HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-02-05 Transcription Page 1
Council Present: Cole, Salih,Teague,Taylor,Thomas,Throgmorton
Council Absent: Mims
Staff Present: Fruin,Monroe,Andrew, Dilkes, Fruehling, Lehmann, Kubly,
Bockenstedt, Fleagle, Ford, Knoche, Havel, Hightshoe,Nurnberg
Others Present: Stewart,Wu (UISG); Paula Vaughan, Charlie Eastham, John McKinstry,
Vanessa Fixmer-Oraiz, Megan Alter, Christine Harms, Maria Padron(HCDC)
Joint Meeting with Housing& Community Development Commission (HCDC):
Throgmorton/I'd like to invite the Housing and Community Development Commissioners to
come up. If the Chair could come up and sit next to me, cause Susan Mims will not be
present for this meeting. (several talking in background)Yeah, okay so....I'm gonna
convene the work session of the Iowa City City Council for February the 5th, 2019. And
we're gonna start with a joint meeting with the Housing and Community Development
Commission, in relationship to Aid to Agencies and the recommendation that came from
the Commission. So, first I wanna thank the Commission first for doing such a thorough
job of reviewing the applications and tryin'to come up with something that you thought
would be completely appropriate. What I suggest we do, if the rest of the Council
Members agree, is that first we engage in dialogue with the Commissioners and find out
what they did, what they recommended, why they recommended it. And then engage in
dialogue about that. At that point, I'll probably say, okay, we've engaged in the dialogue,
now it's for us Council Members to decide how we want to respond. So that moment, I
think it'd be best, for y'all to go back down in the audience and we'll just do our normal
thing. Does that sound reasonable? Okay, so...is that all right with Council Members?
Okay(several responding) so,Paula, do you want to take the lead in terms of telling us
what you did,what you recommended—in general. You don't have to go into all the
detail. And then why you came up with recommending full aid or full....fully, uh, fully
funding the requests that came from the various agencies.
Vaughan/Okay. Um, good evening. Um, I'm Paula Vaughan, I'm the Chair of the Housing
Community Development Commission. Um, we had a very lengthy process and a lot of
discussion in our group, and I will say that all of the Commissioners,um,have taken this
responsibility very seriously,um, and have put a lot of work into it. Uh,we did come up,
at our last meeting, and we did end up recommending that full funding for the agencies,
um, for a number of reasons, and I know that all of you got the packet and the memo
from Mr. Fruin that explained how we had changed a few things. So, I won't go in to all
of those. Um....part of our reasoning was that we just looked at the funding over the last,
um, five to 10 years and realized that the agencies funding has been pretty flat,um, and in
some cases has decreased,but the number of people that they serve has really increased.
Uh, the population growth in Iowa City has been about 11%,um, figures that I could
find. The inflation rate's been about 14%. Uh,with....so the,we have a greater
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 2
population. They have many more people that they're serving, many more requests and
needs....with that, urn, since they serve more people,they also have increased staffing.
They have increased need of supplies. Um.....they also, some of them expressed that
they may be close to losing their federal match dollars, uh,because of the State and local
funding going down, and that would be a huge blow to the city if those agencies were not
able to operate. It would cost, uh, the City a lot economically,um,many jobs and just the
human cost, if those people did not have the services. So when we looked at all that and
we also heard from agencies at our meeting, and their situations,urn, trying to make ends
meet,trying to serve more people with less funding. So we thought it was important to
bring attention,uh, to the Council and to talk about this,uh, because this is not going to
get any easier going forward. Uh, these agencies, um, I....I have, well...no, I have a
couple more. These agencies provide employment and training to over 500 members of
the community. They also pay, um, living wage, salaries,benefits. They bring$36
million through grant money into our community. And...they....pay out about $23
million for salary and benefit. So they.....are a big part of our community. The total
funding that they are asking for is really less than 2%of their combined revenue. So we
are in favor of fully funding. I have a couple of examples, um,just to kind of illustrate
.....uh, the numbers that I was talking about. So we took a couple of our larger agencies.
One is the Shelter House, and they have had an increase over the last 10 years of an
emergency shelter of almost 91%. The nights, night shelter that they have given people
has increased about 143%. And the, their funding,uh, from FY15 to 19 has been in the
neighborhood of 45,000 to 50,000. So that has been very flat, even though they've had
very large increases in numbers, and per capita what that has done for them is in fiscal
year 09, uh,their pacap...per capita funding was $41.42, and in fiscal year 18 it dropped
to 37.91. The other really large agency, um, is the Crisis Center, the Food Bank, and they
have had over the last 10 years an increase of 57% in the number of food visits that they
have from people. Um, and this translates into 39% increase in the pounds of food
distributed. They have seen, uh, that people need more food because they are not getting
as much,like in terms of SNAP money. That has declined. So people are getting more
food,uh, than they did in the past, so it's not only a matter of numbers,but people
needing more than they did before. And their funding, uh, for the last four years has been
at 40,000 each year, even though they've had these increases of 57% and 39%. Um, and
per capita, again, uh, fiscal year 12, their per capita was 1.06, and in 18 it's 77-cents. So
once again a big decline when you take the numbers into account. A couple of other,uh,
agencies that I wanted to call your attention to, United Action Youth. They have had a
49% increase in education of clients and in their direct service. So 49% increase in each
of those, and their funding has decreased by 45%in the last four fiscal years.
Cole/From the City?
Vaughan/Yes. Um, and I know,um, at our meeting, someone from DVIP spoke and said that
they are very dangerously losing their matching funds. So these are some of the things
that we heard from agencies. So our recommendation is to fully fund....um, the, it's
$625,500 to the agencies,but we would like to see them fully funded. Um, I know that
it's a....a delicate balance for you all, as it was for us. It's quite challenging. It's very
difficult,um.....to come up with these recommendations and to back them,but our whole
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 3
council voted unanimously that these funds need to be,uh,they need to be increased, and
not just this year,but looking forward. Um, I'm kind of more concerned really about the
future and what is going to happen. Urn,that this funding, um, is gonna....that the call
for funding is going to be increased,uh, the number of people,urn,needing service will
be increased, and that we need to do something that will be sustainable, uh, for the future.
Throgmorton/Okay. Thank you, Paula. That's a very thorough overview. Uh, I don't know,
would any other Commissioners like to elaborate, I mean it's very thorough overview
but....Charlie!
Eastham/I'd like to make two points. One, in listening to the,uh,representatives from agencies,
who talked to the Commission at our last meeting, and asked for full funding,it, I was
very much taken by their, uh,professionalism, their capac...their capability, and their
experience in making their, uh....uh, statements to us, that their agency's needing to
increase,to have the Aid to Agency amount from the City increased, substantially. Um,
I....I, one thing I'm trying to learn as a Commission Member is that I need to defer a lot
to the wisdom and the experience of people who are coming to us for,uh, financial
support,and I (clears throat) I hope we will all do that. The second thing I'd wanna say is
that, uh...uh(clears throat) I happen to look at the, uh,the uh....uh, current FY20
proposed City budget and,uh, noticed that the,uh, there's a table, or a graph, that shows
the change in taxable valuation,total taxable valuation, uh,that Iowa City has seen over
the last,uh, 10 years or so, and just looking at the change in taxable valuation from FY15
to FY20,that eval...that valuation increased about 25%over that five-year period of time,
around 5%per year. (clears throat)To me the taxable val...the total taxable valuation is
the amount that the,uh, you have to, uh,to tap into, uh, for,uh....obtaining property
taxes to support vital community services,which I believe these folks have,uh,have
demonstrated to us that their request is for vital services and are quite reasonable.
Throgmorton/Just to get something on the table from the Council point of view, no one doubts
the importance of the 19 agencies involved here. They are very important to the City, so
that's not a topic that's really at issue here,right? Okay,beyond that,uh,thanks, Charlie.
Uh, do any Council Members have questions you want to ask of Commissioners?
Thomas/One (clears throat) one question I had was....uh,with....with these fund requests, are
they tailored, uh,to Iowa City, meaning, um....I mean some of these agencies, even... are
embedded in their names—Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Johnson County—are serving
the county as a whole. Uh, so is....is, say their request proportional to what they feel
their services are for the residents of Iowa City?
Vaughan/Yes. In the application,they detail out what they will do with the funds, in each...like
each location,um, and a lot of them get United Way funds. So they will detail out what
they use those funds for, what they use the Iowa City funds for, and so part of the
Commission, what the Commission does is make sure that,uh,those funds are for Iowa
City, you know, and....and they look appropriate.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5,2019.
Page 4
Teague/This is a significant request. So I guess my question is, urn, for the ones that were
awarded, you know, they got the awards and then there's this....lack of funding, how did,
you know, the Commission come up to that decision of who (mumbled). If you can talk a
little bit about that, um....
Vaughan/Well it's kind of a grueling process (laughs) so we do have a, urn, kind of a scoring
sheet, um,that each of us does independently, and then we come together and they're all
put on one sheet and we look at all of them, urn, and....and usually it's kind of interesting,
urn,because I think we all kind of agonize over it,but in the end we seem to agree pretty
much. Urn, so sometimes there are agencies that do not receive funding.
