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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-05-16 TranscriptionPage I Iowa City City Council Work Session Council Present: Cole, Dickens, Mims, Taylor, Thomas, Throgmorton Council Absent: Botchway Staff Present: From, Monroe, Dilkes, Voparil, Knoche, Ford, Hightshoe, Boothroy, Yapp, Knoche, Seydell Johnson, Sandberg Others Present: Nelson (UISG) Recap of the State legislative session TIP #3 of 5/11 Info Packetl: Throgmorton/ All right, folks. Are we ready? Okay, so I'd like to call to order the, uh, City ... Iowa City City Council work session for May 16. Uh, first item on the agenda is recapping the State legislative session. Who's gonna do this, Geoff? Fruin/ I'm gonna walk you through the memo that you have in the Information Packet from Simon Andrew. Uh, Simon's at an ADA coordinator, uh, conference this week, so, um, he should be the one presenting. He, uh, spent a considerable amount of his time the last ... well, during the .... during the legislative session tracking these issues, um, and ... and really trying to understand what was being proposed and ... and, uh, communicate with our delegation to figure out how we could best communicate with, uh, them on these issues. So I give him a .... give him a lot of credit. This was the first year in .... in at least the last several that we have not employed a lobbyist to assist us, um, at the State House, and urn ... it was a .... it was a challenge this year to keep track of everything that was moving. There were so many, uh, issues that impacted cities, relative to the last several years. So, again, credit to .... to Simon and, um, Eleanor, who also contributed greatly to this memo. What I'll do is I'll walk you through it. I don't know that I'll hit each of the bills that, uh, are mentioned here, but I ... I'll hit the ones that I think you're most interested in, and um, if I pass over somethin', we can circle back or you can jump in at any time. And the way Simon organized this memo was ... by your legislative priorities that were established, uh, prior to the session. So we'll go through it that way, and the first one was to ensure the continued funding of commercial, industrial property tax, uh.... uh, replacement payments. This was also the top priority of the Iowa League of Cities and the Metro Coalition, both of which we were members. If you're not familiar with the Metro Coalition, it's the 10 largest cities within, uh, the state of Iowa that come together, uh, for advocacy purposes at the State level. Um, the good news is is that we were able to preserve the backfill, both ... both in the current fiscal year 17 and in fiscal year 18. Uh, there was, uh, a deappropriation bill, as many of you know, and.....and there was talk about removing the city backfill, uh.... uh, from 17, or at least a portion of it. Um, and ... and really from all that we can gather, it was the Governor who was most insur... instrumental in keeping that backfill, that there was an appetite to remove the backfill, particularly from the House, um, but the Governor indicated that he would not support that and, uh, ultimately they looked elsewhere for the cuts that they had to make, uh, mid- session. Uh, as a reminder for us, that backfill is about $1.5 million and that's, uh, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 2 Iowa City City Council Work Session directly into, um .... uh, our budget. It's about $900 -and -some in our general fund and then a part of it will impact the other tax levies too, so debt service, Library, Transit, etc. On the statewide level, if you were to aggregate all those backfill payments that are going to cities, it's about $152 million and certainly we know that, uh, the State has had some budget challenges. We anticipate they're going to continue to have bud ... budget challenges next year. You know we also know the, urn ... uh, majority party in control wants to push forward, uh, income tax reform, and you have to be able to pay for that some way. So, I imagine that this will continue to be a top priority for all cities going into next year's session. Okay, um, I'll just briefly talk about the, uh, collective bargaining legislation. Simon, uh, did a nice job of outlining it here. Um, the....the point that I wanted to make, uh, that you are all aware of is that, uh, you, uh, prior to this bill taking effect, uh, extended the AFSCME contract through 2021. That's June of 2021, excuse me. Uh, therefore the changes that were signed into law, uh, this past February will not impact our, uh, employees that are under the AFSCME agreement, until that agreement expires in, uh, at the end of June of 2021. Um ... several, uh, several changes, um, a few of the changes did impact public safety, uh, bargaining units as well, but by and large the, uh, changes were targeted to the non-public safety bargaining units. Um, there was a reduction in the topics of mandatory bargaining, um, in a .... and a growing list of subjects that are prohibited that we're now prohibited from bargaining. Um, that would include things like health insurance. Um, so it's a .... insurance is something that we've traditionally bargained over, and uh, we will no longer be able to do that going forward. Um, other changes include, um, restricting an arbitrator's award for an increase in wages to the lesser of 3% or the increase in CPI. So that there's a basically a cap that an arbitrator can look at when, uh, making a ruling on wages, and um, a number of other smaller changes that, uh, that are detailed in the, uh, in the memo from .... from Simon. So again, that, um .... uh, that piece was in .... actu.... obviously directly contradicted, uh, your second priority, which was the protection of public sector employee collective bargaining rights. Um .... and you guys have had numerous conversations and made public statements about that, uh, that law. The other two bills that Simon notes in ... in this, uh, section would be changes to the worker's compensation laws, and a, um, a change, uh, basically a .... a ban on, uh, allowing cities, uh, to use project labor agreements on .... on projects. Um, something that we have, uh, not done in recent history, but that... certainly other cities have and we no longer have that ability to use, uh, project labor agreements. The third priority was the protection of Home Rule authority for local governments, and I'd say we struck out on this one as well, to put it, uh, lightly. Um, and again, I know you're.... you're very familiar with this, but I'll .... I'll go through it, uh.... uh, real quickly. Uh, House File 295 was the local preemption, uh, legislation as ... as it was commonly referred to. And that addressed, uh, ultimately removed local authority, um ... on minimum wage and on plastic bag and other consumer, uh, packaging materials. Uh, so we no longer have the ability to pursue either a local minimum wage or, uh, to,uh, restrict the use of plastic bans and other consumer, um ... uh, containers. I wanted to point out, um, that, uh, by and large we were already in, uh, compliance with the County minimum wage that was passed, um, so what would have been 10.10 right now, um, nearly all of our employees were already over that mark, but we did have a few positions that were just under that. We did move those up to be in compliant with the, uh, 10.10. um, minimum wage that was set by the County, and we have not and have no This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 3 Iowa City City Council Work Session plans to roll back any of those wages. House File 134, uh, again another one you're familiar with, is the residential occupancy bill and, um ... uh, a few .... a few of us, including Eleanor, Iowa City Attorney's office, and .... and Doug and Neighborhood and Development Services will be traveling to Des Moines next week to meet with, uh, several other cities to just talk through how we're all going to, uh, or ideas that we have on how to adapt to, uh, the loss of ability to regulate based on familial status. Um, our hope is that we can schedule a work session in June, uh, with you to talk through some of those options and ... and get a sense on, uh.... uh, which options may be preferable to, uh, the City Council. The last item, um ... uh, that was specified directly in your legislative priorities was the, uh, possession of marijuana penalties. Um, this, uh, did get consideration and it actually, uh, was recommended passage in the Senate by their Judiciary Subcommittee. However, it did not make it to, uh, the ... uh, full, uh, committee and therefore did not make it to the full, uh, Senate. Um, so we have to start from scratch on that one again. I do think, um, you know sometimes these items take, uh, three or four sessions to really gain some momentum, so we were encouraged that at least the Judiciary Committee, uh, saw that through and hopefully in the next, uh, legislative session we can make some more progress on that one. The next priority was the, uh, additional water and waste water infrastructure funding, and as I think most of you are fa ... uh, know, uh, there really wasn't significant progress on water quality issues. Uh, that was a priority, uh, for a number of people coming into the session, uh, however there was not, uh, agreement on, uh, how to fund, uh, for those improvements and ... and so we're .... we're largely left in the same position that we started this legislative session. I do, uh, continue to hear and ... and certainly think that