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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-02-20 TranscriptionPage I Council Present: Botchway, Cole, Mims, Salih, Taylor, Thomas, Throgmorton Staff Present: Fruin, Monroe, Andrew, Dilkes, Fruehling, Bockenstedt, Matherly, W. Ford, Seydell-Johnson, Hightshoe, Sovers, Havel, Ralston Others Present: Nelson (UISG); C. Smock Strategic Planning Discussion [IP4 of 2/15 Info Packet]: Throgmorton/ All right, I guess we're ready now to shift to our strategic plan discussion for the, uh, Tuesday, February 20a'. This is a City.....Iowa City City Council work session. Courtney! Welcome. Smock/ Thank you! Throgmorton/ Could you formally introduce yourself again, please? Smock/ Absolutely. I'm Courtney Smock and I've been hired to help facilitate (mumbled) um, help facilitate the strategic planning discussion. This is part two of this discussion, and I'm here to help! Throgmorton/ Excellent! You did really well the first time. Thanks so much for coming back. Smock/ Thank you. Throgmorton/ Uh, Geoff and I were just talking about how to proceed and.....we think it's probably a good idea to pick up, I guess with Item 4..... Throgmorton/ ....which is where we stopped last time. And just move on through those. Smock/ Yeah. Throgmorton/ Then there were several.... well, a few, uh, additional items that were proposed, uh, within the past two weeks or so. Smock/ Okay! Throgmorton/ So we'll go ... we'll return to them after we go through all these others. That sound okay to you? Smock/That ... that sounds fine. So when we looked at Item 4 last time, maintain a solid financial foundation, um, there were no specific items that were started, but I think the group had This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 2 some ideas of things that should be added. So should we start there? And see, um, what recommendations were made as far as thing .... what were the specific actions for items that we'd add to maintain a solid financial foundation? (mumbled) Throgmorton/ Well I have a thought about that and I .... and it basically is that last time we had five separate items included in our strategic plan concerning this particular topic. My own personal sense is that they could be condensed, uh, into the idea of maintaining a solid finat ... financial foundation, with those elements itemized, but....not really separate ....not completely separate, but consolidated into one. I know Susan was going to say something too as well so.... Mims/ No, I mean that's fine. I don't have those .... do you have those five in front of you, Jim, or.... Throgmorton/ Uh.... Mims/ I don't. Throgmorton/ I could get to `em pretty quickly. Mims/ I mean it was maintain our triple-A bond rating. I think maintain our reserves. Throgmorton/ Yeah..... Mims/ Um, I forget what the others were, and .... and those were kind of the direction I was going, and I appreciate your comments before about sometimes you get to the point that things are .... they don't need to be in a strategic plan. This is business as usual. Smock/ Right! Mims/ My strong feeling on keeping this in the strategic plan right now is.....the concern about where we are in the state and country financially, and ... and making sure that we don't lose sight of this, because of ...losing the backfill and .... and other things. Um .... yeah, it was, you know, continuing to monitor the impact of the 2013 property tax reform and evaluate alternative revenue sources, urn .... I don't know that we need to cont .... well, I guess we are continuing to build the City's emergency fund, aren't we, Geoff? We're continuing to build that? Fruin/ We .... if we have surpluses that we can move over we are. Mims/ Yeah. Um.....I think it's important that we continue to monitor potential changes to Moody's rating criteria and maintain our bond .... triple-A bond rating. Moody's has .... I don't know if they will do it again, but in the last couple years I know they changed their.... their process or their criteria, and they've always told us we're not a typical city for triple-A bond rating. So I think to stay on top of. ... of what they're doing. Um.... personally I'd like to see us continue to reduce our property tax levy. We're still the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 3 highest in the region. Um, and certainly in the county. And, uh, I think we've done a good job and need to continue maintaining that healthy, the ... healthy fund balances. They all are kind of business as usual, but I think by having them in the strategic plan, it brings it to the forefront and given all the bullets we have under the others, I don't have a problem with having those continue as our bullets going forward, so it draws attention to each of those important pieces. Botchway/ Yeah, I would agree, I mean that was my.....my kind of, um, thoughts as far as, you know, let's continue what we had last strategic plan session. I agree with having it, and bringing it to the forefront again, because I think that, you know, depending on .... the items we choose today and also the items we've already chosen, um, that could change or, um, make us have a greater consideration to some of those solid foundation.... or solid financial foundation points, and so we don't want to lose sight of them as we're making changes, as we're doing work. I would say my only piece of this that I would .... kind of emphasis a little bit more is the alternative funding sources. I think this has been a conversation for at least, I mean, my last four years, and I would like for us to, if ...if there's one particular item that I want us to pull out and actually .... do something with in the next year is really identify those fund.... alternative funding sources. Um, you know, I'll throw out LOST. I know that we've received some grant funding, but if we could have a more concerted effort to look at grant funding at the state and federal level, and so I really want to key on that alternative funding source, in a sense because of our conversation our rec.... our last meeting around, you know, the affordable housing conversation. I mean, a lot of us showed some concern about what's going to happen at the state level in relation to wanting to, you know, go from $650,000 to a million dollars, um, we ultimately I think came up with a good compromise, but I do think that's.... that's still a compromise. As I've stated, and I think Geoff has stated pretty articulately, there's .... we don't know about tomorrow. You know, this could not even be something that we're able to fund in the same way. So in that sense I think we need to have a .... a deeper and more, urn.... immediate conversation as far as some of these line items. At least for me I think are important as we continue forward, and looking at those alternative funding sources are very ... uh, very important to me .... for the next .... next year. Smock/ So is alternative funding one of the fives or is that a sixth? Botchway/ It's one of the five. Smock/ One of the five. Okay. And is everybody clear about the fi...... when we're talking about `the five' what you're talking about? Botchway/ These are the prior .... prior strategic plan points. Smock/ The prior strategic plan points... okay, so you guys are all clear with those? Do we need (both talking) Throgmorton/ I don't know what you mean by how they are .... this is one of the five. Is that in fact true? (several talking) Yeah, okay, we just looked at it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 4 Cole/ Could we move to that actual sub -section? I think it's sub -section four. Cause I'm only seein' the first page. Fruin/ Courtney, on the mouse, can you just scroll down? Smock/ Yeah. The .... (several talking) Cole/ Okay, but I just (both talking) Smock/ ....4 though is the line that says maintain a solid financial foundation. The fi.... oops, sorry! Mims/ Yeah, the five sub -points are not in there, Courtney. Smock/ Right. So that.... that's, I just wanna make sure you guys are talking about the same thing. Fruin/ Yeah, I think when.... when we crafted this .... this, uh, these actions a couple years ago for this plan, the alternative revenue sources were couched in the property tax reform. So I think the thought was if we're going to be losing revenue, do we need to be evaluating, uh, to maintain a certain level of service. It's a little bit different analysis and different discussion if it's .... let's identify alternative sources for some other use. So, for affordable housing, for additional road, additional parks, you kinda need to de ... determine what you want to fund for us to be able to come back to you and say, these are the... really the appropriate revenue sources to be doing that. Botchway/ I .... I guess for me, Geoff, I think it's a little bit of both. I mean, and if you came .... if the state comes back and says we don't have backfill and, um, we're looking at potentially pulling that out of our emergency reserve fund, um, you know, I think that we're going to have to have some questions about how is that sustainable. I .... I agree, I think it is also funding additional initiatives. I mean I don't necessarily see the affordable housing as an additional initiative. I think it's something that, you know, we want to continually fund, but .... I would say both to that extent. Cole/ I guess I'll jump in here and talk about, you know, I think Susan makes a really good point. It's true things like bu.... uh, the triple-A bond rating are business as usual, but that's not business as usual for communities throughout the state, and I think it is really unique. Um, that reflects more than 40 years of concerted effort by this City to keep that laser focus. I think it's incredibly important that we maintain that because we may know we want to keep the triple-A bond rating, but I think as people evaluate our community, they may not know that. So I think it's a good signal for the community. Along with what Kingsley was sayin', I do think we should at least evaluate this .... this local option sales tax in terms of reaching out. I'm not saying I'd immediately support it at this point, but I do think we need to evaluate possible alternative funding sources, and I think that is one. I mean, obviously with a sales tax you don't like to talk about it in .... too much because This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 5 it's regressive, but on the other hand, it is a source of revenue that as I understand it a large percentage of it will come from outside of the city of Iowa City. Um, so if you think about those, I think that is something, and I think our relationship with a lot of the neighboring communities now continues to strengthen and, uh, I think it's .... it's time to at least have that conversation. So I would agree with you, Kingsley. I think we should evaluate that as a possibility so we can address issues like affordable housing or infrastructure. I think one of the things that Geoff brought up two weeks ago is this notion of Cedar Rapids. I don't want to spend 100% (mumbled) conversation now, but our roads. You know, Pauline, you've talked about that. Cedar Rapids is 100% of that and their roads are, you know, really, really good, and I think we always need more funding for things like that. So I think that's something we should at least evaluate. Throgmorton/ Well on this point I think it would be really quite timely for us to .... have, uh, receive a review from City staff about what the alternatives are. They're really out there. LOST is one. We had that discussion, what, four years ago, Susan? I kind of lose track now. Had a lengthy discussion about LOST, local option sales tax. And utility franchise fee, right? So those are the two major ones, is the way I remember, with LOST being clearly the, uh, the biggest possibility. So .... we had that discussion with a different Council, different set of people, so it'd be really timely to have a review for those .... those of us who are sitting up here now. Smock/ Okay. So what I'm hearing is the five elements would cant' forward from the last strategic plan, along with an additional action item to staff to bring forward some of these other alternative funding options, knowing that you all go through a process to figure out what you want to do and then ... but in the back of your mind you want to know how you fund it. Is that right? Okay. Any other discussion then on number 4, around the financial foundation? Throgmorton/ I don't think so. Smock/ Okay. All right, let's go on to number 5. So we're moving to enhance community engagement and inter -governmental relations. So we'll just .... go through these one at a time. A, consider the use of technology in work sessions to solis.... solicit comment and encourage broader participation from the public. Throgmorton/ I'd like to say I think there's considerable overlap among some of these, especially as I read them anyhow. A, D, and .... oh, I can't read .... what does that say? Sorry! (laughs) Uh.... Smock/ So you have a calendar of events, you have communication, mobile app, you have increased opportunity for community inclusion all under that. Throgmorton/ Yeah, I guess A, C, and D is what I was thinking. Smock/ Yeah. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 6 Throgmorton/ And.... Botchway/ Jim, I would agree. I don't.....I can't remember if I put these forth, I mean some of `em .... sound like something I've said recently (laughter) um, so I would say for me, remove D. We've already had kind of a lengthy conversation. I think it comes up, uh, in what I was trying to discuss related to the racial equity toolkit analysis. I think C and A are very similar. I can't even remember what I was considering for A. I .... I'm pretty sure that I was excited about some type of mobile thing that I had just reviewed or something. Um, but ultimately, um, what I'm trying to .... what I'm trying to do is, um, galvanize our public, urn.... within our work sessions. We do a lot of work within those timeframes. If there's something we can do to solicit comment, uh, and encourage participation, so our, uh, our community is more aware, uh, and that we're more aware of ongoing issues. Um, I think it's important. The B including calendar of events, uh, information packets so that Council can discuss (mumbled) um, community events, that for me kind of focuses on, um, what I would call collaborative leadership and Susan had brought this up and I know that Terry brought it up before he left Council, you know, there's a.....there's a range of different events and I feel like, at least with my schedule and this could be somewhat selfish, it's really tough for me to try to figure out what event I can or can't go to. If we had it during Council time to just go through some of these items, pick which events we can go to, to make sure that we don't have a quorum but sometimes a quorum, you know, sometimes all of us wanna be there. I think it provides an opportunity for people to see the City show up and support. There's been numerous events just in January that I've seen multiple Council Members at, if not the entire Council, and so it's not for times like right now. It's for, you know, the summer months and some of the other months that we don't necessarily have the amount of requests, uh, related to some of the events. Smock/ So that one has an asterisk, so that was kind of a staff `just do it' thing, right? Um, any.....discussion or question about that? Throgmorton/ Yeah, the notion there with the asterisk is that we would have a work session discussion.... Smock/ Uh huh. Throgmorton/ ....about that item, along with the (both talking) Smock/ It wouldn't go in the strat plan as much as you guys would work it with staff is what those asterisk'd ones were. (several responding) Throgmorton/ Yeah, so it doesn't need to be called out as a priority by itself. Smock/ Kinda of a `just do it' type thing. Throgmorton/ Yeah. So, I .... I had some other language in mind about sort of consolidating some of these. I'll just toss it your way and see what y'all say. So, um, cause it's about This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 7 social media, mainly, right? So use social media to significantly improve the Council's and staffs ability to engage with diverse populations on complex or controversial topics. Botchway/ Yeah. Throgmorton/ Which kind of opens the door for staff to do more of what they've been already doing better and better over the past two or more years. So .... that .... it .... is that sufficient do you think? Botchway/ Yeah, it makes it broader, I mean ultimately I wanna.....can't remember our staff... particular name off the top of my head, but, um, I wanna unleash our Communications Department. I feel like, you know, some of these things that we have conversations about just need, uh, a broader level of communication, um, and I think that they have the aptitude, and have shown the aptitude, to do some wonderful things. So..... Smock/ (mumbled) read it again, and make sure everyone's okay with the language? Throgmorton/ Sure! Use social media to significantly improve Council's and staff's ability to engage with diverse populations on complex or controversial topics. Alternatively it could just be `unleash the staff!' (laughter) Botchway/ I like that language as well! (laughs) Smock/ Rockne? Cole/ This looks good, but I mean this almost, to me, almost falls under the category of business as usual. I ... I mean it almost seems sort of ana.... anachronistic to even talk about using or enhancing social media when it's just.... permeates the culture at this point. So, not a huge deal if we leave it in, but .... I'm feelin' like we are sort of hitting on all cylinders, and (mumbled) strategic plan is something to sort of alter the trajectory in terms of, from where we already are. Taylor/ I'm .... along with you, Rockne, I'm (mumbled) community inclusion part of it on, in D, cause I think we're already kind of doing that with .... we've got a listening post coming up. We've been doing that. You've been riding the buses and going out there and knocking on doors. I think we're already trying to involve the community, and I see Tracy out there. We've tried involving our stakeholders in the Invest Health group and it .... it's difficult and I wasn't quite sure what means you meant, because if it's like getting the meetings, we have trouble, you know, coordinating schedules. People's work schedules, and that ... to .... to try to get them, uh, to have the community involved is .... is difficult in that way, so I wasn't quite sure who you meant or how you meant (both talking) Botchway/ Well I can explain a little bit more, I mean I'm talking about right now. So I mean I know that, you know, right now there's a number of people that I was talkin' to about didn't know we had this meeting. Um, were interested in just about the particular topics. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 8 I was .... I was thinking, you know, if this was a Facebook Live event, if there was some publicity behind it, um, you know, I think that, Geoff, you had a moderately successful (laughter) a successful launch with, um, some of the budget conversation, um .... uh, related to a Facebook Live event, and so that's more what I'm talking about. I mean, that .... we've done that a couple of times. My point is is I want to see it .... from Rockne's standpoint, I appreciate what you're saying. To me it's transformative. It's a every ti ... it's an every time thing, not just a hit or miss thing or every year thing, because I think that there's a lot of people, um, that I talk with that are either, you know, sittin' at home or, you know, uh, or caring for kids or whatever the case may be and are able to maybe look at their phone and participate but aren't necessarily able to come to meetings to participate, and I'll give you a case in point right now. You know, I have a .... I was able to do a de facto babysitter switch. My son was going to be in the audience, um, and right now I know that, you know, um, as I left the babysitter's she was, you know, messaging on Facebook how much fun, she was spending time with my son, and that was another way that, wow, like if she's doing that now at this particular moment, why can't she engage in a meeting for five minutes if we specifically limit it to a timeframe that we can get some of this conversation, and so it....it is something that's new. It's not... a lot of Councilors are doing it, I mean I think that, you know, coming up before us is just .... it's a little old. I mean I guess that's.... that's just what I'm saying and so how do we .... how do we engage in ways that are .... are timely and more consistent with .... I mean, me I guess. Mims/ I guess my concern is trying to do something interactive during our work sessions, we have two hours or an hour and 30, an hour and 40 minutes, which we typically take every minute of that and oftentimes have to come back and finish up after our formal meeting, and if we start making our work sessions interactive, we're gonna be here till midnight. Because we're not.....we're not gonna get our.....it's not gonna give us the opportunity to have the dialogue and discussion with each other, and we read the packets (phone ringing in background; unable to hear speaker) you know and so.....I'm all for trying to get more input and more interaction. I don't see it working.... particularly effectively during the work sessions. Throgmorton/ Yeah, I agree with that, I think that would be quite problematic, but I think you're on to somethin', Kingsley, with regard to Facebook Live in certain circumstances. So, what .... where my imagination goes is a Facebook Live event between our formal meeting and our work session. And I don't see any reason why that couldn't happen, and I could imagine other circumstances where it could be done very effectively. So that's what we need to think about is, and staff could certainly help us with that and the Communication, uh, office, about under what conditions could Facebook Live be used effectively, and there's always new stuff being invented. So we .... we wanna be able to tap into that, uh, anyway so I think by prioritizing this, we're basically saying `yeah, we agree that the staff is doin' well on this, we wanna.... uh, signal our support by making it a priority,' but .... not saying we must have interactive Facebook Live during our work sessions. You know, I think that's goin' too far. Smock/ Other thoughts? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 9 Throgmorton/ I do have one other thought, uh, there's really two elements in this .... um, broad theme, and one is to enhance community engagement. The other is to enhance inter- governal.... inter -governmental relations, or improve inter -governmental relations. And I can't speak for anybody else, but I can say when ... two years ago when we were doin' this what I was thinking about was improving relations with other governmental units in the area. I think we've managed to do that pretty well. Uh, doesn't mean things .... will (laughs) continue to be good. Doesn't (mumbled) that I'm right (laughs) but that's my sense. So.....I.....I don't know that there's anything we need to do .... specially for that right now. Mims/ I mean I'm kind of with Rockne. I think we've made a lot of progress on this to the point that it is kind of business as usual, um, with the idea of like so many things, continuing to work on and improve them, that .... I ..... I mean I could be satisfied with leaving it out, as well. I don't think we're going to take any step back by, you know, not having it as part of our strategic plan focus. Smock/ And if you take your, the .... B, that says include the calendar events, information packet, and add some of the social media, technology exploration, like leveraging that from a communications standpoint. Maybe that is enough direction to say, you know what, we're going to work with staff. We're going to publish the community events calendar. We're gonna, you know, think about ideas and ways to do other social media things, to keep our stuff out there, that it becomes work you do and not a strategic line item, is that where we're endin' up? So .... cause I don't want to lose this idea of. ... I hear you saying like we need to explore this technology. The technology piece I was .... as I'm listening to the discussion, I'm struggling a little bit about when you read the top line — enhance community relations and inter -government — social media won't do that for you. Social media is a communication tool. So if you wanna communicate more effectively, that's one thing, but improving relationships, it's .... it's kind of a connection point, but there's more work that has to happen to actually get to relationship. So how do you, is that .... I was kind of fishing for that, like is there other stuff beyond connecting to people, being available to people, soliciting feedback that you wanna do to build the relationships? And I think you maybe answered it in saying.... we've kinda done a lot of work in relationships but we still wanna maintain a presence and we probably should be looking harder at technology to figure out how we do that. Is that a fair summary of where you guys are at? (several responding) React and argue. Thomas/ One thing you've brought up that I was thinking of raising (laughs) but since you've... since you've kind of, you're going down a path that I think this relates to. I was very impressed with the event at, um, Grant Wood School on Martin Luther King Day, the town hall meeting, and uh, I .... I feel town halls have great potential. I, you know, I .... it's .... I didn't contribute anything here, but um, I would say over the last several months, that town hall was a really meaningful event. I think they can be very effective in .... in the way you were describing, uh, of actually making connectivity with .... with the community in a .... in a meaningful way. Um, we get out of City Hall. Uh, you know, it ... it, there are a number of aspects that would need to be, you know, to flesh out what This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 10 exactly a town, that .... a town hall meeting would be, uh, but I think as a format, it's a very powerful, can be a very powerful way of connecting, uh, on the ground with communities where they live, and I .... I think all of those things can be very important. Cole/ I'd agree, John. I think it's different than a listening post, where I sort of view that as more sort of an inter -personal chat or comm.... conversation we're havin' with residents as opposed to the town hall, a little bit more interactive, um, a little bit bigger event. Thomas/ There was some prep work that went into the town hall, to try to identify issues, you know, that were relevant, um .... but I .... I walked away from that really being impressed with, um ..... the.....the, uh, the charge that came from that, you know, the identifying of issues, but also the, um.....there are a lot of stories that were being told at....at that event. Throgmorton/ Well, me too, John, and one of the things I've felt for several years is something we've actually been working on, but maybe we can do better, and that is rather than expect people to come here, we need to go there, to put it really simply, to .... to go where people are already meeting, talking about whatever matters to them, uh, and listening. So.....I certainly want that to continue, you know, to do better at it. I don't know .... I can't invent language on the spur of the moment about that, and I don't know if it needs to be a strategic plan priority, but I think it's really important. Salih/ I kind of agree with, um, John on the town hall. Yeah, it was really good meetings, but what do you mean, like you mean we (unable to understand) town hall (unable to understand) some issues and try, like city issues I mean, and try to come up with some kind of solution together and after that we report to the Council here or what exactly you meant by that? Thomas/ It just.... providing a .... a space and a forum for there to be a dialogue, uh, with .... with a given district or community within Iowa City, uh, that .... I .... ideally in following up on the town halls that were taking place at that time, um, developing an action plan, you know, that was something I know, Susan, you mentioned in a previous Council meeting how... what.... what was impressive was it wasn't just people communicating concerns, but that was then used as a springboard to ... uh, initiate actions, which I think, um, is the other half of this, that, you know, it's not enough simply to vent one's frustrations and so forth, or .... or ideas, but to try to translate that into an action plan. Salih/ I really like this idea because I believe the community (unable to understand) very important. We're being elected by communities and we work for them. Then we have to go to them and listen and if we can help out like in different communities each time, like different places so people can come would be great. I agree with this idea. Smock/ So I have a question for each of you. Um .... right now I'm hearing very important and I'm hearing strategic. So ... each one of you, for you, is it very important and we .... we put an asterisk by it and we say `yes we want to do this and explore these ideas,' or do you want to elevate it and reword an item under it and put it in the strat plan? Cause I think either way you're gonna work on this. I think there's a very strong consensus that it's This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page I I important. What you have to decide is are you puttin' it in your strat plan or not, and maybe if you could share where you're leaning and why you'd argue for one or the other to help .... help us get to a decision on this? Botchway/ Yeah, I guess for me the town hall piece.....I don't necessarily (mumbled) I think it's very important. Um, you know I know that there's a lot of focus on the town halls that happened recently but I mean I would say town halls have happened a lot, I mean .... (mumbled) if everybody remembers that Council meeting, um, you know that was the product of a town hall meeting that, you know, one of the action steps was to come before us, and it was a little more.... vigorous than maybe some of the other conversations, but that was a part of, you know, some town hall meetings between students that occurred and some community members. So, I mean it sounds like we were just changing out listening posts, and so if ultimately we're interested in doing that, I mean that ... I'd be in favor of that, you know, to .... to provide a different element than just a listening post. It's a .... it's not an engagement post, but it's a .... a town hall meeting and so I don't necessarily know if it's a strategic plan element. I do wanna, again, advocate for my strategic plan element, because I do see where there's, um.....constemation as far as whether or not it should be a strategic plan element and I do see it not business as usual. I do think we have to take a deeper look at the social media impact and engaging, and I know you said it may be not engaging, but engaging with a base that.....isn't here. And I know that we have our .... and I'm talking about a base that I don't necessarily always engage with, but when I do engage with `em, there is a .... there is a lack of understanding of what we do, and the only way I've seen ,um, the ability to engage with this particular population has been through social media. I mean we literally just had a march yesterday, um, at the School District, and that did not happen by word of mouth. That happened through social media. And so our students are engaging in a different way and I think we have to wake up and do something different. I think it is a lot different than what we're doing now. Throgmorton/ Yeah, and I didn't learn about that march until after it was conducted. Botchway/ Right! Throgmorton/ I thought it was gonna be conducted today and I was gonna go to it and (several talking) students, but.... Smock/ Other thoughts? Throgmorton/ I .... I wanna, uh, provide, suggest some other language here, cause I .... I think this would be a strategic priority, for me, and maybe for Kingsley, maybe for others. So new language, right? Smock/ That's good! Throgmorton/ Experiment with innovative ways of engaging with diverse publics in person and by new social media. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 12 Cole/ Sounds good (both talking) Throgmorton/ ....say it a little bit slower. Experiment with innovative ways of engaging with diverse publics in person and through new social media. Smock/ Thoughts? (mumbled) Thomas/ I think it's (several talking) it .... anchors it and gives it, there .... you know, we can refer to it and play off of that. I think that's good. Taylor/ Doesn't hold us to town hall meeting versus listening post (mumbled) whatever happens. Salih/ Uh huh. Smock/ I see a lot of head nodding! Throgmorton/ Yeah. We're good to go. (several talking) Smock/ Okay, good! So .... with that one we would leave the enhance community engagement. Are we...how are you feeling about the inter -governmental relations component, are you it or are we (both talking) Cole/ Could I jump in on that? Smock/ Please! Cole/ Um, I agree with everyone that I think we really have increased our communication and relationships with other communities, but I go back to that meeting we had with the School Board, you know, where we had that sort of substantive exchange with the School Board, where we weren't just sort of doing .... and some of it's just cause we have limited time, you know, we .... I wish we could have more of those meetings more often, but I do think whether it's with .... North Liberty on a certain topic, in terms of an investment in a certain infrastructure, um, that we would like, I think it'd be nice to have some more sort of bilateral exchanges where we're actually doing substantive topics, probably could only do that two or three times a year. Um, but I ... I do want to engage our problem solving collaboration with other entities. Now whether that's a strat plan or something very important, I do think we should try to do it, cause we do have a lot of big issues that are gonna pop up, um, but I think we really have to make sure that we're working as a region on those issues, whether it's transportation or some of these other things. Throgmorton/ I .... I would agree. I thought that joint work session worked very well for us, with regard to Mann Elementary, and I know, Courtney, you don't know the specifics about this, but it's a very rare thing because there's seven of us and seven School Board members, so it's hard to get 14 people and staff together. But it worked really well (both talking) Yeah, so we got some language in mind? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 13 Cole/ So I suppose it would just be, you know, um ..... improve collaborative solving problems with other, um, governmental entities in the region. Smock/ I'm just going back... cause didn't we have something like that..... Cole/ We had improve governmental relations, right? Cause I think that's sorta step 1. Smock/ And in ..... I'm just gonna go back. In .... (both talking) Cole/ ...unless I'm missing something. Smock/ .....under 1 we had.....IC, and it was under the economy piece, but we did talk about.... sorry, I'm just getting back there. Collaborating with the schools, workforce development (both talking) Throgmorton/ Yeah, that's more specific (both talking) Smock/ .....more specific to jobs, wasn't it? Okay. The same principle, just applied to different problems. Is that right? Cole/ Yeah. Botchway/ I would say it's something maybe like this, Rockne. Identify and collaborate with, um, governmental bodies on.....somethin'. Cole/ Issues of shared concern. Botchway/ Yeah. Taylor/ Corridor government bodies. Botchway/ But I think that, you know, when you think about the Mann situation, that was an identified, collaborative effort on a piece ... I mean I don't think it's just in general we need to meet with people to meet with people, but if we can identify things that we need to have a collaborative focus on, we should meet and discuss what that looks like. Cole/ I think that's too what you were getting at, at one of our recent joint meetings, to .... to have more substantive problem solving or, you know, where we're making decisions together, as opposed to just to share and tell. So did we get that language (mumbled) Taylor/ I think that sounds good though, Rockne, cause we've talked about a few meetings back about even meeting with the Ames City Council to see what kinds of collaborating or similar things, uh, that we could problem solve with. So, think that would kind of go along with (both talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 14 Cole/ ....not business as usual (both talking) Taylor/ ....that wouldn't be corridor then, that would be other governmental entities. Cole/ Yeah. Smock/ Ashley, do you have enough notes to maybe make a sentence out of that? Monroe/ Um..... Botchway/ Especially with (several talking) comment. Monroe/ I can try, um, improve collaborative problem solving with regional governmental bodies on topics of shared interest. Throgmorton/ There you go. Cole/ I think that works. (several talking) Smock/ Wow! They're like (mumbled) (laughter) So I .... I like that you ha .... now you have two sub -bullets under 5. One's very specific to community engagement, the one that Jim did, and now you have one very specific to maintaining your commitment to the .... the second half of the relations piece. That feels .... that feels better to me. The first ones are very community engagement and communication focus, which are important, but I think that tells a better story about what you're doin'. Um, any other.... thoughts or ideas under number 5? Botchway/ I have one last thought, and again, you can tell me if this needs to just be worked on later on, but with our lobbyist conversation, and I know, Jim, you have more work with them than maybe the rest of us. Jim and Pauline will have more than the rest of us will, but is there something we can put in there where .... this I think focuses on both the community engagement, from .... and I have a lot of conversations with it ... with the University about this, how do we get out of our bubble and engage with the greater, the state of Iowa. You know, I think Rockne's talked about this and .... and in conjunction with the, uh, League of Cities and other things, to just basically say in a nutshell, Iowa City isn't that bad or whatever notion you have about Iowa City is not what you think. We do care about Iowa. We're gonna be working on issues related to Iowa, not just Iowa City, but then also from an inter -governmental standpoint, how .... what is our relationship with the legislature, you know, how are we communicating with them. Obviously with our lobbying efforts and everything, but I .... I feel like we need to go on more of a, I was going to say attack mode, but I don't mean attack. I mean just more of a .... a push about what we believe is important in our community, and what we believe is important in Iowa. I mean, we have to have the understanding that if things go bad in Iowa as .... as a whole, things will go bad here, and I think that sometimes we're .... we don't necessarily feel some of the pressures that other communities are feeling, but .... it will happen. It just doesn't happen as quickly in our area, and I'm thinking about, you know, things related This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 15 to school districts, things related to, um, you know, we're talking about things because I feel like we have some resources around transportation and other things, but other communities are falling to the wayside when they're discussing some of these, um, efforts, and so how do we help? How do we get out there and .... and do more? I know that the University has that focus because the Regent conversation and everything else, and it's like how .... how is the University of Iowa more than just focus on Iowa City? But I think we need as a Council need to think about that as well. Throgmorton/ One thing our .... we Council Members could do is participate much more actively in the Iowa League of Cities. I mean they meet annually. Most of the council members from other cities are present. There're all sorts of sessions. It's an opportunity to network, talk, maybe break down some barriers. Uh, the next one's gonna be in what? Council Bluffs, is that right? Somewhere on the west side (both talking) Fruin/ Yeah. Throgmorton/ Yeah, so .... you know, I think you're on to somethin' that's really important, for sure. Cole/ If I could just jump in on that. I .... I think this is one of these topics that we would all love to just focus in on Iowa City. I think that's our focus. But in the last six to 12 months especially, there's an inordinate amount of hostility on the part of some legislators to this .... to the City of Iowa City. Um, and I just don't think we as a state can function that way, and whether it's, you know, we're gonna have that outreach with Ames. I hope we consider outreach to other legislator, who are our biggest critics and welcome them here and .... and have a conversation. Now whether that's strategic plan, I think it maybe does get to the strategic plan level, because we just can't have this situation where there's this level of hostility to the City of Iowa City! And why it exists, maybe that's.... maybe we bear some of that responsibility, um, you know, but I think we have to fix that, because right now we have a situation where we would love to focus on our local topics, but there's Home Rule's taken away. There's a lot of comments that are directed at this community in the terms of the direction we're going. We have gubernatorial campaigns, I mean fundraising letters that we're out to get everyone. Um, we need.....we need to fix that. And I think it should be a strategic plan, um, goal, uh, for us to improve those relationships with.... greater state of Iowa City.....state of Iowa. (mumbled) Throgmorton/ Yeah, so we need some language. This is .... we're onto something here (both talking) Smock/ ....on to something..... Throgmorton/ ....important to us. (several talking and laughing) Monroe/ I've only got improve relationships with the greater state of Iowa legislature, but.... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 16 Throgmorton/ So, I'm .... I'm thinking' about legislators who .... both senators and representatives in ... in the Iowa legislator.....legislature, who represent districts within some reasonable distance of Iowa City. I don't know, within 50 miles or somethin' like that. And identifying those legislators .... reaching out to them, trying to arrange ways in which.... some of us could meet with some of them, you know, I .... I don't know how to put flesh on the bones here, but.....this might be a helpful thing to do. Fruin/ So .... we can certainly put together a plan. I .... I think in order for it to be effective it's going to require a lot of your time. Um, electeds like to interface with electeds, um, staff is gonna have a real hard time makin' progress on that, uh, the lobbyists can do a lot for us, and I'm not sayin' we don't have a role in this, but ... it will require a lot of your time, a lot of your travel, because I don't think it's realistic to expect that people from other districts, particularly in western Iowa or far away are gonna come here. They're not. You've gotta go to Des Moines. You gotta go to their districts, um, so .... as you put that in there, think about your time and your willingness to travel and .... and engage in that. You will see some of those that, you know, some of those officials at League of City meetings, but League of City meetings are.... traditionally just cities themselves (mumbled) not a whole lot of the elected. Throgmorton/ One way in which lobbyists could help us a lot is they know these individual legislators and can give us background information about each of the ones that we're hoping to meet with, which would be very helpful for us in terms of talking with `em. Taylor/ I was going to say that in.....that's great going to meet them, but we've got so many things coming up in the city, uh, RAGBRAI and, uh, the other bike event, and the City of Literature, those folks are comin' to visit us, I mean we've got opportunities like that where we could include these people so they don't think we're so uppity and we're.... we're gonna do it all ourselves, but they can be included in that too. I would think we could .... we could invite (both talking) Throgmorton/ I think that's a reasonable idea too. Uh, we could, uh, you know, I could write a letter to ea .... each of these individual people who we've already identified and invite them, and I'm .... I'm imagining, I don't know, what's the total number of legislators in the state? I don't know.....does anybody know (laughs) I .... well, whatever it is, I'm... I'm not imagining we'd try to reach out to all of them, but instead just folks who are within reasonable distance from here. (several talking) Fruin/ We'll put together some language. Throgmorton/ Good deal! Smock/ Okay, so that puts you at three sub -bullets for that topic. And we'll get some language written around that one, cause I think the sentiment's pretty clear and I see a lot of heads nodding around it. Anything else in that bucket? Good.....good discussion there. (mumbled) No? Okay, so let's move on to promote environmental stabil..... sustainability, adopt an effective climate action and adaption plan, and assure the next This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 17 two budgets contains sufficient funds. B is review City efforts to gray our vehicle fleet, and C is consider the creation of a Tree Advisory Board, enhance the efforts to increase the reach of the Parks and Ree Foundation. Um, so comments around number 6 or any of its sub -bullets? Mims/ With sub -bullet A, I think it's ... hard not knowing where our budget is gonna be and where the backfill is gonna be or not be, and what our... conflicting priorities may be at that point in time to .... you know, indicate in here that we wanna contain sufficient funds to make meaningful progress. I hope we can! Smock/ Uh huh. Mims/ Um .... but I think by putting that in here, that potentially elevates it above other priorities that we haven't really put face to face and said, okay, we've only got .... we've got, you know, $10 million worth of requests and we've only got $5 million. How are we gonna prioritize these things? So I have a problem with putting that financial piece in the strategic plan when we haven't really prioritized.... we haven't had to prioritize in many ways cause we've got enough money right now. Taylor/ (mumbled) haven't heard from the committee either. Botchway/ Before we got forward, can you go down? Smock/ Yeah. Oh sure, sorry! Throgmorton/ Yeah, I've been thinking about that also, Susan, that.... and .... I had the, um, opportunity to sit in on the Climate Action Steering Committee's meeting last week, and heard two hours of stimulating discussion that they had, and a lot of their conversations is about financial incentives, uh, about code amendments, not so much about new money that the City is investing directly into the stuff, and Ashley, you would know better than I would because you're more deeply involved, but I .... so instead of just focusing on.... sufficient funds in the budgets, I .... I think .... what we need to be sayin' is adopt an effective climate action, uh, adaptation plan and.... and..... take key steps necessary to implement the plan, basically. Yeah. Mims/ Work towards implementing it (several talking) Who knows how long it'll take us... hopefully (both talking) Throgmorton/ Yeah, I don't know, not.... having not seen the plan (laughs) Mims/ Right. Throgmorton/ (laughing) we don't know, right? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 18 Smock/ Thoughts, reactions to ... so the suggestion is to say, instead of saying allocate the budget, change the language to say.... get a plan and take steps in that direction. Thoughts or reactions to that? Cole/ I was just gonna say I'm gonna sound like Kingsley sayin' I agree and disagree, uh, with Susan (laughter) Um, I agree in the sense that I .... I think we have to be a little bit, uh, reluctant to be too clear in terms of...and we're not doing any number figures in terms of the budget, cause the budget is the process of competing priorities, but on the other hand, we're using the term sufficient funds, meaningful progress. I mean I think that that language is sufficiently flexible for staff to be able to make those determinations. I mean I think, for example, what we did with the, um, request for solar infrastructure. We .... we sort of gave a .... an expectation that we would have, um, plans for three buildings, but then we left it to staff to determine what buildings were most, um, cost effective and adaptable to use. So I .... I like that the ... I think this gives us sufficient flexibility, to give the .... the staff, um, sufficient flexibility, while giving us sufficient direction in terms of what our priorities are. Botchway/ Yeah. Who put this in there? Is it you, Jim? Throgmorton/ Sorry? Botchway/ You put this in here? Throgmorton/ Yeah. Botchway/ Yeah, I'm .... so my notes here are I'm supportive of A. I agree with you, Susan, um, on not allocating funds. I do, when I read it, I did think it was somewhat ambiguous in the sense .... my point .... my, I guess my, you know, deliberation on this was, if we're not gonna think about how we're gonna fund it, then why are they meeting? Like there's... to me it's pointless to have them meet if we're not going to potentially allocate funds in order to ensure that they achieve their goals and so I think it's comin' down the pipeline. I think we all as a body have to make some tough decisions, if we aren't able to fund it adequately, but I feel like the, I mean we may be able to change the language around sufficient to something else, but .... I .... I felt like there was enough ambiguity to not make me feel committed, but that I would have to have, uh, it'd be a hard conversation to have if there were some funding crisises. I would say for the next two points, just so I can get my points out, um, I would actually think both those points are, um, work sessions, but...... that's just me! (several talking) B is a .... B and C are .... are work session/memos. Throgmorton/ So with regard to item B, that's being discussed by the Climate Action Steering Committee, though not in great detail yet, but it's part of the discussion. So, if they recommend to us that over a period of time we transform our bus fleet into all electric vehicles, that's the recommendation (laughs) that's gonna come to us, you know, and then we'll have to decide whether we agree, you know, with that. Smock/ So are you saying it's a detail that's already (both talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 19 Throgmorton/ Yeah, I don't think we need (both talking) to have item B. Smock/ Okay (several talking) Throgmorton/ I think we can delete it, because we're .... we're gonna get somethin' like that (both talking) Smock/ Okay. Okay, can I bring you back to a decision on A, um, I hear some saying we can leave the language as is because the funding language is flexible. I'm hearing others saying it's probably stronger without it, because.... logical next steps is close enough. Where .... where do you guys warm leave that? Do you want the funding language to stay or go? On A. (several responding) Taylor/ I .... I'd kinda like to stay because it kind of puts teeth to .... teeth into it. Smock/ Okay. Did I have four? I didn't count fast.... Throgmorton/ Well I heard at least four. Smock/ At least four, okay. Salih/ Yeah. Smock/ So we'll leave it in, um, with the interpretations that were there, and then B, we're going to remove because it's assumed in the plan. Throgmorton/ With regard to A, uh, I .... I think we should just understand, we're gonna get a set of recommendations from the Steering Committee, and those recommendations will include actions other than just having some money directly spent. There'll be....there'll be other stuff. Smock/ Okay. And letter C, what about the Tree Advisory Board? Throgmorton/ John, can you, uh, pre .... tell us again your rationale for makin' that recommendation? Thomas/ (clears throat) Well that came out of a conversation I had with the State urban forester who said that if. ... if we wanted to, um, advance, uh.... our tree canopy in Iowa City that one of the most important steps to achieving that would be forming a Tree Advisory Board, and uh... so ... that .... that seemed to me to be a.....an important step in the process. Um .... so, you know, where it fits, you know, whether it's in the strategic plan or simply a work session item or something that .... as I recall, Geoff, you were talking about having.... further discussion with Juli. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 20 Fruin/ Yeah, I .... I think it's gonna happen. Uh, what we've talked about is a .... a mix of staff and Parks Commission members that .... that may, uh.... take on that duty. Um, we haven't fully fleshed it out, but with the inventory near completion, I think it's.... appropriate to have a group, uh.... uh, that involves some outside, um, presence, not just staff, look at that and .... and recommend action. So it's not, you know, it's not like a Council .... I wouldn't think of it as a Council advisory board, but obviously our Forestry staff is doin' a lot of plantings and removals throughout the year, just helping guide them, uh, another set of eyes to identify needs that would help inform our budget requests, help inform our, uh, day to day work. Throgmorton/ So I don't think of that as a strategic plan priority, but I want to draw attention to the second part of the .... of item C. Enhance efforts to increase the reach of the Parks and Recreation Foundation. So, I .... if I remember rightly from other conversations, uh, I think what you have in mind is .... uh.... help the Foundation actually raise money from the public to do various things havin' to do with parks .... in .... in our city. And that sounds like a good thing to do to me. Thomas/ Yeah and I don't even remember (laughs) including that in this particular item, but it is a good .... it is important. It's certainly something I've been advocating. Um, and I think .... like Geoff said with the, uh, the inventory. I think the pieces are now in place to really begin to .... initiate greater and more effective action with respect to fundraising for our park system. I think we have a much stronger vision, urn .... you know, maybe that remains in .... that could potentially be a strategic item. Plan item. Fruin/ This, again, is on our `to do' list, if you will. It's .... it's a matter of time and energy from staff. Right now we just don't have the horsepower to .... to really put the attention that's needed, uh, behind it, to do it right. Um, so .... really would need to look at how to engage a group of volunteers to .... to help us and be really an active fundraising board, as opposed to a .... a staff -led, um, effort. Taylor/ Geoff brings up a good point that I was going to ask about. Is there any way that we could have some idea, cause Susan has brought this up before and when we did the strategic plan a couple years ago as far as the involvement, staff involvement and time. Is there some way we could delineate, um, which departments would be responsible for some of these, so we could know that we're not like overloading one department versus another? Or is that .... an extra (both talking) Fruin /Yeah, I think once you get.....once you get settled we'll go through and break everything down and, yeah. Smock/ So thoughts around, I think the recommendation is leave ... the Tree Advisory Board to. staff but at ... keep the enhance the efforts to increase the Parks and Ree Foundation as a strategic line item. That's one recommendation. What are the thoughts about that? Cole/ Sure! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 21 Throgmorton/ I .... I'd like to do that, uh.... but I mean I hear what Geoffs sayin', staff doesn't have time to focus its attention on it. But we could signal to the public that.....we.... we would like to see public involvement in some efforts at the public level. Mims/ Well and I think it gives some attention to it, even as long as we understand that we're not necessarily going to get everything done that's in the strategic plan, even with .... what I'm hoping is and looks to be a more pared back strategic plan than we had two years ago. So, I think it still gives it that .... front and center vision for people, um, but, yeah, we've gotta be cognizant of staff time. Botchway/ Why are we highlighting this foundation and not other foundations? Throgmorton/ Cause it was brought up, you know, others were (several talking) Botchway/ Say what? Throgmorton/ Cause it was brought up and no others were (several talking) Thomas/ Well it's also under the environmental umbrella, but I think it, again, it's, uh, un .... unlike say the Library Foundation, the Parks Foundation has really not gained the kind of traction that the Library Foundation has, which .... in my experience in other cities they .... you usually have very strong movement on both of `em. So I ... I found it odd in a way that, um, given the park system we have that we .... we just haven't had that kind of, uh, engagement at a.....on a foundation level on our park system. So this will bring, I think, as we were saying, more attention to the fact that it....it does need some .... some focus and effort. Botchway/ Supportive! Taylor/ Yes! Smock/ Okay. Other comments? Jim? Throgmorton/ I .... I'm .... I'm just looking ahead. We have quite a few miscellaneous topics to go through (laughter) and a few others that were recently (both talking) Smock/ ....that is, as you're peaking ahead, so we're ready to move ahead. Um, I think we are at a decision point here, either to go back. A few things were added to the originals. Botchway/ Let's go back. Smock/ And then it's miscellaneous (both talking) Go back? Botchway/ Yep! Smock/ Okay (several talking) So under .... 1, um (both talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 22 Throgmorton/ Yeah, I think that one's pretty obvious, but.... Botchway/ I'm supportive (several talking) Throgmorton/ Would y'all support that? Smock/ Procter & Gamble. Botchway/ Um .... the only thing that I think I said .... was making it more general, but I'm okay with the language. You know, what if another .... what if another company, you know, I think actually there was another company, not maybe a year ago, that stated that they had lost a considerable amount of jobs and ... um, you know, I think it comes in our packet, um, when that happens, and so that was my only other point, you know, not just Procter & Gamble, but .... in general the local workforce. Taylor/ That's true, cause even ACT had .... let people off a few years back. Botchway/ Yeah. Mims/ I think this is something that, you know, we're definitely going to do. I .... I guess my question is, how much stuff ends up in the strategic plan? I think we're gonna obviously work hard and do this, uh, whether it's in the strategic plan or not. I think Geoff s already shown his commitment in the number of meetings and phone calls and contacts he's had, um, with Procter & Gamble since the announcement was made and that's.... that's not gonna be, um, let up. So, I ... I don't feel the necessity to have it in the strategic plan. I feel confident that that's gonna take place anyways. Um, I understand why that one came in from the riming. I ... I have a concern about these other new ones that were added, just from a procedural standpoint. Urn .... (people talking in background) Throgmorton/ So .... I think the Procter & Gamble bit is important. We need to signal that it's a priority for us. We have two years to work on this. We wanna get some things done. And .... I think that just has to be a strategic priority for us, and it's not just about Procter & Gamble. It's about Procter & Gamble and (several talking) supply chain. So.... Salih/ I agree. I agree really to have it on the strategic plan because (unable to understand) and we need to work on it. Botchway/ Jim, what are your thoughts on .... what I was saying about, you know, just in general maybe removing Procter & Gamble, um, from this and the .... there's two reasons I say that. One because there's multiple organizations that I think have lay-offs that we want to consider, but then two, I know that .... I don't know, I wanna say a year and a half ago, maybe two years ago, there was conversation around, um, removing our .... or having a particular bank's name associated with, um, oil removal, and we didn't want to put the name with... associated with it. I don't necessarily know if Procter & Gamble would want their name associated with a .... a document that's going to be .... I understand the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 23 implications and I know that it's news, and so I'm not disagreeing with it. I just .... why just Procter & Gamble? That's why I'm .... that's why I made the statement in general, even though we know it will be Procter & Gamble and other places. Throgmorton/ Because it's a big property taxpayer, a big employer, one of, I don't know, the second, third, whatever largest company in the city. Mims/ I would just say if you are going to keep it in, I think you need to broaden it, that it's not just P&G. You've got the whole supply chain. Throgmorton/ So, uh, maybe, uh (both talking) Ashley could find some way to incorporate language about .... and the related supply chain. Smock/ Okay. So I'm hearing keep it, with some wordsmithing. Yes, and I see heads nodding. Okay. All right, so..... Throgmorton/ If I could.... Smock/ Yes! Throgmorton/ Susan was gonna say (both talking) generally, yeah, so go ahead. Smock. So, Susan, let's go onto the other ones you were going to comment about. Mims/ Well I .... (both talking) Smock/ ...things we added that (both talking) Mims/ Yeah, I mean I just.....I have a concern with process. This happened two years ago as well. We .... we have a big strategic planning meeting. Everybody's supposed to bring their ideas. We .... we put all those together, and then it just seems like for weeks afterwards, things keep getting added. And I find that frustrating. I .... we don't have as much time to review `em. We don't have as much time to discuss them, and it just seems like .... a responsible way that when we have our meetings and we say this is what we're doing, we're bringing all our ideas to the table, in the years past we've always done a questionnaire, and people were supposed to respond to the questionnaire by a certain time, so everybody could see all the input and have a lot of time to think about things and evaluate it, and even two years ago, we had .... a bunch of stuff that came in for weeks afterwards and we see this again, and I mean, people make their decisions, but I will just comment again. I don't like this process when people keep dripping on this for weeks and weeks after we've had the original meeting. Taylor/ I think that also goes back, Susan, and several of us have made comments about that, that it's kind of backwards from how we did it two years ago also, cause we had our strategic planning sessions and then went on into the budget, that had our strategic plan in place This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 24 and didn't continue the discussion like we are this time. So I think .... you know what I mean? Mims/ No. Taylor/ Oh! Salih/ I guess (both talking) Mims/ I know we're not doing it in the same timeframe but I didn't understand the second part (several talking) Taylor/ ....the sequence right, right. Salih/ My understanding the strategic plan doesn't have a timeframe, but (unable to understand) by March if we can, but that's why if somebody else have like some ideas that they would like t add it I guess is something normal. We .... we can add any time (unable to understand) we did not, uh, you know, we still have time for it, and for me like a new person I just came, I can, you know, maybe you guys are preparing yourselves since last year, but I just joined January 1" or 2nd (unable to understand) we can add, just we have time. Thomas/ Well maybe we could just go through these and (several talking) Cole/ ....focus on D? Smock/ Focus on D, okay. So work with private landlords to transform the student -oriented housing around, and you guys can read through the rest of it, Van Buren, Johnson Streets. Cole/ I'm actually.... even though I support that, I'm opposed to this particular one because I think that's a huge project. Um.....so I .... I think it would be something good if we can do it, but that's actually a .... a very large-scale project as I see it, that I think could help us lose our focus on other strategic priorities. Salih/ Can someone explain what this exactly really.... because I don't know. Throgmorton/ Say.....say it again? Botchway/ Yeah what's goin'....yeah, what is this about? Salih/What this about? Throgmorton/ Yeah, well the area on .... on south Van Buren and south Johnson Street in particular is the site of several, quite a few, uh, quite a large number of student -oriented housing complexes that were built mainly in the 70s and 80s. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 25 Salih/ Uh huh. Throgmorton/ It radically transformed that whole neighborhood. It .... it, uh, lacks all sorts of amenities and just turns out to be, these are my words, a warehouse, a set of warehouses for students. Salih/ Uh huh. Throgmorton/ And that I think we have an opportunity if we engage it, to transform that area, that ... in a way that would be better for the students and better for the City. So, that said, I agree with Rockne. I mean this is my idea, I put it in here, but I don't think we oughta spend a lot of time on it right now. I....1, when I came up with this idea I was thinking this is something we really need to do. It's a very good thing to do. But we can't do it, really, in the next year or two with our current (several talking) Mims/ I agree with Rockne, you know, with the staff demands, I mean just trying to get through the, uh, form based code for the two areas already that we've identified and then potentially downtown. I just don't see that this is possible time -wise, um, and I agree ... I agree with Rockne, we've got a lot of other things that we're trying to focus on and it could pull the focus away from that. Thomas/ It's..... it's already identified in the Central District Plan, as a redevelopment zone. And I know I've spoken to staff, I .... I think it's, I've long supported it. It's .... and acknowledged as a need for redevelopment, whether it needs to be in our strategic plan. Throgmorton/ Okay, I think you hear that.... Smock/ We're gonna strike this one. Okay. C, follow through on the commitment made during a November 21, 17, work session discussion regarding Lusk Avenue. Botchway/ I would, um .... I would have the same comment but different re ... uh, reasoning. I think that we can .... I think we should remove this. Uh, you know, I .... ultimately .... I think it was here. I don't think it needs to be a strategic plan item. I just think we need to do what we said. And so, I mean, there was commitments we made. We need to follow through on those commitments. Um, you know, I don't wanna just highlight Lusk Avenue because I think there was some, a number of things from the citywide standpoint that we had talked about or discussed needed to be, uh, potentially looked into, so..um, I don't think it needs to be a strategic plan item. I think .... I don't wanna.... I don't warm limit the importance. It's a very important piece and I .... I know there's multiple residents that are interested in what we're going to do, but I just think we need to do what we said. Taylor/ I .... I agree and I think ... bate to add to work session topics, but it is something we need to follow through on it. It was a very important topic and.... generated a lot of, uh, very productive comments and suggestions, but we haven't heard anything back since then. So I think we do need some follow up somehow. But perhaps not in the strategic plan. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 26 Salih/ Yes. Cole/ I .... I actually would like to leave it in. Um.....and the reason is ... is that this is going to be a high -wattage endeavor. I mean it was not a simple issue as it originally arose. Um, we had some very complicated codes that I think the public didn't fully understand, nor do I time to time. Um, so I think it is this type of thing that for the next two years, um, I view the strategic plan as a process where we're really conveying that we want to take, you know, and spend a considerable amount of wattage on, and I think this particular, um, issue is something that I think we really do need to make the commitment to. I think to Kingsley's point, yeah, you're right. We could just sort of put it on our list of things to do, but I think this should be elevated up to that high level of focus for the next two years, uh, to make sure that we can, um, you know ...... get a development plan that works for the residents to prevent this from happening again. Botchway/ Yeah but I, again I wasn't saying that it (both talking) Cole/ ....it's not important (both talking) Botchway/ Well I wasn't also it's not a part of our, it's not just added to our list of things to do. I mean I think there's a level of importance that was heightened, not only at the meeting, but at our level of discussion about not wanting to see the same thing happen in other places in Iowa City. Cole/ Yeah. Botchway/ I just think that we need to do what we said, you know, I mean .... we stated that we didn't want to see, or we were going to work towards, um, not having that type of development. We just need to make sure we work towards that. That's why I don't see it as a strategic planning item. Cole/ Okay. Fruin/ Let me just jump in real quick and tell ya where we're goin'. If you remember, it was an open-ended work session and I think the Council was a little reluctant to give staff direction cause you wanted the .... the neighborhood to .... to comment back. Um, we didn't get anything back from the neighborhood formally. Um, so where we're going, uh, at a staff level, at least for now, is there's, um, some zoning code changes related to the occupancy that are working their way through P&Z now, that'll have a small impact on this issue. Um, and then we hope to do the form based code as we described at the last work session, which is the full South District code and maybe a form based code light on the Northside, and take elements of those two products and apply them to typical single- family neighborhoods to help with that issue. That solution's a couple years down the road, as you know, gettin' through the form based code. The other solution that we outlined was the historic district, and that doesn't .... at least from where we're sitting This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 27 right now, there doesn't appear to be neighborhood interest in the historic district. That .... that could change but that's where we left it with ya back on, in November. Thomas/ Could there be a way of prioritizing or trying to move .... this aspect of our form based coding, um, forward in ... in terms of getting something, the language revised so that we have.... Fruin/ Yeah (both talking) Smock/ So what I can't tell from (mumbled) is follow through on the commitments, um, what is the .... language from a, if you were to keep it as a strat item, which I think there's... still debate (laughs) about that, you wanna capture the essence of the commitment you're making in your strat plan. So is it .... do you already have it captured when you talk about getting to form based code or is there a different issue .... that you're trying to.... Throgmorton/ My sense, Courtney, is that.... after we had a lengthy work session discussion about this particular topic, we instructed staff to move ahead on certain ways of responding. I don't remember the number, but Geoff s already mentioned some of `em, and I think the .... the key thing that's necessary is feedback. Smock/ Uh huh. Throgmorton/ You know, we said we were gonna do X, Y, and Z. We did X, Y, and Z. Or .... or here's what happened when we tried to do X, Y, and Z. You know, so that we .... we can de ... demonstrate that we ... actually have follow through on our commitments. Smock/ Okay. Throgmorton/ Now if that .... I don't know if that has to be a strategic plan priority but.... Dilkes/ I think the .... the use of the word commitments is ... is ambiguous. I think Geoff is right. There were things left at the end of that meeting that required, you know, input from the neighbors. In terms of the big issue, the big issue of how do you prevent this from happening again? There were some smaller things, I think, that we also discussed that we could probably knock off pretty easily, but.....I.....I don't think that language is clear. Smock/ So first of all, is it.....is it a strategic item or not? Is it a just do it and finish it? Where..... where are you guys at based on this discussion? Mims/ I would leave it out. Botchway/ I'd leave it out. Thomas/ I'd leave it out. I think, yeah, the .... with respect to Lusk or Manville Heights, I guess is really what .... I would say we don't know what the neighborhoods' direction is. Um, so my concern more is .... on a more generic or general level, you now, of avoiding that This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 28 type of development anywhere in Iowa City is .... is the concern, and that, um, that's a code revision, as .... as far as I can see. (several talking) Throgmorton/ I'd say leave it out. Smock/ Okay! Throgmorton/ ...given the conversation. Taylor/ But it is important that we continue to keep that in the back of our minds about the code revisions and those kinds of things that, uh, were involved in the Lusk decision. I think ..... I think it's important we don't forget that. Smock/ Well I think managing the expectations of how long a code revision is felt in your community. That's just a hard thing, right? Yep. Okay. All right, so that gets us through the green adds, I believe. Let me just make sure (both talking) Thomas/ I do want to, um..... Smock/ Yeah! Thomas/ ....ask a question on, under the foster healthy neighborhoods on .... on E..... Smock/ Uh huh. Thomas/ ...which has to do with, um, completing an analysis of traffic accident data, that item, um, the language there I see is reflective of ...we're addressing the question of vision zero, which I had presented. Uh, another item that I had .... had raised, and I had thought was, there was support for was the idea of, um, 20 -mile -per -hour slow neighborhood concept, um, and I don't see that and I'm not clear (several talking) Fruin/ Yeah, the notes I have from the meeting, um, was that.....we were gonna reword that item, uh, to move away from a action plan that kind of, uh, insinuated we would hire a consultant, let staff do the analysis, and that the, um, slow streets initiative may be an outcome from whatever actions that we identified. So that's.... that's why we took it out when we redid the language. We felt that was more of an outcome that would, um, rise to the surface after the analysis was done. But..... certainly you can add it back in if that wasn't the intent. Botchway/ I think for me, John,if I'm remembering I was generally supportive of, um, but I would agree, I mean I don't wanna.... put something in there and then we do something differently, and so I mean I would .... I was wanting to get that analysis and then have that discussion, and ultimately, I mean, what you articulated sounds like a good idea, and so we may or, you know, as a Council or I may support that later on, but I just didn't want it identified clearly in the language there because then we .... we'd have to do it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 29 Smock/ Yeah, the identified action (mumbled) identified actions left it broad enough that you could come back and evaluate those, and that was .... you guys brought .... you guys talked a lot about very specific actions that might come out of it and then I think after discussion came back and said let's leave it identified actions and then we can talk about them more specifically as they come up (both talking) Throgmorton/ ...that's the way I remember too. Smock/ Does that help, John? Thomas/ Yeah, I mean they are.... the..... the two proposals I was putting forth, um.....are, it might be very different in the sense that the .... the, uh, what's described here is related more to what I was describing as a vision zero. The .... the slow streets in the neighborhoods is .... is kind of a policy decision, which doesn't require any analysis of traffic data. It's simply a concept, or a policy, that applies to residential neighborhoods. So it ... it's something that has a different .... uh, process involved, um.....that doesn't entail any .... any traffic data analysis. Taylor/ I .... I agree with John and I think, uh, with like maybe a goal of, uh, of the vision zero, uh, concept in it. Thomas/ And I .... I'm okay with it not being.....specific, the language specific, as long as .... (both talking) Smock/ It doesn't get lost (both talking) Thomas/ ....I understand that staff understands (laughs) that, uh, you know, they (both talking) Fruin/ Yeah, I think .... if you're lookin' at `em as two separate things, then include `em as two separate things here. What .... what this anticipates is that we would let the traffic accident data to dictate the action steps. Um .... that's.....that's kinda the path that we're goin' on. If the slow streets initiative is unrelated to traffic accident data, that's just a policy that you want to adopt for the city, um, to ... to try to slow vehicles down in neighborhoods, regardless of the .... the accident data that we have, then list `em as two different things, cause those would be .... those would be different. Taylor/ Think it relates to one of the items that ... that's on our agenda, to talk about one of the streets that the request was to slow down or have stop signs at the intersection, cause it was listed as just one accident or two accidents on that street, and uh, 85....85 h percentile for speed, uh, so I think .... we're already looking at that kind of data, but not getting anywhere with it as far as a plan or a solution. Cole/ John, along those lines, maybe I was thinking, just develop a slow neighborhoods pilot, or assess and develop a slow neighborhoods pilot, because I think I would be concerned if we were only looking at traffic data, um, to determine traffic speeds. I think there's this healthy debate about, you know, just sort of what .... what role traffic does play in This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 30 assessing what we want for our neighborhoods. I would like our neighborhoods, especially residential neighborhoods, to be 20 max. I don't want to get to that degree of specificity, but I think developing a slow neighborhoods, urn .... pilot project over the next two years, I think could be doable, and that'd give staff plenty of..... Thomas/ I think that would require policy, so ... so that .... that would be.....I agree, I mean I think it's something that you would .... most likely in terms of implementation, would be done at a very specific level, in a specific neighborhood that would almost be thought of as a.....as a pilot. WOMANIVIMiw Thomas/ Uh, but it seems to me the first step would be developing the policy, and then .... you know. Geoff, I don't know if you have any thoughts on this but..... Fruin/ Ultimately it's going to come down to enforcement, right? Cause you can switch the 25 - mile -per -hour signs and put 20 and put some flags on or additional signs, but you guys have had a lot of conversations. People drive it what they're comfortable with driving. So, um..... Botchway/ Are you pointing at me? (laughter) Fruin/ So, you know, I think it's.....I think it's probably a broader policy discussion. I just .... I just wanted to be clear on why we .... why we dropped that. If ...if there's an appetite for just having that discussion, then I think it either needs to be reflected here or (both talking) Throgmorton/Well, I'm comfortable with the way it is right now. Mims/ So am I. Throgmorton/ I ..... I (several talking) uh, item E, because of the complexities of all of this, John. Taylor/ It does say identify actions to improve the safety, so .... that would include those ideas. Throgmorton/ Are there four for keeping .... stickin' with E? Apparently there are. Yeah. Smock/ Okay, so we have (several talking) for that (both talking) Cole/ Can we move down.... Smock/ Yep! So, um, we're gonna move to miscellaneous now. I'm gonna ask, uh, Ashley and Geoff, I may as for some help, but everything in miscellaneous has an asterisk by it, so this says this is .... staff is working it, and I think .... I think the discussion here is .... is it... is .... are there any of these that you guys feel should be elevated to strat plan level, or you're comfortable where they're at? Are we clear about what they are? And I think we This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 31 do need to go through `em and make sure we're clear. Right now, Geoff, do you want to comment on.....(both talking) Fruin/ (both talking) just real quick, these are items that have filtered through staff in the last two months. A lot of `em were, um, brought up at the budget meetings, so questions that were raised by Council, desires for work sessions, those types of things. Um, we just wanted to .... to keep the list going with .... with the strat plan. So, yes, we've identified all of these from a staff perspective. We don't see them as strategic plan worthy, uh, if you will, but you're ultimately the decider on that. Um....I think what would be good here is if you can go through these, strike any that you no longer care about or, uh, that you don't want to revisit, uh, if there are any, and for the other ones just confirm that, uh, yes they could be added to the pending work session list. Um, and .... and we'll go forward and tackle each one of `em individually as the year goes on. Tbrogmorton/ I think the green ones are different, Geoff, uh, I .... I didn't realize that asterisks were attached to them. I .... I (both talking) Fruin/ Those were my asterisks, not yours (laughter) just to be clear. Throgmorton/ Yeah, okay, so .... um.....maybe we could go through that ... that, I don't know, the first seven or eight or whatever it is that have asterisks and just see if we want (both talking) Smock/ ....and then get to the green ones? Okay. Does that work for everybody? Throgmorton/ (both talking) ....put them into the work session. Smock/ Okay, so increase opportunities for the Council to engage with City staff and consider a volunteer survey to all employees, seeking feedback on City related issues. Cole/ Strike. (several talking) Smock/ Okay, strike, and I heard .... I heard strike and I heard work session. Botchway/ Well wait a minute! It's mine. I don't wanna strike it! (laughter) For me it was looking at it from our strategic planning standpoint, we don't have any data that comes back from the update or what, um, what Ashley sends out from update standpoint. (several talking) Mims/ I'd like to make a quick suggestion. We're at 6:22. We're supposed to have a presentation from the Chief tonight. We don't have a whole lot of time. Can we .... (both talking) Throgmorton/ Well this is (both talking) these.... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 32 Mims/ Let me .... let me finish, Kingsley, please. Can we, for right now, can we just hold this discussion to whether or not it goes in the strat plan? Botchway/ I would (both talking) Mims/ ....further discussion later of whether we even put it on a work session or whether we just strike it? Botchway/ I would agree with that, Susan, but I would just say these were put in like in .... Jan ....early January, and so I mean I get that you wanna move forward on it pretty quickly here, but you know ..... these were added a long time ago (both talking) Mims/ Oh yeah, I know! No, no, I realize most of these aren't new. Smock/ So let's .... let's try to do that. Let's try to say strat plan .... we agree it's working session and have the discussion of if it's .... did we miss something, it's actually strategic, and then you guys can figure out if it's work session or strike separately. Let's try that, okay? Okay, so um, A, strategic or no? (several responding) No. Okay. B, review the Farmers Market vendor rules and regulations. (several responding) Review federal tax law changes, how it impacts Iowa City, and (several talking) Cole/ ....I heard Susan and me, I mean (several talking) Smock/ Oh, sorry! It was loud from here. Dilkes/ Why don't you raise your hands? Salih/ (unable to understand) hearing two people say take it out, just ask everyone. Smock/ Okay! Dilkes/ Raise hands! Cole/ Yeah! Smock/ Okay, so on B, Farmers Market vendor rules and regulation. Is that strategic or ... we'll just call it working. Okay? So if it's strategic raise your hand. Okay. C, review federal tax law changes, how it impacts Iowa City, and what responses if any other cities are pursuing. Is that strategic? Yes, hands. D, review the breakdown of Senior Center membership by city, county of residence. Strategic, raise a hand. E, forecast road resurfacing projects in the community. Strategic? F, add City Council district boundaries to the CIP map and offer report on visible project per district. Strategic? No. And G, review participatory budget research from staff and determine the actions for the next budget cycle. Is that strategic? No. H, develop a long-term plan for anonymous vehicles. (several talking) Oh, autonomous! Anonymous..... do you know an anonymous vehicle, it's one without a license plate (laughter) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 33 Throgmorton/ So it's possible this will take longer to discuss than we really want to take right now. Uh, the next one also has to do with autonomous (both talking) Smock/ Autonomous, yes. Throgmorton/ There's a lot of research out there that's focusing on the vehicles themselves, and there's a world-renowned expert here in Iowa City at the University who focuses on vehicles. That's not what this particular item suggests. It suggests we need to have, be actively looking at other, um, non -vehicle related aspects of the in ... uh, of the arrival of autonomous vehicles. Uh, havin' to do with effects on VMT, havin' to do with effects on parking structures, havin' to do with effects on, uh, the viability of mini -buses, and a whole bunch of other stuff that's de .... delineated and, um, in a short article by Jeff Speck that we had in one of our recent, uh, information packets. So, I .... I really think, strongly believe, that we need to be as a matter of priority, focusing attention on those vehicles, but I mean.... focusing attention on how we can actively shape the effects of, um, the coming of autonomous vehicles. I .... and I could elaborate but I don't wanna chew up time doin' that. Smock/ Thoughts on this topic? Taylor/ That sounds like more of a strategic plan kind of thing. Botchway/ We just changed the process. What are we gonna do? Are we rollin' through these and saying yes or no strategic plan (both talking) Smock/ So ... the green ones are different cause they're new, the yellow (mumbled) Should we go to the yellow one and come back to the green? (several responding) Cause I .... you guys did have a ... the green are new, and so I'm .... so let's look at J and then we'll come back and see how much time we have to look at green. J, review the temporary use of right-of- way process for construction projects, the impact those have on business and residents, and what the City does to alleviate concerns. Is that strategic? Yes or no? Yes? Okay, so with the time you have, you have three greens in miscellaneous, one, um, Jim's already talked about I, that he feels like he wants to have a discussion on whether or not that's strategic, and .... and maybe give more context to that discussion. Um ..... if you guys read through K and L ..... maybe the .... the (mumbled) are any of those easier or harder, or they require discussion (several talking) Tbrogmorton/ I'd like to make a suggestion, which is consistent with what Susan suggested, uh, several minutes ago. We could discuss these three items after .... uh, our formal meeting, if that's all right with you folks, but Chief, I don't know how much time you were hopin' to take, you know ... we could do 15 minutes. Is that .... is that ample? Courtney, do you mind if we do that? Smock/ No, that's fine! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 34 Throgmorton/ Yeah, you've really helped us work through all .... all this other stuff. Smock/ Absolutely! That's fine! Throgmorton/ That way we can .... so for people who are just tuning in, we're now turning to Chief.... Police Chief Jody Matherly. Welcome, Jody. It's good to see you. Presentation by Police Chief Matherlv: Matherly/ Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, uh, I was asked to talk a little bit about, uh, what we're doing, uh, with some of the, um .... uh, bias -based and hate -related incidents that are going on in Iowa City, uh, as well as, uh, what we've done post the, uh, Johnson, uh, County Inter -Faith Coalition, uh, JCIC as they call it, meeting to .... to, um, see where we've gone with that. So let me just start with this. Uh, the Police Department has spent a lot of time in past years, um, trying to advance social equity and .... and, or social justice and racial equity. Um, we meet, continually meet with community members, with community groups, uh, to not just assess their needs but continually reassess their needs and find out what it is the community wants and needs with our Police Department and how we respond to ... to crimes. Um, I will tell you in 2017, I've been here one year, we have, uh, almost had four times the amount of, uh, bias -based policing and, uh, cultural diversity training than we had back in 2016. Uh, so we went from 250 hours up to, uh, 11 ....over 1,100 hours in training. So we put a lot of emphasis on making sure officers understand the importance of diversity, and how we handle situations when they do arise. Um, so I tell you all that to tell you this, that we take incidents of bias -based, um, crimes, hate crimes, and anything that, uh, is hate -related very seriously. And, um.....I will tell you we've had about five incidents in the last 15 months of, uh, situations where it is uh... uh, hateful in nature. It's .... it's mean spirited, it's vial, but it's not always against the law. So sometimes stuff is protected speech. Sometimes incidents that happen, uh, do in fact violate the law. Uh, sometimes they are hate crimes, and sometimes they're just mean and it may violate other crimes, such as trespass or littering or violation of our City ordinance handbills, urn .... but they're not always a hate crime in and of itself. Okay? So there is a difference. Um.....when we have a crime that is, um .... vial hatred type cri ... or, uh, situations, and it isn't based on a (mumbled) since the fliers that we saw down at Wetherby neighborhood. Um, technically that could be considered littering. You're taking items and you're throwin' `em in somebody's yard and they don't want `em there. Now we see the Iowa City ... well, let me not pick on (laughs) we've seen whose paper, um, organizations that sometimes throw the ads on your lawn, and I don't want that, I didn't sign up for it, what's it doin' here. But we don't necessarily charge those organizations with a crime for littering or anything. So ... if speech is protected and it is taking place, um, and it's attached to a low-level type, uh, crime, we don't necessarily charge that person, if it's protected speech. To do so would be selective enforcement on our part. It would be charging somebody with .... with a crime that we wouldn't normally charge them with, just because we didn't agree with what they said, uh, on those fliers. If the fliers are legally protected speech, and it violates laws like littering and handbills and .... and things of that nature, it doesn't mean that we're automatically going to charge `em. I'll use the flag burning down in the ped mall as an example. It wasn't the fact that This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 35 somebody burned the flag. It was the fact that they had an open flames during a crowded lunch hour in our ped mall. It was a dangerous situation. And so those individuals were charged and .... and were found responsible for that. So I just want to make it sure that... that we're clear that that, um, there is a difference in those. Now here's what's important. I warm make sure the community knows this and I want to reassure you folks, uh, any time these things happen, regardless if we think that they're legal, illegal, uh, we're not quite sure, gee that doesn't seem right — give us a call. I just stood next to the Governor yesterday at the State Capitol during a press conference, representing the Iowa Police Chiefs Association on the renewed effort for `See Something, Say Something,' and we all know now with the school shooting down in Florida how important that is, that if you're seein' somethin' goin' on, say something, and the same thing goes with this. If folks see somethin' in our community that doesn't seem right, it could be a hate crime, it might offend a lot of people — give us a call. Put it on our lap and let us respond, uh, quickly, and let us fully investigate it. That means we'll gather evidence. We'll interview witnesses. We'll try to identify those responsible, and number one we'll find out if a crime occurred, and if it did occur, then we'll take appropriate action. Um, but....but the biggest thing is gathering intelligence, making sure that we mitigate damage. Let's get that item out of circulation or whatever the .... the harmful piece is, and then we investigate, and we'll make those decisions, but let us be responsible for that. Doing nothing, uh, posting on Facebook and sayin' look how terrible, uh, you know, things are in the state of Iowa, um, is not the answer. Again, it's public speech and if somebody wants to post that they can, but at least call us and let us.....you know, take action on that. So I encourage everybody to do that. Now I will tell you if we don't respond appropriately, we've seen this, uh, about a year and a half ago before I got here, uh, then we'll fix that, but our officers are well-trained and they're very sensitive to the fact that we need to make sure that we're responding, um, appropriately to these incidents when they do occur. So, and I will assure you that will continue to happen. So, the .... the legal aspects, like I said, do vary and .... and we .... we don't want, you know, we don't want to base our .... our enforcement on emotions. You know, we have to make sure we're fair to everybody. So .... since the JCIC meeting and I'll address a few things here that ... that they asked us to do and tell you what we've done. I met with the, I say "I ....... there was about six of us on the Police Department that met with the, uh, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FBI out of Cedar Rapids, with their head agent there, and he said, now we walk through each of these incidents to ... to say `is there anything we're missing here on these,' and he agreed with the final dispositions on those, that yes, that's not a crime. It's.... it's mean, but .... but, you know, whatever the case was, so, uh, those five incidents that .... that we have record of, and we do full police reports on these, and we also notify our equity office, just so you know, um .... uh, equity director. So everybody's in the loop on these, but he agreed with the dispositions. He also said that .... that, you know, he can come to Iowa City and be of service, not just from the law enforcement side but also the education side. And so we were going.... we're going to be partnering with the FBI to do a little more education with the community, um, a little more outreach. We talked about public forums and things of that nature and, uh, we need to do more of that as well in this arena. So, that is one good thing that came out of the JCIC meeting, um, to make sure that we're hosting more of those, and so we're planning those with organizations inside Iowa City here. Um (clears throat) we have designated one investigator, uh, to handle all This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 36 these types of incidents, and actually before the JCIC meeting I had met with command staff and said it's a good idea to do that, and we do that for consistency reasons. We do that so there's a proper interpretation of the law, so we're dealing with the City Attorney's office, the County Attorney's office, and the FBI to make sure that it's very consistent, and that it's equal enforcement across the board, cause otherwise, different officers may use different discretion and make different decisions and .... and that kind of inconsistency is not good. So we wanna make sure that we're doing that right. So, um, Mike Smithey, if you all know him, he'll be the investigator that will be handling these. He's .... as good as they come, so we're in good hands there. Um (clears throat) he will be the liaison with the FBI and area police agencies as well. One of the desires was to have us make sure that we connect with Cedar Rapids and the Quad Cities and find out what's going in those areas. We do that quite often, and that will continue, um, through Officer Smithey. We also, um.....we'll have him meet regularly with JCIC, and any organization, and we do this all the time anyway, that wants to meet with us to keep them in the loop and let them know exactly what we've uncovered and .... and within legal boundaries, and uh, where we stand with things, especially right after an incident takes place. So, that'll be very important. And then, as far as monitoring hate crimes and, uh, activity, we do that all the time. We have several different intelligence data bases. We just confirmed with the FBI to make sure that we are up to speed, and everything we're doing is everything they have and everything's well connected, and he assured us that we were in the appropriate position to get any intel they have, and vice versa. If we get intel that they get it too, so that piece is not missing. Uh, we verified that. And we're in good shape there. And so that will continue. Uh, as far as known hate groups in .... in the eastern side of the state, uh, there are no known formal hate groups that we know of, and the FBI knows of, in the eastern side of the state. Now if you look on the Southern Poverty Law Center web site, there's three hate groups, uh, in Iowa, urn ..... and so those exist. Um, one's out of Des Moines, two they consider statewide, uh, but we don't have any known hate groups that are sitting in our area, and one of the concerns are, as these things elevate, are hate groups startin' to gain speed and will they elevate, and we would be concerned about that, um, but I will tell you we'll keep that intelligence piece in place. If we see something.... moving forward, uh, then we'll take appropriate action on that. So, uh, let me close with this. Um, you know, we're gonna continue to deal with these issues as they come up. If anybody feels that we're not doing the job, um, that the officers have .... fell short of a proper investigation, a proper response, call me. It's as simple as that. Um, they certainly have the right to go to the City Council, to the City Manager, but after 35 years of this, I will tell you it gets referred right back to my desk, uh, and the buck stops there. So I just wanna encourage people, if. ... if something doesn't seem right, if we seem like we're fallin' short, give me a call and we'll take, you know, action to make sure that ... that wherever we did fall short will be fixed. But my officers know what they're doin'. They're well trained. Um, they're professionals, and I'm certain, confident, that we're in a good position to handle these things when they arise. Throgmorton/ Thanks for the report, Jody. Uh, I think we all understand how important this is, and how traumatic it must be for individuals to .... to see some of the images that have been shared online or in the brochure or flier or whatever, and .... how it's just... just This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 37 wrong to be traumatizing people that way, but .... all these questions about what's legal, what's not legal, what's free speech, what's hate speech, and so on, so .... thanks for what you're doing. Keep track of it. Keep us posted. And keep on keepin' on! Matherly/ Thank you, Mayor! Botchway/ Chief... Chief Matherly, one quick thing. Matherly/ Yeah! Botchway/ Is this going to be any type of.....statement? Now I know this may have, um, been part of the conversation that you two, and maybe Geoff was a part of, with the Inter -Faith Community, but .... you know, there's other individuals who may be interested in hearing exactly what you stated, and I tried to put it in a tweet, but you know, I .... I had three steps. We met with the FBI to look into incidents of hate crime. We've designated an officer to address hate crimes, and we've confirmed the FBI we are monitoring data appropriately related to hate crimes. Matherly/ I .... I think that's spot on. Uh, I will tell you we're planning a public forum here shortly. Botchway/ Okay. Matherly/ Um, the FBI'll be there. There'll be a couple of local organizations that'll be there and sponsoring it with us. To invite the public to come in and hear exactly this and we've got refreshments lined up and a.....and a venue, so we're making good progress in that area. We want to open those doors and let the folks hear for themselves, um, and the media can certainly be there