HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-10-16 Transcription Page 1
1. Call to Order
Throgmorton: (bangs gavel) I'd like to call to order the regular formal meeting of the Iowa City
City Council for October 16, 2018. Roll call please. Good evening, everybody!
Welcome to your City Hall on this gorgeous October day. It's been an awesome
and amazing day,right, Bruce?
Teague: Absolutely! (laughter)
Throgmorton: So I'd also like to make sure, uh,we welcome Bruce Teague as our newest
Member of the City Council. It's great to have you here, Bruce. Welcome
aboard!
Teague: Thank you. (applause)
Throgmorton: And now we have work to do!
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2. Student Leadership Awards-Regina Elementary
Throgmorton: We have three fine, young folks from Regina Elementary who are going to
receive Student Leadership Awards and they are Caitlin Martin,Natalie Gayhan
....Gahan, I don't know. You....yeah......and Sam Abdel Malik....Malek. Would
y'all come up? Sorry I mispronounced.....yeah. Okay, maybe, Sam, you could
be over here. Okay. So, we already sort of practiced this just a little bit, didn't
we? Yeah, I mean you know, so I'm gonna read your proclamation...or the
Leadership Award announcement, and it's identical for all three of you, except
your name would be inserted in your own individual award, okay? And then after
I do that, I'll ask you to read your speeches. And we'll start with Sam I guess and
work over this way. Is that okay? All right. Before we do this I should say I
used to go to, uh, a Catholic elementary school in my hometown of Louisville,
Kentucky. Is this on, I mean it doesn't sound like it is. Okay. Yeah, so, uh....I,
Regina Elementary I'm sure is a really outstanding school. Okay, Student
Leadership Award (reads award) All right, so Caitlin, you....no, we're gonna
start with Sam. I just said that, didn't I? (laughter) Sorry! You know it's
amazing how mayors can get confused! Okay, so I'm gonna hold this in front of
ya,just read your speech, Sam!
Abdel Malek: Hi, my name is Sam and I would like to thank you for choosing me as a recipient
of the Outstanding Student Citi...Citizen Award. I'm honored and would like to
thank the City Council and my three Regina teachers—Mrs. Vorwerk, Mrs.
Davis, and Miss Means. I believe I have been chosen for this award for many
reasons. Some of them include volunteering at the free lunch program and
helping my family at home by doing chores. Every day I try my best to be kind
and help others when they need it. I've played the trumpet since second grade
and I've played soccer competitively for three years. Despite all of those time
commitments, I'm involved in advanced math and reading lessons at school. I'd
like to thank you once again for this great honor. (applause)
Throgmorton: Well done! (mumbled, away from mic) Okay, next(mumbled) so would you
read your speech.
Martin: Sure! Hi, my name is Caitlin Martin and I would like to start out by thanking my
sixth grade teachers—Mrs. Davis, Mrs. Vorwerk, and Miss Means—for choosing
me for this award. I think my teachers chose me because I'm a leader at school
and like to help my classmates. Outside of school I alter serve at my church and
play on a Regina basketball team. I also play the clarinet in my school band. I
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enjoy leading small groups and participating in fun activities at school. I would
like to again thank my teachers for selecting me for this award. (applause)
Throgmorton: All right! (applause continues) So what position do you play on the basketball
team?
Martin: Point guard.
Throgmorton: Point guard! All right. Here's yours.
Martin: Thank you.
Throgmorton: Can you come over here, Natalie? Okay, would you read your speech too.
Gahan: Yes. Hi, my name is Natalie Gahan and I'm very honored to receive this award
tonight. I like taking care of my environment and helping people at my school. I
like going to school and getting my work done. And I'd like to thank my sixth
grade teachers for nominating me for this award. (applause)
Throgmorton: All right! (applause continues) Well I know for sure there's some proud parents
down here. I bet ya there's some others right over here and...yeah! Are there
others? (laughter)
Taylor: Proud grandfather! (laughter)
Throgmorton: Here....here's yours. Where? Where's this proud grandfather? Oh, I see, back
there! (laughter) Former City Councilman Terry Dickens. I bet you are proud,
Terry. Yeah. Okay. So brilliantly done, keep it up, lead your....lead your school,
do the best you can. All right! (applause)
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3. Proclamations
3.a. Change Your Clock, Change Your Battery Day
Throgmorton: (reads proclamation) So I think we have, uh, someone here, Todd Irwin from the
Fire Department, to accept this proclamation. Todd, come on up! (applause)
Irwin: On behalf of the Iowa City Fire Department, I thank you, Mayor. Uh, couple of
other highlights, uh, that the Iowa City Fire Department would like to remind all
of the citizens of Iowa City and Johnson County, urn, when you're changing the
batteries in your smoke alarms, we would like for you to also push the test button
and make sure each smoke alarm is operable. Urn, also the Mayor did touch on,
we ask that you replace your smoke detectors every 10 years. On the back there
is an expiration date or a date of manufacture on your smoke detectors, so check
those when you replace the batteries, and also some of the new smoke detectors
have life-time batteries, but those smoke detectors also need to be replaced every
10 years. Uh, according to NFPA statistics, um, in fires when such smoke alarms
were present but did not operate, almost half of the smoke alarms had missing or
disconnected batteries, and 24%had batteries that, uh, were dead and caused the
smoke alarms to fail. So, this is very important, um, on...daylight savings time
that we check our batteries and make sure we are safe in our homes. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Great! Thank you, Todd. (applause)
3.b. Domestic Violence Awareness Month
Throgmorton: (reads proclamation) So we have two folks who are going to accept, right? Uh,
Alta....uh, Medea Peters and Alesha Packer, right? Yeah! (applause) (mumbled)
Peters: As those are being handed out,urn, my name is Alta Medea Peters. I'm the
Director of Community Engagement for the Domestic Violence Intervention
Program, and urn, I first and foremost want to thank the City of Iowa City, uh, the
Council, and the community for the amazing support that has been shown to
victim survivors of intimate partner abuse. We truly could not do the work that
we do without, uh,the financial and emotional support that you provide us. Urn,
we had a record-breaking year at Shopper Shelter this year, um, with over 6,000
items donated and over$5,000 worth of gift cards, so I....I appreciate, uh,
everything that is done for us throughout this community. Urn, the sheets that I
handed out, there are a couple numbers that I wanted to highlight for you. Um,
one of them is the....we have served over 1,700 individuals in our service region
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and more than 900 of them have been from Johnson County. That's men, women,
and children residing here. Of those individuals that we've served, we are proud
to announce this year that we have had a 96% success with safety,uh, those
individuals that we've served have reported that they feel safer because of the
work that our advocates do and that is up by 10% in the past year and that would
not be possible without support and our doors being open. So that's sort of one of
the....the really exciting numbers that we're happy to see come in this year.
Another one is that we've doubled the number of youth that we're helping, and
that's directly related to the work our advocates are doing within the schools, and
within our communities outside of Iowa City, but um, we are happy to be
reaching more and more people and shortening that cycle of violence. Um, I did
bring Alesha. She is our Housing Coordinator, um and we are happy to answer
any questions you might have, if there are any, about those numbers. There's a
lot of them in front of you.
Throgmorton: No, but thanks for coming, for doin' the good work you do. (both responding)
Yeah. (applause) Kellie, we need a motion to accept correspondence, don't we?
For that? Yeah. Could I have a motion to accept correspondence please?
Cole: So moved.
Salih: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Cole, seconded by Salih. All in favor say aye. Opposed. Motion
carries.
3.c. United Nations Day
Throgmorton: (reads proclamation) Is there anyone to accept this cones....this proclamation? I
think Jim Olson's here. (applause)
Olson: My name is Jim Olson. I'm the President of the Johnson County Chapter of the
United Nations Association of the USA, an organization, a non-profit, non-
partisan membership organization, that works to inform and mobilize Americans
about the work of the U.N. and to build support for a constructive U.S.
engagement in the U.N. I want to thank the Council for issuing this proclamation
and also for what it does year-round to advance the ideals that are stated in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights,uh, the 70th anniversary of which we are
observing this year. I'd like to call your attention to two upcoming events.
October 24th, as you just proclaimed, is United Nations Day, but today, October
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16th, is World Food Day, uh, and I wanted to note that, uh...worldwide 621
million people go to bed hungry every night. In Iowa one out of six children
struggle with food insecurity, and uh, to mark World Food Day, our Chapter of
the United Nations Association is cooperating with the Iowa City Foreign
Relations Council to host an event this Thursday, October 18th, uh, at 12 noon at
Old Brick. Uh, John Norris, who represented the United States at the....in Rome,
at the headquarters of the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization will speak on
policies and politics and other obstacles to feeding the world's poor. The second
event will be October 24th, United Nations Day, and that will be an event, uh,
from 2:00 until 4:00 P.M. at Old Brick. It will focus on the 70th anniversary of
the Universal Declaration. Nancy Flowers, an expert in human rights education,
will be with us to speak on the relationship of civil rights, human rights, and
social justice. So I invite, uh, you and all citizens of Iowa City to take part in
those events and once again I thank you for this proclamation. (applause)
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4—9. Beginning of Consent Calendar(Items 4-9) Consider adoption of the Consent
Calendar as presented or amended
Throgmorton: So, uh, could I have a motion to adopt the Consent Calendar as presented or
amended?
Mims: So moved.
Salih: So moved.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Salih(both talking)
Salih: Second. Yeah.
Throgmorton: Yeah. Discussion?
9.c. Kristine Taylor: Petition to save the rides
Taylor: There was, urn,just one item that (mumbled) talking about, uh, earlier, which was
in the correspondence,uh, and that was, urn, 9c, the petition to save the City Park
rides. Um, the author of the letter describes the outpouring of support, uh....uh,
received by community members and as Councilors many of us have stated the
importance of listening to what members of the community are saying, and I've
only heard from people asking us to save the rides. No one has said it's a good
thing to be getting rid of them. I know it seems to be a done deal but,um, I did
view the scenario for an adventure playground theme for City Park, uh, which
was held last week, and I'm not sure....that the types of playground shown is
what the community really envisions, but I I'll be anxious to, uh, hear the
responses that were received on the cards that were provided. Uh, I'm thinking
back to how we've spent a lot of money restoring the log cabins for the sake of
preserving a bit of history, urn, and I would just like to say why not continue with
another bit of history and look into at least having a train that everyone can enjoy
for many years to come.
Throgmorton: Any further discussion? So I don't know how you intend to vote. You'll have to
figure that out. Um, roll call please. Motion carries 7-0.
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9. Community Comment (items not on the agenda)
Throgmorton: Anyone who would like to address us on any topic that's not on the formal
meeting agenda is invited to do so now. So if you wanna speak,please come up,
state your name, and please take not more than five minutes to say whatever it is
on your...is on your mind.
Wichert: Martha Wichert (difficult to hear, away from mic) and I had spoken on,uh (both
talking)
Throgmorton: Could you speak up and into the microphone there.
Wichert: My name is Martha Wichert and I had spoke on August 7th in regards to, um,
Code 19.A and I noticed it's on here as accepted correspondence. So, urn, it's
kind of the same situation. I followed your recommendation and spoke with Stan
Laverman's office. He came and he looked and KCRG was actually there this
morning and they did a interview with me on the house and I was just wondering
where this stood right now and I still have the same, um, disagreements that I
don't believe building walls in houses is going to stop big parties and I think
there's a big community support of that view, of those of us that have lived and
have....I actually lived in that neighborhood for 60 years. I grew up in that
neighborhood. Been away for a while but still own the property, and it's not an
issue with my house, and it will cause a great burden for me to slap up walls
inside of a historic home. It'll change the integrity of the house. It'll change the
niche that I have and the wonderful tenants I've had. I've never had capacity in
my house. I don't want it and I will never have that. So where....where do we
stand with that, and is there any other information that you need from me? Or is
there anything else I can do?
