HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-03-10 TranscriptionPage I
Council Present: Bergus, Mims, Salih, Teague, Taylor, Thomas, Weiner
Staff Present: Fruin, Monroe, Dilkes, Fruehling
City Manager Introduction:
Teague/ So I call to order the meeting for March 10th at, uh, and this is our strategic planning
meeting, an organizational meeting, and so from ... I'm happy that everybody had the
opportunity to make this, uh, in your schedule. Thanks to staff for arrangin' this room for
us to be in and thanks to all the Councilors for being a part. And from there I'll hand it
off to Geoff.
Fruin/ I just wanted to, um ..... acknowledge right off the bat, we're scheduled to go from 1:00 to
5:00. Um, as you all know, I'm pullin' up this information right now, um, the Johnson
County, uh, has opened up its emergency operation center. Today's the first meeting at
3:00, and we will have, uh, staff, uh, present, uh, for that meeting and then, uh, at 4:30,
uh, there is going to be a media conference, and uh.... anybody that wants to attend that
can attend that. So if we have, if you all have an interest in that, um, we can shorten this
meeting and make up time as needed. Just wanted to put that out there early and allow
you to decide now if you wanna try to wrap up by 3:45 or 4:00, so you can get at the far
end of (laughs) Iowa City, uh, for that press conference, or if you're not interested, that's
fine. The City will be represented, but understand that as an elected official you may
wanna, uh, be there to hear things first hand and to, um, show your interest and
involvement in the situation. (talking in background) It's out at JECC. (talking in
background)
Mims/ Out at JECC, Johnson County Emergency, it's out past West High. (talking in
background)
Teague/ On Melrose, correct? (talking in background) I ... I think personally, um, it would be
great if Councilors, um, whoever wanted to would be present. I do plan to stop by there,
which change .... a 5:00 event that I'll be at. Urn ... but we'll have City staff there. Um ... I
don't know what other people are thinking.
Weiner/ I would like to go if possible. (several responding)
Fruin/ Okay! We'll ... better wrap up by 3:45. Again, I don't .... not all of you need to go, don't
feel compelled to go, um, so you know, uh, our Fire Department will be our primary rep
on the EOC, but we also have our Public Information Officer, Shannon McMahan, that's
a part of that process too, so they will both be there. They take the information that's
discussed at the EOC and bring it back to our command post, which is more our City
response. So ... so that there's a coordinated effort between those two entities. So we'll
try to, uh... uh, stop, urn .... where we're at about 3:45, does that sound okay? Gives
(mumbled) Okay, well, uh, as .... as the Mayor said, uh, wanna just echo thank you, uh,
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council strategic
planning work session of March 10, 2020.
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for making time in your busy schedules for this. Uh, strategic plan is one of the most
important, uh, documents, uh, policy statements, goals that you will produce during your,
uh, time as a City Council. So, uh, making sure that we put enough time to it is, uh, is
very important. I hope you had a chance to look at the final strategic plan draft that was
in your IP a couple weeks ago, from the last two years. Uh, Ashley and our
Communications staff did a nice job of pulling that together. It gives ya a high level
review of, uh, how we tackled the, uh, the strategic plan from 18-19, and we'll give you
an idea of, uh, how we, you know, go about, uh.... um, working through those, um,
projects and policies that are identified and report those out to the public. We try to do it
on a quarterly basis. Uh, frankly we haven't been able to .... to .... to meet that schedule,
uh, the last, uh, few years. So it's more.....it's more like twice a year, uh, that ... that we
get that type of document out. Uh, but there's a lot to be proud of there. I'm proud of the
progress we've made, uh, in that, uh, that's shown in that report. Uh, we also know that,
uh, there's a lot more to do, and uh, even the report acknowledges that some of the
actions are still pending, uh, and I expect that those will probably be reflected in some
way, shape, or form in your strategic plan going forward. Um .... I wanted to, uh.... um,
also call your attention to a memo that was in the last information packet, that's your
March 5a' information packet. It was just about a page and a half memo, there to remind
you of those seven goals which are on the screen now. Those are the ones we'll be
reviewing today and modifying as you see fit. But I also listed several significant items
that are, uh, underway right now, that ... that you should just keep in the back of your mind
as you're thinking through, uh, new projects and plans for the community. So real quick,
uh, that's the implementation of our accelerated climate plan. That climate plan, uh, you
will be asked to adopt that climate plan in .... in your next few meetings, and we are
already working on implementation of that, hiring the climate action staff, uh, etc. The
transit study recommendations, uh, should be coming to you this summer and we'll....
we'll, uh, require probably a significant amount of your time in listening to the public and
sifting through those recommendations. We have the South District form based code.
