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ITEM 2. STUDENT LEADERSHIP AWARDS
ITEM 2a Longfellow Elementary
Throgmorton: I wonder if our three terrific students would come up and meet me in front.
(mumbled, away from mic) Hi, kids! It's good to see you again. Um ... so, what
I'm gonna do is read ... the award, which has exactly the same text for each of you,
and then I'll ask you to read your, uh, the pieces you've written, okay? All right!
So, Fiona, you will go first, right? And again, the text is the same for all of you.
(reads award) So, Fiona, why don't you read your statement first.
Arnold: Hello, my name is Fiona Arnold and I'm a fifth grader at Longfellow Elementary.
I want to thank Iowa City and Longfellow School for the opportunity to be here.
Some of the things that make me a good citizen are being an active part in student
council, doing recycling for my class, and serving on safety patrol. I enjoy
helping people such as my brother with his homework, or my parents, and
supporting my friends. I think events like this help make Iowa City a special
place. I'm looking forward to growing up here and continuing to contribute to
our schools and to our community. Thank you. (applause)
Throgmorton: Terrific! (applause continues) Well done! So I forgot to say my sons went to
Longfellow Elementary. It's a terrific school, one of my favorites. All right.
Who's next? Ian, you're next, right? Okay, so again, I just read your award,
right, so it ... it, but it has your name on it. There it is! So, would you read your
statement, please?
Weaver: Hi, I'm Ian Weaver, a fifth grader at Longfellow Elementary, the school I have
attended since kindergarten. I am a Longfellow representative because I treat
others with respect. In fourth grade, I was appointed to be a pride officer, which
protects others from bullying. I play the trumpet, am involved in safety patrol,
book fest, and the recycling program. I have all my homework turned in and
respect all of my teachers. I volunteer at community events as well, such as the
(can't hear) 5k to raise money for breast cancer. I have also represented my class
in the Longfellow student council. (applause)
Throgmorton: Excellent! (applause continues) Congratulations, Ian! Which turns us to Jack
Kahle. So, Jack, again .... same text, but there's your name, right? So, let me get
over on this side. Would you read your .... your statement?
Kahle: Hi, I'm Jack Kahle. (mumbled) in the community for a lot of reasons. Here are a
few of them. I have helped at the homeless shelter. I have played with some of
the younger kids who lived there. I'm a recycling member (mumbled) and in
third grade I was in student council. This summer my neighborhood had a music
festival. Me and my friend, Ian (mumbled) lemonaid stand. We made $174 and
donated all of it to the Cedar Valley Humane Society. Ian and I also volunteered
at a (mumbled) at Terry Trueblood. (mumbled) when they were done running.
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That's why I'm a good community leader. Thanks for giving me this opportunity.
(applause)
Throgmorton: Well done, Jack! So I'm confident there are very proud parents in the room.
There's some right over here. There's a brother too that's pretty proud, and....
there's a proud mom right there and a proud mom, proud dad, and a proud
brother! Wow! Anybody else? (laughter) Proud sister, oh my gosh! (laughter)
I apologize, I almost skipped you! Okay, so well done, kids! Keep it up! You're
doin' great work! All right! (applause)
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ITEM 3. SPECIAL RECOGNITION
a) Housing Trust Fund Thank you
Throgmorton: Okay, so I'm gonna stay up here because Tracey Achenbach's gonna come up
here to, uh, give, uh, the City of Iowa City a plaque, right, Tracey? You want to
do it from there or come up here? Why don't you come up here?
Achenbach: Oh! (several talking and laughing)
Throgmorton: Just do it right there! (laughter)
Achenbach: Um .... so, hi, Mayor, Council... staff; Ashley, I haven't met you yet. Um ... I'm
here on behalf of my board. I have a couple of board members behind me — Jerry
Anthony and Larry Wilson. Uh, Mary Ann Dennis, of course, is an advisory
member, as someone who was key in starting the Housing Trust Fund, and as you
have heard me say, it is phenomenal what you are doing in regard to affordable
housing and your dedication to it. So my board wanted to recognize you. So the
plaque says: In recognition of outstanding support to affordable housing,
presented December 2016 to the City of Iowa City City Council. Ji ... Jim
Throgmorton, Mayor; Kingsley Botchway, Rockne Cole, Terry Dickens, Susan
Mims, Pauline Taylor, and John Thomas. Um, Housing Trust Fund of Johnson
County, Board of Directors, and we deeply, sincerely thank you, uh, for the
commitment to affordable housing and we hope it's just a start, and the plaque, if
it were a lot bigger, I would include a lot of other folks, um, your staff of course
because they're key in all of this, and the Housing and Community Development
Commission, but anyway, this is .... we just wanted to say thanks, and I'm sure I
speak on behalf of all of my peers who work in affordable housing as well.
(applause)
Throgmorton: Are these other guys gonna say something too? (unable to hear responses, away
from mic) (laughter) So .... yeah! Come up, and I don't know, somebody might
want to take a picture. That'd be great! Oh, Peter's gonna do it! Sorry. Can we
(several talking) Let's not block everybody out. (several talking) I don't know,
you could hand .... hand me the plaque. (several talking and laughing) So I'd just
like to say that, uh, Geoff Fruin.... our City Manager and the rest of our staff
deserve most of the praise for this, but we're happy to accept it on their behalf and
on the City of Iowa City's behalf. Okay! (several talking)
Mims: Thank you very much! (several talking and laughing)
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ITEM 3. SPECIAL RECOGNITION
b) Henri Harper Induction into Iowa African American Hall of Fame
Throgmorton: We have another person we want to recognize. Henri, where are you? Would
you come up here, please? (applause) So we want to, uh, give a Certificate of
Recognition to Henri Harper, and I'm really pleased.... tremendously please to be
able to do this. So, let me read some text for you first and then give you the
award, Henri. So the Iowa, uh, American..... sorry! Iowa African American Hall
of Fame was founded in 1995 in Des Moines, Iowa, by the Connect Foundation,
which is an incorporated non-profit network of volunteers that promotes improved
community relations. The purpose is to recognize outstanding achievements of
African Americans with respect to enhancing the quality of life for all Iowans. It
is their hope that such achievements will serve as an inspiration to all populations
and that each person can make a contribution through dedication, persistence, and
the pursuit of excellence. At the 21" annual induction ceremony held on
November 4, of this year, the organization recognized Iowa City Police
Community Outreach Assistant Henri Harper. In recognizing Henri, the
organization wrote: He has empowered youth and families, enabled challenged
youth to meet seemingly insurmountable goals in school work. He has been
exemplary in efforts to bring community support to inter -agency cooperation
between law enforcement, community residents, and students. So, tonight it's my
great, great pleasure to recognize Henri with his ... with this certificate, honoring
his induction into the Iowa African American Hall of Fame. (applause)
Harper: Well I .... I do have to say something, cause I've always said everything I've
always done within this community. I accept this on behalf of all the kids and
families that I work with, and also to be able to work in a community to support
all kids, being able to succeed and push through (mumbled) goals and directives.
So, I'm very grateful and thankful, and I'm really proud that I'm actually at this
point able to perzoo.... pursue the work that I continue to do by working with the
Iowa City Police Department and I thank the City government and the Iowa City
Police Department for now making me feel part of the family. (applause)
Throgmorton: Thank you, Henri! (applause continues) Well that was so much fan .... so much
fun to do, uh, but now we have to do work! (laughter) So I want to thank all of
you for coming out to .... on this cold night, you know, winter's finally, uh, comin'
around the corner. Uh, but thank you for coming, uh.... to your City Hall to see
how your City government's workin' to try .... and try to influence what we do.
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ITEM 5. COMMUNITY COMMENT (ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA). [UNTIL 8
PM]
Throgmorton: This is a moment when anybody who wants to make a comment about any item,
anything that's not on our published agenda, uh, can feel free to do so. I'd like to
ask you to keep your comments to not more than five minutes. And, uh.... make
sure it's not about a topic that's already on our agenda. So, good evening!
Nyren: Good evening! I'm Judy Nyren and the three of us are representing the
neighborhood organizations and we attend the Neighborhood Council meetings,
and uh, so we've got several things we just want to thank the City for, for the
cooperation between the City of Iowa City and those neighborhood organizations,
and we speak on behalf of other neighborhood, uh, associations. I'm Judy Nyren,
I represent Lucas Farms. This is Nancy Carlson and she represents College
Green, and this is Lorraine Bowans, and she represents Longfellow
Neighborhood. First we want to thank you. The Mayor of the evening, Henri.
Uh, he attends some of our meetings, and we always like to hear the good ideas he
brings and the discussion that he brings to certain elements of our .... our
neighborhood concerns, and we're appreciative that his position has been raised
from a part-time to a full-time position, so we want to thank you for that and we
also just want to thank Henri for the contributions he's made. And then, uh, we
also just want to give a general thanks to different, um, organizations within the
City. I know that our particular neighborhood has benefited from cooperation
with the Streets Department, and I'm sure others have as well as we appreciated
the, uh, Mayor Throgmorton's walk through the neighborhoods, and in our
particular neighborhood you rode on our Tour de Farm bike ride, and we've also
had a lot of cooperation with the Parks and Rec Department, as well as, uh, the
Transportation Department, uh, in our neighborhood at least on the, urn .... Lucas
Farm's history day. So, with that in mind, we just really want to express a thanks
and there's going to be a few more comments that she'll thank a few significant
people too.
Bowans: Well I'm Lorraine Bowans from Longfellow and I was one of the organizers for
the Longfellow Neighborhood Association, which was made possible from the
hard work and dedication by Marcia Bollinger. We wanted to thank her. More
than anything Marcia's been with the City and with the neighborhoods since the
beginning. She has been the most tremendous asset to keeping the neighborhood
asa.... associations going, and would not have been as successful as it is without
her. So we want to thank the City for supporting her and supporting the
neighborhoods. We also want to thank you for increasing the PIN grants to back
to what they originally were. Um, some of the neighborhoods, ours included,
struggled when we lost the money to print newsletters that go out to our .... our
community. Here's an example of Lucas Farm's newsletter, and by the additional
PIN grant money, hopefully we can get the newsletters printed back to all the
neighbors. Um ... we have 900 -some households in Longfellow neighborhood
alone, I believe. I think that's what Marcia told me. So, not everybody does
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Facebook, not everybody does Next Door, although Next Door is an excellent
service that your .... that has come out through the neighborhood association. So
we just wanted to really show you our appreciation for supporting the PIN grants
and supporting Marcia, and all of us in our neighborhood associations. We're
very thankful.
Throgmorton: Thanks to all of you. Uh, Judy, would you say hi to that fine veterinarian doctor
of yours! (laughter) Anyone else?
Nations: Hi, Brenda Nations, Sustainability Coordinator, and....
Hightshoe: Tracy Hightshoe with Neighborhood Services.
Nations: Uh, we're here to give you an update and to introduce you to our new
AmeriCorps team. Uh, we .... they came in September and AmeriCorps is, uh, a
State .... state-wide program. It's our first, uh, year in Iowa City. There's seven
other cities across the state. It's a federally -funded program and, uh, we have
been working together, along with Pat McKay, uh, who is also the site supervisor
with me. We have five AmeriCorps members that we'd like to introduce you to.
Um, Aren (mumbled) say your name right (unable to hear response) Calton, Aren
Calton. We have Kai Hedstrom, Emily Mueller, and Michael Delp, and Michael
Delp's gonna give you an update on what they've been doin' with our .... our
publicly -owned, uh, housing. Michael!
Delp: We have the privilege, and the pleasure, to be doing, uh, audits on all the City -
owned properties, the single-family, uh, low-income housing. Uh, for energy
audits we check for asbestos and we measure for correct levels of insulation. Uh,
during our audit process we make sure that the water heater and furnaces are
running, uh, correctly and there's no carbon monoxide problems. Uh, during our
audits we replace aerators, shower heads that need to be reduced to our lower
flow, and this can be reducing water usage in these properties by 60 to 30%...
depending on the shower heads, they're usually 60 and the aerators are usually 30.
Um, and we replace LED light bulbs also and .... we're kind of switching out
incandescent light bulbs and these can be 87% more efficient. And .... let's see,
and our status update so far, we've completed 35 of the City properties, and we've
changed out 30 ... or 78 incandescent light bulbs with LED light bulbs, 51 low -flow
aerators, uh, 10 low -flow shower heads, and we've sealed 681 square inches of
leakage areas in these houses so that they're more efficient and more .... uh.... sort
o£.. just efficient for the homeowner, and we also do outreach events. Uh, we do
tabling at the Farmers Market. We do invasive species remo... removal. We've
done seed collection at Kent Park, uh, alternative energy talks at City High, and
we've helped tree keepers plant some trees around the area.
Tbrogmorton: Excellent! Well done! (applause)
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Hightshoe: We just wanted to thank you. This project is, um, we have 91 hou... housing units.
This makes us better stewards of the property that we own and that house our
tenants and it's better for the tenants and so ... thank you!
Throgmorton: Great! Thank you, Tracy. Thanks, Brenda. Thanks, Michael, and everybody else
with AmeriCorps. Anybody else want to speak? Brandon!
Ross: Hi, I'm Brandon Ross, uh, from Iowa City. I, um.....a number of things this
week, uh, brought me to, urn .... a quote from Henry Giroux, uh, about, uh, our
government and, uh, public versus private, uh, interests. And I ... I will read a little
portion for you. I thought it would be, uh, related to things going on. It's about
Flint, Michigan. As you know that privatization has created a catastrophe in their
water situation. What the Flint catastrophe reveals is a survival of ...of the fittest
ethic that replaces any reasonable notion of solidarity, social responsibility,
compassion for each other. Flint makes clear that rather than considering the lives
of black children just as sacred as those of white kids. Our current system
considers harming them defensible. Chris Hedges concurs that the crisis in Flint
is far more ominous than lead -contaminated water. It is systematic of the collapse
of our democracy. Corporate power is not held accountable for its crimes.
Everything is up for sale. Including children. Cities like Flint and Ferguson hold
a mirror to the fact that America is indeed at war with itself. For they reveal the
civilian casualties of racist class war. The people, families, and whole
communities whose existential struggle is to convince the rest of the country and
the world that their lives matter too. Under a regime of neoliberalism,
impoverished communities are not only increasingly defunded and abandoned,
they are under siege, and their modes of resistance have been cauterized, subject
to criminalization, harassment, surveillance, and police violence. As we have
learned from the scandalous condition of the public schools in Detroit and many
other collapsing public institutions in our country, the victims are mostly children
who are forced to spend their days in economically ravaged schools and
communities, and lives ... they live in environments contaminated with health -
compromising toxins. The characteristics of this wartime regime are all around
us. The domination of financial self -interests, the elimination of social safety
nets, the criminalization of communities of color, and an economically
disadvantaged, the impunity of police violence, the internalization of the terror
wars and its invasive surveillance machine. The selling off of public goods to
private, and corporate interests, increasing debt, the continued impoverishment of
larger segments of the population, the relentless, perpetuation of environmental
racism, and growing unemployment for large numbers of young people. In our
own state, we have a governor who is fighting public education, defunding. We
have a party that cares only for finance. Market versus society. In our own town,
we have these problems. I encourage people to form agency, to work with
government, that government means something, to come to the City Council
meetings. In the City Council meeting tonight there are about 60 people in what
you might call the audience. But there could be more of you. We can enlarge the
City chambers over here. We have to fight for education, public .... all our public
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am
places. The commons, we have to fight for them. We should not privatize them.
We should beware. My daughter's in, uh, City High School. She's a sophomore.
Class sizes there are 30 to 45 people. That's a lot. When I was in school, back in
the dark ages, we had maybe 20....25 kids. We have to protect our population.
So I bring up Flint tonight and Henry Giroux's quote, uh, from America at War
With Itself to draw attention to our own city, to our Councilors, our management
— that we must close ranks and form a critical mass of agency against tyranny.
And I appreciate your time. Thank you so much.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Brandon. Anyone else? Seeing no one else, we'll move to Item 6,
Planning and Zoning Matters.
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ITEM 6. PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS
ITEM 6a PLEASANT VALLEY AND NAGLE LUMBER — ORDINANCE
CONDITIONALLY REZONING PROPERTY FROM INTENSIVE
COMMERCIAL (CI -1) ZONE AND PUBLIC (P-1) TO RIVERFRONT
CROSSINGS — SOUTH GILBERT DISTRICT (RFC -SG) ZONE FOR
APPROXIMATELY 8.52 ACRES LOCATED AT 1225 S. GILBERT
STREET, 1301 S. GILBERT STREET, AND 1201 S. GILBERT STREET.
(REZ16- 00002) (SECOND CONSIDERATION)
Throgmorton: This is second consideration but staff has requested expedited action. I should,
uh, ask if there's anybody has had any ex parte conversations? No? No. Okay.
So.....
Mims: I move that the rule requiring that ordinances must be considered and voted on for
passage at two Council meetings prior to the meeting at which it is to be finally
passed be suspended, that the second consideration and vote be waived, and that
the ordinance be voted on for final passage at this time.
Thomas: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Thomas. Discussion? Hearing none, uh, roll call.
Motion carries 7-0.
Mims: Move the ordinance be finally adopted at this time.
Dickens: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Dickens. Discussion? Hearing none, roll call.
Motion carries 7-0.
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ITEM 7. FRAUENHOLTZ-MILLER PARK — RESOLUTION APPROVING PLANS,
SPECIFICATIONS, FORM OF CONTRACT, AND ESTIMATE OF COST
FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FRAUENHOLTZ-MILLER PARK
PROJECT 2016, ESTABLISHING AMOUNT OF BID SECURITY TO
ACCOMPANY EACH BID, DIRECTING CITY CLERK TO PUBLISH
NOTICE TO BIDDERS, AND FIXING TIME AND PLACE FOR RECEIPT
OF BIDS
a. PUBLIC HEARING
Throgmorton: I'll open the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Julie..... Seydell-Johnson! Good
evening.
Seydell-Johnson: We're having technical.... there we go! (several talking) (mumbled)
Frauenholtz-Miller Park, um, located at .... 4329 St. Patrick's Drive. There we go!
The three -acre park located up by St. Patrick's Church, um, acquired by the City
in 2007, uh, City staff along with consultants from Shive-Hattery worked on this
park design throughout the summer. We had a public meeting up on site, which
had about 60 or 70 of the neighbors come, and the number one thing we heard
was thank you (laughs) and maybe get this built quickly. Um .... and then it was
approved by the Parks Commission, or recommended by the Parks Commission in
October.
Mims: And Terry's absolutely thrilled!