Throgmorton: We had a fairly lengthy work session discus...uh, discussion about it during our
work session.which just....which started at 5:00 early this afternoon. Rockne,
you wanna say a little bit about(both talking)
Cole: (both talking) ....normally we don't comment at public, uh (both talking)
Throgmorton: (both talking)...be brief, we're not gonna be in a (both talking)
Cole: (both talking) ...Stan this week and get more detail about this particular issue. So
I'll be following up and giving you a call.
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Wichert: Okay, I would appreciate that.
Cole: We had a very good discussion and we're going to get more technical information
from Stan.
Wichert: I really appreciate that and I'm more than willing to find a solution. It doesn't
have to be one way or the other, but maybe we can have a happy ground there,
somewhere, and I've talked to many people that could also give you some really
good ideas I think too. Okay?
Throgmorton: (both talking) Thank you, Martha. Anyone else? Hey, Tern,how are you?
Miller Chait: Hi, how are you?
Throgmorton: Please make sure you speak into the microphone, Tern.
Miller Chait: Yes I will, thank you. I'm Terri Miller Chait and I'm here tonight on behalf of
the Homeowners Association at Idyllwild. Urn, if you've had time to take a look
at the correspondence that we sent, um, earlier this week. You will know that
we've had, uh, quite a week out at Idyllwild and I...I just wanted to add a few
more details to that letter. Um, you know both in 2013 and in 2014, the Idyllwild
residents, friends and family, whoever we could get to come help us. We filled
sandbags those years because it was high water event years, and the first year we
filled 5,000 and I think the second year we filled 7,500, and...in the high water
event this year we filled none (laughs) Um, in 2016 and 17 we....we spent our
time, energy, and money to....to build the berm around the perimeter of Idyllwild
and this year we were ecstatic when, um, the berm worked. You know,the....the
sluice gate that we had installed, that shuts off the water from....between the pond
and the river, when that worked, even though that was probably the most nerve
wracking, uh,night that we had as....as the residents are out shutting it off and the
next morning the ponds are so high that we almost flooded from the inside instead
of from the river. And that was due to the drainage. Um, the runoff coming from
the hills. So, I...I do wanna say that we are...we are really, um.....really happy
and....and grateful that that drainage channel is going to be built next year.
We're...we're concerned that we're going to have a wet spring, so we hope
(laughs)that's going to happen quickly, and um....I know....some of you came
out to Idyllwild a few years ago to look at the.....the drains, uh, the....the
drainage area that's on the corner of Foster and No Name and to look at the area
to see what it looks like and, you know, we really appreciated that, and at that
time when you looked at that drain, the one in the corner of Foster and No Name
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was....was and continues to be a problem in...in that it collects a lot of debris. So,
urn....we....the homeowners were out there a number of times cleaning....
cleaning the debris and it....it just is kind of an ongoing problem. Um....so....I
just.....just want to emphasize that....how much we appreciate the...that the
channel is going to be in place and again request that, um, the pump that...we did
have a pump installed to be able to, um,put into use if we needed to. We found
out that it...that it really would be a benefit to the neighborhood in that it would
keep Foster Road dry as well. So our request to you is that you consider that and,
um....hopefully find some money in the budget to be able to help us out with that
piece. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Terri. Uh...without goin' into detail, I want you to know we also
discussed this during our work session. So you should expect to,uh,have City
staff get in contact with you again, uh, so that....we're clear about what steps are
being taken and...could be taken in the future, and I don't know if Geoff wants to
say anything else about that, but...probably not,but we had an extensive
discussion about it.
Miller Chait: Yeah, great and....and, you know, when we met with Jason Reichart a few weeks
ago, he had mentioned that a study, um, had been done by Terracon that....and
Terracon pointed out some things that we could do to improve our berm, and...so
we haven't, um....brought our engineer into that discussion yet, but we're hopeful
that that would be an important thing that we might be able to take that step, cause
that was....something that....that I think would also be helpful, to make sure we
fortify that piece that we've already put into place.
Throgmorton: Yeah, good. Good, so expect staff to reach out to ya.
Miller Chait: Urn, you know we did bring some pictures tonight if you want to see it in the
pictures of the area at the time of....
Throgmorton: Are they copies of pictures or just....single pictures? (unable to hear response,
away from mic) If you wanna leave us a copy or something like that, we can, uh,
just like regular correspondence, we'd accept it as correspondence. Could you
hand it to Kellie when you're (several talking) Sure. Oh okay, all right.
(mumbled) copies for us individually? (several talking) Oh....
Tomi: We weren't prepared for this to be honest. It came on short notice today.
Throgmorton: Okay.
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Tomi: I'm Deb Tomi, Debra Tomi. I'm the President of Idyllwild and I'm the new
President. So you can imagine last week I did not sleep at all. I have 92 families
lookin' at me for direction, askin' me what are we gonna do, and I'm sayin' I've
got this, you know. I was very afraid. I was more afraid when I felt like I
couldn't rely on our city. I had to reach out to a contractor that came to our aid
and furnished Idyllwild with a pump for our protection. When I could not get
anywhere with the City. And I just really hope that you guys really, really look at
us, and realize we're a member of this community. We're 92 families. Thank
you.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Deb. Again I'd say our staff will be reaching out to Terri or if...or
you if you prefer, I mean we need to know (laughs) specifically you want us to
talk to,but....um.....we fully recognize the level of anx....anxiety you
experienced and, uh, we were quite concerned as well at that particular moment
about what was going to happen to the river,but I think our staff did a lot to try to
connect. So, okay, anybody else wanna speak to us on any particular topic?
Porter: Hello.
Throgmorton: Hi, Royceann.
Porter: Hi. Royceann Porter, 136 Appanoose Court. Um, I had spoken at the last City
Council and, urn, on behalf of the Black Voices Project and, uh, in collaboration
with the Coalition for Racial Justice, we spoke about the, urn, neighborhood
stabilization project that you're gonna be doin' on Taylor and Davis Street. Um,
one of the things we....we wanted, uh, we've been in discussion and just tryin' to
figure out some ways so that families wouldn't be put out of their homes on those
two streets, was to possibly make the tenants that live in those homes
homeowners. So one of the ways we're lookin' at is, um, if you can look at it and
find a way where these people who live over there in those....in that area could,
um,possibly become homeowners by partnering with the City of Iowa City and
usin' the programs that you guys already have in place, meanin' that you have a
downpayment assistance program, you have a Home program, urn, Section 8, and
uh, the Housing Authority have different things that we could put in place, but it
wouldn't be puffin' families, four families, out of their homes. It would be
makin' them homeowners, because, uh, those people who live over there, who
look like me, uh, if they could get a mortgage, they would have one by now. So
we know that they're not eligible, so we're hopin' that, urn, we can pro...possibly
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put a program together that, urn....can possibly just go forward to help others as
well. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thanks, Royceann. Just so you know, earlier this evening we agreed to have a...
focus part of our time in our next work session on this particular topic, and I want
ya to know that the staff has no intention of displacing residents, existing
residents, from homes in that area. The intent is to....purchase from a willing
seller when there's no one in the house, no one living in the house. Is that quite
right? I don't have it quite right I know, but uh,that's pretty close. So
the....there'll be more information about that. The most important thing to know
is that in our next work session, two weeks from now, we will be addressing this
topic.
Porter: We still would like to see those tenants become homeowners, Jim. It would be
nice.
Throgmorton: Yeah,that's part of the discussion.
Porter: Thank you, Sir!
Throgmorton: Good evening(both talking)
Hughes: Hi! I'm Melva and I'm a concerned citizen, uh, for the people that you've slated,
well the homes that you have slated on Taylor and Davis to be,uh, seem like you
just said to Royceann that you were gonna purchase those homes and...and then,
uh,remodel them. Um, I would like to suggest that if....if that's what you're
plannin' to do, could those people,uh, be part of remodeling those homes and
have,uh,put equity into those homes so that they can have a chance of
purchasing those homes, and not have a repeat that, uh, the City went through
with, uh, Rose Oaks. That's what I see this as going to....as.....has that been a
thought that you entertained to let them be, uh....part of the, uh, remodeling, to
put equity, sweat(mumbled) sweat equity into that, to give them the option of
becomin' homeowners?
Throgmorton: We have not yet discussed that specific possibility. Tracy, I seem to have
misspoken a little bit. You read in our work session earlier tonight you read a
specific quote that will be contained in a letter. Could you read that again?
Melva, we....we might address that particular recommendation in that work
session discussion I just referred to.
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Hughes: Uh, question, is there any way that, uh, the public is a part of your work session or
is that closed door, uh(both talking)
Throgmorton: No, it'll be in this room. It's open to the public, but it's....it's work that the
Council and staff do together. Yeah.
Hughes: Okay. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Yeah.
Hightshoe: I think I mentioned when we go out to look for homes, we're sending a letter to
all landlords,um, and homes that we think we can rehab for that price, and we'll
prioritize those homes that have no tenant in them, they're vacant, or the tenant
has already notified that they're not going to re-lease. So that's what we prioritize
which homes we're gonna buy.
Throgmorton: Thank you for clarifying that. Good evening, Adil.
Adams: Uh, good evening and, uh, I would like to congratulate the new Member. I don't
know his name(several talking)
Throgmorton: Bruce Teague.
Adams: Okay, congratulation(several talking)be a Member of the City Council. I just,
uh, last week I....(mumbled) by something really make me mad. There is one
(mumbled) felony. He and...he's a minor, and uh (unable to understand) commit,
uh, stupid....stupid crime, and the problem (unable to understand) the crime, he
get,uh, probation,but the problem...he can't live with his mom or with his dad,
because he commit a felony and he's a minor. I don't know how this...they can
handle it. If somebody minor, and commits to a crime, if he live with his dad or
his mom, so they can take care of him and they advise him and he would be...he
can go about the community as a good person, but if you shut the door in front of
him, he can't live in the public housing; he can't live, uh, even with a private, uh,
apartments. Where he can go? So he can go just commit another crime or what
to do? So when I talk to....the people they told me, uh, the Housing Authority,
this is their regulation. I don't think this good regulation. If we can sit together
and see how this is good regulation. I want this kid's to go back to stay with his
mom or with his dad, not just let him go for nowhere. Thank you.
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Throgmorton: Thank you, Adil. Anyone else? Okay, seeing so...no one else, I will turn to Item
11, Planning and Zoning matters.
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11. Planning and Zoning Matters
11.a.Zoning code amendment related to public art fees—Ordinance
amending Title 14, Zoning Code of the Iowa City Code related to Public Art
Fees in Riverfront Crossings (ZCA19-00002)
1. Public Hearing
Throgmorton: I'll open the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Good evening, Danielle!
Sitzman: Good evening, Mayor. Danielle Sitzman, Development Services NDS. This is an
application for a....for a proposal tonight for a zoning code change to our, uh,
Riverfront Crossings Distring...District regarding public art fees. Little quick
background, uh, on the development of this particular ordinance. It stems from
the master plan, which was the,uh,vision plan that established a district or the,
uh, idea of a district called the Riverfront Crosdi...Crossings. Um, one of the
components of that plan was,uh, a component regarding art and acknowledging
that the pioneering contribution artists have made to redevelopment of
neighborhoods across the country, by occupying marginal buildings or vacant
storefronts, enhancing the perception of an area by publicly disba...displaying art
and holding gallery night,uh, and walks, or building a creative class that helps
stimulate the economy. Um, making plans for art to occupy public spaces is one
of the ways the master plan suggested activating the Riverfront Crossings District.