that'll be another, um, topic that, uh, is given .... uh, a high priority going into next, um, the next session. I think I'll, um, skip over the next one, um, which is the support of the K -through 12 and higher education institution funding. I think we all know that, urn .... uh, the University has had to deal with some significant cuts, thanks to the deappropriation actions that were taken and the budget that was set for next year. They're currently working through that, uh, likewise the K -through 12, uh, schools are, um .... adapting to the 1.1%, uh, funding level that they've received. The last part of the memo, on the bottom of page 5, is other legislation... other legislative issues of note, and there's a few things that I think deserve some, uh, probably Council discussion here tonight. Uh, the first one being fireworks. And, um, the fireworks legislation passed. Um, and it establishes a licensing scheme for the sellers of fireworks. What we are waiting on right now is the State Fire Marshall to adopt the rules, uh, regarding, uh, that licensing process and some of the fire safety and insurance requirements. Uh, we anticipate that those will come out, uh, any day now, um .... because as of June 1 sc you're supposed to be allowed to be selling, uh, fireworks. So we're waiting on those rules. Um, and once we have those rules, we'll be able to, um, look at how we interface with those and, um, how those will work with our temporary use permits. So if you're not familiar, I think we can all picture firework sales, uh, going on in tents and parking lots. Um, that's not a right that someone would have to come in and .... and put up a tent in a parking lot. You have to get a temporary use permit from the City. Uh, and we, um, evaluate any number of, uh, things, uh, when it comes to those temporary use per ... permits. It could be the impact on parking. It could be the impact on traffic flow, um, vehicular sight lines from the roadways, uh, those types of things. Um, once we get the State Fire Marshall rules we'll be able to basically set up the conditions, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 4 Iowa City City Council Work Session uh, that we need to allow for those sales, um, to take place within our city limits, and again, we .... we do not have the ability to, uh, outright restrict, uh, those sales. Um, we do have an existing ban on the use, uh, of fireworks within our city limits. That, um, City code provision also, um, bans the sale. So regardless of your discussion tonight, we need to go back in and clean up that ordinance. Uh, staff's recommendation is that we, uh, continue to ban the use of fireworks within, uh, our city limits, and one of the challenges, if you concur with that recommendation, one of those challenges will be .... is how to really communicate with consumers, because as a consumer, if I can go to a .... a, whether it's a .... a pop-up store or an existing store that sells fireworks, and I can buy them, I ... I just believe, you know, it's not ... I don't really think I should check City code. I believe that I ... I probably have the right to use them, which is not the case. So it's going to be much difficult ... much more difficult environment, uh, enforcement environment for our ... our Police Department, and that's one of the things we'll look at, um, is, you know, what type of point of sale signage can we have or consumer information can we have, so that it's very clear to the people that are purchasing them within our city limits, that they cannot use them within our, uh, city limits. What we would like to do, um, and I'll pause and let you talk about this, urn .... uh, after this statement is come back to you at your next meeting with a first reading of an ordinance that .... that basically cleans up what we have on the books. We'll take out the restriction on sales, and then, um, leave in the part on the, urn ... uh, on the, uh, actual, um, restriction on use within city limits, and we'll also probably at that time be able to describe the temporary use permit process and how we're going to, um, look at that through here. Um, if that is .... if that is okay with you, our Police Department and our Fire Department are .... are preparing some statistics and data, uh, that would help reinforce our recommendation. We're not quite ready to present those tonight, but we would present those before you have to consider a vote on the issue. Throgmorton/ Yeah, I .... I think that makes sense, and I think it's especially important to have that kind of backup data, that comes from the Police Department and Fire Department. Fruin/ Okay. I see some head nods. Are you.... everybody okay with that approach? Okay. Dickens/ You heard the rattling? (laughter) Fruin/ Pardon? Dickens/ You heard the rattling? Frain/ Yeah! (laughter) Okay, House File 517, uh, this is, uh, a bill that expanded some gun rights in a number of different ways. The City has an existing res.... resolution that prohibits firearms on City property. And, um, this bill that's passed, uh, has a statement in there that if a city regulates the possession of firearms, uh, this is not verbatim, but from the .... from the memo, um, when such possession is otherwise lawful under State law, a person adversely affected may file suit for declaratory and injunctive relief in damages. So there's a .... now this added ambigi ... ambiguity and this risk that the City faces, uh, with our current, um, resolution. We've talked, uh, with Legal and ... and the Police Department about how we, uh, how we handle this going forward. Um, what our This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 5 Iowa City City Council Work Session recommendation is to you, uh, tonight is that we leave the current resolution in place, uh, so there would continue to be a restriction on the possession of firearms, and ... if someone were to come in, uh, with a firearm, our first step would be to, uh, notify the Police Department and immediately have them come over and monitor the situation. Uh, not necessarily remove that person, uh, unless that person was being combative or threatening in ... in some type of fashion. And that's the same way that we would, uh approach someone that wasn't necessarily armed, if they were being threatening or combative in a way, we would, um, basically trespass them from the property. It's, um, it's something that we'd be happy to, uh, certainly talk about in more details, and you .... and you may want to talk directly with the Police Chief on this, and .... and get his sense. He's unable to be here tonight, but, um .... you have to .... you have to think about all the different situations, um, in which someone may bring a .... a weapon into City Hall, and certainly there's the concealed, um, situations when we never know that they do. It's not like this is a ... a courthouse where we have a .... a checkpoint. Uh, frankly there could be people that come into our building on a regular basis that are armed and we have, um, no idea about, uh, so that .... that, um, particular pers.... that doesn't change. Um, and then you have, um, folks that, uh, could potentially come in, um, and they have ill intent, and in ... in .... in those cases, um, I ... I think, uh, what you'd hear from the Police Chief, and what I think most people would say, is that the restriction on firearms, the little sticker on the window, is not going to prevent somebody will ill intent to come in and do something, uh.... uh, in .... in the City Hall chambers. So, um, a change in .... a change in our approach there probably doesn't impact that, uh, person as well. What .... what cities across the state now are ... are talking about is with this new language in the bill about, um, a person being adversely affected and how they may file suit against that city, is we think that, uh, resolutions such as ours will probably be tested, and people may come in with open carry, and just see how the City reacts to that. Uh, no ill intent, uh, but strong proponents of gun rights and want to test, um, again how we would handle that. And, um, certainly if someone were to do that now, we have the ability, uh, by the resolution to ... to cite them for trespass and to .... to.....to move them out. Uh, they could claim that they were adversely affected, and then we would sort that out in the ... in the court system, like we, um, and that's where we got into the discussion about just ensuring that we had, uh, a police officer and making sure our staff was trained to, uh, know who to call so that a police officer could immediately come through, whether it's in a meeting or, you know, Council meeting or a commission meeting or ... or just in their regular daily occurrences at City Hall or another City facility, and simply monitor, um, that person. Urn ... we hope that doesn't come to that, um, but we think that's a .... a decent approach. Um, we ... we have, uh, thanks to, um, City Attorney's office and Eleanor, started to, uh, communicate with other cities about what they have done in the past and what they might do in the future. It was interesting to learn that, uh, the first few cities that responded, uh, to an inquiry, the first three cities, um, never took an action. So that was, uh, Bettendorf, Davenport, and Cedar Rapids. They, uh, do not restrict, um, firearms from coming on city property. They never took that action years ago when the Iowa City Council did, so, uh, at least there are a number of, urn .... uh, larger cities in Iowa that, uh, haven't even