HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-08-07 Transcription Page 1
Council Present: Cole, Mims, Salih, Taylor, Thomas,Throgmorton
Staff Present: Fruin, Monroe, Andrew, Dilkes, Fruehling, Hightshoe, Sitzman, Russett,
Dulek, Ralston, Seydell-Johnson, Bowers, Knoche, Bockenstedt, Havel,
Craig, Weinard
Others Present: Wu (UISG)
Consider increasing the salary and benefits for Council members effective January 1,2020
fIP#31:
Throgmorton/So let's begin our City....Iowa City City Council work session for Tuesday,
August the 7th. Our first topic is to consider increasing the salary and benefits for
Council Members effective January the Pt, 2020. And....1 am, am I right in assuming
that no one from staff is going to make a presentation on this? Yeah. Sowe can just
dive right in!
Fruin/I would....I would call your attention to the late handouts. There were some incorrect
numbers in the health insurance scenarios on the second page. Uh, those scenarios in the
original packet were monthly costs,uh, and they were represented to be annual costs. So
if you have the late handouts available, the annual costs are in those, and I can review
'em if you don't have `em handy. The....the memo should say, that you're lookin' at,
should say `revised' in the header. That's the correct one.
Throgmorton/Yeah, I didn't have time to see that, so thank you. All right. So, I don't know,
I...just to get our conversation going. I....I think this is on our work session agenda
because I asked for it during our discussions in the strategic plan sessions. Yeah. Uh, in
a sense the topic is a very old and familiar one. The claim often is, and I've made this
before and other people have as well, that....our salaries are so low that they discourage
any people who, uh, are not retired and bringing in retirement money or have some
other kind of status that enable....are employed and have some, you know, are making
adequate income through employment. It discourages other people fromthink...even
thinking about....(mumbled)that's not true. Uh, it discourages them from seriously
considering running for elected office as a City Council Member. So my own personal
thinking when we had this discussion was that we should consider the possibility of
doubling the Council Members salaries. And I....if I.....if I did the math correctly, if we
doubled the salaries for all seven Council Members, including the Mayor who gets about
$1,000 more per year, the total cost of the salary increase would be approximately
$52,000,per year. Does that sound reasonable, Geoff? I....I think that's correct. It's
like 52 and you double...it's 104 total, so it's just 52,000. So instead of earning only
about$7,300, a Council Member would earn about $14,500. So....I don't know if any of
you are interested in doubling the salaries of Council Members or something smaller than
doubling, and then the memo that we got from Geoff provides,uh, substantial amount of
information concerning healthcare benefits, health insurance benefits, and....they can be
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pretty costly,but you provided us with information about what it would cost if 100% of
the health insurance was covered...or if employees were treated, were eligible to get
100% of benefits or be treated as three-quarter time employees or be treated as half-time
employees. Right? All right. So....there's information on the table. I wonder if any of
you have thoughts that you wanna express to begin our conversation.
Salih/From the memo that we have,just I also want to lay out how much it gonna cost for the
benefit. I calculated it will be 117,174 dollar if we consider full time. Three-quarter,
94,000. And half-time is 62,000. That what cost the City.
Taylor/That's for....if all seven Council Members receive benefits?
Salih/Yes.
Throgmorton/(several talking) Could....could you sort of restate that in terms of how much it
would cost if all seven Members (both talking) time or three-quarter time or full time.
Salih/If we consider ourself from the memo that I got if we do it like with the, uh, I'm doing it
with family, not single person. Family(mumbled) 1,394 per month for each if we
(mumbled) Council, if we consider ourself full time. The total per year is 17....117,000.
And if it half....three-quarter time, for family, 94,000. And if is for half-time employees,
it's 62,000.
Throgmorton/You and I must have done the math differently. I...so we, it'd be helpful maybe to
have somebody double-check both Maz and me,but I think I calculated if all seven
Members signed up,the cost to the City would be....to the City, would be between....
basically 32,000 and 94,000, depending on whether all four signed up for half-time or full
time.
Salih/That's true if you are sign up as a single person, but if you sign up your family, that what
it cost.
Throgmorton/No, well I think I was taking that into account, but uh....
Salih/What you think, Geoff?
Fruin/ (mumbled) one second. Okay, so (both talking)
Throgmorton/While you're....while you're (both talking)
Fruin/My quick calculations are that Mazahir would be....her....her numbers are correct. If... if
you assumed family coverage for all seven Members, full time, with the current, uh, City
contribution, monthly contribution of....of 1,400 roughly, you're looking at a range of
62,000 to 117,000 per year. Depending on how you classify yourself.
Throgmorton/Okay. Well,uh, apparently I miscalculated.
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Fruin/I think it....probably using....probably some of the mistaken numbers that we had in the
original memo, Mayor.
Taylor/And by family you're including (mumbled) not just like a Member and a spouse, cause
some insurance (both talking)
Fruin/ Our plans are just family or single. We don't have a plus,uh,type of insurance, offering.
Throgmorton/ So maybe a threshold question is whether we want to.....uh,just increase....
salaries for Council Members, a....across the board, or....a separate alternative,just
provide this healthcare benefit possibility for whichever Council Members,uh, want to
sign up for it. Or....combine the two.
Cole/May....maybe I could jump in here. Can we just offer our comments in terms of how
we're individually feeling or....
Throgmorton/Yeah, sure!
Cole/Okay. So I wanna just break it down into two pieces. The....the wage piece of it and the
insurance piece. First of all in terms of the, um, wage piece of it, I think that the first
thing, the word that comes to mind is accountability. Um, this would not become
effective until a following election, cause I think every single Councilperson should be
accountable to the voters in terms of what they're paid. Um, obviously this would be
appointing ourselves a pay raise, so I think that to have that political accountabilities
extremely important. I know all six of us, each and every one of us on this Council feel
extremely,urn,passionately about removing barriers and opening opportunities,
including the ability to take away this seat from each and every one of us. I know that we
all feel that strongly, and we wanna make sure that each and every Member of the City of
Iowa City feels that they, you know, if they have the passion and they have the vision and
they have the purpose that a financial barrier,um, should not be present in terms of
making that very important decision to serve. I know that we have a lot of boards and
commissions in which people are paid nothing. I do know that we also have,uh, you
know, the School Board. I think, it's my understanding that by statute, is paid nothing.
Urn,but that said, for this service, the amount of time that we put in, I think doubling it
gets it to a point where it's not gonna remove all the barriers. There's some people that
may not be able to do that. Urn,but I think when you look at the time that we put in, I
think this is gonna open up the path for people to put their name in the hat, uh, to....to
want to serve and so I think that, um, I don't know....I hadn't seen in the actual report
how long it's been since there has been an up, um, uptick in terms of what the Council
Members are paid,urn,but I think it makes sense to do it at this time(both talking)
Throgmorton/Long time!
Cole/Long time,but I think for the obvious reason,urn, no one wants to be the one to give
themselves a raise, urn, or identify that as an issue. Um, and I commend the Mayor for
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bringing that up. It's a reality. It's....it's a reality for some people, and I think we don't
want a situation where, you know, I know every six one of us feel strongly about not
being deba...divided by socioeconomic factors and I think that part of that is assuring that
we have socioeconomic diversity on Council itself, and I think this will go some way
to....to allowing us to achieve that. I think as to the insurance,urn, you know....I'm not
as dogmatic on that. I do think that we should...right now I think it's zero contribution
from the City. I think the closest analog that we have is that we really are equivalent to
like a half-time. It's about 15 to 20 hours a week, on average, uh, that we put into this
job. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Urn,but I think that,urn,that contribution rate, at
about the half-time level,makes the most sense to me, um,but if anyone has any,uh,
compelling reasons to the contrary, urn, I'm not dogmatic on that second point.
Taylor/I differ from Rockne just on that point cause of course I, uh, I'm concerned about the
advantage over(mumbled) some folks might not run, uh, because it doesn't offer a lot of
extra incentive,but I....I do feel, especially with a healthcare background,that the
insurance benefits is the important,uh, important thing and not to have a contribution
from the City towards someone who is doing their service to the City, I....I think,uh,
we're failing that person and there should be a contribution(both talking)
Cole/I'm not advocating zero. Right now we're zero.
Taylor/Right!
Cole/I would be at a contribution level equivalent to a half-time employee (both talking)but
again(both talking)
Taylor/I'm just saying that's important,that's more important to me than the financial (both
talking)
Cole/Okay.
Taylor/ ....salary part of it.
Mims/I guess from my perspective....the way I've always looked, and I....I've served on School
Board where there was no pay, urn.....and I look at all of our boards and commissions
where there's no pay, and I look at the City Council, and.....to me it....it has always, it
has been people who, and Jim kind of alluded to this, you know, full time jobs,regardless
of income for those full time jobs,um.....and....we've....I think we've got more retirees
on here now than maybe we've had in a long, long time. Um....but I don't....with our
schedule you basically are eliminating anybody that works second shift. Okay?
Anybody that works second shift in this community can't serve on City Council. We
have all our meetings at night. Okay? So you've already eliminated anybody that works
second shift from possibly, um, participating. I....I'm concerned about.....I see this more
as a volunteer type thing that people want to do because they want to serve their
community. Should they get enough.....financial reward out of it so that it does not cost
them money out of their own pocket? Most definitely. So if somebody, you know, is
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having to do childcare or other things so they can participate and be a part of this, I....I
totally agree with that. Urn, I....I would be hard pressed to consider us half-time, okay?