Um, the master plan does identify areas on the...shown on this map in orange as
areas that are appropriate for public art. Of course the implementation of a master
plan is the key. Um, in this case the implementation tool was a form based code.
Um, the form based code included regulations,um, regarding public art. Um, one
of those regulations allowed for bonus provisions that grants developments an
additional story,uh, on their building if public....if a public art contribution is
made, equal to 1% of the value of the project. Funds then were intended to be
spent within the same subdistrict as the project that contributed the funds. Um,
this is laid out in the regulating plan of the form based code, which outlines the
boundaries of subdistricts, which are shown in the different colors on this map.
The largest area identified for public art in the Riverfront Crossings, um...uh, for
public art and open space on the regulating plan is actually not a subdistrict. Urn,
it's the Riverfront Crossings Park. Urn, since it's not identified as a subdistrict, it
unfortunately cannot benefit from the public art bonus provisions as written, even
though the master plan identified it as a key location for the placement of public
art. Um, one....we've had one project to date. Uh,the first project to contribute
to this, urn, public art fee was at 707 S. Dubuque Street. Um, it's the first one
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since the adoption of the form based code. Urn, the project contributed 1% of its
project, uh, value to our....for approximately$73,000. Upon receipt of the
contribution, the City recognized the limited potential uses for the funds,both
because the zoning district requires the funds to be spent within the same
subdistrict as the subject building, which in this case is the Central Crossings
District, and also recognized that the Riverfront Crossings Park,which is the
largest area identified in the master plan for public art, is not actually in a
subdistrict,but rather identified separately as a public parks and open space by the
regulating plan. Um, we felt this was an oversight, uh, oftentimes as you
implement a new plan you work out the bugs as you go. Uh, we felt this was an
unfortunate, uh, situation since there's in particular some public art projects that
are looking for funding, working their way through the process now. The Public
Arts Committee is working on relocation for one sculpture to the Riverfront
Crossings,uh, Park and these funds would definitely be of use in a project like
that. Therefore staff is recommending a code change to this section. Uh, we
believe the code change would meet the intent of the master plan,um, the code
change is to allow for public art funds received for that height bonus to be spent
anywhere in the Riverfront Crossings, uh,rather than specific subdistricts where
they're collected. This would include being able to spend the funds in the, uh,
Riverfront Crossings Park. Believe that meets the intent of the master plan.
Keeps the fundings within a defined area, which is, uh, key to some of the
provisions that have to do with collection of fee in lieu, urn, and also provides
more flexibility for the expenditure of those collected funds, and we think corrects
an inadvertent exclusion in the Riverfront Crossings, uh, form based code. The
Public Art,uh, Committee has reviewed this with,uh, us. Urn, they discussed it
at a meeting in September and unanimus....unanimously recommended approval
of the amendment. Therefore....uh, at a September 6th, 2018,meeting the
Planning Commission did, uh, vote by 4-1 to recommend this code change to you
this evening. As I said it's a fairly simple code change,really just striking out
some wording and the code is written to allow for, as I said, the expenditure of
funds anywhere in the Riverfront Crossings. And I would be happy to answer
questions if you have them.
Throgmorton: Y'all have any questions for Danielle?
Mims: No, it's pretty straightforward! I think it's a good change.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Danielle. Would anybody else like to address this topic? Hi,
Thomas. Come on up.
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Agran: Okay. My name is Thomas Agran. Urn, I'm an artist, a Northside resident, a
Professor of Art, and I also work with the Iowa City Downtown District doing
public art management. I do a lot of public art projects myself. I don't speak on
behalf of that organization tonight, urn, but just so you understand my perspective
maybe. Urn, I also have a lot that I want to say about this and I have timed it like
for the past three weeks, and I (laughter) and I'm going to talk really fast and I
might just be a tiniest touch over, but I've worked really hard to get it, um, down.
So, um, and I'm going to read it just to keep things moving along,rather than
rambling like I am now. So anyway,um, let me say first that I hope that you will
approve the flexibility for the placement of art within Riverfront Crossings. Uh,
in the short-term what it means is that (mumbled) sculpture which you saw a
picture of, which is probably Iowa City's most valuable piece of public art, uh,
will be rescued from deferred maintenance and correct what I would view as the
City's failure in budgeting for the maintenance of our public art assets as we do
for other assets. Urn,but the amendment that you have before you tonight, which
looks simple, I think says, um, a lot more, um, than it appears, and I wanna use
tonight's discussion as an opportunity to speak a little bit about public art funding
generally as couched in this moment. Um, I'll start with some numbers that
illustrate the context of the zoning amendment for you today. Urn, from 1999 to
2001, the annual public art project in Iowa City was $100,000. In today's dollars,
adjusted for inflation,that's $147,000. The population in 1999 was 61,000
people, which adjusted for inflation, etc., works out to be about$2.45 per person.
Today Iowa City's population is larger, of course. It's 75,000 people, and after a
modest increase last year, the public art budget's only$25,000,which amounts to
33-cents per person. So in other words we've seen an 87% drop in per capita
spending on art, uh, in 20 years, and it's a drop...I might suggest, could be entirely
restored with just one-half of 1%program for the arts, uh,based on FY19 CIP
budget, which is $28.5 million. Uh, if instead the City continues to look at
funding public art largely through a bonus model,um, as we're seeing right here,
then we should really visit closely with how that plays out, and that's what I
wanna talk about. So, first, through the district zoning codes, urn, we have an
agreed up on level of appropriate building size that reduces speculation and
encourages healthy communities and smart development, and through bonuses we
trade away key elements of those standards. It's essentially a bribe whereby
community assets, may they be public art or historic buildings are held hostage as
we've seen play out, uh, and we must beg for those things that we value as a
community by handing out wealth in the currency of square footage to
developers. That's the equation. Right? While I noticed, urn, in the Planning and
Zoning muni....minutes from the September 6th meeting, um, they had been
scrubbed ever so slightly. Uh, Mike Hensch, who's the Chair, um, used that
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specific verbiage `bribes' to describe the incentive, which gave me pause. Uh,
I'm not an urban planner, um, but as far as I can tell the code says here are the
agreed upon community-vetted rules,but over here are the incentives to break
those rules. It makes no sense and it really just makes no sense that on a$7.3
million project for a mere$73,000 you can buy your way out of five stories and
get a sixth story, increasing your rentable square footage by 20% and that just
seems like an outsized deal to me, and you know, bonus provision indeed,right?
Total bonus. By broadening where the money can be spent from the subdistrict
up to the district, the amendment before you will ensure that the City's growth
benefits more people, but only a fraction more. I'd suggest that we spread that
wealth beyond the district and unshackle the funds so they can be used anywhere
in the city. Doing so would create a robust public art program that would reach
more people rather than be limited to where the action and greatest concentrations
of wealth in our community are. When we agree as a community that something
is appropriate via the zoning code and then give something away, I believe that
the whole community should benefit, not just the property owners, their tenants,
and those who happen to walk past because they live in the area. It only gilds
their lily while it masquerades as a community gift. The current code creates
essentially a regressive public art program where the areas of highest investment
reap nearly all the benefits of that investment. By comparison, Seattle divorced
its 1% program from a geographic requirement,which means that they can direct
funding to neighborhoods that are often overlooked and under-resourced. There's
no reason that we can't find a way to do that as we look to funding public art in
Iowa City. Um.....if you look at what's poised for the Pentacrest Apartments, if I
understand how the code is written,uh, correctly, $100 million project like Rise
would send a million dollars into the public art fund, but only in this district.
While the remaining like paltry$25,000,um, can be sprinkled, you know, like
crumbs across the rest of Iowa City. There are 171 potential development sites
indicates in Riverfront Crossings, which could theoretically amount...I don't
know how many of those qualify for bonus provisions, but I'm sure a lot, um,
could amount to really an unbelievable windfall for the City and it makes you
giddy, as I saw the Public Art Advisory Council was giddy,until you think about
how it has to be spent and who those funds will benefit. Just because art is in
public does not make it fundamentally democratic and accessible, nor ensure that
it will serve the whole community. I understand,urn, that untying (mumbled)
who was in the meeting, the untying of funding from its originating geography
may be complex under Iowa law,but rather than shrug at that first impediment, I
hope that the bureaucratic challenge galvanizes this Council and City staff to find
a way to approach public art more equitably in Iowa City. This is an important
moment, uh, ours is a growing and diverse community, and like all cities we have
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to adjust our policies and infrastructure to accommodate and calibrate to those
changes. We should ask City staff as Council has done before in many moments
of doubt or uncertainty about how to proceed to examine how similar
communities fund and manage municipal public art programs. Visit with those
recommendations in a work session and craft a comprehensive plan for a public
art program that can be spread throughout the fabric of our community, one that
enriches and empowers individuals, families, and neighborhoods, one that
strengthens our whole city. Iowa City should be a leader in this arena, so I'm
asking you today....Council, in this public hearing, to request that City staff
explore new comprehensive policy. I'll end with this cause I'm sure I'm well
over,urn, which is just from the September 6th Planning and Zoning minutes,
when discussing the uncouple....uncoupling of the funding from its geography,
Chair Mike Hensch said, and I'm quoting from the minutes, "His fear would be if
funding were allowed to be spent outside the district there may be some preferred
areas that would get all of the art," and I agree that that's a concern. The
Commission then proceeded to vote in favor of this policy that indeed codifies
those exact fears, requiring that the funds be spent only in this exclusive area. So,
I urge you today to vote in favor of this amendment, um, but going forward we
need a real public art program, not a 1% for the 1%. Thanks very much!
Throgmorton: Thank you, Thomas. Anyone else? Okay, seeing no one else, I need to ask the
Council Members if you are inclined to vote in accordance with the Planning and
Zoning Commission's recommendation, which was 4-1 in favor of....the
recommended rezoning. If not then we would continue the public hearing to
allow for consultation with Planning and Zoning. So are you inclined to support?
(several responding) So you don't know what this is all about I suppose, but...
Teague: Could I make a comment? Or....
Throgmorton: About the particular topic. I mean, about this....this point about whether we need
to consult with the Planning and Zoning Commission. If we....if we were
inclined not to support the recommended zoning, or the Planning and Zoning
Commission's recommendation, we would have to meet....offer to meet with
them, the Commission, to discuss our differences.
Teague: Okay. I wanna offer to meet with the....if that's what I'm understanding (both
talking)
Throgmorton: But we're not...I mean it looks like we're not going to be in disagreement with
(both talking) so we don't need to consult.
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Teague: Okay. All right.
Throgmorton: Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I don't want....I'm gonna support the rezoning too. Okay, so
....uh,no one else wants to speak I guess, right? So I'm gonna close the public
hearing. (bangs gavel) Dis....discussion?
2. Consider an Ordinance (First Consideration)
Mims: Move first (both talking)
Throgmorton: Move(both talking) thank you(several talking) Thank you!
Taylor: Second.
Throgmorton: Uh, moved by Mims, seconded by Taylor. Uh.....discussion?
Taylor: I...I just see this as a....was obviously an oversight in the writing of the original
(mumbled)which,uh, subdistrict versus district, and uh, I think, uh, this would
help to broaden....broaden the area that the art can be used and I said a very long
time ago that, uh, I'd love to see a large art piece there in Riverfront Crossings. I
won't go back and mention what piece we were talkin' about at the time, but, uh,
I....I think(mumbled) beautiful, uh, could be seen from Highway I as far as
Gilbert or, uh....from the Administration building, so I think it's a perfect location
for....for art. So I'm in favor of it.
Throgmorton: Anyone else?