Throgmorton/ If I could follow up on that,when I read the minutes of your meeting, I was
tracking you all along, as you were very...doin' a very thorough job of going through the
agencies and tryin'to come up with what you thought that they ought to be allocated and
so on, and suddenly—bam! Suddenly, about two-thirds of the way through there was this
big leap from allocating the amount that we had....um, assigned to the Commission for
Aid to Agencies, to this full funding idea. So it wasn't immediately obvious to me how
the Commission came to this unanimous judgment to fully fund the 19 agencies. John?
McKinstry/Jim, when I was, uh, appointed....to the Commission a couple years ago,uh....and, I
knew that there was a lot of agony, which we share with you as Council Members,
because you, in a larger way, have to do the same sort of thing. There's a lot of human
need out there, and you have to decide with the limited funds, and....and I thought
whatever we were told was the amount we should stay within, that that was our mission.
And it's been very painful to do that, especially with,uh, increasing human need and
more agencies asking for assistance, and uh, their margins getting thinner and thinner,uh,
with decreasing State and federal funding, and things like the Medicaid, it, debacle
recently,uh, that have put a lot of,uh, the agencies in a....a really deep water in terms of
their financing. Uh, and....and so there was a point of recognition,just like you said. I
think you're, uh, you're very perceptive. That's exactly what happened. That, uh....uh,
we were sharing with you this burden of trying to keep within a certain figure that was
given to us and it came to the point where, uh...you know, we're proud of what this
Council has done and what this City does. Uh, in terms of affordable housing and so
many other things,we are leaders in the state and in the Midwest, in some of the things
that we're doing, but...there came a point when we had to say, you know, there's so much
more need here and the....it's, the gap is getting larger instead of smaller and this is not a
rebellion sayin', okay we're not gonna, you know, we're not gonna work with those
figures you give us anymore! (laughs) We didn't come here with pitchforks (several
talking and laughing) uh, we didn't come here with pitchforks, uh, in a rebellious way.
We came here because we trust you,uh, we're proud of the things you're doin', and it, we
just thought that, uh, we needed to call this to your attention. Uh, we're responsible,
trying to be responsible citizens and saying, you know,this gap is getting wider, so uh,
we're sharin' the pain with you that we have been struggling with, uh,to share with the....
...the agencies that have been asking for funding.
Alter/ If I can piggyback on that. In the room (both talking)
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 5
Throgmorton/ ...closer to that(both talking)
Alter/In the room when, um...we....had done our rough sort and our rough allocation,we
realized that....approximately half of the agencies were getting less than half of what they
were asking for, and in no case was anyone asking for the moon. It really was like the
penny just dropped and the room sort of collectively sunk. It...which is sort of an
emotional moment. It really was a moment of recognition, an epiphany of this....is gut
wrenching. There's so much need, and yet we're in one of the better-off counties, right,
and so it's actually juxtaposing that understanding of a real commitment to helping
human need in our county, and yet realizing....the folks who were watching us go
through this were no doubt saying, how are we going to make it through this year? How
are we going to make it through the next year, and the next and the next, when the need
just keeps getting bigger and bigger. And that was a moment that just kind of sucked the
energy out of the room and then put it back into it, and we thought this is the right place
for us to....to move. So,just to give you sort of the emotional climate and how we came
there.
Cole/And we've essentially, as the need has gone up, um, you'd given us a lot of credit and I
wanna put us on the....a stand here too and say, I think to criticize(mumbled) current
Council even, we've stayed flat. So as the needs of populations have gone up,we've
stayed flat. So in effect we have not even come close to coming up with the need, and it's
my sense is that you look....and another thing that strikes me with these agencies, these
are professionally run, data-driven organizations. Um,we're also looking at a ways...in
other context to help some of the start-ups for non-profits,but they have their own
organizational challenges,but we can have confidence that the dollars here, and I think
you brought up a really good point,that not only will we spend those dollars,but they
will multiply and radiate throughout the community. So in some respects it's not really an
expense as much as an investment, is sort of what I see.
Throgmorton/ So I wanna follow up....with a question for Paula,to make sure I understood
something I think you said. I think I heard you say that City funding constitutes 2% of
the total funding for the 19 agencies.
Vaughan/Yes.
Throgmorton/2%?
Vaughan/Yeah, a little less.
Throgmorton/ So I'm just thinking mathematically here and there's a lot more involved here than
just math....uh, shrinking that amount a tiny bit, shrinking 2% a tiny bit doesn't sound
like very much to me, out of the total. Right? So....and then I....I find myself
wondering, and I'm gonna plead ignorance here, so for anybody who's from the agencies
out here, I want y'all to understand I feel completely ignorant when I ask this question.
Are the agencies seeking funding from private corporations, including major owners of
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 6
apartment complexes and other businesses in the community, cause that's where the
wealth is. And....and I'm, so I'm just wondering if...if that kind of effort to get
donations from those entities is taking place. If it's not, there is an opportunity. If it is,
well okay, I'm ignorant and there we are. So....I'm really wondering about that though.
We've had...you know, the State has dramatically cut the amount of revenue coming to
Iowa City,through....what it's done with regard to property tax reform, havin' to do with
multi-family, commercial, uh...um, properties. Uh, Geoff, where are ya? I can't see.
Yeah, so maybe you or Kevin could tell us how much money has not come to us because
of that. And because of the...the Supreme Court's decision about...uh, you know, whether
these....these apartment complexes are residential or commercial.
Fruin/I think we're projecting about a$2 million loss this coming fiscal year. It was about 1.6
million last year and it'll continue to grow until 2024.
Throgmorton/Thank you.
Cole/I'm curious about this matching issue. It seems to me as a baseline, we should ensure that
no agency, to the extent that we reasonably can, should lose matching funds,urn, from
the federal government and the State government. Did we come up with a number as to
what the number would be to ensure that these organizations would not lose their
matching funds, and two, of the organizations that had submitted, how many numerically
were close to losing their matching funds as a result of the decrease in,um, City funding?
So if you can answer that question. (mumbled) put you on the spot(several talking and
laughing) It was a very compelling thing that you brought up with the matching.
Vaughan/Right,um, and...yes, got that from the audience, uh, the agencies who were represented
and somebody, uh, volunteered that, and just made the comment, I'm sure we're not the
only one, and I'm pretty sure that that's true,but I don't really have the figures.
Throgmorton/Okay, does anybody have any other questions for Commissioners?
Thomas/ I guess (both talking)
Throgmorton/Or for staff, that's related to the conversation.
Thomas/ So it, I mean it's very interesting to hear how that....that meeting you had unfolded and
it was this kind of ah-ha moment. Um, was there any discussion of...any sort of, uh, you
know...there's....there's.....there was the money budgeted, there was the requests and
what they added up to. Any discussion of, well, do we wanna consider something in
between in any....in any manner, in terms of, you know, what....what to set the request
at? You know it's....it went from holding to the...the budget that you had been given to
basically just agreeing to the requests as submitted, correct? Was there any discussion
of....is there....is there another alternative to this, is there some analysis that would bring
the requests to a lower figure, in other words.
Vaughan/Well, I'm not sure I'm quite understanding, but when we....
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
•
Page 7
Thomas/As a negotiation. In a sense a negotiation that you're hearing, you know, these agencies
ask for X. You....we have Y. You know, how...how do we negotiate the outcome of that,
short of just saying, okay, we're gonna give you what you...what you asked for?
Vaughan/Yeah. And I guess I....I would think we had already pretty well negotiated it,because,
urn,most of them did not get close to what they had asked for. The larger ones. We give,
um, always the minimum that we give is 15,000. So that's part of...we don't, we don't
give under 15,000. So that would be the minimum. Um, so those who asked for a great
deal more got maybe half of what they had requested. We also I think had some
discussion about dropping....we have high, medium, and low priority, and this year we
decided to sort of divide those monies because what's happened in the past is only the
agencies that had high priority got any money. And so as an example, Habitat for
Humanity is listed,um, theirs would be listed as low priority. So they have gotten no
funding for the last five years, uh,because we just give the funds to the high priority. So
one of our goals this year was to try to make sure that medium and low priority agencies
also got something, at least some of them. Uh, so then we did talk about, well we'll just
drop the low....and.....you know, and then give more to the higher priority. So we did do
some talk about that. Does that answer your question?
Thomas/I think so, yeah.
Fixmer-Oraiz/If I...Vanessa Fixmer-Oraiz. I just wanted to make a couple points here. Urn, so I
actually missed that meeting because I had the stomach virus, um, but I....this goes really
kinda beyond one meeting. I...I just wanted to point out that we...we go through just you
all do, this....annually, you know, going through t his process of, you know, how do we
find the right metrics to,you know,justify the decisions that we make and make sure that,
you know, everybody's getting funded or at least you're looking at....you're not looking at
apples and oranges, you know, so we can kind of make, you know, fully aware decisions
and,um, kind of go through this agonizing(laughs)process as we've described, and I'm
sure you're familiar with, uh,but one thing that I wanted to point out is that, you know,
this funding source is, uh, largely unrestricted and I want to point that out because I think
that it's incredibly important for organizations, um, that....that this pot of money, urn, to
kind of answer your question as to like why, you know, is it ever going to be enough or
you know....are....are we,we're just maintaining this, but really it's...it's...it's, I guess,
more dynamic than that. The source of funding itself, or the ability that you can,what
you can do with this money is more dynamic than just, you know,just a pot of money I
guess that oftentimes, uh, non-profits or state organizations, you have these restrictions
and you can't use it for operations. You can only use it for certain things. So I think that's
one nuance that I want to point out, and then another thing was just to kind of clarify this
less than 2% of revenue figure. Um, that's a little bit more nuanced too because some
organizations obviously are, you know, larger and that margin, that difference, is gonna
be, you know, much more insignificant than...a....a, than another organization that maybe
doesn't have like a million dollar, you know,revenue stream. Um,but the need is still
there, right? So you may be asking$50,000 and we're only going to be giving you
$15,000, but if you're a million dollar organization, that is, you know, pulling in these
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 8
private fundings or, you know,however you may be getting, uh, funds,that's gonna be a
lot different than some of the other organizations that are literally two people,right?