taken the step that we did several years ago to ... to ban those firearms. So I'll ... I'll stop there and, uh, let you all discuss, and again, um, if it's somethin' that you'd like to hear This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 6 Iowa City City Council Work session directly from the, uh, have a conversation with the Police Chief, we'd be happy to set that up, but, uh.... next work session or a subsequent work session (both talking) Throgmorton/ So I want to ask a question about the, uh.... uh, the provision that permits persons who are adversely affected to file suit. Where's the bur ... burden of proof? Who bears the burden of proof about being adversely affected? Dilkes/ Um .... yeah, you asked that same question at the joint meeting. Um, the plaintiff bears the burden of proof, but it is a relatively, I mean it's more ... more likely than not, more than 50% it's not a, um, it's not a beyond a reasonable doubt standard. It's not a high standard of proof. So I don't .... that frankly doesn't give me much... comfort. Um, I think there's a lot of ambiguity in terms of what adversely affected means, and that would be for a court to .... to sort out. Throgmorton/ Would there not be merit in finding out? Letting the courts decide what constitutes being adversely affected? Dilkes/ There could be. There could be, but I ... I like this approach. We spent a good amount of time talking about this, because I think that .... the only new person that we're gonna, we have to anticipate after this legislation is the person who wants to bring in a gun and show us ... he or she can just because he can. Not ... that they're meaning to do harm, um... and I think by simply bringing a police officer in, and we can do that at this meeting. We can do that at any other public meeting, so it can be uniform. We ... we talked about having a police officer at every meeting. We can't do that. Um .... nor .... nor do you necessarily want to, but I think that having a police officer come in to monitor the situation gives comfort to the people, um, in the room. I .... I think .... I mean, if...if you want to take a different approach and force that lawsuit, you can. Um, I'm not particularly optimistic about being successful in that lawsuit. Throgmorton/ I'm curious what the rest of you ... you folks think. Mims/ I would go along with staff recommendation for now. I don't ... I don't see that there is necessarily any particular benefit to the City of Iowa City to .... deliberately go forward to provoke the lawsuit. Throgmorton/ So what if the Iowa Supreme Court rules in the favor of. ... of a city, that wants to do what I just suggested? Mims/ Then great! Then we benefit from it. I just don't see (both talking) Throgmorton/ But if no city .... asks the question, the court will never answer it. (several talking) Dilkes/ ....legislation can change a Supreme Court decision in this venue ..... like that. I mean, you could litigate that for two years and .... even if you were to get a favorable ruling, the legislature could just completely preempt the ability to do it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 7 Iowa City City Council Work Session Throgmorton/ Uh, true enough, but two years from now who knows who's in control of the legislature. I don't want to lie down, is kind of what I'm sayin'. I .... I think we need to at least ... to talk about further, uh, what the ... what the best course of action is from a Council point of view. And, you know, find out .... I .... I understand your point, I totally get it. Cole/ And... and (mumbled) maybe if Eleanor could elaborate. Wouldn't rightness be an issue, that if we file it too early and we don't actually have someone that was adversely affected, could we be thrown out if we go too early, or ... or not? Dilkes/ I ... I don't (both talking) I don't think there's any declaratory judgment action here. I think what ... the way the lawsuit would arise is if somebody came in (both talking) and then we give `em a trespass warning and then we made `em get out, and then they would sue us. Cole/ So I think that's my point, is that it would be hard to do something, I think, until that person would come in, at least as I would see it. Throgmorton/ I think that's true, I agree with that. Cole/ Okay. I think we would then .... we'd probably have to respond to it anyway, cause I imagine the person would want to challenge us anyway, at that point, so we'd be ... or not. Throgmorton/ I expect somebody would want to (both talking) Mims/ But see I think, Rockne, what the staff is saying is they're recommending that the original, the first response, would be simply to have a police officer come in and monitor, not necessarily force them out. If we tell staff no, remove them, file trespass charge against (both talking) Cole/ Okay. Mims/ So the question is, do we .... do we just have a police officer come in and monitor the situation for safety issue, let them ... you know, show their rights, if you will, or do we basically.... potentially force the lawsuit by throwing `em out (both talking) Cole/ So we'd have to modify the existing policy then, at this point then. Dickens/ (several talking) Fruin/ ...the strategy.... Cole/ We don't have a mandatory eviction at this point? Okay. Dickens/ And it's been in la ... uh, law for a month already. It was signed April 13"i. So it's already been in .... it's been out there for a month and nothing's happened. I guess I This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 8 Iowa City City Council Work Session would just follow the staff s recommendation that if it does happen, then we act, and then we.... Mims/ Well wait a minute, what are you saying? Then we act .... are you saying (several talking) Dickens/ The way .... we monitor it. Mims/ Okay! Dickens/ And then ... move from there, and if it, they want to push it, then we go to the lawsuit, but I don't think we need to preempt by doing a lawsuit now. I don't like it (both talking) Throgmorton/ ...wasn't suggesting (both talking) suggesting that if someone comes in to our chambers with a weapon, at least a discernible weapon, then what I'm suggesting is that we ask that person ... have the police ask that person to leave. Which is consistent with the situation that exists.... existed prior to the law, right? And then we prepare ... be prepared to go to court. Now is that the smartest thing to do? I don't know, but uh, it .... I, you know, I'm inclined to think we should, but.... Fruin/ Our hope ... I guess when we were playin' these scenarios out, we thought about that individual that just wanted to ... uh, test the rights, if you will, uh, that if that person were to come down and sit through three or four hours of this meeting (laughter) Mims/ They're not comin' back! (laughter) Fruin/ I wasn't goin' there but (laughter) um, and we just had a, you know, a police officer standing, you know, a few feet away or in a different part of the room, um, the .... I don't think there would be any argument that they were, uh, adversely impacted.... impacted, because they were still able to fully participate in the meeting, hear the proceed, uh, proceedings in the meeting, um, and our hope would be that person that just wanted to test those rights might come to a couple of different meetings to test it, but then would say, okay, I don't think I'm adversely affected, and go away. Um .... and that it wouldn't be a, um, a perpetual, urn ... issue that we'd have to ... situation that we'd encounter. Thomas/ Well, Geoff, you just said that Cedar Rapids has no ban on firearms. So ... so how have things been in Cedar Rapids? Fruin/ I'm .... I'm not aware of any issues in Cedar Rapids, Bettendorf, or Davenport. Um, I ... and I would think, uh, they would be, you know, if there was an issue, it'd be very high profile, even if there was, you know, no action, but ... um, so I .... I think the communication that you received, Eleanor, was that they've had no issues. Dilkes/ Yeah, I think they.... they.... they've known that people are carrying, but there haven't been any issues, in terms of harm or.... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 9 Iowa City City Council Work Session Dickens/ Well I know when we put the original ordinance in we had that gentleman that came and lifted up his coat and said, `This is where I usually would have my gun,' and that... that was kind of a provocation that I ... I remember. Uh, Ross Wilburn asked for a police officer to have him removed at that time. I mean he was, being a former military, he was ...that tripped his trigger, if you can say that. So I guess .... until somebody comes actually in here, and I .... I, since it's already been in a month, I would think they would have come right away if they're gonna try to do something, that we just go with wait and see. Taylor/ Geoff mentioned, um, talking to the Chief about it. I think it wouldn't be a bad idea if he has time to just come to a meeting and ... and just run it by us what he thinks and what we think, what we're thinking, and I think just the monitoring the situation as they come in and we're close enough to the Police Station. I don't know if you had some kind of signal you could call `em and say.... gun in room or something, uh, and they could come over. (several talking) Rather than immediately kicking the person out, just because they have a gun. Tbrogmorton/ Yeah, I understand what people are saying. So let me present a hypothetical. Let's say that somebody comes in with a gun. It's ... and it's visible, and people know he ... he or she, has a gun. Okay, so if the first time such a person comes in, we just monitor. Then there's no end to the number of possible times that someone would come in with a gun! Cause all we're gonna do is monitor. And, okay, so is that okay? I mean, that's my question basically to us all. Thomas/ I'm, you know, I'm not sensing that even in cities that have no restrictions that ... gun owners are going into these public facilities and flaunting their firearms. Throgmorton/ They are in Georgia! A .... according to a friend of mine who lives down there. Thomas/ Uh huh. Throgmorton/ But.... Thomas/ Maybe .... maybe in Georgia (laughs) but I'm not (laughs) I'm glad to know that, but um, I don't know that in Iowa .... up to this point, that, um, we've experienced that. I mean correct me if I'm wrong. Dickens/ Other than Maquoketa. When the one guy..... Thomas/ Someone in Maquoketa? Dickens/ Yeah, brought it and actually fired off the weapon. Taylor/ Hills too, wasn't there something in Hills? Dickens/ Couple of years ago. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 10 Iowa City City Council Work Session Thomas/ I mean it reminds me a little bit of the .... the immigration policy that we developed and that I ... I don't know that I want to draw a lot of attention to this thing.... personally. Mims/ Are you .... can I jump in? Thomas/ Uh huh. Mims/ That's kind of the point I was going to make. I think....I think if we have somebody come in and it's obvious they're carrying and we immediately go to the point of removing them, charging with trespass, with the idea that, okay, maybe they'll file a lawsuit and we'll get this thing tested in court. They may file or they may not. They may simply put the word out there what happened and the next meeting we may have 20 or 30 of `em in here.... Dickens/ Exactly! Mims/ ...displaying their weapons. I think it could get.... potentially get worse in that regard, um, of just coming in to prove their point, which then what are you going to do if you have 20 or 30 that come in, openly carrying. Are you going to ask the police to come over and remove 20 or 30 people who are armed, who under State law, technically, aren't doing anything illegal. I .... I .... I'm with John. I think it just draws more attention and may cause more problem than .... I mean if we end up monitoring over and over and over and over and nobody else is doing anything, then we can always come back and .... discuss this again and reconsider our approach to it. I would say for now monitor (both talking) Cole/ Does this apply to the courthouses too, because what I'm wondering is is that if it does, I think that will likely be challenged relatively quickly, cause I can't imagine the courthouses not wanting to challenge that. Does this apply to the courthouses as well? Dilkes/ It does. Cole/ Okay. Dilkes/ It does. Cole/ So.... Dilkes/ I think one of the arguments that the court .... that the....the courthouse has that we would not have is that .... to prove adverse aff.... the person is gonna have a harder time proving adverse affect because nobody in the courthouse is gonna have a gun, i.e., they're safe and won't need to use their gun to protect themselves. Whereas we can't guarantee that here because we don't stop people at the door. I mean.... somebody could have a concealed gun. Somebody could come in against the rule. So it's .... it's a little bit different situation. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 11 Iowa City City Council Work Session Cole/ But I would imagine that would get challenged relatively quickly in the courts, so we might get some (several talking) Yeah. So I guess I concur with (several talking) Throgmorton/ Okay, so L....I understand. I don't .... I don't sense support for what I'm suggesting. But I do think I sense support for, tell me if I'm wrong cause it would be good to hear from, uh, Chief Matherly. Just to get a sense of how he thinks the department should handle that particular kind of situation. Dickens/ If he can just send us a memo, I don't know that he needs to come in and talk to us. (both talking) Mims/ I mean obviously he's been involved in the staff conversation (both talking) Fruin/ Yeah. I mean, what I'm .... what I'm representing to you is .... is Chief Matherly's recommendations (several talking) I don't think he's going to tell you anything different, but I recognize that he's the expert with law enforcement and not me, so I ... I just don't want you to feel like you don't have that access. Throgmorton/ Okay! I.... Nelson/ How does this relate to University property and dormitories? Um, if at all, like... Fruin/ This would just be City -owned property. I ... I can't speak to the, how the legis... legislation impacts that. I think (several talking) University properties were exempted. Dilkes/ I think so! Throgmorton/ That's the way I remember it. Fruin/ I'd want to double-check that for ya! Dilkes/ Educational facilities, I believe, ear... earlier on in the process, were exempted. Throgmorton/ Okay, so uh, we're clear about what we want to do then for this. Uh, can we have a broader discussion about the overview, uh, that ... the entire memo? Fruin/ Sure. Throgmorton/ So I think you all probably have several thoughts. I want to present a couple, uh, to begin with anyhow. One is, from my point of view, uh, probably Geoff s but he can speak for himself, the ... the proposed changes came at us fast and furious. Immediately after the legislative session started, and that continued at least for a couple months and I personally found it pretty disorienting, you know, how to ... question for me was as Mayor how .... how can I respond to these proposed changes. And of course that involved a lot of conversations with Geoff and Simon and trying to keep track of the particular bills, and Eleanor, and tryin' to know what was being done and so on. But it leads me to think This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 12 Iowa City City Council Work Session it might be helpful for us to think through a bit about how we're gonna respond to the next, or the...the 2018 session, because there'll be some new stuff comin' our way. So one thing I think would be helpful is for us .... as staff and....and Council, to brainstorm about .... um, proposals that.... adverse proposals that are most likely to be, uh, put forth. One that comes to my mind and maybe I'm wrong is pensions. And... and.... and there, there may well be others, uh, you know, like re ... retraction of the bik... backfill payments or, um, maybe the, um, the Sanctuary City stuff, which apparently has already gone through the funnel process, and can be quickly brought up in the next session, right? But maybe there are other things we should be prepared for as best we can, uh, to have a clear sense of, uh, how we want to react, and ... be able to react as .... as quickly as possible, and of course I don't mean any criticism of anybody on our staff. It was an unusual session, and an unusual thing for us to be confronting. Uh, so I think that deserves some thought. Curious about what y'all think, concerning that. Thomas/ I think to the degree we can, I .... I certainly support that. Um, seems like a sensible thing to do. I appreciated with the minimum wage how there was a ... a response, um, you know, with CWJ to ... trying to reaffirm our, the community values, you know, let's... okay that we—we've heard from the State. Now we as a community have an opportunity to, um, respond. Geoff mentioned how the City raised its compensation. Um .... which I think over.... overall is what do we as a community, we have to reaffirm our values in whatever those areas are that are threatened. So I .... I think it's a reasonable idea. How can we do that? Dickens/ But with the loss of Home Rule, it makes it tougher and tougher to ... to react. Thomas/ Right! Dickens/ Anything we try to do (both talking) Throgmorton/ ....Home Rule (both talking) Dickens/ Well, they're gonna keep at it! (laughter) It's pretty obvious (several talking) Fruin/ We were most effective, and I think we're going to be most effective next year, when we can speak with a coalition of cities. Unfortunately our voice doesn't carry much weight in Des Moines these days. Um, our delegation is predominantly in the minority. Um, and it was clear that some of the legislative proposals were in direct response to things that were done here in Johnson County or Iowa City. So we worked, uh, I think we worked hard to try to funnel our comments, um, through the League of Cities, through the Metro Coalition, uh, because other, um, other cities could.... could, um, make those points, uh, in a more meaningful fashion than we could. One example I think that we ... we were successful in is on the preemption bill. Um, you know, the initial preemption bill included, um, some civil rights restrictions, and basically, um, if passed in that .... in that original form, we would have had to dial back our local human rights ordinance and ... and some of the local protections that we made above .... we have made historically over and above what the State's, uh, Human Rights' provisions are. And that This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 13 Iowa City City Council Work Session was one that, of course, we communicated to our delegation, uh, but we .... we raised awareness of that with other cities and then, um, really tried to work through the League and the Metro Coalition to, um, not just oppose