Cole: I gotta say, when I came into this meeting I was viewing this as a relatively
routine vote. Urn, but, Thomas, you made me think and I...I....I just gotta say that
was one of the best presentations (laughs) I've heard in a long time. It was very
good! So I...didn't even seem like it was more than five minutes. I...I think you
raise some absolute legitimate questions, which one way or another in terms of
how we move forward with public art, we absolutely...and I guess I'm channeling
Kingsley again in terms of equity toolkit,just sort of getting us to always think
about that, that when we do have these public art or investments, that we're
making sure that, um,we are being equitable in terms of where we make those
investments. So.....just as a technical question, I....I don't know if I could ask
staff a question on this, is there anything prohibiting us from making the public
art funds be available beyond, uh, Riverfront Crossings (both talking)
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Throgmorton: (both talking) Eleanor, do you wanna address that?
mikes: Yeah, I....I think it's problematic, because, uh, we're in the land use context and
we are....you know, this is a,the Riverfront Crossings plan, as you remember, is a
very comprehensive plan for this particular area of town and, urn, I....I think
you'd be hard pressed to find something in the comprehensive plan that would
lead to the conclusion that the public fund should be uncoupled from this area. I
think there's also, you know, the.....the height.....the exchange.....you get the
increased height....whether you agree with what....how the exchange is...has
been....has come down or not, but the exchange is you get the extra height
because you're then gonna satisfy a need that's created by the increased density,
etc., etc., and that's within that Riverfront Crossings area. So I....I think from
a.....from a land use perspective it's....it's problematic.
Cole: Yeah, and the only thing I would quibble with a little bit in terms of some of the
comments that have been made, I think we are gonna see some income diversity
in that neighborhood. (mumbled) south Dubuque, we have a LIHTC project
which is going to be adding a lot of those additional units. So I think we will get
more socioeconomic diversity and with our affordable housing policies, we're
gonna have a lot of funds that are gonna be available in that district. So....I'm
gonna vote yes. Um, Thomas made me think a lot. Um, I think those were
excellent comments, and I think, at least from my perspective, although it's
beyond the scope of this vote, this is definitely something I'd love to follow up
with you on, follow up with other people on, in terms of making sure that, you
know, setting aside this particular issue, that we are making sure that we're
getting public art investments throughout the community. I'm....I am gonna vote
yes though!
Throgmorton: Others?
Mims: I would basically agree a lot with what you just said, Rockne, I mean I think
Thomas made some points I hadn't....certainly hadn't thought about,urn, and I
think Eleanor, at least at this point, has answered the question of being able to
move it out of that district, urn, and....and I....I think we need to look much more
carefully at that.....to see if there is any way and....and really is that the intent, I
mean, I think Eleanor made a good point in terms of you're....you're saying
you're increasing density so you need something in exchange for that increased
density, in this case the art work. Urn, I think the 1% is something that we might
wanna review at some point. If you're getting a whole other story for 1%, um, is
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that really....is the City really getting enough benefit for....in comparison with
what the developer is getting? So I think it does open....I think Thomas has
opened, urn, has made some comments that opened my eyes,just some things that
we may wanna go back and....and look at in more detail, but certainly with
what's in front of us now, I think this is an improvement that is very much
warranted.
Thomas: Yeah, I....I think this particular issue, uh, with that particular piece, uh, I support,
uh, applying the....making the zoning code amendment. I.....I....as....as I think
those who have spoken thus far, these....these larger issues that Thomas has
raised, I think, are important. Uh, you know our funding for public art is down
dramatically. Uh, it needs a more reliable, more robust stream of revenue or
funding, um, to work with, and I think the question of....how we.....how we
achieve that, whether it's through our CIP program or a percentage of, uh....
particular projects, you know, there are various ways in which it can be done.
There are various ways in which those funds can then be distributed, I think,
throughout the community. Uh, so that's the larger consideration for another
conversation, but I...I do think, you know, I....I support this particular
amendment.
Throgmorton: Anyone else? So I have a couple comments. Uh, the first has to do with the art
(laughs) and I'll skip....I'll move through this really quickly. I personally don't
see the artistic merit of that particular piece of sculpture. Though I'm open to
being persuaded by talking with Thomas or others in the Public Arts Committee
(unable to hear comment from audience, laughter) Yeah, I mean I....I still don't
see it, uh, but there ya are! Uh, but I....and I completely agree, completely agree
with what Thomas Agran said, especially with regard to the height bonus
provision as currently written. I think it is wildly askew. Just wildly askew. I,
and so....but neither of those points pertain directly to the question at hand...
which is whether we wanna rezone the....the, or change the zoning, um, code. So
I'm gonna support changing the zoning code. But I strongly believe we need to
change the height bonus provision, and you opened up my eyes too about the...
the larger question about funding for public art. Any further discussion?
Teague: I guess I'll just chime in here. Um, the reason for my hesitancy was (clears
throat) mainly because (clears throat) sorry! To limit it within a certain district,
urn, and I would agree that it....it should be citywide, only because if you're
thinkin' about, um,what happens when the....when you have too much funds
within...within this area and....and the arts that are there are sufficient, do you
continue to put art there? Or do you....you know, replace it and what happens
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when it's replaced? Urn....so I mean I do see where there would be value in, urn,
just makin' it....havin' some provision,that it can be, you know, shared
throughout the city. Urn, I don't know if there's any loopholes (mumbled) if the
art is already done within that community and they want to replace it and that art
can be taken to other parts of the community. Urn, so that was just my only
concern. I mean if you....if you're, urn, if this is gonna be a high density area,
there's gonna be, you know, whatever that percentage is of, urn,bonuses or funds
corrin' in for the arts. It could be astronomical and....the needs for the art could
supersede, urn, I mean you can have probably too much art for this area, urn,
and...but you'll have to spend the money on the art, and so that's where I was a
little hesitant,urn,but Eleanor did make it kind of clear that it would be a
challenge I guess at this point,uh, to even put it outside of that area,but that was
my only concern is that, um, if there was any way for us to broaden the language
where, urn, if....if the funds are greater than the need, urn, that we could use it
throughout the city.
Throgmorton: Yeah,just to be clear, I mean I understand the point. Just to be clear, no
developer is automatically entitled to a height bonus associated with public,
providing public art or any other....potential amenity. Uh, that's, uh, a matter of
judgment, whether to provide that bonus is a matter of judgment that in the...in the
initial stages of matter for the, uh, our....staff Design Review Committee to
consider and then if, uh, if there are more than two stories of bonus involved, it's
somethin' we decide. Yeah, so...we....we should not assume that there's....you
know, millions of dollars of public art money that's just gonna be floating around.
That...that's not the situation.
Teague: And do we have....can we, any money that is like allocated for art, can we do
anything else with it, within that community? Or it has to be goin' to art?
Fruin: Yeah, public art. That can mean a whole lot of different things. It doesn't have to
be a sculpture, but it's public art (several talking)
Taylor: ...the murals, would that include the murals?
Fruin: Could be murals. (several talking) I'd also like to make one point, and....and
we...as Danielle mentioned, we're still....you know, seein' how this code plays
out too. This was, uh, this was not the first building to receive height bonus,but
this was the first building to receive...or....or to utilize public art. Uh,the other
unique thing about this particular, um....building was that it did....the....the
height bonus did not increase any of the rentable square footage. It did not add a
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floor of apartments as you would think. It....it became an issue, um....on a....on
a,kind of a technical building issue where the underground parking,the....kind of
the foundation was exposed higher than the code allowed. So, urn, they got to a
point where, you know, they had to get going on the construction project and by
code, they added a floor, but it didn't add rentable square foot. So, you know,
that's something that we didn't anticipate either. So we...we're tryin' to...we're
gonna have to adjust at some point. I know the Council wants to have a
discussion kind of, uh, with a....a.....a broad view on all the height bonuses and...
and staff wants to have that too.
Throgmorton: I'd forgotten that we had that discussion, uh, many weeks ago and, uh, about why
this height bonus was involved. Okay, any further discussion? Hearing none,roll
call please. Motion carries 7-0.
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12. UniverCity Sale- 516 Fairchild Street- Resolution authorizing conveyance of
a single family home located at 516 Fairchild Street.
1. Public Hearing
Throgmorton: I'll open the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Good evening, Melva.
Hughes: From reading this, it looks like that you've already selected, urn, a building that
you're going to,um.....rehabilitate. To me this looks like the same discussion
with Davis and Taylor. Um, again, I would like to, urn, to suggest when....I
watch the rehabilitation shows on TV, and when they use people to.....put in
sweat equity, that reduces the cost, and here I see this has been one of those
opportunities that a....a......you've already got a sale price here at 220,000.
Urn....I don't know how you're gonna get somebody to....to buy it, but urn, I
don't know....maybe you should.....well maybe not a lottery but find somebody
interested in owning the property before you rehabilitate it and give that person a
time, a chance to put in sweat equity. When somebody has an opportunity to
build from the ground up a potential permanent resident, they have pride in it and
then they become, uh, taxpayers. So that's just my two bits on this, uh, this
property, as well as the property that you're lookin' at on Davis and Taylor. From
the comment it seemed like that she was sayin' that you were going to wait until
the properties were vacant, but....people that already have homes that are not
aware of the funds,that I've seen posted in public places,to renovate their homes,
um, I'm just asking that you give them a chance to take a home that has already
had people livin' in it for 20, 30-some odd years and, you know, give them the
chance to have their home, uh, rehabilitated and give them that pride of....of a
decent place of living and they're taxpayers! So, if you want some money....
that's one way of gettin' it I....I guess. Take a look at that,please. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Melva. Anyone else?
Porter: Royceann Porter. Um, in UniverCity, when this was first....proposed, um, Susan,
I know last,urn, last meeting you had said that, uh, neighborhood stabilization is
not about affordable housing. But....yeah.
Mims: Not exactly that, but....
Porter: Okay. Yeah, but that's what...that's what I received off of it, but urn,
when...when you go back and look at how this was first put out, it was about
affordable housing here in Iowa City. So I'm just askin' questions—can you, can
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y'all give me some insight on how this has nothing to do with....I mean the
wording has changed from the beginnin', when it was all put together at the very
beginnin', it was about affordable housing, and now that affordable housing piece
has been removed. So....that's my question, uh, I would like some answers on
that.
Throgmorton:Okay, anyone else? Seeing no one else I'm going to close the public hearing.
(bangs gavel) Could I have a motion please?
2. Consider an Resolution
Salih: So move.
Thomas: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Salih, seconded by Taylor, or uh, Thomas. Discussion?
Salih: I really wanna talk about this, each time....yeah. I just really want to emphasize
to the public and my Council (mumbled), I'm not against UniverCity program. I
love it. It's good, but as Royceann Porter mentions that....also by me going back
to the, you know, the first proposer for this program it meant to be affordable,
even (unable to understand) she told me UniverCity is not affordable housing.
And I just went back and I find out it meant to be affordable! In fact, let me put
my glasses on, I found out (unable to understand) article on the Univer...the
University of Iowa, FYI News for faculty and employees.
Throgmorton: When was this (both talking)
Salih: This was long time ago. I....I guess when this has....this was March 2°d, 2012.
Throgmorton: Twelve.