They are very professional, and they do what they do,by the skin of their teeth every
year,um,but their margin is going to be much lower. Their revenue is going to be much
lower. So I think that 2%, or less than 2%, is sort of ob...is, urn, obscures the real issue,
uh, I just kinda wanted to clarify that. I think it's important to know,but um, there is a
nuance in there, so...just wanted to clarify.
Cole/And just by unrestricted,you're saying the City funds are restricted as opposed to like if we
had federal funds, lot of times those have the strings, so that's the advantage that we can
bring, to give more flexibility to these organizations. (mumbled)
Eastham/(both talking)
Salih/Go ahead, Charlie!
Eastham/John, if you're inviting us to have a discussion with agencies about their funding that is
somewhere between the proposed budgetary amount and the amount we're asking, I think
we could do that.
Throgmorton/Well, that....that's good,but we already have a recommendation along those lines
from our City Manager. So to be clear about that, the City Manager...what was it, 37,
Geoff, is that the amount? City Manager's recommending that we increase the allocation
to the Commission by$37,000, so that....so that the agencies can be funded what they
were funded last year. Is that....am I stating that correctly, Geoff? Yeah, okay. So
that's....that part,to an extent,that part of it's already on the table, for us at least, in terms
of the Council. (both talking)
Salih/(mumbled) forget what I was going to say(laughs) But....yeah, I think I would like to ask
the staff maybe, or the Commission,uh,because the HC, uh, CDC,uh,the fund for
Agency to Agency, like every, uh, this has been budget like specific budget that the...we
budget for it or it was open? Or how,because it say sometime say 250 was for five year
and after that four of the...uh, four of the six years it was 376. If there is like some
budget bein' allocated every year to this Agency to Agency, or it up to the Commission to
evaluate and come up with what they wanna give out.
Throgmorton/I think Geoff can answer that.
Fruin/So there's three funding sources that come together,uh, for this pot of money. There's a
federal funding source,which changes from year to year. That's your CDBG allocation,
and we actually don't know what that CDBG allo...allocation is yet. We should know in
the coming month or two. That's why you see some minor fluctuations from year to year.
The two stable funding sources that have been flat would be the City's general fund,
which is the 250, and then there's a small dollar amount that comes from our public utility
funds. Uh, I don't have it in front of me, uh, 20....20-some thousand that comes from
that. But that is a line item budget in our Neighborhood and Development Services
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5,2019.
Page 9
department's,uh,budget. That is then presented to the Commission,um, as part of the,
when they get the applications. There's....there's the budget amount there.
Salih/And when you decide to give out,uh, extra money from the utility,how do you come up
with this decision,because of the Commission come out and they think this money really
have to be given to this, uh, you know, agency or....I don't understand it.
Fruin/How do we decide which agency gets which pot of money?
Salih/No,no,no! Like the extra money when the...we have, you said we have from the(unable
to understand) 250,right?
Fruin/Correct, yes.
Salih/But sometimes the Commission will come with more money. Say hey 200,we don't...we
don't want,we want more than 250,which is you saying here is 376 was....
Fruin/In....in, at least my time here I do not recall the Commission coming forward and
requesting more dollars. We've had agencies that have come forward, uh, after the
allocation and....and, uh, made their case to Council for additional fimding. Uh, so some
of you on the Council may remember Elder Services a few years ago, after their
allocation was reduced,uh, came back and the City actually(both talking) allocation on
kind of a case-by-case basis.
Salih/I see.
Fruin/But I don't recall the Commission ever corning forward and....and presenting the case
(both talking) Correct.
Salih/Okay, and also since you are here,just to...to qualify the question that the Mayor ask you
earlier about the projection of the fund that we gonna lose. Do you really mean this is...
will happen for sure or this is including the backfill that they might not give it to us?
Fruin/I'm sorry, I'm not following that answer, or that question.
Sahli/You said there is two million or something that projected,uh,to, we will, that City will
lose,two million, something like that.
Cole/I think that was for the commercial property tax reduction.
Fruin/That's the commercial,yes. There is no backfill for that amount.
Salih/That's only for(both talking)
Fruin/ ...the multi-residential,that two million. There's no backfill for the multi-residential.
There is backfill for the commercial and that's an additional 1.6.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 10
Salih/ Okay. But the total is two million or three million? Yeah.
Fruin/Well if you combine...you combine those two elements, it's about 3.6 million, and we'll
get backfill for about 1.6 million.
Salih/Okay.
Throgmorton/At least we're still hoping we will.
Frain/Yes!
Throgmorton/Right? Yeah. Okay, Bruce, do you have a question?
Teague/Well one last thing....so I know that John talked about, um, agencies ask for X,um, but
we can only provide Y, and....typically at these, um, I know it's very difficult when you're
tryin' to allocate money, um, but I mean that's expected,that everybody probably won't
come and get what they fully ask for. So I guess one of my questions is in the discussion
at all,the real issue seems to be that the Aid to Agency funds have been static, and
CDBJ...CDBG funds, as we know, has been goin'up and down. That's very, you know,
known to everybody that applied for these funds. That's a gamble. For me I think the
issue is, for the City to really consider what our portion is for the Aid to Agency, urn, and
look at that, you know, movin' forward. If we....if we were to, you know,fund
everyone....(mumbled) I wanna make sure that I understand this correctly. So the money
that the Coun....that the Commission is requesting, will this fund everyone 100%?
Vaughan/Everyone that applied this time, yes.
Teague/Everyone that applied....but if we fund what the...what the City has recommended, for
37,000,that will fund....everyone, what they got last year.
Vaughan/Right, which means there were two....two agencies that will get zero.
Teague/Because they didn't apply last year.
Vaughan/No,they applied, but they did not receive funding (both talking) Right. So....yeah, so
ARC and Habitat for Humanity,um, would not get any.
Teague/And if I'm understanding correctly, there could be a potential where they could reach out
to Council and state, after the fact,would you all consider funding this. Am I
understanding correctly?
Throgmorton/You probably could,but that is not an ideal circumstance for us.
Teague/ Sure!
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 11
Throgmorton/Yeah.
Teague/Okay.
Vaughan/One thing I,urn,would like you to keep in mind too going forward is that this year we
did try to, we...we made up the emerging agencies to try to give new agencies a chance to
get some funding. I realize that over time it sort of dilutes it,but how do we include
them, you know, I think that's an important thought going forward, is how to include new
agencies that come in and do very specific,uh, targeted work.
Throgmorton/Could I follow up on that,Paula? Do I understand correctly that the Commission
has not yet recommended how to allocate the $19,000....
Vaughan/That's correct.
Throgmorton/ ...for emerging agencies? Yes, so that remains to be done, right?
Vaughan/Yeah,we have not looked at those apps yet.
Throgmorton/Okay. Um, do....do you think,uh, as Commissioners there would be value in you
as a commission recommending to us some subtle modifications to the process that
currently is in place? I'm not talkin' about dollar allocations for this fiscal year,but I'm
just talking about the process, in terms of legacy agencies, emerging agencies,uh,the
emerging agencies,uh,becoming legacy agencies after two years or whatever,however
that,uh, actually works. Do you think there would be value in you making
recommendations to us about any subtle changes that should be made to that process? I
don't know, you might think about that. I don't know if you're....
McKinstry/My thinking is that,uh, it's the amount of money that we have to work with is the
more difficult problem at the moment. We just recently,uh, worked over the process to
make it,uh, fair,uh,more transparent,uh....based on, urn,more objective,uh, criteria.
I....I'd like to aim it...(mumbled) aiming for a little higher figure, and we can't go all the
way to the full,uh, asking, uh, amount from the agencies, I'd like to look, and I don't
know what the figure is,but I'd like to look more like at something proportional to what
an actual dollars and actual buying power we were doing a few years ago, and also look
at that in terms of growth of the City budget and uh, growth of the,uh, taxable base and
that sort of thing, look proportionally,uh, at what we're doing now, what the agencies are
doing now and what the city,uh, the growth of the city and that sort of thing and try to
get it back into proportion,rather than just going back to last year. I...I'd think we'd
wanna...it's like,uh, Mr. Cole said,uh, look at the....if you look at the shrinking amount
and the widening gap, I...I'd like to kinda go back and look at a longer span and say, let's
get it back....to a....a better proportion than it has been(mumbled)proportions have been
getting out of whack over the last few years.
Fixmer-Oraiz/I think we're always open to, you know, I was part of the process of revamping
this,um, this process (laughs) and uh, you know,we really have looked at, you know,
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5,2019.