the bill as a whole, but negotiate with those legislators in control, um, who are not part of our delegation, um, to strip that piece out. I don't want to say we were single-handedly responsible for removing that, but I think we .... our voice was important and was funneled through the appropriate channels, and I .... I think that's about the only way we're really going to be successful next year. Cole/ Well I guess I disagree. I mean let's be very clear about I think where we are as a community. I think we'd all rather focus on local issues. Last time I checked we were elected to represent just the city, and not to concern ourselves with matters in Des Moines. I think that's the last thing in the world that I'd like to focus on. But let's be very clear about what they did. They gutted local Home Rule, and they damaged democracy, and they took away power from local residents to elect policy changes through their local elected leaders. And so I don't think that we can use the.... the.... the channels that we did in the past, I have no hope for. Um, I think we need to be more proactive in two ways. One, I think to your point, Jim, I would like to invite our local elected, uh, State leaders.... within the next month or two so that they can give us a forecast based upon their experience. What are the one or two issues that they feel they need help on? And two, I would like to do a .... a representative of our Council to ... to try to invite the Governor directly to the City of Iowa City, or for us to travel, two leaders of our Council, to travel directly to Des Moines. And they may not want to meet with us. They may say we have no time for you. That's fine. Uh, but I think we need to take a much more aggressive, rhetorical posture, complaining about and articulating precisely what they've done, and I think in part what happened last legislative session is that I think rightly this Council was focused on local issues. I mean that's what we're supposed to do! And we did that through trying to do the pas ... plastic bag ban, through focusing on minimum wage, you know, through racial justice and other equity issues, but they've taken our ability to do that, so I think they leave us no choice but to be more vocal about what's happening in Des Moines. Um, so those are the two things that I would like to see, because I think League of Cities, they're effective, they've helpful with policy, but I think we need to be more proactive, and I think the City of Iowa City is in a unique situation to do that. Um, because the approaches we've taken in the past, at least with the current elected leadership, I don't think have gotten us anywhere. Mims/ I .... I wish that approach would be successful, Rockne, I really do. But I think ... until we flip the House and/or the Senate, you know, or the Governor's seat, um, when you look at the approach that they have ... and the minority that we are in, and the fact that you can talk to a number of people who, and .... and Simon even said this, I mean, when he went down there, was talking to people, they were open ... very open to listening to him until they found out where he was from, and then it was like, phwet! They didn't have any time for him, and so....it...it literally almost is not gonna matter what you say to certain people because they have their mind made up on those issues. To me it becomes more the ... the political advocacy in terms of getting people to run for office, and people who will (talking in background) yeah, who will run, who will get elected, who are willing to actually, you know, listen and compromise. It's, you know, it's.... getting that kind of a This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 14 Iowa City City Council Work Session situation in place, um, I .... I think we have to use the Iowa League of Cities and the Metro Coalition. If...if they can kind of carry the water for us on issues that are important to us, and people will listen to them, where they won't listen to us, then I think we're really foolish not to use that as an avenue to try and get things done. Now does that mean that we're quiet and don't talk about things? No. But.... Cole/ I guess I'm not saying we shouldn't use them. I'm saying in addition to those advocacy channels, I think we need to do that. Throgmorton/ I agree with Susan's point about the politics of it. Cole/ Uh huh. Throgmorton/ It's about... good candidates and gettin' em elected. In the end that's what it's really about, but, uh.... several, uh, a few months ago, Geoff, you and I talked about possibly tryin' to arrange a meeting with, uh, the Lieutenant Governor, after she gets appointed Governor. Uh, I'd still like to do that. So, uh, please reach out to her staff, see what we can arrange, and ... the conversation would help. I mean, I don't .... I don' t know that it would help (several talking) of changing legislation, but.... Fruin/ We'd be happy to, um, certainly be more engaged with you in Des Moines itself. Simon made several trips down, urn .... this year. We ... we're typically down a handful of times during the legislative session. Someone from our office, and then a lot of our staff, through their professional associations, are down lobbying on issues too. So ... the Fire Chief, Police Chief, Parks Director — they're all active as well through their associations. Um, but absolutely, we could bring you all along or, uh, a representative group of you, um, we can try to arrange meetings with not only our delegation but people in key committee seats or the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, urn .... that's not .... that's not abnormal. A lot of cities do that and take that type of active role. Um, the cities that tend to be closest to Des Moines do more of that, um ... uh, but, um, we're happy to do that. That's... that's absolutely a .... a strategy we could employ. Cole/ What about the local elected leaders doin' a meeting in the next month or two, cause we did one in the, before the session. I think that would be good at least to get their professional advice in terms of one or two issues that they feel that, you know, we can at least alert the public that are coming down the pipeline. Mims/ Or even not just issues but approach.... Cole/ Yes! Mims/ ...if they have (both talking) recommendations on that as well. Throgmorton/ Yeah, I .... I think it'd be good to meet with `em. Uh, With regard to the Iowa League of Cities and the Metro Coalition, I think it's true, as Geoff said, that they have been very helpful, and if .for certain issues it's much better to go through them, but we This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 15 Iowa City City Council Work Session should be aware of the limits of doing that, because the other cities don't always agree with what, uh, our policies are. So when that's the case, then the coalition's not with us, or not willing to support us. The League of Cities is not willing to support us. And that kind of thing, and that's just understandable. I'm not criticizing them, but ... there are limits to what we can expect from those two entities. Thomas/ Yeah, I ... I do think both approaches, Rockne, I think you know.... ramping up our personal involvement. You know, I spoke, um, on the .... the, uh, residential occupancy to the Senate sub... subcommittee, Judiciary Subcommittee, and um, I found it interesting. I think .... I sensed that those on that subcommittee appreciated the fact that an elected official was there, not necessarily their lobbyist or staff, but someone who was actually representing the people of Iowa City as, you know, an elected official. So I do think that's important, as well, and I .... I think more of that would be beneficial. To everyone, you know, the conversation again. Throgmorton/ Anything else on this point? This topic I mean, not point. (laughs) Okay, I don't hear anything else. Geoff, uh, thanks for, urn... everybody, in preparing the memo. It's very helpful to have a distilled compilation (several talking) of, uh, the .... the various acts that ... or legisl ... legislative piece that were enacted. (laughs) Dickens/ They were acts! (laughter) Throgmorton/ Gettin' my words all jumbled! All right, so I think that means we can move on to our next topic, tell me if I'm wrong.... Cole/ Can I say one thing? Throgmorton/ Yeah. Cole/ Um, I think it would be helpful if maybe, you know, with the HR134, staff is coming up with a set of policy solutions that we can do in response to that, and I know that they're in the process of doing that. I'm wondering whether there's other areas like so for example, minimum wage. We don't have the Home Rule authority to do that. Um, do we have any policy tools left, um, to support, you know, living wages, you know, those sorts of things? In terms of City contracts, you know, or have all those tools been taken away? I think it'd be helpful to get what authority we do have .... uh, left ... on .... on these issues, so we can be as proactive as we can. So I'm wondering whether maybe we could do a follow up memo to say, okay .... here are some issues that I think we can move forward on, given what's been taken away. Throgmorton/ (both talking) Geoff, uh, Geoff referred to one (both talking) Cole/ ....yeah. Throgmorton/ (both talking) ...with regard to the minimum wage. And that is .... to be clear about what the City of Iowa City itself is doing. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 16 Iowa City City Council Work session Cole/ Yeah. Throgmorton/ And making sure that everyone is paid at least the minimum wage. That's... that's really good news. Um ... if, Geoff, if I.... Fruin/ (both talking) You can pay your employees what you want to.....pay your employees. There's no restrictions (both talking) Cole/ I'm saying like City contracting for example, I mean no we can't do project labor agreements, but could we as a condition of a City contract say that you must pay 10.10? Do we have the authority to do that? I mean it would be probably hard to speak off the cuff on that, but that's what I'm wondering. If we would be able to respond to some of these things, it would be nice to sort of, you know, use the authority that we do have to advance at least what we'd want to try to achieve. Fruin/ Yeah, you know certainly when there's federal funds you're payin' Davis Bacon wages and .... whether I ... I would assume that you could extend that to contracts that don't, or ... or whatever threshold you want, that don't include federal dollars but ... but we can work with Eleanor's office and .... and get you somethin' more (both talking) Dickens/ Till the State finds out about it! (laughter) Mims/ Exactly what I was thinking, Terry! (laughter) Cole/ We gotta try though! We gotta move forward. (several talking) Dickens/ ...disheartening. Throgmorton/ All right so this primarily focusing on minimum wage or you have a broader.... Cole/ Yeah. No, I think that that would be helpful. Clarification of Agenda Items: ITEM 11. WORKFORCE HOUSING TAX CREDITS - CARDINAL POINTE WEST - RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF THE CARDINAL POINTE WEST, LLC APPLICATION FOR WORKFORCE HOUSING TAX INCENTIVES PROGRAM FROM THE IOWA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY TO CONSTRUCT RESIDENTIAL HOUSING AT DEER CREEK ROAD AND CAMP CARDINAL BOULEVARD AND COMMITTING LOCAL FUNDS TO THE PROJECT ITEM 12. WORKFORCE HOUSING TAX CREDITS - IOWA CITY GROVE — RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF THE IOWA CITY GROVE, LLC APPLICATION FOR WORKFORCE HOUSING TAX INCENTIVES PROGRAM This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 17 Iowa City City Council Work Session FROM THE IOWA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY TO CONSTRUCT RESIDENTIAL HOUSING AT DEER CREEK ROAD AND CAMP CARDINAL BOULEVARD AND COMMITTING LOCAL FUNDS TO THE PROJECT ITEM 13. WORKFORCE HOUSING TAX CREDITS - TSB INVESTMENTS — RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF THE TSB INVESTMENTS, LLP APPLICATION FOR WORKFORCE HOUSING TAX INCENTIVES PROGRAM FROM THE IOWA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY TO CONSTRUCT RESIDENTIAL HOUSING AT CAMP CARDINAL ROAD & GATHERING PLACE LANE AND COMMITTING LOCAL FUNDS TO THE PROJECT ITEM 14. WORKFORCE HOUSING TAX CREDITS — DUBUQUE AND PRENTISS INVESTMENTS - RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF THE APPLICATION OF DUBUQUE & PRENTISS INVESTMENTS, LC FOR WORKFORCE HOUSING TAX INCENTIVES PROGRAM FROM THE IOWA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY TO CONSTRUCT RESIDENTIAL HOUSING 620 SOUTH DUBUQUE STREET AND COMMITTING LOCAL FUNDS TO THE PROJECT Throgmorton/ Yeah, okay. All right, anything else? About the legislative session? All right, let's move on to clarification of agenda items. I guess I want to, uh, ask a few questions, uh, with regard to Items 11 through 14, which are the workforce housing tax credits for four different projects. Uh, together those four requests would require the City to commit about $320,000 to, you know, in total to those projects. And they would also bring in substantial support from the State, I don' t know exactly how much, but some amount. So seeing, uh, when I look at these four proposals together, I ... I find.... speaking for myself here, I find a need to ask some questions. I think we need ... need to ask ourselves whether we should be financially supporting every workforce housing application that we receive. It seems like they've been ramp.... they're ramping up, right, and I think, Geoff, you and I had that conversation about a week ago. I .... I think there was some State legislation that increased the cap or something for workforce housing tax credits. I'm not certain about that but..... anyhow, I .... I don't know what' causing the ramping up, but it definitely seems as though they're ramping up. Uh, and you know, given that, it seems to me we need to have some criteria in mind when deciding.... whether, you know, when we get a workforce housing tax credit application, whether we want to support it or not. Uh, and I'll .... I'll point to one particular instance. I think it's, um, Item #11, the application concerns, uh, a project that has not yet been rezoned and which will require a site plan. I feel very uncomfortable supporting a tax credit application before we've decided whether or not we want to rezone the property. Seems to me that's got things backwards. So.... Mims/ I would assume on that, they're just trying to get in line for the money (both talking) Throgmorton/ Yeah, I'm sure of that, but apparently getting in line doesn't really matter all that much because .... at some point they'll get the money, if...if we support the application. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 18 Iowa City City Council Work Session They may not get it. You know, in this fiscal year. May not even get it the next fiscal year, but they'll get the money. That's the way I understand it. Fruin/ Yeah, it's ... it certainly can delay their project, based on when .... when those funds may be available, and .... there's a lot of concern, at least right now, because of. ... partly because of the desire for income tax reform that tax credits may be completely overhauled next year and .... you know, the long -tern viability of the tax credits are unknown. I think, um, I'm gonna look to Tracy here, that we're almost through fiscal year 19's allocation, um, so .... this is happenin' all over, um, you know, only bein', um, in fiscal year 17 still right now. Um, and ... and with regards, we did have some internal staff discussions on ... on that point, Mayor, on, you know, whether it's rezoned, uh, or not and ... and where we landed was that if...if we felt the Comprehensive Plan as it sits today supported that rezoning, then we would bring it before you. Um, but absolutely, we're telling the developers that there's.... until you get the property rezoned, you're not getting the City dollars, urn ... so that's... that's where we landed. I think there's merit in the other way around, but the, obviously the impact is that, um, often times, uh, particularly as folks are gettin' in line for projects that may not start right away, um, they haven't gone through some of the site planning and design that's needed to initiate a rezoning application. They just don't have that level of detail for the rezoning yet. Throgmorton/ Okay, so my broader point is, I think we need to have a set of criteria that can help us judge whether or not a particular application should be supported by the Council. I don't think we should be in a position where we automatically support every application we receive. So ... if. ... if we're not gonna be in that position, we need to have some criteria. Mims/ Do you have some idea of what that criteria might look at, look like? I mean have you given .... it some thought to that? Throgmorton/ Well one that immediately comes to mind based on just looking at the applications is the rezoning point. Cause I don't wanna.... I personally don't want to find myself in a situation where I'm approving a tax credit thing and then we go before the public and ask for their comment on a rezoning, and somebody says, well you've already approved the tax credit for it. That doesn't feel right to me. Uh... beyond that, I ... I don't really know what criteria, uh, would be appropriate. I'd like to have some recommendations from the staff. If..if you take my general point as being valid, that we're gonna get more and more proposals and we should not be in a position where we automatically approve every application that comes in. Mims/ Here's.... here's the conundrum I ... I find with this thing. Um, personally I don't have a problem with approving the City money for the, uh, workforce housing tax credits. Before the rezoning. So that they can get in line, given how far out this money's already committed, and I like the idea of what Geoff is saying, that staff is not even going to bring these to us if the rezoning wouldn't match up with the Comprehensive Plan. So it's reasonable. Now, if that rezoning comes forward and for some reason it gets turned down, I personally don't have a problem with that. To me the vote on the money for the, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 19 Iowa City City Council Work Session is simply so they can get in line. It's absolutely no guarantee that the rezoning will actually go through when it comes forward. That is a totally different decision that has to be looked at .... but, again, when we got ahead With the other so they can get in line, because the money is committed so far out. Your comment, Jim, on, you know, should we be approving... every single one of these. To me it comes back to, you know, some of those discussions we've had about affordable housing, about, um, the supply of housing, and the idea that ... that with this housing it is not "affordable housing." There's no legal, uh, restrictions or definitions in terms of who can live in it or what it can be sold for or what it can be rented for, but