Salih: Maybe this is like when they propose this, I don't know. But you know if the
(unable to understand) UniverCity neighborhood partnership aff...affordable....
homeownership option near University campus. Then this is about affordable. I
don't know why suddenly it's not become that. Maybe have something to do
when I wasn't here, but I....all of you, and you know this as a City and the
Council Members, you guys trying hard to do something like not to segregate the
community by income. This is also like concept I been receiving from you all,
that you....you don't want like the low income people to be (unable to
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understand) in one place and especially, you know, Jim, he....he really want to
see the community....you been talking about this a lot, (unable to understand) see
like low income is...is spreading out of the whole city, so people can
live....different income can live together. I think this is opportunity. Sixty-nine
house of UniverCity has been sold out to almost I guess white people who's not
low income. Why we don't kick two bird by one stone? I really love the
programs and we would like to stabilize the neighborhood. It is important to do
that, and we would like...also we have the concept of spreading some like...like
people of low income like among the city, okay? That's good. Through those
two concept, I really wish if the Council Member will really think about
modifying the UniverCity program for....to make it like affordable. So...we will
try to reach out our affordable, you know, to use our affordable housing (unable to
understand) same time, all this houses now it was like around downtown area
where we don't have a lot of low income people live here. You know....and it
meant to be affordable from the beginning. That really what I want to see(unable
to understand) really like it, but I like to kick two bird by one stone. Thank you.
Mims: When the UniverCity program was started, urn, I would say that the term
affordable was used,but not in the same context that we are using it today, in
terms of specific, uh, income levels. All right? It was used in a very generic
form, um, Tracy, you've been around. Correct me if I'm wrong when I get done,
please! Um, it was used in a very generic form in terms of trying to stabilize
neighborhoods, take some houses out of the rental market, get them to be owner
occupied, and offer them essentially to, you know, potentially beginning level,
you know, employees or professors at the University. They were at the lower
income levels, and when I say lower, I'm not talking about 30, 50, 80% AMI.
I'm talking people that are still 120, maybe 200% of area median income, but still
the housing near the University was so expensive that they could not buy housing
in that area. So, yes,the....and I wouldn't have known if you hadn't read it, Maz,
if the word affordable was in there, it was in there, but it was not used I would say
at all in the same context that we are always using affordable housing now when
we are talking about meeting the needs of people at the 80, 60, 30%, um, of area
median income. So it...it was....it was mostly for neighborhood stabilization, to
reduce the number of rental properties, to provide housing for a lot of University
people, I think, at the time, when we first started University employees closer...
closer into the University. Um, the....the challenge with trying to change that
program to be truly affordable, as we talk about affordable housing today, and
meeting, you know, the 30, 60, 80% of AMI, is that those properties close to the
University still are very, very expensive, and so it is.....I mean even this one I
think it's, what? 220,000. It is basically impossible for the City to buy these
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properties and to rehab them and be able to put them on the market for a price that
meets any kind of affordability guidelines for people within those lower,urn, AMI
numbers that we're talking about with affordable housing. So, Tracy, if you can
follow up with my mumbo jumbo and....
Hightshoe: Um (unable to understand) application for University back in I think 2011. Urn,
the main purpose of the program was to bring a balance of renter and owner
occupied into neighborhoods that had a high concentration of rental housing.
There was a component of affordable housing,but like Susan said, the word
affordable means something different when we first started the program,because
we allowed people up to 140% of the median income to buy the houses. So it was
a much higher income threshold. That being said, this is the 65th home. Nineteen
of the homes that we have sold, we've sold to homebuyers under 80% of median
income. So there's an affordability component. That doesn't mean that every
house we buy we're able to do that. If we have to buy a house at 170, 180, 190,
200,000,we can't get to that level that someone under 80% can afford it. So
where we could, urn, you'll see Douglas Court homes, or those really smaller
home that we were able to do it,but some of those homes on Governor,
Burlington that are massive two-story homes that....they're in that $200,000
range, we weren't able to provide as affordable like how we identify affordable
for our federal housing programs,but we did provide 19 homes in the program so
far. (several talking)
Throgmorton: ...important to note the spatial component of this. When this idea first emerged in
2011 and 2012, the idea was that it would be a University-City partnership. The
idea was there are all sorts of neighborhoods close to the University that are....
have very high percentages of rental housing. What is it in the Northside
neighborhood (both talking)
Thomas: Over 50%.
Throgmorton: It's over 50%, much higher than that I think but over(both talking)
Thomas: Well,just single-family, duplex units, over 50%.
Throgmorton: And.....and at the same time, Univer....the University had difficulty, uh, enabling
faculty and staff to....to own properties near the University, and they wanted to
make it possible for them to live near the University. So, two birds with one stone
—that was the purpose back then, and....and like, um, like Susan said, the....the
fundamental purpose was not"affordability" as we think of it now, but this
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particular house was purchased for$145,000. It was in severe disrepair,
especially in the internal part of it as I understand it, and it cost us more money to
repair it than we thought it was going to cost (laughs). That's the way I
understand it. Yeah, couldn't hear ya! (unable to hear person speaking, away
from mic) Yeah,but we're reselling it for 210, is that right? Is that the number?
Yeah, so we bought it for 145, we rehabbed it, and now we're reselling it for
about 210.
Salih: I understand, but we can use another fund of affordable housing and....and just
make it affordable for other people. There is many way....there's fund there.
We can use it to make it affordable, and even when....when Susan said this is
(unable to understand) the affordable is not meant to say...uh, I will really forward
you this article. It say you do not have to be a brain surgeon to comprehend the
benefit of such program and consider the prize attach. The property you don't
need to, uh, you don't need the income of the brain surgery to own home within
walking distance of the University. And it say even at that time the University
provide like 500, uh, 5,000 downpayment if you are employees of the University.
Like they were doing something. I...I just wanna see same thing being happening,
uh, like on this, like paying from the....we have another fund that we can use. We
have some fund (unable to understand) why we don't sell them. And you telling
the partnership between, uh, between the University and the City. When we
gonna do low income in city, like the very low income in city? Anyway, we
would like to see something like that happening.
Throgmorton: Any further discussion? (unable to hear person speaking from audience)
Hughes: So what I just heard was that you've already purchased this house and you, uh,
purchased it for....uh.....it wasn't even half of it what you're sellin' it for, but, uh,
my understandin' is that you're gonna do four units on Taylor and David...Davis
and put like 50,000 into rehabbin' those houses. So do those houses, once you do
that, is that gonna be for, uh, low income people? Uh, and then this one here,
you're sayin' that it's, um....you're sellin' it for 220, it's a little confusing there
as to how the one on Fairchild cost 150 to rehab but you're only going to put
50,000 in the four units that you've already....or I don't know if you've already
got them on...that area (both talking)
Throgmorton: No, we haven't.
Hughes: Okay. So....what's the difference in...why you puttin' 50,000 into rehabbin' four
units. What were you going to sell them for?
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Throgmorton: We....we just rehab....this is about putting some money into one house and the
ideal would be to put $50,000 in the rehab, but it cost more because it turned out
to be more expensive than we thought. So that...that's the...that's its own
situation. So what...what....what specifically are you (both talking)
Hughes: I'm tryin' to figure out the...you have in this paragraph, uh, the house has...on
Fairchild has already been rehabbed and then you're gonna sell it for 200,000 to
someone with income availability....eligibility. So how are you determining
who's gonna be able to purchase this house if you're not makin' it affordable
housing?
Throgmorton: Tracy, could you answer that question? Please.
Hightshoe: Household's under 140% median income, so (both talking)
Throgmorton: Into the microphone please.
Hightshoe: This house we purchased, we rehabbed, we had to spend a lot more on rehab than
typical, so we budgeted two homes worth. So where we had the budget to do five
homes that year, we knew it was so extensive—the rehab—so we combined. So
this basically we only did one home instead of two, because of the work that was
needed. The....the.....the program that we're proposing for Taylor/Davis, that's
federally funded. So the homebuyer has to be under 80% of median income. The
homebuyer here, there's no federal funding. The homebuyer...buyer program just
had to be under 140% of median income. To afford a house at 220,000 you just
have to have a higher income.
Hughes: So how many dollars is that? You say percentage. How many dollars is this
person (both talking)
Hightshoe: ....140%?
Hughes: Yes, dollars. Is that, uh, 850,000 have to be the annual income or....
Hightshoe: No, it's like....I'd have to check but, um.....80% is like 60,000. So whatever, if
anybody wants to do quick math, what 140% would be(laughs)
Hughes: Of....of 220,000, is that what(both talking)
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Hightshoe: Oh, no,no! Income has nothing to do with....the 220's the purchase price of the
home. They have to pay 220,000 to buy the home.
Hughes: Right(both talking)
Hightshoe: But their income can be quite a bit higher than what...federally subsidized project
would have to require.
Throgmorton: We're....we're gettin' too much involved in a one-on-one conversation there.
Hughes: I was just tryin' to get clarity on the income availability for purchasin' the house
on Fairchild Street(unable to hear,walking away from mic)
Throgmorton: Right. Okay. Any further discussion? Hearing none,roll call please. Motion
carries 7-0.
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13. Commitment of City funds for Low Income Housing Tax Credit proposal-
Resolution committing $200,000 in FY2019 General Funds to the IC Housing
Group, LLC Low Income Housing Tax Credit project.
Throgmorton: Could I have a motion to approve please?
Salih: Move.
Taylor: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Salih, seconded by Taylor. Discussion? Uh, Tracy, did you or
someone else want to, uh, give us some, for the public, give us some brief
overview of this?
Hightshoe: Sure! Um, Sand Development applied for housing....this is the same developer
that did senior housing over in Coralville, correct? All right,urn,we do have a
representative from Sand Development here tonight if you have questions for the
developer too. Um, they propose to build 32 rental units. Um, correct? (unable
to hear response and both talking) ...thirty-two are affordable. Okay, so 36 total
units, 32 will be affordable. Um, it's a LIHTC project, a low income housing tax
credit project. It's located off of, uh, Herbert Hoover Highway, east of Eastbury
Drive. Um, it is income targeted because it is a LIHTC project. So...I have that
breakout. So out of the 32 affordable, four'll be affordable at people below 30%
of median income, 11 at 40% of area median income, and 17, urn, at 60% or less
of area median income. Then there was that four market-rate units. Um, do you
have any questions for the developer?
Salih: Ido.
Hightshoe: Okay!
Sand-Carr: Hi! Um, Meghan Sand-Can with Sand Development. Uh,we came before you,
urn, last winter, January timeframe, to do annexation for the property and interim
development.. Um, we....back in March, the awards were selected and we were
not funded, um,but due to federal finding, urn, Iowa Finance Authority received
additional tax credits and we were notified in August, urn, of this award. So that's
why the timing may seem a little off. So, but I'd be happy to answer any
questions that I have additional information.
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Salih: I just, first I wanna say this is awesome, you know, this is really great that out of
36 we have 32 (unable to understand)which is great. Great, you know, I love it.
Uh, the only thing is,um, I was really wishing to see the....the (unable to
understand) could be like more than that, at 60% of the area median income. I
understand that you guys request 200, but also I hear there is some discussion
going on on HCDC about how the City can increase that 200 so we can have more
unit like....some of the unit like less price, es....especially for the, you know, the
60....40 or 60 area, you know,percent of the area median income. I....again, this
is great. I know that you guys also (unable to understand) Coral Ridge Apartment
or somethin' like that. Yeah. I really concern about the management. How you
guys (unable to understand)management because I know there is concern on
Coralville about the management. I start hearing people saying, you know, some,
uh, like there is no like on-site management and some people have to call, no
answer. There is why some time(unable to understand) like some kind of
concern. That's why I would like to know even though you have it affordable and
I know 32....32 will be affordable, which is people who are low income gonna
live there and everything, but....we need a good management for them as well.
Sand-Carr: Absolutely!
Salih: And can you tell me about what you thinking the management will be look like
over there?