Page 12
how do we create more transparency, give ourselves more time to consider, make sure
that we are really talking with (both talking)
Throgmorton/Hard task.
Fixmer-Oraiz/Yeah, you know, so we...we've....I think we've really, you know, got a good
working system. Everything is a draft I feel like in my life,but um, you know, we're
always open to....to modifying and changing. I think in this case, you know, oftentimes
the case the process could be changed and it would alleviate some of those stressors, urn,
but I think in this case the....the process has been changed, and we're still feeling as
though it's....it's the pot of money that we're working with is the issue, but I think we'd be
open to, of course, looking at it and always being better, urn....
Throgmorton/Do other Council Members have any questions? Okay, I wanna ask one and then I
guess we'll be done. Uh, my question goes to the idea, the concept of need, and I...I think
I know enough about social services to know that the need is hard to bound,because it's
just....it's almost infinite. What is almost infinite mean? I don't know(laughs) 20%
times infinity, you know! (laughs) (mumbled) Uh,but I'm reading a quote that comes
from the minutes of the Commission's meeting, that one of the agency directors, I think,
wanted to note that she had known...if she had known, no...she wanted to note that had
she known there was a possibility of getting more than the 17,500, she would have asked
for more. Okay, so....that's what I mean about the need. I mean if people know that they
can ask for more,well surely they're going to ask for more! And I...I would,uh, and we
can't, you know,just respond to that, I don't think. We have to put some kind of lid on it,
and we have to do our best, collectively, to process the allocation in a way that's fair and
just and all that kind of stuff. But the need is....huge. That's why I mentioned what I did
about large corporations, owners of major businesses, including apartment...apartment
complexes and so on, to see what kind of donations are available from them. Does
anybody else want to say anything else in the context of this dialogue?
Cole/Well I guess what would be your response then to Jim's question, that wasn't just a
rhetorical question, that was a real one.
Throgmorton/Yeah.
Cole/Um,how do you respond to those agencies then that if we increased the allocation, would
you then go through the process again for purposes of determining how you would
distribute the money? Or would you just fully fund in the amounts that were originally
recommended? Isn't that what you're getting at, Jim? For instance, I think it was the Free
Medical Clinic that had said, 'Well if I had known you guys were going to increase the
amount that was awarded, I would have asked for more in the first instance.' So to that
point, if we do increase the amount funded, how would you respond then to those other
agencies? Would you reopen the process of soliciting so they could ask (both talking)
Throgmorton/Yeah (both talking) I'm not expecting that that would be the case.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 13
Cole/ Okay. But that's part of the concern, is my understanding. Okay.
Eastham/Should just respond real quickly to the notion of, uh, unlimited need. I don't think
agencies actually operate like that. I think the agencies....all these agencies carefully
assessed who they can serve, how much it takes to serve them, and they make budgeting
decisions on that...on that information. I don't....I don't think any of these agencies are,
uh, are...have a notion that their....their need from the City is a million dollars a year.
Throgmorton/ Okay, anything else?
Teague/I have one last, uh, clarification question. I think I understood that two agencies weren't
funded last year, that were on there this year. Now are there any agencies that are on this
year that didn't get any funding? Well....(several talking in background)
Vaughan/I guess it depends on what we have to work with. So....yeah.
Taylor/I think what you're meaning is....you had 19 on the list. Was that how many requests
you got, 19?
Vaughan/Yes,that's the number of requests we had this year.
Salih/And you mention if we....if we do not fully fund it, two of them could not get anything,
right?
Vaughan/Yes...that's possible.
Taylor/Because the last time there were only 15 who were funded. So those other four of the 19
either weren't on the list last year or didn't get funding last year.
Vaughan/Right. It goes to, uh, Mr. Fruin's point of recommending the 37,000, um....and then
that would fully fund, but...that's for agencies that received last year, and so there were
two who did not receive last year. So it would...then my assumption would be they
would not receive this year either. If we're....if we're basing it on last year's.
Throgmorton/We can probe that with (several talking)
Vaughan/...unless we divide it out and....yeah.
Throgmorton/We can probe that. Council Members,we can probe that with Geoff when...when
we reconvene as a decision-making body(laughs) Okay, anything else? Thanks so much
for your very hard work, very thorough job. Thanks for doin'the best you can on this
situation. Paula, great summary! Thank you!
Vaughan/Thank you very much.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 14
Throgmorton/Okay, so we're now in our sort of discussion and decision mode as a council,
right? So what's your preference, folks, and let's process this, not just leap to decisions,
but make sure we feel like we're makin' a good decision.
Taylor/Can I....can I ask Geoff then, I'm...I'm still a little confused what the difference would
be, cause it's quite a jump from proposal number two with 37,000 to proposal number
three, 251,000. But that proposal number two then doesn't include those four that would
be left out. Do we have a monetary amount for those, that could be(several talking)
Fruin/The two applications that....did not receive allocation last year would be the ARC of
Southeast Iowa and Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity. Um, they not only received no
funding last year, they have not received any funding since fiscal year 15. So I...I would
say that those agencies aren't necessarily dependent on these funds, urn, and even in fiscal
year 15, the ARC received $5,000 and Habitat also received $5,000. So, urn, yes, when I
made the recommendation, my recommendation was that extra dollars to,uh, fully...will
fully fund the, urn, the 19 agen....the ones that received funding last year at that same
level, um, and then keep the 19,000 for the emerging, urn, agencies discussion. So not
tap into that, but come up with 37,000 in new funds to keep folks flat, and then we can
have a discussion about, uh, how to increase that budget going forward. I think there's a
shared interest and....and recognition that we need to....we need to grow that budget
going forward. Urn, my.....my primary concern is if you fully fund it and you jump up,
you know, to the 625,500 level, that's....that's not gonna be sustainable, if you want to
fully fund all your other objectives that you have. Yes we can do it this year, with one-
time funds, but....again, we won't be able to continue to do that going forward, without
sacrificing somewhere else in the...in the operation, whether that's our department
services that we offer, our affordable housing funds, all those things that...that we do and
that you guys have been pouring through over your budget,urn, there's too many
competing interests for all those things to be funded going forward.
Salih/And the 37,000 will come from which (mumbled)
Fruin/That...so what I would do is we would take the 37,000 from our reserves and then I'm
confident that we can roll at a minimum that$37,000 into the operations budget for next
year. So that's why I felt comfortable...we....we can grow the budget by that amount and
sustain it. One thing when...we just need to do from an operational standpoint is we have
to set the public hearing for our budget at our next meeting, so we need to lock down
our....our numbers. That's why it's...it's easy for us just to use the reserves that are
already there.
Throgmorton/So one possibility comes to my mind is....to fund the agencies at what they
were funded last year, which is what you're recommending, perhaps with, I don't know,
2%inflation, which'd be, I don't know, something like$7,200 or thereabouts, uh, in
addition to the....uh, the....the total amount of funding, which is, was I don't know 350 or
whatever last year?
Fruin/Sure, anything like that would be fine.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 15
Throgmorton/ So....well, Maz, did....did you want to say something?
Salih/Not about what you say.
Throgmorton/Well I think....I was just,wanted to get the possibility out there that we could
basically agree with Geoffs recommendation. It's just a possibility, agree with Geoff s
recommendation,but perhaps but one-year inflation into it.
Fruin/Just keep in mind with the unknown on the CDBG,that...that 2%,which....which only
amounts to $740 I think. That could be erased pretty quickly.
Throgmorton/Right. I understand.
Cole/So right now for FY20 we're at 250,000 for the general fund, correct?
Fruin/ Correct.
Cole/And so under your proposal that would increase it to 287,000 from the general fund?
Fruin/ Correct.
Cole/And so if we were, um....going to fully increase the budget by 260,then we'd essentially
be doubling the budget for FY20, is that correct?
Fruin/Uh, it's....it s not, um....
Cole/If it's 250 (mumbled) like 300 (both talking) so like 510.
Salih/I just wanna propose something else.
Throgmorton/ Sure!
Salih/You know just by looking at the (unable to understand) organization, childcare, disability
use, food, shelter, you know, homeless, and etc., I think those organizations really doing
great job in the community, no doubt. And I always think about the money you are
taking from us and giving it back to the community, which is just a circle, and this money
actually is owned by the community in the first place. And that's why I think...for this
year, we can just fully fund them. Since, Geoff, you said we gonna propose 37,000, uh,
which is...make the....the amount that they should be fully funded, 223 more, uh,
including of course the 37. I really propose that to give them one-time funding to fully
fund all the organization and....keep it in mind to do what the Mayor said from now and
on, which is 2%inflation increase and with not the new amount cause this is a 223 would
be only one time, then with old amount,which is 374, that will be like all of them from
the general fund, the CDBG fund, and the utility fund (mumbled) total 374 and this is
will add 2% for the inflation every year, and the Commission will know that we do this
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 16
only one time,just because I'm worried about some organizations, they gonna lose their
matching fund, so they can get more money from somewhere else,but since they will
know from now and on, we are not going to have this every year. They will figure
another source to try, you know, to have the matching money after what they get from us.
I...I really, that's'what I propose, because I, you know just talking about the Shelter
House. I always, you know, there is a lot of need for there, and even though they doing
great job, but they are not really covering all the needs. I been taking people to the
Shelter House and we stay until 6:00 and they cannot find a place to stay, because they
are full! So just...you know, I think they doing great job and that's my proposal.
