HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-03-24 TranscriptionPage 1
Council Present: Bergus, Mims, Salih, Teague, Taylor, Thomas, Weiner
Staff Present: Frain, Monroe, Dilkes, Fruehling, Nagle-Gamm, Knoche, Havel
Others Present: Wu, Longenecker (UISG)
COVID-19 Update:
Teague/ Very happy for everybody bein' here today. And this is a new world that we're livin' in,
the world of. ... of virtual meetings, and appreciate the opportunity to continue to meet
and have discussions with Council and our community. Um, our first item we're gonna
be talkin' about of course is COVID-19 and we'll get some updates from staff. As many
of you know, this is a hard time for, um, for our community with .... from those
experiencin' the illness, uh, from the virus, um, to those that are self -isolating, to all the
changes within our economic, um .... world as far as individuals loosin' their....bein' laid
off their jobs and things are very uncertain right now, but .... here at the City we are
definitely workin' hard. There's a lot of behind -the -scenes bein' done, not only here at
the City but at Johnson County through the Emergency Joint Entities and, uh, Public
Health at Johnson County, and so just know that we are workin' hard and doin' what we
canto help navigate COVID-19 in our community. I wanted to ask Geoff Frain our City
Manager to give us some updates from the City perspective, because there's been a lot of
changes here at City Hall, um, so wanted to get .... get some of the updates.
Frain/ Thank you, Mayor! I wanna start with a few thank yous, uh, first to all the agencies
involved in the Johnson County Emergency Operations Center; all the other cities,
County, uh, medical providers, hospitals, um, emergency management folks, it's.... it's
been a .... a great experience getting to be a part of that group and working collaboratively
on this crisis that we face. Uh, everybody is working extremely well together and, uh, I
think the community should be, uh, take comfort knowing that, uh, this is not a, uh, a
city -by -city response but a unified response here. Uh, also want to thank the State
delegation that we have. They've been incredibly supportive. Have had a number of our,
uh.... uh, State representatives, uh, reach out and ask how they can help and share
information. Uh, so that communication has been very positive as well. Uh, thank you to
the City Council and to the Mayor for your support, uh, through this time. Uh, the Mayor
in particular has been working, uh, long (laughs) long days, uh, managing both, uh, the
City business and, uh, his own, uh, personal business as well, so I, Mayor, I appreciate all
the time that you've put in and the guidance you've given me and the other staff members
here. Of course thank the community for .... for their understanding and patience as our
service delivery model has been turned on its head, uh, the last couple of weeks. And, uh,
I wanna.... end with a big thank you to City employees. Uh, it's amazing how adaptive
and resilient they have been, how creative they have been, uh, in .... in, uh, meeting the
challenges we've faced the last couple weeks and just proud to be a part of a team that
has worked so hard and responded so well (mumbled) crisis to date. The speed of change
has been incredible. Uh, I've certainly never experienced anything like that. Uh, you
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have days that feel like months, and I'm really just proud of. ... of again of how we've
been able to adapt to that speed of change. Uh, I wanna give a quick run-down of our
services. Probably take, uh, 15 to .... to 20 minutes and just give you a sense of, uh, where
we are with each of our major operations, and then, uh, answer any questions, uh, that
you may have, uh, and certainly look forward to any discussion that you have on... on
steps that we should be thinkin' about as we, uh, as we look ahead. For our Fire
Department, our call volume remains pretty steady in the Fire Department. Uh, we've
experienced great coordination with our, uh, 9-1-1 dispatch team and the Johnson County
Public Health team regarding, uh, cases where there's been a response to anybody that
has tested positive. Uh, we've made some shift changes to, uh, prioritize keepin'
firefighters healthy for the duration of the crisis, and this includes keeping, uh, some
healthy firefighters home and available for call-in when they are staffed over minimum
levels. Our fire leadership (mumbled) operations and is the primary liaison with the
Johnson County Emergency Operations Center. Police Department has seen our call
volume trending down a bit, uh, but as we learned last night, we still have serious
incidents to respond to in the community and we stand ready to do that. We have, uh,
similarly taken actions to limit officer interactions in order to keep our workforce healthy
for the duration of this crisis. Like Fire, this includes some work -from -home assignments
for healthy officers when our minimum staffing levels, uh, have already been met. In
these cases the officers stand ready to report, uh.... uh, if needed at any time during their
scheduled shift. We do have some police work groups that are working full time from
home, uh, and we've allowed the Police Department to spr...spread out a little bit here in,
uh, City Hall to give them, uh, a little bit, uh, again more room to spread out so they're
not, uh, working so closely together in the .... in the station. Transportation Services, uh,
we have maintained transit service, uh, to provide essential access to work, food, and
pharmacies. Spring break our ridership was down about 50 to 60% on average per day
and yesterday, uh, the first day following spring break, we were down 80%, uh, compared
to the same day last year. We have eliminated fares and asked for those that can to board
from the back of the bus to help protect our drivers. On the parking side of that
operation, uh, we went free parking in our decks this week after seeing our parking deck
occupancy dip around 20%, uh, during the spring break week. Our streets, uh,
enforcement, uh, parking regulations is very limited. Uh, we are making sure that, uh,
the stores that are open have access for deliveries; uh, for, uh, any restaurants doing
curbside pickup, we're making sure that those areas remain open and .... and certainly
protecting the space around fire hydrants and things of that nature. Extra attention on...