Dickens: Yes! (laughter) I got a garbage can two or three years ago and so this is really
good to see the rest of it finally.... finally catching up, cause it's ... it's been a
vacant lot for quite a few years with no improvements. So it's .... very nice to see.
I don't live in that neighborhood, but I....L....I go by there on a regular basis and
it's, uh, be a nice addition to that area. It's .... it's a growing.....growing
neighborhood.
Throgmorton: Julie, do you have apointer there at hand?
Seydell-Johnson: I do, yes.
Throgmorton: Yeah, could you just describe, you know, point to the various features of this
particular plan and where St. Patrick's Church is and....
Seydell-Johnson: Very simple park design. The one thing we heard clearly from the neighbors is
they love the view of the church. So the church is up to the north of the park, uh,
they love the open view of the sky .... of the skyline or the open space up there,
and they wanted to be able to have this open lawn area. They see a number of
soccer teams, flag football teams, whatnot practice up there, so we kept about half
of the park open. Um, there's paths that go through, walking paths, a small
playground, uh, slightly larger than what we put (coughing, difficult to hear
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speaker) Highland Park last summer, but similar to that. Um, some berms around
that area for people to watch, to sit on, and to picnic on, and then we did two
small shelters instead of one larger one, thinking this was more for the families
and neighbors in the actual area to walk into the park with their, um, picnic lunch
or to watch the kids play. Uh, the berms on this side make it so that you could be
in the shelter, either watching the soccer practice going on in the open part of the
park or watching younger children play down on the playground.
Thomas: It looks like the pathway on the northern edge of the .... the play area, uh, the
walkway is broken up into, urn .... separate flags so to speak. Is it .... does it ... does
grass grow between them (both talking)
Seydell-Johnson: No, it's actually stamped concrete, just to give it some different color and to
pick up on the architecture of St. Pat's Church.
Throgmorton: Okay, any other questions for Julie? I don't hear any. Thank you, Julie! Would
anybody else like to address this topic? I don't see anybody else so I'm gonna
close the public hearing. (bangs gavel)
b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION
Dickens: Move the resolution.
Mims: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Decken... Dickens, seconded by Mims. Discussion?
Mims: Just happy to see it moving forward.
Tbrogmorton: Me too!
Thomas: This is one that Terry had asked us to move .... move up at our budget discussions
last year, so .... (both talking)
Dickens: Runnin' out of time so I guess (laughter)
Thomas: Just under the wire!
Throgmorton: So what are you gonna do out there? What are you gonna do out there?
Dickens: Take my grandkids out and play in the park!
Botchway: And play soccer! (several talking and laughing)
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Throgmorton: Well let me know when you're goin' out there (both talking) ...witness it!
(laughter) Okay, so, uh, I closed the public hearing, we have a motion on the
floor. No further discussion? Roll call. Motion carries 7-0.
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ITEM 8. DOUGLASS STREET AND DOUGLASS COURT WATER MAIN
REPLACEMENT PROJECT - RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING THE
LOCATION FOR PROPOSED SIDEWALKS AS NECESSARY TO
COMMENCE FINAL DESIGN SERVICES FOR THE DOUGLASS
STREET AND DOUGLASS COURT WATER MAIN REPLACEMENT
PROJECT
Throgmorton: Uh, so .... introduce yourself, please.
Sovers: Uh, Scott Sovers, Senior Civil Engineer.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Scott.
Sovers: Yes. The Douglass Street and Douglass Court water main replacement project
generally includes the replacement of an aging six-inch water main that has a
history of breaks. Since 1992, there have been approximately 10 to 15 water main
breaks, uh, causing residents to be without water while the main is repaired.
Because of the emergency nature of these repairs, there's an increase in cost
which negatively impacts, uh, operating budgets. In August of last year, the City
hired a consultant to perform preliminary and final design services, including the
preparation of construction plans for the project. With the absence of sidewalks
within the neighborhood, the desire to meet ADA, City code, and complete street
requirements, the preparation of a con... conceptual sidewalk layout was included
in the scope of services. The intent was to have a sidewalk layout that not only
could be, uh, constructed on a future project, but it would also ensure that current,
uh, project improvements wouldn't be in conflict with the future sidewalk. Upon
completion of the water main, uh, preliminary design, uh, it was determined that
temporary easements for all 53 properties within the neighborhood were required
to properly connect existing water services. Given the disruption the project
would have on the residents, the adopted streets, uh, complete streets' policy and
desire to foster healthy neighborhoods throughout the city, sidewalk construction
was incorporated into the project. On December 10th, uh, 2015, the City held a
public open house for the project. At this meeting, the preliminary plan for the
side .... for the water main and sidewalk was presented. The plan included five-
foot sidewalks on both sides of Douglass Street and Douglass Court .... which is
shown in the ... on the slide. Subsequent to the public open house, questions,
comments, and concerns received from the neighborhood regarding incorporation
of sidewalks. Hearing these concerns, sidewalk widths were reduced to four -feet,
and (mumbled) preserve existing trees and landscaping, while allowing for
enough room for snow storage. Preferred distance for snow storage is eight -feet
from street to sidewalk, with six-foot being acceptable. On April 28th, 2016, the
City attended a neighborhood meeting to provide an update on the project and to
answer any additional questions. Uh, based upon additional comments received,
three options were developed. They were as follows: four -foot sidewalks on both
sides of Douglass Street and Douglass Court, four -foot wide sidewalks on one
side of Douglass Street and Douglass Court, and then the third one was
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elimination of sidewalks on both sides of Douglass Street and Douglass Court. In
order to aid in the analysis of these options, an independent arborist was hired to
determine the health condition of the existing trees located within the project
limits. Forty-seven public trees and private trees were analyzed. Of the 47 trees,
36 were categorized as extreme high or moderate risk were rec.... and were
recommended for removal. The storm damage that occurred this June, as shown
in the picture on this slide, supports the recommendation received. In addition to
the tree assessment, we also reviewed other factors and public concerns. The first
one being parking. Currently on -street parking is permitted on the north side of
Douglass Street and on the south side of Douglass Court. Private amenities such
as landscaping and fencing will either be removed and reinstalled as a part of the
project or the property owner will be compensated through easement negotiation
process. Lastly, providing adequate distance between the street and sidewalk for
snow storage. As noted on the slide, these distances may be adjusted at isolated
locations to protect existing trees. That leads us to the recommendation. Staff's
recommendation is to move forward with option 2, four -foot sidewalks on the
north side of Douglass Street and the inside, generally the north side, of Douglass
Court. Under this option, the sidewalk would be on the same side as the proposed
water main and would be constructed within the existing right-of-way. Lastly, no
additional tree removal above what is required for water main construction is
needed for the proposed sidewalk. And this is, uh, a picture of the, uh, proposed
option, which basically has sidewalk on the north side of Douglass Street and then
on the north side of Douglass Court, um, primarily where the ... the water main is
located. Guess at this time I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Throgmorton: The .... the specific information about the trees is new information to me, uh, so
wonder if you could take us back to that slide.
Sovers: Sure!
Throgmorton: Uh, so there are many other trees in the neighborhood, I guess, right? So you
only looked at ones that are... either in the public right-of-way or .... (both talking)
Sovers: Or within the project limits.
Throgmorton: Within the project limits.
Sovers: Right.
Throgmorton: And you found 47 trees, right?
Sovers: Correct!
Throgmorton: And so you're tellin' us that 36 of them were cate.... categorized as ... as, uh, at
risk, of ... of, uh...
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Sovers: Correct.
Throgmorton: .... recommended for removal.
Sovers: That's correct.
Throgmorton: And the other 11 recommended for further assessment, right?
Sovers: Correct.
Throgmorton: So, I'm very aware that ... and we'll get into this in a few minutes, but I'm very
aware that many residents really like, uh, the shadiness and safety and security
associated with the trees, and there're all sorts of other benefits we .... which we
all agree to and recognize.
Sovers: Right.
Throgmorton: So, uh.... I .... I need to be absolutely confident that.....if a tree is going to be
removed, it really has to be removed. So, you know, is .... is there some way you
can.....elaborate on the analysis that your arborist did to make sure we know that
we're getting a good recommendation from the arborist.
Sovers: Right. So they did an independent analysis of each tree and they fill out a form.
It's a pretty extensive form that .... that looks at different, urn .... um, different
aspects of the tree, um, and then they .... then it goes down through and has a score
for each tree, and that's how we came up with .... and he actually worked with our
arborist, um, to kind of develop just a ... just a summary of those independent
analysis. So.....
Throgmorton: Okay! Uh.....does anybody have questions (several talking)
Thomas: On the trees, my .... my understanding is the ... the only trees that are going to be
removed, aside from the assessment, are those that are necessary in order to install
the water main.
Sovers: That's correct. Yeah.
Thomas: And then the, um.....couple of questions I had would be were the traffic speeds
and traffic volumes looked at? As a part of this project as well?
Sovers: That's correct. Yep. It.....they were, I mean they're fairly low because of the...
the, um, the way that the subdivision's set up. I mean it's a loop street and then
the other street, uh, Douglass Court .... or Douglass Street, I'm sorry, is .... is in fact
a dead-end street.
Thomas: Do you remember what the speeds and volumes were?
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Sovers: Uh, I believe the posted speed out there is 25. I'm not... sure what the volumes
were.
Thomas: But the....did you do the actual speed test to see what the actual speeds were?
Severs: We did not do a speed test.
Throgmorton: Anything else? Thank you, Scott.
Sovers: Thank you.
Throgmorton: I'm imagining some neighbors would like to address this topic, uh, would anyone
like to speak? Good evening, Paula. (several talking away from mic) Paula,
before you begin speaking, I'm going to get the resolution on the floor. Yeah,
which, uh.....
Mims: I'll move resolution.
Throgmorton: Thank you.
Botchway: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Botchway. Um ..... there we go. It's on the floor.
Swygard: Okay, um, I don't know that I need to go through this in detail. You have all seen
it. It was sent to you ahead of time. Uh, brought it up in case you have any
questions about anything that I put in there for you. Um, I do want to thank you
all for, um, listening to us as we've worked through this. I want to thank City
staff, especially Scott, who has been just tremendous to work with. Urn .... I'm
sure there are many times he thought oh, not this woman again, um (laughter) but
he's been very patient, um, explaining things to me. Urn .... I also want to thank
you quickly for your investment in the University neighborhood partnership, and
one other little thing. I notice that you're initiating a city-wide, uh, tree inventory.
Just got news of that and so .... I thank you for that. Um, basically, um, this
project from the start imposes, um, today's standards in a physical setting that was
developed in the 1950s. These lots are small. The houses are very small. Uh,
we're in a mature environment, and um .... there was very little regard for the
context when the original plan was developed; that, uh, with option 2 is now
under consideration, and urn ..... we are a loop design. We have very low traffic.
People walk in the streets all the time. There's no concern. Kids play in the street
all the time. My daughter played in the street, uh, many, many years ago. And
we have a history of struggling in the neighborhood with unneighborly behaviors
that are perceived as a threat to personal property and to personal safety. Um, the
application of the complete streets policy appeared to lack any flexibility, and I
think that's one thing that you need to address, not just for this neighborhood, but
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for other neighborhoods, mature neighborhoods where you plan to put in
sidewalks. Regarding the tree study, which, um, isn't something new that has
been released. Um (clears throat) when they mention the number of trees, they
are lumped together in one .... in, as extreme, high, or moderate. Those aren't
broken down as far as how many are extreme, how many are moderate,
urn .... (clears throat) It doesn't talk about whether the study results would be the
same in a similar, older neighborhood where you have established trees. Are
there any differences? Um (clears throat) the reality is any tree can fall or break.
Urn ... the, uh, picture of the downed tree in the storm, now this neighborhood went
through the tornado. We were affected by that in 2006, and many of our .... my
neighbors here tonight did have problems with trees. It was a tornado. The storm
that is referred to and pictured here happened in July of, uh, July 6a', just this past
year, and, um, according to Ron Knoche, he would say .... he said, and I'm quoting
from an article here, um, the downed trees were mostly in western Iowa City,
south of Highway 6. It wasn't just our neighborhood that was affected by this.
And he said probably more damage in that event than they've seen in recent past
events. So I don't think we should hold this neighborhood to any different
standards than other neighborhoods affected by that storm in particular. Um
(clears throat) my last, uh, comment because there are other neighbors here is if
you choose option 2, which is sidewalks on one side of Douglass Street and one
side of Douglass Court, I really encourage you to move them closer to the curb.
No matter what standards are being quoted. This neighborhood is different, very
shallow lots, urn .... there is still, I believe, enough stack space if you allow four -
feet. And I've pictured in, uh, this presentation that I sent to you, the original
plans do show that they were placed closer to the curb. Okay. Any questions for
me about anything that I sent you?
Mims: I would like to ask one question. Would you characterize it to be the consensus of
the neighborhood, members of the neighborhood, that the preference is to see no
sidewalks at all?
Swygard: Yes.
Mims: Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Paula. Does anybody else want to address this topic? Good evening!
Falk: Good evening! Uh, my name's Mark Falk and I live at 435 Douglass Court. Um,
which is on the back end of the curb. Urn ... I'm, I want to speak in favor of option
3, no sidewalks. As Paula was saying, kids play in the street all the time. For us,
heavy traffic is about a car an hour. Urn .... it's effectively a cul-de-sac. Urn ... we
have a fine sidewalk. It's 20 -feet wide, paved, City plows it every so often
(laughter) It works for us. Um, I'm concerned also about, uh, if you run a
sidewalk around, then you cut across driveways. Okay, that eliminates the option
to park two cars in your driveway, which will then force me or my partner to park
our car out on the street, and this would be true for a lot of people. Therefore the
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parking density would go up dramatically, and the snow removal stack space
becomes burying my car, and .... I'm not really in favor of that sort of thing. Um,
I'm 62 and I have a bad back. I don't need any more shoveling. Um ... so I hope
you'll take a look at that and .... go for option 3. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Mark. Anyone else?
Bell: Hi, I'm Cathy Bell and I live at 434 Douglass Street and um, thank you for this
opportunity. I would like to echo everything that both Mark and Paula have said,
and I would also like to thank you both for your astute, uh, recognition of, um, of
the tree issue. Uh, not only is this neighborhood unique and established, but as
you're well aware, um, the development around Riverside Drive is rapidly
happening, and so any canopy that we have, not only acts as a soundproofing to
the rapid development, but also to the light exposure. And it is my fear that once
we remove this number of trees, um, we will have .... that will have a significant
impact on the livability of our neighborhood. Um, I would also, uh, say .... I
would also like to say that this is not a situation of if you build it they will come
(laughs) These sidewalks will get no traffic (laughs) uh, to the, uh, extent that we
are, Douglass Street is a dead-end, and I actually live on the dead-end. I believe
that putting in these sidewalks would actually encourage the, uh, the traffic that is
crossing from, uh, Orchard, uh, Miller, in through pup .... public proper ... I'm
sorry! Private property to get to the sidewalks, if they even get there (laughs)
They're just not used. We are....we, I would even say to Mark's comment, it's a
good day, it's a Hawkeye Saturday if we have one car an hour, and usually....
every other hour that person's lost (laughter) so we (mumbled) it's not a .... we're
a very quiet neighborhood. Um, and I .... I ..... I sincerely hope that the Council
strongly, strongly, um, takes under consideration option 3 is where the
neighborhood is at. Um, and I would encourage everyone, if you've not been
through our neighborhood, to drive through. They are very shallow yards, and if
you take up six -feet and then put a four -foot sidewalk with the .... minor, uh.... uh,
extension of. ... of, um, of landscaping that we have in front of our houses, plus the
sidewalks of houses, you are going to be putting people right in my front window.
As .... on a walkway, and I am not alone in that. Everyone of these houses you're
going to be putting people right in our .... our privacy will be down to nothing.
Um, and again, just as a close, this is not a situation if you built it they will come
(laughs) It's.... this... this is a .... this is a .... a real .... none value added, um, project.
So .... thank you very much!
Throgmorton: Thank you, Cathy. It's the first time I've heard that expression applied to, uh, you
know, one of our decisions along these lines. (laughter) Anyone else? Yes,
ma'am!
Casey: Hello! My name's Erin Casey. Um, I'm actually a new resident of Douglass
Street and Court. I moved there at the end of July. Part of the reason I moved
there is because of the aesthetic beauty of the trees and how quiet and private the
neighborhood is. As has been stated, it is a cul-de-sac. We don't get .... we barely
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get any traffic. I barely hear any cars that go through there. The thing I hear the
most is kids playing outside. If we move forward with the sidewalks being added,
not only will that put more cars onto the street, but it also provides less places for
the kids to play. Also could als.... could mean more damage to them or to cars as
well. Um, we've talked about trees having to be removed because of what
condition they're in. Um, I'm at 301 Douglass and my lot has two very young
trees that with the sidewalk being added, both of those trees would have to be
taken out. And I don't want to lose them. Urn ... the first, one of the first things
that I heard from my neighbors when I got there was .... the talk about the
sidewalks being put in and there was a lot of concern. I was being encouraged to
come and speak on behalf of it. This is the first time I've been able to, and I
just .... I really don't want to see the sidewalks put in. Our neighborhood is nice.
It's quiet. I feel safe there, and I feel like the addition of the sidewalks, again,
will put .... will be too close to the property itself, where I'm not gonna feel
comfortable walking out of my house at night if the sidewalk is right there, right
by my door. Um, I understand with the water main that that needs to be put in
there, but we have such little traffic there's really no reason to put a sidewalk in
and on top of that, a lot of. ... I see a lot of people out walking during the day.
We're fine with walking in the street. There hasn't been any problem. The kids
know when to move if cars are coming, and adults obviously know when to move
when cars are coming. So ..... I very much ask you to consider not having the, um,
sidewalks added.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Erin. Good evening!