I mean I spend a lot of time reading our packets and going through our stuff. I go to a lot
of outside activities. I sure don't average 15 to 20 hours a week for this work. Um, I
would call it more quarter time, um, in terms of what we do. And so one, I....I think
doubling is too much. Uh, a couple years ago we at least started indexing it to the
consumer price index. I think doubling it is too much. Um, and I think...I have no
problem with a....allowing, um, Council Members some match from the City in terms of
the insurance,but I think it should be prorated more on a quarter percent time, um,
I....I'd have to go back and look at the numbers, if that's even a big deal, um, you know,
with the half-time,urn, you probably could prorate that at the half-time, but I....I don't
consider us half-time. So when I look at what somebody....could or should be getting to
help them off-set any financial disadvantage, to look at this as a half-time position for
salary purposes at all, I think, is excessive, and I guess I would also have the question,
because I think in the memo this talked about this going into effect.. uh
Throgmorton/After the next election(several talking in background)
Cole/ ....next election.
Mims/But see then that is for some of us voting in a raise for ourselves. Because Mazahir and I
are not up for election until 2021. So if this goes into effect before January l51 of 2022,
and we vote for this, we are in effect voting for a raise for ourselves.
Throgmorton/Yeah, so we could make it effective (several talking)
Thomas/ ...I'm personally not opposed to Councilors giving themselves a raise. One question in
my mind was....you know, how do the salaries for City Councilors for Iowa City
compare to other cities? You know,back when Jim mentioned this during our strategic
planning, I....I looked at the salaries for Cedar Rapids and based on population, uh, our
salaries proportionately are lower than they should be. So it seems to me just like with
any labor negotiation, you know, often you bring comparables into the conversation to
see, well, how do we compare, and not that that should be the last word,but I think, you
know, it can serve as a reference that my gosh! We are (laughs) out of line here. Um....
Mims/Well Bettendorf is 6,700....or the councilors. Uh, 15,000 for the mayor, which they
consider....I'm not sure if they consider the mayor full time,but they...they have a
significant difference between regular council members and their mayor. Um, and I
didn't check population. Uh, Davenport is $15,000 a year. Plus....plus the....plus $175 a
month for business expenses, which basically they consider partially for a cell phone so
they can al....are always reachable. So I didn't check populations. Those are two that I
got hold of today cause I was kind of interested (both talking)
Thomas/Yeah.
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Mims/ ...in terms of where we are. I figured we were significantly less than Cedar Rapids. I
think part of theirs may also be their change from their previous form of government to
their current form. They may not have just dropped those salaries (laughs)because they
didn't used to have a city manager and so my guess is when they made that change, they
didn't....make the huge drop in....in council salaries.
Thomas/ So yeah, I mean I...it may very well be that doubling it, as Jim is suggesting....Jim, I
don't know where that figure came from.
Throgmorton/What figure?
Thomas/The doubling that you had suggested, but um....you know I think it seems reasonable,
although I would say it...I would like to see other, you know, the Bettendorf(both
talking)
Mims/I would like to have seen more. I just didn't have time (both talking)
Thomas/I....I think having comparisons at least gives us an idea if we're kind of...more or less
aligned with what other cities are doing. Um, but I....I think it is important, and I....I
suspect we are way behind. And....insofar as if that's the case, then I don't see any
problem with giving ourselves a raise. It's...if it's justifiable, um, and then the same with
healthcare. It does seem to me half-time would, I mean those were the three categories,
so....that seemed to me to be reasonable. Without getting into, you know....parsing this
too carefully.
Dilkes/Just to clarify, the 2020 effective date is a matter of State law. I mean you could always
make it further out than that but it has to be at least (mumbled)
Salih/ I just, for me I really think about this from the...I can start telling you how this affect my
own life when I get elected,because increasing like not too much increase but it could
kick you out from public benefit, and for someone like me, a low wage worker, to
encourage them to run, they cannot like work two job, you know, like....because if they
are, you know, as Susan said, this is evening job and it take all our evening. But...even
though I see this is really necessary, especially the insurance, because since I been
elected, I'm without any insurance. This is....even though this is I think is important, but
I'm gonna oppose to it. Because I would like first to see....my proposal for the seasonal
employees, the hourly staff; to be increased to $15 an hour, before....before we can think
about ourself. And myself, I'm opposing for this, even though I think I personally need
it. But I don't want it now.
Throgmorton/ I...I think, uh....we would wanna have more information about what other cities
are doing. I assume the Iowa League of Cities can provide that information pretty easily.
That would be helpful to know. Pauline, were you going(both talking)
Taylor/ I was just about to say I was surprised to hear Maz, uh, Mazahir say that because, uh, I
didn't even realize till I heard her story how, uh, this....practice of having, um, not
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paying towards a Council Member's health insurance could affect them. She kind of got
caught in a catch-22 where she made too much for this but not enough for that, and....and
that was kind of a difficult situation. So I was thinking of you in lines of this like we
need to do this (laughs) so was kinda surprised to...to hear your other side of that.
Throgmorton/Well I....as Maz knows, I understand her concern about....uh, the,uh, $15 an hour
minimum wage and how...how that's more important for you rather than increasing
Council salaries. I totally understand that. But we're talking about a much smaller
amount of money here, by....if we doubled Council Members' salaries,that would be,
what did I say? $52,000 per year. Whereas,uh, the minimum wage proposal,uh,
amounts to about 900,000 to a million dollars. So they're not directly comparable, but
still I see the, sort of the principle, uh, at stake for you. That's very clear.
Mims/So at this point asking staff to get more information from the other cities?
Throgmorton/We definitely want that, yes. Um....I mean I've already heard that from several
other people. So....
Cole/Would it be difficult to just be the top 10.....cities by population?
Fruin/Yeah, we'll....we'll typically take the 10 largest cities and then we also usually throw in
Coralville and North Liberty as just local reference. So if you're good with those 12,
we'll pull that together(both talking)
Throgmorton/If you could find out how they deal with healthcare benefits for city council
members that would be helpful as well.
Fruin/Sure.
Throgmorton/I...I,would it be helpful to try to find out whether they have increased council
members salaries within the past, I don't know, 10 years? I don't know how easy it
would be to get that information, and I don't mean increase. Significantly increased.
Fruin/I think what we can do is if....if there's some outliers. I think you're gonna find ev...most
everybody is probably under 20,000. I would suspect that several will be under 10,000.
Um, if....if we find some outliers, maybe we can dig a little big deeper and see what may
be driving that, um....otherwise I think the data will be pretty self-explanatory.
Throgmorton/So I'm thinkin' about the....if....if in the end we conclude that a salary increase
would be appropriate, and that...uh, authorizing City Council Members to be eligible for
healthcare benefits through the City,um....being eligible for healthcare benefits and
actually signing up for them means spending a certain amount of one's own money,uh,
as.....in terms of the individual's contribution to the healthcare benefits, and at....at half-
time, the contribution for a family, anyhow, for a Council Member with a family, is
pretty large. What is it, $700-plus per month? Yeah, so if we're gonna make Council
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Members eligible for healthcare benefits, it seems to me we must increase the....the, uh,
Council Members' salaries. So then there's some judgment about how much.
Froin/It's about$9,000 of insurance costs, if you're half-time employee wa...wanting family
coverage.
Throgmorton/And this, uh, am I correct in understanding that this would be, the healthcare part
of this would be an optional choice....for the Council Members? In other words,they'd
be eligible to do it, but then it'd be their choice (several responding) whether to sign up.
Fruin/Correct.
Throgmorton/Okay. It seems to me we've asked for a few bits of information that would help
us kind of move this along, and I don't know that there's anything else we can do at the
moment.
Froin/We'll come back to you in September and present it.
Consider elevating hourly staff wages to $15/hour or more within two years IIP#4, IP#51:
Throgmorton/ Okay. I see....let me make a note to myself here about this. Okie dokie, uh, I
guess we can move on to our next item, which is to consider elevating...no not that, we
just did that. Oh yeah, consider elevating hourly staff wages to $15 per hour or more
within two years. So, Geoff, you provided us with a memo some time ago about, I don't
know, 370 or so of our employees being part-time or seasonal, that is temporary
employees. And you estimated what that would cost and raised up this point about, uh,
what's the....I don't know.....salary escalation because the...the (several talking) You
wanna sort of....
Fruin/(both talking) Yeah, so this issue came up during your budget discussions, uh, earlier
this....this year, probably, uh....January, February. Uh, our...our seasonal positions or
what we call our hourly positions do fluctuate throughout the year. So we can take a
snapshot at any time, but we're....we're gonna be at our peak employment in the summer
months, when the Parks and Rec seasonal staff, urn, are, um....are....are in full swing.