it's that it has to be built for $200,000 or less per unit, correct, Geoff? Fruin/ That's correct. Mims/ Okay. So ... I hear what you're saying, but there's the part of me that says, you know what, if giving this money from the City helps them get ... State tax credits, that helps develop more housing, that is hopefully reasonably priced, although again — we can't guarantee that. All we're guaranteeing is what it costs them to build it. It ought to help With the whole housing situation.... in the city as a whole. So .... there's the part of me that says why wouldn't we want to do every single one of these that comes forward? I ... I don't know, maybe I'm wrong (several talking and laughing) Dickens/ ...turn down one already. Throgmorton/ Which one was that? Dickens/ One up on Linn Street. (several talking) Mims/ Yeah, that was for other reasons. Throgmorton/ (several talking) ....but then we subsequently approved the smaller version of it. Dickens/ But without the tax credit. Thomas/ No, we got the (several talking) Do we lose the funding if ..if we were to .... urn, not approve the rezoning, are the .... are those funds lost? That we... Fruin/ Yeah, they wouldn't be able to proceed with the project and they .... have to reapply. Thomas/ But would we have already spent... whatever our contribution will have (several talking) Fruin/ No! Thomas/ Oh, okay. Fruin/ No, we're not obligated. We're not gonna .... go back and write a check tomorrow for these projects. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 20 Iowa City City Council Work session Thomas/ Okay. Fruin/ It wouldn't... it wouldn't be till the project is .... is (both talking) Throgmorton/ Okay, there are details here we don't want to pursue right here. We should pursue them in the formal meeting, I think, but I can tell you what I will do with regard to Item 11 is recommend deferral and .... de, and deferral until the rezoning is considered. And if it gets ... if it gets rezoned, then, uh, you know, I would, you know, then we can act on the question about tax credits. So that's what I'm.....you know I'm not tellin' ya to tell, say what you are gonna do right now (laughter) I just wanna give ya a heads up about what I would (both talking) Thomas/ Is that the only one that requires a rezoning? Taylor/ Of the four? Fruin/ Um.... Throgmorton/ Yes, cause, uh.... well, maybe it's 11 and 12. Yeah, 11 and 12 (several talking) Yeah, sorry. I apologize. I really meant to be referring to Items 11 and 12. Taylor/ (mumbled) Cole/ So .... so we currently have no standard .... to determine what... what's granted and what's not? Fruin/ We just ... we just, if they qualify for the State program, we will support them. Thomas/ If they're in .... consistent with the Comprehensive Plan (several talking) Fruin/ If it's consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. Throgmorton/ So there's one criteria then. The ... the second would be if it's ... in my judgment, if it's rezoned and if...if a rezoning is required to do the project, that it ... the rezoning actually take place before the house .... tax credit question is addressed. And maybe the site plan too. I .... I .... I'm less certain about that, but.... Cole/ I guess my thought would be that I'm gonna sound like Kingsley. I agree and I disagree. (laughter) Um, so I'll use that. (mumbled) license that! Um, I agree with you in the sense that I think that we should do standards and have more clarification, both as to the developers into the future, but I disagree in the sense that I think for those developers that have sort of come up through this point, I think in terms of managing expectations, that we should apply the existing standards. You know, we can maybe articulate other reasons why we don't want to support it later tonight, but that's sort of my thought, is that maybe in the future we look at that, but at least as to the ones that have come through the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 21 Iowa City City Council Work Session pipeline, up through this point, we should apply the existing criteria that staff have used, which apparently is no criteria and the Comprehensive Plan. Throgmorton/ Okay, fair enough (both talking) You can articulate that during the formal meeting and.... Dickens/ Grandfathered in basically. Cole/ Yeah. That's sort of my thought (both talking) Dickens/ ...we don't have a criteria. Cole/ And we should probably at some point. Throgmorton/ All right, any other, uh, agenda items? Okay, I'm not hearing any. Let's go to the Info Packet (both talking) ITEM 4d(14) EASEMENT AGREEMENT HOOVER (EAST) ELEMENTARY — RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST CERTAIN EASEMENT AGREEMENTS AND ACCEPTING THE DEDICATION OF RIGHT-OF-WAY TO FACILITATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOOVER (EAST) ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN IOWA CITY, IOWA Voparil/ I just wanted to say that, um, Item 4d(14) on the Consent Calendar, easement for the new Hoover Elementary School, um, is being removed. Information Packet Discussion [May 4, May 111: Throgmorton/ Right, 4d(14). So when the motion is made, uh, it could include, um, removing Item, uh, 4d(14). Great! Thank you, Julie. Okay, the May 4a' packet. Mims/ Exciting to see officially that Iowa City's gonna host the 2018 Cities of Literature meeting. So, congratulations to everybody involved with that. I'm sure John Kenyon's as excited as can be. Throgmorton/ He's very excited. Mims/ And, Geoff, thanks for the article on ... economic development. Throgmorton/ On that point, I really liked the City of Annapolis, Maryland's list of economic development goals. It, I don't know, appeared in a .... sidebar kind of thing on, I don't know, the first or second page of the .... of the report. Hey, it's a School Board Member. How ya' doin'? (laughter) Okay, so .... uh, any other points on that, in that, uh, Info Packet? I guess with regard to IP #2, the listening post summary report for April the 27`x' John, you and Pauline, uh.... uh, attended that. I wonder if you want to verbalize This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 22 Iowa City City Council Work Session anything about how that, uh, listening post went? I mean I read, you know, we all read the ... uh, your report, but.... Thomas/ Well we had .... we had spoken on that at our last meeting, I think, but it, um .... I think we both thought it went very well. Um, kind of one of the indicators of that might have been the fact that many of the people that were there were there for two hours (laughs) so .... uh, maybe it was a slow night in the, you know, the neighborhood, but, um ... I thought it was a good conversation, um, and what I liked too was the sense that it wasn't simply a conversation of those who attended with Pauline and I. It was a conversation among everyone there in attendance. So it....it helped in that regard of just binding the community to itself in a way that I thought was ... was useful. Uh, traffic really I think stuck out. Taylor/ ...big concern, right. Thomas/ Uh, traffic speeds, and, um, activating the substation was another. Taylor/ That was a group of folks that originally there were only two of `em that knew each other and the rest of the 10 had never met, but they just .... and there were some issues where John and I were a little concerned. We thought they were going to go at each other, but they were very civil and ... and, uh, came to good conclusions and so I ... it went very well. Throgmorton/ Yeah. Excellent! Thanks. Cole/ You know, I'm wondering with the listening post, um, do we ever, have we ever done where we do a follow up, you know, say six months later so, I mean, presumably the residents... come to us with concerns. So I think it might be a good format, or something for us to think about, is that the two Members that would, um, you know, listen to these concerns would come back six months later and maybe come up with one or two things that maybe there's an update on that ... that they follow it up on. Um, what .... what do people think about that in terms of a format, I mean because our staff is usually so good about being responsive at addressing issues, but I think it'd be really good if the .... if the community that actually went to those could have a sense of, that it sort of matters to come to these events. What ... what do people think about that in terms of (both talking) Thomas/ Well there were some items (both talking) some topics that I ... I did ask, uh, Geoff to follow up, uh, with ... with the individuals that had some questions about the fireworks and (both talking) Cole/ Okay! Thomas/ You know, immediately. It was, um, with ... with the traffic calming, I was ... I don't know where things are in the .... sort of a way, the way these things are dealt with officially, um, it sounded like they had initiated contact with staff, um, but yeah, it was something (both talking) concerned that, you know, they clearly.... this was an issue and This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 23 Iowa City City Council Work Session I .... and I didn't want to leave it at that meeting without this sense that there .... there would be, you know, initiatives and actions on the City's part to .... to follow up on it. Fruin/ What's helpful for ... for staff is when you're done with those if you have, um, specific issues, if someone brings up a specific issue, for you to be able to give us a name and contact information, and .... and, um, John was able to do