on, uh, Transportation Services staff has been given to ... to cleaning the buses and high -
touch areas throughout the downtown. In our Public Works operation, our primary
concern is in our water and sewer operations. We wanna make sure that we're well
staffed and we're protecting that staff and keeping them healthy to continue those, uh,
critical operations for the community. We are cross -training when needed and changing
shift schedules, uh, in order to accomplish that goal. Our water shutoffs have been
suspended. We are no longer shutting off water and we are, uh, a team has been working
to contact anybody that has had water shut off prior to, uh, this crisis, uh, to make sure
that if they're still living in those units, that we can get that water back on for them. Our
Landfill is transitioning to a Monday through Friday operation next week, we're
preparing for that, and that'll allow us to reduce the number of on-site staff, and rotate
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teams of experienced people from week to week. Uh, again another critical operation
that we really have to be thinking about long-term and making sure that we have enough
staff to operate that. So you'll hear that frequently on how we're dividing our staff into
teams and rotating those teams to limit interaction. Waste, recycling, and yard waste is
continuing as .... as usual and we've worked to identify a number of employees in other
parts of our organization, uh, that can be cross -trained in that, should we start to, uh,
experience any dip in our workforce in that operation. Uh, if needed, um, we do, uh,
have plans in place that we could call upon to reduce, uh, the frequency of our recycling
and organics, but we're, uh, not ready to make that call quite yet. Our Streets operation,
uh, continue, uh, with two teams of (mumbled) assignments, and the Streets team is a ... is
a ... is a backup for a number of operations, including Waste, Water, and Equipment. So
kudos to that staff for bein' so flexible and, uh, for their willingness to step up to help out
with a number of different... our different operations. In the Engineering divisions, we
continue to have construction projects move forward in the community. So our
inspectors will continue to do their daily work. Uh, we're also trying to keep our planned
public improvements on schedule to the best of our ability. So a lot of, uh, Engineering
is.....is business as usual for the time being. At our Senior Center all staff are working
from home. Uh, they're busy developing digital programming, planning for future
programming and fundraising efforts, updating, uh.... uh, facility policies, and seeking
out future grant sources. Uh, they are also making individual calls to all of our Senior
Center members, uh, little shy of 2,000 there and doing their best to connect any member
who may be in need of community resources. The Parks and Recreation staff pulled
together a daycare program which started this week for City employees. That is bein' run
at the Mercer Recreation Center. Open slots in this program are bein' offered to other
agencies involved in the Emergency Operations Center. We also have some of our rental
housing inspectors assisting, uh, with the building needs for this new undertaking. Our
Parks staff are doing basic maintenance throughout the parks system, preparing for the
growing season. They're also assisting other operations like our government buildings
that does a lot of our custodial work, uh, throughout the (mumbled) City facilities. Parks
is implementing shift changes as well to keep work crews separated while completing
those basic duties. I mentioned our government buildings staff, they have certainly been
working hard, uh, to focus on enhanced cleanings in especially high touch areas and in
locations where employees are still working every day. Transitioning to our
Neighborhood and Development Services staff, building inspections are still occurring,
but we have our inspectors working from their vehicles only. Rental inspections are
limited as well, and staff is exploring electronic inspections and photo documentations
going forward (mumbled) higher level of rental inspections. Uh, same goes on the
building side, we are working on electronic inspections for, um, homes or...or businesses
that may be occupied at the time the inspections are needed. The Housing Authority has
a rotation of work from home and office presence. In our Community Development,
MPO and Planning staff are all on work from home assignment right now. At the Iowa
City Public Library, everybody is on work from home status. Uh, they're performing
duties very similar to what the Senior Center was doing, uh, with online chat features as
well, and looking at how best they can deliver their programming, uh, electronically. Our
Finance Department (clears throat) as you can imagine the IT staff has been pretty
popular, uh, these past two weeks as people gear up for work from home assignments.
