HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-03-20 Transcription Page 1
Council Present: Botchway(5:56pm), Cole, Mims, Salih,Taylor, Thomas,Throgmorton
Staff Present: Fruin, Monroe, Dukes, Fruehling, Knoche, Havel, Rummel,Ralston,
Nagle-Gamin, Hightshoe, Laverman, Bockenstedt, W. Ford
Others Present: Stewart,Nelson(UISG)
Discuss relationship with the Graduate and Professional Student Government
organization:
•
Throgmorton/ ....work session for Tuesday, March 20, 2018. The first topic for tonight is to
discuss the relationship with the Graduate and Professional Student Government
Organization. I see that three members...or leaders of the association are present. Thanks
for corrin'! Glad we're able to get to this topic. I know it's been a few months but
....there ya go! All right....do.....Geoff, do you have ideas about how to proceed on this?
Fruin/No, I think,um, I think when we left it a few months back, urn, it was...it was left open for
further consideration(noises in background) There was some hesitation with, uh, a....a
formal appointment like we have with the, urn,undergraduate student government, uh,
but certainly a desire expressed to....to determine what that best, uh,what the....what the
mechanism looks like,uh, for,uh, establishing a good conduit of communication. So, I
think it's just a Council discussion on....on, one, if you want it formal, and if you,uh,
prefer not to have it formal (clears throat) what does that look like? Is there going to be a
Council rep that works directly with 'em? Is that something that you want staff to do and
report back to you on on a periodic basis?
Throgmorton/Yeah, I guess I should also say that when I first talked with Scott and....and, uh,
Luke,both of whom are out in the audience, uh(mumbled) what was it, five months ago?
I can't remember exactly, uh, I indicated that I could think of at least a couple....reasons
why, or a couple things to think about as we have this discussion, then you folks probably
have other things to think about, but one is....basically to ask this question: why should
we create liaison positions only for undergrad and grad U of I students. There are many
other relevant organizations and groups in this city. So why.....just the undergrad
(laughs) group but also just why this one as well. So we need to think about that at least,
and the other is if we choose not to formally create a new liaison position, can we think
of an alternative that would have merit? Like maybe assigning a Council liaison to the
GPSG. And so on. So....I'm sure you folks have thought about this a bit. Do you have
particular questions or.....uh, topics you wanna pursue, other than what I just mentioned,
or do you wanna ask questions of....of members from the GPSG?
Cole/Well, I'm wondering if they could answer those questions. Um, if they could give us their
response in terms of having an opportunity to think about it, at least would be my
preference. I don't know what anyone else thinks.
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Throgmorton/ It's okay with me!
Sharma/My name is Sharma. Well, Tejasvi Sharma. I go by Sharma. Um, and, uh, I'm the
President of the Graduate and Professions in Government. And (mumbled)
Jerkovich/I'm the Vice President.
Sharma/Okay, so.....(mumbled) your question as to why the Graduate and Professional Student
Government should have its own liaison. Um.....if we....if we (unable to understand) the
University of Iowa Student Government was first undergraduate and graduate. It was
made up of both undergraduates and graduate students. In 2006, uh, a lady who we
admire went ahead and saw that some initiatives that were concerning to undergraduate
students were not really concerning graduate and professional students. So in 2006 she
went ahead and she fought pretty hard and she went and....because of her effort, the
Graduate and Professional Student Government was developed.
Throgmorton/Was what?
Sharma/Was formed. In 2006. So that's a little bit of history behind it. Um,we tend to see that
a lot of initiatives that sometimes are more concerning to undergraduate students and we
are afraid that the voices of the graduate and professional students are not...are probably
not being heard. And that's not only with the City Council. It's also....in all aspects, um,
and so what we'll be seeing from now on is that the voices of graduate and professional
students will be heard more. I think we....we're getting (mumbled) that point where our
concerns are being heard, and we want to be involved. We want to be....we want to get
in and help (mumbled) ways as we can. And so we have started working on different
initiatives with the City that we will be more than happy to share with. Um,but before
then is there something you'd like to add (both talking)
Jerkovich/I see your concerns about if you let us in under the logic that, well, they have one,
should we have one, and then that could extend out to multiple organizations. I see the
dangerous slope that is. Fact of the matter is, we represent a significant portion of the
population that(mumbled) it appears that you're interested in having stay in your city.
Now we're very interested in integrating graduate and professional students in the
community. I've been here eight years, and I've seen the way downtown has changed,
and I like the direction. I want to continue working with you folks to make that a reality.
(mumbled) a more mature downtown, and I'm sure you all do as well. And I consider us
a way of....I guess listening to what your initiatives are and presenting them to the
students, getting feedback, because we are a direct plug in the young professional
students around here.
Sharma/I have to say very respectfully that it's not about graduate,professional versus
undergraduate. We are a team. We are a strong team. We work with them on campus
initiatives and we're doing well outside. Um....this is more about....bringing the
graduate and professional voices out here. We can see a lot of things that we can do with
the City, and it would be very helpful. Um, there's one thing I....I would really like to
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mention. When....when a graduate and professional student is here on campus,that's
four years, five years, and the person goes away. The person only thinks about the
University of Iowa. Why does the person not think about the University of Iowa in one
of the best cities I've ever lived in? And so having that message and making sure that
when the student's here for four years or five years, we're just spending so much time,
they should also be somewhat involved with the city. Because it affects them. Their
voices need to be heard. There are so many issues that all of you work on that....ben...
you know,benefit us or affects us, but we can be of help too. Uh,we're made up of six
colleges. Uh,why not have a law student come in and do a pro bono,urn,work for one
of the businesses? Why not have MBA students volunteer with businesses? So there's
so much collaboration that can be done, and we see that this is an opportunity where both
the City can gain, and frankly speaking,the graduate and professional students will
(mumbled)
Jerkovich/Going off of that, I know the elephant in the room is...it's been expressed that not a
large proportion of graduate,professional students live in the city limits,but believe me,
we want to. I....I....like I would love to move back. I was here last year and what
happened is rent went up to $800 a month, and I could go right over to Coralville, $400
month,and I know housing affordability's been a huge issue and as you guys work upon
that, develop new apartment complexes or condos, or whatever you'd like to do, who
you contract out to, we'd be a direct form of advertising to the exact population you'd
like and like Sharma said, we have access to a lot of healthcare professionals, and not just
students. We have providers and we've established a number of services with Free
Mental Health Clinic, UI Mobile Clinic, and I've been talkin' to Shelter House about
maybe providing some dental students for dental work and that's just the tip of the
iceberg honestly.
Throgmorton/So am I right in thinking you both talked with Gustave and Ben, Ben and Gustave
(laughs) about what a liaison does? You probably noticed that during work sessions,they
are present, like Ben sitting over here, and they attend all of our meetings. So that can go
till, I don't know, 11:00, 11:30 sometimes(laughter)usually not that late, and it's every
two weeks, and the presumption is, you know, you're payin' attention and are ready to
speak about any particular topic, at least during work sessions, uh, if it is of interest and
importance to the people you represent. So....I assume you know that and it's not a
trivial thing.
Jerkovich/(mumbled) and I know that being busy's a concern, but all of you folk are. And I feel
like, not diminutive towards your positions by any means and I know that it's a large time
consumption,but students are very used to.....graduate and professional students are very
used to picking up very time-consuming projects like this, with gusto and passion. I feel
quite confident they would be able to do the role quite competently, and excel.
Sharma/ I completely agree. Uh,if I may speak personally....(laughs)our goal is to make our
organization better. We want and we know....(laughs)very carefully speaking here, with
this political era and everything going on, you tend to see that there's so much that's
going on where student voices are making a difference. (mumbled) I think we are all
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guided by the fact that we want to have an impact.....and whoever that is, right now it's
Scott, we believe that the relationship between the City Council and the Graduate and
Professional Student Government will always stay strong, and it has to stay strong,
because the initiatives you're trying to accomplish,we want them too. We want to...we
are trying to do the same thing (phone ringing in background) and, uh....I believe us
having a strong relationship(mumbled) so if I may say,this is not really about.....it is
more about the impact. It's more about making sure that we combine our voices and do
something(mumbled)
Jerkovich/ ....mutually beneficial relationship,yeah.
Throgmorton/So there are what, somewhere around 10,000 graduate and professional students at
the University?
Jerkovich/About, yeah.
Throgmorton/And about 20 undergrads, right, Ben?
Nelson/24,000.
Throgmorton/24. Yeah. You mentioned this earlier,or you touched on it earlier. Do you have
any sense of how many graduate and professional students live in the city versus in U
Heights or Coralville or wherever?
Jerkovich/ I do not have that data.
Sharma/(unable to understand)
Throgmorton/Yeah. Okay. Um.....any of you want to follow up with questions or.....
Nelson/I think it's important,just cause before we get too much into discussion, is that when
this position was created, um,way back when, that was back when the University of Iowa
Student Government and GPSG were the same organization. So I see an addition of a
GPSG representative not....not as something novel, but more of updating something that
was never rectified when the two organizations were split. Um, so initially the Council
had agreed for representation for graduate....all students, and then that...those barriers,
urn, or those organizations were split and my responsibilities remained with the
undergraduate students. So....
Throgmorton/But here's the hard question: where would you sit? (laughter)
Jerkovich/I was wonderin'! I saw Ben over there(laughter)
Nelson/Eleanor! (laughter and several talking)
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Cole/How bout that other question too, I mean this obviously sounds like a really good idea, and
there was a sort of very unique role when we had the University,um, come on board in
the first instance,but where do we draw the line? Maybe that's more of an 'us' question
to answer,but where do we draw the line in terms of,urn, if we allow you to do this,
other organizations may too and, you know, maybe that's a good thing. I....I don't know,
but at some point we have to distinguish legitimate requests from terrific organization,
such as yourself, and, you know,where....where do we draw the line on those sorts of,
um,requests to participate?
Throgmorton/Here would be an example. The Chamber of Commerce. Why should the....the
businesses affiliated with the Chamber not have a liaison on....that comes, sits in on our
work sessions just as Ben currently does and so on.
Jerkovich/Well they represent a body of extremely well informed individuals that I believe are
very....they're more informed in the topics that you're discussing,when I can truly say
that most professional and graduate students have no idea what's going on in City
Council,and we....that's why we want to change....what it....what it came down to is
that we saw how much Ben knew, and we merely wanted the same information sources
(mumbled) it's not practical to make Ben our only source of information. So having a
person(mumbled)be perfect, cause we are targeting a population that is not very well
informed. That's where I see a difference between....at least the (mumbled) Chamber of
Commerce, sorry!
Salih/ I guess, Ben, you always go and report back what happening here, right, I bet. I guess
same thing will be(unable to understand) City maybe they don't have time to come here
right now,but this way you guys can go out and report back and this kind of engaging the
student with the City government, which is I think it's great idea! But....speaking about
other organizations(unable to understand)they here all the time! And they have an
organization, the Downtown District, they here all the time. They knew everything
(unable to understand) ways,but for the student again this is good way for them to know
about what's going on at the City Council. (both talking)
Mims/I mean I think it's really important with....with what people have said, I do think in terms
of drawing that line,um, and...and just to....to kind of piggyback on what you said,
Mazahir, you know,talking about, you know, the Downtown District or the Chamber is
always here and informed, but where's that next organization that comes forward and
says, but we're not well informed. We don't have that information. Urn, you know, and
so.....where is that responsibility on the members of the community, urn,to....to get that
information and get informed without saying we need a liaison for this particular group or
we need a liaison for this particular group. Ur....I guess my preference would be to start
with, um, a....a Council Member liaison to, urn,the graduate and professional group.
And if that proves productive and....and good exchange of ideas and back and forth,then
maybe to form a liaison from them to the City Council, like we have with the undergrads,
but to start actually with a Council Member maybe going to their meetings and, you
know,getting information and sharing information. Um, and then if we did move
forward and eventually create an actual liaison from graduate,professional students to the
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Council, I think it needs to be really clear, from my perspective, that the only reason
we're doing this is, one, the focus on students, and also to basically rectify something that
happened when the two organizations, undergrads and grads, split. II am not at all
interested or willing to look at this as a next step towards.....more and more and more
liaisons. I mean I think people in the community, uh, even students have to take
responsibility to get information and be informed if they wanna be involved and have
input on the decisions that we're making, urn, and we have that forum for that in terms of
coming to the meetings, public comments, sending letters, etc. So I...I'm just really
concerned that if we do this, um, that it's not, okay, next year it's one more, the following
year....we just keep expanding liaisons.
Taylor/I have a great appreciation for graduate students. My daughter's a graduate student, and
I truly appreciate,uh, your interest in wanting to join us but I too think sometime we have
to draw the line somewhere, and you're always welcome to attend the meetings. It....we
always make it a point to....to note that it's a public forum, pubic are welcome. There's
plenty of space. So you can always come to the meetings, uh, and listen or....or share
your views during the public comment time. So that's always an option.
Throgmorton/So one....one thing that makes the GPSG distinctive is that it's a very large
number of individuals who have a clear boundary around their organization, right?
They're graduate students or professional students, at the University of Iowa, and there
are roughly 10,000 of them. So I don't think there are many organizations in Iowa City
that would fit that, uh.....um.....would.....would be like that.
Jerkovich/And we are at the top of the umbrella. We represent every department, college, etc.
Like.....hundreds of small groups and the pinnacle is us. So that's that's where the
outreach is exactly, and if each one of those individual groups wanted a liaison, I see the
issue with that. It's just due to our ability to disseminate information and again just the
pure amount of people.
Throgmorton/Grant, does your organization meet,uh, regularly like once a month? You do it
through the year or are you, do you take a break for the summer?
Jerkovich/Summer's when the new administration is transit....transition period. So, generally
the ones that work through the summer will be here, about five of us,but then everything
gets started up again and....the beginning of the scholastic year.
Thomas/I think...from what, uh, I thought, Ben, your comments were really, um....useful for me
to understand the history of this, and I....and I, so I'm supportive of the idea of a....an
additional liaison. I think, um, it does correct the fact that you were once one entity, now
you're two entities. You're both very large entities. I can't imagine there being any
organization that would then say well me too (laughs)because these....you two are pretty
much....you know, between the two of you, you cover the student body, correct?
Jerkovich/Yes, sir.
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Thomas/Yeah, so I....I....I think our relationship with,um....uh,the undergraduates has really, I
don't know,my experience is pretty strong and.....and effective, and (both talking)
Nelson/I would agree! (laughter)
Thomas/ ....and so I think(several talking and laughing) ...having another 10,000 students, I
would imagine slightly older, uh,which I think,you know,maybe you're a little bit more
beyond,you know, you're beyond your undergraduate years. You're perspective
on...on,you know, your.....your living situation may be a little bit different. I think that
would be useful as well. Urn, I think it could be a very productive relationship in
both....for both of us.