Your lifeguards,your....your park maintenance folks. Uh, so what we did in the....in the
memo is, uh, give you a snapshot, give you an idea of what we think that will cost. We
did consider wage compression for the hourly employees. What we did not take the step
of doing is look at any compression issues with our permanent employees. So for
example, if you have a $15 an hour person, uh, in, uh, in one of our departments and
because, you know, they're....they're a higher paid hourly employee,uh, if you take that,
uh, if you take a lower paid employee in their same department and move `em up to 15,
you're gonna have to move them up to 16, 17, whatever it may be, and how that impacts
the permanent employees, which right now, uh, start at I think 17.52. Um, we'd have to
analyze all that and....and that's something that we haven't done, but there would be
some compression issues with, uh, the lowest pay grades of our permanent staff. Um, so
what we did in the memo is we....we provided, uh, some information on what we think
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the costs will be for raising it to $15 an hour. That assumes you're going to go, uh, to 15
from the start. Obviously if you phase that in, that cost drops and then builds over time
as you work towards that 15. We also provided information on the County. Uh, they
recently moved to $15 per hour for....for all of their staff and so we had a question back
during budget session about how can the County do this but...but the, uh, City struggle
with that. I think as the memo indicates, it's just the sheer number of employees that fall
into this category. The County does not have, uh, that many hourly positions, whereas
we are very heavily reliant on that, uh, for some of our seasonal operations. We also
provided information on the community-wide, um,minimum wage that the County sets.
This is obviously voluntary now, thanks to the actions of the State legislature,but they
are still adjusting that and it was recently adjusted to 10.27, and ultimately that's where
our recommendation fell is that weakened index with the County on that 10.27,um,but
certainly that's a decision for you to make. The, uh,the budget memo from January 17th
was also included in your packet, um, and what I would take, draw your attention to if
you didn't get a chance to....to fully get through that is on....on page 12 of your packet is
a breakdown of the hourly employees that we took at that time and so you can see that
while the Police Department, City Manager's office,Neighborhood Development
Services, Public Works, they all have a few hourly employees, the vast majority of our,
uh, hourly employees do fall in the Parks and Rec Department. Uh, at that time we
reported 242, uh, positions in Parks and Rec, and then there's close to another 50 in the
Library. So those two departments have, uh, the vast majority of those hourly employees,
and then we have a few scattered out throughout the rest of the organization.
Salih/Let me ask a question about,um....compression. You said (mumbled) minimum that the
City, the permanent employee starts 17.52.
Froin/ Correct.
Salih/Do they get raise every year or not?
Fruin/Yes, that would be, um, adjusted depending on the collective bargaining agreement that
they fall within, so that would be the AFSCME rate there, so that would be annually
adjusted, per our collective bargaining agreement with AFSCME.
Salih/Then....if we done this, eventually in like two to three years, the people who start 17, they
will be (mumbled) cause we're not doing 15 right away, if this happen. Then it's gonna
be (mumbled) you know, they never will be the same....because now we adjusting...if we
say we're gonna lay this along three years, maybe 12 next year and after that 13.50 or 14
and after that....at the same time, the 17.52, they also will increase. By the time they will
be 15, the 17 will be maybe, I don't know how much.
Fruin/Yeah(both talking)
Salih/It will...it will be really different. They're not gonna....
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Fruin/Yeah, they....they do grow. They're gonna grow at different paces though, so the jump
from 11 to 15 percentage wise is drastically more than the, uh, I believe 2%, 2%, urn,
agreement that we've come to with AFSCME for the next couple of years. So that's
what their adjustments will be. Um, when you're talkin' 11 to $15 an hour, or 12 to 15,
even if it's over a couple periods, that percentage is....is so much bigger that it will
compress a little bit. It's not gonna be necessarily that you see an hourly start to exceed a
permanent,but if there was this much gap before, there might be this much after, and we
just have to consider what those....what the (both talking)
Sahli/Also think about it, the hourly they, you know, the permanent they get benefit.
Fruin/Correct.
Sall/Whether they are part-time or full-time, they get benefit. But the hourly,they don't get
any kind of benefit. You know, I....it is really win-win for both of them. This is not like
something (mumbled) also I....I know that you said (unable to understand) 900,000 to
one million, after when it get to 15, like within three years from now. But yes, the
number is scary, but think about it if you calculate it. I calculate it. I find out the average
is $2,400 per one employee. That means if we calculate like (mumbled) year, this is only
like$200 a month for one employee. This is really not too much money for the City to
provide. It will be huge for the worker, but nothing for the City. I know that one million
sounds (mumbled)just calculate it. It's not that much for each employees. And when
you compare like 200, like 2,400 to the hourly wage every years (mumbled) it will be
huge difference.
Cole/Geoff, I have a question about the following sentence from Simon's memo. It says, uh, I
believe it's the fourth paragraph on the August 2"d memo, um, IP4 of the info packet.
Um, it says.....to increase all hourly wage earners to at least$15 an hour while
maintaining separation and wage scales would cost approximately 900 to....900,000 to
one million annually, and I wanna focus in on `while maintaining separation and wage
scales.' Of the employees under$15 an hour, how many of them are represented by, urn,
collective bargaining units? Do....do you know that information?
Fruin/ Say that again? Of the employees....
Cole/Under$15 per hour.
Fruin/None!
Cole/None. Okay. So has, um, has, in term....what requires separation and wage scales? Is that
our own policy? So like for example, I can understand as a practical matter while, I mean
a worker could look at it two different ways. The person making$15 an hour and one
sense could celebrate the fact that his fellow workers are getting up closer to where they
are, and welcome them. Or they could say, I'm entitled to even more, and I understand
that that's a practical reality. But is that required by ordinance or statute or....have we
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broke it down, how much would it cost if we didn't have to maintain separation and wage
scales, if that were the case.
Fruin/Well, if you just put everybody at 15, I think you're gonna have a hard time filling some
of those positions. I mean, uh, the....the scales that the hourly are put in place to...to,
one, they hopefully reflect the marketplace. That's what other cities or other similar jobs
in the community are....are paying for that type of work. Um, but...you're...you're going
to, you're gonna have situations in which people have vastly different job duties that, um,
are paid the same that probably shouldn't be paid the same.
Cole/Could we at least have the number though, in terms of what that would cost?
Fruin/If....if we just stripped out the compression, no I don't have that number, but we
could....we could calculate that. I would....I would advise that's probably....I....I don't
think that's a good way to go about this. I think there's differences in these salaries for
good reasons,uh, whether it's because we have trouble recruiting in some of these, in
some of these lines or in some of these positions, so we have to increase the salary in
order to make it more attractive for people to apply or in some....some cases you have
return hourly employees every year that come to you with experience, and so in order to
keep those experienced seasonal workers, you have them more the second year they're
here,the third year they're here, um....there could be a....any number of different
reasons to have those salaries, uh, scaled differently.
Cole/Has....has AFSCME weighed in on this at all?
Fruin/I think you'll probably hear from them at your formal meeting. I believe they intend to
speak at public comment.
Throgmorton/I was wondering about that as well. Yeah. So I have a question about the January
17, 2018,memo, Geoff, that you provided. It list I think all the temporary employees,
within each of the departments, the number of employees, type of emplo....type of
position, and uh, the hourly wage for each of those, and I noticed that the hourly wage
varies considerably between.....roughly $10 and roughly$14. Yeah. So,but I don't have
any sense of....I didn't try to calculate this,how many employees are earning $11 an
hour? How many are earning$13 an hour? How many are earning$12 an hour?
Fruin/On page 12 of that memo....
Throgmorton/Yeah.
Fruin/ ....as you look at that, that's, uh....uh, requested hourly wage information is the title of
the memo. So the first department listed is Police Department and the four represents the
number of(both talking)
Throgmorton/Yeah, I meant in aggregate. I didn't mean by department(both talking)
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Fruin/No, okay. We didn't present the data that way.
Throgmorton/Yeah. And....in, uh, I was thinking it might be helpful, but....but I think about
that, also partly in relationship to the...to Simon's memo, uh, recommending, I don't
know, 10, whatever it is,uh, as the, a base wage, and it seems to me that virtually
everyone's already paid above the base wage. So we're talkin' about a very small
number of people that would see a small bump, uh, as a result of what's being
recommended.
Fruin/Yeah,that's correct.
Throgmorton/Yeah.
Thomas/One.....one thing I'll throw into the conversation is I was looking at, kind of in a
similar way, as I mentioned with the,uh, Council salaries to what other cities are doing,
and uh, I happened upon, uh, Madison's....um, policy here and they have a living wage
ordinance, and uh, effective January of 2019, the living wage rate will be$13.27 an hour.
Throgmorton/For seasonal employees or temporary employees?
Thomas/Right, so it covers, uh, city employees, including hourly workers. Um, and it has some
other....aspects to it,which....made sense to me, I mean I'd been thinking about this, and
also looking at the Iowa Policy Projects' living wage estimates. Uh, for example
Madison does not include,uh, high school employees, under the ordinance. So I mean
there're....there are a number of nuances to...to Madison's, um,but it seemed to me it
might be useful for us to....to have....a, you know, another option to the $15 an hour,
kind of looking at what another midwestern city,progressive, probably similar in terms
of, uh.....uh, liv....cost of living, uh, has approached this and, um....it....it seemed....if
for no other reason than to, you know, better understand how an alternative....kind of a
middle ground so to speak. In my mind, what's most troubling to me are the people
employed temporarily who are earning$10 an hour. I...I really want to bring that up.
Um, and....from going from 10.27 to 13.27 is.....quite a bit. Um, and so anyway, I...it
seemed like it might be useful and helpful to have an, you know, an alternative way of
thinking about this that,urn, is in fact in place, in a city that I think is....is an interesting
and useful reference for, um, issues such as living wage.