that. I think Ashley talked with one of the other residents there on a road concern. Um ... that helps us quite a bit. And then, you know, if we can distinguish that from someone just the ... the broader, more general topics that people aren't necessarily expecting follow up on, that helps us. Um ... but we'd be happy to work with ya on any follow up, whether that's a return visit by you or if you were to collect people's emails, um, that attended, we could check back in, you know, our office could check back in in three or four months, or six months, and say, hey, you.... these issues were brought up, if you have any ongoing concerns let us know, so it's kinda off your desk and onto ours. Mims/ You know, that might be a really good idea is to .... take a ... a sign -in sheet and ask people if they're willing to give like their name and address, um, and an email address, and a phone number if they want to, but then we could ... kind of get back to them in a much more efficient manner, I mean, if we're only doing one listening post a quarter, then to go back and ... visit the same people who may or may not show up, even though it's at the same location, um, it might be more efficient way of ..but effective way of following up like you're getting at, Rockne. Throgmorton/ That's a good idea (several talking) Uh, I'd like to make a couple other suggestions, I guess. One is we should be thinking about when and where to hold our next, uh, listening post. We got off to a slow start this year for all sorts of obvious reasons, but ... I don't know, sometime in the summer we should do one. July? (laughter) Dickens/ People are out of town, I mean, a lot of vacation.... all over, so.... Throgmorton/ That's true. Dickens/ I don't know whether you start ... do one in September again, or late August. When people are back to school. Throgmorton/ (several talking) ....school, you know, Ben, Geoff and I had a really good meeting with Student Government folks, urn ... I don't know.... sometime last fall I think.... Geoff... maybe August, something like that (several talking) hopefully could do that again. Nelson/ Oh yeah, we'd love to have you back. That's not a problem. We can arrange that any time. Throgmorton/ Yeah, so just .... be thinkin' about, I don't know, late August or early September, you know, get it on your agenda. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 24 Nelson/ Certainly, not a problem. Iowa City City Council Work Session Mims/ I don't think it hurts to try to do one this summer, and then another one in maybe early to mid-September, after things have kind of settled back down once people start back to school. Tbrogmorton/ Yeah, all right (several talking) Mims/ You never know! Throgmorton/ So, okay, some time in July? Uh, any ideas about where to do this? Mims/ You guys were just at Broadway? Thomas/ Which is another thought of trying to be more regular in terms of our distribution in the city, you know, regular in terms of both frequency per year and also that we're getting (several talking) coverage. Throgmorton/ Could we do one at, um .... I don't know if they would let us, but the ... the, what is it, the HyVee on First Avenue, at First and Court. Not Court. First and, uh, Muscatine. Taylor/ For the Towncrest area, that'd be great! Throgmorton/ I know there are people goin' there for breakfast kind of all the time and, you know.... Dickens/ Well we did one at Lucky's so..... Kingsley and I did one there. We were a little tough to find, we were in the back, but (laughter) but I think if you did it in HyVee (several talking) Fruin/ One ... one thought you may want to consider is, um .... uh.....going along with maybe a Party in the Park, uh, pick out a location there where we're drawin' a lot of neighbors in otherwise and we can set up a table and .... you know, next to the bookmobile or wherever and.... Throgmorton/ After the gnats, please! (laughter and several talking) Fruin/ We .... we could look at that schedule and if you want to identify neighborhood that ... that's a good (several talking) two to three hour event that, uh, draws a lot of people. Throgmorton/ So when's .... do you remember when the last Party in the Park (both talking) Fruin/ I don't have the schedule... at my fingertips right now, but we could put that in the next Info Packet and then you all could discuss which one might work. Throgmorton/ Okay. Good. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 25 Mims/ Okay. That sounds good. Iowa City City Council Work Session Throgmorton/ Should we turn to the May I 1 Packet? Guess the answer's yes. So, uh, we'll need to figure out which topic we want to focus on on June the 6d'. Fruin/ Um, we left it blank right now. Would like to hear some of your thoughts, uh, certainly if...if we feel, uh, prepared enough to have the residential occupancy discussion with you we .... we could put that on, knowing that that's your priority. Um, I guess my .... our, the question would be if we're not quite prepared for that, what would .... what would be next? (several talking) Plan B, thank you! Cole/ This is sort of a big one, but do people think about the code review of the Lusk Avenue project? Tbrogmorton/ Yeah it seems to me it's a timing thing. I think we really do need to look at that carefully. But the .... I think the most pressing issue is the residential occupancy. And... and the same kind of...the same folks are involved, and... at least, if I understand correctly in terms of tryin' to figure out what to put together in terms of staff recommendations. Fruin/ Yeah. I'm kinda looking at the Planning staff over here. The Lusk Avenue, would we be prepared to have much of a discussion on the 2nd? Not quite yet. Yapp: I think we could be prepared to ... frame a discussion. I don't think we would be prepared to provide any .... any recommendations at this point. On that topic. Throgmorton/ How bout the .... the bicycle master plan? I know that's corrin' up real soon. Fruin/ Yeah, our .... our hope is that, uh, we can have the July work session, the consultants are, uh, planning to be in town, uh, in conjunction with your July meeting. And, urn ... I ... I think, um, my hope is .... I' not sure if this is gonna line up, but if they're doin' the bicycle master plan, would they do the Gilbert Street concept at that same meeting, so we'd tackle both those, cause if you remember, the Gilbert Street concept was an add-on to the bike master plan, so Alta's doin' that, so .... you only have one meeting in July, and it sounds like that one's gonna be pretty packed on those two topics. Throgmorton/ Another possibility is to meet with the Telecommunications Communication. Fruin/ We could try. Line up schedules. It's short notice for them. Um, but we could put a call out to `em. Problem is .... we'd .... we'd probably need to get that on their schedule tomorrow and ... and we're not, we're not meetin' with the other cities until next week, so.... Throgmorton/ I think what we want to do is the neigh... neighborhood stabilization. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017. Page 26 Fruin/ Okay. Thomas/ Sounds good to me. Iowa City City Council Work Session Fruin/ We'll work hard to get that done. Cole/ I guess one comment I have regarding Lusk is I understand framing the question is different than providing the solutions, but that might be a two-step process. So, I mean, to the extent that we do want to have that discussion, I think even framing it at some point would be helpful, and then get our sense of sort of where we want to go and then maybe at a time later the actual solutions would come through? Um, but I agree that the neighborhood stabilization should be the primary focus. Throgmorton/ Okay, anything else concerning the 11th of May? Fruin/ Uh, can I just give you a brief preview of what we're thinking for the May 24h work session, uh, that's the joint meeting with the County, uh, that's on a non -meeting day but ..... right now, and we'll, the County's preparing a formal agenda that we'll .... we'll certainly get to you in advance, uh, right now the plan is to meet, uh, over at the County Admin Building, um, walk over to their new ambulance building and get a short tour and overview of that facility and their ambulance operations. Um, we then, uh, because we're in that immediate area, talk about the plans for the redevelopment of the Riverfront Crossing Park, along with some of the development activity in the Riverfront Crossings area and the Clinton Street intersection and road diet project. Uh, that's the City update, uh, piece of the meeting, and then we would board a bus and head over to the Poor Farm to learn about the County's, uh, plans out at the Poor Farm and ... and some of the potential areas for cooperation, uh, with the City out there, then we'd.. return back to the, uh, County building. Does that sound okay to anybody.... everybody? Dickens/ That starts at.... Fruin/ Starts at 5:00. So it'll be a full, urn .... a .... a full meeting. If there's anything, uh, related to the County operations that you're really curious about, let me know and we'll ... we'll see if we can at least get someone to update the group on whatever project you may be interested in. Throgmorton/ Sounds good! Anything else? (several talking in background) We're gonna do that at the end of the formal meeting. It's only like 50 applicants for (laughs) Dickens/ Just a few! Throgmorton/ Okay! I think we're finished for now. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 16, 2017.