Throgmorton/There are intermediate possibilities though, and....I don't have a firm position on
this,but....one is,uh,the one that Susan suggested,which is that we appoint a liaison to
the GPSG,but....and when, if we do that, I....I'm sure you know that we already have
Council Members assigned to various boards and commissions and whatever in various
other organizations around the city. So it wouldn't be anything really dramatically out of
the ordinary. It's just a different way of having a relationship. Uh,but uh,the other thing
I think is that we could.....uh, perhaps have a....a.....a, try....try it as an experiment,try it
being try having, uh.....a liaison from the GPSG assigned to the Council, say for a year.
You know, as an experiment, see how it goes, from your point of view, from our point of
view, and then revisit it....a.....a year from the appointment. Whatda y'all think of that
idea?
Salih/For me I think since we have the undergraduate, you know, and students already, we
should give the same like thing to them,because they use to be one, as John said, one
thing and now they become....why should we make them an experiment for one year and
we have been here? How long you been here? I wasn't here when....
Jerkovich/Me personally or(both talking)
Salih/No,how long this happening(mumbled)(several talking)
Jerkovich/I think 2005.
Salih/Okay! Since then(unable to understand)organization and said,hey, we want to do the
same thing. Why when they come(unable to understand)in the community will come
forward? If that gonna happen, it should have happen five year....since 2005 or what you
say? Yeah! And now we(unable to understand)over 10 years I guess, yeah, 12 years!
No other organization come forward and said, you guys have student(unable to
understand)we need to have(unable to understand)and that....I think we just(unable to
understand) like one year and everything.
Jerkovich/I guess(unable to understand) 12 years later, coming forward (laughter)but....
Salih/Yeah.
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Jerkovich/I believe it was 12 years is appropriate for us to develop as an organization. There is
a lot of administration and structural overhaul, and we are at a very good point in our
organization.
Salih/Sure!
Jerkovich/(both talking) why.
Salih/Yeah, I....I'm talking about those organization they said what the, you know,this could be
a problem for other organization would come over and say,hey, we need the same thing.
Now 12 year no one show up and say they need the same thing! That's why I think this
is should move forward without any like specific period of time.
Throgmorton/Well it's an interesting point but....it is worth noting that right now Ben sort of
represent 34,000 students.
Nelson/I only represent 24,000 undergraduates.
Salih/24.....
Nelson/But by choice I can....I can rep.....I can advocate on behalf of the graduate students,but
it is not written into my bylaws that(both talking)
Throgmorton/Okay. Okay.
Cole/Where sort of where I come down on this is that, you know, urn, one of the things that I ran
on was this question of I felt like the University and the City of Iowa City needed to have
more cooperative relationships,uh, cause sometimes I think we are sort of two ships
passing in the night a little bit,in part because you guys are doing wonderful things.
You're working on your projects and you know,the City has a lot of our own initiatives
too and here we have an opportunity literally coming up to our front door and...and
allowing those greater partnerships. Urn, I think of what Susan had too as sort of a
preliminary step, I do like....I look at it like what is going to allow us to most effectively
serve the student community, and I would at least like to explore the opportunity to have
a Council liaison so we could get to know your organization. There's certainly nothing
from preventing you from coming and...and visiting. That....that's sort of my personal
preference. Urn, I....I do think in terms of the time commitment, I mean, Ben, it's
incredible that you're able to do that as a student. Urn, graduate students,there is a huge
time crunch when you're lookin' at basically 10 hours of meeting, urn, is that going to be
the best way that we can effectively collaborate. That said,you know, I'm not dogmatic
either way her, I mean I think this is not one of these things where I think there's a clear
right and wrong answer,but my sense is in terms of the best way for us to most
effectively serve you is to have one of us. I....I would like to see it at a Council level, as
opposed to hey you can come to a meeting. So we can sort of see under the hood and
what's going on with your organization and your....and the students, so we can more
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effectively serve you. So that'd be my preference, and that's sort of the way I'd have to
want to vote tonight,with the expectation that you would be able to collaborate with staff
and if....and if that role with us wasn't sufficient, um, one of us seven wasn't effectively
serving you, I would certainly keep an open mind to come back and....and do this, uh,
but I think Susan comes with a good point on that.
Throgmorton/What....what do the rest of you think?
Thomas/I prefer the, you know,that it run in parallel with the undergraduate organization. I
mean it seems to me they're two sides of the same coin, so to speak, and that if....if the
undergraduates are represented as a liaison, uh, I....I tend to....I'm inclined to support the
idea of having a....a similar assignment for the graduates and professionals.
Salih/ I do too.
Mims/I would just comment on what Rockne said. I....I think there' s an opportunity to actually
have more benefit faster by having a Council liaison to the graduate students, graduate,
professional students for a year, where one of us goes to their monthly meetings,maybe
have a 10-minute spot on your agenda,just to talk about some of the stuff the City's
doing and how that impacts you, and to listen to some of the issues that you have that you
think may,uh, be able to be addressed by the City. I think there's an opportunity there to
....to move some things forward faster by starting it that way the first year.
Jerkovich/I'd say both, but yeah, both....both of'em sound like fantastic ideas,almost in
conjunction as well. Our meetings are actually Tuesdays at 7:00 P.M. as well (laughter)
We could give an exception for that member obviously.
Throgmorton/Well,maybe we could sort of flip the order or something. So I....I'd like to
suggest this,that....and I know we have slightly different views about this but I'd like to
suggest that we go the lia....the Council liaison route so that we appoint one of our
Council Members as liaison to the GPSG for a year, and then have that Council Member
report back to us with a recommendation about whether to convert that into a GPSG
member being a liaison to the Council. That....that,there's a lot of mutual learning
involved that way. Whatda ya think of that idea?
Mims/I like that.
Cole/I would agree with that, Jim.
Taylor/All except for the conflict of the meeting, if that was worked out.
Mims/What Tuesday do you normally(both talking)
Jerkovich/First Tuesday.
Mims/We meet first and third.
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Throgmorton/ Yeah, so....
Jerkovich/That's not written in stone. That's....that's really just comes on what's always been,
so I see no reason we couldn't change that.
Throgmorton/John, you were nodding. It's okay(both talking)
Thomas/No, I...well I prefer,urn,you know,the....creating another liaison position.
Throgmorton/Yeah, okay, so....but I count one, two,three, four, four in favor of what I just
suggested, and two preferring a different route.
Nelson/Real quick. For UISG, our meeting times are written in our bylaws, so take a formal
procedure,and I'm inclined to think it may be similar for GPSG, so I would want to look
into that on....on your guys' end before that decision's made.
Jerkovich/The bylaw change would be......not very difficult.
Sharma/If I may,very(mumbled)very respectfully, I....I think having, and this is just,uh,
thinking about this, having a City liaison come in, uh, on every Tuesday,um.....our
meetings.....I guess it'd be interesting because I'm just trying to picture how our
meetings go, and our meetings it's pretty much University(unable to understand)
University-related affairs and college-related affairs. I'm wondering, and very
respectfully, if it is....if we will get as much benefit as we hope we'll get. We'll get...for
sure the City Council will know how GPSG works. For sure they will know what our
problems are. I'm not very sure those problems line directly with City Council. Urn....
they....that.....the information back and forth will always be there. Urn....but the
information coming in from City Council to GPSG will be much greater value than the
information going from GPSG to City Council, I think, and so if....in the case of having a
liaison this way with a little bit more when I think about it that way.
Salih/And what do you want the,uh, appointed Council to do over there? What you are thinking
of.
Throgmorton/Well I....I would guess to learn from the members of GPSG,the leadership
especially, about what's of importance to them, what....what they're talking about, what
they care about, and then to feed that information back to us.
Salih/But they would like to come here and take the information from here to their student and
tell them what going on in here and all the thing that we are working on.
Mims/But they can come....they can always come,just like any member of the public can
always come and listen to our meetings.
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Salih/If you give out official things to undergraduate, why not for graduate? That the thing.
Why you favoring some group than the other?
Mims/I don't see us favoring. I think four of us have said that we see this as a good way to start
and I....I do think with some discussion from the Council Member and the leadership of
the GPSG about the agenda and the kind of sharing we want, I think we can move things
forward a lot faster that way in the given....in the first year, and then assuming
everything works well,then....and no reason, I don't see any reason why we wouldn't
then agree to have them come on as a liaison after that first year.
Cole/That's soma my though too, and I think if we....you know, if....if we do it for a couple
months and it's just clearly evident to all that we're not able to serve you effectively in
that capacity, I mean, we....we adjust stuff all the time, urn, so if that ends up being an
ineffective way for us to serve you,then I....I don't know that we can't reconsider and
we're not talking about changing our Charter, I mean, it's just, you know,to....to
reconsider a(both talking)
Throgmorton/ ....different decision next(both talking)
Cole/ ....you to come in.....
Throgmorton/Yeah!
Cole/ ....each meeting would be my thought.
Throgmorton/Yeah, so I....I think we've got four votes for....preceding the way I described,
and....and yet we're....we're gonna try to learn from the experience.
Jerkovich/Absolutely, and I look forward to meeting the appointee as well,and I think it'd be a
great way for that person to interpret a lot of the City Council proceedings to us and
we....we're really interested. We want you guys to reach out to us for any comments on
anything. We want to be a resource, truly.
Throgmorton/Excellent!
Jerkovich/Thank you for your time.
Throgmorton/Uh, so, uh, fellow Council Members,we'll have to think a bit about who wants to
volunteer to be the liaison to the GPSG, and then we'll make that appointment.
Sharma/Whoever it is, we welcome you with open hands,uh,thank you very much. Appreciate
it!
Review the Pending Work session List:
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Throgmorton/Thanks and (several talking) got to be clear about the timing of the meetings so
that we don't end up....trapped in a situation,right? Okay,thanks for comin',and thanks
for givin' us a chance to kind of process this. Yeah! (several talking in background) So,
we're gonna move to our next topic,which is to review the pending work session list. So
we have,uh, what is it, 18....items, if I remember rightly, on the work session list. So,
I...I wanna work through three points before we actually dive into this. So, the first thing
I wanna do is just for sort of technical reasons point out that the list of strategic plan
actions requiring Council direction needs to be corrected, cause we've already changed
some of those. Right? Yeah. All right, so then the second has to do with what we need
to do with regard to the.....the possible, uh, pending items. So we need to winnow the
list of 18 proposed work session topics, and I suggest we begin at the top of the list, and
work our way down. The person who proposed the topic should briefly explain why she
or he proposed that topic, and then we'll see if two or more....is it two, is that right, that
we need a total of three Council Members to put something on the work session agenda,
or is it four? It's three,right? Yeah. So we'll see if two or more other Council Members
agree, and/or if we can combine the topic with another topic (laughs) There are least....
there are at least a couple I know we can combine. So we'll just work our way down
that. And topics that don't receive support from three Council Members will be deleted.
That's the way I'm thinking about it anyhow. And then,Geoff, I need to ask you a
question. There's also that,uh, list of,what, 13 items requests for information. Do you
want us to work through that list also?
Fruin/If you could just confirm that you're still interested in that. They take varying degrees of
time to pull together. Some are very simple and are....are no problem. Others will take a
little bit more time for us to do. So, uh, a....a lot of these were generated in the budget
session. If you are not interested in us following up, it....it saves us time. So if you
could just do a quick scan of that,that'd be great, and I....I apologize for not updating the
strategic plan section. The staff is right now going through the implementation plan. So
this will change. You'll see this, urn, evolve over the next couple of Council agendas.
Uh, so I think you could just dive right into the other topics and not worry about the
strategic plan stuff tonight.
Throgmorton/Okay. Good deal. All right, so the first item is one that's been on the list for a
long time—joint meeting with the Telecommunications Commission. I assume we
wanna keep that. The second is to (both talking) Sorry? What?
Mims/I thought we had to have four to keep....I mean(several talking)I mean(both talking)
Throgmorton/Sorry, I didn't mean to jump too quickly. So....I.....I would say I think we should
keep it on there,if we can ever get another appointee onto the Telecommunications
Commission.
Cole/I would too, and I think that that grew out of some discussions that I had about exploring
municipal broadband, urn, and to do this as sort of a first step to see whether we should
explore that and/or any other topics that they feel are of importance. I think, urn, you
know,municipal broadband and...and technology's an incredible, important thing for us
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to have that conversation,and it's also,uh, as they pointed out, important for them to
weigh in,uh,before we make even any tentative steps. So I would at least like to have
the meeting,urn, and I think that's consistent with having more,urn, sort of collaborative
meetings with other organizations and other commissions.
Fruin/I think if you're gonna have that discussion, it may be an opportunity to review the role
and the scope of the Telecommunications Commission, because really that commission
was formed to oversee the local cable franchise agreement, which will be going away in
August. So...um,a...a discussion on what....what charge, with....without a local
franchise, what charge does the City Council want to give that commission, and they'd
probably have some feedback for ya on that topic.
Throgmorton/Or disband the commission?
Fruin/Or disband the commission.
Throgmorton/Yeah, so....would, are there a total of at least three who would agree with that?
As modified by Geoff(mumbled)just said. Okay, we're clear about that? Yeah. Okay.
All right, the next item is review City-funded organizations commitment to diversity and
inclusiveness. I think this was Kingsley's(both talking)
Fruin/Kingsley!
Throgmorton/Yeah.
Fruin/I really don't have any background on what he was thinkin' here.
Cole/Should we punt on that until he's able to (both talking) Yeah.
Throgmorton/ ....hear from him, yeah. So we'll skip to the third one. Review the 2016,did I
type that right? Uh, 2016 Police Department's traffic stop update. Yeah?
Fruin/Yeah, what we're suggesting here,we do have the 16 data ready to go,but the 17 data's
probably going to be ready in another month or two. So with everything else you have
going on,we'd like to combine those into one presentation. Uh, and that....you're
probably lookin', again, a couple of months before that's ready.
Cole/ Sounds great to me!
Throgmorton/Yeah, sounds great. Uh, so we have enough to do that. The fourth, discuss the
scope for Robert A. Lee Recreation Center improvements, for that improvement project.
Was that yours, Rock(several talking)
Cole/Didn't we already sort of decide that?