Taylor/Geoff,back to that January 17th memo with the departments listed. Now except for the
Parks and Rec, which, uh, delineates by year one, two, three, four—the difference in the
salaries, uh, some of the other departments,uh, like the Animal Control Assistant is
10.10, Clerical Assistant is 12. Are these differences within the departments based on
say job descriptions, responsibilities, years of experience, or do you know the....why
there are differences within a department?
Froin/I think the, you know, when it comes to the hourly rates, the departments will set those
based on what they feel they can recruit from. So if...if the,uh, City Manager's office
feels like we can get a quality management intern at$11 an hour, um, that's what we do.
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That's typically a....an undergraduate or a graduate student that's enrolled in school and
we felt that we've been able to attract very good candidates at that level, and I think the
same would go as you....as you work your way down that list here, um, that's frequently
when we have conversations, when we start to struggle to recruit employees, that's when
we start to adjust those wage rates up. Urn,but departments....have some leeway to set
that and then the Human Resources staff will help them understand what other
departments are doing with similar positions.
Throgmorton/I'd like to follow up on John's question. Or not his question, what he said about
Madison, with regard to high school students. And....and them being excluded I guess
from....
Fruin/Yeah, anyone under 18 basically.
Throgmorton/Yeah, so I....I was wondering, uh, I had a similar question but it....sort of the
threshold question is.....uh....can, are there any legal constraints on our ability to
basically ask who are the people who would, who are.....um, employed on a temporary
basis, are they, you know, are some of'em high school students? How many? Are some
of`em college students? How many? Are some of them parents with children? How
many or....do, are some of`em heads of households? How many? And that kind of
thing. Are there any legal constraints on our ability to ask those kinds of questions?
Dilkes/There would be on some questions.
Cole/Familial status.
Throgmorton/Yeah, okay so, uh, we'll find out when I ask a question (laughs) I guess. Yeah,
so....just as a person livin' around here for now 30-plus years, I've kind of always kind
of guessed that many of our seasonal employees are high school students, maybe from
middle class families, in Iowa City. I have no idea if that's true, and that's kind of al...
kind of been my background assumption. So unless it's illegal to ask, I'd be curious how
many, what percentage of our....of our temporary employees fit that category? And then
I'm also thinking about, uh, heads of households who occupy temporary positions. See I
don't know if that's.....and then if we could use that,those facts as....to influence what
we're doing.
Dilkes/(both talking) (mumbled) ...a real slippery slope.
Throgmorton/Okay, I....I wanted to know that.
Dilkes/(mumbled) age prohibition in our human...in our local human rights ordinance. So I....I
just.....
Throgmorton/Okay.
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Taylor/Even if we didn't ask for names, if we just sort of had random data as far as heads of
household, age.
Dilkes/Make it voluntary but....
Throgmorton/Yeah,that wouldn't be very helpful. Okay(several talking in background) so I'll
kind of back off from that but I want to ask one other follow up question. Then others
can, you know, continue to chime in. Uh, do we have information about....how many of
our temporary employees are in a sense permanent part-time employees? You know
they....they work year after year after year,but they're hourly, temporary employees.
Mims/But how....I mean....
Fruin/I wouldn't, I mean when you say permanent, that....that has a different meaning for staff.
Permanent staff are....are separate from hourly. There's really two distinctions. There's
hourly and permanent. I know that's not really where you were going,but of the hourly,
we do have people that repeat with us. Uh, on multiple years. And you see that in the,
uh, wage scales, for example with the Library. Urn, you know, you get....at one and a
half years you get a bump. At six months you get a bump. Um....uh, same with Parks
and Rec. So those areas,um, those two in particular where you see a financial reward for
coming back,that's probably where we get the most repeats. Uh,the ones that don't
have those scales,those ones on the first page where there's interns and research
assistants,um, those....probably in most cases don't come back year after year. I can't
say that with great certainty for any of'em. There are a few that.....you know, for
example our front desk staff that....that you see here when you come in,uh, they're
listed,uh,under the City Manager's office as a Communications Aide at,uh, $12 an
hour. We've had some luck keepin' a few of those positions for a year or two. But they
generally turn over, uh, in time. So I can't give you that answer with certainty, but cert...
uh, I would say Parks and Rec and Library, it's common that you'd have a group of'em
that come back year after year, or that....are employed for more than a year.
Salih/Do you have the....I know that....I don't know if there is a way you can tell just somebody
household or not. That's....that could be difficult from my point of view. But I know
that there is a way you can tell how old is the people who work at the, like their age
group,maybe like(mumbled) 15 people from this age, you know (mumbled) this age.
You can tell that from their age. Because I'm sure 100% (mumbled) myself, some
people who are single parent who work at the, you know, Rec Center and they work
somewhere else, seasonal employees in Iowa City. I know low income but you know
students who work there and their salary add to the household and they receive Section 8.
This is (unable to understand)how much they get help from Section 8. I know those
people. Maybe there is another class too,but we don't have to talk about this really. We
need, you know,to talk about the important of just the, you know,moving our society
forward and set example as a city. I understand that(mumbled) city they do something
good, maybe then ask for maybe we do something good to them. We can take away from
the city that they done very good things and just take that example,but when we do
like... we don't have to go with them if they are not doing the same thing. We should set
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example because if somebody brought this in their city, they gonna look at us and say
Iowa City's doing this, so we can do the same thing.
Cole/Yeah I....could I chime in here, Jim?
Throgmorton/ Sure!
Cole/I'm sorry.....Mayor. Um, coupling with what Mazahir had said, I think our role is not
necessarily to look to the past but to identify what the future is, and to set an example,
and to set a leadership role in terms of where we're going. I view$15 an hour as the new
40 hour work week, the new 8 hour day. Urn,when these proposals came through labor
history,they were always seen as impossible. They were seen as impractical. There was
a real cost associated with these labor improvements, and I think the same should be said
of the $15 an hour work....or it's 15 per hour wage standard. I don't think it matters if
they're the son of a wealthy person and they're working their way through college. It
should not matter in terms of what we pay,urn, our....our lowest level, urn, or our lowest
paid employee because even though they're lower paid doesn't mean we don't value the
contribution that they work, um, you know and in terms of where we go from here, I do
think we need to have some flexibility, um, sort of moving forward. So I would like to
see us implement this over the course of three years. Um, I think that would give us
some of the financial flexibility. We have some growth projects here, urn, on into the
future that I'm confident that we will be able to pay for 'em. Um, you know, obviously if
there's a sudden....financial change in the future that we can't foresee, um, gives us a
little bit of flexibility but it sets us on the firm track, urn, to move forward with this. So I
understand there's issues with wage compression. There is complexity associated with
these,but there's always complexity with any labor advance,urn, and I think that we
should rather than see only what everyone else is doing,we should provide the leadership
role. Urn, this is a political issue around the country. I think we do need to plan for it.
We need to recognize it as a reality rather than just sort of waiting and then all of a
sudden being struck, you know,X number of years down along the road,urn, you know,
with a....a larger wage increase. It's just good planning on our part, and I think the final
thing is is that it's not really part of this particular topic,but I would like to see more full
time people in our Park/Rec working on these. I think we have relied too much only on
part time, and I think this would assist us on making that transition. So that's sort of
where I stand at this point.
Salih/I just to add to what(mumbled) sorry if I'm takin' long time, uh, you know,just think
about it. If suddenly the State decide to do it like the near future (unable to understand)
good people who gonna decide$15 an hour is the minimum wage. What we gonna do as
city? Are we gonna say no, we don't have that....we got(unable to understand) so we
can live with it. Now let us do it! If we believe in it,why we wait for(unable to
understand) do it. Let's us start, you know, all of us we believe in that, and we think that
Des Moines or maybe even the Congress are not doing enough because they have to
move the people for the minimum wage have to be$15 an hour, that(unable to
understand) all the researchers said that, all the data. Then if we really believe in that,
why we waiting for them? If we have the power to change it, let's change it here from
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locally and I think change is start locally and that's why we have to do it, if we believe in
it.
Taylor/I'd just like to point out that, urn, we as a city aren't the ones that started this whole, uh,
discussion about, uh, increasing the minimum wage. Uh, I'd like to thank the Board of
Supervisors for all the work and effort that they did towards doing this, and they started
the discussion. They got the ball rolling. They've even got businesses in the community
continuing on with the increased wage. They have, uh, done studies with the,uh, Public
Policy Department that it did not affect the businesses as people had said they would, urn,
I....as.....as an organized labor person, I....I'm all in favor of....of paying an adequate
wage. Uh, I would like to hear from, and it sounds like maybe we will hear from the
organized labor folks maybe during our....our regular session, to see, uh,their opinion on
this as far as how they think it would affect their....their full time employees, their....
their union members as far as that wage is. I would ultimately in favor of...of this,uh,but
phasing it in just as the Board of Supervisor plan is. They've got a phased in amount and
just bumping it right up even over two to three years to....to even $15. I think you need
to do a more of a phased in approach as the Board of Supervisors have done.
Throgmorton/I would be very curious to hear from the City of Madison, to learn from the City
of Madison about what they have done and why they chose to do things the way they did.