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That staff has worked incredibly hard, uh, to make sure that we have remote access, uh,
for dozens and dozens of staff. They have helped educate us on virtual meeting
capabilities, conference call features, and other a -tools to keep us productive as possible.
Accounting staff, Accounting staff has been super busy adjusting our payroll software.
Just about everybody has experienced different, uh, changes in their schedules and of
course that all has to be entered into our accounting software to make sure that people are
properly getting paid. They're also busy tracking, uh, COVID-19 related expenses and
preparing for any federal reimbursement opportunities that may come with those tracking
efforts. In addition to, uh, unplanned expenditures, we're gonna be, uh, tracking our
declines in revenues. Uh, we expect noticeable declines in hotel/motel taxes, motor fuel
taxes, parking payments, transit fares, user fees, and others. It's too early to know if
property tax collections will be down this year, but that's something we[re certainly
monitoring very closely. Another busy group has been our three, uh, person Human
Resources team. As you can imagine it's been a huge (mumbled) for them these weeks,
analyzing the new health guidance that was coming out, uh, sometimes it seemed like, uh,
a new guidance out every hour and evaluating its impact on our personnel policies and
individual positions here at the .... at the City. It's been a very resourceful team and they
are now, uh, they now have a reduced presence here at City Hall, with some work from
home and some shift assignments. Our Human Rights staff, um, are .... are working
remotely, but many of their duties, uh, continue without change. They still have
investigations to process. You know we all know that these stressful times can also lead
to an uptick in complaints, uh, to .... to their office as well. They'll continue with those
efforts and develop public education campaigns during this time. The Communications
staff has been extremely busy, putting in long hours, uh.... uh, throughout the week and
weekend, uh, trying to digest a lot of information and to still keep messages to a variety
of our platforms. We have added to the team, ub, from other areas of our operation
(mumbled) continue to shift more resources to our Communication's team to keep up
with the messaging needs that, uh, that we have. In addition to helping, uh, communicate
messages from the City, our staff has also been assisting the Johnson County EOC with
their messaging needs as well. I'll wrap up with Economic Development. We've halted
most of our traditional work in this area and turned, uh, Wendy Ford's attention to
monitoring federal and state aid packages. She's also researching local aid efforts that
may be emerging in other communities, and serving as our liaison with the business
community. Uh, I'll transition that into the economic impact of. ... of this crisis. We
know the economic impact is already staggering and will continue to grow in the coming
weeks. The magnitude of business loss far exceeds any scope of a response that a city
provide on its own. We do expect a third round of federal, uh, coronavirus legislation to
pass this week hopefully, and yesterday the State announced a grant program for small
businesses. We are very interested, uh, in what role the City may play, but first we need
to accurately project our own financial losses and capacity to offer new programs. If we
have the capacity, I would envision the local programs attempting to fill gaps not
adequately addressed by the federal and state governments. We'll keep monitoring this
and do our best to assess the needs of the local business community. Uh, and I'd like to
acknowledge the combined efforts of the Iowa City Area Development Group, the
Business Partnership, Downtown District, and Think Iowa City who have really come
together and collectively are doing a great job, uh, reaching out to our business
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community with the latest, um, information that's coming out of, um, the state and federal
government, as well as our local partners here. Um, they are gonna be a .... a key in our
response, uh, to the business community and we look forward to partnering with those
groups going forward. Uh, with that I'll just end with a statement that we remain very
focused on making sure our central services can be sustained in the coming weeks and
months. Um, obviously this isn't a short-term issue, and the changes we are making, uh,
will hopefully prepare us to be, uh, responsive with our city services, uh, for many
months to come, if that is indeed needed. Uh, we wanna make sure that we remain a
trusted source of up-to-date information. So our communications will also be a top focus
going forward. Uh, happy to answer any questions that the Council may have at this
time.