Cole/You know I was actually ready to come in here and make the unpopular choice and say,
you know, that I would support not fully funding. Um,because it is easy to say yes to
organizations that we all love, urn, and we all admire, and we all are so grateful in our
community, and it's incredibly difficult to say no to those organizations that do such
wonderful, um work, as far as that goes. So certainly it's the easy thing, especially as
stewards of taxpayers, to say yes, um, and it's very hard to say no,because it's a very
unpopular, um,position, and it's never....never easy to say no, and anyone who may
decide that decision I certainly respect that position. But I am persuaded based upon the
data, the clear numbers, it's an emotional topic. We all feel very strongly about this, but
frankly, Chair, the way you came and presented the data and the numbers, I think, was
very compelling, and I think what was most compelling was the numbers of people that
we have, urn, welcomed into this community, which....which is a favorable trend. Um,
Geoff, you had brought up in one of our, um, emails population trends. Um, we are one
of the fastest growing cities in the state of Iowa. We also have one of the highest growing
rates of,urn, international residents coming throughout the world, so we do have the
needs, and I think, Jim, you bring up a very sober point about the unlimited means, um,
but I think to Charlie's point was I think very effective, wherever you are, Charlie, um,
these are professional organizations. Um, sober organizations. Data-driven
organizations, um, that do these five-year forecasts in terms of what the look is, and I
think we can all assume that our demographic and our population trends are gonna...are
going to increase at that rate. So, and then finally related to the, urn, State and federal
government, there's no, urn, doubt we're facing a headwind,um, from our legislature as
well as from the federal government,but we can't control where they stand or where, urn,
the State stands,but we can control where we stand, and I think we need to make very
clear on that. As to the 2%, I think that sounds reasonable,but what I propose is a
conversation going forward is that over these next six months, I would of like to have
seen this on the front end of the budget process, rather than at this process. I do not think
this is an ideal time to do it, urn, I would like to see our HCDC partners come up with a
viable funding mechanism, cause I do think we have some flexibility in terms of how we
fund some of our services, our core services. So I'm gonna make that, urn, choice of the
full at 260, with a discussion as to how we move forward in terms of additional funding
streams moving forward. And I...I concur with Mazahir(mumbled) definitely be one-
time. We're not looking at this as an ongoing,uh, fund,because we do have these budget
pressures because of State and federal policy,but that's where I am at this point.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 17
Salih/Just before, you know,just I....I wanna add just one thing, I'm sorry! You know, and the
260 or the 223,because you guys always (unable to understand) money will come from,
and I know we don't want to rob the City Manager, you know, budget instead of saving
like money, we can take that out from the surplus, which is from the facility reserve, and
this is could be 223. I know 223....is for to reserve facility, but we can really invest, this
is not a lot of money, if we take it from there. It not gonna make like really big different
if we don't have this 200, that means we are not going to build the facility,just take that
instead of build the facility right now and we can build communities and use that money
to, for the community.
Throgmorton/What are we calling that fund, Geoff, contingency fund for the public transit
facility? Is that the term you've been using?
Fruin/Um, well a facility reserve fund for municipal facilities.
Throgmorton/ So that's what you're referring to, Maz, right? Take money out of this facility
reserve fund (both talking)
Salih/Right, cause we would like one million something 600 or....over there, we can pull only
200 because we still need more money for that facility, and this is only one-time, so we
don't interrupt the City Manager budget that he already(both talking)
Throgmorton/I understand. So, Geoff, I....I think I remember reading in your memo to us that
....we're actually making a two-year, it's a two-year cycle, so that the decision we make
pertaining to the first year applies to the second year, looking ahead?
Fruin/Um, that....that was the intent going into this. Um, again if you...if you decide to fully
fund, urn, at the HCDC recommendation, I would suggest that you....you not commit to
two years and that you go through this application process and the allocation process
again, unless you wanna, you know, if you wanna make this....your top budget priority
goin' into next year,um, you know, we'll make every effort to fully fund it that second
year but....there's.....there's opportunity costs that come with that so....
Throgmorton/Yeah, for....Rockne, I...I think given your recommendation about 260, and Maz, I
think you clearly agree with this, um, I find it hard to imagine that we will incr...if we
increase the...the allocation by$260,000, this year, and then suggest next year that that
260,000 won't be there, I don't think that'd go over very well. I think that would be a
problem for us.
Cole/Maybe. Cross that bridge when we get there,but I think...we're not, I'm not committing to
that, and so I think anyone that comes up that's watching on TM that makes that claim,
that's certainly not our intent at this point.
Taylor/I think on....on that note, it is something that we really need to seriously take a look at
and as Rockne'd mentioned, you know, looking at it a little ahead of the budget cycle than
what we're doing now, uh,because it is a serious concern that, uh, it's, first of all it's a sad
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 18
statement that, uh, there is so much need out in the community, but I think Paula said
something that....that kind of touched me, uh, because I think....you can't put a value
on....on these things,these....these human needs and these services that these agencies
provide, uh, you just have to look beyond the cost of something, and she called it the
human cost, and I...I, you know, we really need to look at that and....and what would be
the consequences if...if we don't address these needs, uh, they're just(mumbled)
members of our community and we need to help them out, and it should be a priority, it
should be a budget priority, you know. That's my opinion.
Throgmorton/Yeah, so....Eleanor, I spoke with Susan earlier today. She told me what she would
do if she was here. Can I bring that up,just for information purposes? Yeah, uh, she...she
told me that, you know, she would support Geoffs recommendation,just...and that's the
simplest way to put it.
Teague/I do think....the conversation here today could've influenced her position, and so I'm not
certain that it would be wise to share her....her thoughts without havin' experienced this.
(several talking)
Salih/Yeah,because maybe if she were here and she hear what the people say she would change
her mind. And even if you wanna count that as a no vote for this, that's not...that's not
legal. She's not here. She's (both talking)
Throgmorton/It can't count as a no (both talking)
Dukes/There's no voting going on (several talking)
Salih/If we like three of us, we don't have to vote, but if like four of us said yes, that's it! This
will go. But like bringing somebody else idea, she's not here, she's not here!
Taylor/Well it's helpful to hear what her thoughts were,but I think I agree that,uh,having heard
some of the things that the Commissioners said and the process that they went through, I
think that's kind of, uh, changed my opinion on it.
Throgmorton/Well fair enough. Uh, my own view is that I support what Geoff recommended,
with a modest increase associated basically with inflation, which is why I asked the
question about 2%, and I...really want to know whether agencies have reached out to
corporations and large, owners of large apartment complexes, to get donations from the
people who have wealth, uh....and, you know, and if we...if we just increase the amount
by a very large fraction, uh, there's no incentive to do that. So...that's my view and I
know others have different views.
Thomas/Well I....I think one of the benefits of....of the presentation was, urn, and what I
learned tonight was we, I think finally after years of this kind of stagnating program, have
a much clearer idea of what the need is. I think that's a useful starting point. Um, which
I think will help moving, as we move forward. The public, the community, potential
donors will also, I would hope,have a better understanding of what the...what the need is,
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 19
and that we'll all respond, you know, as we see fit. You know I am persuaded after
hearing, you know, the testimony from the Commission that,um, that was a pretty...pretty
serious issue we're dealing with. This is a safety net,um, for people who are the most
vulnerable in our community, I mean that's a pretty serious issue. Um, I...I would suggest
perhaps that,um, you know, it seemed like the number was sort of, okay, we're just
gonna....forward to Council the $625,000 figure, urn, one....one thought I would have on
that is that, you know, the Commission meet again, uh, look at this budget, uh, you know
there was some discussion that some of the agencies were saying look, if we had known
that, you know, that...there was the possibility of additional funding, we would have had a
different request. Um, you know I would say, from my standpoint, if we....if we found a
number that was not....not exceeding the 625, but there might be some adjustments
within that figure in terms of those....those agencies being able to have another
opportunity to...to weigh in on this, um, that might be useful. Um, but it....it does seem
to me there's just been too....too long a period of time where the... the funding's been flat
and then as was noted, the needs have increased so dramatically, and then I...I, moving
forward, we're clearly going to need to look at this program. I mean it's....um, and....and
how we as a community, with the City as a participant in that, move forward, and you
know, carry what we feel we can carry forward,but urn, for the time being I think this
seems appropriate to....to fully fund the requests.
Throgmorton/Bruce, did you wanna say(both talking)
Teague/When is the...allocations for the funds by the Commission due? I have no idea.
Fruin/ Looks like March 21'is our, uh, internal deadline, and that's driven by the,uh, HUD
requirements for the report. So....
Teague/While the Commission was up here, you know, I kinda heard a little bit of, um, you
know, we....we really do need to revamp the program, um, there's....there's room to
revamp how, you know, the process has been done in the past. Um, we are certainly, um,
behind when it comes down to....you know, not funding and increasin'the funding for,
urn, the Aid to Agency program for a long time. I....I guess at this point we're just either
gonna make a decision yes to move forward or, you know, do we go with, um, with what
the Commission has recommended or do we go with what the City has recommended.
Urn, my first initial request would be, Commission, can you all think about the discussion
today and then come back. That would be my first request. I'm not even sure if that's
possible.
Throgmorton/You mean with a different dollar figure to allocate.