Uh, not that we are Madison,not that we should necessarily do what they are doing, uh,
but I think it would be instructive for us to have a sense of what, at least what one other
....so politically comparable city is doing. And, you know, I....I understand that this is
a....has been a major issue nationwide, and that progressive elements and the Democratic
party and so on have been advocating it big time for good reason....but I can plead
ignorance as to whether....when people are advocating$15 an hour in other cities,
whether they're talking about all employees, regardless of employment status, or whether
they're really referring to....uh, people who are earning....who are, uh, have full time
jobs basically. And I don't know. I'm ignorant about that. I....I'd like to learn so if
somebody can, uh, you know....determine what's really being advocated in other cities,
that would be helpful for me personally.
Salih/Then I really recommend that, you know, we have like as Council committee to search on
that and bring more information to the Council. I'm willing to be on that committee, if
somebody else will be.
Throgmorton/I don't think we need to have a committee as such, but if you and another Council
Member want to look into that more carefully, I think that'd be fine. I....I can't imagine
any objection to that. (several talking) Would anybody else like to work with Maz on
that (several talking) Okay, so Maz and Pauline will check into that a bit. Okay.
Salih/Thanks!
Cole/Maybe I'll just chime in. Would that mean that if they ever talk to each other would that
be quorum or is it because it's not a formal committee hearing they're fine? Okay. Just
wanted to make sure.
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Taylor/Thanks, Rockne.
Wu/Uh, one thing I would like to know is, uh, is there data known on how many University
students currently work as temporary, seasonable employees?
Fruin/No.
Wu/Is there any way to collect that information at the moment(mumbled)
Fruin/Um.....probably voluntary survey would be the only way to do that.
Throgmorton/John, do you or Susan have anything you wanna, any more you wanna add to this?
Thomas/No, I....I think there needs to be further exploration, you know, I....I was....you know,
I was pleased to see that, you know, Madison's....uh, living wage ordinance, you know,
based on our 10.27 as a starting point is....it's a significant increase, um, on the way to
15 an hour. You know, I mean it...it's....so I think there's....there's an opportunity to
move forward. How we define....the end point I think is something worth looking at
more carefully, but, uh, I was encouraged to see that in another midwestern city, uh, you
know, they have the ordinance in place. You know, as Jim said, I just looked online, so
it'd be interesting to get more (coughing, unable to hear speaker)
Mims/Yeah, I think....I mean if we're gonna get information, I would be interested in having
more than just one other city, in terms of comparison and just to clarify, Eleanor, with our
human rights ordinance, we could not.....do a wage scale that was different for
individuals under the age of 18, is that correct?
Mikes/(mumbled) we could.
Mims/Don't think we could, okay. Thank you.
Throgmorton/Well would it be fruitful to, uh, picking up on what you said, Susan, would it be
fruitful to obtain information not just from Madison but from a few other....pardon my
expression, progressive....uh, college towns.
Cole/Big 10 would be fine with me.
Throgmorton/Big 10 (several talking in background)
Thomas/Yeah, um....Minnesota and Minneapolis I think may be another. They....they, the City
of Minneapolis is moving toward $15 an hour, um, with the $15 being reached in July of
2022. So that's another point of reference.
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Throgmorton/And I'd...I definitely wanna know what our organized labor folks have to say, so
if somebody's gonna be speaking to us during the formal meeting I'd like to hear what
they say.
Fruin/Could probably invite 'em to speak now. I don't know if they're prepared now, but if
you'd want that input before you close this topic, you could (both talking)
Throgmorton/Uh, if....could you, Chris? You seem to be walkin' up, so I guess the answer's
yes?
Weinard/Just very briefly, my name is Christine Weinard. Um, I am Vice President AFSCME
Local 183. Uh, AFSCME stands in support of this. Um, any time that we're looking to
pay an employee a livable wage, urn, it's a win-win for the City. We're going to get
more applicants. Those employees that, you know, that do come into our family,urn,
stay with us longer and, uh, you know, hopefully eventually become permanent
employees, uh, so AFSCME stands in support of this.
Throgmorton/Thank you, Chris. Okay, uh, it....it sounds to me like we want some more
information. Oh, sure, please do! Come on!
Byers/I'm Terri Byers and I'm President of AFSCME Local 183 and I will add to Chris that I do
support this measure. I also would like to see more permanent jobs be created within the
City. I think that if you look at that, if you look at our contract, we do address hourly
employees. We make sure that our contract is enforced the way that it's written. I think
that would benefit everybody. And most of all, when you do your advocacy for your
people in Des Moines, please bring back Chapter 20 and collective bargaining,because
that is the most important thing that my union needs and because everything changes in
three years if we don't get that changed. So....it's a big.....it's a big if, big chalkboard
with a big question mark on it, if we don't get that change back. So, thank you!
Throgmorton/Thank you, Terri. Okay, I....I hear a substantial amount of support for increasing
the wage, but we want other information about....how much and....whether there, I don't
know....there are some folks we wanna include or not, or whether we can legally do that.
So if._if y'all could follow up on some of those key questions.
Fruin/Sure. I'll just clarify a couple of things. The research on the Big 10 cities, do you, is that
a staff research assignment? And....and work with Pauline and Maz to...to vet that,
before bringing it to Council? I'm trying to figure out what staff's role is versus the
Council committee that you just talked about.
Throgmorton/Yeah, um....
Salih/For me I really meant, yeah, to come and regularly ask you what, you know, to show me
what you get and also reach out to other people who like what their things and also the
County and just bring like more information to convince the Council this is something,
this is the right things to do.
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Throgmorton/Yeah, let....let me follow up a little bit, because my understanding was that Maz
and Pauline would look into the question of what other....um, sort of progressive political
organizers around the country are doing, whether they're promoting $15 an hour for all
employees or just for....uh,just for,um, full time employees. Right? I mean that's...
that's the way I understood the question. Whereas the other one had to do with the, the
one havin' to do with Big 10 cities, and maybe Minneapolis, uh, was about what those
city governments have done.
Fruin/Okay.
Throgmorton/Is that...consistent with y'all....what y'all heard? (several responding)
Fruin/And then, uh, this is gonna take some time to....to compile this and come back, and
obviously you've gotta deliberate over it. My....my biggest concern right now is...is
budget planning for next fiscal year. Urn, I don't wanna get into a situation in January
where staff and....and Council are misaligned and we've got a couple hundred thousand
dollars where...that we need to.....we, a gap that we need to fill essentially. So....I would
like, especially if there's consensus, to phase this in. My suggestion would be that you
pick a target for year one, whether that's 11, 12, 13 —whatever you wanna set that target
at—and let us begin our planning,uh, with that known as the first step and then to let this
research inform your step two and step three, if you're looking at a three-year window.
Cole/Tonight?
Fruin/Doesn't have to be tonight, but probably within the next 30 days (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ...discussion at our next meeting, right? Two weeks from now? (several talking)
Let's....let's do that then.
Fruin/If you could try to think about that year one target, that's gonna help us out tremendously
in our....in our planning.
Throgmorton/Okay! Let me finish typin' a note here. Okay, is there anything else anybody
wants to say about this topic? All right! Thank you. Moving on.....our next topic is to
review the purpose statement for the Social Justice and Racial Equity Grant Program.
Review purpose statement for the social justice and racial equity grant program IIP#6,
IP#71:
Fruin/You....you have a memo from Stefanie Bowers in your packet. Uh, this was one hold
over item from a previous work session. Uh, and I guess the quick background is here
the....the City Council has tripled the funding for this grant program. It's gonna go from
25,000 to $75,000. Uh, the Human Rights Commission is going to start to plan for, uh,
the award,uh, that, uh, applications,uh....uh, are....are gathered late in the fall and then
the awards are made in the,uh, early winter. Uh, and because there's a sustan...a
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substantial increase in funding, we just wanna make sure that you are comfortable with
the purpose statement. We're not suggesting there needs to be change, but because there
is a significant amount of funding being added to this program, I think it's a good idea
that you look at that, you make sure that it's,urn, reflective of what you want to see as
that program grows.
Throgmorton/Yeah. Let me start the discussion with a couple questions and maybe an
observation. First question is I didn't realize that for-profit organizations were currently
included and I....I'm wondering why that is. I don't know if anybody...Stefanie, can you
answer that question?
Bowers/Um....well the Commission had several work sessions when the grant was created and
I....I believe that that was, urn, something that they added,that it could for for-profit or
non-profit.
Throgmorton/There might be very good reasons. I'm not trying to (both talking)
Bowers/Yeah (both talking) I....I think,just in general, what you're looking at is a commission
that had,urn, something in place in front of it and not really wanting to place restrictions,
because they didn't really know what they were going to get or what, urn, things would
be, um, asked to be funded. So I think they were just trying to be very broad...in the first
few years, to get a better idea of the types of applications that were (mumbled)
Throgmorton/Yeah, that makes sense. Uh, can anybody think of for-profit organizations that do
this kind of work, I mean,they're probably obvious but they're not coming to my mind
right at the moment.
Cole/The only thing that I would think of is I know in the last couple years I've gone to a lot of
good things down at Merge, a minority entrepreneurship,um, now maybe this would be
in another area that we should focus on, whether it's Economic Development Committee
or something along those lines,but I think for, you know, encouraging small business
entrepreneurship, those are for-profit, and uh, that would come to mind as....as
something that the Human Rights Commission may want to address, in terms of
opportunity, urn, for underserved, uh....communities that haven't participated as much as
we would like in entrepreneurship.