Teague/ Did you have our ...um, anyone that has a comment, just jump right in and .... or any
questions for Geoff, please just jump right on in.
Weiner/ Um, I don't have any questions at this point, but I really do want to, uh, underscore
the ... the shout -out to all City employees who have been incredibly flexible, who have
been working incredibly hard, uh, and who are picking up, uh, picking up jobs they may
never have imagined they would do.
Wu/ I do have one question about the .... the status of students after spring break. So earlier last
week, uh, the president of UISG and GPSG, um, recommended that students who are
away from break, over break, do not return to Iowa City and that, um .... students who are
in Iowa City should return to their hometowns if possible. Um .... does the City have any,
um, comment on this like .... or, um.....recommendation for what students should do....
who are in Iowa City at the moment?
Teague/ I think we, um, publicly we talked about, you know, stayin' at home as much as possible
Wu/ Uh huh.
Teague/ Um, I .... I do understand your question is really related to potentially the request for the,
for students to come back to the University and get their items. Um .... I'm assumin' that
has a little bit to do with your questions. As far as I know, our.... our..... our message to
the people in our community is really, um, for non-essential, uh, you know, activities to
stay at home. That.....conversations that students would have with the University, we
won't weigh in on. Um, if they have challenges to go and get their items, I think that's
somethin' that the University, um, has to really deal with themselves. So our message is
still the same, to stay at home and keep your, uh, activities to essential, um, and that's our
message.
Wu/ All right. Thank you!
Bergus/ I guess I just wanted to weigh in to, um, reiterate the thanks to City staff for being so
resilient and, uh, able to accommodate such a rapidly changing landscape so quickly and
....and helpfully. Um, I also just wanted to .... to kind of take a moment to reiterate all the
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updates that Geoff gave relating to City services and City staff, um, you know, those
program.... programmatic changes can't happen instantly, right? We're developing plans,
um, and accommodating what needs to happen, you know, on a moment -to -moment basis
and so I just wanna reiterate to the public from someone who's been able to have a little
bit of an inside view as this was all happening, but Iowa City's response to this pandemic,
I believe, is really focused on, uh, helping the most vulnerable people in our community
and protecting them, um, focusing on public health, and having that prioritized, um,
above, you know, any other factor is the health and safety of everyone here, and then
trying to get the message out, and Geoff spoke very well to that too, but when there's,
urn .... it's hard to know what sources to look at and how frequently and, um,
unfortunately not locally, but .... but you know on a more general scale, sometimes it's
hard to know what to trust, and so I think it's important for people in Iowa City to know
to look to the City of Iowa City and Johnson County Public Health for that information
directly from those sources and to know that people are working really, really hard and
really consistently to get good information out as quickly as possible.
Thomas/ Uh, I'll .... I'll, can anyone .... can you all hear me?
Teague/ Yes!
Thomas/ Uh, I just echo what .... what everyone has been saying and ... and thank staff for their,
uh, update and the comprehensiveness of it. Uh, this is a very challenging time we're
going through and um, you know, we have to be both nimble on the one hand and, uh,
also cut one another and ourselves some slack. It's sort of a ... a .... a strange position to be
in, because we do have to be innovative and .... and on our feet, but at the same time, uh,
give each other some space and, uh (laughs) both social distance space but also just cut
each other some slack as we move through this. But, uh, thanks again to ... to the staff, the
community. Um .... this has truly been a .... a challenging time.
Taylor/ Just .... I just have a comment to....
Fruin/ You're still on mute, Pauline. Look for the little red microphone (both talking)
Taylor/ I'll get the hang of this!
Fruin/ There you go!
Taylor/ There I've got it. Um, I just wanted to thank you, Geoff, for that very thorough report
and .... and echo what everyone else has said to, uh, thank our wonderful staff for
everything they've done to continue to provide the service that, uh, we need for our
community. Uh, as everyone said, it's a very trying time and something we haven't been
through before, but uh, we will get through this and, uh, thank you to everybody and stay
well!
Salih/ I also would like to say the same thing. Thank you, staff, you been working like around
the clock to ... to make sure everybody is safe. Thank you for all the thing that the Mayor
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has done during this time, but I really especially want to thank you for .... keeping our
employee, the non-essential worker, at home and even help the essential worker, some of
them, to work from home. This is really, you know, a step that, uh, make me happy that
we care about our employees and we are setting the standard high for the rest of the
community that how we care about our employees, and also I would like to really thank
you for keeping paying them and especially for the hourly workers. Uh, you guys really
done a lot of good work, and keep it up! Thank you!