Sand-Carr: Yeah. So we manage around 35 low income housing tax credit communities in
Minnesota and Iowa. Um, Coral Ridge has our manager on-site. Um, I believe
two to three days a week. So I think some of it, um, it's.....they are shared
between two properties. One in, uh, Cedar Rapids and one in Coralville. Um,
and so they're both low income housing tax credit communities, so they're split
between the two properties, and then we hired,urn, to address some of the call-
backs, we hired additional part-time, temporary leasing agent,um, on-site to
answer your phone calls and get phone calls back and make sure someone was in
the office. So, um, and I'm always available if....if there's a particular resident or
something that would like to speak directly with me, they can reach out to me
directly. I can give you my card if you would like, um, and we've been in contact
with the city about any....any concerns that residents have voiced to them or what
not, and we've been also talking with the Housing Trust Fund, uh, to address any
concerns. Urn, Coralville's a new area to us, so there was some bumps along the
way, but we're hoping that we got those all worked out. We have, um, I believe
by the end of this week we should have 51 out of the 56 units occupied. Um, 48
out of the 50 tax credit units in the building.....are hopefully occupied by the end
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of the week. So I think we have one....we're at 46 or 47, as of today, and there
were movements happening this week. So....
Salih: Yeah, and....I don't know if this question for you or for the City Manager. I...I
know that like say for the Riverfront Crossing, the 10%that affordable that, you
know, it come with the Riverfront Crossing,uh, regardless. I don't know how
you monitoring the...the....the affordability on that, like how the City will know if
they're really renting it this way or not. Uh, for this, is this gonna be monitoring
by the tax credit policies or something like that, or the City have also to track
that?
Sand-Carr: Yes, so we, urn, record, uh, land use restriction agreement, urn, on the property,
which agrees to keep it affordable for, uh, 30 years, a minimum of 30 years, and
then with that there's a syndicator who buys the tax credits and they closely
monitor,uh, to make sure that....they audit every single file, uh, initial files and
then on an annual basis, and IFA does a, Iowa Finance Authority does the same.
They,uh, do file reviews and audits to make sure that all the tenants are within the
guidelines, um, to...the initial,when they initially occupy they're within the
guidelines. So, um, and then what happens is if a tenant moves in, let's just say
they move in and they're at a 60%area median income and then maybe, um, they
get a higher paying job or something changes in their income status, urn, they're
not requi....it's required to be annually certified,because it is a mixed income.
So it's low income and market rate. Um, but they can continue to live there, but
then the next available unit that becomes available, regardless if it's a market rate
or tax credit, needs to go to a tax credit recipient. So we keep the balance.
Salih: Sure. Okay. Yeah,just checking, making sure. Yeah, thank you(both talking)
Sand-Carr: I'd be happy to leave my card if you (both talking) to reach out to me.
Salih: Great. Thank you. This is real awesome.
Sand-Carr: I know you asked something about the three bedrooms and 30%.
Salih: Yes.
Sand-Cam There are two three-bedrooms that are at 30% levels. And five three-bedrooms
that are at 40% levels. So it's a.....it's a mix. We have, urn, to kind of balance it
out with being able to, um, afford a mortgage on the property. Um, so we have,
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urn.....four units that are at 30%, 11 at 40%, and those are a mix of one,two, and
three-bedroom units.
Salih: Yeah, I....I just, because I saw like one bedroom of the 30% over here and one for
the two bedroom, and two for the two-bedroom only for the(unable to
understand) 30% of the area median income. I just was wondering if, even if you
get like more money you can have more units, so like(both talking) like because
at the 60% we have high, even though (unable to understand) for one bedrooms,
60% is 774. This is....this is, you can find like even not affordable units in the
city, you can find 'em less than that, you know, one bedroom you can find it for
600, you can find it for 740. I know a lot of, you know, one bedroom could be
fine for 740. That's why I'm thinking just if we can reduce that, if you being
receiving more money from the City or from....
Sand-Can: Yeah, we can easily run the numbers if the City's interested and we can have
more discussions, urn, with the Housing Commission, and Tra....and Tracy
(several talking) to determine what number that would look like. I mean it's just a
matter of plugging in the....the numbers and kind of making (both talking)
Salih: Yeah,but really thank you for doing this. This is good and I hope like more
developer to come and follow your footstep on that. Thanks!
Taylor: That's what I'd like to say also. I....I really like this project because I think it is a
nice mix of one, two, and three-bedroom units. We haven't seen many, uh,
projects coming before us that are three bedroom, and the income levels also, uh,
and I would hope, as Mazahir just touched on, that other developers will, uh,
follow this lead,uh,because this projects shows that, uh, there are financial
resources available, uh, to develop affordable housing units. You folks have
obviously, uh, found...found that out and rather than continuing to build, uh...um,
trying to reach the over-saturation point in this community, uh, why not these
developers lead the way by leveraging these same resources, uh, that are available
and bring a project before us that will, uh, truly benefit the entire community, like
this one. Thank you.
Throgmorton: So I wanna make sure I understand a couple facts here. Uh, and just make sure
they're fully on the table. In this project there would be 32 affordable units,
housing units. Four of them would be for people who earn less than 30% of area
median income. Eleven would be for people,households that earn less than 40%
of area median income. Seventeen would be for households that earn less than
60% of area median income. So....yeah, so that's one thing, and I'm looking at a
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table about proposed sources of funding that was in a document I think you put
together. I don't know about you personally but you know, from (both talking)
Sand-Carr: I just have to pull it up to make sure I (both talking)
Throgmorton: ....number, uh, Roman numeral 12, proposed sources of funding, and I wanna
make sure I'm reading it correctly. What I see is $450,000 coming from the
Housing Trust Fund of Johnson County. New request is the way it's listed. And
another$325,000 coming from the Housing Trust Fund, and $200,000 coming
from the City of Iowa City for low income housing tax credit projects, right? So
that's just under one million dollars being invested in affordable housing. In that
part of the city, which is a pretty dramatic shift from the way things have been
done before. So we have a mix of very high....well, high quality of affordable
units at....at varying levels of income, and a substantial amount of money being
invested in this. So, this....this is no simple thing. It's....it's nothing to sneeze at.
Uh, it's a major action on our part.
Mims: Tracy, do you know....we give a lot of money to....the City gives a lot of money
to the Housing Trust Fund of Johnson County. Is some of this money that's
coming from the Housing Trust Fund of Johnson County actually City money?
Salih: Yes.
Mims: I mean I just....people talk about the City giving even more money, I think people
need to understand how much of that million dollars is actually Iowa City money.
Andrew: Yeah,the lion's share of it is. It....it pulls in some of the State funding that goes
to the Housing Trust Fund but the lion's share is from, uh, our check to the
Housing Trust Fund.
Mims: Cause we gave 'em what, over 600,000 or....500,000, each of the (both talking)
Andrew: ...325 the year before.
Mims: Okay. So I....I just wanted to clarify that most of that money coming from the
Housing Trust Fund of Johnson County is actually Iowa City taxpayer money.
Salih: (unable to understand) anything to do with this?
Andrew: Some of the additional funds would have come from them.
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Salih: Okay!
Andrew: The,uh, Johnson County funds have to be, uh, loans. Some of ours can be in the
form of grants. Um, ours has to be within Iowa City. There's some other caveats
there(both talking)
Salih: But it still (mumbled) Iowa City too. We are in Johnson County(both talking)
Andrew: Yep, they all go into the same pot so....in the accounting of it, you know, some of
those dollars can be shifted from one project to another, but urn, yes, the....the
State, the County, and the City are the three significant funders of the (both
talking)
Salih: Sure, yeah! Thank you.
Throgmorton: Any further discussion? Hearing none, roll call please. Motion carries 7-0.
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14. Adopting City Flower—Resolution adopting the black-eyed Susan as the City
flower.
Throgmorton: Could I have a motion to approve please?
Mims: So moved.
Thomas: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Thomas. Juli, did you want to address the flower?
(laughter)
Seydell-Johnson: I do want to address, uh,just briefly. Project Green representatives are here
tonight. They've been a great supporter of landscaping and beautification through
the city. This was their idea. They appreciate the time that you're taking, urn, to,
uh, consider this and to pass this. I believe Cindy Parsons wants to say just a
couple of words (mumbled) Hi, Cindy.
Parsons: Hello! Urn, here I am again for Project Green. I think most of you are familiar
with our organization except maybe our newest Council Member,um, but Project
Green, this is our 50th anniversary year. We were founded in 1968, and ever since
then we've had a really strong partnership with the City of Iowa City and we
appreciate that so much, and we work closely with,um, Parks and Recreation,
and....and Juli and her staff have been fabulous, and also we, urn, some of you
may not know but we run our....our money is run through the City Treasury,
which is a little (noises on mic, difficult to hear) it's been great to work with the
City Treasury folks as well. So we appreciate so much everything you've done
for us. Um....just, uh, these are,where Diane just passed out,this is Diane Allen.
She's my Co-President, and also here are Jennifer Wagner, and it was actually her
idea to do the City flower, and Laura Hawks, who is our landscape architect. And
so we....we all operate as a team and we're a totally volunteer organization. We
have no paid staff. We're just...we, it's a labor of love for all of us. So, urn, since
1968 we, some of you may know, but we've contributed over$2 million to Iowa
City and community beautification, and it's something we're very committed to
and plan on continuing to do that. Um, our most recent,uh, and kind of our
ongoing project as most of you know is that down at the Ashton House, and we
saw a few of you there at our garden party in August and, uh, right now it's a little
wet down there(laughter)but, urn, our landscape architect, uh, Laura, has been
very careful to....our new plantings are a little submerged right now, but um,
they've all been designed to be either flood resistant or flood tolerant, and so
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we're....we're hoping for the best when they....when they come out. But one...
one project we're, uh, we have underway at the Ashton House this year, we
committed to plant, since this is out 50th anniversary, plant 50 trees down there.
So Laura has worked on a....on a plan and we originally were going to plant those
this fall but (laughs) since it's so wet we're continuing it till this spring, and so,
um, I....I said we may have to do 51 trees for 51 years next year. Um, I guess the
only other thing I'll mention, when....when we did get a REEP, as I think all of
you know we got a REEP...with the City. The City got a REEP grant in, uh,two
years ago I guess for$150,000 plus and we made a lot of really great
improvements at the Ashton House,but that was just phase one of our....our plan,
and so we have a whole phase two to make it more accessible,make it more
attractive to people with...with more pathways and benches and more parking and
just, you know, lot of nice improvements. So you'll probably be seeing that come
up in the CEP coming up here, and we....we hope for your support and, uh, we're
just....we're thrilled to continue our great partnership! So thank you so much.
Allen: And we'd like for you to use those, uh, seeds that you were just given that were
collected in Cindy's garden (laughter) in your own yards, as uh, spring starts up
next year. So find a real sunny spot and, uh, dig `em in and....and uh....hopefully
they'll start poppin' up all over town. So, thank you!
Throgmorton: Great! Thanks so much for what you're doin'. Anyone else? Okay, discussion?
Thomas: Well it's kind of interesting how this item follows, urn, the low income housing
tax credit proposal. Uh, you know I...I think on Council we often talk about what I
sometimes think of as the bread and roses although I think in this case it's the
bread and black-eyed Susans of, uh, of our community and so it's....it's,this is
kind of a nice, delightful, uh, initiative. And my gosh, there's so many ways in
which it kind of ties in with Iowa City in terms of the colors and,uh, the
goldfinch, um, it was....it was interesting noting that the goldfinch is the, which
likes the seeds of the black-eyes Susans, is the State bird, so it sort of...Iowa City
being the former State capitol, there's some interesting aspects to this selection,
but it's, um, I think it's a very, uh, appropriate and, um, important in its own way,
just as an emphasis on the importance of our native landscape.