to ... to continue.... continue to get that message out. Um .... including on social media. So.... Throgmorton/ Okee doke. Salih/ Do we have a plan for like how we're gonna reach the Inter -Faith group, to tell them exactly..... Matherly/ Yes, so Officer Smithey will be reaching out to them, urn .... yes, he'll be their liaison. So yes, he'll be givin' `em feedback. We just met with the FBI last .... get my days right, last Wednesday. Uh, and then the weekend came with the holiday so, but yes, that's forthcoming. Throgmorton/ Good deal. (several responding) Matherly/ Thank you very much. Throgmorton/ All right, it's, uh, 19 till 7:00. Let's adjourn the work session. We'll reconvene after the formal meeting. (BREAK FOR FORMAL) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 38 Strategic Planning Discussion [IN of 2/15 Info Packet] (cont.): Throgmorton/ (mumbled) for the rest of the evening, and I think most of us, at least some of us, are getting a bit tired, but we have some other things to do. So let's find out. We have to pick back up .... on the last three items of the .... the strategic plan discussion. Botchway/ Where's Courtney? (several talking and laughing) Throgmorton/ Thankfully she left! (laughter) And then luckily we don't have to discuss clarifying agenda items, and we don't have to do Council updates. The only other thing we gotta do is information packet discussion, which I know there're a couple.... significant items on that. So, uh, in the absence of Courtney, I'll try to facilitate this discussion, which'll be a little bit difficult for me because in, uh, the spirit of being, uh, transparent about all this, the three items that we have left to discuss are ones that I suggested. The first was one we very briefly touched on at the end of our discussion during the work session, about, uh..... well, one way to put it is develop a long-term plan for autonomous vehicles. That's a nice shorthand version of it. But the .... one thing I refer to in my brief discussion earlier tonight .... was an article that Jeff Speck wrote. It... it appeared in our ... October 26a' information packet. It's titled `10 Rules for Cities About Automated Vehicles.' And he says the focus should not be exclusively on vehicles, which is what Dan McGehee, my good friend Dan McGehee does. He's very good at it, very knowledgeable. But he argues that .... Jeff Speck argues that the focus should not be on the vehicles along, but instead it should be on how can we provide the most useful mobility to the most people with the most positive outcomes for society. So .... and then he has 10 rules that he proposes, and they're all about tryin' to figure out how to bring these autonomous vehicles into a city in a way that .... is compatible with your goals and objectives for the community, rather than being really passive and waiting for those vehicles to come and then adapting and responding. (mumbled) So, that's why I .... I suggest that we have a strategic plan item, uh, about actively preparing for increased use of au .... sorry, increased use of autonomous vehicles and buses, but we .... we need somebody to advise us on this, you know, somebody who's not focused on vehicles, but focused instead on how, um, these vehicles could affect the ... our, the city and our plans for the city. Cole/ Won't that be a DOT issue though, Jim? I mean I think of for example the transportation network companies. We have a lot of policy discussions on that. The State ended up taking away our authority to regulate. I .... I could see that happening with autonomous vehicles, that these will most likely be set in Des Moines. Throgmorton/ Well I think they would probably (both talking) probably regulate autonomous vehicles as such, but there are all sorts of, I mean, if you read Jeff Speck's article you know what I mean. There're all sorts of other consequences associated with the use of autonomous vehicles and our choices and discretion we can make, and discretion we can exercise about how to bring them into our city (mumbled) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 39 Mims/ Can .... and I appreciate your giving us some background information. But, can we keep this to the discussion of are we going to put this on the strategic plan or not. Throgmorton/ Sure. Mims/ I would say not. I think we .... I think we've built ourselves a pretty full strategic plan. think it's important. I'd like to see it probably on the strategic plan in two years. Thomas/ (several talking) Yeah, from a timing standpoint it's necessary to act now. Cole/ Yeah. Thomas/ (both talking) ...concern, I mean Jeff has had other, I've heard other conversations with him, and you know, it's a serious issue, uh, that .... cities and towns will be facing but .... I think we can put it off for a while. Throgmorton/ What do the rest of you think? Salih/ I just wanna ask, when we have an item on the strategic plan, do we have to accomplish that item in two year? We have to? Mims/ That's the goal or at least get a good start on it, and I'm concerned that we don't ... with everything we've got on there, and the commitment of staff, that we don't really have an opportunity to even get a good start on it. That's why I think putting it on ..... looking at putting it on in two years would be a really good possibility. Salih/ Okay. Botchway/ Yeah, I'm a no, but I am ... you know, I .... I am supportive. I'm forgetting the name of the gentleman that just retired, and I know you know him, Jim. Um .... Parks and, uh, used to do, not Parks, sorry! Parking and, um, Transportation for the ... (several talking) Dave! Um, talked a lot about this, or at least talked to him rather recently about this concept, especially the use of large parking structures.... structures and, uh, surface lots. I ... I just don't see this as a strategic plan item now, but I am interested in having a conversation about it. Throgmorton/ Okay, well that decisions been made. Geoff, I wonder if. ... if you could just kind of look around for someone who could provide us with fruitful advice at some point, uh, over the coming year or so. It's a very short step (several talking) here. Okay, the other two, well the next item is, uh.... recommended item is to create a new student internship program to assist interested Council Members. Mims/ I don't see that as a strategic planning item. I think if. ... put it on that list to maybe talk about at work sessions. I don't see that as strategic plan. Botchway/ Me either. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 40 Cole/ Neither do I. Taylor/ What would they be assisting us with? Salih/ I guess we can move it to a work session. Mims/ Potential work session. Throgmorton/ Okay, I hear support for doing that. All right. Salih/ Yeah. Throgmorton/ Uh, the last item is to consider doubling the salary for City Council Members, effective January the l'`, 2020. I think that's the legally required date. Mims/ Again I see that as more of a work session, not a strategic plan item. Botchway/ I just see it as a budget item, but um, but yeah, I would say a work session, at least first off. Thomas/ I'd say work ... I would .... uh, my wording would have been consider increasing, uh, you know (mumbled) quite so specific but, uh, yeah. Work session item I think seems appropriate. Taylor/ I think work session too. It would give us time to see what other communities, surrounding communities (both talking) Throgmorton/ All right, but I ... I want to be clear about why I made this particular suggestion, and I .... I agree, it doesn't need to be doubling, but just .... uh, I think it's very clear that, um, individual members of the Council can find themselves in a financial bind because of their own unique circumstances havin' to do with, uh, their employment, their family situation, or whatever, and I think the salary that we currently pay Council Members is far too low .... to encourage people in certain circumstances to even consider running for office. It's a point that's been discussed before. I think it's pretty clear that that's, um, a situation that needs to be rectified. But I also ... don't hear support for doing this, putting this on the strategic plan. Salih/ But since it two year .... we cannot put it on the strategic plan? Mims/ We can talk about it in a work session. Throgmorton/ We can definitely talk about it in a work session. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 41 Cole/ Yeah, I .... I support work session and then also, um, you know, benefits like health insurance and those sorts of thing. We wouldn't decide that, but those would be also part of the discussion. Throgmorton/ I would agree. Salih/ Work session. Taylor/ Yeah, I've continually heard from the work session, they're surprised at what we do get and they....they all say, oh, you should in .... it should be more. Mims/ So if I'm .... my notes right, all of these under miscellaneous, let me rephrase that. All of `em are going to go to a potential work session, or at least for further discussion later, but not in (both talking) yeah, but not in the strategic plan. Okay. Botchway/ I would say to that point, Susan, you know I'd be interested in, you know, kind of doing a (mumbled) whatever! Um, prioritization of, uh, thank you, Pauline, of um.... work session items as well. Mims/ Well we may not even want to put all these on a work session (several talking) strategic plan or not. Botchway/ Right. (several talking) Information Packet Discussion [February S. February 151: Throgmorton/ All right, so we can tum to the info packet discussion, I think, unless I'm jumpin' ahead (several talking) Botchway/ ...seems like y'all have a little bit to do so .... (laughter) Get it done as quickly as possible (laughs) Actually there's still an hour left before midnight, so.... Throgmorton/ All right (several talking) February 8 packet. Anybody have anything in that packet? Taylor/ On IP 1, the tentative meeting schedule. Did we make a decision yet on the June ... I mean it's a little far along yet, but on the June 19°i meeting? Cause there were two or three of ya that—weren't (both talking) Fruehling/ I know I had sent an email asking for schedules, but I think at the same time we had said maybe waiting till it got closer. Taylor/ Closer, okay. Fruehling/ I did hear, I know Jim's going to be gone. Rockne's gonna be gone. I think Maza's gonna be gone. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 42 Salih/ Yes. Throgmorton/ Yeah, so we'll have to revisit that, but .... later when we.... Taylor/ Okay. Throgmorton/ ...somewhat closer .... to that date. Anything else on February 8's packet? Mims/ Just in brevity, uh.... Geoff, thank you but not, for IP3. That was depressing article to read on .... Trump's State of the Union and what it means for cities. I'll leave it at that. Fruin/ I'll, uh, just mention IP2, because you're in strategic planning discussions, I think it's a good reminder. That's a couple of initiatives our Parks Department, uh, taking on, uh, for environmental certification of Kickers and the edible landscaping, um, just to show that, you know, whatever you set as your strategic plan priorities, we will try to come up with things on our own to push forward with as well. Botchway/ As a potential additional work session item, you know, balancing uplifting and you know depressing articles (laughter) Throgmorton/ All right, can we go to the February 15°i packet. Uh, I'd like to bring up item ... IPS. Sorry, IPS, pending work session topics. Geoff, you and I talked a bit about the annexation policy, about how that could be on our next .... uh, work session. Yeah. Fruin/ Yeah, we'd be ready for that. Throgmorton/ Yeah, okay so, uh, we should plan on that. Remember it's part of the affordable housing action plan so ..... that's the context. Fruin/ Yep! And I wanna, while you're on IP5, uh, this is where we're goin' with your strategic plan list. We're kinda transitioning from the strategic plan list to this pending list, so you can see that we've broken out some other, uh, topics and based on your discussion tonight, I'll update this, but um, we're movin' things into kinda three categories. What are your strategic planning items that need some Council direction before we can actually get started on `em, what's that long list of other topics you've.... you've, uh, asked to put on work session agendas that you might prioritize later on, and then some of those items that I don't even think probably need to be work session items. I'd just put under pending staff requests. So those are memos that we'll work on. Throgmorton/ So, with regard to the strategic plan, it seems to me we need a .... to see a final draft of the strategic plan so that we have an opportunity to say (mumbled) not quite what I meant (mumbled) somethin' really pretty (both talking) Fruin/ We'll have that ready for March 6°itoo. I'll put that and the annexation policy on your work session. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 43 Salih/ And I also just wanna ask like since I'm new, how .... like how the City Manager (unable to understand) the strategic plan, because I guess we would like to see that our (unable to understand) initiative. Just if you can tell me how you (both talking) Frain/ Yeah, little different this year. I hope to actually bring back to you, um, within a month or two, um, a ... an implementation plan that shows each item, what we see are the intended action steps, what we see are staff roles and what we see are Council roles, so that we make sure we're all on the pa ... the same page from the get -go. I plan to have Courtney help us as a department head team work on that and get that back to ya. It doesn't mean we won't start working on these things until that's done, but, um I think it's important early on that we're all on the same page and who needs, you know, do the staff need Council direction first, is Council waitin' on staff to provide info, what does it all look like. Throgmorton /Any other topics? Cole/ IP7 (several talking) Yeah. I was going to say IP7, it's the Aid Swap, urn .... (several talking) and that was something that I know that our construction trades very passionately spoke to us about six months ago, and for people that are listening out in the audience, if you're still there, um, as I understand it, this .... this particular State statute allows us to switch out federal funds, um, to essentially allow them to administer.....only federal projects, then we get state funds and that would free us up from, uh, certain federal requirements in terms of wage, environmental review, uh, for purposes of our own local road projects. Um, the practical impact of that, at least as a concern by the construction trade was that it'd be a depressed impact on wages and um, this came up in the context at MPOJC, um, and so at least I want them to at least weigh in, and I also would like to invite, you know, some of the advocates for this .... this swap, um, so we'd have both sides'd be able to present because it wasn't clear to me that our construction trade was made aware that we're going to be doing that, unless I'm misunderstanding something. So I think they should be notified of that. And um, I think MPOJC was going to want us to come back and communicate sort of where we're gonna be on this, and at least until I hear differently, from the construction trades and possibly some industry advocates, I'm gonna be against this Aid Swap, uh, the swap plan. Uh, cause I don't think it's gonna be good. I think it's gonna have the impact potentially, if not for our workers, I mean we have a higher wage structure here in Iowa City, but to set the standard that we don't support this sort of policy. Throgmorton/ I understand the point, Rockne. Can I ask a question pertaining to it though? I ... I'm lookin' at some text that appears in the .... the memo or whatever we got, and it ind... it indicates that on ... in April of 2017, Governor Branstad signed Senate File 438, which prohibits state and local governments from using project labor agreements on construction projects and prohibits the city from imposing any condition that limits the pool of potential bidders, blah, blah, blah. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 44 Cole/ But it's the federal requirement, as I understand, that requires the, what is it, the Davis Bacon wage (several talking) standard. So it's not us doing the project labor agreement. I think that's why labor had spoke out against it, because of that requirement, but I think .... I would just like to hear from them directly, um, I think we should reach out and communicate to them on that issue, and again, industry. I mean if they, if we're missing something, they can articulate those (mumbled) although I think the memo sort of articulates what the benefits are. Um, at least as identified by staff. (several talking) Taylor/ I was just gonna say, although the memo on .... the letter from Kent Ralston on the 24°i, he said while there's no inherent harm in opting in or out, there still are many questions of exactly how the policy would be implemented. It remains unanswered. So I think, uh, deciding on something that there's still a lot of questions that are unanswered about is kind of difficult. Botchway/ Yeah (mumbled) one of the other, and this is a question for you, Geoff, maybe you were going to answer it. I just had issues as far as can we not take any steps? I mean it goes back to Jim's point, I saw that in the memo as well, you know, and then if we can't take any steps, can we at least as a Council then wait and see in a sense or .... talk about us waiting and see as a MPO .... MPOJC committee, but I'll wait on what your..... Fruin/ Yeah, so number one, it's not a City Council vote. It's an MPO. It's all or nothing on the MPO. So individual cities that are part of the Johnson County MPO can't make their own decision. I think what was discussed at your MPO meeting was that board has to take a vote, why don't we have the representatives go back and have this discussion so that you all could .... be, uh, in a better position to .... to cast a vote for Iowa City. Um, the, uh, we did have representatives of labor when this bill was being, uh, floated out there, um, come in and ask us to oppose and we did oppose the bill, uh, last year, but it passed, uh, despite our opposition. So now it's all, it is part of law, um, the, um, it's now kind of going through the rules making process. They've developed the rules of the program. They're reaching out to the MPOs to see who's gonna opt out of it. Um, so we can as an MPO opt out of it. Um, you know, if you go and you want input from .... from labor, you might wanna consider having them do that at the MPO so everybody could hear it. If you wanna just arrange it here, that's fine. I think you probably know what they're gonna say because you've heard it, and you probably, you know, in terms of other industry folks that might support it, I don't know that anybody's gonna come out and .... and support it. I think it's more of a ... um, a .... staff pointing out what we see are some of the benefits of it, and this is a program that's used in other states too, and um, we know that with.... when you replace the federal dollars with state dollars there's less requirements. It's not just about Davis Bacon wages. Um, that's a small piece of it. There's all kinds of environmental reviews and things that have to take place to get those projects forward. So from our standpoint, we just think we can get more projects done quicker, cheaper, um, and thus that was our recommendation, to go. You guys are the political body. If you want.....you know, that's your role to really consider the .... the different political arguments there. Um, but .... I ..... I.....I don't know when the MPO, next MPO meeting is. Um, I don't have that in front of me. Um, but I'm thinkin' they wanted to take a vote, because (several talking) I think there's a pretty strict deadline This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 45 comin' up that, uh, I'm readin' in Kent's memo now that .... that they're lookin' at an October I" full implementation. So the DOT needs to start planning for this. It's not that they need to know by October 151. I think they wanna start planning projects, because what the state does is the state takes those federal dollars and uses `em, so there's some backend things from the state that they need to work in. So, um, it's gonna .... I think it's pretty quick turnaround, if you wanna have a formal setting to get that input. Otherwise I'd direct labor to ... talk at the MPO meeting. Mims/ Geoff, am I looking at this right, in that.... basically in any fiscal year, the state .... the state DOT gets a certain amount of federal dollars. And any federal dollars we get is coming from the state, I mean they're getting channeled through the state? Fruin/ It's state to the MPO, down to us, and so with the MPO there's competitive projects. Mims/ Right. Fruin/ So there'll be some budget years where we don't have any federal dollars, and there's others where we have like Gateway project is signi.... a significant amount. Mims/ Here's.... here's the way I look at this. If .... if you've got .... if you've got $12 million or $20 million federal money that's coming into the state, it's gonna be spent whether it's in Johnson County or Polk County or wherever, okay? We already tend to have higher wages in this region. So the Davis Bacon is not as important in this region. If we agree to the swap, and we end up using more state money and less federal money, there is the chance, it may not happen, but there is the chance that that federal money will be used in other places that wouldn't be paying Davis Bacon wages. So they're gonna get paid in the state anyways, depending upon where the federal money is used, if I'm understanding this correctly. Fruin/ That's correct. Yeah. Mims/ So I don't think when you look statewide, that opting into this is gonna hurt labor at all, because the same amount of federal money is still gonna be spent in the state, but if it can save our taxpayers money and reduce the cost and ... and delays on our local projects, it would seem to me that that makes sense to do. Fruin/ (several talking) ...consolidating those, so you can imagine the state putting most of their federal dollars into say an I-80 expansion project that's gonna gobble up a good percentage of that, as opposed to 60 smaller projects throughout the state. Botchway/ Susan, I .... I mean I agree in your analysis around the short-term game .... the gain. I think for me it is the long-term implications, and I'll use a colloquialism in a sense where I ... I don't want us .... I don't want the legislature just kind of catch us slipping a little bit, because I feel like with the policies that at least have come down recently, this is just another policy that could potentially be a slippery slope for other policies later on down the road, and I wanna make a clear statement that, you know, if we can't .... if we can't This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 46 necessarily, and that's why I put it in here, can we take on (mumbled) next steps, you know, if we can't do that, then ... you know, I feel comfortable saying no and then waiting and see. Maybe we'll find out from, um, from what other cities are doing that it's not gonna have an affect, and I'd feel more comfortable and then labor can come to the table and have more of a collaborative conversation moving forward. But ... but right now I just, I don't see the .... I see the immediate benefit and some of the environmental implications, but I'm very concerned about the long-term effect and what we're signaling to...I.....I mean, if I was a state legislator, I would say, look, you made this policy. You were initially opposed to it. But it seems like you're, you know, you're voting in accordance with, you know, being in favor of this policy. I .... I don't want them to have that argument. Mims/ The only thing I would say about a slippery slope with this legislature, they haven't worried about a slippery slope. They just jumped to the bottom of the cliff. (several responding) Botchway/ I agree! (several talking and laughing) Fruin/ Was there anything that you want from staff before your next MPO meeting, to help you with your decision? I ... I could see if Bill Gerhardt could put something on paper that we could get to ya. (several talking) Throgmorton/ I'd be curious about how Bill would respond to Susan's question or point, cause it sounds like a completely reasonable point to me. Botchway/ Well .... in that ... in that sense how our lobbyists would respond to it. In a sense as well, I mean that's (mumbled) I think .... I appreciate Bill's analysis on it. I'm sure he's a part of a lobbying effort as well, but.... Fruin/ I really don't think this .... the origins of this, this is not ... this was not viewed as an anti - labor bill coming up. I mean this was really a, um, transportation, kind of efficiency. It probably came up from cities, to be honest, that because this program has worked for years in other communities, it came up through the DOT. I think .... I'm kinda goin' back. It was probably DOT initiated legislation that reflected input from cities and counties across the state. I don't think it was ever intended to be anti -labor. Certainly that position was articulated as the bill was bein' debated, but I wouldn't put this in the same category as some of the .... the legislation from last session that was clearly anti -labor. Throgmorton/ If organized labor's not gonna be harmed by this proposed action, I think it would be reasonable to support it. That said, I'm not .... I don't have a vote on the MPO board. But ... that's what I think. But it's a big if. (several talking) Cole/ I think we're almost done, aren't we? (several talking and laughing) Taylor/ IP6, the Municipal Leadership Aca.... (both talking) Oh, we're not done? Oh, did you (both talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City session of February 20, 2018. Page 47 Throgmorton/ ....did you wanna say somethin' else about that? Mims/ No, no, that's fine! Taylor/ (mumbled) slippery slope. Uh, IP6, the Municipal Leadership Academy. I had gone to the part one last December and it was very helpful, very informative. Uh, part two, uh, was just web cast, which I .... I didn't do, but part 3 is, uh, here in Iowa City, on Saturday April 7`h. I'd like to register for that if that'd be okay with the group? (several responding) It's challenges facing the city, so I think it'd be very good. Throgmorton/ It's done annually, right, the Secrets of Three? Taylor/ Right. Throgmorton/ Yeah, so Maz, if you get a chance, it'd be a good thing for you to sign up for. Taylor/ It's a Saturday (both talking) for part one would be (both talking) Throgmorton/ So when did you do part one? Taylor/ It was in December, so they'll probably be doin' (several talking) fall or winter they'll do part one again (several talking) Salih/ (unable to hear) Monroe/ I think it'd be possible if you have interest in ... in attending them out of order, they had noted in the .... in the notice that it's .... it's fine for people to attend out of sequence, if you had interest in attending a certain topic. Salih/ (mumbled) Monroe/ Just let us know! Throgmorton/ You might think about it, it might be helpful. Yeah. Botchway/ So I had two, IP8 and IP 10, um ... I'll start with IP 10 cause IP8 seems controversial (both talking) Mims/ I ... well and that's why I was going to make a quick question. We're already at 10:40, and I think IP8s gonna be a long one, and we do have time before the deadline. Could we throw that to our next meeting (several talking) Throgmorton/ ...should do that. Botchway/ I would agree (laughs) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 48 Salih/ I second that! (laughter) Fruin/ Realistically it's unlikely that you're gonna come to a conclusion before that April deadline, just based on past experience with this issue. Throgmorton/ Yeah. Fruin/ You can, you certainly could, but.... Throgmorton/ Well it was interesting reading the history and it reminded me that I first encountered that, you know, when I was .... think when I was just off the Council (mumbled) it was a long time ago. Botchway/ Um, so goin' to IP 10, the Langenberg Avenue traffic control. Uh, the recommendation suggests that this... there is no need for additional steps at this time to decrease the traffic flow. My .... my two questions are, I was just kind of hearkening back to, you know, what about how the residents are feeling, I mean, that was such a ... kind of electrifying conversation where, you know, I felt like a lot of the residents were speaking out about just in general the traffic around Langenberg. Um, I think for me in the consideration that staff provided, I'd like to consider the always stop analysis. I know they said there was no additional steps at this time but I think there was an additional step in ... in that piece. And maybe I'm just .... not right. Thomas/ I have some concerns too and I just wanna throw them out there. In looking at the staff report under the, um, history and background, it notes that the speed, volume, and collision data does not suggest there is a significant safety concern for motorists on Langenberg Avenue. I would .... I would (laughs) ask you to consider that, um, what... what I would be interested in .... in having staff do is go out into the community and ask what their safety concerns are, I mean we .... the .... the staff report is referring to the safety concern of the motorist. My .... my concern has always been the safety of the residents, and .... their level of comfort with the traffic that's passing through there. So .... so that would be my suggestion, that we .... ask staff to attend a meeting and just listen to the residents and try to understand what their safety concerns are, um .... as a first step. Throgmorton/ That makes sense to me. Fruin/ If you're gonna have the meeting, you gotta prepare .... be prepared to offer some solutions. So you know, at this point I think what.... staff is sayin' you're either gonna have to put up stop signs where they're not justified and .... just be...be comfortable with that, where you're lookin' to physical changes to the street, which'd be quite expensive. Thomas/ Well ... so with respect to the stop signs, and .... and I guess my feeling is is .... yeah, I'd like to hear from the residents and find out, you know, what their take is, uh, if stop signs were to be raised, uh, my .... my feeling on the stop signs is ... is that (clears throat) you This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 49 know, staff mentions the concerns — rear -end collisions, motorists rolling through stop signs, higher traffic speeds downstream. In .... in my view I .... I don't know that I would say yes, that's always going to happen. Um, I'm not even convinced that it happens on a routine basis. Uh, and the .... the other thing I would say is that.....stop signs are very inexpensive to install, you know, the .... we've had actually, from what I can see both on Washington and a number of other locations in Iowa City, uh, Riverside Drive, a stop sign went in there. Urn .... that it's .... it's something that in my view can, we can approach on a test basis, see what in fact the, urn .... the consequences are of putting in the stop sign. If. ... if some of these anticipated consequences do take place, and the residents see that it's not effective, in terms of changing driver behavior, uh, it can be taken out. So I ... I'm not really seeing what the.... Fruin/ I know, I just .... my hesitation is that as staff we get lots of requests from people in neighborhoods to put up stop signs, and so if we're gonna move, you know, from, uh, in our analysis from kind of the .... the commonly accepted standards for putting in stop signs to .... to neighborhood vote, you're opening up (both talking) Thomas/ I'm not saying neighborhood vote. I mean obviously we still need to make a judgment, um, but it seems to me to just simply say, well, for these reasons we will not do it. Um (both talking) taking into account all the circumstances that may apply in any given situation. Fruin/ I just might suggest we reverse the order then and discuss under what circumstances Council would want to put in stop signs where they're not justified. We .... we know what the neighborhood's gonna say. You've heard from `em. You've had ... you've had letters written. I .... I just really hesitant to get folks riled up about a solution that we may not be prepared to act on. Botchway/ So what about the always stop analysis? That was discussed.... Fruin/ We can do it. Um, yeah, it's about six hours worth of staff time and we can tell ya what it's going (mumbled) before we're done with it. Uh, we can do it and give it back to ya and let ya decide, but they're not gonna be warranted. Thomas/ Well, Geoff, what ... with say traffic circles, what's the policy on traffic circles and how would that differ from stop signs? Fruin/ Uh, I .... I couldn't answer that now. I don't know what the ... you know we just follow the MUTCD on that. So ... I could ... I could get you that info. I don't have it. Throgmorton/ I think the solution is to build McCollister. So.....I'm gonna tell you something here. I'm (mumbled) pretty tired. How bout the rest of you? (several talking) I mean, really I feel like I've reached my own personal limit. So.... Botchway/ Let's do this though. Can we move, I mean we moved the one prior to the, uh, next work session. Can we move this one, cause I, you know, I just wanna move to next work This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018. Page 50 session. I wanna do maybe some additional thinkin' and reaching out to the community, that piece, I mean .... (mumbled) comfortable. Cole/ That's fine. Throgmorton /Let's do that. Botchway/ I actually have a couple more things I'd like to bring up. (several talking and laughing) Throgmorton/ Okay, hearing nothing else, uh, we are adjourned from our work session for tonight. Thanks for your patience everybody. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 20, 2018.