Teague/ All right. Well, I wanted to definitely step in and .... and .... and give a great thank you to
our City Manager for, um, just bein' humble in .... in really consistently workin', day in
and day out, um, he and Eleanor as well, and there's a lot of other staff that, um, I wanna
give a shout -out to, the Communications ... are Shannon and her team, as well as our, uh,
Police Department. They're doin' a phenomenal job, and our Fire Chief was really
leadin' our emergency efforts here. There's a lot of things goin' on behind the scenes
and, um, and, you know, every aspect of the staff here at the City, all .... all across the
sectors, um, the accommodations that are bein' made and asked for, um, we're .... we're
really pleased for all that you're doin'. Um .... self-isolatin', of course, is somethin', uh,
that people in our community are doin' on their own and we really appreciate that.
Businesses are also steppin' up and bringin' their non-essential workers within their
operations now to a skeletal scale and even, you know, the virtual meetings that are
happening throughout our community. People are doin' this, prior to even bein', uh,
really publicly asked and so we live in a very fortunate and blessed community, um....
because people really are taking care ... care of each other by doin' these acts, and so ... I'm
very appreciative for all of that. Um, social services that are out there, frgurin' out ways
to help our community, our citizens, uh, fill in the gaps, and uh, to the Shelter House, um,
we're very pleased to know that they are really looking out for our, um, individuals that
are homeless and takin' some steps there. I don't wanna call too many business names
out there because I don't wanna, um, miss anyone, but there's a lot of social services out
there that are really steppin' up and doin' what they can, um, on a global, um, effort
within the community and we're seein' these, um, these barriers of `this is my agency,
this is my agency,' we're seein' those really go by the wayside and people are
collaboratin' to find and .... and share resources, um, so very pleased and thankful for all
of those, um, social agencies out there, and to the people that are suffering, um, in various
ways, again, those that are, um, you know, in the ... um, dealin' with the virus themselves
and havin' some health concerns, um, I know someone that actually went through it and it
is .... it, you know, for some people it's, um, kind of easy-going, and for others it can ... it
can take you for a loop, and so, uh, to all of those that are really sufferin', we are, uh, I'm
definitely, um, keeping you in my thoughts and um, and in my prayers, um, and hoping
for, um, our leadership in our community to continue to navigate this collectively and
find, um, you know, those solutions that we can create to keep our population safe. Uh,
there is a .... a group looking at our most vulnerable population, those within our long-
term care facilities like the nursin' homes, and other people with medically chronic
illness. So very appreciative to, uh, there bein' some intentional thoughts and some
planning around that. We're .... we really are in a blessed community, even though we
have some really unfortunate events happening locally and globally, and so thanks, um,
for everybody and what they're doing, uh, during this COVID-19. If. ... if there's no one,
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uh, wanting to make any more comments on this, um, item, then I will move on to the
clarification of agenda items.
Weiner/ Bruce, can I say something?
Teague/ Absolutely!
Weiner/ So I just .... I just wanted to ... to share a few thoughts, um, as someone who has lived in
areas where there were essentially pandemics before, um, SARS in Toronto and H 1N1 in
Mexico City. It, to me what this .... what the government here is doing and the
governments and the county and elsewhere are doing is really, um, I ... are really crucial.
Um, the .... this is what government is for. Situations like this are when, um, governments
and .... and we've seen in the City and others, really step up and serve their community,
and I .... and from my perspective there are .... there are a number of things that can happen
in order to maximize the .... the trust the community puts in ... in us. One, as you've
already mentioned, is .... is different levels of government working together, and we saw
that really on .... especially on Sunday with the announcement (noise in background) three
mayors. Um, the .... another is this recognition that we have a responsibility really to the
ent.... a larger region, not just Iowa City or Johnson County, because our medical
facilities serve a much greater catchment area. Um .... let .... other things that build trust
are letting the experts, the scientists speak and lead the way. Um .... and communication,
just a real shout -out to the Communications staff. From... from my experience we..we
cannot communicate too much on ... and that's one of the things that people will come to
depend on. Um, you mentioned people who are hurting a lot and there are lots of efforts,
I think is leading, that's helping the community. Uh, one other thing that I wanted to
mention is it's super important to, um, contain the rumor mill. If there are .... if people, if
people, if you all ... if people hear rumors, I really urge them to look to trusted sites, to
websites, to what's on the City and the County and ... and the State, and the Public Health
and the CDC sites, uh, and to go to trusted sources, because, um, disinformation can
literally kill and it's incredibly important that .... that people be mindful of the rumor mill.