Cole: Yeah, I know this is a labor of love for you and, you know, Project Green, I mean
you've been around for now decades, quietly doing your work. You know, in
Iowa City we have a lot of people that like to talk, like myself, urn, it's just sort of
the quiet work that you do throughout our communities. It's making our
communities more beautiful. Just mega kudos to you, urn, I'm really looking
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forward to putting these in my yard, and just even the concept of spring, it's a
little bit remote(laughter)but something to look forward to, so thank you very
much for the work that you do.
Salih: Yeah,really thank you. Great, you know, and uh, this is new information to me
about(unable to understand, laughing) really nice and thank you for the seeds too,
yeah. Thank you for the volunteer work that you do. Thanks!
Throgmorton: I noticed that the flower is said to represent justice. That's very sweet. I like that
a lot. Spring's just around the corner, Rockne (laughter)
Thomas: It's a long corner! (several talking and laughing)
Throgmorton: I know winter's coming (laughter) Any further discussion(several talking)
Salih: Thank you.
Throgmorton: Hearing none, roll call please. Motion carries 7-0. Could we have a motion to
accept correspondence please?
Mims: So moved.
Thomas: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Thomas. Discussion? None. All in favor say aye.
Opposed. Motion carries.
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15. City Council Committee Appointments
15.a. Iowa City Assessor Evaluation Conunittee
15..b.JC Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee
15.c. Metropolitan Planning Organization of Johnson County
15.d. Rules Conunittee
Throgmorton: Uh, there are four separate committees here involved. One is the Iowa City
Assessor Evaluation committee. The second is the Johnson County Criminal
Justice Coordinating Committee. The third is the Metropolitan Planning
Organization of Johnson County, and the fourth is the Rules Committee. Now all
four of these committees had been occupied by Kingsley Botchway, and uh, the
preliminary notion is to ask, uh, Bruce to occupy those positions now that
Kingsley is gone, right? So, the question before us, once we get a motion on the
floor I guess, the question before us will be,uh, whether those sound like
reasonable appointments and if not what we need to do. So could I have a motion
to....I can do 'em all at once, right, and then discuss it? Can I have a motion to
appoint, uh, Bruce to all four of these positions as just described?
Taylor: So moved.
Cole: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Taylor, seconded by Cole. Okay. Discussion?
Salih: Bruce, are you agree to take (several talking) Yes!
Teague: Hey, I'm game! (laughter)
Throgmorton: So you would be on the Metropolitan Planning Organization,regardless. This is
kind of a,not a Kingsley deal. So that one's a done deal. Uh, you and I talked a
little bit about the, uh, Assessor Evaluation Committee yesterday I think. Yeah,
and I said that I....at first I thought this may not be a good appointment for you
because you don't know anything about.....I presumed you don't know anything
about the City Assessor's Office and therefore it'd be difficult to evaluate it.
What did you tell me?
Teague: I...I'm well aware of the Assessor. Um, by being a property owner. So...of...of
various properties.
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Throgmorton: Yeah, so you have pretty good insight into how assessments work and the kind of
experiences that property owners have when the assessment's too high or
whatever, right?
Teague: Yes.
Throgmorton: So it sounds to me like Kings...uh, Bruce could well be a good appointment to
that committee. Uh, the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee. Uh, any
thoughts about that, I mean are you comfortable with that? I don't (both talking)
Teague: I'll be doing the CIT training,um, on Thursday (both talking)
Throgmorton: Excellent!
Teague: ....so, urn (mumbled) I've been a part of that in the past. So....
Throgmorton: Okay. All right, and the Rules Committee. How many times has the Rules
Committee met in the past three years, Pauline? You're a member of the Rules
Committee. (several talking) I don't know if you heard that. The Rules
Committee has not met over the past three years. I think maybe once in the four
years (several talking)
Salih: I was trying to say I can be on that(laughs) for three years (laughs) (several
talking) I just, yeah (unable to understand) only one committee that I'm in.
Maybe I can be on this,but you know, three years, no! (unable to understand)
Throgmorton: Does anybody have any problem with that? I mean it makes sense (several
talking) Okay so we're gonna have to amend the motion I guess. Could I have a
motion to amend the motion, uh, to have, uh, Mazahir serve on the Rules
Committee instead of Bruce.
Mims: So moved.
Cole: Second.
Throgmorton: All in favor say aye. Opposed. Motion carries. Okay, now the main motion,
which would be to appoint Bruce to the first three committees as described and
Maz to the Rules Committee. All in favor say aye. Opposed. Motion carries.
Okay! Who knows, you might have seven or eight meetings this year, Maz
(several talking, laughing)
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16. Council Appointments
16.a. Airport Commission
Throgmorton: So we have one appointment to the Airport Commission to fill a four-year term.
So we had two applicants for that position. Uh, do you folks have a
recommendation? Whatdaya wanna do?
Salih: I really have. I wanna recommend Bishop for that.
Mims: One of the current, uh,members I thought gave us a really good analysis of the
two from her perspective being on there. Um, she thought they were both very,
very qualified,but one had more experience rela...relevant experience, and so that
I think Warren Bishop would be a good candidate.
Taylor: I agree, cause both of'em seemed to....obviously had experience with flying and
the Airport, uh,but Dr. Bishop seemed to have in his explanation a really great
knowledge of....of what the Commission is, the purpose, uh, and, um, Mr. Clare
just, he actually admitted to limited knowledge. So I think it's....it's important to
have that knowledge going in. So I....I like Dr. Bishop.
Throgmorton: Okay, any objection to appointing Dr. Bishop? Hearing none could I have a
motion to appoint him to the Airport Commission?
Taylor: So moved.
Cole: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Taylor, seconded by Cole. All in favor say aye. Opposed. Motion
carries.
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18. Community Comment
Throgmorton: Gustave, did you want to say somethin' to us tonight?
Stewart: As my friend Austin likes to say, Happy Spooky Month. Urn, so, urn, I wanted to
let you know bout two events. You probably know about one of them. The first
event is the, uh, Fresh Check Day, which is basically a day, um, put on by
students to....about mental health awareness, urn, and just checking up, and that's
going to be tomorrow at the Hubbard Park, 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., if any of you
are interested, and of course the Homecoming Parade,which is,uh, this Friday.
It's an exciting time. It's one of my favorite times to remember as a kid, sitting
alongside and having a great time and not here as a student. So...
Throgmorton: Are you parading?
Stewart: Uh, I'm not sure yet. (laughter) We'll find out! All right.
Throgmorton: Thanks, Gustave. Would anybody else like to say somethin' in the community
comment period? Okay, seeing no one we'll move to Item 19, City Council
information.
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19. City Council Information
Throgmorton: So remember we did not do the boards and commission reports in our work
session, so we can do that now as well. All right, so let's start with Pauline and
move to the right.
Taylor: I do not believe I have any board and commission, uh, to report on. So I'll move
right along to community events that have happened or are about to happen. Urn,
of course last Saturday, 13th, uh, in the afternoon, uh, I attended, uh, Councilman
Bruce Teague's swearing in ceremony and I have to say that, uh, if the warmth
and support that filled the sanctuary during the ceremony carries over into your
service on the Council, it's going to be a ....a great pleasure to work with you.
That was just a really wonderful ceremony. I really enjoyed that. Uh....
Throgmorton: I saw you clapping and singing.
Taylor: Yes I did! Yes I did! Yes, got into the....got into it! (laughter) Um, oh, and that
reminds me, sometime we'll have to have him sing. He and his family have
wonderful singing talent, so....it's....it's good. Um, Saturday evening I attended
the Center for Worker Justice Gala event. I won't say too much on that cause I
don't wanna steal Maz's thunder. She's probably have something to say about
that,but uh, turnout was amazing and the food was excellent. Uh,but I did want
to mention that one of the speakers said that Iowa City is a stronger community
because of CWJ and I think that that is certainly very true. Uh, I do believe that.
Salih: Thank you!
Taylor: Uh, the previous weekend, Saturday the sixth, I did attend the City of Literature
event. Again I wont steal Rockne's thunder. He probably has a lot to say about
that, but uh, I did attend a reading and discussion at Merge by(laughs) surprise,
the Icelandic author(laughs) uh, Sjon. Uh, he wrote a book called Codex 1962,
an Anthology, so,uh, it was really interesting to hear him speak, and it was well
attended. His, urn, his event,but there were also many people milling around the
lobby,uh, viewing the displays and I think our community is....is really blessed
to be able to have this kind of event and these kinds of things going on. Uh, let's
see, Wedn...on Wednesday the 10th I attended, uh, Juli left, the Parks' discussion,
uh, of the City Park plans, uh, at Robert Lee. Um, it was very informal, with the
attendees, uh, given the opportunity to, uh, view the plans,potential options, uh,
for the adventure playground. Uh, it was nice to see a lot of families, uh, with
children there, and even the children were filling out their... their comment cards
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which....which was good to see. Uh, upcoming, uh....Wednesday the 24th, the
Human Rights Award Breakfast, 7:30 A.M.,bright and early, at the Hilton,
urn....the 25th the Hyatt grand opening at 5:00 P.M. Uh, let's see here.....oh,
Friday, this Friday,uh, the VA Annex ribbon cutting. Hopefully you folks got
invitations to that. It's at 1:00 P.M. and I'm gonna try to make it over then cause
I think this is....we talk about repurposing buildings oftentimes and I think this is
a....a good example of that and I'm anxious to see what they've done with the
inside. And then, of course, uh, since it'll be actually on our....our next meeting
date, is Tuesday,November 9th—vote. Remember to vote(several talking) Oh,
6th! I said the 9th, didn't I? Sixth, yeah, sorry! I don't know where the (laughs)
No, the 6th! That's it!
Throgmorton: Okay! Bruce, you can skip if you want but you can go (both talking)
Teague: No, I have some stuff! So on, urn, October 5th,urn, I attended Humanize My
Hoodie, which was put on downtown at Merge and that was by,urn, Andre
Wright. It was a great event, urn, even on the 12th they had a....Friday the 12th
they had another, uh, event, which was in the, urn alley downtown, and it was a
fashion show, uh, of some of his, uh, products and so that was awesome to see.
Uh, Saturday the 13th I got sworn in and so thanks to Kellie and, urn, for doin' her
magic and....and gettin' me all official and of course to the, urn, Council, urn,
individuals that did attend and all those that are, you know,they're supporting me.
So really appreciate it. Very honored to be here! Um, I did, urn....I'm lookin'
forward to, of course, the University of Iowa Homecomin' this weekend, or this
Friday night. Urn, I will be there. Um, in....in the parade. Uh, somethin' that is
upcoming will be, uh, is One Iowa, and it's for the LGBTQ Workplace Culture
Summit, and that's gonna be in Coral...um, in Cedar Rapids, urn, at Kirkwood. I
do know that the City, I thought they bought some tickets, um.....for the....
Monroe: I think there are some tickets available, if anybody else is interested to go. On the
23`d.
Teague: Yes, there are some tickets available, and then, urn,just as a shoutout to Luxe
Interiors, uh, Jan Finlayson, she, urn, has a new, um....um, business. Well her
business transferred from Coralville to Iowa City, and on the 24th she....uh,
they'll be havin' an open house and a pumping....pumpkin carving contest. So
that'll be startin' from 5:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. and that will be on October 24th.
Cole: Terrific!
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Throgmorton: Yeah.
Salih: Okay, urn, first thing of course(unable to understand) Pauline tell us she done a
good job describing that because when it come from someone who's not working
there, it would be great because I don't wanna say it sound like braggin', even
though I...I brag all the time about CWJ (laughs) but everything(mumbled) really
nice event, good food by the, urn, you know, immigrants.
Throgmorton: Food was amazing!
Cole: Yeah.