Mims/(several talking) I...I was gonna say, even some, an organization like Prelude. They're a
for-profit organization, is my understanding. Right, Geoff'?
Fruin/I don't....I don't know. I'm not sure.
Mims/I'm pretty sure they are. I mean I'm just thinking of organizations even like that, and I
can double check,that may, um....you know, be doing a lot of, uh, service type stuff in
the community,but they may be seeing some lack, um, you know, within the services
that they're providing, whether it be, you know,translation services or something else
like that,that goes beyond the scope of what they're currently doing and might wanna
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apply for something like this. So I....I like the idea that it actually is broad enough to
give that opportunity, because I....I think what we have to keep in mind is just because
something is organized legally as a for-profit entity doesn't mean that this is some
rich....cash wealthy organization that can just spend money in any way they wanna
spend. I mean, they can still be running, um, a really tight ship in terms of....of what
kinds of money they have and what kind of services they can provide. So I....I think this
makes sense to keep it open for both.
Throgmorton/Yeah, okay I....I was just curious. I'm not pushing the idea...of getting rid of for-
profit organizations, but when I think about this particular, urn, grant program, I'll tell
you what I...what I was envisioning when we were first talking about it. I was thinking in
terms of African American, our African American community, our Hispanic community,
our Congolese community, our Sudanese community, and perhaps other communities
that are part of Iowa City as a whole, but have unique experiences. I was thinkin' about
them. So I was....so over the past few days I've been asking myself, okay, now in
conversations with Congolese residents, what have I heard? Likewise with the other
groups that I just mentioned. So with regard to several of them, what I hear is....adults
need to learn how to speak English more competently so that they can get good jobs, etc.
So....helping them learn, helping adults learn English (laughs) sounds to me like a good
part of a purpose statement. And then I....I think about,uh, our African American
community and that makes me recall the meeting that Pauline and I had with...with, uh,
several black parents and what we heard from them is that youth, black youth, need a safe
place....to, um, learn and...in a sense play, be themselves, uh, and with some black
leadership, so that they see people who look like them in positions of responsibility. So I
think, well,maybe that would fit well within this general purpose statement. So
providing constructive activities for youth in their communities. Uh, when I first met
with Congolese residents, the first thing I heard was can you help us, can the City help us
organize, uh, some kind of community event, so that we Congolese can learn, can get to
know one another(laughs) because Congo's a pretty good place...pretty big place, right?
So helping them strengthen their own internal sense of community. Uh, seems to me like
a good purpose as well. And then, uh.....the communities I just mentioned in....in many
cases have their own unique cultures. They find themselves in this city, which is quite
different from where they, from their countries of origin,but....they also have, uh, you
know, can....an share their unique cultures with us, with the larger community, so there I
think about,uh, an event that took place last, I think it was last spring, uh, I think a UNA
event but I'm not...United...United Nations Association event. But one of the things that
happened was that, I don't know, seven or eight Congolese residents sang to us and I
thought, 'Wow! That is gorgeous,' the song that they sang. I would love to hear that,
you know, as part of community events. So helping them share their cultures with our
larger community, seems like a good part of a purpose statement. So, and then helping
people have...the kind of people I've just described have access to good jobs, help them
find ways to get around town, you know, to get to places they need to go, and helping
them navigate the criminal justice and healthcare systems,which are incredibly
complicated for a new....newcomer to a culture. I've lived that, incidentally, in southern
France, so I have an experience of how hard that can be. But when I put 'em all together,
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these are the kinds of things that come to my mind with regard to what I'd like to see this
Social Justice and Racial Equity Grant Program....foster.
Mims/I guess to me, Jim, as I listen to those examples, I see all of those fitting under the current
purpose statement. I mean, you talk about,urn, helping adults who are not....who, for
whom English is not their first language. Learning English. I mean education is one of
the six priority service areas. Urn, you talked about for African American youth a
positive, you know, place to congregate and things, I mean part of that's education, part
of that's building community. Um,the other one with the Congolese, that's building
community. Um, employment, learning the English skills for better employment. I....I
actually think the current purpose statement is very good. I think it's....it's broad
enough. It may be, um, you know,more of an effort in terms of reaching out to
various.....people, communities, organizations, you know, within Iowa City. One to
make them more aware of this and as they talk about things they would like to do, saying,
'Hey, you know, you should....you should apply for a grant under this.' I mean we've
met with people about the English learner situation. Urn, and....and there's people
working on that right now. But what I don't wanna see us do is make this purpose
statement....be so specific that it tends to exclude,um, creativity and opportunities, um,
for people from all kinds of,uh, diverse areas. The one....the one group that you did not
mention that I think is really important that should be included in this, or at least should
think of themselves as being included and should then be thinking about grant proposals,
um, are also the elderly and the disabled. Urn....(several talking) because many times
within those populations, um, economics are....are a huge issue.
Throgmorton/Right.
Mims/And so for them to, you know, apply for grants for various kinds of programming that
might help them, I think,urn (both talking)
Throgmorton/Yeah, I would agree. Yeah.
Taylor/(both talking)
Salih/ Go ahead (mumbled) (both talking)
Taylor/ ...just gonna say that's....that's a very good point on, Susan(mumbled) not sure how
you'd include that in the six priority service areas as far as for the disabled folks, um....
Mims/I...I mean I....I don't. (both talking) I think when you talked about building community,
um, you're talking about housing, urn, you're talking about employment. Those (both
talking)
Taylor/ ...seniors and the disabled also.
Mims/Yeah, I mean those....I....I think building community often times can....can apply to
seniors, because they get isolated in their own houses. If they don't have transportation,
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urn, you know so I....I think....I think those four key areas, urn, are excellent. I think
they're broad enough for people to write lots of different kinds of grant applications.
Urn....that really, you know, can target a certain segment for that particular year or two
years, that to really get some programming going. I think you've provided some great
specific ideas, Jim, but I....I do like the more general, urn, language of the current (both
talking)
Throgmorton/ I wonder...I wonder, oh, sorry, Maz! Go ahead.
Salih/ I just wanna say, yeah, this is...all this information is great and that as you said, the
wording is there for building community for whatever Jim said is...you think that is
already included there.
Mims/Uh huh.
Salih/That's maybe for you or for the Council, or maybe for the audience,but not for immigrant.
They are not gonna understand building community means `I can come and apply for
grant to have my event like cultural event, at the ped mall,' or to do something so I can
tell this community what my culture is so I can share my culture so people can better
get...understand each other. You know I....I think we need both. We need the (both
talking)
Mims/ ...examples....
Salih/ ....put examples such as this and this, because I been here, I know that my community, the
Sudanese community, they try to do like a big event like, uh, I guess, you know, those
kind of people they're so (unable to understand) try to do Sudanese festival, but they
couldn't, because they don't have money and they have no idea....and I don't have idea,
this grant could....as a Center for Worker Justice, we apply for this grant, but I have no
idea this could cover immigrants and communities and you can do that. That's why
it's...it have to be either examples, what like....Jim mentioned, or people have to reach
out to communities and tell them,hey, we have this. If you need this just come and do
that. Yeah, but....you know,we need this kinds of things. (several talking)
Taylor/ ...the education part of it is very important. Get the word out and one of the things also
that came out of Jim's and mine meeting with those, um....uh, folks was that they don't
know how to write grants, but I was, uh, glad to see, and I didn't realize that, and Stefanie
can maybe allude to this, uh, somewhere in....in the memo from her it talked about I
think in October, or prior to the grant application, you have, uh, a....a public meeting,
open meeting, for folks to learn about the grants, how to write 'em, and....and what they
can be used for? Is that correct?
Bowers/Yeah, we plan on holding that, urn, in mid-November. And it will be voluntary, but just
trying to get the word out to communities.
Salih/Where you holding it, Stefanie?
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Bowers/Where(both talking)
Salih/Where.
Bowers/Urn....I believe I reserved Council chambers.
Salih/Okay, you know I don't think this gonna help the community. Like Sudanese community
and Congolese community. Go to them! Go to the neighborhood center. Held
something there, and go to the Congolese, uh,they have a....I guess they have all sort of
association. You go there and tell them, hey, that's what we do. Because usually low
income people, they don't come to City Hall. And do that, you know, because maybe the
timing is not good or the transportation. They have a lot of barriers, and also maybe the
translation. Over there they will bring somebody to translate for them, and they will help
you out. Just that's my suggestion really.
Throgmorton/(several talking) You know, I absolutely agree, Maz. But if we're talking about
one event, you can't hold one event, at least I don't know how to do it, hold one event for
several different communities at different locations. But maybe there's some way to be
(both talking)
Bowers/ I mean I think, urn,just getting out there and getting the word out, getting fliers in
different languages,placing them in, um, different community spaces. I...I don't think
that would be a big(both talking)
Salih/Or even you don't need to do that. There is another way, like say....say for example the
Congolese that,because I know the Congolese and I know the Sudanese very well. I
been like engaging with the association here and here. Uh, you know, there....they're
very organized by the way, and they have board of, you know, directors. They have
association. Reach out to the mem....by email. Send information say we have this here
if you get your....because if they wanna come and apply for the grant, they are not going
to come as individual. They will come as association who wanna held this event. So you
know just reach out to them specifically by their email and if you want me to help you,
like bring in emails for those communities, I will.