Teague/Yes, I...I mean, there....there's huge valid points. I am all about public service, and the
needs that are here. I mean every body up here has said it. Urn, I also know that when
people go to get CDBG, you know, get funding,um, it is well known that, you know,
gettin'the, 100% of your asking amount is not typically what's going to happen. So I
don't know if it is right to ask the Commission, or if it's even plausible, to ask the
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 20
Commission to come back to us, or do we have to make a decision right now to give
them direction?
Cole/(mumbled)budget deadline, isn't that the main issue, Geoff?
Fruin/Well I think we could put a dollar amount on that and....and (both talking) I just...it's
been a tough process. There's been a lot of meetings. I think it's been tough on the
Commissioners. It's been tough on the agencies. I would...personally encourage you to
try to make a decision, for the short-term.
Teague/Sure.
Fruin/Whether it's fully funded or somewhere in between or mine,uh, make a decision for this
allocation and then let's....let's have some of those more long-term process-oriented
discussions when the pressure's off a little bit.
Teague/Very hard decision. Ur....I'm going to go with, you know, the fully funding, urn, from
the facility funds....of course I would love to really have like this is our, you know,
process to increase the Aid to Agency fund, but if we can't elaborate and have more
discussion, um, I'm gonna say fully funded,because....I mean the need is there. I really
wish that we had this back a couple of months ago and there could have been discussion
on how to increase this amount, urn, I am....l have fear that come next year, uh,there...
nobody's gonna want this fund to go down, and I think that's what, you know, that's the
possibility, and what we see, you know, as the requests now, we're gonna get the same
response next year that we have to have this money or our program won't be functional,
um.....I'm gonna go with the fully funding, and I am also gonna request that the funds
come from the facility funds.
Cole/My footnote is I would just leave it to Geoffs discretion.
Throgmorton/About where to pull the funds? (both talking) I would prefer to leave it to Geoffs
discretion myself. All right, I think there's clear support, five people clearly,uh, want to
fully fund the agencies. And....so I think we need a follow up discussion, but that's I
think clearly the (both talking)
Fruin/ ...make sure the staff that works with the Commission doesn't have any answers before we
adjourn here,but uh, from my understanding it'll be fully funding, fully funded for this
year. We'll....we'll do another application process next year. You're not makin' a two-
year commitment, is that correct? (several talking) We'll go through, and then we'll work
through budget allocations headin' into fiscal year 21's budget.
Salih/ Still wanna add the 2% (several talking) No, no, I mean(both talking)
Taylor/The cost of living.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 21
Salih/For next year, so they will know we are not gonna do the fully funded,but we might
increase it 2%.
Throgmorton/I think we should defer(both talking).
Fruin/I think what I'd like to do is....is sit down and have some more discussions with the
agencies,to Rockne's point,urn, you know, I accept some responsibility for this because I
think we could have engaged, uh, these last few years with some agencies on the front
end of the budget, which we haven't done at a staff level, and....and....and maybe helped
avoid where we're at,uh, so I'd like some more time to...to vet that,urn, and hopefully the
recommendation that you see next January for us will...may not be exactly what the
agencies want,but at least will be informed by the...the input that,uh, currently they only
share through the application process through HCDC.
Salih/Sure.
Throgmorton/Okay! Good deal. While that's a lengthy discussion,but a valuable one. So (both
talking)
Fruin/One last thing, Mayor,just cause I....I wanna be sure (laughs) in case we get into this.
Not knowing where the CDBG funding is, but knowing...guessing it's going to be around
that 100,000 level, we're going to fully fund if CDBG comes in a little higher than our...
our general fund contribution may be a little lower. If CDBG comes in a little lower,
we'll raise our general fund contribution up a little bit.
Throgmorton/ Sounds reasonable to me!
Fruin/(several talking) ...fully fund directive.
Throgmorton/Okay. So, folks, it's 15 till. We should take a break,uh, so that means I think
we're just gonna have to reconvene the work session after the formal meeting.
(BREAK FOR FORMAL MEETING)
(RECONVENE WORK SESSION)
Clarification of Agenda Items:
Throgmorton/Okay, so our work session for....February the 5th is back in session. First item is
clarification of agenda items and we just went through the agenda, so we don't really
need to do much about this but I do want to mention one thing,havin' to do with Item 19,
the resolution concerning the Labor Center. Uh,just want you to know that as a matter of
courtesy, I reached out to President Harreld and informed him a few days ago that this
topic, this resolution, would be on the formal meeting agenda, shared with him a copy of
the resolution, so he wouldn't be caught by surprise, and he appreciated that I think. Uh,
anybody else wanna bring up anything havin' to do with, uh, you know agenda items,
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 22
questions about the agenda items? Okay, so I'm assuming the answer's no. Moving
ahead, info packet discussion, January 24th.
Information Packet Discussion [January 24,January 311:
Thomas/Clarifying IP2, I....I spoke with Susan earlier today. She said where did this article that
I had submitted, where did it come from? And it had been something sent to me by a
resident. It....it was, it first appeared in the, uh, Corridor Business Journal.
Throgmorton/You're referring to Gary Watts?
Thomas/Yeah, the Gary Watts'piece on rental vacancies. So it...it....it was in the Corridor
Business Journal. I thought that in itself was kind of interesting, that that's where it
would show up. Uh, where he got his data I don't know. It might be interesting to follow
up on that,but urn, anyway, that's the back story on that.
Taylor/I appreciated seeing that, uh, article. I do wondered where it did come from and how it
came about because it's very timely with all of our discussion recently about vacancy
rates and 9.2, that's pretty scary number, and I think, uh,we really have to keep an eye on
that and be cautious about developments and....vacancy rates.
Cole/ I just wanted to briefly comment on IP3, urn, the Des Moines Register, two or three weeks
ago,had done a really good, a summary of the benefits of road diets, and included a little
video,um, which I was thinking that at some point we could actually, but we...we don't
have to. We can probably pass, unless people really want to. Um....(laughter) given this
time, so I would encourage the public to look at it, um, on their own time,but I think the
reason that I brought that up is that, you know, we talk a lot about how we, urn, do not
like what's corning from Des Moines sometimes,but we have surprising alignment, I
think, with our DOT on these road diets, urn, in terms of the safety benefits, the
environmental benefits. So it's sort of nice to have alignment with what our goals are,
and in fact, um, the DOT is actually encouraging these. So I think a lot of times the
residents think that when we do these four to three-lane conversions, think you know,
obviously a four-lane highway, or road, and moving it to three, that we're just sort of
proposing this out of our own personal preference. Um, these are our partnerships, in
many cases funded by the DOT in large measure, urn, we have one on Mormon Trek
that's gonna come online. It's had some controversy. We've had some at First Avenue.
Urn, the health, the safety,urn, all these different benefits are something that you can see
on the videos. So, in the interest of time, we're gettin' a little bit late at night, we don't
have to show the video. I do appreciate that it was all queued up. Um, I think at some
point if we have another discussion on a road diet, we should sort of keep this in the
queue,uh, so that we can just sort of see...it's a nice six-minute video. It is very succinct,
and it just sort of demonstrates visually, um, the power of that simple road design.
Throgmorton/Maybe we could do it in the context of traffic accidents, when we get to that
discussion.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 23
Cole/Yes!
Throgmorton/Depending on the timing(both talking)
Cole/Yep!
Fruin/I hesitate to tell ya that there's been a bill introduced in Des Moines (several talking and
laughing) That would restrict the DOT from encouraging cities to do further road diets
(several talking and laughing) Serious (several talking and laughing) The partnership's
good,but it may not last forever(laughs) Somebody didn't like their road diet and
(several talking and laughing)
Thomas/ ...was actually getting some really good press on this, you know, so here we go again!
(laughter)
Cole/I didn't think this would be controversial....
Teague/I looked at the video. I thought it was,um, enlightening, you know, the rationale, and so
um, while....while in Washington, D.C., I will say one thing. Um, they talked about bike
lanes, urn,bein'next to the curb, and then, you know, cars bein'parked. So, urn, that was
interestin' to me. (laughs)
Throgmorton/Yeah. Okay. I'll bring up IP#6, from the January 10`s packet. Wait, maybe I'm
getting', I don't know, my notes might be confused. Anyway, KXIC radio interviews.
Whatever item that is! (laughs) IP 6, okay. So we need to fill in some details here,
right?
Fruehling/(unable to hear) March 13th(several talking)
Throgmorton/ Sorry?
Fruehling/ Susan.
Taylor/ Susan,March 13'h.
Throgmorton/Okay, so I can volunteer for March 6 or 27. March 6 maybe. I think I can still
(mumbled)
Thomas/I...I'd like February 13th, if that's....
Cole/I could do February 27a'.
Taylor/Jim, you took the 6th or the(mumbled)
Throgmorton/Uh, I did March 6, right.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 24
Taylor/I can do the 20th of March.
Salih/ I can do the 27th.
Fruehling/Of March?
Salih/Yes.
Throgmorton/Uh, that's it, right? Are...have you said anything, Bruce?
Teague/I can do April 3th.
Throgmorton/All right!
Taylor/Did we get February 20th? Who did February 20th? (several talking in background)
Fruehling/ Looks like there's March 20th and then April 10th, 17th, and 24th.