Salih: Yeah, I know all those people are thinking to open a restaurant. I hope they can
find the opportunity to do. Uh, okay and um....what else, yeah, I'm gonna be
going, yeah. The rally for....just please join University of Iowa's season for
human right for a rally tomorrow to save the labor center at 5:00 P.M. at the
Pentacrest, and this is will be tomorrow. Uh....on Friday I have been invited to
speak to the...the keynote speaker on refugee summit in Des Moines as the first
immigrant to be elected to Iowa City City Council. So, we setting the standard in
Iowa, and uh, I guess this is will be great event and I'm really happy to go there.
I'm looking forward to it. Uh, for the, uh, regarding board and commission,
we...the Paratransit not met yet. November....I guess November 8 or November 7
we will be meeting. So I an report then on that. Yeah, that's all I have!
Throgmorton: Okay.
Cole: So sort of combining the two again, urn, with the City of Literature, the last time I
had spoken we were talking about upcoming events, and I was able to make a
couple of the events at the City of Literature event,urn, from October 151 through
October 8th, and I gotta say what really took my breath away was the lecture by
Common, urn, at Hancher Auditorium. I got a confession to make. I.... didn't
actually know who Common was (laughter) Don't be too hard on me, Royceann.
Um,but wow, what a positive message. Urn, if any of you in the audience have
ever, urn, heard him speak in terms of the lecture format, and I don't wanna get
into the national and state politics that we have now, but there's needless to say a
little bit of toxicity,but Common was just sort of a breath of fresh air. He had a
really positive message, um, not only is he a rapper. He's a writer. He's a
musician. Uh,but he also has his own non-profit called Common Ground, uh,
that works with low income youth to facilitate graduating from high school. I
think he has nearly 100%,um, success rate. Urn, learned that he actually
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attended, uh, Obama's church, uh, Jeremiah Wright's church on the southside of
Chicago, and uh,just a really great message, and uh, well attended. The house
was packed. Uh, so I'm really hoping that people can sort of follow up on that
and hopefully we can learn some lessons from Common,but uh,just very
impressed with him in terms of what he brought to the table, and really love to
give a shoutout again to the City of Literature Board and John Kenyon. You
know we talk about our City of Literature. We've had it for nearly a hundred
years in terms of being a City of Literature, but formally we've only had it for
about the last six to seven years. Our UNESCO designation,uh,but John has
really taken that and made it into a reality, uh, and it's not....it's not easy to do to
bring in the caliber and the quality of speaker,just the logistics, and he does it
with a smile on his face. Uh, he always keeps his cool, and uh, so just a terrific
event. Major kudos and lookin' forward to future events with that. Um, I'd echo
everyone's comments on Center for Worker Justice. Uh, food was fabulous, uh,
we even had a few presidential candidates there, uh, so it was just a great
opportunity to break some bread and meet some people and have some good
conversations and that was terrific as well. And I Would echo also Pauline's
comments about,uh, Rally to Save the Labor Center. 5:00 P.M. tomorrow. Urn,
that's really what that Pentacrest is for, is an opportunity for free speech and to
speak out and uphold our values. I know I'm certainly going to be there and I
hope other community members will attend as well.
Throgmorton: Just as a footnote, Rockne, we provided some financial support for Common's
visit.
Cole: Oh yes!
Throgmorton: Yeah. I don't know how much and I wrote a proclamation which was delivered to
him.
Thomas: Well I'm....mine's very short. I....no commission reports and uh, my sister was
in town for a while so I kinda dropped out of the Iowa City scene(laughs) for a
little bit. Lots of great events that I missed unfortunately and, uh, everyone has
kind of spoken about future events, um, so that's it! (several talking)
Mims: Um, attended ICAD's annual meeting last week, um, had a great presentation and
it's always good to hear an update from staff members and what they're doing,
um, and the...speaker on, I don't even know what he was talking about, Geoff
(laughter) I...I said to Matt Hayek after this, I said, 'That went right over my
head!' It was very....esoteric, artsy, futuristic. (mumbled) some people think
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and...and can plan and look that way, and I said I'm not one of`em, but it's...so it
was interesting,but really good to hear an update from all the ICAD folks and
what's going on there. Um, attending Economic Development luncheon
tomorrow that they're putting on at Merge to raise money for United Way. So
going to that. Um, PATV has their grand reopening on the 18th,which is
Thursday afternoon at 4:00. And, um....Shelter House is having a....a celebration
on the 19th to rename the Fair Weather Lodge,urn, also. So....and other than that,
yeah, I'm kinda like you, John. I've been out of town....well, I've been out of
town and you've been here but with a guest. I've been out of town, so just
haven't connected with some of the events, but just lots of great things went on as
always, and uh, Access Center, we delayed that tonight, uh, again because of
some signatures. There was just a couple little glitches. That ended up being
more than one parcel and the owners of both parcels weren't exactly the same
entities and so that's kinda what caused that little glitch, and so it's taken...some
of the owners are out of the country. So it's taken longer than they anticipated to
get some signatures. So one of the things I did mention to them,urn,because they
are anxious to get going is hopefully that we would....assuming they have all the
signatures for the next meeting, um, that....which would be the November 66
meeting, that we might entertain, um, consolidating the second and third readings,
urn, when we get to that. So...since it....at least at this point I don't think we're
going to have any controversy, so...um....other than that we are in early voting.
So I would encourage people, they can go down to the Auditor's Office. I think
from like 7:30 to 5:30? I think.
Throgmorton: Starts at 7:30.
Mims: Yeah, every day during...during the work week at least. Um, they certainly will
have some satellite locations coming up. Just check the Johnson County
Auditor's web site. Uh, but certainly encourage everybody to make sure they get
out and vote.
Throgmorton: I voted!
Mims: I'm going to and I've already put my....my two cents in with Geoff to make sure
that our, uh, agenda for the 6th is short so (laughter) I mean I think we're all
gonna want to go home and be watching the results, so that means,uh, the agenda
short and the comments are shorter (laughter and several talking)
Fruin: You have more influence overt he length than I do! (laughter)
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Mims: I know, Geoff I thought it was going to be short tonight(laughter and several
talking)
Throgmorton: All right, uh, I can put an end to this if I get on with it. Pauline and I had an
excellent meeting with Janet Godwin and Paul Roesler on the 3`d of October, and
uh, voluntary transfers, that's the main topic from their point of view and really
the main topic of our conversation. Our Convention and Visitors Bureau Board is
gonna meet this Thursday, the 18`h (mumbled) the Partnership for Alcohol Safety
plans to have another Late Night Walk around downtown, this coming Friday, the
26th. So we're gonna go into bars and probably come out of bars and stuff like
that(laughter) And....let's see, other things....other things.....other
things....(several talking and laughing) I drink beer! (several talking and
laughing) No, we know where this is going (several talking and laughing) All
right, I also attended the ICAD's annual meeting on the 10th of October. On the
11th I made welcoming comments at the Conference of the Iowa Chapter of the
American Public Works Association. Wasn't one of my greatest days, but uh,
you know, you can't do everything perfectly. I plan to attend the Community
Foundation of Johnson County's grant awards luncheon tomorrow, but I just
looked at my notebook and see....I didn't write out meeting down at 11:00 and I
don't have it down for next week either (laughs) So....(several talking and
laughing) so I...I don't k now, we'll have to talk about it. Yeah. Let's see what
else, uh.....uh....I'm, I think I'll go to the United Nations Day celebration on the
24'h. Other things that Pauline has mentioned, like the Hyatt Place Hotel grand
opening and other topics like that. I plan to attend the Immigrant and Refugee
Association's annual dinner on the 27`h. Uh, and....and so on. I wanna mention a
couple other things though. Let's see, on November 7th through.....7 through 10
I'll be attending the National League of Cities meeting in Los Angeles. That's
why I couldn't be here for those, um....um, special work session about 12 Court.
And October....and on October 4th(laughs) I can't talk. October the 4th through
the 8th I traveled to Bend, Oregon. I did that for personal reasons,but while I was
out there I did a lot of driving and walking around. My friend David who's lived
there now for the last three years. It was really interesting. It's similar in size to
Iowa City. Uh,has very similar governmental structure. But it's much more
dependent on tourism and on retirees. It's very clear, but there are a lot of young
people there too. A lot of young people, and that may be a reflection of the tourist
aspect. The downtown is really very attractive. It's larger than ours. Very
attractive, very lively, very successful, as best I could tell from walkin' around
one night. Uh, I did not see any tall buildings out there but I mean I could make a
big deal out of that, but I think that's a reflection of the tourism and....and the
retirees, but uh, not....they don't have a big university there. They do have a
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university but it's nowhere near as big as ours. All the...this is a real shock for
me, all the major roads looked like they had been repaved or resurfaced within the
past three years and restriped within the last three years. I mean it was just
amazing! All of'em were smooth. Not a crack in a single one of`em! No
potholes, no nothin'! So, I think that must have to do with freeze and thaw.
Mims: That's what I was just gonna say!
Throgmorton: (both talking) ...of precipitation. Nonetheless (laughs) I kept sayin' to David,
`Well, god, it's another street!' Been repaved. How'd they do that? How do they
pay for it? Anyhow there was that. I also wanna mention one last thing, I think
all of us have received an invitation from Angie Jordan in the south district,uh,
inviting us to tour the south district with her, so that she can point out some areas
of concern. I followed up on that invitation and agreed to join her at 2:30 P.M. on
Saturday the 27th for a tour followed by a neighborhood meeting at the Broadway
Center. Susan, I think you also said (both talking)
Mims: I did and I did a reply all since that was just a scheduling and not a discussion,
and I wanted everybody else to know that I had done it, so that we don't get more
than three of us there. That was my(several talking)
Throgmorton: So if any one of you would like to join us...
Teague: I did send you an email saying that I was available, but it was probably....urn,
during the meeting here, or close to the meeting(several talking)
Throgmorton: ...we cannot have more than three (mumbled) So, you wanna go,right?
Teague: Absolutely!
Throgmorton: Okay, good deal! So...you got the date and time and all that, right? Okay,
that's....that's it for me.
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20. Report on Items from City Staff a. City Manager
a. City Manager
Throgmorton: Geoff?
Fruin: Nothing.
Throgmorton: Ashley?
Monroe: Two quick things. One of them being, uh, an update of interest. We are starting
to have our first internal staff,uh, meeting about the climate plan and, uh, our
work that's going to be happening at a staff level, to implement the climate plan
actions. So that'll be next week, and the other question I had for Council was,
um, whether you wanted us to reinstate the, urn, like the Council tours of our
departments and....and introductions,kind of reintroductions to, uh, what we do.
So we've toured the water plant, waste water, um, the Airport. So if there is
another point of interest, I'm happy to set that up. I don't know if Fridays still
work for everybody, but um,that had been what we were doing, and so I'm
thinking of re....restarting if there's interest.
Throgmorton: I can say one thing I don't know that we've done before is tour, I don't know,
NDS, Finance Department, you know and other departments that are in the
building.
Monroe: Sure! They're....they're on my list and I will note that now!
Throgmorton: Okay.
Monroe: Thanks! That's it.
b. City Attorney
Throgmorton: Eleanor?
Dilkes: Just a quick, urn, note. Uh, the City is running its charitable giving campaign
during the month of October. We had a great kickoff event on October 6`h, Friday
October 6'h. Um, I think Maza was there. Um, and uh, you can donate to either
United Way or Iowa Shares, and if you need a pledge form, let me know, or any
other information.
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Salih: Yeah! I forgot to report on that. (both talking) I said I forget to report on the
event we had. Yeah, it was nice! Yeah.
Throgmorton: Good deal! Okay.
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