Olson: Hi! My name's Jane Olson and I'm at .... I, um, live at 435 Douglass Court and
excuse me, I have laryngitis. I hope you can understand me! Urn.... ironically
when I first moved to Iowa City, I looked at a house on Douglass Street and...
dismissed it because it didn't have a basement. I came from Wisconsin and I
thought every house should have a basement. But I've looked at it over the years
as the trees have matured, and urn .... I've come to love that neighborhood since I
moved into it. It is quiet. It's..... it's beautiful. It has small lots, but very nice
people. Um, it's nice to ... to pass those people as you're walking at night, to see
their dogs that they walk, and the kids in the streets are not a problem, playing in
the streets. Everybody who lives there knows to watch out for the children. And,
um, it's .... really the volume is so low of traffic in that neighborhood that I .... I
would not be afraid to have, um .... any of my children, but I don't have any, uh,
walk in that street or play in that street, either one. Um, my concern is for
shoveling sidewalks. Um, I can't do it. And.....also even though you would pay
to put the sidewalks in, there would be the care down the line of those sidewalks,
which would be the homeowner's expense. And, um, I don't think any of us who
live there want that or need that extra expense. I do appreciate the fact that you
wanted to sort of bring us into the 21" century by putting sidewalks in front of our
houses. I think it's, uh.....it's probably what most neighborhoods would want, or
neighbors, you know, in most neighborhoods, but this one is very different from
any neighborhood I've ever lived in, and part of its charm, I think, is .... that it's
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just as it is right now. And I hope that it stays there and that you vote for option
3, no sidewalks at all. The other concern I have really is ..... has to do, as Mark
said, with parking cars in driveways. Since the sidewalk would be crossing the
driveway, we ... we would have to park at least one, um, car in the street and many
others would too. It's already hard .... we live at the end of it. It's already hard
for, uh, the snow plow to get around there, to make that curve. If there are cars
parked along there.....and they have to be because otherwise we'll be in violation
of, you know, parking across a.....a sidewalk, then that would be a real problem
for the .... the, um, not just.....um.....the snow plows, but also garbage pickup,
especially like on the curb, at the end. It's already kind of.....you have to, you
know, we have to be very careful where we park our cars when we know it's
garbage day. So, I hope you listen to all of us who have spoken and know that,
um ..... we speak on behalf of a lot of our neighbors, many of whom couldn't be
here, but ..... were at the meeting in April and uh, very concerned about this.
Thank you for your time.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Jane.
Van Noy: Hello, I'm Aaron Van Noy. I'm the owner at 416 Douglass Court. Um .... and I
actually, uh, I'm a recent owner of that place. Um (clears throat) and I actually,
uh, I ..... I .... I'm 100% for the water main, by the way. I think it's obviously
needed, but, urn .... as for the.....the sidewalk itself, I am totally for C, having no
sidewalk, and there's a good reason for that. One I do have a renter, uh, so he has
a car and then of course I have a girlfriend. She has a car. That's three cars right
there. Uh... that .... that driveway is barely enough to hold two cars. Um, I .... we
(laughs) pretty much get close to the road every time and ..... I can't park two cars
there with a.....Aith a, uh, you know, that would be a huge issue, and then if you
extrapolate that to multiple other locations and have I don't know how many other
places would have three cars, but if you have that issue and you have a littering of
cars on the road and that .... that actually bothers me for snow removal purposes
and I'm not sure if that tree that he was .... was, presented earlier (clears throat) is
even affected by this plan. Uh, that was never addressed. Um, I would like to
know is that a tree that would be, um .... a part of that plan? That's a question
you'll have to ask him, but um, I'm just not for it and I do like the neighborhood.
I think it's great the way it is and I appreciate your time so much.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Aaron. Anyone else?
Tatro: Hello. (clears throat) My name is Adam Tatro. I live at....
Dilkes: I'm sorry, could we get you all to sign the .... sign in on the little sheet there.
Tatro: Right here? Okay. Urn ..... (several talking and laughing) Um, I'll talk while
doing this. Hi, my name is Adam Tatro. I own, um, the house at 336 Douglass
Court and um, I've been there about five years now, and, um, I don't know if you
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guys have ever seen the neighborhood. I have one of the larger houses at 850
square feet.
Throgmorton: Wow!
Tatro: And so the houses are on the small side. The lots are on the small side. The street
has one road in. It .... for both pedestrians and actual cars, and urn .... the, there is
another way in if you hop over through someone else's yard, which no one really
wants to do. Um, so .... I am actually for sidewalks normally, but this is conflicted
because these would be the most unused sidewalks in all of Iowa City. Because
there is very little ..... foot traffic. There is very little .... car traffic. Um, that's...
like everyone else here, that's what actually brought me to the neighborhood was
you'd normally think where it is it'd be in a area with a large amount of light
pollution and sound pollution with heavy use streets around us. And the canopy
of trees have actually... makes it where you can't hear any sound of the roads in
the surrounding areas, and you can't see any of the lights from Paul's, which is a
great business, um, or any of the other .... any of the other areas that have large
amounts of light. Take that away and it becomes a little bit more .... of a less
livable sort of area. So .... as I said before, normally I am for sidewalks, for
everything like that and this one .... in this situation I don't see that to be very
practical and I am also asking you for going for, I believe, option C for no
sidewalks. Thank you for your time.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Adam! Anyone else?
Stroik: I'll just make another quick point. I own (both talking)
Throgmorton: Would you say your name, please?
Stroik: Yeah, uh, Mallory Stroik.
Throgmorton: And address.
Stroik: 316 Douglass Court. Um, just one final point, not to belabor anything. And I've
sent you that really probably stimulating one and a half page email that you may
have read about sidewalks. Uh... but I guess the final point I'd like to make is
clearly we all agree that first option, two sidewalks — sidewalks on both sides,
nobody really wants, even that engineer has not .... uh.....of.... offered that as
his .... his favorite.... favorite option. Option 2, one sidewalk on one side of the
street, uh, I guess my point there is what.....the point was to make the
neighborhood walkable. I have no idea what -what one sidewalk on one side of
the street helps with, that in no way would make .... I don't.....you still have to
cross the street multiple times in order to walk around the neighborhood. So, I
guess I don't even know why that was an option in the first place. And so that's
my point about the second option and clearly we all agree option 1 not a good
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option. So I just..... narrowing it down, you're .... you end up with no sidewalks
basically. That's I guess my final point about the whole thing.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Mallory. Looks like no one else wants to speak. (both talking)
Mims: (mumbled)
Throgmorton: Ah ha! I was wrong! Good evening!
Tack: Real quickly, Tim Tack, 317 Douglass Court. I believe that the money that you
would be spending on this project could be better spent on something else. It's
fine just the way it is and just wanted to put that out there.
Voparil: Please sign in.
Throgmorton: Tim! Would you sign in please, and Tim, it's nice to see you again. I haven't
seen you for like five years or somethin'! Anyone else? Okay, I don't see anyone
else. Discussion?
Mims: I'll start. Um.....I made the motion on the resolution to get it on the floor, but I
support the neighbors on this. Um, and ... and here's where I come from. As we
sit here as Councilors, in my view our role is to provide services and .... and
certainly listen to the desires of our constituents .... and the people who live in this
community. And one of the things we've talked about and I totally support is the
complete streets' philosophy as we develop and make changes, um, in areas of the
city. However, I don't think any policy, um, should be looked at as absolutely
hard and fast. I think we always have to look at the situation in which we are
applying that policy and what are the unique circumstances, uh, surrounding that.
And as you look at this particular location and as ... and as you listen to the
residents of this area, um, the points that they have brought up, that totally
resonate with me, um, is the fact that it is not a through street. There is very low
traffic. The parking I think is an incredible issue that they have pointed out, that
they cannot park two cars in a driveway because they can't park across a
sidewalk. So immediately you're.... you're gonna incredibly increase the amount
of on -street parking, which as they've indicated makes it more complicated for
trash pickup. Makes it more complicated for snow removal, and quite frankly I
think it also makes it much more dangerous for kids playing in the street because
now you've got cars having to weave in around other parked cars on the sides of
the street. Kid comes out from, you know, in front of a car that's parked on the
street, a car's driving down the street, doesn't see the kid coming out. Well, if
you've got clearer streets because the cars are parked in the driveway, you have
less opportunity for that sort of thing to happen. If we had ... if we had heard more
of a mixed message from the neighborhood, I would find this a little bit more
difficult in terms of making a decision, but as I've listened to people tonight, as
I've read all the correspondence that we have gotten from the neighborhood, it is
very clear to me that certainly if. ... if not unanimously, the high percentage of
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people living in that neighborhood do not want sidewalks. They see their
neighborhood, you know, as being very satisfactory the way it is, and I think
Paula put it very well — we're trying to take a .... a modern day, uh, philosophy or
plan of complete streets and implementing it in a 1950s neighborhood where it
doesn't fit, where you have particularly the issue of very shallow front yards, and
that makes this very problematic, um, in terms of the privacy, in terms of the
parking, etc. So .... um, I'll wait to hear what everybody else has to say, but I will
either vote against it or if it looks like we're headed in that direction, uh, I would
like to amend the motion to go with option 3 instead.
Botchway: So I would just quickly say I agree ... with Susan.
Throgmorton: That was quick!
Dickens: I guess my.....my only concern is the precedent we set. I .... I agree with the
neighbors. I think we should leave it because it is an older neighborhood. Uh, if
there's a way to grandfather it in the way it is versus what new construction
would be, that's the way I would go, so I .... I do agree with Susan and Kingsley
that the neighbors have spoken and it's their neighborhood. Yes, we're supposed
to look over the whole city but .... this is a very unique neighborhood and I think it
should remain the way it is.
Taylor: I'd like to commend the staff for, uh, considering the neighborhood concerns, uh,
because when this was originally presented to us, it sounded like the done deal
with sidewalks on both sides of the street, and uh, and if not for the water main
project, I don't think that this issue would of ever come up! Um, and uh, so my
preference is for of course option, uh, option 3 and I .... I don't know if the other
Members of the Council have had a chance to do their homework and drive
through this neighborhood. They do have very shallow front lawns and to cut
them off and add the sidewalk, I mean, if they went with option 2, I would
propose that it be the four -foot from the curb, rather than the six-foot from the
curb, but my personal preference, um, is to preserve what little green space they
have and .... and, um.....go with option 3 with no sidewalks.
Thomas: Uh (clears throat) this is kind of an interesting project in the sense that, uh, you
know, I'm .... probably there's no one on Council stronger on the use of sidewalks
than I am, um, and I .... I do think there certainly are some issues here where, uh, I
would .... I would have to say the standards that we're looking at applying I would
recommend that we revisit the standards, mainly the setback, uh, and also the
opportunity in .... in specific locations, uh, there's some conditions at, uh, 30...304
Douglass Court, on the corner there where there's the curb radius where, uh, I
think the .... the standard of four -feet would have to be reduced to even further to
approximately two -feet, uh, in order to .... to make it appropriately fit within that
particular condition. Um ..... you know, I'm .... as many of you know, I practice
landscape architecture. I've worked on .... on projects like this. I .... when we...
when we moved to Iowa City I had the opportunity to work on North Market
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Square and I will always remember my neighbor, Charlie, saying, `What's wrong
with the way it isT There.... there's an enormous amount of weight we all give to
existing conditions, just because they are. Um, my.....my feeling, and I feel this
pretty strongly, that, um, if. ... if we were to go ahead with option 2, with the
conditions of moving it closer to the street, um, and also allowing for those
conditions, um, where it needs to be moved further closer to the street, we do that
and Paula documented that on Hudson, which was the street directly to the west,
uh, that sidewalk is on one side only. It's four -feet from the curb, and where there
was a tree, the .... the pathway deviated to avoid the tree and it was about two -feet
from the curb, and I would add a third point. Um.....and that would be
considering, uh, on the Douglass Court, moving the parking from the south side of
the street to the north side of the street so it would align with the sidewalk
location, uh, because..... the..... the driveway lengths would be reduced and so I
would .... I would prefer that the parking be on that side so that residents would
have direct access to parking. Um, I would also suggest that they.....if we were to
do that they could park directly in front of their driveway. In other words, block
their driveway so that .... the.....the di£..the difference between the second car,
um, on the driveway and that car being moved to the street frontage along the
curb directly in front of their driveway, uh, would be a very minor inconvenience
in terms of placement, but I do think, and it sort of speaks.... this'll be my last
point .... it sort of speaks to Jeff Speck's presentation, which is that, you know,
for .... for a walkable experience to truly work it has to be safe, it has to be
comfortable, interesting, and useful, and my .... my concern is that there .... there
are people in this community, um, who would prefer not to walk in the street, um,
for a variety of reasons. Um ..... you know, and I don't.....I don't want to go
through all those scenarios, but there, you know, there are persons with
disabilities, perhaps a parent with a stroller would I think at least .... I would want
to give that person the option of walking on a sidewalk. I'd want to give a person,
uh, in a wheelchair the option of walking on a sidewalk or a cane, anyone with
mobility impairments I would want to give them the opportunity to walk on the
sidewalk. Um .... but furthermore I would want to, you know, the .... the.....the
sidewalk is being viewed as purely a negative, and.....my experience tells me that
if we place it right, and we enhance that walk, that it will be used. It's .... it will be.
a different experience than walking in the street. So .... so I would support 2 if we
can adjust it's location, allow for, uh, deviation where necessary so that, you
know, the fence that was built there and the .... that corner lot where it would be
very tight if it were not moved closer to the curb, and we look at moving the
parking, um, to align with where the sidewalk will be, um, or would be, uh, I
think it would work in .... in that location.
Cole: I'm going to support option 3 (clears throat) and I think first of all I want to
commend the neighbors because so often we as Councilors hear negative
feedback about what they don't like and why we're doing something wrong, but
what I found throughout this process is that's not what you did. You just didn't
tell us I don't like it. You did your homework. You did the analysis, and you at
least persuaded me during the course of this proceeding that option 3 is the best
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option, and I think to Terry's point, he brings up a very good point because I think
it's important that we telegraph this to the community as well. I am a big
supporter of the complete streets. I think connectivity and walkability is
absolutely essential. Um, but I think that you have made your case that this
particular neighborhood just wasn't designed to our modern standards, and so
we're sort of mixing a modern standard with a historically designed 50 -style
architecture, and I think that I found the parking argument very, very persuasive.
So I'm going to support option 3. I don't know going forward whether there
could be some tweaks to option 2, um, that .... that maybe might make this more of
an option, um, but I commend the neighbors on this because I think you made
your case. Um, you know, we serve you and I think any time we make a policy
decision, we have to determine are we going to set a precedent that will be
adversely used, and I guess you've persuaded me that there are unique
characteristics to this particular neighborhood that we're not likely to see
replicated in other context. Um, so I will support option 3.
Mims: I'd like to ask a procedural question of Eleanor. With the resolution written the
way it is, are we better to vote this down tonight, if that's what the majority of
Council wants, or is there a reasonable way to amend it on the floor?
Dilkes: I would just amend it on the floor to .... to make it the option 3. If that's what
you're wanting to do.
Mims: That's what (both talking)
Dilkes: I mean I think we should have a record of what the decision was.
Throgmorton: Before we do that I'd like to have an opportunity to speak. (laughter) Uh,
though, uh, my six colleagues have said most of what I would intend to say. Uh,
what I'm really struck by is the unique context of the neighborhood. Uh,
I .... there are lots of, uh.... parts of European cities, for example, where.... vehicles
and people use the streets, people play in the streets. They're often very small
scale neighborhoods. So I don't see any inherent objection to .... uh, having, um...
keeping things the way they are, but .... before John started speaking I found
myself thinking about Harry Olmstead, our friend who's confined to a .... or .... or
uses a wheelchair, and I found myself thinking a lot about people with mobility
impairments, and, Paula, I think you've perhaps had a conversation with Harry
about this. So, uh, I .... I do wonder about that, and whether .... you know, if. ... if I
were living in the neighborhood and I had to use a wheelchair, I'm not sure I'd
want to use the street, but the traffic's so low maybe I would. I mean I'd have to
know the neighborhood. Really inside out. And y'all have persuaded me that you
know the neighborhood. So....I.....I find myself, uh, being fully persuaded that
we don't need to install the sidewalks, but I want to ask Scott a question about the
trees. So you said that, uh.... uh, installation of the water main would affect trees,
some trees. Do you have any sense of how many trees would have to come down
simply because of the installation of the water main?
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Sovers: Um, I think it's roughly 33 trees.
Throgmorton: So, uh.... I see Paula scrunching her face for.....for good reason. I mean it's really
important to be clear about this because if trees need to be removed in order to
install that water main full stop, then a lot of the concern that neighbors have
expressed is .... is really misdirected. At least it seems that way to me. It's not
about the sidewalk — it's about (laughs) (both talking)
Sovers: That's correct (both talking)
Throgmorton:..... the .... the core work. So, uh.....uh, I think, uh, great care would need to be
taken to make sure that that water main avoids damaging trees to the maximum
extent possible. I don't know what else to say about that, but that's the best I can
do. So I.....I.....I'm agree .... I agree that there's no need for the sidewalks
because of the unique characteristics of this particular neighborhood. If it was
about connectivity, from one neighborhood to another, I'd say gotta do it, full
stop. Gotta do it! I think this is different.
Mims: I'd like to amend the motion to .... that we will accept recommenda.... accept
option 3 in the staff report, which means no.....no sidewalks.
Dickens: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Dickens. Discussion about that? Any objection to
that .... to that amendment? I see no objection. Sorry!
Mims: It's a voice vote.
Throgmorton: So all in favor of that amendment say aye. Opposed? Motion carries. So, uh, we
have that amended motion on the floor.
Mims: I would just make one further comment, and .... and I want to state this very
strongly. My support of the neighborhood is in absolutely no reflection against
what staff has done. We have directed staff, as a Council, to implement a
complete streets policy, and that is what they did to the best of their ability, um,
taking into account some of the considerations, um, of the neighborhood, but still
coming back with sidewalks as part of that complete streets policy. So, um, I
appreciate what staff has done, but it is our role for policy decision to make that
final decision and that's where I come down on the side in this case of not
following the complete streets and supporting the neighbors in their desires.
Botchway: (mumbled) ...one other quick question. Just about tree replacement, um, you
know, is there any thought on how that, I mean, removing 33, where are we at
with tree replacement?
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Sovers: So a tree replacement, you know, with adding the sidewalk and the six-foot width
between the street and the sidewalk, that gets kind of narrow for tree replacement.
I mean, you can put some under -story trees, um.....
Botchway: We're takin' out the sidewalks.
Mims: Right.
Sovers: (several talking) ...taking out the sidewalks, yeah, without the sidewalks, yeah, we
can ... we could definitely put trees back that would need to be, uh, removed for the
water main construction.
Botchway: Okay. (several talking)
Thomas: I just want to make one last comment. I .... I would have supported, uh, the no
sidewalk option if I felt, uh, we were approaching this as a shared street concept.
In other words that we would make improvements to the street, uh, which
acknowledged the fact that the roadway now is being designed, uh, with the
intention of it being shared by pedestrians and automobiles. The ... if you were to
look at say the (can't hear) standards, shared streets is a concept. It is a ... it is an
acknowledged and legitimate approach toward how to use the public right-of-
way. Um .... but, you know, we weren't presented with that concept, uh, by staff
so I felt .... you know, the .... the next best option would be sidewalk on one side
with the modifications as I described it. I ... I do really have concerns about how,
um, this, you know, the notion of inclusivity, uh, really is a factor here. Uh, and
that, you know, there are many streets in Iowa City that have sidewalks on one
side and I think it's ... you know, it's in part because of the acknowledgement that,
uh, that level of access is .... should be kind of a .... a minimal accommodation, uh,
on our streets.