Bowers/Uh huh, yeah(both talking)
Throgmorton/Rockne, you wanted to say something,right?
Cole/Two quick things. I think along those same lines, I think in terms of Council Members
getting the word out as well. I think we would be willing to do that. I know I would, and
probably everyone would be willing to do that. Second big thing is I know the deadline
we can publicize that as early as possible, urn, I know you guys always do that,but I
think we all need to think about where that deadline is, and to get that out, urn,when is
the deadline gonna be for applications? Or how will that work.
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Bowers/Urn, the deadline would be,uh, January 2"d of 2019.
Cole/Okay. And will that be for the whole following year then...for....
Bowers/Those...it would be for FY19.
Cole/Okay.
Bowers/ If that answers your question.
Salih/And they receive the grant during summer, right? No,uh, spring right(several talking)
Bowers/ Spring, summer....yeah.
Throgmorton/Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm persuaded we don't need to
advocate changes in the language of the....purpose statement, but I'm....I'm thinkin' it
might be very helpful for the Commission if we could just provide them with the
transcript of our discussion,because that way they'll have a sense of what was on our
minds and....and what we were thinking was most,you know, some of the most
important things.
Bowers/I usually share the work sessions with them when this item's talked about. So I had told
them I would, so it will get sent out later this week.
Throgmorton/But I do mean the transcript(both talking)
Bowers/You want the....okay!
Throgmorton/(both talking) ...abbreviated minutes, the transcript.
Bowers/No I mean I give 'em the link on City Channel 4 to....to view it, and then we discuss it
at the meeting in more detail,but we can certainly supplement it with the transcript,but
they actually get the video link.
Throgmorton/Okay. Yeah.
Salih/Thank you, Stefanie.
Throgmorton/Anything else on this topic?
Cole/Nope!
Clarification of Agenda Items:
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Throgmorton All right! Let's see,next topic clarification of agenda items. Yeah! We have a
meeting tonight, don't we, a formal meeting. Does anybody need clarification about any
agenda item?
Salih/I would like to....pull out Item 2d(9), Housing Trust Fund contribution from the Consent
agenda.
Throgmorton/All right, hold on. Item 2d(9).
Cole/Do we need a second on that to get that pulled, Eleanor?
Dilkes/No. No.
Cole/Okay.
Salih/And....can I move or....okay.
Cole/Yeah, you don't need a second.
Salih/And I also would like to talk about Item 2e...(2).
Throgmorton/You want that sep...considered separately too?
Salih/No, no, no!
Throgmorton/ Oh, you just(several talking)
Salih/ I was trying to pull it but, you know, I just figure I talked to Jim, uh, I talked to the City
Manager and he told me that they had another meeting afterward and they come to an
agreement. Can you tell us little bit about that?
Fruin/Yeah, um....so this deals with the, uh,potential annexation of Sunrise Mobile Home Park
on Scott Boulevard. You have a, uh, 2e(2) in your packet is a email that you all were
copied on,uh,with some concerns from their,uh, engineering consultant about a
roadway that we have discussed with them, uh, that would go through the mobile home
park. Um,we are continuing to talk about that at the staff level. We think that there is an
alternative to a roadway going through there that can meet most of our City objectives,
not all of them. Um, I don't know that we've communicated that back to the Sunrise,uh,
Village owners and consultants, so I hesitate to...to say too much because I don't know
how they'll receive that, but we think that there's good dialogue continuing, and by the•
time it gets to P&Z and, uh, ul....ultimately to your desk, we hope that there's, urn,
support from both Sunrise and staff on the resolution that we're seeking. I think you all
understand in reading her memo that there's a balance here between,um,not wanting to
displace or lose affordable housing units, and yet providing good connected
neighborhoods, and that's really what staff and Sunrise are working through right now.
These are pretty typical discussions. It's not very typical that Council gets copied on this
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correspondence, but believe me, any time there's a development, or in this case an
annexation,there's a lot of back and forth discussions with these developers. So I don't
characterize this as anything out of the ordinary.
Salih/Yeah. I guess that ....I just was worried because of the 11 residents that they be displa...
they will be displaced, but I'm glad to hear you guys get to resolve that. Also I would
like to talk abut Item 2e(9). I don't wanna pull it but I wanna say like really I'm pleased
to see that we have, uh, you know, the proposal revision to the ordinance 8-8,uh, from
the CPRB and I guess it gives the CPRB better credibility with the community, that's
why hopefully we gonna see this like putting on the work session very soon.
Fruin/Well I think it...this is a good time to get some Council direction on that. You have,uh,
the recommendations from CPRB. I think the next logical step would be for us as staff to
give you our thoughts on those recommendations, primarily from City Attorney's office
and...and, uh.....uh, Police Department. Um....and then you can decide whether you
want to move forward with a work session or maybe you'll be just, in reading our memo,
comfortable directing us to draft ordinance changes. Does that sound okay?
Information Packet Discussion [July 19,July 26,August 21:
Throgmorton/Yeah,makes sense to me. Any other items? All right. Hearing none, let's go to
the first information packet. That's July the 196. L..I'd like to say a quick word about IP
#4, uh, which provides an update on possible citywide transfer of development rights for
historic preservation. And I just wanna sort of drop this idea out into everybody's lap.
Uh, I would be potentially interested in a density transfer to south Johnson and south Van
Buren,that area.....if the transfer was part of a, some kind of urban design plan for the
area. And, Geoff, you and I have talked about this off and on in terms of that particular
neighborhood and how it could be improved. If we could link the two that would be
pretty attractive from my point of view, and I know we'll have to discuss this a lot more
thoroughly and maybe disregard what I just said, but...at the moment I'm pretty attracted
to that possibility.
Thomas/I am too and it...you know, that is an area that's already been identified as a
redevelopment area. So it...I don't know how long it's been designated as a
redevelopment area, but it's acknowledged to be..something that we should be changing.
Redeveloping. And it....it looks to be a fairly large area to me. It...at least in the Central
District plan. I....I just tried to roughly calculate the area and it came in at 44 acres. So
it's,um, it's a...that would include the street right-of-ways,but a fairly large area.
Throgmorton/Hmm.
Wu/I'm just wondering, what would the,urn,redevelopment or like a density transfer look like,
um, since this is an area that's very heavily dominated by students. I wanna say the last
neighborhood map was like 85, 86%rentals.
Throgmorton/Uh huh.
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Wu/Urn, I lived there last year, so I'm wondering just what would that kind of redevelopment
look like?
Throgmorton/Don't know! I mean that's pretty, from my point of view, that's pretty much why
I'm sayin' it would have to be, the density transfer to that particular area,would have to
be part of some kind of urban design plan....for the area.
Wu/I wonder what does density transfer mean exactly?
Fruin/Uh, it would be, in this case, uh, taking,urn,potential development opportunities that take
place where there's historic properties. So a property owner, uh, would designate a,uh,
property as a local landmark.
Wu/Uh huh.
Fruin/And thus...give up the ability to....to develop it at a higher density, and you would take
what they gave up there, urn, and move it over to another property. So if you were
only in really simple terms, if you were only allowed to build a three-story building,
uh, through a density transfer you might be able to build a six-story building.
Wu/So kinda like what happened with Tate Arms?
Fruin/Correct! Exact....exactly what happened with Tate Arms. That was a development
transfer there.
Throgmorton/Okay, anything else on the July 19`h packet?
Fruin/ So just to, uh, let you know, I....if you didn't notice, your pending work session topics
list, we have scheduled a work session on the TDR ordinance. We want to make sure
that,uh, Council is onboard with the direction that we are going,before we get too far,
because we have a....a self-imposed deadline of I believe late January to get this
ordinance in place.
Throgmorton/Moving on to July the 26th. Ah, we may not be able to get through this.
Taylor/IPS, the KXIC, Kellie I'm sure would (both talking)
Throgmorton/Let's do that and then we'll probably have to stop. I'd like to volunteer for
August the 29th. I cannot do....I'm....I'm due but I cannot do, uh, the next four (laughs)
And you're scheduled for the next one I guess. No, you already did it. You did it last
week, didn't ya?
Taylor/I can do the 22nd of August.
Cole/I can do the.....September 5th. (several talking in background)
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Thomas/I was looking at October 3'd. And did....is someone doing August 29th?
Taylor/Jim.
Throgmorton/I am. Just volunteered for this (mumbled)
Thomas/And you're....Pauline,you're doing the 22nd?
Taylor/Twenty-second, correct.
Throgmorton/So we need....we don't have anybody for tomorrow, right?
Taylor/No. Not yet.
Throgmorton/Yeah (both talking)
Mims/ I can do tomorrow.
Throgmorton/You just did last week.
Mims/No (several talking) did I switch with somebody?
Taylor/No (both talking)
Mims/I missed it then. I was out of town. (laughter and several talking)
Taylor/ ...do tomorrow then, Susan?
Mims/Yeah, I'll do tomorrow.
Taylor/ Okay. (several talking) ...wasn't there anyway!
Throgmorton/ Somebody do the 15th?
Salih/ I do the 15th.
Taylor/Mazahir, the 15th.
Salih/Uh huh.
Throgmorton/All right, Mazahir on the 15th. All righty!