That's underway, that you recently had a joint work session on with the School District,
and that will be coming probably just ahead of that, uh... um, transit study. Uh, hopefully
here yet to come in the next 30 days or so is our pavement management study. We
haven't talked a whole lot about this particularly with the new, uh, Council here, uh, but
this was a study that we had a consultant come onboard and really look at our pavement,
uh, management, urn ... uh, approach, looked at the condition of every single road in Iowa
City, and as forecasted, road conditions and funding sources needed to maintain, uh,
various condition levels, and we'll be presenting that to you shortly and talking through,
uh, kind of a desired financial plan to meet the road condition expectations that you have
going forward. The FY21 budget that you will be asked to approve at your next meeting
has what I'll call as kind of the second and final phase of our Parks master plan. With our
first Parks master plan, that you're all very familiar with, we looked at the parks, what
most people look at as our park facilities, 44 parks, uh, approximately. Uh, this one is
gonna pick up all those areas that we did not look at in that first phase. So this is our rec
centers, our athletic fields, and our pools, and that'll be a significant process. Probably
not a whole lot on the Council end of that until, um, maybe late until .... in 21, uh, by the
time we get through all the ... the public input process and .... and our staff kinda works
through that. Uh, but that'll be coming to you towards the end of this planning period.
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planning work session of March 10, 2020.
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And then as you've heard me talk about in the budget before, I think, uh, we really need
to get, uh.... moving at a quicker pace with some of our facility planning, and that's
something that we're spending more time on at a staff level and the City Manager's office
and Finance Department. Uh, we have a .... a RFP out on the Senior Center building right
now, which will help guide future improvements there. We have funds in the budget to
do a similar exercise, uh, with Police, and we are actively seeking federal funds, uh, for a
new Transit building as well. So, um, those are a few of the most acute needs, but there
are others, uh, that need attention too, including a couple on Public Works, our
Equipment and our Landfill, and then the Fire Department, which you're also familiar
with their needs. So some major, major things, those .... those by themselves would be
big issues for many councils to tackle and uh, there are six or seven of `em that I just
rattled off that in, uh, will be in front of you. So, keep that in mind. Uh, I don't wanna
say don't .... I'm not sayin' don't add other things. I just wanna make sure that you fully
understand what's coming your way and .... and what your .... what your staff is working
on. So we decided not to do, uh, not to have a facilitator lead this. So I wanna, um, go
through one exercise with you. Uh, I'm not much of a team building guy. We're not
gonna do trust falls or, uh, determine what color personalities we have today, although
Eleanor really wanted to do that (laughter) um ... but I did wanna go through one exercise
because I think it may help the discussion going forward. So what I'd like each of you to
do is just take two to five minutes and write down the top handful of things. I don't
wanna give you a specific number, but as you were knockin' on doors in your campaign
or as you go and you meet with your constituents, have coffee, uh, talk with friends and
neighbors, what are the top tier of City -related items that you, uh, that you hear from
folks? What are the most common concerns or opportunities, uh, that.—that you hear
when you talk with folks, and what I'd like to do is just each of you to write down those.
Again, no specific number, um, and then we're gonna record them, uh, here. I'll put `em
up on the screen, and I hope that when we work through those, uh, seven goals or
where.....whatever number we end up with, that those items will help inform some of
your discussions. (pause while Councilors writing) (noises in background) Okay
(mumbled) we're going to get ready to take some notes. Ashley's gonna put `em up on
the screen here. (loud noises in background) (laughter) We might need to (mumbled)
(several talking)
Monroe/ (mumbled)
Fruin/ Okay, uh, Mayor, I'll defer to you on the order, unless we wanna just go around.
Teague/ Oh! Um .... yeah, I think we'll just, if anyone wants to just start. Who's ready?
Mims/ I'll start! Uh, streets, condition of our streets (mumbled) concerned about that. Um...
high property taxes. And this comes, this next one obviously comes from a certain
segment, but the .... the City is "difficult to work with," and I would say this .... this just
comes back to zoning ordinances, the complexity of our zoning ordinances, and
regulations related to development. I .... what, from what I hear, it's not reflective of staff.
It's reflective of the structure of things. Um .... affordable housing. And transportation.
Those are, I would say the top (mumbled)
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planning work session of March 10, 2020.
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Teague/ Thank you!
Thomas/ Well I ... couple of days ago sent out in a memo, and I guess in a way that's what I was
trying to do was identify in that memo some issues that have been on my mind for a
while, um .... as well as things that did come up in the campaign. Um, so I'll try to go
through those. Um .... the first one had to do with while we're working on the transit
study to ... to look at a comprehensive assessment of our parking policy. Uh, the .... the
issue there that I saw was, you know, the .... the question of mobility is complex and if
you don't include the .... parking piece, the .... the transit may not, our goal with respect to
transit, may not be met. Um .... getting a better understanding of the student housing
market. Urn .... then I have, you know, that could be a market preference survey. Um,
evaluating opportunities for redeveloping auto -oriented commercial districts. