I think it, you know, again, when you talk about this as almost
a volunteer kind of position and the amount of time that it takes up, and away from
families in the evening, especially for any people who might want to do this who have
young children, you know, I think keeping it to one night, twice a month, um, is much
better. Um .... I'm not interested in going to after the formal meeting. I think the
discussions and the presentations that we have in the work session are .... often times the
meat of really important issues that we .... are looking at and maybe not looking at that
night, but as we're getting into some of these bigger presentations and longer
presentations of key issues, there are things that are coming up in the future months
where, you know, we're getting background information on or we're getting updates, like
with the strategic plan tonight, and to do those potentially at 8:00, 9:00, 9:30 at night, I
don't think puts us in the frame of mind to put the time and focus into it that we need for
really important issues. So .... personally I like the timeframe that we're doing now, 5:00
for the work session, 7:00 for the formal. I think the ideas that are presented here, um,
and that Kingsley said that he agrees with, I think what that does for us is gives us that
hour and a half to hour and 45 minutes to really focus on .... big important issues, and you
know, some nights we may be able to do a couple if they aren't as big and meaty as .... as
like they were tonight with ... with the update on the strategic plan. But if we take some of
these other things out, um, and put `em kind of at the back end of the formal meeting, that
frees up more of that hour and a half to hour and 45 minutes to have some really good in-
depth discussion on big important issues, and .... my only comment would be .... and I
think a lot of Council Members do this anyways, but if we ... if we remove discussion of
agenda items, which I have no problem with doing that, I think every Council Member
has to be .... much more cognizant of making sure that if we have significant questions
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about agenda items that we get hold of staff ahead of time. Um ... and give them an
opportunity if they need it to, I mean .... I don't think it's fair to walk in here on a Tuesday
night and be in the middle of the agenda and ask Geoff a question like I just asked him,
you know, if this was in a formal meeting. Okay, Geoff, how many staff members do we
have that work at City Hall and how many of them are union members, and expect him to
be able to answer that so that I know how I want to vote on a topic that's in front of us at
that instant. So I think, you know, as Council Members, we all have to be willing to say,
hey, you know, I get my packet on Thursday afternoon. I've got Thursday night, Friday
night, the weekend to look at it. You know, I realistically need by sometime on Monday
or certainly no later than fairly early Tuesday morning to shoot an email or give a phone
call to staff if there's .... ki... any kind of significant questions so that we're not putting
them on the spot in the middle of a formal meeting. I mean, we know sometimes in the
work sessions we've asked questions and ... and staff has said, well, I'll find out during the
break between work session and formal and I'll come back with the answer, and that has
worked. If we do it this way, that's not going to be possible. The other alternative is we
still discuss... we still ask questions but we make a concerted effort to narrow down and
focus those questions and not make it a discussion of the agenda item, but legitimately a
specific question about the agenda item. Cause sometimes we get into kind of longer
discussions during the work session. But the other things, I mean, the two points at the
end — removing the discussion of agenda items, removing Council appointments, and
moving like the meeting schedule, the pending work session topics, and upcoming
community events and Council invitations to the end of the formal I think makes sense.
Cole/ I do ... go ahead!
Throgmorton/ How do the rest of you think?
Thomas/ Well I ... I ... I think the, uh.... I kind of like having the opportunity to ask questions
during the work session, at least at this point in having served. I think the Council
appointments could be moved to the formal, and I've always had difficulty with, you
know, we have Council time, upcoming community events, Council invitations, and then
we also have on the formal City Council information, so (laughs) it's sort of a, you know,
where... where does what I want to, you know, where do (both talking)
Mims/ Let's put it all in one at the end of the formal (several talking and laughing)
Thomas/ ...different categories to begin with, uh, so I'm .... I'm happy to let go of Council time
and upcoming community events and just having that as City Council information at the
formal session. Um....
Cole/ Makes a ton of sense!
Thomas/ ...that would help... save time and also confusion on .... on my part.
Throgmorton/ I think that's a good idea, and I don't know how the rest of you think. I think I
heard Rockne say yes.
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Taylor/ I totally agree.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, so .... yep. Yeah, so I think we want to do that.
Mims/ So what about meeting schedule and pending work session topics?
Karr/ Well we could .... as far as the meeting schedule, if those are going to be in memo form, my
questions to you could be discussed in the Info Packet. That could be the same type of
discussion.
Mims/ Yeah.
Karr/ So if. ... if I'm understanding you correctly, there's some interest to take the current work
session schedule.... and.... end it with informal packet discussion.
Mims/ Information Packet discussion.
Karr/ Information Packet discussion, yes, and combining the remaining four items into more of a
Council time that could include information, uh, pending work session topics, upcoming
events, etc. (several responding) And so those topics as they now exist won't be spelled
out but it would allow that to occur.
Mims/ Sure.
Botchway/ Well am I ... so we're keeping Information Packet discussion on there?
Karr/ On the work session?
Botchway/ I was saying cutting that out.
Mims/ No, I think we have to keep it on there (several talking)
Botchway/ Well I'm not saying it's not important. My point was wrapping it into Council time.
I don't think there's (unable to hear)
Dilkes/ I think you want to ... I don't think you want to do that, because.... when you say
Information Packet discussion, you are giving people notice that anything in that
Information Packet is game for discussion. With Council time, you really have to .... we
haven't given any notice of any specific topics, so I ... I think you want to keep
Information Packet on there.
Botchway/ Well, if that's the case, what are we discussing in Information Packet that's... that
takes (mumbled)
Karr/ Well, like the meeting schedule. The joint agenda items. Things like that.
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Botchway/ Yeah. Okay.
Mims/ KXIC schedule.
Karr/ KXIC schedule.
Mims/ And if there's anything else that is in there that we ... want to talk about.
Taylor/ That you don't want to take up time in the formal meeting (several talking)
Mims/ No, but we're talking about keeping that (several talking)
Taylor/ Right, exactly!
Botchway/ So, Marian, can you run through the list one more time (mumbled)
Karr/ I believe.... what we talked about was the work session agenda would have your major
topic or topics at the beginning, and then it would have, um .... Information Packet
discussion.
Mims/ The question is do we keep questions from Council regarding agenda items.
Karr/ That's correct. Because everything else would switch over to under Council information
category on the formal.
Cole/ I think that that might be a good idea to keep it, but we keep it .... self-discipline to keep it
short. Um, cause it can turn into a discussion, and I think to get all that nitpicky stuff
before the formal meeting is helpful, as long as it doesn't evolve into essentially a .... a
second discussion of what's on the formal agenda. Um, but I'm (both talking)
Mims/ I think (both talking) I think that would be a good transition...
Cole/ Yeah.
Mims/ ...from what it currently is.
Dickens/ (mumbled) ...calling if you have a question ahead of time (several talking)
Taylor/ As long as Geoff is .... (several talking) Yeah.
Dickens/ ...completely.
Taylor/ If Geoff s okay with not being deluged with calls or emails on ... on Monday, uh,
that ... that's (both talking)
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Fruin/ No, that's fine. (several talking) You know one of my .... one of my thoughts in ... in
recommending that we take the current agenda items out is I try to put myself in the
audience's, um, shoes at times, as well, and if you're concerned about an item, um, and
it's fair game to talk about at the work session and the formal, then you gotta be here at
5:00, and then you've gotta stay till the 7:00. Now if you cut out the discussion and
you're just asking for more information, perhaps that's... that's okay, but, urn .... you
know, I'm trying to simplify things for folks out there too (several responding) which is
why also to ... to a separate question that the Mayor asked, and it doesn't sound like
you're... you're goin' this way, but when you do the work session after the formal
meeting, you can't advertise that start time. So think about the affordable housing action
plan presentation. We couldn't have turn ... told those, um, concerned parties, you know,
be here at 8:00. We would have to say, well, the meeting's at 7:00. I think it'll get over
at 8:30 and....
Cole/ And what if we have a marathon session too (both talking)
Fruin/ ...that's why I like the work session then the formal cause then you can announce two
separate start times. Um, but the agenda items, again, I think as long as you're strippin'
out the discussion, then from the audience standpoint they'd know that they still just need
to come to the formal.
Cole/ Mayor, to your point though about, I do support keeping the work sessions at the same
time as formal meetings. Um, that said, um, throughout the year if maybe there could be
a couple more ad hoc sessions on work sessions that we just sort of can have a stand-
alone topic because .... I always sort of feel like the work session it is, um...there's only so
much that you can develop. I'm not saying I want a budget meeting type process, but I
think just for us to at least be open to that, on occasion, to do a stand-alone work session
on a big topic so we can really have the time without the pressure of the formal meeting,
but I wouldn't want to have a situation where we do it the Monday, the Tuesday, the
night before because then all of a sudden you're doubling, uh, the availability, but just for
us to keep open on ... on occasion to that concept. I'd be open to that.
Dickens/ We just have to publish it so many hours ahead of time.
Karr/ Twenty-four. (several talking) We often do special work sessions at your request, uh,
whether it be budget driven or whether it be ... (several talking) Absolutely, and that's
always a discretion that we ... we would put in. We try to work that into our tentative
schedule a week or so ahead, yes.
Botchway/ (mumbled) points. I don't want this to be we cut out some stuff and then, you know,
I love y'all but .... (laughter) the presentation's an hour and 30 minutes cause that's not
cool, for me. I don't know about the rest of the Councilors, but I mean the ... the major
topic would be like a lot longer. That's not cool. You know what I mean (several
talking)
Mims/ ....fill time just cause it's there!
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Botchway/ Yeah. That... that's my point. I'm just saying (several talking)
Fruin/ ...start those at 6:00 (laughter and several talking) make it work!
Botchway/ One ... one thing I .... (several talking)
Dilkes/ I've been here a long time and usually they're extended by Council! (several talking and
laughing)
Botchway/ I totally agree! (laughter) Totally agree! (several talking) I actually am ... so I just
made that joke but then, kind of, but then, um .... wondering whether or not, and this is
throwing a wrench so if you're gonna say no, then let's hold off on it, but adding a ... a
brief community comment during the work session. Just for people that .... and I just
think about it from the family standpoint. Seven is tough. Like I was actually going to
talk about let's move it up to 6:00, but anyways, I just think 7:00 is tough for some folks
and, you know, talking about particular issues or even, you know, asking particular
questions ahead of time, it would be good for me, um, personally, but... again, if you're
going to say no, let's just wait and we'll move on, um, but if you're going to say yes,
obviously let's move on with that. (mumbled)
Dickens/ (mumbled) ...no, you just get to like if you get to 6:30 (several talking) want to do a
public comment....
Botchway/ It'd be a finite time.
Dickens/ You'd have to do a finite time and no longer than 10 or 15 minutes but .... then you're
cutting off people's (several talking)
Mims/ The problem is we never know for sure how long the work session's going to go. And so
you can't give `em a time and so (several talking and laughing)
Cole/ And on occasion we do invite community members to speak at the (mumbled) ahead of
time to speak on a particular topic (several talking)
Taylor/ You don't want to confuse people as to when they're going to be able to come.
Throgmorton/ All right, so uh... uh, can we be clear about what the ... the new agenda will be, the
new work session agenda? Sequence will be.
Mims/ Sure.
Throgmorton/ Please, could you restate (laughter)
Karr/ I believe we have an agreement for the major topic or topics, and in response to Kingsley,
we may also be able then to add another major topic by taking off some of these other
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ones (several responding) that ... that may not have presented itself because of that, so we
have major topic or topics....
Mims/ Brief questions from Council (several talking)
Botchway/ ...Terry was over here (several talking)
Karr/ I don't know, do we have a consensus to leave questions on agenda items? (several
talking) So we've got then major topics, questions from Council regarding agenda items,
then Information Packet.
Mims/ Yep, that's it!
Dickens/ You could just go clarifications on agenda items rather than questions.
Karr/ Okay. (several talking)
Botchway/ ...add that on then (several talking and laughing)
Karr/ There is no resolution, as we noted in the memo. There is no resolution stating this. This is
very much a ... a work session of...of your design, so we can try it this way, and then we
can learn by it and tweak it.
Throgmorton/ What was your label for the last item?
Karr/ Information Packet discussion.
Throgmorton/ I thought there was a ... a catch-all category, wasn't there? (several talking)
Karr/ Council information was at the end of the formal meeting (several talking) of the formal
meeting.
Throgmorton/ Of the formal.
Karr/ Right! So the end of the formal would still be Council information, and I can if you'd like
on the agenda, on the formal agenda, I can put in parentheses meeting schedule, pending
work session topics, so that everybody (several talking) that catch-all didn't disappear,
it...it will (several talking) Yeah, and so we could .... then it's basically down to ... to three
items then on a work session, three or four depending on the major topics, and then we
redesign the formal agenda.
Throgmorton/ The overall purpose it seems to me should be ... enable us to focus our attention on
what's most important. Cause we do have a tendency to talk. As I just did! (laughter)
Karr/ I'll make that change for the next meeting.
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Throgmorton/ Okay, so, let's see there's more to do here. Let's see, uh.... god, where are we?
Uh....
Mims/ We're still on (several talking) 29`h if there's anything else.
Dickens/ There was a work schedule thing about you ... you're gonna be gone in November and
December.
Karr/ The November and December possible holiday schedule is IPI 1. And that was just sort of
a heads up to think about it. Right now your schedule calls for two meetings in
November and two meetings in December.
Mims/ I think we should cancel the December 20`h meeting unless we have an absolute
emergency. (several responding)
Karr/ Okay, and then can ... do you wish then to move .... (several talking) Do you wish to move
at all then, um, your November I later to accommodate two in December before the 20°19.
Or do you just want to go to one meeting, the December 6°i9
Mims/ I think we go to one meeting December 6`h and I think we keep `em on our .... we kind of
committed a long time ago we were going to stay on our regular dates if it was only one
person that was missing, just for the public's benefit (both talking)
Karr/ So November remains the same?
Mims/ That would be my preference. The public knows it's the first and third Tuesday of the
month.
Cole/ I agree.
Karr/ Okay.
Dickens/ Check your schedule!
Karr/ So, Kingsley....
Dickens/ He's checking his schedule for that November 15`h to see if he can be Mayor or not.
Botchway/ No, I was just, I mean (laughter) When's, um, Thanksgiving?
Karr/ The following (several responding)
Botchway/ Oh, okay.
Karr/ There's about five Tuesdays in November is what opens up the opportunities. That's
why....
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Throgmorton/ All right, I think we're agreed, drop December 20m
Karr/ Okay. Retain November and cancel the .... okay.
Throgmorton/ All right, uh, IP12, employee appreciation lunch. 17`n of November. I can't be
here for that.
Botchway/ I'll be here.
Throgmorton/ Could you be here?
Botchway/ I'll be here.
Throgmorton/ To treat everybody with all the respect (both talking)
Botchway/ And eat! Yes!
Throgmorton/ Good deal!
Botchway/ What time is it again? I ... that's what I forgot to put in my calendar (several talking
and laughing) Okay, I'll be there!
Fruin/ Fun event, if you haven't made it out there, it's .... the employees really appreciate seeing
you out there.
Karr/ Yes (several talking)
Throgmorton/ Anything else on, uh, that IP, that Infa... that Information Packet?
Mims/ Two really good articles on Jingle Cross, thanks for putting those in. Those are great!
(several talking) Yep!
Taylor/ Love the pictures! They're wonderful!
Dickens/ And I did get one of the bicycles. I got ... (several talking) I have to go pick it up, but
I ... bid on it for one of my grandkids. (several talking and laughing) It doesn't have
training wheels so I can't ride it! (laughter)
Throgmorton/ Okay, focus... focus.... focus! (laughter) Are we done with that Information
Packet?
Mims/ Yes!
Council Time:
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Throgmorton/ Council time.
Dickens/ Uh, just one thing on the MPO meeting the last one. John and I were the only two to be
there and I know we had two .... two subs, so we really need to work at making sure we
can get there if you're in town and make a concerted effort cause I know the last couple
meetings we've had some people missing, so....
Mims/ Yeah, I apologize. I was out of town and I was late asking for a sub and they were out of
subs by the time I called (several talking)
Dickens/ Cause there's (several talking) in that meeting (several talking) University requesting
more of our transit money and so....
Thomas/ Well and we were also discussing that long-range plan, uh, I'm pleased that Jeff Speck
is coming to our .... that joint coming up, cause this ... I mentioned that he would, at the
MPO, that Jeff would be having this event and I encouraged people to attend that.
Throgmorton/ I want to mention one thing. Uh, John and I had an excellent conversation with
our two excellent student liaisons, Jake and Ben. Uh.... about student housing concerns,
about the concerns that Jake, uh, so eloquently, uh, drew our attention to, uh, last
meeting. Uh, I can't speak for Jake, or Ben, uh, but my sense is that we really had a
mutual, beneficial.... mutually beneficial discussion, pretty enlightening both ways, so I
want to thank y' all, both of you, for doing that.
Simpson/ Yeah, and I, uh, met with our, the President of Student Govermnent and what not,
talked about our conversation (mumbled) really happy with what we talked about. Uh,
we came up with a couple things to move forward on (clears throat) Uh, we did so
hopefully we can get back to you in the next couple weeks.
Meeting Schedule:
Throgmorton/ Okay, good deal! Uh, meeting schedule. (several talking) We just did it, okay!
Pending work session topics.
Pending Work Session Topics JIP # 5 Info Packet of 9/291:
Botchway/ Waste management! (several talking)
Upcoming Community Events/Council Invitations:
Throgmorton/ Uh....upcoming community events, Council invitations, da -da -da .... October 7a',
Visual Arts Building ribbon cutting.
Botchway/ You going?
Throgmorton/ (mumbled)
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Mims/ They're also looking for volunteers for the Iowa River Trail clean-up, I think the next
four Sundays is it? Saturdays? Sundays?
Fruin/ I don't know for sure but....
Mims/ I don't know. I know I got the email on it.
Fruin/ Call our Public Works Department or call City Hall and we can (both talking)
Mims/ Yeah, so they're looking for volunteers for that. Um .... ICAD breakfast is coming up if
people haven't RSVP'd. I don't know if it's too late or not. Um .... Human Rights
breakfast is coming up, later this month. I don't have the date in front of me, but uh...
Throgmorton/ And there's that building bridges event, um .... next Thursday, yeah. Anything
else?
Cole/ October 14`h, Center for Worker Justice is having a fundraising gala at 6:00 P.M. at the St.
Pat's Church, so I encourage people to buy a ticket to that. And I am very excited about
the upcoming Jeff Speck event, um .... his stuff is all over You Tube, so it'll be really
exciting to see him here in person, and I think it's going to be what, tentatively October
24a' at 6:30 at Voxman maybe but we're still confirming that.
Fruin/ Still confirming all the details.
Cole/ I'm really hoping the community can attend that. I think they'll really enjoy it. It's going
to be a really interesting event.
Throgmorton/ Good deal. Anything else? Hearing nothing, I think we're done. Thank you all.
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