Mims/What do we have left? (several talking) I can do the 12th of September, is that still open?
Throgmorton Uh, it is!
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Cole/How bout October 3rd, is that (several talking) John? October 10th?
Taylor/No, it's open, Rockne.
Cole/I'll take it!
Taylor/I can do October 17th.
Throgmorton/Well....sorry, I think I just missed one. Rockne, did you just say you'd do....
Cole/ October 10th.
Thomas/Who's doing September 5th? Is there....
Cole/That's me!
Throgmorton/Uh,Rockne. I can do, uh, September the 26th.
Fruehling/And I have September 19th, October 24th, and October 315`. (several talking in
background)
Mims/I'll take the 24th of October. (several talking in background)
Fruehling/Do we wanna leave one for....staff? (several talking in background)
Mims/Sure, give `em Halloween! (laughs)
Fruehling/October 31st and September 19th.
Throgmorton/What happened to October the 3rd? Did somebody take that? (several responding)
Oh, sorry! Okay. So September the 19th and well.....anybody, can anybody volunteer for
September the 19th? Maz, can you do that one?
Thomas/ I could do...I could do the 31st. I mean I try to spread them out a little bit.
Salih/Okay, I can do the 19th.
Throgmorton/Okay, and John, you just volunteered for October the 31st(several talking) All
right, so I think we have a full schedule and you can maybe share it with us and if
somebody's got a problem, you can let us....we can let, they can let you know. All right,
we're gonna have to stop there. So let's come back to....after the formal meeting come
back to July 26th packet. (BREAK FOR FORMAL MEETING)
(RECONVENE WORK SESSION)
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Information Packet Discussion 1July 19,July 26, August 21 (cont.):
Throgmorton/Okay! Well we have two things to do, right? And, uh, finish up the work session.
Then we need to finish up our executive session. Right? So.....all right so we stopped at
the July 26th packet and just to get things goin', IP #2, strategic plan report. Thank you,
Ashley, for putting that together. I know it's not fully....you know, yeah. But, uh,
thanks for doin' that. I wanted to ask about item 6a, the climate action item. Do we have
a sense of when we're going to get the final draft report?
Monroe/Um....hopefully within the next couple of weeks, potentially at the next meeting.
(mumbled) see a final copy, and a proposal from the Steering Committee. They're
meeting on Friday to discuss moving forward with implementation plans.
Throgmorton/Okay. Thanks.
Monroe/Yep!
Throgmorton/ IP#3 is community indicators. Uh, thanks for producing that. I'm glad to see it,
uh....I have a list of possible indicators that I want to share with you, uh,for example,
median housing prices and rents. Another example might be disproportionality in traffic
stops, searches, and arrests, but I don't wanna go through that right now. I'll share it with
you. Other items, folks?
Fruin/With those indicators, we'll just....we'll go with what we have, and...for our next strategic
plan report, cause we...we, it's just important that we get somethin' on paper and start,
and then of course as others have suggestions we can add to the list, or subtract, as it goes
forward.
Throgmorton/Any other items on July 26? All right, well I'll mention IP #4, which is the....the
report from Jason Havel about the Burlington-Clinton Street intersection. So, thanks,
Geoff, for asking Jafe...Jason to, uh, write that for us and it helps explain, uh, the pretty
slow pace of what's bein' done there, but....you know they occasionally do work
(laughs) There's a....they did some work, some work was bein' done today, you know,
but at least now I understand so thanks for(both talking)
Fruin/Yeah, I think the big thing is it's really hard to keep contractors on the job right now.
They are spread thin and they're tryin' to keep all their clients happy and....I wish we
could keep 'em on our job 100% of the time, but it's....it's proving to be very difficult
this construction season.
Throgmorton/Any other questions about July 26? How bout August the 2"d packet?
Fruin/I'd like to have a short discussion on the pending work session topics.
Throgmorton/Yeah!
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Fruin/Urn, for August 2151 we have Dr. Barnum coming in and our intention is to get his report
to you in the information pack so you can see that in advance and then he'll present to
you. Uh, we want to summarize the Chip In event and have our pre-budget kickoff
discussion. Earlier tonight we talked about the hourly wage, uh, continuing that
discussion, uh, there as well. I have an executive session that I'd like to...to schedule for
that, uh, as well. So I...would like to see if there's any, uh, willingness to start at 4:00
with that executive session.
Throgmorton/On the 21St?
Fruin/On the 21st.
Cole/ Sure.
Throgmorton/Yeah....that's probably okay (mumbled)
Fruin/And....
Throgmorton/It's okay with me.
Fruin/ ...depending on....how late we're....we're goin' tonight, if you'd prefer to, um, move my
eval to....to the 215`, I think there'd be...I think there'd be ample time to start at 4:00 and
maybe get those two, potentially three executive session items done before 5:00 but that's
up to you. I'm happy to stay tonight and go through it as well. Just want to be
(mumbled)
Mims/Kellie might want to get going. And she's gotta do the recording (laughs) I mean I don't
care either way.
Cole/I'd prefer to do it next week, or on the 21st I mean.
Throgmorton/Yeah, some of us actually want to get some sleep tonight. Yeah, so I....I think
that's a good idea.
Fruin/Okay, so we'll defer my eval. Then we'll have one or two other special, or I'm sorry,
executive session items on the 215`, in addition to these two, and then as we look ahead to
September, if I call your attention to the other topics list, uh, you'll see items 7 and 8, we
tentatively have scheduled the,uh, solar feasibility study consultants are planning to
come and present to you.
Throgmorton/On what date?
Fruin/ September 4th. And then we'd like to get your....your buy-in on the TDR ordinance that
was briefly talked about. Um...we could sneak the EAB discussion on there, uh, if
(coughing, difficult to hear speaker)
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Mims/Which one? I'm sorry!
Fruin/ On the 4`h.
Mims/Actually which discussion (mumbled)
Fruin/I'm sorry, Emerald Ash Borer.
Mims/Okay.
Fruin/If you wanna get movin' on that, uh, because on the 18th we've had a long scheduled
meeting with the Johnson County Board of Supervisors, a joint meeting with them, so
we're....we're quickly schedulin' ourselves out here. Uh,with the EAB,my only
concern is, um, if there's a.....I wanna make sure that....our operations aren't impacted,
um, so....to have that discussion as soon as possible will help us, because we schedule
removals and replantings the following year. We're going through all of that stuff now.
So, the quicker we can get to that the better, and I think our staff can....prepare by
September 4th to have that conversation with you. Is that...okay?
Throgmorton/Well before we leave that particular topic, Geoff, um, earlier tonight in our really
tortured discussion about 12 Court Street, I suggested that we, uh.....plan to schedule a
work....a work session not later than the end of Sep....yeah,the end of September on the
height bonus stuff, and I....I don't know whether that really makes sense, but I know we
want to move ahead on that. We want to have that discussion so that we could be clear
about all those particular things. So, um....I don't know if we're meeting on the 31st or
the lst of October, I don't know when (mumbled)
Fruin/Yeah. I think if....if things could fall in place the way I'd like to...I'd like them to, you'd
have your second and third readings on the 4th. So you could either double up on the 18th
work session and do the County Board of Supervisors for an hour, hour and a half and
have a extra work session on 12 Court then, or we could get into October.
Mims/What time are we scheduled to meet with the Board of Supervisors? Do we have a time
for that yet?
Fruin/I believe 5:00. Um, I'll have to confirm that with 'em. It's been a little while.
Throgmorton/Yeah,we...we need time on the height bonus discussion.
Fruin/ So we could either do somethin' separate in September or move to the first week in
October.
Throgmorton/I...well I'll tall ya, I....I think it warrants a special work session.
Mims/I'm fine with that.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of August 7, 2018.
Page 34
Throgmorton/(several talking) ...have to try to schedule a special time.
Fruin/Okay. I'll work with Kellie and....get that done.
Throgmorton/Okay, let's see, where are we? Oh yeah,we're on August....the August 2"d
packet, right? I....I don't see anything else I wanna bring up. Do any of you have any
other....all right, okay, so Council updates on boards, etc.
Council updates on assigned boards, commissions and committees:
Cole/No updates.
Throgmorton/Uh, we could start with, uh, oh! Did that backwards! Sorry! Let's start with you
and move to the right.
Taylor/Uh, had a conference, uh, board meeting with the ECICOG and basically part of the
conversation we're still in discussions as the MPO also, as I believe, the uh, express bus
service from Iowa City to, uh, Cedar Rapids, so still....still in the works.
Throgmorton/They don't have a roll-out date for that yet?
Taylor/Thought they were talking possibly October(both talking)
Fruin/It's October. Don't have a specific date but, urn....it's in October.
Taylor/October, yeah.
Throgmorton/Okay. Maz?
Salih/ (unable to understand) 28th I will report for that later.
Throgmorton/ Okay. Rockne?
Cole/Nothing. City of Lit, we'll start doing our meetings here. We took July off and we're
gonna start meetings here in like a couple weeks.
Thomas/Nothing. (mumbled)
Mims/Nope. Nothing since our last.
Throgmorton/Nothing for me either. So that means we are done with our work session. And we
decided to, uh, postpone the last part of our executive session till two weeks (both
talking)
Dilkes/I think you're gonna have to go....you're gonna have to adjourn....
Throgmorton/Okay.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of August 7, 2018.