Throgmorton: Okay, we have a motion on the floor. All in, uh.... uh.....roll call. Sorry! Motion
carries 6-1. Okay (applause) we'll move to Item 9. Thanks to all of you for
coming.
Voparil: Motion to accept correspondence.
Botchway: So moved.
Mims: Second.
Tbrogmorton: Moved by Botchway, seconded by Mims. All in favor say aye. Opposed.
Motion carries. Uh, we'll take a brief break here to let folks walk out.
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ITEM 9. WORKFORCE HOUSING TAX CREDITS - RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT
OF THE APPLICATION OF MONARK, LLC FOR WORKFORCE
HOUSING TAX INCENTIVES PROGRAM FROM THE IOWA
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY TO CONSTRUCT
RESIDENTIAL HOUSING AT 7 S. LINN STREET AND COMMITTING
LOCAL FUNDS TO THE PROJECT
Mims: So moved.
Botchway: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Botchway. Would anybody like to just, uh, to
discuss this topic before us? Okay, uh.... oh, Mark, go ahead!
Nolte: Uh, good evening, Mark Nolte with the Iowa City Area Development Group. Just
wanted to offer our support. We have a tremendous, uh, demand for workforce
and affordable housing in the community, so any projects that can do that in the
urban core, uh, are greatly helpful for us to attract and retain workforce. So....
Throgmorton: Thanks, Mark! No one else? All right, seeing no one else, discussion?
Botchway: So I'm supportive of this particular project. Uh, I did ask about, you know,
whether or not there was a little bit more to the concept plan but .... kind of
understand where we're at with this, uh, particular proposal. Um .... I don't want
to I guess repeat exactly what I said the last time, but um .... I do think it's
important, I think Mark just briefly mentioned it from .... I mean, and we talk
about this in .... in different ways. I mean there is a workforce element. We talk
frequently about an affordable housing element. Um, I do see the need here. Um,
just with talking.....just with talking with folks, um, you know, in my particular
age demographic, um, and I don't mean to make that into any type of, um, you
know.....say anything about anybody by saying that. I just ... there is a .... there is a
feeling, um, for folks, again in my age demographic, to ... to live in housing, um,
downtown, and I think that this is a .... a great, um, kind of affordable opportunity
from a workforce housing standpoint, um, that's being presented. Um, it's
definitely come off the height tremendously from where it was pre.... previously
and so, um, you know, I.....I don't .... I think I still voted for it regardless of the
height, but I can appreciate that just from some of the commentary that was, um,
discussed. Um, so I'm supportive of this motion again for the .... kind of the same
reasons that I, um .... um, that I talked about before. I do hope that there's an
element that we can, urn .... I know that the previous building had some..... some
interesting elements in there that were tied to it, um, from an environmental,
sustainability standpoint that I hope could be added back to this project. Um, I
know that we, um, obviously don't have that in front of us today, but um, I'm
supportive of this project.
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Mims: I'll support it as well. Um, my preference would have been for the taller building
with more units downtown. I think as .... as we talk about affordable housing, um,
getting more units, you know, around town entirely, and especially downtown, I
think is really important. Um, and certainly the rents that were indicated by the
developer, um, put it actually not just in workforce housing, but actually put some
of those rents in what we would say is affordable, based on, um, median income
in the county. So ..... um, but this is what's before us now and I certainly will
support it.
Dickens: I'll be supporting it as well and just sorry that we're leaving millions of dollars,
potential dollars, on the table that we'll never see because we're downsizing this
project that was zoned for much .... much higher, so .... but I will support it.
Cole: I'm happy to support this. You know obviously there were concerns about the
decision that we made four or five months ago, um, I think that there was a
difference of opinion about whether it complied with the Comprehensive Plan. I
know that some people felt that it did. Some people felt that it didn't, and others
felt that it didn't really matter because it complied with the regulatory framework,
but I think that's precisely the point here is that this .... this proposal represents a
consensus. I know some other people wanted a different project but we ... we're
getting development. We're growing the units downtown, and I think with the
compromise that we made, rather than sort of taking our ball and going home and
not developing the parcel at all, this reflected an effort on the part of staff and the
part of the developer to come back with a project that we could support. So I'm
happy to support this. I'm looking forward, uh, to when that shovel gets dug and
we have more, uh, workforce housing units downtown.
Thomas: Yep, I'll be, uh, supporting it as well, urn .... you know, this .... it went through
kind of an interesting process, uh, with ... uh, the Board of Adjustment and the staff
recommendation. Uh, part of what that generated, which I found useful, was it
generated comparisons or alternatives, uh, rather than.... Council and the
community being presented with one option only. We had two .... to look at.
Uh.... one of the things that.... looking at the alternatives brought to my mind was
not only the relationship of this particular project to, uh.... the, um, the Yacht
Club, the historic building, but also its relationship to the building to the north,
which has, um, on its upper most floors, uh, continuous outdoor terrace, um,
facing the east, which I think will benefit, uh, from having this lower building
height because you won't have those terraces put into, um.....you know, long
periods of shade through.....throughout the day. So I, you know it .... it, I think it
does present a more neighborly approach, uh, both toward the historic property as
well as to the property to the north. Uh, it's not precisely what is recommended in
the Comprehensive Plan, you know the .... the, um, the Comprehensive Plan talked
about a four-story building there, but I feel it is in .... in the spirit of what that plan
was advocating, uh, which I would ..... I would characterize as a mid -rise building.
Um .... and, so.....I think it will be a significant improvement to the downtown and
will fill that gap, and I .... I look forward to it being constructed.
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Taylor: I'm also in support of. ... of offering this incentive for them. Uh, I believe it is
time that we offer more of a housing option for .... for those folks that were listed,
the professionals, the graduate students, uh, that are looking for a less expensive
way to be able to live downtown, so .... I am in favor of this.
Throgmorton: Well, me too. I'm very pleased to see this revised proposal and I'll vote in
support of it. In my judgment, it's consistent with the downtown portion of the
Comprehensive Plan. It complies with existing zoning requirements. It will
incrementally enhance the existing architectural character and identity of the
block. It is sensitive and complementary to the adjacent buildings, which are two
quite different, uh, in architectural designs from one another. It contributes to a
harmonious rhythm and proportion of building elements along the street frontage.
It will add residential opportunities downtown. It will be compatible with nearby
structures, and it will contribute funds for needed parking. So I'm really pleased
actually that, uh, Monark went back, went to the Board of Adjustment, heard what
they had to say .... and has come to us with this proposal. I'll support it. So, uh,
any further discussion? Roll call. Motion carries 7-0.
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ITEM 10. APPROVING CONSULTANT SERVICES FOR A FORM -BASED CODE
ANALYSIS, CONCEPT PLANS AND A PARKING IMPACT STUDY -
RESOLUTION APPROVING, AUTHORIZING AND DIRECTING THE
CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST
AN AGREEMENT BY AND BETWEEN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY AND
OPTICOS DESIGN, INC. TO PROVIDE CONSULTANT SERVICES FOR
THE CITY OF IOWA CITY FORM -BASED CODE ANALYSIS AND
PARKING IMPACT STUDY
Botchway: So moved.
Mims: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Botchway, seconded by Mims. Would anybody like to address this
topic? Seeing no one, discussion? Among the Council?
Thomas: Well I'm really looking forward, uh, to seeing this move forward and uh, where it
goes. It's, uh.... I think a .... a really important element in our .... in our land use
planning, uh, toolkit, so to speak. Um .... so I, you know, I'm.....I can't say how
much it's.....it's something I'm really looking forward to as .... as we begin ... begin
this work.
Botchway: I would agree as well. I think that some of the, urn .... I can't remember. I feel
like I was talking to you, John, um, some of the conversation .... um, that we've
had around parking. We've had to kind of wait because we knew this parking
study was coming and so I'm excited we're kind of moving forward on it so we
can, you know, get to some of the work that, um, I know we've kind of talked
about before and I think that frankly some of the .... the neighbors have come, um,
back and, you know, made comments and concerns about it as far as, you know,
parking in their neighborhoods and, you know, what Council can do about it, so
excited about moving forward on this project, and obviously, um, the form -based
code element as well.
Cole: Yeah, I'm in support of it too, I mean, the form -based code is something that a lot
of people have questions about. While I really think it's sort of back to the future
in the sense that if you go through our historic neighborhoods and you see the
contextual design in all the different types of housing types that were sort of
seamlessly, uh, integrated into a healthy, thriving neighborhood, I think that's
really what we're trying to explore is essentially using those traditional, uh,
principles and bringing them into the modem, uh, form -based code. So, um, I ... I
think people will really be excited about it once we actually get this presentation.
Uh, this funded. The other thing is is that parking — parking is going to
be .... that's probably one of the biggest variables I think that we face, how we
handle it at the inner core neighborhoods, how we handle it in our downtown, and
so what this study will finally allow us to do is really grasp our minds around all
the different variables so we're deciding our parking policy as a whole rather than
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sort of incrementally. So I'm really excited that we're making this funding a
priority.
Throgmorton: Anyone else? I guess the only thing I would like to do is note that this is, if I
understand correctly, Geoff, is supposed to be a five-month project ending in June
of 2017?
Fruin: That's correct.
Throgmorton: Yeah, and it's being done by Opticos, uh.... uh, which is headed by Dan Parolek
who is a gentleman who visited here, what, five months ago, six months ago, uh,
very excited about the work that, uh, they will be doing and I look forward to
seeing what comes out of it. Yeah!
Fruin: If I could make one clarification.
Throgmorton: Sure!
Fruin: The ... the parking study really focuses on the neighborhood itself. It does not get
into downtown parking policy. The thought, um, was that once the Council has a
better understanding of some of the dynamics of the neighborhood, uh, parking
issues, and .... and develops any solutions that it deems necessary that we'll then
be able to, uh, tum our eye to the downtown parking policy and look at things like
devel... required developer contributions and .... and other similar, uh.... uh, parking
regulations.
Throgmorton: Okay, we have a motion on the floor. Roll call. Motion carries 7-0. I wonder if
we could take about a three-minute break, uh, for personal reasons. (several
talking) Thanks! (laughter) (BREAK)
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ITEM 11. GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTION GOAL - RESOLUTION
AUTHORIZING SETTING COMMUNITY -WIDE GREENHOUSE GAS
REDUCTION GOAL OF 25- 28% FOR THE YEAR 2025
Throgmorton: And I want to make sure that everybody knows .... two things about this. One is
the emissions have to do with all emis.... emissions generated by activity that
takes place within the city limits of Iowa City. It's not just the municipality of
Iowa City. So that makes it much more difficult to achieve. All right, so that's
the first thing I want you to know, and the second has to do with .... um, the ... the.
the 26 to 28% reduction goal applies to the difference between 2005 emissions
and 2000 .... year 2025 emissions. So .... we're already.... more than half -way
there. So we're not givin' ourselves a whole lot of time to achieve a 26 to 28%
emission reduction. All right, but I know people have things to say, and I look
forward to hearing, uh.... what's on your mind.
Mims: Move the resolution.
Botchway: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Botchway. And I see that Jean Lloyd Jones is up
to speak and John Fraser is with her. But you know, Jean, before you speak, I
don't know, Brenda, do you need to get some information on the floor for us
(unable to hear response) Jean, would you mind waiting for just a second.
(several talking) Thank you.
Nations: Hi, Brenda Nations, Sustainability Coordinator. Um, so as we know it's a
strategic plan goal to set a resolution and we did talk, um, at a past meeting and
discussed the....about having re .... (mumbled) resolution for, um, this meeting
and have discussed, um, this particular goal. Uh, since then there's be ... been, uh,
some ... I .... some misinformation out there and a little bit of confusion that I
wanted to clarify before we had, um, public comment. Um, as you know, um, the,
um, our Mayor signed a .... the Compact of Mayors and that ... having a target is,
uh.....uh, a part of this. It's actually phase three, uh, we committed, which is
phase one to the Compact of Mayors in February of this year. We're just about,
uh, completed our new, updated inventory for .... with the new, uh, global protocol
and then setting a target this month, uh, will put us well ahead of schedule on this
cause, uh, staff has been working on, uh, expediating this process cause we know
it's very important to you. Um, so, uh, for phase four, um, we're already, uh, not
even 10 months into this and we're already to phase four, so we're workin' as
rapidly as we can since we know it's very important to you. Um, another thing is,
um, there's been some talk about a different, uh, a different baseline and a 1990
baseline, and uh, we have no, um, no way of knowing what our emissions were
from that year. Um, we have emissions from, urn .... um, here stated from the real
data that we have and if we have a .... a .... another emissions, urn ..... uh, baseline
from 2000 we could use it but we just don't have that data. In fact we do have
gaps from 2 ... um, before 2008 and that's just because some of the data that we use
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comes from MidAmerican and, uh, it's .... uh, aggregated data for industrial,
commercial, and residential, and they don't have that data and we have no, um,
we could spend time trying to get that data but for instance it would be 26 years
ago, um, that would be very difficult. It would take a lot of time, and it wouldn't
be, uh, accurate. So, that's why we have recommended the 2005 data. It's very,
um, accurate and um, the work that we've been doing with our annual inventories,
um, one thing to note is that, um, population growth is taken into account in the
red line and so the red line would be business as usual if nothing was going on,
um, within our community to reduce gases. Uh, the blue line there is the baseline
from 2005. Um, you can see we're below the baseline and haven't, um, gained as
many greenhouse, uh, emissions as would be expected. So we're trending
towards, urn .... uh, lowering our gases. We're not doing enough, so having a
more, um, bold measure would be good to have a .... a target, um, but we are
trending along the .... the, um, 27% reduction that's recommended, um, as ... with
the Paris Agreement. Um, I know there's some information that's come out that
the Paris Agreement still may not be strong enough, but there's nothing to say
whatever, um, goal you chose to set as a target that we can do, uh, more than that
and exceed that. So, um, the main point is that, um, beyond just setting a target or
having a plan the .... the main point I think that ... that you, um, are trying to get at
is having the impact of actually achieving reductions, and so, uh, tracking that
with good data is the best way to go about that I think. Um, there's also, um,
there's some confusion about the date, um, that amount of time that we would be
having, um, to work on a climate action plan, and I know that, uh, it's very
important that we should, um, do it, uh, as quick as possible. We've almost
completed, um, the RFP that could go out this week, um, to look for somebody to
help us with that, and it's gonna be a community -wide effort because as you said
previously, um, the City, uh, operations is only 4% of our community -wide, um,
emissions. So the 96% of the community, um, includes, um, the University,
transportation, uh, residential, commercial, industrial, and waste, and to, uh,
figure out the real strategies to make, uh, real improvements in these areas to
reduce our emissions, um, is gonna take some time. Urn .... uh, we'll be working
with Jerry Schnoor's class at, uh, U of I Engineering the .... over this next semester
and I'll be working on trying to get to ... together some strategies, um, starting next
month. So, uh, we're moving as quickly as possible, um, trying to use really good
data, and urn .... know that this is a priority with Council, so ..... thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Brenda. Good evening, Jean.
Lloyd -Jones: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and Members of the Council. Um, I'm Jean Lloyd Jones.
I am the President of the Johnson County United Nations Association. We have
nearly a hundred members and we welcome your efforts to cut greenhouse gas
emissions, and we commend Mayor Throgmorton for being one of the three
mayors in the state of Iowa to be a member, to have signed the, uh, Global
Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. There are now over 420 signatories
around the world, part of a groundswell that supports the Paris Agreement on
climate change. And tonight we have with us the, um, State President of the
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United Nations Association who actually attended the Paris meeting and, um, he's
gonna speak to you in just a moment. So the Johnson County Chapter of the
United Nations Association urges the City to.....tap into the expertise of local and
regional consultants and to move as quickly as possible, and it's encouraging to
hear what Brenda Nations just said about your willingness to move ahead.
(mumbled) other cities in taking bold action to protect our health, advance our
economy, and promote climate justice. In the words of the Des Moines Mayor,
who was also a signatory of the, uh, agreement, Mr. Fra .... Frank Cownie, we
don't need to have an act of Congress or an appropriation that might come 12 to
16 months down the road. If things need to be done, cities can do them today. In
other words, cities can act faster than the federal government. So we urge you to
develop and implement Iowa City's emission reduction plan as quickly as
possible. And now I want to introduce Mr. John Fraser, the President of the
United Nations Association of Iowa.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Jean.
Fraser: I'll .... I'll keep this brief. I did, uh, go to Paris. Paris was the most successful this
year, last year actually, of any of the preceding efforts to reduce greenhouse
emissions, for a number of reasons, but the biggest reason is there was a
groundswell of companies. I'll talk about that in just a second cause this is ... the
company involvement is huge. And cities, communities. So it's grassroots,
ground -up, as well as from top down. Top down didn't work very well. It
communicated some of the goals. It, uh, oriented people to the challenges, but
what we really were successful in achieving in Paris is a ground -up, top-down,
and there's something going on that's very interesting that's making this all much
easier and we already commended you, Mayor, and the Council, for being one of
the three cities in Iowa that have stepped up early and participated in the Compact
of Mayors. And the evolution of that organization as it grows worldwide. Frank
Cownie, the Mayor of Des Moines, and I and the Mayor were sitting, do we have
a 32 -story building here in Iowa (several talking and laughing) We were sitting at
the top of a 32 -story building in Des Moines and Frank Cownie, the Mayor, was
holding court, pointing 360 -degrees around the, uh, around the city of Des
Moines, educating Jim relative to what's really important that will help us
immensely. This is no longer just environmentalists trying to do good. This is
now common sense business for people to realize when they build a new building,
when they modernize their manufacturing facilities, that if they do it in a green
way, there's a break-even in three years, in five years, in eight years, in 10 years,
and every.... every year after that, subsequent to that, they're making money. And
I hate to say it, but if it's just environmentalists, doing good .... don't like to use
the term tree huggers but tree huggers don't have a lot of respect in the business
community. Well the business community is now supporting the tree huggers.