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Fruin/We...we made the budget adjustment to push that project forward,but we need to have the
.....the discussion, are we doing a purpose built improvement for the bike library? Are
we gonna open it up for other,uh, community organizations, and then I believe there was,
uh, some desire on the part of Councilman Botchway to look at,uh, at least examining
how we could enlarge the Rec Center in the future to accommodate other community
needs.
Cole/ (several talking) ...we should have that, because I....I'm supportive of the bike library,urn,
having sort of that,but I think before we make that decision we should allow other
organizations to weigh in,to persuade us whether that's the proper course.
Throgmorton/Yeah, and Kingsley was pretty clear about wanting to consider other possibilities,
so...yeah,we need to have that discussion.
Fruin/So is that....obviously you'll need to schedule that when you're ready. Urn, I think
what'd be helpful for us is....are....are you looking for anything in preparation for that?
Do you want us to....review the plans with you again and the public? Do you want us to
have any conversations with bike library or anybody else or....are we just gonna start
with a....a Council discussion?
Throgmorton/Well I....I think an obvious question is what....what are the alternative
possibilities.....uh,that could be pursued. I mean we know the bike library's one
possibility, and we have sort of a vague notion coming from Kingsley. He may have
much clearer ideas, but I don't know, so far it's a fairly vague notion. Uh, I think we'd
have to have alternatives in mind,to have any kind of coherent discussion.
Thomas/We.....we had at least I...I remember asking the question is....of, if we were to proceed,
let's assume we proceed with the bike li....bike library concept. Will that have any long-
term impact, and maybe this is what Kingsley was addressing, on any future....future
renovations or expansions of the building. So that might require some preliminary
assessment.
Fruin/Yeah, and we could walk through all that. Clearly if you....lease a space to another entity,
you're going to be removing options off the table for further public use. So, you know, if
there's a desire to expand the gym,you can't expand the gym if you've got a lease in the
area directly adjacent(mumbled) so some of those conversations are what we're talkin'
about here. (noises in background)
Throgmorton/(both talking)
Fruin/I think I know how to approach it.
Throgmorton/Okay! Okay,item five is to discuss Council Member appointments to
committees, with regard to having term limits for those appointments to committees.
Maz, I think this was your suggestion.
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Salih/Which one?
Throgmorton/Number five. Having term limits for Council Member appointments to
committees. To Council committees.
Salih/Yes! I just believe that, you know, all the new people on the Council,they would like to
have a turn. If you don't serve on the committee itself,you cannot gain experience. Like
me, I was really....as you know that, I was trying to be on the,uh, the Economic
Development Committee, and three of you guys being there,maybe like one of you guys
been there like more than four years. We....we need.....we need to have a turn so we can
learn. (unable to understand)and all the(unable to understand) if I don't exactly have
hand on things and serve. That's why we can just like make the same people serve in the
committees, especially like Economic Development Committee, one of the important
ones, for three years, without giving chance for the other Council.
Cole/I'd agree that should be in the work(mumbled)topic.
Mims/I....I personally don't think it needs to be in the work.....in a work session. I think we
can handle that when we do the committee assignments. I mean to me that's part of the
discussion of committee assignments is who....who has the interest, who has the
expertise, what's the best combination of....
Cole/But not the term limit question,right? That's a larger.....
Mims/But I think you can narrow....I think you can set limits that ultimately don't give you the
best Council participation and....and, uh....and combination of people on committees. I
mean you can certainly, as we do that organization(both talking)
Cole/Yeah.
Mims/You know, every two years, that idea of how long somebody has been on,urn, and who
you've got and what expertise and giving new people the opportunity are things that we
should always be taking into account, every time we do the reorganization, without
setting some sort of strict term limit,um, on particular commissions or committees that
we're involved in.
Cole/(mumbled)
Throgmorton/(both talking) At the same time I think Maz is raising a really important point.
How...how is a new Member supposed to understand how our Economic Development
Committee proceeds, how it does it's work, and I think the real focus is on the Economic
Development Committee,not on others. It...it's pretty hard to learn TIF(laughs) I mean
to put it really bluntly,just to focus on one thing. It's hard to understand how that tool
gets used,uh, and how the....the varieties of tools that are out there,within the term TIF.
So....without having a chance to serve on the committee, how....how can an incoming
Council Member develop the kind of knowledge that would enable him or her to....um,
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act effectively as a Council Member,with regard to economic development policies and
actions. That...that's, I think that's the key(both talking)
Salih/And also why a Council Member wanna stay in one committee for long time? What's the
reason behind that? Let us(unable to understand) chance to other Members, you know,
that's to me really need to be changed. (several talking) And....and by the way....you
think this is not a work session. I really get confused! We bring something to a regular
meeting you say 'this is a work session thing.' We bring it here and now you're saying
'this is not a work session,' and if you can discuss everything in the work session, why
not this? (unable to understand) me back and forth. Please, be clear. I'm learning, you
know, steps here.
Mims/ I think to me the discussion here is whether these items should be on a work session
agenda for the future. So we would take a half hour or 45 minutes to discuss this
particular issue. What I'm saying from my perspective is, I don't believe that we need to
sit and talk about....spend time in a work session discussing whether we should have
term limits. To me,the decision on....Council assignments to commissions or
committees should be made every two years when we reorganize, after an election,based
on the Council Members that we have at the time,their interests,their expertise, and
getting the right combination of people, even in terms of political views, so you've got a
mix of people, urn,represented on different committees and stuff. Not that you set
arbitrary term limits that don't necessarily give you the opportunity, and not every new
Council Member is going to be able to be on the committee or committees that they want,
immediately coming on Council! I mean two years ago we had four, well Jim was re-
elected,but we had three other brand-new committee members, or Council Members, so
do you say, well all three of those have a real interest in economic development and they
need an opportunity to learn so we put three brand-new Council Members on Economic
Development Committee?
Salih/We don't said that, Susan.
Cole/Yeah(several talking)
Mims/No,but I mean that's....that's the kind of thing, I mean that's part of the argument that
you're making,that you're new and you didn't have the opportunity to do that. I'm
saying not every brand-new Council Member's gonna get the opportunity immediately
(both talking)
Salih/ Sure!
Mims/ ....on every committee that they want. (several talking)
Salih/No but you know,just, excuse me, let me just answer Susan on that. Because I been
hearing from you and I heard last time from the Mayor, since I'm new I don't have to like
jump on the Economic Development Committee, need to have experience, and guess who
join that when he was new? Rockne! He just become a Council and he join, but I guess
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it gonna be different between me and Rockne. Somebody like me maybe they don't have
to serve on that, but Rockne can do it because he's new. I really don't like those (unable
to understand)
Throgmorton/Maz, the situation was different. It was different. That said, it seems to me we
clearly need to discuss this more thoroughly, and we don't need to do it tonight. So I
would recommend that we put this on the work session agenda (both talking)
Salih/Why you doing that? This is....this is the,you guys discussing everything here, because
I'm the one who proposing it?
Throgmorton/No, no, Maz! I'm saying let's put it on the work session, uh, the list of....of
pending work session topics. I'm not sayin' ignore it.
Taylor/No, the point(both talking)
Salih/Why not today?
Taylor/Mazahir, the point was just to go through these to see which ones should be a work
session topic. Not to talk about it this evening. Just kind of why you wanted it on there
and then whether it should be. That....right?
Throgmorton/ So we're agreeing with you....
Taylor/Right!
Throgmorton/ ....that it should be (several talking)
Thomas/ ....Telecommunications, you know, we....these are topics that we say yes or no, let's
(both talking)
Salih/Yeah, because the first thing that Susan said is it's not supposed to be here. (several
talking)
Throgmorton/Yeah, all right so there clearly are at least four people for having it on the pending
work session list.
Taylor/Yes!
Throgmorton/Okay. Uh, the next is to review the UniverCity program and consider expanding
to duplex properties. One thing, well, this was your idea, right, Rockne?
Taylor/And mine.
Throgmorton/And yours, sorry. So would you all like to just, you know, explain why. Then
we'll see if there are at least three people want it on the pending list.
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Cole/Well for me it seemed like it's...it's been a very successful that we've all really supported.
Urn,we've identified some limitations to it in terms of the cost of properties, and so I
wanted to think about whether there's other ways that we could iman....imagine the
program,um, that would allow different types of structures. Urn, and so I....I would like
to do it on a work session. Urn,doesn't look like we really cut much off so far. Um, so
at least for now I wanna(both talking)
Throgmorton/ ....workin' on it!
Cole/We're workin' on it(laughter)um, but at least for now I'd like to keep it on.
Taylor/Yeah, I....I agree, and I thought that it would be a great idea to open it up to other
options,to perhaps have, urn,homes that weren't quite as expensive that might be
available to folks of....of lower income.
Fruin/Um, so a couple of comments. One, when we went through the budget session, uh,we....
we proposed a slight modification to UniverCity, which was actually to increase the
amount of the purchase price in the renovation amount because we are finding it more
difficult to find properties, urn, and we expect to pay a little bit more with the rental cap
regulations that went in. Urn,two, um.....the strategic plan has an item to review all of
our housing programs, and....and uh, you know, study how, urn,those are targeting
different aspects of the community and....and just take a holistic look at how we're
investing in the private housing stock. So, I think the question for the Council on....on
this one is, if you really want to see us expand into duplex and....and do it quickly,then
let's keep it on the agenda and let's get it going. If you're able to wait six, seven months
until we can do our review of that....of the housing programs as a staff and present that to
you, you could consider changes at that time, along with changes to GRIP and to Invest
Health and any other,uh....uh, housing projects we may be....
Cole/I could defer to the six or seven months. (both talking)
Throgmorton/I could too. (several talking) As long as we're sure it will be(both talking)
Fruin/It's on your strategic plan. It'll get done.
Mims/Yeah, I think it makes more sense to do it comprehensively instead of piecemeal.
Cole/So I.....I'll withdraw that.
Throgmorton/Is that okay with....yeah? All right,the next one is,uh, increase opportunities for
the Council to engage with City staff and consider a voluntary survey to all employees,
seeking feedback on City-related issues. I don't know whose idea that was.
Fruin/It was Kingsley. (several talking)
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Throgmorton/We'll have to come back to that. Number eight, include a calendar of events in
the information packet, so that Council can discuss attendance at City or community
events.
Taylor/That was Kingsley.
Throgmorton/That was Kingsley,too. Uh, I guess I'd say something about that. There are a lot
of events that take place within the City,and it's not entirely clear how one would
design....uh, define something as an event and something else as not an event(laughs)
you know, some....some really good performer over at Englert, for example, is that an
event? I don't know. Uh, so.....
Salih/I think that's a good idea(both talking)
Throgmorton/ ....Kingsley's not here so we can't deal with too much. I'm sorry,what?
Salih/That if we...we gonna just discuss if this a good idea or not and(unable to understand)that
mean he want it, and I think this is a good idea for....to give us like some kind of sense
what's going on on the community. Yeah.
Throgmorton/So I wonder....(several talking) Oh,just in time! (several talking and laughing)
Cole/ ....Kingsley! (laughter)
Throgmorton/We'll take a short break. (laughs) So we were just going through the pending
work session topics, and we had to skip one or two that were yours. Yeah. Maybe we
can pick up on the one we were just talking about, and then go back to (several talking)
So.....tell us when you're ready.
Botchway/Go ahead!
Throgmorton/Okay, so the one we were....had just started talking about, Kingsley, was number
seven, increase opportunities for the Council to engage with City staff and consider a
voluntary survey to all employees, seeking feedback on City-related issues. So....
Botchway/So I definitely....so I definitely added that one, and mainly it's because, you know,
urn,in my other role, um, we do,uh,the Board has done a survey of their staff to gauge,
um,you know.....whether or not they're being a good deliberative body, whether or not
they're, you know, enacting policies along the terms of what we want....they want to see
in our city, and I mean, I know that many of you have time and um,to, you know, get out
and talk with different City staff. I don't, and so for me it provides an element that I can,
you know,hear from City staff in a....in a collaborative but also,urn,collective way to
find out what's happenin', I mean this isn't.....this isn't about Geoff or isn't about, you
know,any of our administrators. It's more about us, you know, do you feel like we are
embodying the, urn, the....the standards of the City of Iowa City,urn, you know, many of
the individuals, as we know cause we've been in part of the, uh,that potluck and has been
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40, sometimes 50 years here. They know Iowa City. They've worked Iowa City. You
know, I would love to hear from them about, you know,what that means, I mean are
the.....are the strategic planning priorities that we're putting forth,urn, something that
they're supportive of, something that they can get behind. What are some other things
that they would like us to see,uh,to do differently. So that's what I was really thinking
about, um, the volunteer survey. It's more of a survey of reflecting on....on us as a
deliberative body as far as whether or not, what are we doing, you know. What are...what
could we be doing better?
Throgmorton/You're the manager of the staff, Geoff. So what's your sense about.....this
proposal?
Fruin/I don't have any concerns with it. If you wanna get....get feedback, I think....you know,
you're gonna need to be probably pretty specific when you're thinkin' about what you
want to ask about,urn, and you have to understand that most employees are not paying
attention to what's going on in this chamber(laughter) They're focused on whatever
their specific job duty is. Uh, certainly you see the department heads and some of the
supervisory staff here on a regular basis. They're gonna be engaged, but urn, the more
specific you get,the more meaningful the answers will be. We have not done internal
employee surveys since I've been here. Urn, it's somethin' that we've talked about, uh,
Ashley and I have talked about,um,that would be more on the management side of
things and not really focused on what you are all doing,but certainly employee surveys
are not uncommon. It's just....you need to define what you really want out of it.
Cole/I hate to say it,but I sort of don't want to do a work session topic on it. I had one of mine
taken off now too,Kingsley, so (mumbled) (several talking and laughing) ...a good idea,
I don't know! (laughs) Um,but I....in the spirit of trying to cut things down, like I felt
like I really wanted to do the, um, UniverCity program and have more of a substantive....
but I, you know,hey this is looking long. Um, so I....I wouldn't support it now.
Mims/You know I guess....you make a good point, Rockne, and I hadn't thought of it from that
perspective,but as we're trying to pare this list down and think about what...what can we
talk about and what can we do that is most impactful to this community in terms of
policies and initiatives and that kind of thing. Yeah, I don't see that as something that
comes to the top of the list for me. So I...to spend that, so spend the time on that.
Botchway/Well and, I think for me as well, I don't necessarily know that I want to spend a work
session on it. I mean I just wanna do it. And so, I mean, I'm not....I'm not in favor of
actually doing a work session, or having a session about it. I mean I think that we can
just do it.