Taylor/March 20th, but February 20th?
Fruehling/February 20th is you.
Taylor/Oh! I said March,but I can do February!
Fruehling/Oh, do you want....
Taylor/ I can do February. Sure! But then we have March 20th (both talking)
Fruehling/ ...then we have March (laughs)
Throgmorton/Why don't you do March 20th? Can a staff person do February 20th?
Froin/Sure!
Taylor/Okay, staff.
Throgmorton/Okay.
Thomas/Then April 10th, did you say?
Fruehling/ 10th, yeah.
Thomas/I...I could probably do that.
Throgmorton/That's probably far enough ahead. Anything else on that packet? All right,how
bout the February 1s`packet?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 25
Salih/The January 315E(several talking)
Throgmorton/Oh,what did I....did I say February Pt? Sorry, yeah, January 3151.
Taylor/We knew what you meant!
Throgmorton/Well good thing somebody did!
Salih/ I just wanna comment about IP7 and 8 that have to recommendation of adoption historical
district for the downtown area. I just wanna say that I really support the consultant's
study, done for about,how much— 13,000 or something like that, and....just to....I really
just wanna express I support historic preservation, even though I voted in two of them
maybe (laughs) but I still really support 'em and....I encouraging this study.
Throgmorton/Yeah, seems like the Historic Preservation Commission has done exactly what we
asked them to do, and they're giving us recommendations. My sense is that they're good
recommendations and we should move ahead on 'em.
Taylor/ I agree!
Cole/ I agree!
Thomas/1P9, um....I was very enthusiastic about what I was seeing there. Um....it, the idea of,
uh, the Community Foundation of Johnson County moving into that building, I thought,
uh, you know, we were already, I thought, making progress with purchase of those two
houses and then to see who one of the occupants might be in one of them.
Salih/Can you just say a little bit about the background of this,because I really(mumbled)
Thomas/Okay, these were the two properties on Gilbert Street.
Salih/Uh huh.
Thomas/And Northside Market Place, uh, that were purchased by the City, and there was a...the
thought that rather than converting them, or keeping them as residential through the
UniverCity program,uh, considering some sort of non-residential use, and so we put out
the request for proposals to see what potential non-profits might be interested in....in
those two buildings and we got two good proposals back, one from PSI and one from the
Community Foundation of Johnson County. And the recommendation in the memo was
to....to, uh, support the idea of the Community Foundation moving into I think 429 N.
Gilbert and PSI, uh, work out...continue to work toward trying to accommodate PSI in
425.
Froin/200 block, 229 and (both talking)
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 26
Thomas/ ...sorry! (laughs) And, uh, I....
Salih/Those owned by Mercy?
Fruin/They were owned by Mercy. We bought(both talking)
Salih/Right, sure!
Thomas/Just north of the Haunted Book Shop, those two houses there.
Salih/Uh huh.
Thomas/Uh, I think both proposals are, from my standpoint, I think very encouraging, uh,
Community Foundation has never had its own building. They're currently in the, uh,
Chamber of Commerce building. So they really have no physical presence in Iowa City.
So I think giving them their own place and they're very excited about moving into that
house, uh, I think sounds like great flesh and bones on, you know, the ideas that we've
been pursuing, and it....the PS1 suggested to me, cause that...that's a little bit more open-
ended as far as what, how that might go, but it reminded me again of the question of....
the form based code for the Northside Market Place and how....how that program-
matically could potentially play into that study, you know, the Northside Market Place
having PS1 potentially, along with the Community Foundation, you're really beginning to
strengthen the presence of that district,uh, in terms of its character and mixed use. So,
anyway, I....I was very, very encouraged by that memo and, you know, thanks to staff for
suggesting that we consider some other options in there.
Cole/I felt the same way, and I think this is another nice situation where you have a
recommendation from staff that is in full alignment and anticipates I think what we would
likely support. Um, I think it's a great choice. Public Space 1, lot of people know about
Public Space 1, urn, it's well known within the arts community, um, it's led by John
Englebrick. Sort of a quiet guy,but they quietly, on a shoestring, I think have built from
the ground up one of the most impressive arts organizations in the City of Iowa City. I
love that they have track record. I love that they have vision. I love that they don't only
talk, they do. Um, and we can be very confident that they will effectively utilize this
space. So I...I think staff hit an actual home run. We got the late submission from Little
Village. Matt, I love ya,but I also love Little Village down on South Dubuque. I don't
know if that would have caused them to move from South Dubuque, so urn, it's....it's no
knock on Little Village, I love what they do,but uh....we can't have all the good stuff in
the North Market Square. We have to have some of it, uh, south of Burlington. So, great
work, staff!
Taylor/Yeah, the Community Foundation proposal was certainly very sound and strong. Their
financial aspect of it, and the fact that they do plan to, uh, renovate, if...if need be, and
uh, they could absorb the cost on that. Excellent choice for them!
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 27
Thomas/They too have been in the community 20 years, I think, so both group, you know, PS1,
16 years, Community Foundation 20 years, uh....it's really exciting.
Throgmorton/Yeah, I'm really pleased, uh, about the recommendation.
Salih/Okay, move to another item?
Fruin/I just need one, so we wanna move fairly quickly on this,because we're...we have carrying
costs with these, uh, homes. So we'll....we'll engage both of those. The one thing that's
hangin' out there is still the relocation of the Gloria Dei house, and this was one of the
areas that we identified. Is there any concern with us continuing these conversations,
knowing that the Gloria Dei issue is unresolved?
Cole/Not for me. I won't wanna move there anyway.
Throgmorton/ It's just more expensive to move it there rather than one of the other, than the one
right across the street.
Froin/Okay.
Throgmorton/All right.
Salih/Okay, January 31', uh, Item#10. Uh, about the MPO,Johnson County, the...the, this is
has to do with the possible combining Iowa City and University of Iowa transportation
system. I just have question maybe for our City Manager, Geoff.
Fruin/Yes!
Salih/How this report fit with the transportation expansion study?
Fruin/Well when we went into the study, there was an understanding between Coralville and
University that it would not include, uh, a....a full-blown merger study. Urn, that was
what we had kind of set forth as the....say ground rules, coming into those discussions on
what a transit study may look like. Urn, I have told them that this has resurfaced in that,
um, you all will be having this conversation. What we would need to do if you...and the
other political bodies would want to do this, we just need to negotiate that in the scope of
the contract, which....so now is a good time to have the discussion. Um....because the
scope of the contract has not been defined. Remember we did a request for
qualifications, so we're identifying a consultant that has the strongest qualifications to
assist us with our study. After we identify that consultant, they will help us develop a
scope based on their expertise. So we have a little bit of time to, um, to figure out what
our scope would be. This is a significant change in scope, going from a route study
analysis, fare analysis to a....add in a, uh, basically what a combined system would look
like is a huge jump.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 28
Cole/How....how much more, you can't give us exact numbers,but how much more would it
cost, and two, what impact would that have in the production of the study,because we
know that the study already is going to take a while, and I think we all wanna get done as
soon as possible. Do you have a sense of that at all?
Fruin/I....I'd hesitate to even....
Cole/Okay!
Fruin/ ...give a guess on that. Rockne, I'm sorry. I...I don't know that it would lengthen the term
of the study that....that much. Um....
Cole/ Cause I guess my position would be is I think, Bruce, I think you made an absolutely great
point in bringing this up in the first instance. There...we believe that there could be some
really nice synergies in terms of sharing the resources, sharing the infrastructure. That's
our perception,but to have sort of that learned study, um, and I think now's sort of the
time. We're a growing region. So if we do the foundation and we decide,hey, you know,
maybe we can begin this process, this is sort of the first step. On the other hand, I think if
Geoff comes back and all of a sudden it's a huge expansion in terms of cost, sort of like
with our form based code, the Northside. We got sticker shock. We can revisit that. Um,
but that's sort of at least where I am at this point.
Teague/I had hoped to have, urn, some letters of support. Um, one from another,uh,political
body. Um, when I spoke to some of the,uh, of elected officials there, where they...were
those that I spoke to, they are in support of a regional system and another committee, urn,
that...is related to transportation, and so I do hope to,urn, get that support, which would
just, you know, I'm assuming that their support would be to really consider this, urn, as an
option,urn, and now would be the time to do it, and I understand....I'm....I'm the first to
say we need to move quickly on transportation, but not too quick where, urn, you know,
10 years from now or seven years from now we're gonna talk about the regional
transportation again. I think now would be the time to really have a great conversation
about it, do a little, urn, research, may....it may not be in-depth,but just to see if there's
others out there that want to do it,um, it would be worth it, uh, the wait. But definitely
my position was just to have the conversation.
Throgmorton/I'd be really shocked if other entities wanted to pursue seriously considering
merging the transporta...the transit systems. We could want it all, as much as possible,
but it takes other people to agree. I don't think Coralville wants to do it. I don't think the
University wants to do it. And then there's us. So....I'm not a big fan of, you know,
Bruce, you and I have talked about this before. I don't think it's politically viable. I think
what is politically viable is the transit study we've initiated, and I think that we oughta
nail.
Teague/I will just say that I think that we should at least ask the question, to the other political
bodies, and that....we, if it's been done, it's been done in the past 20 years maybe, here
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 29
and there,but I think if we're goin' into this new study,now would be the time to just ask
if there's any interest.