Why? Cause there's economic reasons to do it. This is the best time for cities to
jump on and do this. We can make a huge difference, and Iowa City can be a role
model for many other cities in the state, across the country, around the world, that
should be joining in this effort. Now let's just pretend, and I'm not a denier, and I
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stood up in a meeting in, uh, Pans when I heard there were no more deniers and I
said, `Well that's funny, I bump into deniers all the time.' If this is just a ... a myth
perpetrated by China as somebody is saying. I've forgotten who that is. Oh, yes,
our President Elect.... that's fine, but even if it is, we're all smart enough to know
there's a finite supply of fossil fuel left in the ground. And for short-term in our
thinking, we don't care about our children or grandchildren, I could say, `I got
mine. I'm just gonna live this out and have a great life and, uh, pollute and who
cares cause I'll be dead and gone.' But if we care about future generations, we
have to admit that we're going to have to clean up our act, not because we want to
be great conservationists, but because we'll have to .... to survive. So all this is
coming together. The reality of surviving, because we have finite fossil fuel
supplies, the fact that all of a sudden now the reason to put, uh, solar on the roof
of the new bank isn't just to be a good citizen. It's to break even or make money!
It's economically feasible and you've got support from around the world. This is
great! And I commend you for being involved in this and I urge you to be very
aggressive in your efforts. The (mumbled) role models that have already started
this, have done studies, have done research. There are protocols. We've seen
some of them on the .... on the screen, and I'll tell ya one last thing and I'll sit
down. I find it very amusing that the Mayor of Paris, France, was coerced into
joining the Compact of Mayors by the Mayor of Des Moines, Iowa. (laughter)
Isn't that cool? Thank you very much!
Throgmorton: Thank you, John. Good evening.
Jennings: Good evening. My name's Brandon. Um.....
Throgmorton: What's your last name, Brandon?
Jennings: Brandon Jennings. Um, I have a statement prepared on behalf of the Iowa City
Climate Advocates. Um, so the Iowa City Climate Advocates is a non-partisan
group of citizens, uh, working to create a sustainable, carbon neutral community,
and educate people about human cost of climate change. We serve this ... we serve
as the Iowa City Chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby, uh, which works on
federal legislation to create a revenue neutral fee on carbon. We commend the
leadership roles that the Mayor and the City Council have.... are.... are now taking
to combat the, uh, causes and impacts of climate change. Uh, we support the
resolution calling for a 26 to 28% reduction of greenhouse gases by 2025 because
we believe that it is an ambitious, uh, realistic, and .... and achievable goal and can
build a strong foundation for future efforts. The timeframe for developing an
emissions reduction plan should be no more than one year, beginning January
2017, although we prefer completion in six to eight months. Um, we have three
suggestions to improve the project's chance of success. Uh, first, we would like
to urge the City to add a second, uh, long-term goal of reducing greenhouse gas
emissions, uh, by 80% by 2050. Long-term targets send powerful market signals
and provide the impetus needed for long-term investments in infrastructure that is
not possible by short-term efforts. Uh, this target is widely accepted by scientific
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and poli ... policy making bodies as the reduction needed by industrialized nations
to avoid catastrophic climate change. Um, would .... would the Council be
interested in hearing the amended language to the resolution?
Throgmorton: Sure, go ahead.
Jennings: Okay! So it reads, um, now therefore be it resolved by the City Council of the
City of Iowa City, Iowa, Iowa City establishes a greenhouse gas emissions
reduction target of 26 to 28% from 2005 levels by 2025, and a reduction target of
80% by 2050. Greenhouse gas emissions for the Iowa City community in 2005
totaled 1.32 million metric tons. Therefore the target emissions for 2025 is
964,000 metric tons, a reduction of 356,000 metric tons. And for 2050, uh, is a....
is 264,000 metric tons, a reduction of 1,056,000 metric tons. Um, we .... our
second suggestion is that we urge the City to contract with a consulting firm with
the technical expertise and experience in community -level greenhouse gas
reduction plans needed to lead this effort. Uh, although the University of Iowa
can and should provide assistance in analyzing technical, financial, and other
aspects of this plan, we believe that a consultant with extensive experience and
replicable models for local level climate change, action plans will speed up and
increase the chances of the success. Um, and our third suggestion is we urge the
City to address financial aspects of its plan beyond direct costs to the City. Uh,
preventing catastrophic climate change is arguably the largest and most critical
project that human society has ever undertaken. Um, it is time to get serious
about the financial costs and benefits that such a project engenders. Iowa City's
plan should include information about private and public funding sources for
different strategies, uh, and assessments of the adequacy of these resources and
recommendations for mechanisms to cover expenses far into the future. We
believe that the tendency of action plans to avoid these issues dooms their chances
of success. Thank you for your attention.
Throgmorton: Thank you for comin', Brandon. Good evening, Miss Dianne.
Dillon-Ridgley: Uh, my name is Dianne Dillon-Ridgley and am I supposed to give my address or
just that I live in Iowa City? 2204 MacBride. Um, I wish to, um, thank and
appreciate the Council and the staff for the work they've done, in particular
Brenda. Um.....and I take your points, but .... um, I put down a few points that I
just wanted to, uh, address. I'm not here speaking on behalf of the 100 Grannies,
but I am a member of the 100 Grannies for a Livable Future. There are others
here who may or may not wish to speak. I do want to go over a few points
because I have worked on this for a long time. In the 1990s, I spent six years as
an appointee of President Clinton's Council on Sustainable Development, along
with five other cabinet members and all of us were either.... cabinet members,
which I wasn't, or CEOs of some organizations, and I was the National President
of the Citizens Network for Sustainable Development. The ... and I took great
pleasure during those six years in making reference frequently to the progressive
policies, especially the commitment of Iowa City to the ration of green to black
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space as we were one of the first communities in the country to have that in any
sort of coded language. In 2009, in Copenhagen, at the conference of the parties,
which ... and prior to the Paris Agreement, was probably the most significant, um,
progress that was made on pushing the issues towards getting an agreement. Uh,
it's called COP, the Conference of the Parties, as many of us now know. I was
there on behalf of the UN Foundation and several other organizations whose
boards I served on. In addition, the U.S. Green Building Council this past
October in Los Angeles made a major commitment, and it again had a forum of
the, uh.....um, world's mayors to participate in that, and I'm only doing this by
example to just .... since not all of you know me, to give a sense of how long and
how hard I've worked on this because it is so critical, not just personally to me or
my family or my children or the grandchildren I hope some day to have, but to
our communities, all of them — domestically and internationally. And I'm the
Former Chair of CL, the Center for International Environmental Law, which is
headquartered in D.C. and in Geneva in Switzerland. We have with these
organizations and a few others over the past 35 to 40 years worked and focused
on climate change, including a keynote I was honored to give to the, uh, Global
University and College Presidents in 2012. And I am truly glad and proud and
pleased that the Council is moving forward with action on climate change for
Iowa City. Last month in Quito, there was the third UN Global Summit on, uh,
City Summit. At the second summit I was appointed by the White House and one
of the major commitments that we achieved at that time was the elimination of
lead in gasoline, which made a huge change in the overall health of children
around the world and a lowering of overall, um, particulate matters, as well as,
um, reductions in greenhouse gas .... matters, but there has been much
experimentation and many proposals and plans, including IBM, which has
selected a hundred cities. The Rockefeller Foundation, which has put much
together, and I ..... I'd suggest that we don't need to take two full years to create a
plan. There are real tried and tested examples of what we can do on which Iowa
City can draw at this point, and I also suggest that this particular community is
rich with people who have worked on this, uh, in many years. We've mentioned
Jerry Schnoor. There are others who have been part of the IPCC, as well as many
other, uh, bodies like myself. So we have, um, much that in the past 20 years has
been (mumbled) so we simply don't need an additional 18 months for creating the
plan. Now maybe its implementation and parts of the perfection, that's a different
issue, but the way at least the language reads to me and a number of other
colleagues it seems like it will take too much time to get to what we need to have
done. We need to push for, and as I say with all due respect to Brenda, we ... if you
look at where we are at the, uh, collective global rise in temperatures that has
occurred, the melting of the ice pack .... ice cap, uh, this .... we may have within the
next 18 months the first time ever free-flowing ice in the arctic region in the
summer. I'm closing. And so it really will be imperative for those who wish to
be in leadership on this to push for not 25% but 40% reductions. That is going to
have to be the number. So .... I encourage, I offer any support that I can give. As I
said, our community is rich with talent and people who .... who've cared about this
and who've worked on it a long time, but I urge you to shorten the timeline, to
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raise the percentage of reductions that we have, and let's get goin'! We need to.
Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Dianne. Good evening.
Bergan: Hello. I'm Christopher Bergan. Uh, live here in Iowa City, almost, uh, 16 years
now. Um, I'm a member of the Iowa City Climate Advocates, but I'm here more
on my own part .... at the moment. I, uh, I completely agree with Iowa City
Climate Advocates and uh, many things mentioned by, uh, the Grannies and the
(can't hear) and, uh, there should be a second long-term reduction of emissions,
80% by 2050 I think is quite doable. Uh, the energy we get through the grid will
be greatly reduced in carbon content because they're switching coal plants to
natural gas. That alone will have a huge impact and, uh, there are many things
that we've done besides that, beyond that. Uh, to make a somewhat unfair
comparison, Ontario and, uh, Quebec in Canada currently have grids which are
95% fewer emi.... greenhouse gas emissions to what Iowa has. And so
there's.... things that can be done, and moving to natural gas (mumbled) first step,
which I think should have been made 20, 30 years ago, but uh..... we can only do
with what we can do now. Uh.... also, uh, the second point in the, uh, Iowa City
Climate Advocates message, uh, contracting with a consulting firm, which has
experience in greenhouse gas reduction plans. I would encourage you in addition
to looking to the University of Iowa and to MidAmerican, to also look at, uh,
MISO, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, for guidance on these
energy issues, uh, they maintain the grid. They hold and, uh, the five-minute
auctions on energy, which feed the grid. Every five minutes. And keep it going,
and they are, uh.... Well they basically go from Montana to, uh, Michigan, down
to Louisiana, uh, and .... they are ... I think that they would have expertise which
would be invaluable, not only in moving forward, but to make sure that anything
Iowa City does isn't something which .... is only a slight chance I think, that we
don't do something that they have to mitigate against in order to keep the grid
stable and vibrant, uh, giving us our .... the lifestyle we're .... we've grown
accustomed to. Uh, which is, uh, misoenergy.org on the internet. Uh, also I .... I
feel that, uh, another area to address, uh, would be, uh, at our lighting, which
you've already done well with... beginning with LED lighting, public spaces.
There's a group called International Dark Sky Association, the IDA,
uh.... encourage you to look at them. They've looked at, uh, light pollution.
They've done consulting projects. They've been, uh, currently consulting with,
uh, Malibu, California, in writing ordinances. And, uh.... uh, they have, uh,
preserves, Dark Sky preserves, which have met and possibly exceed what I would
expect you to do with this plan, but you can go to places like the Grand Canyon,
uh, Big Bend preserve in Texas; Block Canyon in Colorado. Breckin ... Beacons in
Whales, UK., Kissimmee Prairie, Florida; the, uh, (can't hear) reserve in France;
and the Rhone reserve in Germany; the Yong Yang Park in South Korea; the
(can't hear) preserve in Hungary; and the (can't hear) Park in New South Wales,
Australia. These are all Dark Sky preserves, places where you can go and expect
to see the beauty of the skies at night, and uh.....and there're Dark Sky towns as
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well — Bon Accord in Alberta, Canada; Flagstaff, Arizona; Moffat in Scotland;
Borrego Springs, California — these are places which have gone above and beyond
and become Dark Sky, uh, not preserves. Dark Sky, uh, cities, where they use
moderate amount of light, projected towards the ground, and people can see well
and there are, uh, there are many things on a Dark Sky association, darksky.org
web site, that, uh.....they point to, uh, circadian rhythms being affected with, uh,
blue tinted LEDs. Uh, they also mention safety. Uh, if you have bright spots or
brightly lit, you also have dark spots, which are.....which are hard to see in and
that's where crime happens. So it's actually safer to have less lighting,
moderately less lighting, which allows your, uh, night vision to allow you to see
around. And that information's on their web site as well.
Throgmorton: Christopher, we usually limit ourselves to five minutes each (both talking) and
you've gone over five minutes.
Bergan: I apologize. I'm basically at the end. I just want to, uh, encourage you to look
forward with stringent because we're always behind the curve ball on this issue it
seems like. Thank you for your time.
Throgrnorton: Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, I don't see anybody else who wants to speak so,
uh, Council discussion? Let me start. I'll just, um, I have a bunch of stuff
written. So we've received many emails, 15 or more, uh, urging us to adopt this
40% reduction, from 1990 levels, and to use our good friends Martha Norbeck
and Jerry Schnoor to develop a plan immediately. I understand the rationale
behind both of those recommendations. I think the strongest email comes from
Cheryl Miller on behalf of, uh, Climate Advocates, Iowa City Climate Advocates,
who urges us those three points that have been repeated a.....a couple times. Uh,
include an 80% reduction target for 2050, ensure that the .... the consultant has
documented technical expertise and experience, and make sure the consultant
addresses financial impacts of the plan beyond.... direct impacts, direct costs to
the City. So, uh, some .... some good friends of mine and ours, and some of whom
are in the audience, have claimed that we already know what needs to be done.
I .... I don't think that's true. Uh, moreover, this is not a simple mathematical task.
The challenge is not math. The challenge is people. The challenge is figuring out
how to do it here. How to reduce emissions here, given the complexity of
industry, businesses, people, and so on. So we need to devise a means by which
we can bring people along at a rate that they're willing to go along with, and yet
do it! So, uh, we've got to get buy -in from the public, and John Fraser spoke
quite articulately about that particular point. As for involving, uh, local people is
concerned, I totally agree. Totally! It's for that reason that, uh, Brenda and Geoff
and I spoke with Dean, uh, Alec Scranton in the College of Engineering and then
Brenda and I later spoke with Jerry Schnoor, Professor Jerry Schnoor, about
involving College of Engineering faculty and students in the technical work.
They will be involved in the technical work. Brenda, you.....I think you've
already talked with, uh, Jerry again, right, about that? Yeah. Uh, likewise, it's for
that reason that, uh, I personally included Martha Norbeck on a list of people that
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would be great members of the technical advis... well, of the, uh, of the
community-based advisory committee, uh, that we intend to create and that we
will be discussing at our next meeting on January 3`d, during our work session. I
think John Fraser would be a great contributor as well, and then surely other
people. I don't want to limit, uh, this to just Martha and John. But ... Martha and
Jerry Schnoor have both been part of the conversation all along, and let's see....
there might be a couple other things I want to say. Um ... uh, I think, uh, we .... as a
Council could, tonight, and tell me if I'm wrong about this, Eleanor, consider, uh,
amending the proposed resolution to add this, uh, reduction target for the year
2050, if we wanted to. I'm not pushing it, but we've been urged to do that. Uh,
and.....yeah, so I'll just leave it at that. I think I'm really happy everybody's here.
I'm really glad that people are pushing us, uh, but I'm excited about the fact that
we have .... we're stepping forth, we're gonna be doin' work. It's comin'! We're
takin' it step-by-step. So .... others?
Thomas: Well I agree with your comments, Jim, and thanks for articulating them. Uh, I
think .... you know, I would support the second amend .... this amendment of 80%
by 2050, although I think, uh, you know, in discussions we've .... I've had over the
last several days, the ... the real issue isn't these goals we set for.....33 years from
now (laughs) but what we do, uh, in the short-term to start realizing them. So,
um, I .... I think adding that is ... is something I would support if the Council
supports it. I'm .... I'm also concerned that what .... what can we do in the period
between we ... the adoption of the ... the action plan. I mean I feel in some ways
we're already making progress on some of the actions the Council has initiated in
terms of land use and transportation. We really haven't emphasized their
greenhouse gas reduction function, but they nevertheless are part of their value,
and .... and perhaps we need to do a better job of explaining and educating
ourselves and the public as to when we make initiatives to what extent they will
impact. We may not be able to measure it now but will, uh, as we proceed with
perhaps our .... an urban forestry program, further reductions in transportation by,
you know, uh, gas -driven automobiles and so on and so forth, the bicycle
networks. So I am concerned that .... how can we anticipate, um, what those
actions will be, and to the extent we can begin to guide our actions so that they're
in accordance with them. We ... we kind of briefly talked about that with the
Public Works (mumbled) that we'll be developing. But I do think it needs to be
part of our thinking, uh, straight away. And to the extent we can make that a
meaningful conversation incorporated into our work.
Throgmorton: Others?
Taylor: I would be okay with this resolution and the inclusion of the 80% by 2050. I
think it's been stated a couple times about, uh, without a buy -in from the groups
that the goal's hard to achieve and just looking at the graph that Brenda presented
there, it's industrial, commercial, uh, residential, the UI Power Plant, which is a
big, major, uh.... factor in this, and transportation. So there're a number of folks
involved, a number of stakeholders, that would need to be included in that, and I
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assume that would be part of the community-based committee that you were
talking about as far as the stakeholders.
Throgmorton: Yeah, and I've ... just to add on that, I've talked with, uh, Don Gukart and other
staff at the University of Iowa's Facility Management.... Facilities Management
office, uh, and.....and completely persuaded that at least one of their key members
would be eager to participate in our advisory committee. So.....
Botchway: So I would be, um, supportive of the, um, obviously the resolution, but also .... or
the goal, but also the 80% by 2050. Um, I think, um, everybody's kind of said
about the buy -in part and looking at the short-term aspects of this is ... and
obviously important from a foundational perspective. I will say that I'm always
proud of our community coming forward and talking to us about these issues, um,
wanting to be a part of these issues, and so .... in whatever way that we can use, I
think groundswell was used a couple of times, this groundswell of ...of
community members that have emailed, um, that have called, um, in an urgent
way, and obviously the 100 Grannies are always, um, at the table. Um .... to, uh,
to ensure that buy -in from a .... a community level happens in.....in maybe a faster
way, I think would....1 think would help some of the concerns that were discussed
as far as maybe the 25% goal not being enough. Um, I think that Brenda did a
wonderful job of just, uh, simply stating that, you know, it's .... it's a goal. It
doesn't mean it doesn't necessarily.... something that we can't surpass or ... or look
towards, um, doing more as we're kind of doing some of this ground work and
so, um, again, I'm supportive, like I said, of the, um, of the resolution, but
obviously of the 80% as well and I would encourage everybody that's here, I
know the 100 Grannies will be here and some other folks that have obviously, um,
worked on this as well, um, to continue to be a part of this, um, beyond some of
the community advisory group aspects of it, but to help us with the buy -in
because, um, as .... as Jim, Brenda, and I think we talked about it during the work
session, this is .... this is going to be some work, and it's going to be about the
people part of it, you know, getting people on board and having.... asking
different questions and having different conversations, and so I'm excited about
this kind of energy around, um, this particular type of change.