Mims/But see I'm concerned there too,as we continue to talk about the time demands on staff
and what are the real priorities for staff, you know,who....they've got to have some
feedback of what kinds of questions we're looking for, what kind of information is it that
we really want. Um, you....you talk about getting information from staff on what we're
doing as a deliberative body. You know, you.....those members of the staff that live in
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the Iowa City, who live in Iowa City, have the opportunity to make their voices known at
the ballot box. Urn, for those that....that aren't, that don't live in Iowa City, certainly....I
would agree with Geoff and having been on Council for a while and gone to a lot of those
potlucks and talked to people, I....they're more concerned (mumbled) day-to-day work
and not what is happening here, and I just am not sure that having our Communications
staff or whoever else, or having to outsource this, develop a survey, urn, I guess what I
would want to see first is for you to come back and tell us what it is you really want to
hear out of this. What kind of specific information are you really looking for to give
some direction before we even consider taking, having staff take time and energy to put
together a survey.
Throgmorton/Yeah, cause we can't just do it. (laughs) Or tell staff to do it. We have to be
clear about what kind of information we're looking for.
Botchway/Yeah,' I mean to that extent I would agree with Geoff. I mean this is not uncommon
at all. I mean I just brought it up, you know, from a School District standpoint, we
survey our students and staff because we want to know what our students and staff are
doing, and you know, to that extent, you know, I...I think that, yeah, the ballot box point
is a....is an important piece of that, but I mean I think there's also a connection, and when
we're talking about community engagement, I mean, and wanting to make sure we're
hearing from the broader community, I don't think we can just gloss over what our staff
may or may not want to contribute to that message. But I definitely feel comfortable
putting together a memo, I mean taking it off the pending list and putting together a
memo (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ....just respond to (both talking) Okay, that sounds reasonable (several talking)
All right. So we had skipped over a couple things that were of interest to you, Kingsley,
so we'll go back to them. So item two on the, uh, other topics part of the pending list, is
review City-funded organizations commitment to diversity and inclusiveness.
Botchway/Yes, so that one....that one in particular speaks to....we spend, we put money out for
a number of different programs, you know, would like to see some type of....assessment
or conversation about what that looks like, whether or not we are.....truly, urn, speaking
to and....and determining the diversity and inclusion that I think is necessary that we all
believe in, and so for....for me it's more from, you know, I think that Mark from ICAD,
um, has sometime....has come before us, um, before. I think that, you know, as we think
about who we give to....Summer of the Arts, um, other organizations that we give, I
would say a substantial amount of money to, I just would like to hear about what things
you're doing. At least for me, to promote diversity and inclusiveness. Maybe there are
other questions from a deliberative body standpoint that we want to ask these
organizations, but I....I mean that's my particular focus.
Throgmorton/So are you suggesting that each organization that receives funding of some kind or
another, from the City, should be asked what are they doing to promote diversity and
inclusiveness.
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Botchway/Yeah, I mean I think....for me it's a substantial funding amount, I mean, if you say
$50,000 or more, I mean I don't want....if we give $1,000 out to individuals, I don't
necessarily know that we're asking for,you know, a board presentation, but we're giving
a substantial money...amount of money. I wanna know, you know, what that money's
being used for, and how you are being inclusiveness. I just think that as we have these
conversations, and as we're talking about, you know,the racial equity toolkit and wanting
to make sure that we're working through a more inclusive process, I wanna also make
sure that one of the most important things that we do is fund things and that we're putting
that on our partners to have that same,urn, conversation and,urn, deliberation as well.
Taylor/I don't see that as too different than we just got in our packet,pages and pages of
information from the Human Rights Commission, and those folks that apply for the social
justice funds have to designate how it's going to apply to inclusiveness and social justice.
So I...I kind of see your point, Kingsley, as far as giving even more money to these other
organizations and....and perhaps they should justify.
Throgmorton/So there aren't very many organizations that we give 50 or more thousand dollars,
right?
Fruin/No, I....the Summer of the Arts,Englert,urn.....I'm strugglin' after that. ICAD, um....uh,
CVB,that's through kind of hotel/motel tax. Urn,but you know we have a....we have a
set that's 30 and below, probably Riverside Theater and uh, Film Scene, urn.....EEC in
Cedar Rapids area. So....there's a couple of cut-offs. Fifty's a good cut-off. Um, if
you're hopin' to get some of those smaller groups that we fund,then I'd say you probably
need to go down to 20. And it's,you know(mumbled) if it's as simple as writing them
and saying, you know,this is an important value of the City,part of the Council's
strategic plan. Please report back to us on how you embody this. That's...we can just do
that and report(both talking)
Throgmorton/I personally think that would be a completely reasonable thing to do. Uh, so that
for me the only question is what's the funding cut-off.
Botchway/Yeah, I mean hearing, Geoff, you know, if it's $20,000 to incorporate Riverside
Community Theater and some of the other places, I....I would appreciate that. I mean I
would....I would say that from our prior conversations, I was more focused on Summer
of the Arts, CVB, ICAD, some of the bigger organizations,urn,but I mean I know Film
Scene does a lot of,um, diversity inclusion work because I've been there(both talking)
Throgmorton/ ...Riverside, yeah(both talking)
Botchway/So I would like to hear more from them, and so if it's at$20,000, I think that's....
that's an appropriate cut-off as well.
Fruin/We can do that. We'll take it off the list and we'll (several talking)
Throgmorton/Yeah. Okay.
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Fruin/I think we'll just compile 'em all and deliver at one time so you're....if you(both talking)
Thomas/I think that makes sense. I....the other thought in my mind is not only how can Council
better understand (clears throat)their commitment to, uh, diversity and inclusiveness or
whatever values we....we want to emphasize,but also the general public, you know, how
....how can the community get a better understanding of its makeup, uh, as well. So
whatever format or....process would....further in that regard, I think would be....would
be helpful.
Throgmorton/All right. Good deal. Uh,we need to revisit Robert A. Lee,right? That....item
number four, cause that was something Kingsley had an interest in.
Fruin/No I think we're good there. (several talking) Yeah.
Throgmorton/Okay. So, let's see,that gets us down to item eight, I think. (several talking)
Yeah. Okay, so we're now picking up where we had left off. Uh, so item eight, include a
calendar of events in the information packet so the Council can discuss attendance at City
or community events. We're kind of recalling this is yours(both talking)
Botchway/So I mean, not to use Susan's point I mean I....I think it was a good point to kind of
focus on, you know, how do we....you know, I think that was around the.....
Mims/Well it was early on(several talking)
Botchway/ ...Chamber, so I mean the Chamber(mumbled) I mean ultimately(several talking)
How do we....how do we just divide and conquer? You know I think that people want to
see City representation at different events. Urn, you know I think I just sent an email to
Geoff about another event that's coming up, you know, and saying is that a normal, is
that a City Council attended event, like how do we just get people out there, and again,
I...I am thinking selfishly of myself because my time is somewhat limited and so, you
know, if Pauline, I mean Pauline was out at the,uh,the groundbreaking for the,uh, Crisis
Center. You know, it was good to have City representation. It was good to know,you
know, I didn't....myself wasn't the only person that was going to be there, that we could
have had it....if I had known Pauline was going to be there, I may not have had to go or
make some changes, and so for me it's just maybe clearly articulating, you know, how do
we make sure we have representation across the broader community. I mean Jim, you
know, I....I hear, I wouldn't say on a daily basis now, I mean I think it was more before,
but you know,um, not because I think you're doing less. I think it's just....I don't hear
as many of the comments, is that, you know, you had done a wonderful job of just getting
out to all these different events. I mean that's a heavy workload, and we....we've had
conversations about that, and so how do, you know,how is Rockne participating in these
events? How is Mazahir participating in events, and so for me it's just clearly kind of,
and it may be an extra, you know, five minutes to our Council meetings. I know, I mean
from a timing standpoint it's not necessarily the sexiest thing, but I do think it provides
an avenue,again at least for me and then for other Councilors as well, if we're goin' to
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this event how bout, you know, two of us go to this event. If we're goin' to this event,
how bout one of us goes to this event. I mean obviously not making a quorum but just
making sure that we're representing.
Throgmorton/ So right now at the end of our formal meeting, each Council Member talks a little
bit about what they've been doing, or what's comin' up. So how....how does what
you're suggesting differ from that?
Botchway/I think it's....and at that time designating who is...is gonna go (several talking) also, I
mean, Geoff and staff may have more information about events, um, than, I mean I'm
looking at my calendar, kind of thumbing through events, um, that doesn't necessarily
represent all the events that may be, um, that we could go to.
Throgmorton/So maybe we could just alter that little bit of our formal meeting, and one thing
I'm thinking would be helpful would be for Geoff or staff in general to be alert and tell us
about some events that are coming up that they don't hear being mentioned by us, cause
I....I know things fly by me and I don't even know they're happenin'. Yeah.
Botchway/ Yeah, and again I'm not talking about every single committee meeting. I mean the,
for example, the UNESCO,um, conversation I think we're having later on. You know,
that's one I didn't put in my calendar and so I mean if Geoff hadn't sent the email, I
might have missed it. We...we probably would have brought that up,but...be nice to have
City representation (both talking)
Throgmorton/Yeah.
Botchway/At the Council level (mumbled)
Throgmorton/So, can we just modify that last step in our formal meeting process, uh, instead of
having a special work session on this particular topic. Is that okay with you? (several
talking) Okay. All right. All right, let's see, where are we? Item nine, review the
Farmers Market vendor rules and regulations.
Botchway/ So this is mine again. Just pilin' on here, sorry! Um, for...for this particular piece,
this kind of came out of the vain of our conversation around, um, you know,just
basically the media and some protests that happened at the Farmers Market. Um, I think
that for me it was, you know, about what we can do. I think Eleanor gave us a....I don't
know if you gave us an email or it was a....or it was a separate memo packet about, urn,
kind of what we can and can't do in relation to this particular(mumbled)maybe you just
stated something?
Dilkes/ I think it was a reaction to that.
Botchway/It was a rea....okay. (both talking) Yeah, and so....
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Dilkes/We told you what staff was...what position we were taking and why that was constrained
by First Amendment issues.
Botchway/Right, and so to that extent, my question is, is how do we review or potentially
change the policies,to make sure that that wouldn't happen, that it isn't an issue. And
again I mean I know that....go ahead!
Dilkes/(several talking) I think I....I think we had a go....our policy is good,and it's just in how
it's applied and how you can apply it constitutionally. That was what was at issue in that
case. I....I don't think we could change our policies and have a different result. (several
talking)
Botchway/Well I'm going to throw out a hypothetical. I know you're not very prepared for this
cause I didn't necessarily talk to you ahead of time. Um, so I mean if the KKK just
decided to,you know,put a....put a,uh, a, uh.....cross, urn, selling crosses at the Farmers
Market,that would be okay?
Dilkes/Well, we don't....l mean you'd have to look at whether it fell into what is allowed to be
sold at the Farmers Market. Urn, and....and all the other regulations that exist for the
Farmers Market,but if you....if you wanted to exclude the KKK purely because of what
their speech is or what they....that would be a problem. If they met all the other criteria
for the Farmers Market.
Botchway/ I mean I guess from my....I thought it was a different interpretation around hate
speech and other things that may...are prohibited by the First Amendment. So, you know,
again(both talking)
Dilkes/I mean think of the case many years ago of the Skokie, Illinois situation,where you had
the KKK walking down the street of a very.....you know, a....a Jewish town, high Jewish
population. Certain public spaces you don't have that authority. Now the Farmers
Market is a....is different than the street,because it's a...we say you can only be here
doing certain things.
Botchway/Right.
Dilkes/Right? But if you're there doing those certain things,urn, and you meet all the other
criteria,um,then you can't deny them that because of what their message is. I mean
it's....l think it's unlikely that there would be a need at the Farmers Market, or it would
be a high priority for us,to be selling crosses. Um,we have limited number of vendor
spaces. We have(both talking)
Botchway/ ....hypothetical. I was using the most extreme case(laughter)
Dilkes/ So I mean I think that's unlikely that that scenario would....would come to be, because
there's probably not a real demand for crosses,wooden crosses. And so a lot of those
situations are gonna be dealt with simply by the....the limits of the Farmers Market,
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and....and what....what gets sold at the Farmer Mar...Farmers Market and what the
priorities are. But....but we're not gonna write a policy that says....you know, any
organization who believes or supports the A, B, C, and D if it's not violence and it's not,
you know, it's not otherwise unlawful under the ha....hate speech codes of the State
codes,we can't do that.
Taylor/Is that the same with if they even had,uh, written material and just had a table outside
and weren't necessarily a vendor but like some(mumbled)political candidates that just
have a table outside the Farmers Market and have literature?
Dilkes/Well that's a whole other issue....
Taylor/Right!
Dilkes/ ...cause that is a public forum,because we allow anybody to set up in those spaces. So,
and we have cautioned.....that once you do that, once you open it up to....the Farmers
Market's rules don't apply in those spaces. So that clearly is a public forum. That's
more like a street. And if they wanna be there they can be there.
Throgmorton/Yeah, so on this particular....particular point,uh, when I attended the Mayors
Innovation Project event last August,we had an extensive discussion about this and the
key point I heard was it's really crucial to separate people from one another. So if there's
a....if there's somebody like the KKK that wants to demonstrate or whatever they're
gonna do, and there's somebody else who wants to demonstrate against them,you gotta
keep 'em separate from one another. But you can't say no you cannot express....you, we
can't limit your ability to speak freely or can't limit your free speech rights, but ya gotta
keep these people separate, otherwise you're gonna end up in physical conflict.
Mims/So can we(both talking)
Dilkes/ I think....I think the other issue about what happened at the Farmers Market is the
conduct that was being complained about was off-site, I mean it wasn't on-site. That
....that's a huge distinction.
Botchway/I think....I think just to, I guess to close the point. I think for me I was looking at it
from a standpoint of a, you know, it's a City-regulated function, you know, we would, I
mean I guess I (mumbled)determinations potentially on candidates based on, you know,
if they were....if they were potentially saying something that could be hate-oriented or, I
mean I think there's been even national news around, you know, situations where
individuals' Facebooks or things that they said along those lines have been, you know,
used to potential, you know, determination of employment, and so I was looking at it
from a City-regulated function. I get the protest in the street piece, and I wasn't thinking
about that from the standpoint. I was more focused on if there was any way that we
could,you know, enact or place policies around it, but if there's not, then I've....I've
followed up in the way that I was....I said I would follow up on.
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Dukes/I think if the....if the event you're using as an example is the one that happened last
summer, I don't think(mumbled)
Botchway/Okay.