Thomas/Is...is, the coordination part,I mean, I don't have that memo in front of me,but I mean
there are different levels of...cor...you know,becoming one system, so to speak. Uh, is
that part of the RFP, short of(both talking)
Fruin/Yeah, there is, so they'll look at fare coordination, transfer policies, those sorts of things,
so that we can make it more seamless when you're going from agency to agency. Uh,
obviously we do some coordination already. We're on the Bongo system together. You
can,um, you know,we share an interchange. Uh, there's a lot of things that we do
together right now. The SEATS operation is something that we all come together to do.
Um,we hope to get to a higher level of coordination,urn,but it stops short of a 28E
service agreement, where you have one entity operating it, kind of like we do with the
Animal Shelter. We're not....we're not goin'that far. My...I....I tend to agree with
the...the Mayor's assessment on this. I think if we went back as staff to the committee
that we're working on, uh,we're evaluating these consultants with, and....and we've said,
hey, the Council's asked if...if we wanna reconsider a metro, uh...uh, transit set-up,uh,
with the study, I think we'll get a quick no from those folks around the room. Um, I...I
would say if you want to explore this, that needs to be at a level higher than staff. It
needs to be political body(both talking)
Cole/MPOJC, I mean, could we just bring it up on the agenda at MPOJC?
Fruin/You....you could. I'm tryin' to think how their agenda are structured. To...if there's an
open kind of item, but...yeah, I mean....all entities would be represented there. I just
don't think...if you're gonna look to me and say, hey, will you bring this up again, I can
pretty much tell you what I'm going to get. So you may want to go Council to Council,
elected official to elected official, in some type of setting, whether it's a(mumbled)
Throgmorton/Yeah, I think what's more viable,just my judgment about this, is....to do the study
we've already been working with other parties about, get the results of it. If that involves
a significant amount of collaboration among the systems, in the way that Geoff
articulated, great! Build on that. You know, it's a matter of time. (mumbled)build on
this,build on it,build on it over time. I think that has a lot more viability than saying, 'At
this moment we wanna have you, all of us rethink this,' and have some kind of...
consider whether to create a....a regional agency.
Teague/So I have one question. I think I was told that I could not go to other political bodies or
political individuals and even ask if their interested, except, um, the one political body,
where there's people I know there personally, I asked them if they were interested and if
they would write a letter of support, and I believe that that letter will be coming. So, am I
allowed as an individual on the City Council to go to Coralville, University, and ask them
if they're interested,because I...it seemed like no one here wants to do that, which is fine,
but am I allowed?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 30
Throgmorton/ It depends on what you mean by Cor...Coralville, or North Liberty. If you're
talking about you speaking to city councils of Coralville and North Liberty, I think that's
probably not a good idea. If it involves you, personally speaking to another council
member,personally,just exploring the possibility with that person....
Teague/You mean our Council?
Throgmorton/No (several talking) like Mitch Gross or whoever(both talking) and just saying,
'Hey, I have been thinking about this,' I mean, 'I, Bruce, have been thinking about this.
What do you think, Mitch?'
Teague/ Okay!
Throgmorton/You know, that's one thing and it's a very different thing. If you went there and
said basically, 'On behalf of Iowa City City Council, I wanna know if y'all are interested,'
that's a mistake.
Teague/Okay. Yeah. Okay. Got it!
Throgmorton/Okay!
Teague/All right, thanks!
Taylor/1136, about the,uh, automated vehicles and electric cars. I found that interesting cause
we've been encouraging, uh, electric vehicles, and even have some of our own in our
fleet, urn,because it'll help reduce our emissions,but then to see this, it's sort of like the
domino effect, that this is gonna happen. So I think we were talking about our legislative
issues, I think our lobbyists should kind of keep their ear to the ground and see what
comes up, whether it be a fuel tax or registration changes. I think we do need to keep an
eye on that.
Throgmorton/Boy I agree, you know,professor I used to work with, I knew very well many
years ago, David Forkenbrock, 20 years ago was, he was running the Iowa...the Iowa
Policy Center over at the University, and he said, 'I'm looking into using VMT, vehicle
miles traveled, as a....as a...a substitute way of getting revenues from vehicles instead of
relying on the gas tax,' cause the gas tax is gonna be a problem in the future. Twenty
years ago he said that! So I'm sure that the, what's called a Transportation Research
Board,TRB, uh, which is part of the National Academy of Sciences, has a ton of
information about this, and...so I think the suggestions the State's considering are a big
step backwards. And especially for us in our efforts to reduce clima....carbon emissions.
So....
Cole/ IPS and IP2, this is a follow up on the drink special issue, urn, and the 1P2 is the work
session agenda. I would like to get support from two other Councilors for purpose of a
work session on our drink special policy. Urn, this is something that was looked at, what
2010, 2009, Eleanor, approximately? Urn, where the Council was concerned about a lot
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 31
of, urn, downtown drink specials. Urn, and they banned two-for-one, they did a lot of
other changes. I think there was a particular,urn, issue about whether you could regulate
the price. I don't know that I want to identify any particular proposal now, other than I
think that this is something, given what happened last week, that I would at least like to
revisit this. Now it may be, and you may say, well you know what? I don't wanna
change it. I don't wanna over-react to one significant incident. It maybe that we
convene a work session and we revisit it and we say we don't need to make the change.
Urn, I think that will have value,because I think it's important that we monitor what's
going on with these institutions, that we engage them in conversation, that we also bring
out all the,urn, owners of the bars that are very responsible and restaurants that serve
alcohol that are very responsible, tell us what they do, and it may be that we don't need to
make any changes,but I know before the City went to 21, there was a lot of steps before
that,um, that they engaged the downtown community and finally went up there. So I do
think it's important we signal in a concrete way our....our concern about, urn, that
particular incident, and maybe there's some (mumbled) you can't, you know, legislate
common sense,urn,but nevertheless, um, what happened a week ago, um, did not violate
City ordinance. Urn, and it was permitted. So, uh, I would at least like to,uh, convene a
work session, you know, again nothing urgent. I don't anticipate we're gonna have any of
those sorts of temperatures again,um,but I do wanna at least revisit that issue, and urn, I
think that will have value, even if we then say, hey, we need to maintain the status quo.
So I don't know what people think about that, but I would like to have that on there.
Throgmorton/What kind of information would you want from the staff for that(both talking)
Cole/I think sort of where we left off with the conversation. It's my understanding, the issue that
I saw was, is that we banned two-for-one, urn, drink specials, but you can....there's no
lower limit is my understanding in terms of what can be charged. So if you....you can
essentially achieve the same result of a drink special that recklessly encourages large
amounts of alcohol to be consumed, um, under the circumstance. So for me I think
would be helpful, it's my understanding that the Council at the time in 2009 and 2010
considered regulating drink spec....drink specials more broadly than they decided to do.
There were some concerns that were expressed, and I think the Council at the time
rejected a similar...concept in terms of, you know, how low they could go in terms of
prices, and it may be that we reached the same conclusion, but I thought it'd be good for
us to revisit that. (mumbled) (both talking)
Dilkes/I can give you a memo with the history of it and....and why the Council landed where it
did and...and you can go from there.
Cole/Yeah. That's what I'm sort of looking at, and then of course invite the Downtown District
and signal to the bar owners for them to have the(mumbled) I think we can have a good
productive conversation.
Throgmorton/Maybe Tanya Villhauer and others with the Partnership for Alcohol Safety, yeah.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.
Page 32
Fruin/I think the, uh, PAS recently put out a survey to its members asking what they want to
focus on in the coming year. I know drink specials was an option on that, um...and I
think certainly if we approach that group and said would you take a look at this and give
us your thoughts, they'd be happy to do that. And that's a group, if you're not familiar,
that includes University, City, uh, bar owners, property owners downtown, various
stakeholders, urn, in the whole, uh, drinking discussion, uh, so that might be a good place
to start it too. I think they would probably appreciate your memo as well, Eleanor, if
they're gonna launch into that discussion.
Throgmorton/Yeah. Yeah, I think you have support, I mean....(mumbled) nodding heads. Okay.
All right, anything else on that packet, the 3151 of January packet? Uh, I think the
answer's no,which consists of Council updates. Maybe we could start with Pauline and
move to the left.
Council updates on assigned boards, commissions, and committees:
Taylor/Nothing.
Throgmorton/ She's shaking her head no. John?
Thomas/Well the MPO is tomorrow.
Taylor/Rescheduled.
Thomas/Rescheduled, so....(several talking)
Salih/ ....last Wednesday (several talking and laughing)
Throgmorton/Yeah. Rockne?
Cole/City of Lit got vortexed so....(laughter) Is that a verb?
Throgmorton/You know what, the polar vortex, it's not the polar vortex that's the problem
actually. I saw a 3-D video of this. It's the breakup of the polar vortex,which is probably
being caused by climate change. So the vortex is always there doin' somethin'but this
thing is brok...it broke up into three parts and one of'em plummeted down our, in our
territory. And it was because there's more warm air up in the arctic, and it's causin'the
thing to break up! Sorry! (laughter) I got, well I got this from Barbara. She's the
scientist. Yeah, so okay, any other items? Okay, I think that means we're done with our
work session. Thank you, everybody! We're done with our meeting, that's it!
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of February 5, 2019.