Cole: Well you know I think of what we achieved in affordable housing this year and
we got an award for that tonight, but I sort of wanted to share that aware with all
the community advocates that helped make us hap .... make that happen, and the
reason I bring that up is that we achieved that goal not because of what we did, is
because we have willing partners in the community that work with us, our staff.
They struggled with us, they knew that we were, you know, imperfect people
trying to perfect policy, and I think that's where the environmental task before us,
there's only seven of us. We need every one of the people that are concerned
about climate advocacy to .... to continue to work with us because if it's just a
resolution, we could have 100% or 150%, but if we don't have the collaboration
of the community that's not going to happen. So, um, I'm absolutely supportive
of where we're at. I think that reflects a considered judgment by staff in terms of
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what we can achieve, to shoot for the 80% by 2050, um, but one thing I think that
hopefully we can achieve is some sort of short, sort of immediate action type
projects where at least we can get started on certain projects. I think for example
of the ped mall where we have those recycling things. Like quick action projects.
So I think as we look at these long targets, I think it is important that we do try to
identify that and I think again of what we achieved in affordable housing,
although it is more probably technically complicated with the environmental plan,
but I think we can this year hopefully provide some, you know, projects where we
can really point to and say, `Hey, this is signaling where we're going.' So, um,
I'm very happy in terms of where we're at. Can we do better? Absolutely, but I
think we can all do better in terms of where we move forward with this.
Mims: I'm supportive of the resolution. I ... I don't .... I guess I don't feel real strongly one
way or the other about the 80% by 2050, simply because .... I.....I have no idea
where that number comes from. I have no idea if it's.... anywhere near feasible, if
it's just something that people have kind of pulled out of a hat to be really
aspirational, and I realize sometimes just being really aspirational can be very
beneficial. Um .... but I .... I just don't know, like I say, I just don't know where
it's coming from or how realistic, um, it is. I won't vote against it if that's .... if
that's what the rest of the Council wants to do. I think .... if we can get some
things done in the .... in the shorter timeframe, I agree with what you're saying,
Rockne. I think Brenda laid it out really well that .... and as Pauline mentioned, as
you look at this chart, and I was going to mention this as well, you know, the big
aspects of this are particularly the industrial and the commercial and the UI Power
Plant. Um, things that technically are totally out of our control. And so the idea
of really having to develop those relationships as staff was talking about earlier,
getting people on board with the importance of this, uh, comments were made
about how, you know, business is starting to see that it is really economical for
them long-term to be environmentally sensitive and responsible. Um, but not
everybody sees that yet, and so there's.... there's a lot of work to do, but I think
the more... the more wins we can get in a short term help get more people on
board for the long-term.
Dickens: I'll be supporting it as well and I... just looking at graphs, I ... I'm very visual, it
looks like the industrial area's where we're gonna have to work the hardest.
Uh... the residential doesn't change that much. Uh, each of us as individuals can
do our own. I look at my father who's in his 80s and he put geothermal in his
house. He didn't do it to get the buy-back. He did it for the next generation.
Um .... we can all do what we can. Turn your thermostats down a little but during
the winter. Couple degrees. One, it's a plus for you. You save money. Two,
you're usin' less energy. Uh, there's just little things that we can all do. It adds
up, so .... but our biggest concerns are the industrial, uh, the power plants, because
we as individuals are doin' as much, maybe not as much as we can, but we're
really tryin' to do it, so ..... I .... I support it. The 80% may be, I don't know .... I....
I haven't done enough research on it to see if it's a feasible. It would be great if it
can, uh.... 30 some years from now, well, with the longevity in my .... my father,
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he's going to be 88 next week, I .... I may still be around (several talking and
laughing) So, I guess I better start worrying about it a little more but uh... no, I .... I
support the .... the program and I think we do need to kick start it.
Throgmorton: Okay uh.... so I would, urn .... invite an amendment, cause we don't have an
amendment on the .... on the table yet. I would invite amendment which adds the
following language, immediately after the first time that the date 2025 appears.
And the words that would be added are: and a reduction target of 80% by 2050.
I ... I think that's .... I think it fits okay within the context and the language. Okay,
so .... motion.
Cole: So moved.
Taylor: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved ... by, uh, Cole, seconded by Taylor. Discussion? I .... I guess I want to say
a couple things. It's my understanding that the 80% ... Dianne, you know a lot
about this. It's my understanding the 80% figure comes mainly from the Paris
Agreement, but it's tied to changes in global average temperature, and a desire to
keep the increase down, and they figure that 80% reduction's necessary. Yeah.
Okay, so (unable to hear response from audience) Yeah. (unable to hear response
from audience)
Mims: Yeah, I've ... I don't know.
Throgmorton: As time passes, who knows. I mean time'll pass, we'll have better knowledge
about all this stuff and hopefully be able to do better work, but that's where that
80% comes from.
Mims: Thank you.
Throgmorton: Yeah, and I think there was somethin' else I was gonna say but now I don't
remember what it was. So, okay, we have an amendment on the floor. Uh,
further discussion about it? Oh, I know what the other thing was (laughs) Uh,
I ... I wanted .... I'd like to have a sense of the Council about this. My ... my sense is
that our am ... the focal ambition is the 2025 reduction. (several responding) And
we have this longer-term ambition, but what we want the consultant to focus on is
the .... the reduction by 2025.
Mims: Yes.
Throgmorton: Yeah, I see a lot of nodding heads. Okay, so, uh, there's a motion on the floor.
It's, uh, to adopt that amendment. Uh, roll call. (several responding) Sorry!
Voice, uh (laughs) all in favor say aye. Opposed. Motion carries. We're back to
the amended, urn .... uh.... um, motion. Further discussion? No? Okay, uh, roll
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call. Motion carries 7-0. Thanks to all of you for coming and, uh, contributing
your hearts and passion to this. And minds!
Voparil: Motion to accept correspondence.
Botchway: So moved.
Dickens: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Botchway, seconded by Dickens. All in favor say aye. Uh, motion
carries 7-0, I guess. Okay, uh, Item 12, we'll wait just a second till people depart.
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ITEM 12. REJECTING INTIMIDATION - RESOLUTION REJECTING
INTIMIDATION AND SUPPORTING SAFE COMMUNITY
Botchway: So moved.
Throgmorton: Moved by Botchway.
Mims: Second.
Throgmorton: Seconded by Mims. Uh, to be clear, uh, what this, uh, does is .... partly it's based
on the language that Kingsley expressed so articulately at our last meeting,
probably on some material that Rockne had provided, uh, partly in terns of how I
kind of reconstructed that into, uh, my own, um, press release that went out, I
don't know, two weeks ago or thereabouts, and then, Eleanor, you re ... recrafted
this into a .... a, this final draft, right? Uh, but it, uh, it rejects acts of intimidation,
whether they be verbal or physical, and really tries to express a.....a strong sense
of where our community stands on this. We all know that there are motion...
there's motion underway, uh, to .... uh, scare people, to instill fear into their hearts,
to force people out of this country, to ... undermine many of the basic purposes and
principles of, uh, of this country, uh, that have to do with the U.S. constitution and
in our case havin' to do with our city, uh, our, what do you call it — the, uh
(laughs)
Cole: Charter!
Throgmorton: Charter, thank you. I'm gettin' a little tired, I can feel it. Uh, the City Charter
and our City Code and so on. I don't want to reread it right now, but
uh... we .... we reject that .... that stuff. Okay, so we have a motion before us, uh,
any farther discussion about it?
Botchway: Just want to make a quick couple points. Um, kind of to your point, Jim. This
isn't political, it's a people issue. Um, frankly people are scared and I .... I think
it's not only something that's happened obviously in the community, but also in
the schools as well. Um ... we talk ... words matter, um, but I think action does as
well and so I know that we're doing this, um, resolution, but you know, I urge our
community in particular to, um, to be progressive, you know, we .... we frankly
talk about it, um, a lot, um, from an Iowa City standpoint, but I .... I'm more
interested in the act of doing so, um, especially when it comes around, you know,
hateful speech and rhetoric that's been spewed recently. I do want to just
commend, um, I know we're gonna be talkin' about police chief in a moment, but
the Interim Police Chief Campbell, um, you know, that whole .... the whole crux of
that situation, I think Jim alluded to an email where he talked about, um, the
protests that occurred, but just as a response, um, you know, and the fact that we
can .... we can do better, you know, um, we may not have responded, um, the
adequate or appropriate way at the particular time, um, but we can do better.
We'll work .... we'll work to do better, and .... and I just appreciate the message
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because as we're working through this heightened, urn .... uh, this heightened time,
heightened climate, um, we're gonna make mistakes. Um, we're gonna .... we're
gonna do some things that we're obviously not going to be proud of and so, again,
from a community perspective, I hope that we can, um, trust each other to do
better, but also, um, act and do better in that way as well. That's it.
Thomas: I'll just.....I'll just mention that, uh, last week, urn .... and with regard to this, there
was a .... a considerable amount of graffiti that was applied to North Market
Square, uh, Preucil School and uh, a building adjacent to the park, and this was...
I don't know if you would technically call it hate speech, but it was ... if not it was
very inflammatory. This is not your usual type of graffiti. Um, and I was very
pleased to see the City's response, the staff, um .... Rec Park ... Parks and Rec staff
went out immediately and removed it from the park. Uh, Zion Lutheran Church
called a meeting, uh, I think two days after the incident, uh, where community,
Jim attended, um, and a number of people came together and so .... like it's kind of
the same issue we're .... we're facing with the climate change. This has to be a
community effort. It has to engage all of us. We, you know, the .... the resilience
of our community and I thought this incident spoke very well for the resilience of
the northside. I was very pleased with the response, but urn .... this is .... this is
what we have to .... to work toward. It's a .... it's a community effort.
Throgmorton: Yep. Okay, we have a motion on the floor. Roll call. Motion carries 7-0.
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ITEM 13. POLICE CHIEF — RESOLUTION APPROVING THE APPOINTMENT OF
JODY MATHERLY AS POLICE CHIEF IN IOWA CITY, IA
Mims: Move the resolution.
Botchway: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Botchway. Uh, I guess .... do you want to speak?
Or I mean....
Fruin: Yeah, I ... I'd like to. (several talking and laughing) It's been a long night, but
(laughter) um .... I have been looking forward to this night for (laughter) seems
like a very long time (laughter) so if you will indulge.
Throgmorton: Oh, all right! (laughs)
Fruin: I will .... I will walk you through, uh, the process, not only for the benefit of the
Council but for the benefit of the .... the audience and anybody viewing on TV,
and then, uh....um, tell you, um, why I have chosen to appoint Jody Matherly as
our next Police Chief. So as .... as City Manager I ... I think the single most
important rule that I have is to hire good people in key positions for the City, and
I take that role very seriously. Uh, we're here tonight to talk about arguably the
most critical position that I'm responsible for and that' the police chief. And as
required by Charter, I'm seekin' your approval of. ... of my appointment of Chief
Matherly to the Iowa City Police Chief position. So I want to start by talkin'
about the process and .... and make sure that everybody, uh, knows how we got
here tonight. Um, when the, uh, vacancy occurred with the retirement of Chief
Hargadine, I decided to enlist the help of a, uh, search firm that has experience
in .... in public sector searches and after a .... a competitive RFQ process, uh, we
selected Slavin Management Consultants to help us guide that process. We chose
Slavin, uh, because of their track record of recruiting and placing diverse
candidates, uh, their pricing, um, and .... and just in general their track record, um,
at successful placements within, uh, communities, not only police chief positions,
but a variety of public sector positions. The first step in the process was to really
for us as a community to express what we want, uh, in a new police chief. And
we took a little bit more time than usual to do that. Uh, we brought Slavin in, we
allowed them to meet, um, with different constituencies, including each of you
individually, urn .... uh, without the presence of me in the room and .... and others
in the room and just let..... let folks talk freely about what they see in the Iowa
City Police Department, what they'd like to see in the Iowa City Police
Department, and specifically what they'd like to see in the next police chief. Uh,
that information, uh, was used to put our recruitment brochure out, um, essentially
how we advertise the position and .... and that may seem like a simple thing, but I
want to stress that.... absolutely affects who applies for the positions. As we
identify those key issues, and there's, uh, people out there looking to .... to, uh,
take on a new role as police chief, um, they look at what the issues are that
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they're going to be dealing with, and if they are not interested in addressing those
issues or leading on those issues, they won't apply. So, um, we knew that in
putting out that recruitment brochure that would absolutely shape our applicant
pool. And I think it did, because each of the candidates that we talked with were,
uh, very serious about, um, helping us a .... address some of the challenges, uh,
and .... and, uh, and opportunities that we have. In the memo I listed the various
ways in which we advertise the position. In addition, uh, Slavin indicated that
they initiated 300 to 400 contacts with, uh, local law enforcement and government
management professionals, uh, really networking to try to encourage applications.
In total they recruited law enforcement personnel from communities in 23
separate states. Uh, the application period generated 18 candidates, and uh, with,
um, the recruitment, uh, brochure, uh, in mind and .... and the issues that we
identified in there, uh, Karen Jennings, who's our Human Resources
Administrator, and uh, the folks from Slavin and I worked to, um, do the initial
screening of those 18 candidates and we found 10, um, of. ... of those candidates
that really I think fit well with the profile that, uh, we created as a community.
The next step in the process, um, that Slavin, urn .... urn, recommended was a .... a
pretty basic questionnaire that went to the candidates, uh, to .... to further learn a
little bit more about them, a little bit deeper than the, uh, the resume and cover
letter, uh, provided. Uh, in addition to Slavin's, uh, standard questions, the City,
uh, added three different questions that gave us some initial insight into where
candidates, uh... where candidates, um, opinions were, uh, on ... on a couple of key,
uh, issues. Uh, in the process of sending out those 12, or I'm sorry, those 10
questionnaires, we had two candidates voluntarily withdraw from the process.
That's pretty, uh, it's not uncommon in any process like this, um, where, uh,
people will voluntarily withdraw for any number of reasons. It could be they
found other employment, um, they've decided to stay put where they're at, uh, but
we had two and thus we had, uh, eight candidates to vet. Based on the responses
to, uh, the questionnaire, um, a larger group of City staff determined that there
were six strong semi-finalists, uh, to bring in, uh, for, ub, more in-depth
interviews. In the process of scheduling those interviews, we had two additional
candidates drop and that's how we arrived at the four semi-finalists candidates,
urn .... ub, that we had. Um, as you know, uh, I brought together a team of, uh, 16
individuals from the community, a mix of City staff and.... and.... and non -City
staff. Those, uh, folks are listed, uh, in the memo and you have that, uh, in front
of you, and we conducted, uh, interviews with each of the four semi-finalists. Uh,
those 16 people were brought.... were broken up into two separate groups, and
each candidate met with, uh, those two groups separately. In total it was about an
hour and a half, uh.... uh, worth of questioning for each panel, so a total of three
hours of questioning. Urn .... roughly 20 questions from each of the panels, 40 in
total, uh, and then on top of that would be, uh, a number of follow up questions
that candidates were able to .... to ask of the candidates during that time. Uh,
Mayor Throg... uh, Throgmorton, Council Member Mims, and Simon Andrew
from the City Manager's office also met with the semi-finalists in a more informal
setting, um, took them out to .... to breakfast or lunch while they were here in
town. Ub, after we went through and, uh, interviewed all four of the semi-finalist
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candidates, uh, that group of 16, uh.... uh, people as well as the Mayor, Council
Member Mims, and .... and Simon Andrew came to .... came together and just
generally discussed, urn .... uh, insights and observations from the interview. I
want to make it .... I want to make it really clear that I did not ask any of the 16
individuals or the Mayor or .... or, uh, Council Member Mims to, um, indicate who
they would support or who their favorite was after the interview process. That
really wasn't, uh, what I was looking for and it wouldn't be fair to ask, um, any...
anybody that participated in such a short window to .... to give that kind of, uh,
feedback, but really what we were looking for, um, what I was looking for was
how different people viewed their interactions with each of the candidates, how
they viewed their responses, identify issues that needed to be followed up on at,
um, a finalist stage or as we do background checks, what are some of those, uh,
key questions that .... that need to be explored as we move forward. I found that
process, um, and the involvement of those people to be, um .... uh, quite
enlightening. I .... I .... I, um, learn things that I didn't necessarily pick up in the
interview, but just in terms of how other people interpreted responses. It was... it
was very helpful. Based on that feedback, um, I ... advanced three of the
candidates to a .... a finalist, uh, stage. At the finalist stage, um, the candidates, uh,
became public. Their information was posted, uh, publicly on our City web site
and the public was able to learn little bit more about each of the candidates. They
were brought back to the community, urn.... Council Member Botchway and I met
with each of the three candidates, urn ... and they also received a tour of the Police
Station, met some of the Police staff, uh, they, uh, performed ... or were able to go
on a community tour to learn a little bit more about the community, uh, and uh,
the Iowa City area, and then there were two meet -n -greet opportunities. Uh, the
first one was for the Police Department staff, um, and that was, uh, mid-afternoon
meet -n -greet, and then the evening, we transitioned to a public meet -n -greet
process where, uh, those that were interested could come on ... uh, come in and
have some one-on-one or small -group interactions with ... with each of the, uh,
which... with each of the candidates. We collected feedback from all those
different exercises and um, then began, uh, the background checks and it was after
those, uh, processes that, um ... I came, uh, to the conclusion, um, that, uh, Chief
Matherly was the absolute right fit for our department. I want to address a couple
things before I talk a little bit about, um ..... uh, Chief Matherly's background
and .... and the particular aspects, um, of..of his background that I think
will .... will carry over, be an excellent fit here in Iowa City. Um .... uh, and one of
those, uh, has been publicly discussed, uh.... um, here in the Council chambers
and in the media, and .... and it's the fact that there were no, uh, minority
candidates at the semi-finalist or finalist stage of the process. We made every
effort to recruit a diverse applicant pool. Um, we were, um ... uh.... very conscious
of that when we determined where to advertise. We were conscious of that when
we put together the recruitment brochure, to make sure that, urn .... uh, we had the
ability to attract a diverse applicant pool. Um .... at the end, uh, when we received
the 18 applications, I think that there was very good reason to believe, uh, that we
had a diverse applicant pool. Um, and .... and I, as I mention in the memo, this
belief of mine is ascertained through disclosures in application materials. So it
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could be memberships to, uh, particular organizations or other disclosures, uh,
that would lead one to believe, uh, with some certainty that they were of minority
status. And, um, once we have those 18 applications in this case, um, everybody
was held to the same standard going forward. Urn .... uh, and so where minority
con, uh, candidates dropped off, um .... uh, I can tell you some was, um,
they .... they, you know, could have been at the questionnaire stage. Uh, we did
have, uh, believe minority candidates voluntarily withdraw from the process too,
and so, uh, that happens, um, but I want to make sure that you... you're.... at least
have the information, um, because that has been, uh, publicly discussed, um, over
the last couple of months. And I'll be happy to answer more questions, uh, about
that, but .... uh, to my, uh, appointment tonight, and I am seeking your approval
per the City Charter, um, very, very excited to, um, appoint, uh, Chief Matherly.