Throgmorton/ So let's see if there are three people supporting the....the idea of havin' this as a
wor...special wor....to have a special work session on this topic. I....I don't. I don't
think we need to(both talking)
Botchway/Well I don't support it now. I just(several talking)
Dilkes/We can talk (mumbled)
Throgmorton/Okay! Item 10,uh, I'll note item 10 and item 13 are pretty much the same thing.
So item 10 reads: discuss near and long-term plans for autonomous vehicles. Now,
Geoff, I know you've had some conversations with, uh, people....1 think in Urban
Regional Planning about this. Do you wanna say a few words about this?
Fruin/ Yeah. We've worked with the,uh, School of Urban Regional Planning. We're gonna
have a summer intern in the,um, Manager's office and this'll be one of the primary tasks,
is really just to do some research on, uh, kind of what the leading thoughts are on the
impact of autonomous vehicles on city design and in operations, so that we can, urn,
better understand what....what some of the industry experts are projecting and....and
maybe slightly adjust operations or,urn,whatever we need to do to prepare, and then
we'll consider maybe doin' some public education on autonomous vehicles, as well, and
....and perhaps even some staff training, depending on what types of information we're
finding.
Cole/ Didn't we already nix this? I....I thought we did.
Throgmorton/No,we nixed it from the strategic plan(both talking)
Cole/Okay!
Throgmorton/ ....not from pending work sessions. I think it oughta remain on the....the list of
work session topics,but months from now, after the.....the students come up with
information, etc. But I don't know, are there three people who agree?
Thomas/Well....given what Geoff just said, it seems like that would be an opportunity to hear
....hear from(both talking)
Mims/ ....report back then,
Botchway/(several talking) Is that a report from the Council, is that a memo or is that a report,
to us?
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Fruin/We would....we could summarize,urn,his findings from his internship and send it to ya
and you can decide if you want to act any further then...at that point. Or....or leave it on,
it doesn't really matter to me.
Mims/(mumbled)take it off and get the report and then we can decide if we really want a work
session at that point.
Throgmorton/I'm fine with that. I like Geoff's initiative on this. So that gets rid of item 13
also. Item 11, review the consumption based emission study and discuss how to
incorporate findings into our policies,procedures, and codes. Uh, I....I'd like to say our
Climate Action Steering Committee is comin' pretty close to givin' us a final draft report,
or plan, and it's....it's the kind of thing we'd actually want them to be looking at, I think.
So I think it's important(laughs) it's worth discussing but I don't know that we have to
have a work session discussion about it. I'm happy to, but I don't know that we need to.
Do you have opinions about this?
Cole/Well we probably should. They're going to make a series of recommendations, and then
we're gonna have to say whether that's gonna be City policy or not,right? I mean....
Fruin/Two....two different(both talking)
Mims/ .....two,yeah.
Fruin/Yeah, so this was a....emission study that we completed, it was grant funded,that we
completed, and I think we sent the results out a few months ago. Urn, the Climate
Action,uh, Steering Committee is workin' on a separate plan that will be informed in
part by the study. Um,clearly when they're done with their report you're gonna want to
have some work session time to hear from them and....and sift through the report. This is
just a....a little different.
Throgmorton/Yeah. Ashley?
Monroe/I was just gonna say, clarify,uh,this is a consumption-based emission,so it's specific
to consumption, um, whereas the climate plan will kind of take all of our emissions into
consideration and provide recommended actions. So, um,they are finishing. We're...
subcommittees are in full swing with review of the initial draft, so we'll be hearing a little
bit more about that. Urn,plan is a....a April release of the....of the final draft of the plan,
um, and then there'll be a presentation at Council with the Climate Action Plan likely in
May. Urn, and then at that point we would....you know, start whatever actions you
decide to...to implement and....and prioritize, um,based on the recommended actions.
So,urn, you know,this....there are components as far as, um, food and....and transit and
other things that are mentioned within the consumption study, but it's not, um, based
specifically on our consumption here. So,there.....we could do a presentation if you'd
like on specifically this study or combine it in some way or....you know, whatever you
have interests in.
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Throgmorton/ Yeah, so it's not just a standard emission inventory, which we already have and
have had for quite a few years. Uh....but I think the crucial thing at the moment is to get
this plan from the Steering Committee and figure out how we want to proceed with that.
It may be we will want to revisit the consumption-based inventory once we hear from the
Steering Committee.
Cole/So let's then cut it for now.
Throgmorton/ Sorry?
Cole/You wanted to cut it for now then?
Throgmorton/Yeah, I think so.
Cole/Okay.
Throgmorton/Yeah. Okay,the next one is review alternative revenue sources. Yep, I think we
should do that.
Botchway/Yep.
Cole/Agreed.
Throgmorton/Number 13,review expert thoughts....l already did that. Sony. Number 14,
create a new student internship program to assist interested Council Members. This is
my suggestion. So I'll make a case for it. I don't know if any other Council Members
are interested in having an intern work with you individually, but I was thinking it might
be a really good opportunity to connect with people, either Kirkwood or the University of
Iowa, draw them in to the process of Council decision-making, and enable them to learn
about what we do,how we do it, and....and also get help from them on particular topics.
I can tell ya I've been an intern,uh, for a....an alderman down in Louisville, Kentucky,
and you know, it....I don't know if it was of any help to that alderman at all, uh, but I....
also I think it's kinda hard to figure out exactly what you want somebody to do, because
you don't know if they....they're capable of doing it. You don't know if they know
enough. So you can spend a lot of time just sort of chumin' your wheels,talking with
the.....the intern,tryin' to figure out what the intern can do,what the intern can't do. So,
uh, I mean I like the idea, but it's not a straightforward,obvious thing to do. I wonder
if....wonder if y'all had thoughts about it. And this is just about getting it on the work
session topics,not about deciding what to do.
Salih/ I like the idea but I....I just wanna ask you,what do you think, you think like the student
will help or if we just, like will help us because sometime I feel the student maybe they
don't have the....a lot of knowledge to help you and this kind of things, especially they
are just student and they are focusing on certain things, but I don't know how you can
tweak that and make it like there is many knowledgeable people in this community that
could be a volunteer and help City Council Members in certain things, uh, either they
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know a lot about how (unable to understand) attending City Council meeting or maybe
they being like, uh, watching it....like somebody like me. I did not born here. I, you
know, I I didn't grow up knowing things about city council, and when I came here to
this country, the last things on my list was knowing about city council, cause I have lots
things to navigate through first. That's why I think there is many knowledgeable people
in this community that could be volunteer. I don't know how you can call it, but it will
be the same thing, they will be maybe interested on helping like certain City Council
Member navigate especially when they are new navigate through everything. I really get
hard time to know a lot of stuff here,with the work session, with the (unable to
understand) like specifically on the work session. You know, a lot of thing, but if a
student cannot help me on that. But maybe a community member who really interesting
and knowledgeable about this could be us help, but I don't know how you can....this is a
student internship, but I don't know.
Taylor/Would it also be are you thinking, um, say we as a Councilperson didn't have knowledge
about something, like uh, complete streets or....zoning things (both talking)
Throgmorton/Sure!
Taylor/ ....that they could research that and help us with that, give us that knowledge?
Fruin/You know, we're here too, um, and that's our job. It's our job to....to get you information
that you need. I would....I would advise, if...if it's more along those lines, if...if it's
understanding zoning or TIF or complete streets, talk with me and...and we'll set ya up.
We've got, you know, 600-plus employees that....that are experts in their individual
fields. We can spend the time to get ya up to speed. If you're looking for somebody
that's more working on the political side of things, whether that's outreach, um, so that
you have a better understanding of different constituent groups,then maybe somethin'
like this works, but, um.....I think if you've got technical questions, I'd encourage ya to
come to us.
Throgmorton/Okay,just be clear. All we're tryin' to figure out is whether three people wanna
have a work session discussion (both talking)
Cole/I would like to cut it from the work session,because I think we really need to have focus
on these other topics, which are incredibly meaty issues. Um,my preference would be
that this be done through the staff in terms of internships. So, I think it's a good topic,
but that's my vote. I think we have to prioritize what's on here, cause we already have a
lot, and these are very meaty issues.
Throgmorton/John? Susan? What do y'all think?
Mims/I agree with Rockne.
Thomas/Yeah, I....I think we can cut it.
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Throgmorton/Okay, let's cut it.
Salih/You cut it means like you are not gonna do it or....(several talking)
Throgmorton/We're not gonna do a work session discussion.
Salih/Okay.
Throgmorton/Yeah. All right, uh, next is consider increasing the salary and benefits for Council
Members, effective...uh, January 1st, 2020. This again was my suggestion. I think if
we're gonna do something like this, we clearly need to have a work session discussion
about it.
Cole/I'd agree. (several talking)
Throgmorton/All right, so we'll keep that on the list. Sixteen,consider a plan for rubberized
surfacing at park playgrounds. This is somethin' we pulled out of the strategic plan
element.
Thomas/Yeah,I mean it....I, we're not talking about the....this list, uh, that's, you know, further
up on our pending work session topics,but it's included in there.
Throgmorton/It shouldn't be, because we deleted that from the strategic plan element and put it
in this pending list of work session topics.
Thomas/Okay. Um.....well actually, I mean the....16 and 17,urn, are kind of combi...I would...
I would say we could....what I would like to see is combine them. I see them as inner-
related. Ur....because I, you know, as I had said before,my....my thought with that was
that this seemed to be a pretty controversial issue with the School District. You know, in
my own professional experience, uh, you know the(several talking) Pardon me?
Botchway/I wouldn't say pretty, I'd say very controversial issue(several talking and laughing)
Thomas/ ....um,rubberized surfacing is, you know.....the....the highest standard in terms of
accessibility. So, I understand the cost implications of our more typical approach with
the, you know,the that Fibar material, uh,but I do think there may be a place for it as
part of this larger discussion, uh, where we would be talking about destination parks and
....equity,uh, cause in effect it's kind of an equity issue. I mean we're talking about
accessibility, and it's not just for the children. It's for anyone who's in that facility, a
grandparent or whoever.
Mims/I'd say let's leave it on.
Fruin/Would you be open to having the Parks Commission start it, and for them to study it, talk
about it, and give you their thoughts?
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Salih/Yes. (several talking)
Throgmorton/ Sure,yeah. Okay. Item 18, discuss IP #6 from the March 1 st....packet, uh,
regarding recommendations from black parents on youth needs. Uh, so that's a....a
consequence of Pauline's and my meeting with a number of black parents and the, what
we wrote up about that. I think it's worth discussing, for sure.
Taylor/There were a number of issues brought up and concerns and possible things that we can
do in the City, so I think we really need to.
Throgmorton/(several talking) ...we got nodding heads. Okay. All right, I'm looking at the
time. I don't know that we can go through this pending requests of staff, Geoff.
Fruin/If you can just eyeball it really quickly and if there's anything in there that you're kind of
thinkin' maybe we don't need that.
Mims/I guess I'm not sure we need the first one,um....I'm not sure that recently completed
transit studies from other cities are going to translate here. Maybe they do, maybe they
don't. I just....don't know if it's worth staff's time to get that information.
Throgmorton/I would hope that kind of thing would be a part of the transit study(both talking)
anyhow, so.....
Cole/We don't need a(several talking)
Mims/Okay. Um.....I'm not really sure, maybe Dennis can answer this in a really quick one, I
mean are the federal tax law changes, I mean we've talked a little bit about some of the
(several talking)
Fruin/Yeah,there's some tax credit(both talking)
Mims/ ....issues.
Fruin/Urn,there may be others. We really....I haven't personally(both talking)
Mims/Okay.
Throgmorton/Maybe....if we dec....if....if it's directly relevant,maybe we could, uh, learn
about that in the context of other revenue sources, that work session discussion?
Fruin/There may be some state tax reform that has more(both talking)
Throgmorton/Yeah. Yeah. Uh, efforts to green our fleet.
Mims/That was kind of in our budget information, wasn't it, I mean just at least some of the
costs related to that? I'm not sure what more somebody's looking for, I mean....
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Cole/I guess I would like, I mean this wasn't my request, but I think that's a component that's
going to be critical for us, as we sort of set the standard. And I think that'd be really
interesting to a lot of people looking into the green technologies. So, I would at least like
to keep it in. Or....or get that information.
Botchway/It might(several talking) it might have been...was it mine? (several talking)
Throgmorton/Seems like a short memo could be(several talking)
Monroe/ ....could also be incorporated in the exploration of the climate action plan, so there
....there are items there for, you know, alternative vehicles and things like that, so.....
Botchway/ I say nix it and incorporate it within that (several talking)
Throgmorton/That makes sense to me!
Cole/Yeah.
Throgmorton/Tree Advisory Board, you're already doin' stuff on that, right, Geoff?
Fruin/Yeah, it's in motion. Parks Foundation's part of your strategic plan.
Throgmorton/ So you'll provide us with some feedback about that at some point.
Fruin/Okay.
Mims/Haven't we had like in the Senior Center annual report, their breakdown of membership
by city already?
Fruin/Yeah, we typically give that to you, I think when we accept the County grant. (several
responding)
Monroe/We....we do have the information ready too so we can provide that to you. (several
talking)
Taylor/ I think it was (mumbled) topic just to get that information, since they changed our
membership fees. I kind of wanted to see....see if that really affected our membership.
(several talking)
Throgmorton/I don't know about number six. Number seven, we have a strategic plan element
about using social media, uh,more effectively. So I would think that would be a part
(both talking)
Botchway/ ....is mine so, yep, I think you can put it in part of that. I think that the anticipated
steps needs....maybe number eight, maybe can focus on it from, I think we've talked
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about it in our strategic plan as far as,um,being,you know, transportation in general
around the transit study, urn, the bicycle master plan, and some other things, and so....
Throgmorton/Yeah, adequate funding for the bicycle master plan. Yeah. That'd be part of that.
Fruin/Okay. No....no separate report?
Throgmorton/I don't think so.
Fruin/Okay.
Thomas/Are....we're just basically going to be reapplying, correct, isn't that....
Fruin/Yeah.
Thomas/Yeah. So....
Throgmorton/Item nine, I think it would be helpful to....to get something about forecasting road
resurfacing projects. That sounds like a useful bit of information. (several talking)
Botchway/Didn't we get that though? I thought we got that a while back, where it was like red
in areas we're gonna hit.
Fruin/We have a condition, uh, a street condition map that shows where the greatest needs are.
Botchway/Okay.
Fruin/Urn, we can forecast where we think we may be resurfacing in a couple years. The
caution I gave you during budget is once you show somebody that the road's gonna be
resurfaced in a couple years, it's really hard to bump them for some other priority comes
up because it's....you know,they come....they just become attached to that notion. So
we're gonna be puffin' some information out there, what we think we will be doing or
recommending to you. Just have to understand we might get some push-back if we don't
follow that schedule.
Throgmorton/Yeah, I like the word `might.' (laughs)
Fruin/Yeah. But we can....we can tell ya at least where we think the greatest needs are in the
community.
Thomas/It may be possible to present it in a way where you wouldn't be street-specific,but
maybe(both talking)
Fruin/ .....like a high,low(both talking)
Thomas/...by category of,urn, you know, the need.
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Throgmorton/Yeah. Uh....I....the, item 10, the City Council district boundaries to the CIP map.
I don't see much value in that.
Mims/I don't really either, I mean I don't (both talking) Yeah. You know, I don't think...in the
eight years I've been on Council, I've never seen a Council Member vote on something
based on the district that they represent, if they're a district....if they come out of a
district. I don't think you ever have, Jim. I certainly haven't in the last couple of months.
I don't....people don't tend to think in those terms much, except at election time.
Cole/ I would agree.
Throgmorton/All right, uh, let's see, the participary....sorry,participatory budget research.
Fruin/It's done, it's ready to go. It'll probably (several talking)
Cole/ ....leave that in! (laughs)
Fruin/It's already done!
Throgmorton/All right, uh, report on temporary use of right-of-way for construction projects. I
think....that seems to me to be a....of interest and value. We need to get some feedback
about that.
Mims/There's a(both talking)
Fruin/ ....explain our process.
Mims/ ....I mean there's a memo that we had on that, within the last year or two I think, that
....because there was complaints I think over here on Iowa Avenue. You probably (both
talking)
Throgmorton/ ....(mumbled)
Mims/ ....dust off that memo.
Fruin/Yeah, we'll look for that(both talking)
Mims/ ....really want it.
Throgmorton/Uh, okay, um....in the last....so we're gonna....you're gonna take care of that?
So the last item is....has to do with Lusk Avenue. Uh, and really it's update on progress.
I think we need to do that.
Cole/Oh yeah,big time. (several talking)
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Throgmorton/All right. We can't do anymore, uh...,.,.,..
Discuss City of Literature Conference—April 3:
Dilkes/We need to get to the item on the next meeting, cause we've got some....if you're gonna
change the date of it, we've got some public hearings we need....we'll need to change.
Throgmorton/So what...what's our, the question before us?
Fruehling/Uh, I think doesn't it happen kind of(several talking)
Fruin/City of Literature (several talking) April 3`d meeting.
Throgmorton/ Can we shift that to, our meeting to April the 2a1? Monday? (several talking in
background)
Dilkes/It works for....from a staff perspective.
Mims/ It works for me.
Fruit)/I personally won't be here, but Ashley and Simon will do just fine. They
can....(mumbled) (several talking)
Throgmorton/Maz, is that okay with you? Shift our next mee....yeah, our next meeting to April
the rd(both talking)
Taylor/ ....to Monday the 2nd
Salih/(mumbled) Yes.
Throgmorton/ Okay with you, Pauline? Uh, Susan (several responding) yeah, it's okay.
Botchway/I think I'm out though on that(several talking) I have a panel on that night with
Nikole Hannah-Jones that I said I would be participating in.
Cole/We should try to make it for all the Councilors then, I mean.....
Dilkes/ So are we goin' to the 2"d? Is that where we're (several talking)
Throgmorton/Yeah, I....I think we should. It's either that or move it to the 10th of April.
Botchway/Yeah, the only thing I had was the 9''. Um....I'll through out the 9's, on my....on my
notes.
Taylor/That you have the 9th available?
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Botchway/Yeah.
Mims/I can't do the 10'h. (several talking)
Fruin/ One second. (unable to hear person speaking from audience)
Dilkes/We talked about that. We can....we can change the award date. What's that? (unable to
hear person speaking from audience)
Fruin/The question is the ped mall project.
Dilkes/Right, it's set for....for award on the 3`d, but we can....it,the notice to bidders and the
resolution says 'or at some other special meeting date.' We're not tied into that April...
we, Kellie asked me about that today. I think we're okay on that.
Botchway/ Okay. I (mumbled) to the 2"d. I...I just sent an email out literally an hour ago about
playground stuff related to the 9`h. So....that's dead. So the 2"d. And I can't do the 10th.
Throgmorton/ (several talking) Sorry, what's dead? Kingsley (both talking)
Botchway/I just meant....I just mentioned the fact that I said the 9th,but that was...literally an
hour...I just sent something out that I would not be available the 9th, and that was just
when I....my work previously and so the 2"d would be....the 2nd would be the best day.
I'll have to talk with them about whether or not it could work(mumbled) (several
talking)
Throgmorton/ ...go with the 2"d?
Dilkes/Can I...Ron, are...is there a problem just for you to be ready to award on the 2"d? (unable
to hear response) Okay. (unable to hear response) (mumbled) ....remember that too so I
checked it.
Throgmorton/All right. We can stop there. We're gonna pick up the City of Literature
conference when we get back together. After the formal meeting.
(BREAK FOR FORMAL MEETING—6:43pm)
(RECONVENE WORK SESSION—9:23pm)
Discuss City of Literature Conference—April 3: (cont.)
Throgmorton/Well we're gonna pick up with the City of Literature conference discussion, and
then go through the information packet discussion. That's pretty much it. Let me find
my place in my notes. (several talking in background) Okay, are we in our work session
now?
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Salih/Yes.
Throgmorton/Okay. So let's pick up with the City of Literature conference. Uh,does
somebody intend to say something about this? Ashley?
Monroe/No,urn, I have been part of the planning committee so...just kind of keeping track of
logistically of all the things that are going to be happening. Uh, John and Rachel at the
City of Literature have been doing a really great job of planning this and we're looking
forward to bringing all these....you know, cities in and.....and, uh, I asked John for a list
of, uh, activities that Council should feel welcome to participate in and we shared that in
our information packet. So if you guys have questions about any of that, I'll...be happy
to share what I know.
Throgmorton/So there's a reception on the night of Tuesday the 3'a,which conflicts with our
regularly scheduled Council meeting night. It's from 6:00 to 8:00 in Old Capitol,right?
Monroe/Yes.
Throgmorton/Yeah, urn, Rockne, do you have anything you want to add(both talking)
Cole/ ....details, no.
Throgmorton/Yeah. Okay. All right, so....I guess there's not much we need to say about that
then,huh? It should be a major event though. I can't remember exactly how many Cities
of Literature there are, 20-some odd.....
Monroe/Mid-20s.
Throgmorton/Yeah.
Monroe/That are all....that will be participating in and traveling here. Not all of the cities could
come, uh,just due to travel costs, but....but most of them will be here. Urn,we'll also
have the U.S. cities of, uh, the UNESCO cities, um....of arts and culture will be here as
well earlier in the week. I think they're coming in over the weekend and having a
business meeting, and uh,may also be at the reception.
Throgmorton/I'm hoping that the, uh....director of the Baghdad City of Literature's going to be
here, Sadeq Mohamed. Uh,he helped us a great deal on our trip there last May. I hope
he can get his visa and get here. I don't know(both talking)
Monroe/ ....heard, I think he's coming but I'm not 100%. So....
Clarification of Agenda Items:
Throgmorton/Yeah, I think we facilitated some things but there were some steps he had to take
and.....so I don't know where that stands. Okay, so we don't need to discuss that
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anymore,right? Okay. So let's move. We're gonna skip clarification of agenda items, I
think, except maybe one item, which I wanna bring up to you. Okay, the one I wanted to
bring up is Item 2e(5), which concerns an email from Karin Southard concerning the
follow up to Lusk Ave....to the Lusk Avenue discussion that we had a couple or three
months ago. So she. as as the Chair of the Manville Heights Neighborhood
Association, she wants usto address.....four objections that, uh, neighbors have made
concerning, uh....well, what's the....um.....well, objections that they made several
months ago and which we did not address in our discussion. I wanna remind you of
something I wrote in the memo I shared with you,prior to that discussion, and which I
also said publicly. At that time I wrote and said: we will not be second-guessing the
technical actions and judgments of individual City staff members or relitigating decisions
rendered by the Board of Adjustment, the Board of Appeals, or the District Court.
Likewise, we will not be discussing claims of misbehavior on the part of individual staff
members. It appears that Karin is asking us to revisit some of those questions and....
Eleanor and I discussed this via email, yesterday I guess, uh, and it's my understand,
Eleanor,that.....the questions or topics that Karin is proposing are the same ones that
were presented several months ago.
Dilkes/Yeah.
Throgmorton/Yeah, and....and don't raise any new issues. They're just the same, uh,topics.
Uh, and those topics were all addressed in the memo that you and Geoff both gave us,
attached...at the very end, in which you stated, tell me if I'm wrong, you stated basically
that each of those topics had been addressed by the courts, or by the various boards. Am
I correct about that?
Dilkes/Yes.
Throgmorton/So....
Dilkes/ She.....I should add one thing. She did raise the issue of the new sewer being put in by
the....she didn't seem to have a question about it (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ....she noted it, right (both talking)
Dilkes/ ....sewer put in, um (mumbled) part of the property owner to put that sewer in.
Throgmorton/Yeah, she definitely did that. So my question to you basically is....what do you
prefer that we do in response to Karin Southard's request? Nothing? Or something
(laughs) and if there's a something, you know, what would it be.
Cole/ Something but not responding directly to those points. I had thought that we were gonna
....when it happened, it happened. Decisions were made based upon existing policies,
and we were gonna look prospectively,um, to allow our staff the technical authority to
either trip-wire in the sense of notifying us, um, and to develop in close consultation with
them, the lightest regulatory footprint we can use, cause they have not wanted the more
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extensive one, urn, to work through that with them, and possibly with other
neighborhoods,but they were the ones directly affected by that. Urn, so that they would
have the tools to prevent that from happening. So I don't think...] think....we....we
shouldn't address....that was my sense too, Jim, is that it seemed like it was (mumbled)
but very well written(mumbled) past. I don't think we're going to get anywhere by
focusing on that,but to look prospectively. So, um, do we need another work session on
that, or um, what....what do you think? I thought that we were going to have some....
some suggestions based upon the work session that we had had that would (both talking)
Throgmorton/Yeah, and...that...that was (both talking) the last item in the list of work session
(both talking) addressed earlier....
Cole/Yeah!
Throgmorton/ ....this evening. Yeah, so....(both talking)
Cole/That's how we address it.
Throgmorton/Yeah.
Botchway/Well I (clears throat) I would say,because this is a, you know, it was a substantial
issue, some type of response to that end. So I don't know if it's an email from you or
Geoff or whoever,just to....or maybe.....maybe it's more from you, you know. In my
memo I mentioned....well you had mentioned these....you had mentioned these points in
the past. In my memo I stated these things as we move forward...at our last, I mean, I
remember actually talking to Karin after the meeting, I think, and, you know, stating that
we are...or after the work session I think, saying we are going to move forward, and so I
think it's just being clear about the fact that that's coming up in a upcoming work session
and I...I mean brief and just responding in some sense, but I think I agree with Rockne's
point, I mean ultimately these things have been addressed. I appreciate you bringing, uh,
these concerns to light again. Um, we're....moving forward but, you know, we're gonna
highlight that work session that we're gonna have continual conversations around what
we can do to move the conversation....in a better way.
Taylor/Well I think a response from you,uh, reflecting exactly what you said and what Rockne
said, and as far as what came out of the work session that, uh....uh, you know, if there are
red flags that the staff find and they'll bring to us so that(mumbled) can prevent anything
like this in the future. But I think responding to them (mumbled) or responding to her is
important.
Throgmorton/Okay. I can do that. I....I just wanted to note that I'd be acting on behalf of the
Council, rather than just me. (several responding) Yeah. Okay.
Mims/And I would just....encourage you to involve Eleanor maybe in that memo as well,just
from the standpoint that this has been....
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Mikes/I'm sorry, I couldn't hear....
Mims/ I was just encouraging the Mayor to involve you maybe in reviewing that memo that
would go to Karin,just from the standpoint that....there's been litigation involved with
this and just confirming that whatever is sent.....works in terms of not opening us up to
anything else.
Throgmorton/All right, uh(both talking)
Botchway/The quick thing I had was 2e(3). So I didn't see a response there. I know that this is
something that I, you know, I've....I've had some, uh....uh, prior communi...it's about
the massage parlors, urn, some prior communication back and forth, uh, with the Chief
and so they're....I guess, to that end,they're making....they are working on it, but I
didn't know if we could respond to Dina.
Fruin/Yeah, urn, Captain Kelsay at the, um, Police Department has been in touch with the folks
that have been calling. We've had two or three inquiries. IA, there was some media
attention on a case up in Cedar Rapids that kinda spurred this issue down here, and uh,
he's....he's responding to all the inquiries that we're gettin'.
Taylor/I was going to mention that also, Kingsley, cause someone had actually brought it up to
me a....a few months ago and I think I'd asked you about it, Geoff, if you'd heard
anything about it and at that time I don't think you had, but....I was gonna see if Chief
Matherly(both talking)
Fruin/ ....police is still workin' on the case, yeah.
Taylor/ (both talking) ....sort of an active case, we really can't talk (both talking)
Fruin/ ....yeah, I don't think we'd talk about it here now. I think, urn, at some point in time we
can talk about how the police approach those types of issues, cause they're not always....
not always straightforward, and law enforcement's not always the....the best answer.
Sometimes we, uh, take a zoning approach to those matters, and we can get a more
effective outcome, uh, so it's a....a collaboration between a couple different departments
right now.
Throgmorton/I'd like to make sure we distinguish between licensed massage therapists and
massage parlors. There is a substantial difference, and there are a lot of very good
licensed massage therapists in this city, and it's a very important part of stress reduction,
etc. So....shouldn't...make sure we don't confound the two .
Fruin/Yeah, and we really focus on human trafficking. That's what....that's really what it is.
Yeah. (several talking in background)
Throgmorton/Okay, uh, anything else....with regard to the agenda? If not....
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Salih/I just....
•
Throgmorton/I'm sorry!
Salih/ ....you know I wanna mention for the, you know.....the item 2e(4), about the deer, on the
Hickory Hill Park.
Throgmorton/Yeah.
Salih/ I know this like they concerning about like how like a lot live there, but also we receive
some emails about some people like against this and I don't know what you guys
thinking to do on that. So usually would the....I don't know.