Thanks very much!
Teague/ All right! Thank you for that, and if anybody else wants to jump in, please just, um, it's
a little challenging, uh, virtually to know when someone wants to make a comment, uh,
but feel free to jump in at any point if, uh, I'm moving too fast or if you want to, um,
chime in on an item, and .... and just feel free to jump on in there. Thank you, Janice.
Clarification of Agenda Items:
Teague/ So, clarification of agenda items.
6.j. Water Distribution East Pressure Zone Project — Resolution awarding contract
and authorizing the Mayor to sign and the City Clerk to attest a contract for
construction of the Water Distribution East Pressure Zone Project.
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Mims/ Geoff, this is Susan. I've got a question, um, and I apologize, I don't have the number
right in front of me, but it's with the eastside water pressure area. I don't know if
Engineering staff is on. The engineer's estimate on that was like I think around 240,000,
and the lowest bid came in about 350,000. Just kind of curious if we had any reasons of
why our estimates were off so much or if it's just engineering cos ... or it's just, you know,
prices have gone up and it's related to this at all or .... I guess it's 6.j. actually, the water
distribution east pressure zone project.
Knoche/ Susan, this is Ron Knoche, Public Works Director. Uh, as we analyzed bid results on
that, uh, I mean, we had two bids that were fairly close together, um, and the other bid
was a little bit higher than that. Uh, based on the analysis, uh, and the small quantities
that were a part of that project, it made it difficult to estimate that one.
Mims/ Okay.
Knoche/ (both talking) ....feel confident and comfortable with movin' forward with the low bid
that we did receive.
Mims/ Okay. Thank you. I was just curious cause of the significant difference, but thanks.
Appreciate it!
Teague/ Any other items?
5.a. Liquor License — New
2. Class C Liquor License for ESC Endeavors, LLC, dba TCB Pool Hall, 114
E. College St.
Taylor/ I .... this is Pauline. Should I .... (mumbled) muted okay or .... (both talking) I had a
question for Eleanor. There was an item in the consent agenda, the 5.a.2. about the TCB
Pool Hall, uh, they said that they were delaying the purchase of that and so could we pull
their permit? Is that allowable? We can do that? So would we just pull that out of that
consent agenda? When it comes to that time? Okay. Thanks.
6.c. Police Labor Relations Organization of Iowa City Tentative Agreement —
Motion to approve a tentative agreement between the City of Iowa City and the
Police Labor Relations Organization of Iowa City
Mims/ The other one I'd just comment on. I just thank staff and ... I'm sorry the, uh, yeah, the
Police Department. The contract we have, I mean a five-year agreement is almost
unprecedented, and so to get that contract that I think is very, um ... very fair to our
employees, but also gives us, uh, from the management side a little bit of improvement
on certain things, um, is certainly really nice, and gives us some certainty for the future.
So, uh, kudos to staff for getting that negotiated.
Taylor/ I .... I agree, Susan, that was an amazing contract accomplishment.
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6.e. Removing Appointee to the Community Police Review Board — Resolution to
remove Board Member Samuel Conaway from the Community Police Review
Board.
Teague/ Um, we did have a resignation, um, from the.... Community Review Board, uh, Police
Review Board and just wanted to just say thank you to Samuel Conaway, um, for ...for
services there.
Taylor/ We .... we got an actual official resignation letter from him, cause I had concerns about
him cause no one had heard from him since October.
Teague/ It's in the late handouts.
Taylor/ Oh, okay, I'm sorry. I missed that! Thank you.
61 Jefferson Street/Glendale Road Traffic Calming — Resolution authorizing the
installation of speed humps on Jefferson Street and Glendale Road, between Clapp
Street and 7th Avenue.
Taylor/ And Item 6.i., I was wondering if we could pull that out for discussion, cause we've just
received numerous correspondence, uh, regarding those speed humps, and I think we
should have some discussion on that. Would everybody else agree to that? Or not?