Uh, he has over 33 years of law enforcement experience and a variety of settings,
and I think each of his, um, each of the work environments that he's been in, uh,
over his career have certain aspects that .... that really, um, put him in a unique
position to serve the Iowa City community. He's currently serving as the police
chief in Altoona, Iowa, and prior to that was in Grinnell, Iowa. Prior to becoming
the chief in Grinnell, Iowa, um, he worked in Flint, Michigan, uh, where he
started off as an officer, uh, moved to sergeant and eventually, uh, ended his
career there as lieutenant, again before, um, moving to, um, Grinnell to take on
the police chief position. Again, each of these com.... communities, uh, that I just
mentioned there I think have, um, unique attributes with Iowa City and really, um,
give Chief Matherly a unique, uh, perspective as he approaches the job here in
Iowa City. A couple of things, uh, that, um, really, uh, s .... uh, stood out to me
during the process, and some of the things I heard from other people, um, really,
uh, have a deep appreciation for Chief Matherly's commitment to professional
development. Uh, he's very active in the, uh, various police industry associations.
Um, he was up to speed on every topic that we wanted to, uh, discuss with him.
He very much is plugged into best practices, and I think he's demonstrated a,
uh... um, a.....a willingness, um, to be on the leading edge of. ... of, uh, particular
issues. He has a strong reputation as a visible presence in the community, and has
really demonstrated a commitment to developing and nurturing relationships in
the community. Um .... he didn't, he's not coming to Iowa City, and this is ... this
was one thing that really struck me. He's not coming to Iowa City with all the
answers. Um, and that.... separated him from some of the other candidates. He's
coming to Iowa City with a strong desire to learn about our community values,
um, to build relationships, and collaboratively work to find those solutions. And
that's what really stood out, is his .... uh, his willingness to say I may not have all
the answers, but I'm gonna (laughs) work really hard with the right people to
figure out those answers, and um.....uh, not only was he able to.....articulate that
very well in the interview process, but as we did background checks and we
talked with people, uh, that have worked with him, um, that have observed him,
uh, in other communities working, it was clear that that, um, is not only
something that he, uh, says but something that he does. Lastly, I'll say that I
think, uh, he will be a very strong internal leader, uh, for the department. We
have an excellent, excellent group of employees at the Iowa City Police
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Department. Um, they want to, uh, serve this community. Um .... uh, and they,
um, I think are going to be very pleased to have a leader like Chief Matherly who
will, um, work hard to gain their trust, their respect, and that .... and they will work
even harder, um, with him to.....to strengthen those ties in the .... in the
community. So, um, I thank you for allowing me the floor, um .... for this long at
this point in the evening. Um, I do want to point out, uh, Chief Matherly is in the
audience there with his wife Laura, and um .... look forward to answering any
questions that you have about my appointment or the recruitment process.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Geoff. Nicely done! It may be that there's some other people in the
audience who would like to address this topic and I think we need to give them an
opportunity to speak. So if anybody would like to, please do! All right, I don't
see anybody. So we have a motion on the floor. Let .... let me begin by very
briefly stating my view. As Geoff said, selecting a chief of police is probably the
most important individual appointment that the City Manager can make, or will
make. For that reason, I have followed the search process very carefully, and
have spoken with Geoff about it many, many times over the past five months. I
think I've just been trackin' it all along. In brief, my sense is that Geoff has done
a truly outstanding job of conducting this search, and I have complete confidence
in his selection of Jody Matherly as our new Police Chief. And I will obviously
vote in support.
Mims: I would agree with everything you said, Jim, and I'm honored as a Member of the
Council to have had the opportunity to meet with, um, as he .... as Geoff said, Jim
and I took each of the finalists, or semi-finalists out to either lunch or breakfast
and just a very informal opportunity to, um, discuss things with them, much
differently obviously than the interview panels. Um, but I think it was a very well
done process. I think we've come to .... I think Geoff has come to a very good
conclusion. Um, I think Chief Matherly will be a great addition to this
community, and look forward to having him on board!
Botchway: So I'll make a couple of comments. Urn .... I think that, as a .... from a Councilor
perspective and I think Susan has mentioned it as well, I mean, I'm very, um....
you know, as we look at positions that come open, and we just had this, um,
recent couple positions that we (mumbled) for on the Police Department, um, you
know, I .... I want to be clear that diversity is important. I mean that's.... that's
something that, you know, and I know that it gets redundant and I think frankly,
um, to Jim's comment as well, I think, um, I think I called Geoff or text Geoff,
um, more times than I probably want to mention, just because of, um, my feeling
or thoughts or concerns, just about an important position, as Geoff kind of talked
about. I ... I do want to make clear a statement that I ..... I agree with Jim's
statement as well and I think Susan, um, that I support Geoff in the process. I
thought it was a really well done process. Although there were concerns about
timing and some of the other things and, you know, there was a lot of thought
process that went into, um.....how we went about what we .... where we went
about or .... and how we went about it, and so, um, I can appreciate that. Uh, I just
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want to do .... I do want to say a couple of things about, urn .... uh, Jody Matherly.
Um, you know, I did get an opportunity, as Geoff mentioned during the process,
to kind of speak with him and I .... I do want to echo some of the comments, um,
Geoff mentioned. Uh, it was interesting how he handles community. Um, that
was something that I think came off very strongly. Um, just overall..... not only
his demeanor, um, but how he talked about issues that he's working through, and
I know I'm talking about you in third person being there (laughter) but I have
some written down so you have to apologize (laughter) urn .... the other piece of it,
I agree, was the professional development, um, part of it, and that's a huge part of
my job currently, and how to address issues and to hear somebody, you know, I
think that across the country when you hear about, um ... uh, police related issues,
there's a, you know, we're gonna handle this immediately, we're going to make
this immediate change, without the thought process of really growing your police
force in a mindset, um .... uh, but also kind of, um, and the growth around, how to
address issues properly and so, um, you know, he was even able to give a couple
examples in that regard, and so I can appreciate that as well. Um, you know,
since you are here, um, I do want to say it's a hot seat (laughter) you know, I
mean this is .... this is the hottest seat outside of Geoff s, which is just really kind
of a .... a steady simmer, and so, um (laughter) I .... I think that it's something that,
uh, frankly you know, I'll be honest with you and frank with you, I mean even
right before the conver... right before this meeting, um, you know, I said that there
was something that, you know, I want to work with you, um, pretty exclusively as
all Council Members obviously will with our departments to .... to really, you
know, see some of the things that ... I think that you stepping forward and wanting
to see some of these key leadership, um .... uh, pieces in the community was really
important. One of the hot button topics is going to be disproportionality and
that's coming around the bend in February, and .... and just so you know, I mean,
that's going to be .... since it's a strategic plan element and we have a goal in mind
and, um, I'm assuming that there will be some strategies and discussion around
that as well, um, that's going to be kind of a key moment, um, not necessarily for
you to, you know, have a laundry list of things that you, um, have prepared to do,
but just to see how you can step up and .... and kind of, um, work with your
department and work with the community on how we can, um, improve on this
together. Yeah, that's all I have to say. It's a hot seat, so you know, uh, I
appreciate you stepping into the role because, um, because it's a .... it's an
important opportunity and I'm .... I'm going to be really glad working with you,
um, through the upcoming, um, months on how we can, uh, work on this together.
Dickens: We haven't voted yet, but I think you've got a good chance of getting in
(laughter) Um .... uh, I was surprised, since we really didn't have a whole lot to do
as far as our input was not really solicited. I was amazed at the number of people
that called me with, uh, voices of support for Jody, so it's, uh, it makes me feel
very good about, uh, Geoff's decision, so I'm ..... I'm very excited about the future
and .... I was born here, I'm gonna die here, so you're gonna have to put up with
me for a long time (laughter) so .... great to have you here! (several talking and
laughing)
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Thomas: I .... I thought it was a, you know, the memo was, Geoff prepared was outstanding
and it really articulated the thoroughness of the process. Um, just .... a lot of
people involved in.....in various ways to contribute to the decision. Uh, I just
wanted to highlight, and Geoff, you mentioned it in your description, but I'll...
I'll bring it up again. You said that, uh, Chief Matherly has a strong reputation as
a visible presence in the community, and has clearly demonstrated a commitment
to developing and nurturing community relationships that build trust, open
communication channels, and lead to collaborative community problem solving
efforts. You know, I think that's it! (laughs) That's what it's all about! Uh, not
only for the Chief, but for all of us who .... who aspire for this community to be all
it can be. So .... you know, thanks for that memo. I .... I thought that that was a
great, um ... just a great way of expressing that sentiment and.....Chief, I .... you
sound like you're gonna be a great addition to the Iowa City community, so
welcome!
Cole: And I'm gonna support the appointment. You know I think in terms of this....this
process, we really had three fantastic candidates, and I know it must have been in
incredibly difficult choice for Geoff to make, but I gotta say, Mr. Matherly's
name kept on popping up, in .... favorably! And, and that's precisely what you
want to see. You don't want any sort of in ... information that cause... gives you
any pause, and everything I heard was.....was very positive from a variety of
different people, and I think the thing that stood out the most in terms of your
experience is Flint, Grinnell, and Altoona. I mean, that's such a unique
convergence of experience, and I think of for example what Iowa City is. We
have urban elements. We have suburban, and we have small town, and I think
those really the elements are why we love living in this community and it seems
like your background is really tailor made to make that happen, and I think
the ... what Geoff s point was, the fact that you said that you don't have all the
answers. I think that's precisely the type of framework to build those
collaborative relationships is gonna be so, so important because there are a lot of
people in Iowa City that do have positive, constructive feedback, and so the fact
that you're receptive to that, I think is gonna be a good foundation going forward.
Taylor: I also like, uh, Terry had heard from members of the community, and it's very
diverse members of the community that I ... I respect their opinion, who also said
that they were very pleased with.....with your selection, so .... I'm .... I'm very
much in favor of it also.
Throgmorton: All right. I don't sense a lot of opposition (laughter) We have a motion on the
floor. Roll call. Motion carries 7-0. Congratulations, Jody! (several talking)
Congratulations, Geoff.
Fruin: Thank you. (laughter) If, yeah!
Dickens: What else can we add to your plate (several talking and laughing)
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Fruin: If, real quick .... I forgot to say this in my remarks, but I .... I put it in the memo and
I want to echo it publicly. I have to thank Captains Troy Kelsay and Bill .... Bill
Campbell. (several responding) Um, they have, uh, done a very, very nice job
stepping up and leading the department, um, and I certainly depended on them a
lot and .... and they delivered. So, um, Chief Matherly's inheriting, as I said, a
really good team, and it starts there at the top with those two.
Throgmorton: So Chief Matherly is gonna start work on the 23`d of January, is that right?
Fruin: That's correct, yes.
Throgmorton: Lookin' forward to it! Okay, well we have a few other items of business. We
should go on to `em.
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ITEM 14. RESOLUTION APPROVING, AUTHORIZING, AND DIRECTING THE
MAYOR TO EXECUTE AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST A
SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT AND MUTUAL RELEASE BY AND
BETWEEN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY AND JOSEPH J. HENDERSON
AND SON, INC., REGARDING THE SOUTH WASTE WATER
TREATMENT PLANT BIO -SOLIDS ROOF
Throgmorton: Resolution approving, authorizing, and directing the Mayor to execute and the
City Clerk to attest a settlement agreement and mutual release by and between the
City of Iowa City and Joseph J. Henderson and Son, Inc., regarding the south
waste water treatment plant bio -solids roof.
Mims: Move resolution.
Botchway: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Botchway. Discussion? Hearing none, roll call.
Motion carries 7-0.
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ITEM 16. 2017 LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES — RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING
THE CITY'S 2017 LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
Botchway: See .... or move resolution (laughs)
Mims: (laughing) Second!
Throgmorton: (both talking) Botchway, seconded by Mims (several talking) Discussion?
(several talking) The, uh, the elements appear in our packet. I'm .... I'm not
gonna restate `em.
Cole: Public comments!
Throgmorton: Oh, I'm sorry! (several talking) I apologize. Adam, go ahead! Thank you.
(both talking) I .... I was kinda hypnotized by the motion (laughter)
Sullivan: (both talking) That's okay, and I will sign but let me, uh, get my words out. Um,
and there were a handful of other people I think who are interested in this, but as
you know it's a long meeting and some of `em hit the road, but want to speak
really quickly. Um, I imagine some of you are probably pessimistic about your
prospects at the State House this year, but I actually do think that there's, um,
some cause for optimism. I think, uh, Geoff made the point at a work session a
couple weeks back that you need to find those issues where there's gonna be
movement and see what influence we can have on those and .... so I'm glad that
you've taken that mindset. Um, specifically I want to talk about, um, local
control over law enforcement and you included some language in the memo about
cannabis in particular. Um, you all know that, you know, drug reform, criminal
justice has been an interest of mine and I think we have, um, my understanding
and, you know, at some future point you might want to ask Eleanor for a more
qualified opinion, but um, what's keeping us, uh, Iowa City from governing that
enforcement, um, locally, um, is that it's a serious misdemeanor at tha... at this
point, um, and I .... we have a Republican sponsor for a bill to make that a simple
misdemeanor, which I believe would empower you all, um, to lessen those
penalties. Um, and end point hopefully is that we don't have to have folks in jail,
um, if they're not hurting anybody else, and I think we can move towards that. At
this point, statewide reform isn't gonna happen. It needs to be a local issue, and
especially with Republican House, Republican Senate, um, that local control issue
is where it's gonna be important. So, uh, specifically thanks to Rockne for getting
that in there. Um, he's done an excellent job at taking and implementing
community comment and really appreciate that so ... I just wanted to speak in favor
of that, uh, make sure that that got in there, um, and then as you're talking to
legislators in the next few months here, um, if you could bring that up I would
really appreciate it.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Adam.
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Mims: Thank you.
Curtin: Hi, I'm Sean Curtin, an Iowa City resident. Um, I just wanted to speak today
cause I think this is a bellwether day for Iowa City with the new Police Chief, um,
you know, discussing criminal justice reform we're on the, uh, wake of a... an
election that is now seen, um, eight states plus Washington, D.C. move for the full
legalization of marijuana. Um, you know, at this point we have, uh, about 65
million Americans who have that legal protection, so about a fall 20% of our
population, uh, in the country, but there's been no action in Iowa, or in Iowa City,
and I think if there .... if we're gonna be sort of on -pace with the rest of the
country, I think something originating from Iowa City would be the most likely
way for that to happen, and that's what makes sense. Um .... and it's a bellwether
day because in all of the other states action on, uh, marijuana has come from, uh,
the citizens, citizen -led initiatives. Uh, but today, you know, something very
special has happened, uh, where our Councilor, Rockne Cole, has, uh.... has
decided that he wants to advocate for that to be part of Iowa City's legislative
agenda, and so that's something that represents a huge shift and a huge change,
uh, from just four years ago, um, when there was a lot of discussion about
building a new jail facility. I think, uh, disproportionality contact, which directly
interplays with, uh, marijuana issues was at least half of the reason that three of
those measures were defeated over and over again (clears throat) and basically
what you saw is the County, but also the city at large, to a certain extent just
remove their consent from the on-going criminal justice practices that we were
suffering under at that time. Uh, but we have a new opportunity with our new, uh,
Police Chief. (clears throat) Uh, and I think one thing that's noteworthy for him
and for you guys is shortly after the 2014, uh, courthouse expansion, uh, our
Sheriff, Lonny Pulkrabek mentioned that he wanted to move his department more
in the direction of, uh, making marijuana, misdemeanor marijuana charges, trying
to loop those in with simply a citation for marijuana paraphernalia, and I think
that's something that has not got a lot of attention, but it was a great thing that our
Sheriff did, and I think that's a good step that could probably be started day one,
uh, with our new Police Chief and that'd be something to strongly consider. Um,
but finally as far as, uh, the .... the City's legislative agenda, you know I think, uh,
this marijuana should not be a back -burner issue. This is the direction that the
country is moving in, and .... and in conclusion, there's absolutely no, uh, legal or
moral justification to take someone who has, uh, marijuana in their possession,
uh, and to throw them in a jail cell, with criminals. Um .... you know I think it's,
uh, similar to liquor, except, uh, it's not physically addictive and it can't kill you.
In conclusion, on this topic the .... the prohibition of marijuana in America is tied
in the 20s and 30s to a department about to have its budget cut, coming up with
outrageous propaganda, using it as a culture war wedge issue, to crack down on
Hispanics and Mexicans. Um, in the Nixon administration, we have an official
who's now said that the advancement of the war on drugs was a tool to crack
down on hippie and black dissidence against the Vietnam war, and that when you
have this, it's something you can do to break up opposition and to go into
minority communities. Um, so it's time for this action to happen. Um, and it's
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a .... it's a big change and I think we need to look forward to progress on this issue.
Um, led by the whole City Council, as well as Rockne Cole. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Sean.
Krauss: Uh, thank you for....excuse me, thank you for your time. Uh, my name is Jared
Krauss. I (clears throat) excuse me, I'm an Iowa City resident. There are just a
couple things that I wanted to talk about. Um, echo support for the two preceding
me and to add a couple factual points. The national average for the, uh, ratio of
arrests for blacks and whites regarding marijuana, according to the ACLU
released a couple years ago is 3.7. So ... or 3.7 times more likely to be arrested for
marijuana -related charges if you're black in America, national average. In Iowa,
uh, we were one of the highest. In Johnson County we were the highest, and
Johnson County was among the highest at 8.34 times more likely to be arrested.
The, uh, population for blacks in Iowa is 3.1 %, so you can go ahead and do the
math there. Uh, I don't know .... I'm not gonna say that we are intentionally trying
to pursue those tactics, but uh, there is something to be said for, you know, sort of
conditional bias and I know that that's something our, um ..... uh, Troy Kelsay I
believe was the Interim Police Chief, talked about, uh, during the first round with
implicit bias (mumbled) explicit bias, and that's good but, um, I think we need to
be doing more and so I appreciate the efforts by Rockne Cole and you guys, uh,
being willing to take this into consideration and, uh, more citizens to advocate for
it. (clears throat) I want to echo, uh, support for, uh, somebody earlier who
mentioned, I believe what I think of in my own head as this idea of light hats,
which is essentially extends a shade over the top of exterior lights, um, you should
go look at the map for the dark skies in Iowa. The closest place is like 15 miles
southwest of here to get anywhere where you can actually see the Milky Way, so
like the Perseids that happened a month ago, yeah, that's where you gotta go if
you really want like a good viewing. You can't even go up to like, um, Lake
Macbride or Palisades, etc., um, and then finally, uh, the public wi-fi, or public
wi-fi. Uh, glad to see the City all has it. Glad to see that downtown has it, but
there are a lot of communities in Iowa City that, uh, severely lack access to wi-fi.