Mims/Well basically we left it, I mean at the last meeting,that the....that they would move
forward, Liz Ford and police,would move forward on....reconvening a Deer
Commission,um, and then also going to the DNR. I mean I happened to talk to Liz and,
um, Captain Campbell after the meeting and they both commented that the....they didn't
think the DNR would give us permission,um, to do anything unless we already had the
Deer Commission, you know, back in place and was looking at stuff. So it's...I don't
know, I mean they....
Fruin/Yeah, we don't know. The....the takeaway from the Council conversation that we had
and the direction I've given the Police Department is that you are interested in....in a
reduction this year, if possible....
Mims/If possible.
Fruin/ ....um, by gun,not by.....not by bow. So we're gonna.....we're workin' on that now. We
don't know if that's possible or not. We don't know how we're gonna be received...by
the State. Um, at the same time, we'll work to re-establish the Task Force, but the Task
Force is not, we're not really establishing that group and....and getting their opinions on
whether to move forward this year. It's more how do we continue to manage it after(both
talking) after this year's reduction. So if there's any hesitation,you need to let us know
cause the, again, the direction for PD is get in front of the Commission and let's make our
best pitch and see what they say.
Taylor/Well I....
Mims/Sounds good! (several talking)
Taylor/I wasn't certain on that as far as what the agreement was on the deer reduction or what
....what method would be used,cause I think I've heard a lot of the anti-uh, gun and kill
method, which....so I don't think....I don't know if we were all in agreement.
Mims/There's no options. I mean....I.....I thought we had....I thought we (several talking)
came to agreement on that, yeah.
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Salih/Yeah, we did (several talking) I just say like when somebody start sending you email and
how we gonna respond to that and I guess everybody received the same email I did?
Cole/Yeah. (several talking)
Salih/Yeah. And people like, some people will meet me in the street and tell me about the same
thing. I say no, we already like start like asking (unable to understand) like sharpshooter
or how you call it.
Mims/Quite frankly it's the most humane way to do it. It really is. Otherwise you're gonna get
over-population, they're gonna starve, they're gonna get sick. It's (both talking)
Salih/When I saw that picture, it's really (several talking)
Throgmorton/It's the kind of thing that can stimulate a lot of very emotional disagreement.
Botchway( I appreciate it. I missed that part and so it helps me(several talking)
Cole/And I wish we didn't have to do it, but obviously the public safety issue is huge too, so....
Throgmorton/ So we're not gonna have to adopt a resolution?
Froin/Um,the....the process for moving forward's a bit unclear,because we are the only city in
Iowa that chooses to go with this method. Everybody else uses a....a deer management
zone with....with bow hunting. So, um, the State has not seen this since we were, you
know, urn,back in front of them 10 years or so ago with this issue, and a lot of those
State employees are now gone and we've got new faces in there. So we're still tryin' to
figure out exactly what they're gonna require. Urn, they may....they may punt back to us
and say we want you to get that commission established, we want them to weigh in.
They may want a formal Council resolution. They....we don't know, urn, so we'll keep
ya posted, but we're,uh, navigating that now.
Information Packet Discussion (March 8,March 151:
Throgmorton/Anything else on the agenda packet? All right, let's go to the info packet
discussion, the March 8 packet.
Mims/Just on that...on IP2, urn, what you had submitted, Rockne. Just for clarification for the
public,that is information that came from Bill Gerhard? Is that correct?
Cole/That's right, yep.
Mims/Okay, cause I got the same stuff I just...clarify the source of it, that's all.
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Taylor/Thank you for that information cause I think as I had mentioned we have the MPO
meeting coming up, uh, next Wednesday the 28th and I believe we're going to talk about
that again. So it's helpful to have some information to....to discuss it with and whether
we should come to....on a consensus of how we will present ourself or speak to that.
Okay.
Botchway/Did you share that with the rest of the MPO?
Cole/I don't think I did. No, it was just in the packet. (several talking)
Dukes/I thought it was in the material you got,um....
Cole/It was,but I don't think that one included all the data, at least is my recollection.
Mikes/(mumbled)
Cole/It also included the wage rates. So, and I think I had sent that out just after the other
memo, so there was a little bit of duplication, but....
Throgmorton/Okay. Any other items? So how bout the next packet, what is it the 15t?
Taylor/IP4,the....I sent the information on tiny homes. I just, uh, recently visited a friend in
Bartlesville, Oklahoma and she just randomly said, oh, do ya wanna go see our tiny
homes project and I said, well sure, you know, cause I was very interested in that, and the
pictures don't really do them justice. It's....it's really a very....very nice development
and, uh, is not meant for families with....with four children. It's meant,uh, as the memo,
uh, stated, or the article, um, for, uh,maybe single moms with one or two children, uh,
homeless veterans,those kinds of folks and it's in a previously really rundown part of
Bartlesville,uh, literally as my friend would say (mumbled) across the tracks. There's a
railroad track that divides the east side and the west side of Bartlesville and someone
decided to....and the homes are very run down or even abandoned, so someone took a
whole section, a large couple acres, uh,part of land and.....and decided to...to do this,to
build these homes, and they're anywhere from 500 to 800 square feet, and they have
porches and there's gonna be a green space in the center, a center courtyard, with a green
space, and very well designed and then there's the other development that have the, like
even smaller, like a cabin, really tiny cabin that's gonna be very tiny for probably just one
person, in another part of that....that part of the west side of town. So,uh, it...it was
really kind of fun to see.
Botchway/ Yeah, I appreciated that. You know, one of the things, uh, I think there's a....there's
another project in Michigan that focuses on, you know, smaller lot sizes and, you know, I
don't think they call it tiny homes,but looking at how you can potentially kind of, you
know,talking about both your issues,in a sense where you have property that can be
used,um,rent to own,um, and then something that you can sell later on for equity later
on. So it's....(coughing) Excuse me! So as we think about, or have that affordable
housing conversation, I think there's.....there's some....some new ideas I think
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may....may want to discuss to kind of freshen up kind of where we're going from an
affordable housing perspective.
Salih/Yes. I saw the same thing in Virgina, where the developer will develop like many
townhouses, but like two of them in the middle, like I guess he will build this and others.
This will be sold like affordable,but uh...because I know many people that I know, they
get that program and they....they have those kind of houses. Like the whole thing
(unable to understand)market price and few of them inside will be different. I guess if
we can look at those (unable to understand) great too.
Taylor/Just a few facts about Bartlesville, I looked it up and the median household income is...
is only $51,000. So it's not a real high income, despite that there are those with the
Phillips Petroleum Company that are the wealthier folks, and the average house is
$123,000. So, uh, it's not a real high income, high price area, and the....all the homes
there, uh, slab homes. There's no basements because of the limestone in the ground. So,
uh, they would....they wouldn't be any different from others not having a basement.
Salih/Is somebody gonna talk about IP7 (both talking)
Throgmorton/Wait a minute, can we stick with this for a second.
Cole/Yeah.
Throgmorton/ IP4. Yeah. Just hang with it for a second. I was wondering what(both talking)
Huh?
Salih/(mumbled) (several talking)
Throgmorton/I....I was wondering whether our zoning and building codes would permit
construction of such houses in Iowa City, and I....I don't know what the answer is to that
and....just curious.
Fruin/I'd have to look at it a little bit more(several talking) our minimum lot size may be a little
too big for something like that, but....
Thomas/I....I think it could be done as a planned development overlay, but it....what....what
comes up with cottage clusters, that type of thing, is if you do have....you know, a code
written specifically for that purpose, it makes it a lot easier. So there's more certainty in
terms of getting it approved.
Throgmorton/Yeah, so I....if I remember rightly, construction costs for a new house are
something like $120 per square foot. So a 500-square foot thing would be, what is that?
50, $60,000 to build.
Fruin/I don't(both talking) I don't know those numbers that well (both talking)
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Throgmorton/It's not far off, but I don't know if it's exactly right. Okay, well we don't need to
go into that great detail. What were you going to go into?
Salih/No, I just,uh, would like to say if you guys....if someone wanted to discuss IP7 with me
so I can excuse myself. So
Botchway/Yeah, I do want to talk about 1P7.
Taylor/I also want to talk about IP7. (both talking)
Salih/Yeah. I have to go if you wanna start it.
Botchway/ So, um, you know, first and foremost I want to say thank you to the Committee for
the work on this. It's amazing to see kind of a proposal get some legs and take off in our
community, and I think the additional funding we allocated from a budgetary standpoint
will help develop this. I will say, there's a couple of things, uh, not...not about this pro
....not about the projects that were proposed, but just as we move forward....um, and I
don't necessarily know if this is a work session or....I'm just gonna bring the points up
and maybe want to ta...discuss later on. I....I do want to make sure that, um, we're
thinking about the projects as they move forward, that there's some type of understanding
or criteria around funding new projects. Um, and so I think that was a part of the....the
things that were proposed and, um, you know, I'm supportive of the ones that were
proposed, but you know....to me I see it as a....it, you know, I....being a part of different
grant things, you know, there's a....there's a tendency to, you know, continually fund
certain projects and just wanted to make sure we're....this particular kind of funding that
we're funding, you know, new projects every year, you know,just making sure we're....
we're expanding on the ability for individuals who do social justice and racial equity
work throughout Iowa City, and so that would be my first kind of discussion on maybe
proposing some different criteria, and then the second being....and this is, you know,this
has just been the clear focus that I've tried to focus on, um, it's very intently, um,
especially you know, urn.....as I start, or as this is a new term,um, higher focus on the
demographic of the communities they're serving, in particular the compounding
marginalization of some of our residents in Iowa City, and so, you know,low income,
person of color, urn, identifies as LGBTQ, veteran with a disability, I mean I....I do think
that I want to make sure that our money is speaking to our....I.....I say compound
marginalization, I mean, another term that's frequently used is, you know, inter-
sectionality, that we're focusing the money in those areas, and again, I don't have any
problem with the projects that were put forth, but as I was reading them it was just
making me think about the fact of let's just....I don't....I don't wanna, I don't wanna
have the conversation later, um, that we didn't think about that or didn't put that in the
process ahead of time. So those are just my two points from a....criteria standpoint, but
again, the....the projects, loved! Definitely supportive and thankful for what the
Committee did.
Mims/I would agree with you, Kingsley. Not necessarily on what you wanna see for future
criteria,but I do think before we put this out another year, I do think the Council should
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have a more detailed conversation about the criteria that we want the Human Rights
Commission to use. Ur....in assigning. But that's for....that's for a work session down
the road.
Taylor/Kinda along those lines, I....I just wanted to thank Stefanie and....and the Commission
for, uh, including the information about what was it 33 submissions, uh, so we had
some idea of....of what they were asking, for what they were requesting,how much and
what they were going to use the monies for cause I don't know that we'd gotten that
information before, and it was kind of helpful to see that and, uh, so many efforts being
made out there in the community to address the inequities and, uh, help individuals that
....mentally, physically, or financially need some help and it also very much showed the
$25,000 just, uh, is inadequate for....for what the needs are out there.
Mims/And yet at the same time I would say while there were some very, very strong applicants,
there were some that I wouldn't fund if I had a million dollars, I mean just quite frankly.
Taylor/Right, and I think the Commission had mentioned ones that, you know, perhaps the
applicants should know they can't be asking for all $25,000 or even 10,000, which some
of them did, ask for quite large amounts.
Mims/You know I didn't actually double-check, but I did....and I meant to do this and I
apologize. I noticed the submissions were numbered starting number six....through 33.
So I don't know if we missed five in the packet or....
Taylor/That was the five that they had (several talking)
Mims/And I don't....maybe that's all there were were 28. Maybe I....and I apologize I didn't
take the time to go back and double-check that, but....
Fruin/We'll double-check. I didn't notice that.
Throgmorton/ So I have thoughts that are quite similar to some of what's already been said. First
of all, I think we need to provide the Commission....well, first of all, I want to thank the
Commissioners for doing the hard work of going through all of the applications. (several
talking) ...lot of material, and I....I don't think we're in the position to second-guess their
recommendations, uh,that would require us to go through 28 applications, and....we
can't do that. lib,but there are some concerns I think we need to address. So, I...I
definitely think we need to provide the Commission with clear, or better direction, about
what our objectives are. So I'm not sure how to do that. We could have a work session
discussion, etc., or maybe we could have a three-person committee if Council....of
Council Members, workin' with Geoff to figure out....or just Council Members, to figure
out....come up with some recommendations for us. But we definitely (laughs) need to
refine,uh...uh, our....our direction to the Commission. I think we, um....um....it's kinda
like what Kingsley said, I think.....my sense is that we should be providing this....little
pot of money for newer or smaller organizations, uh, and to provide them with....to.....to
provide small grants for them, to....to get some stuff going. So that....particular groups,
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especially that represent marginalized or new communities within the city have an
opportunity to ins...to invent a few things, to try to learn how to do this and get some
things going. Uh, and I also think we need to limit future grants to not more than some
amount, so that we don't have like 12,000 or 15,000 or whatever going....maybe 25,000,
going to one entity. I...for this little pot of money I think we need to be more precise
about that. And, let me think.....I noticed too that, uh, the process the Commission
followed resulted in a, uh, a request that we add an additional $3,800, and....that's not
problematic probably in the moment, but I think if....if we say it's 25,000, it oughta be
not more than 25,000 (both talking)
Cole/ ....that precedent.
Throgmorton/And I have one other thing to say, and you may remember that we received a
complaint from Arianna Aron, a member of the Commission, about the
way....her....need to recuse herself from voting due to a....a conflict of interest was
handled, and I know, I think it was you, Eleanor, uh, communicated with Arianna about
that, uh,help her understand that process. Uh,but we gotta make sure the commissioners
understand what the....when conflict of interest is actually at stake and when to recuse
and....and all that. So we don't have a commissioner feeling really upset and....treated,
uh, inappropriately. So, anyhow....those are my thoughts. I think we need to provide
better guidance is the main thing.
Froin/Um, Stefanie must be watching from home(laughter) She sent me a message(laughter)
all the applications are in there. There was just a glitch in the numbering. So...
Mims/Yeah, there is, cause I just looked in there. Their ranking is like 1 to 28, and so there are
28 in there. They just for some reason got numbered starting with number six. So....
Throgmorton/Yeah, they put a lot of work into this.....
Mims/They did!
Throgmorton/ ....I respect that enormously (several talking)
Cole/Great job, Stefanie! (several talking)
Mims/Thank you, Stefanie (several talking and laughing)
Botchway/To Jim's point though, I mean, work session,three-person committee.
Throgmorton/Well we have 15 work sessions or 20 or something already lined up, so....