Mims/ My only comment on that would be that we have specific policies and procedures in place
for traffic calming, and .... it's not unusual that we get concerns on issues ..... on that issue
in every new neighborhood where it happens. You have some who want it, some who
don't, um, I mean I don't mind if we discuss it, but my personal opinion is we have ... we
have processes and procedures, and Kent and his staff go through that and I think we
need to follow the processes and procedures. If. ... if we need to make a change, then we
need to look at those policies and procedures, and I think we just looked at `em, I think in
the last two to three years, and revamped those a little bit, so ... my .... my thought on those
is .... thanks for your input. We have our procedures. It meets the criteria. So we go
forward with it.
Taylor/ Thank you, Susan.
Bergus/ I wouldn't be opposed to pulling that one out maybe for the purpose of just expressing
those .... how that process works. I know there was, I think there was one staff response
that was in the packet relating to the, sort of clarifying for the person who'd written in
that it was because the people there were requesting this and that they'd met the
thresholds for that, but I think it never hurts to reiterate how those decisions are made so
people know we are listening to the comments or we .... we receive them.
Mims/ Certainly.
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Dilkes/ I think in the .... talking about the agenda, the Mayor's plan is to (mumbled) item whether
they have comments to be made, we can do that without pulling it out for separate
consideration.
Teague/ Are people amenable to that?
Mims/ Sure!
Taylor/ Yes.
Thomas/ Yeah, that's fine.
Teague/ Great! Any other agenda item?
10. Lease Agreement with MidAmerican Energy Company for a Solar Energy System
at Waterworks Prairie Park Resolution approving the lease of land at the
Waterworks Prairie Park to MidAmerican Energy Company for a large-scale solar
energy system.
Mims/ Bruce, is it your intent to recommend that we defer, um, action on Number 10? We've
had a ... that's the MidAmerican lease for the solar, we've .... we've had a lot of input, um,
but given this.... situation and .... and being electronic, it's not really facilitating that kind
of back and forth, um .... I would be amenable if we, if that was suggested that we defer
that, um, and I did mention that to a member of the public today that we might be doing
that. I ... I've been, um .... I guess somewhat surprised and yet, um, pleased by the amount
of public input we've had that kind of comes at this with a different... perspective than
maybe a lot of us were thinking when we were first thinking, hey, great, climate crisis,
solar panels. Now we have that conflicting piece of our natural habitat and how do we
balance these issues.
Teague/ I think you bring up a general good point on any item on our agenda, um, so .... there are
some people that have reached out on this item specifically, as well as some of the other
items that were talking about on our consent calendar. Where I am, uh, personally on
....on Item No. 10 is there .... there will .... there may be some people tonight that will
want to, um, from the public that want to weigh in. So in .... because they'll be present,
maybe we'll go ahead and open the public hearing and hear from those that are present,
but I won't .... but I will probably, um, take a motion to defer, closin' the public hearing.
Um, you know, keepin' it open, and then deferrin' it to our next meeting. So that is what
my thought process is, where people will already be present tonight, um, to ask `em to
come back again, um, so that's what I'm thinkin' is that, um, just to ask for a motion, uh,
you know, um, so that we can, um, keep the public hearin' open and then defer until the
next meeting. We'll.....we'll probably hear from, um, MidAm. They have a
presentation, and... and if staff wanted to also, you know, weigh in. We could ask
questions as Council to staff, but because I won't close the public hearing, we won't
make any decisions.
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Mims/ That sounds fine to me.
Weiner/ And I agree with the proposal to .... to defer in one way or another, because I think it's
really important right now for our community to ... that they understand that we're
listening., that we appreciate that they're taking the time at this moment, with all these
other stressors, to reach out on a .... on an issue like this, uh, and that we're taking that
seriously.
Salih/ (mumbled) when ... when you say we are not gonna close the .... you gonna put the motion
to do fair closing the public hearing, is that means we don't vote for it after that, we just,
uh, discuss it and move on or how that will be .... happening.
Teague/ So I think, uh, questions to MidAm, questions to staff for clarification is probably the...
the most appropriate. Um, the public that will be present will be able to make comments
because I would open up the public hearing, but any type of, uh, discussion by Council
beyond questions for clarification, we will defer if it .... we have a majority,um.... until the
next meeting.