Throgmorton: Excuse me, I .... we have a motion on the floor and you need to be addressing the
motion.
Krauss: I'm sorry, uh, I thought it was consideration for, uh, legislation for the coming
year (both talking)
Throgmorton:.... our proposed legislative agenda.
Krauss: I apologize for that then. Um .... uh, just wrap up by saying that the Electronic
Frontier Foundation has something called the open wireless movement, which is
attempting to provide public wi-fi to as many people as possible and I think that's
something that, um, we should consider utilizing, so sorry for taking the stand.
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Pector: Hi, I'm Brad Pector, a University student. Um (clears throat) I just want to echo
the other things that people have said, uh, including the .... at least more petty for
me, I .... the light shades would actually help a lot, I think. It goes right into my,
uh, front window of my house and I feel like a lot of people probably just haven't
said that but it's important. Um, but the more important thing I have to say is
that, um .... it is final's week during, uh, for University students, and I know a lot
of others, uh, would have liked to come here to show support, um, so I think I can
speak on behalf of many individuals when I say that cannabis reform is long
overdue. Um, as a community we should be able to dictate our own practice
when it comes to charging people for a substance that is almost certainly less
harmful that alcohol. Um, along with this, I think all of us should also
acknowledge the horrible connection that the incarceration system has to
institutional racism as said before. Um, in fact it depends on it. Uh, in 2013, the
ACLU, uh, in Iowa reported that a black person is, ub, 8.37 times as likely, um....
to be arrested for canis... cannabis possession compared to a white community
member. Uh, even though all people carry cannabis at roughly the same rates.
Um, this was the worst disparity in the entire United States, uh, so Iowa's the
lowest. Although cannabis reform won't erase institutional racism, it will allow
people to continue living their lives. I also believe this is an in ... an incredibly
important step in lowering the population of the Johnson County Jail. No one
needs to go to jail for cannabis. Uh, we need to take this measure very seriously
and, uh, as our Council, I urge you to do so sooner than later. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Brad. Hi, Carol.
Dieterle: Um, yes, I'm Caroline Dieterle, um, and I just wanted to pass on that, um, I was at
a meeting at the Senior Center for something entirely different. I think we were
watching a film or something, and while we were waiting for the film, uh, some
of the people there got into conversation and, um .... uh, the, uh.... complaint was
expressed that they wished that there was a .... a safe room in the Senior Center
where senior citizens could smoke marijuana medically. Um, they said that the
people who are telling me this said that they, uh, had been trying all of these
various prescription drugs and that they were expensive and habit-forming, uh, I
think that probably some of them were opioids, um, and that they wouldn't have
had to do that if, uh, they could use marijuana, and that they'd known that because
they had tried it and now felt like criminals, and you know you see (laughs) 80 -
plus year old people (laughs) who think that they're criminals because they, uh,
relieve their pain with a little marijuana. It's.... it's really pathetic, and I don't see
how the legislature can be so heartless, and (clears throat) so anyway, I think I
also .... am really, really glad that, uh, Rockne has taken the initiative on this and
um, I hope that it can be reduced to simple dis.... misdemeanor sort of things or
citations. It would.....it would be a big .... big boon to not only the young but also
to the old and middle-aged! Thanks!
Throgmorton: Thank you, Caroline. Anybody else? Okay, hearing none, uh, any Council
discussion? Roll call. Motion carries 7-0.
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ITEM 17. COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS. Applicants MUST reside in Iowa City and be
18 years of age unless specific qualifications are stated.
Throgmorton: We have appointments to make to four commissions tonight. Board of
Adjustment, there's one, uh...... I thought there were .... yeah, one....one vacancy
and two applicants. No gender balance required. The two applicants are Jeff Falk
and Bryce Parker. What's your preference?
Mims: I'd.....I'll start but I'm gonna tie this into Human Rights because we have people
now who are applying for more than one commission at the same time, so you
almost have to look at things together. Um, what my recommendation would be
would be Bryce Parker for Board of Adjustment and then Jeff Falk for Human
Rights. Um, the reason I did that and let me kind of go through this and start
maybe with the Human Rights, um, we had one male requirement, um, the... as I
recall, yeah, there were three males who applied out of all of those for .... for the
Human Rights Commission. Um, Paul Retish is on, finishing unexpired term, but
he also has served before. I think he does and has done an excellent job on the
Human Rights Commission, but we also have talked about trying to give more
people an opportunity on the commissions, and since we do have other people
applying, um, and I .... I think in his materials he said he'd served.... he's finishing
up with three years now and about five years ago he served three years. So .... I...
I just feel it's opportunity time to give somebody else, and so that was where my
rationale came was with, uh, Jeff Falk for Human Rights and then, um, since we
only have two for Board of Adjustment, then that would give Bryce Parker the
opportunity on Board of Adjustment.
Taylor: I was thinking along the same lines as Susan because Jeff did actually mention
that he was also interested in Human Rights but I have to add that I felt of all
the .... all the months on Council and seeing applicants, this list .... we had a very
impressive list of applicants (both talking)
Throgmorton: For the Human Rights Commission.
Taylor: (both talking) What's that?
Throgmorton: For the Human Rights Commission. That's what you're (both talking)
Taylor: Yeah, uh huh, there were .... there was a long list of folks (both talking)
Throgmorton:.... 12 applicants....
Taylor: ...and we've talked about having more diversity in our commissions and .... and,
uh, boards, etc., and you couldn't have asked for a more broad diverse group, uh
age wise, gender wise, uh, sexual orientation, uh, ethnicity, it was quite a broad
range and I commend all those folks for applying and .... and hope that ... even if
they're not selected that they would continue their interest in serving the
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community. But I agree with Susan on .... on, uh, Bryce for this one, the Board of
Adjustment.
Throgmorton: And Falk for the other one?
Taylor: And Falk for Human Rights, correct.
Throgmorton: So obviously we're talking about the Human Rights Commission as well as the,
uh, the Board of Adjustment. So .... what do the rest of you (several talking)
Botchway: I don't have a problem with it, just to kind of, not a procedural point but .... it says
here that the, um, so the .... there's another opening gonna come about after 12/19?
Mims: On which one?
Botchway: On the Human Rights Commission. Am I reading that right? It says there's no
gender requirement after 12/19.
Mims: Doesn't mean there's another opening, it just means if we waited till after 12/19,
we would not have to follow the gender.... gender requirement.
Botchway: So .... yeah, so .... I would, so if ...that's the case, I would actually not agree. Um,
because I think there are a couple applicants here that, um, could diversify, not
necessarily just in, urn .... uh, race .... race or ethnicity, but also in age. Urn ... and
get a little more energy into the Human Rights Commission. Not sayin' it doesn't
do amazing work! I know that I'm gonna get calls and emails right after this
(laughter and several talking) um, but urn .... but just to look at that piece, and so I
mean my .... my recommendation actually would go with Susan's initial choice for
the Board of Appeals, Board of Adjustment (several talking) but wait for the
Human Rights Commission, um, because of the .... the length of the (mumbled)
Dilkes: (several talking) It's not just waiting that period of time though. It's if you've
not found a qualified appi .... applicant of the appropriate gender within that period
of time then you can appoint....
Botchway: Oh, okay! So that's (both talking)
Dilkes: No, it's not really just waiting.
Botchway: .... ust to wait.
Dilkes: Yeah.
Botchway: Okay.
Dickens: Go with Susan's (laughter)
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Thomas: I had no objection.
Dickens: That seems to be the....
Throgmorton: Okay, well, uh, I don't have any objection to that either, but I do have a .... a
request. Uh, and it's a request, uh, I .... I guess to the Clerk's office. The Human
Rights Commission must be diverse internally, and diverse in complicated ways,
because we have people with disabilities. We have, uh, African Americans. We
have Hispanics. We have gays and lesbians, people in the LGBT community, uh,
we have older people, we have, you know, this .... this wide range, but I ... I never
have a clear sense of what the current mix is. Unless it violates law, I'd like to
have some ongoing list of who's currently on the commission and how they
characterize themselves. Now you tell me if it's law, I mean, illegal. I can see
you thinkin' about it.
Dilkes: Well, I ... I think the only ray .... way you would get that information is when they
initially apply. They either .... they voluntarily can self -disclose. I don't know
that we can require them to disclose. But .... but you could take that information
and .... and we could tell you that when we have an opening, but it would be based
on whatever they had told us when they applied.
Botchway: So, yes .... to Jim's point. I would just one-up it and say it for all Council
appointments, if possible.
Dilkes: We don't....
Fruin: I think we ask for voluntary disclosure of race, but we certainly don't get into, uh,
disability, uh.....
Mims: Actually that is on the new (several talking) Is it on the new one?
Throgmorton: Yeah, I'm trying to make a (several talking) ...trying to make a point about the
Human Rights Commission, which itself must be internally diverse in
complicated ways.
Botchway: Well, I agree, Jim, but my point is that all of our commissions should be diverse.
Throgmorton: No. I don't think so, not (both talking)
Botchway: I fundamentally disagree.
Throgmorton: Not in the way the Human Rights Commission must be.
Botchway: Well I .... I fundamentally disagree, but.....
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Throgmorton: All right, so .... all right so, uh, we .... let's not.....
Mims: Let's not go there tonight! (laughter and several talking)
Throgmorton: Okay, so uh, we've .... we're agreed on the Board of Adjustment and the Human
Rights Commission. We also have .... uh, let me get my notes in front of me here,
um....
Mims: Parks and Rec, we have two female and there's only two female appli ... (several
talking)
Throgmorton: ...was just gonna say we have three applicants for two four-year positions, both of
which are female gender balanced required. Suzanne Bentler, Ben Russell, and
Jamie Venzon.
Dickens: I know Jamie Venzon very well and I think she would be an excellent person for
that. She's a life -time resident of Iowa City in the area so....
Mims: Yep, and Suzanne Bentler is very much interested in continuing with the things
they've done and she's been very active in .... in a lot of their initiatives and we do
have a two female requirement so....
Throgmorton: Yeah, and she's completing an .... an initial run, an uncompleted term (several
talking) Yeah, okay, so any objection to appointing Suzanne Bentler and Jamie
Venzon? All right, got that! Okay, and the last is the Senior Center Commission.
There's one applicant for two three-year positions and both of them are male
requirement. The only applicant is Jay Honohan, and Jay is currently serving his
sixth consecutive term. I cannot support reappointing Jay again. I did not support
reappointing him last time. I can't support reappointing him this time. We need to
make space on that commission, I believe, for other people to step up, and .... and
Jay's done great work over the years. He's played an important role, very
important role, but .... I think .... I think we need to move on. That's my judgment.
Botchway: I would agree. I know he's a former boss of mine from my law school days, but
um, I would agree.
Thomas: Hard to argue (laughs) six .... six terms if we're talking about refreshing the
commissions.
Mims: Yeah, I think that .... the issue is we've gotta get some people to apply, I mean,
that's what's disturbing to me is there's two openings and there's only one
applicant and the applicant's been on for six terms. That's... but.... but (several
talking) but I agree with what you're saying, Jim. I think, um ... you know, I guess
can I ask Geoff to talk to Linda and see if she can.... encourage some other, you
know, she sees people in and out of the Senior Center all the time, and if she can
encourage some other applicants for us to consider.
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Dickens: But are we just gonna leave it open then?
Mims: I would just leave it open for now, give us our ... give ourselves a little time.
Taylor: We've done that .... on others.
Thomas: Yeah.
Throgmorton: Okay. We're clear about that. All right, I need to announce some vacancies.
Bear with me for a second.
Mims: Do we need a motion on those appointments?
Throgmorton: Oh, yeah, I guess we do.
Mims: So moved.
Botchway: Second.
Throgmorton: (both talking) ....just a roll call, or ... it's a roll call?
Dilkes: No, it's just a .... it's a voice vote.
Throgmorton: So all in favor say aye. Opposed. Motion carries.
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ITEM 20. CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION
Throgmorton: Like to mention two things just to get off, uh, make sure they get said. I've been
asked to sign a Mayor's Pledge against LGBT discrimination and uh, my
inclination is to do that, but I wanted to run it by you to see if you had any
objection to my doing that. (several responding) Thank you. Uh, and in the late
handout, uh... well, I think it was in there. I don't remember seeing it. I guess I
didn't see it. Son of a gun! What I was going to say, in the late handout there
should have been a .... a, an email indicating... from Hunter Gillespie to me asking
us to ban conversion therapy.
Mims: That was .... two or three weeks ago (both talking) that we got that.
Throgmorton: Yeah, but she .... she's checkin' back in on it and she wants to know.... you... you
can help me with this, Eleanor.
Dilkes: He .... I think he wrote another (both talking)
Throgmorton: Oh, he, I'm sorry, you're right (both talking)
Dilkes: ...email wanting to know what the progress was on the research and .... I didn't get
any direction from you all to do that research. I think I indicated to you when I....
when he initially asked the question that ... um .... the .... I think there may be some
significant preemption issues because of the heavy regulation by the State of the
medical and psychiatric professions, so .... and that, I think I had told you there
had been a proposal to the Board of Psychiatry to ban that therapy in Iowa, and
they rejected that. So I can certainly research the issue, if you want me to.
I'm ... I'm not inclined to think you're gonna be able to do it, but I ..... I can't tell
you that for sure.
Throgmorton: Yeah, so that's the question I wanted to ask you, uh, would we like to ask Eleanor
to find out whether this topic is preempted by State law?
Mims: I guess I'm .... I guess my only question is .... how .... I understand this is an
incredibly important issue for people, but I also am ... incredibly concerned about
the demands we're putting on staff time. And I don't know, you know, how much
time it's going to take staff to research this and, you know, how much of an
impact this has .... when you do something like this just in Iowa City. I mean I .... I
guess my concern is every time we get an email from one person.... okay, out of a
residents of 70,000 plus people that live in Iowa City, and we get an email from
one person. Are we going to start running staff down .... you know, hours and
hours of doing research?
Throgmorton: We can return to this topic next week, or next meeting, uh, if we want to. I don't
think there's any pressing need to respond right now. I just wanted y'all to know
there's this question out there. My guess is that Hunter's speaking for other
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people, uh, so, uh, I don't know what I think! And I don't know what the law
says (laughs) uh, so, uh.....why don't we, uh, we're all tired. I know I am. So
why don't we come back to this topic at our next work session and we can
consider more thoughtfully about what we want to do. Does anybody want to
bring up any other topics with regard to, uh, Council time stuff? We can start
with Pauline (both talking)
Taylor: Oh, just one quick thing. We had in our, uh, packet a notice regarding Holiday
With the Hounds, Saturday, December 10u, uh, 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. at the
Animal Shelter and folks are encouraged to bring, uh, a list of items to help out
with the care of the animals there. Sounds like a fun event!
Thomas: Um (clears throat) briefly, two things. One I had a meeting, uh, last week with
Iowa .... an Iowa DNR urban forester, as well as a rep from Trees Forever. And
Christen (can't hear) who .... who's interested in urban forestry. Uh, I'm .... I'm
really interested in seeing how we can further that initiative, uh, in the coming
year, um, one of the .... the recommendations of the DNR urban forester was that
the City, uh, initiate a .... an analysis as to the creation of either a commission or
perhaps a committee within the Parks and Recreation, uh, Department, um .... that
could serve as an advisory board, tree advisory board, something of that sort, and
I just wanted to mention it tonight just to sort of bring it to your attention, but
perhaps that's something we could talk about .... um, you know, as we move
forward, but it....it does seem to me that it .... may deserve more attention than it
currently has, and I think staff is just too busy to be able to lead that effort. Uh,
and then the second thing is this coming Saturday, at Robert A. Lee, uh, Parks and
Recreation are having another workshop on their, uh, master plan effort. I went to
a meeting, um, last week. I thought it was very useful, so I would encourage
anyone listening, uh, that would be from 10:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M. at Robert A.
Lee. There's information at the icgov.org website about that.
Mims: Uh, just a few things. One, um, as was mentioned tonight, the University is in
finals week this week, which means a lot of people, uh, are going to be traveling,
not only students and .... and University staff but, you know, a lot of us over the
coming holidays. Encourage everybody to be safe, um, would encourage staff, I
don't know what resources we have to get information out to the students before
they leave about our snow emergency procedures. I know we try to do this all the
time, um, in terms of them having to, you know, have their cars moved. If
they're, you know, not leaving them parked on the streets if they're gone two or
three weeks, and particularly if we happen to have a snow emergency and they
come back and find that their car is gone because we have towed it so we can
plow the streets, um, so anybody listening, if you're a student, if you know
students, if there's a way to get that information out, would encourage you to do
that, and as usual, I like to remind people that you can go on to icgov.org and sign
up for email notices, um, so you can get those notices on snow emergencies or
leaf vacuuming schedules, which are probably done now because they put the
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snow plows on (laughs) um .... and just wish everybody happy holidays, regardless
of what holiday they celebrate and be careful!
Botchway: Stay warm! It's cold out there. (laughter)
Dickens: Well, as you noticed, uh, Marian Karr isn't sitting in her seat. (several talking)
Uh, I look at her as a, like an official in a sports analogy that, uh, a good official is
not being noticed. That means you're doin' your job well, because that game is
moving along, and Marian has done that for.... forever! So .... we're gonna miss
her.
Mims: We are!
Throgmorton: For sure!
Cole: Agreed! I don't have anything else.
Throgmorton: Okay, I could blather on about a whole bunch of things, but I won't. I .... I think
we're done for tonight, uh.... uh, do I have a motion to....
Mims: Are you gonna give staff a chance to (several talking)
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council
regular formal meeting of December 6, 2016.
Page 69
ITEM 21. REPORT ON ITEMS FROM CITY STAFF
a) City Manager
Throgmorton: No I'm not (laughter and several talking) Ashley, you get a chance too, ya know!
Monroe: I'm good, thank you so much for having me. I'm enjoying my time here.
(several talking and laughing)
Dilkes: I have nothing.
Throgmorton: Julie? Okay.
Mims: Move to adjourn.
Botchway: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Botchway. All in favor say aye. Opposed.
Motion carries. We're done!
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council
regular formal meeting of December 6, 2016.