Botchway/To that extent I would be....I was actually going to say, I'd be in favor of the three-
person committee (both talking)
Cole/Yeah, I was gonna say a sub-committee.
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Throgmorton/I'd like to suggest Kingsley and Pauline, and one other person,but....(several
talking) Okay! All right, so....
Fruin/(mumbled) Pauline and Kingsley?
Throgmorton/ (both talking) ....your charge is to develop a clear set of objectives that we can
provide the Commission with, for the next round....of, uh....going through applications.
Maybe even clearer guidance about not going over the limit, maybe some advice about
what the largest amount could be for any one project. Anything else?
Dilkes/ You're establishing a subcommittee to make rec....policy recommendations to you. I
hate to be a wet blanket here, but I....I think that's a problem.
Throgmorton/You think what?
Cole/You mean in terms of(both talking)
Dilkes/ ....open records problem. Yeah.
Mims/If three of us meet to come up with something and bring back to Council?
Throgmorton/It's just a recommendation coming back to Council.
Dilkes/Well, it's an advisory....you're....you're giving them the charge of....of developing a
policy recommendation and making a policy recommendation to the Council. That's not
any different than the Economic Development Committee.
Throgmorton/Well (both talking)
Dilkes/And that's what the, I mean (several talking)
Throgmorton/So if that's the deal, then we have to do it that way, we have to have notice
(several talking)
Dilkes/I think you should just do it as a.....as a group. I think you can facilitate it by sending
your initial ideas....to the City Manager ahead of time so that we can somehow have a
maybe more efficient work session about it.
Fruin/What if I, um, if I met with....with you and, uh, took some of your thoughts and ideas,
worked 'em out with Stefanie. She's obviously been through this process with the HR
and then I'll take your input and her input and give you some recommendations.
Throgmorton/Okay. (several talking) All right, sounds good. All right. Uh, any other, uh,
information items (several talking) Uh....I guess I wanna say one thing briefly. Uh,
Geoff shared with us,this is what....1P5? Yeah, IP5, shared with us an article entitled
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"Cities on a Hill,"and it was all about bike, couple very competent people. Amy Liu, I
recognized her name for sure,uh, and they basically argue that cities must think and act
regionally, and uh, I mean I think it....it's true(laughs) acting and thinking regionally is
really smart for a lot of issue,but sometimes you just have to get off the dime and you
have to act, and....so.....
Fruin/I thought it just hit on so many things that we spin our wheels on and we talk about, uh,
so....
Throgmorton/Okay! Any other items in the packet? Is there any(both talking)
Fruehling/ ....remind you about the schedule.
Throgmorton/Yeah,thank you! Uh, because this is something Maz had brought up as well. So
we need to think just a little bit about our regular Council meeting schedule for the end of
May and....June. So, Maz,uh, you were telling me something during the break. Would
you,uh,repeat that please?
Salih/ I just think I want to tell you that like, uh,most of the time we go like Sudan during
summer. I take my kids and leave,uh, last year we haven't because of the campaign,but
this year definitely we want to go and uh, since we going there like in two years or
something like that, we need to spend more time with our family and the ticket is really
expensive. We're always,you know,just, you know,try to spend more time there.
That's why I will be gone,you know, from,uh, beginning of June to the end of July.
(several responding) And I...I know that there is a meeting on,uh, June....4....it was
June 5th and after(unable to understand)June 4 because of the primary on June 5h. I'm
just requesting kindly if you can do that on the 29 of May instead of June....4, 29 of
May? So I can attend at least that meeting, and miss only one in June and two in July.
And I will do my best to be on phone. You know, like,uh,to call in for first meeting.
Botchway/I'll tell ya,Maz,that's my sacred fifth Tuesdays out of some months(mumbled)
Salih/Which one,the 29th?
Botchway/Yeah(mumbled)
Throgmorton/So can we be clear about what dates we currently have scheduled because my
calendar reads a little differently.
Fruehling/Right. So currently it's May 1St and May 15th. For May. (several talking)
Salih/May I'm okay.
Fruehling/And then June 4th and June 19th is the tentative.
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Salih/ I just may have like four Tuesdays, right....five Tuesdays. That's why so if maybe the 29
it still would be like a week later or....two week later from the, two week later from
the....
Throgmorton/What....what are the dates in July?
Fruehling/The 3rd and the 17th
Throgmorton/Yeah, so you you'd have to miss both of those meetings, right?
Salih/For July, definitely I'm going to be missing because I'm coming after....after the 17, you
know, like the 19th.
Throgmorton/Okay.
Salih/And the thing is, I was trying to (unable to understand) on that day if I attend June 5th and
left on June 6th. Tickets really expensive! But if I travel on like the weekend, it will be
much cheaper.
Throgmorton/So I....let me just say something. I....I'm completely willing to shift from June
4th to May the 29th, cause that would be a two-week gap between the 15th and 29'h. But I
can tell ya, I won't be here, or at least I don't expect to be here on the 29th, and that's
okay with me. Pauline can handle that well, and that would (both talking)
Taylor/The 19th you mean, of June? (several talking) Oh, you won't be here on the 29th.
Throgmorton/I won't be here. I don't plan to be here on the 29th anyhow.
Taylor/ Okay.
Throgmorton/But that would make things better for Maz, cause that'd mean you'd only miss the
ones in July, right? (several talking)
Fruehling/ ...June 19th, John said he's gonna be out of town too, so it would be you, Rockne,
John, and Maza all gone.
Cole/It's not even a quorum.
Taylor/ On the 19 (both talking)
Fruehling/June the 19th. (several talking)
Botchway/Where y'all goin'? (laughter)
Throgmorton/ I'm goin' on the Civil Rights tour (laughter)
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Cole/Yeah, I'm to the Civil Rights trip too.
Mims/ Oh, okay!
Salih/Then we just....
Mims/Well it looks like the June 9....June 19`h needs to be canceled or changed. So....I think, I
know we've got a lot on the schedule, but I'll tell ya, in the past, we've managed to take
at least one meeting off in the summer, sometimes either both July and August we've
only had one meeting. Um....and it sounds like maybe June 19th we should just cancel?
Salih/Oh yeah,that would be great for me (laughs) if I can call in one two meeting on July.
Mims/I mean (several talking) it means we push some things back potentially, I mean we've got
a(several talking)
Fruin/ You know there's....if you take a whole month off there's probably gonna be something
that comes up, whether it's a....um, approval of a bid or something that we might need to
do a special (several talking) if you're okay, we can work that out with ya at the time.
Throgmorton/MI right. So....are we agreed to cancel the June 19th meeting? (several
responding)
Mims/And are we gonna move the June 4th to May 29th? (several responding)
Throgmorton/Sounds okay to me! So....
Salih/Thank you so much, I really appreciate that!
Throgmorton/Butjust to be clear, I won't be here for....I don't expect to be here for the 29th.
Fruehling/And then we're leavin' July 3`t and July 17th alone? (several responding)
Throgmorton/Uh yeah.
Botchway/Even though that's....
Mims/I mean I....I think people need to think about their travel plans because....I mean July 4th
is on a Wednesday, so maybe people aren't tryin' to make any kind of a long weekend
out of the first part (both talking)
Botchway/I will be, so I won't be here, but....I'm just one member, and I'm okay with
(mumbled)
Throgmorton/Okay. So we're good to go, right? For now!
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Mims/Until the next meeting!
Throgmorton/Yeah (laughter) Okay is there anything else that has to be brought up?
Fruin/Yeah, there's one more scheduling item. We have in a...an appeal of a Historic
Preservation Commission decision. Uh, so, uh, Jim and Susan, I think you've been
through this before. The last one was the windows at St. Mary's.
Mims/Yep!
Fruin/The Council, uh, becomes a quasi judicial, uh, body that rules on, uh, or examines the
ruling of the Historic Preservation Commission. Eleanor will help get ya up to speed
when....when that time comes. They can be lengthy, uh, they can take 45 minutes, an
hour, an hour and a half, um, cause you're taking testimony from, um, the....the....the
multiple sides. So the question is do you want to do that as a work session, uh, and
replace your work session with that at your, um, it's your second meeting in April, urn,
knowing that you've got this list that you're anxious to get going on, or do you want to
schedule a special meeting, or just want to tack it on to....your regular agenda.
Throgmorton/Which date is that, 17t? Of April?
Fruin/That would be April 17th, yes.
Botchway/I would prefer the work session, cause my schedule's awful,but....it's up to
everybody else. (several responding)
Fruin/Yeah, we could do a special meeting. I think that's been done in the past, or we could just
....5:00 work session, know that we've got an hour and a half to get it done, and....
Throgmorton/Could we meet earlier? Like 4:30? Give us at least a little more (several talking)
Or 4:00.
Botchway/I cut out from 4:00 out, yeah. (several talking)
Throgmorton/ Is 4:00 on the 17°i work for you folks? (several responding) All right. Sounds
like we'll meet at 4:00.
Fruin/We'll just confirm with, uh, the parties that they're available at that time and....but I
would block it out in your calendars.
Throgmorton/Okay. All right, anything else?
Botchway/Yeah, last thing. Sorry!
Throgmorton/Oh!
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Botchway/Last thing, I'm almost done! (laughter) So I did....I did mi....I did miss the, um, the
GPSG conversation. I, you know, I know that we voted it down. I would say that I'm in
disagreement. So, you know, I wanted to make sure that was a part of the record, so to
speak, urn, you know, for me, um, I'm just kinda reading through my notes real quickly,
sorry, um....I see it as the same as UISG. It's a governmental structure. I understand
the....the comments around, um, you know, what about other entities. You know, when I
was thinking about this and kind of deliberating on our conversations,uh, related to this,
you know, we....when we talk about partnerships with the University, I think we have a
good partnership with UISG. I think we are....we have a good partnership with the
administration at the University as well. I mean as a....as a former graduate student and
many of you have been either former graduate students or, uh, have worked in the
graduate school, but leaving the....the community out. And....(both talking) that's a
problem.
Mims/Kingsley, I'm not sure you have quite the right understanding, cause what we agreed to
do was appoint a City Council liaison to them for a year and then assuming everything
works well or, and even if we decide to change before then, to probably add them as a
regular liaison. So we're not ignoring them (both talking)
Botchway/No, I....and I'm aware of that.
Mims/ Okay!
Botchway/No, I'm aware of that part, and you know, I would say how many times have we gone
to a UISG meeting? I know that maybe, Jim, you've been at one. Um, I know that...two?
(unable to hear person speaking from audience) I know I haven't been, and so....l know
our schedules get busy. I mean I'm....I'm not even speaking currently for myself. That's
just not possible.
Mims/But this is formalizing this liaison...position. Us to them.
Botchway/Right. Right. And so I'm just, I mean I'm just....explaining my....my piece around,
you know, the fact that again, from a graduate student perspective, I don't want to, you
know, leave that or forget that community in part, so I do appreciate the fact that we're
adding a City Council liaison for a year. Um, but I do, you know, stress the fact that, you
know, having a seat at the table, especially um....what is it called? (mumbled) (several
talking) I was going to say ex parte(laughter) ex-officio member does have its
importance, and I frequently, you know,will focus on Ben and Gustave as far as, you
know, hey, what are the students feel about this and,you know, that's all I wanted to say.
Salih/Yes, I hear you.
Throgmorton/All right, hearing nothing further....
Mims/I am....just really quickly, I know it's getting late. Two things. Um....steering
committee for the Access Center is still going strong. There is a new piece that is
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involved in that that is critically important. There is a strong interest, and this is also
coming, particularly coming out of the University and University Hospital, of pairing a,
uh, federally-qualified health center, um,with the Access Center. If this can be done, it
will allow for, urn,billing in a different way, which will allow for higher reimbursement
rates, which will change the pro forma for the Access Center to make it,um, more
revenue-neutral, so it could be a huge, huge bonus for us. Um, so the University's
working on that. They're bringing in, um, a woman from Des Moines, I forget her name,
who understands these FQHC platforms and how they work. Um, it's also....uh, timely
or fortuitous that the County has backed away from a property purchase that they were
looking at. Um, because the property they were looking at would not necessarily have fit
very well with the possibility of now having a....an FQHC with the Access Center. So in
that last meeting, um, tried to make it clear to the County representative to please relay to
their property committee the need to really work with the steering committee about what
those property needs might be, cause they might look very different than what they would
have before. Um, so that's kinda where we're at with that. Also, the...with everything
moving forward on the data-driven data(both talking)
Botchway/ ....before you go forward! Is there any timeline....for.....
Mims/There is not a specific timeline. We're working closely with the University, um, still on
them....if there's an FQHC there's a possibility that they would be the managing
entity....
Botchway/Okay.
Mims/ ...of the whole Access Center. There's nothing certain about any of this. It's all
discussions that are going on at this point. Um, I did have a meeting with Ken Kates, uh,
last week or the week before, uh, Vice President over at the Hospital, to talk about it
from....from the electeds perspective and my position on the....on the, uh, steering
committee. Also they, as part of this and part of potential grants, going forward, they
have created a data-driven justice initiative stakeholder group. They had their first
meeting and they have been focusing mostly on, urn, partners who have the data that they
need. So, mental health providers,hospitals, the jail, etc. Part of the conversation they
realized, urn, they've kind of left out the electeds. So I have been approached, because
I've been on the steering committee from the beginning, to be a member of that
stakeholder group and I have accepted that invitation....to be on that. And finally, uh,
Geoff had sent us an email a week or two ago that had come from labor. What looked
like a liaison to be involved in kind of labor's work on affordable housing. Um, I had a
phone call yesterday with John Whalen, um, from the union. He's out of,uh,
Bloomington, Illinois. They....what they're doing is they're looking at getting
accreditation or qualification across various states. They have about 10 states that he's
responsible for. Um, somebody who is in a position as a City Council Member really is
not the ideal person to have this part of this. So John and I had a really good frank
conversation about that, and once he really explained to me what they were doing, I said
I'm...I'm really not the right person and nobody on our Council really is. So he's already
talked to....Jennifer Daly? Okay, he's already talked to Jennifer Daly from the Economic
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Alliance. Urn, so they're looking for one or two people maybe out of the state of Iowa
who, um, fit the bill a little bit better, to help them get the qualification for the state, and
it is not affordable housing. This is more about commercial, enterprise, urn,but getting
tax credits and things for commercial. Might have a residential component. So I just
wanted to let you know that I would not be involved in that. So....okay! That's it!
Throgmorton/Okay, who's next? (laughter and several talking) Okay, good! I think we're done
for the night. Thank you.
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