Salih/ Great! Okay, good to know. Thanks!
Teague/ And .... and in general, this is our first meeting doin' it virtual, so we wanna be cognizant
of those individuals that, um, are trying to get on. Some will be successful, maybe with a
little delay, and there could be some that we're not aware that wasn't able to get on, so
we're gonna be very cognizant of that in some of the items on our agenda that we know
might be items, um, that people do want to weigh in on.
Mims/ I guess when I look through the agenda, I ... don't really see anything else .... as we go
down through that .... that I would think that we would necessarily want ... and we have to
do the budget, because the deadline. Um .... so I, I mean maybe there's things other
people see, but I ... wouldn't see much else there that I think, urn ..... would have a whole
lot of public input or would really need deferral. Not sure if anybody else thinks
differently. If you do I'd be happy to hear thoughts.
Thomas/ Yeah, it seems to me the only one that I'm expecting comment would be the, um, the
solar field.
Salih/ Yeah, me too. I think that's the only one.
Information Packet Discussion (March 5, March 12, March 191:
Teague/ And ... and I would agree, urn .... that Item No. 10, um, is .... is the one where I ... I've heard
from people in the community about...... outside of comments on the consent agenda.
(laughs) All right! Info packet, March 5's. (noises in background) Info packet.... March
12th. Info packet, March 19`s. All right, don't seem like there's any, uh, items there that
people want to discuss. Um .... we know that Council (laughs) updates have really
shifted, um, in this virtual world, and actually the past couple of weeks lot of things have
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been canceled. Um, we did have our, um kind of our organizational meeting, um, and
strategic planning meeting, you know within the .... I don't even remember the date.
(laughs) Things have ... it seems like a year ago (laughs) But, urn .... we had that ... and
thank you all for bein' a part of that, uh, we'll have to find, um, some work session here
to add that to the agenda, but as you can imagine, COVID-19 has really been the focus,
urn, at...at the forefront of a lot of things that's been happening here, but why don't we,
um .... um, I think I'll just kind of open it up, if anyone has any Council updates on
assigned boards, commissions .... or committees.
Council updates on assigned boards, commissions, and committees:
Weiner/ Yeah the ECCOG meeting was canceled.
Salih/ Nothing for me!
Mims/ JECC has been canceled for now (mumbled)
Taylor/ Same for me.
Thomas/ Nothing for me as well.
Bergus/ I had a UNESCO City of Literature meeting on the 10`h (mumbled) strategic planning
meeting, which does seem like years ago at this point. Um, we actually met in person, all
around the same table, but um .... I .... I would just .... (recording changes, unable to hear
speaker clearly) job of, um .... helping with, uh, coordinating for that organization, and of
course there's travel involved (unable to hear) and that kind of thing, but I've been
pleased that they're planning and adapting like every other, um, agency.
Teague/ All right, and a lot of the things that I had scheduled beyond COVID-19 related items
have been canceled. Um, typically they were canceled, so I have no updates as well. If
there are no more updates for, uh, this time or no other items for right now, we will
reconvene at 7:00 P.M. for our formal meeting. I did have maybe one, uh, question just
relating to what people thoughts are for future work session times. Are we comfortable
with 5:00 P.M. or do we wanna move `em back to 6:00? Um, I wold propose that we
keep our formal meetings at 7:00.
Salih/ I think it depend, uh, like today we don't have a lot (unable to understand) everything will
go like very fast, but if we have something that need time, we keep our two hour. If we
don't, we just make it .... you know, as soon as agenda come out maybe we can .... say
what ... what we warm do.
Mims/ I think for the public, I would encourage that we just keep it at 5:00. If we don't have a
long agenda just gives us a little bit more of a break in between, uh, but since we are
doing this all publicly, even though it is, you know, electronically right now, it's been
....we've been very consistent with that time. I know it's a different way for people to
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access it, but at least that would be one consistent thing for the public. So I would keep it
at 5:00.
Thomas/ I ... I would agree. There's been so much that's been disrupted, why not keep our times
the same.
Taylor/ I agree, the consistency of not knowing what's going to come up in the next few weeks,
we may need that extra time. (several talking; feedback sounds)
Teague/ We'll go with 5:00 P.M., and we'll see you in a little over an hour! So see you at 7:00.
Thomas/ Thank you.
Bergus/ Thank you.
Teague/ Bye!
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session of March 24, 2020.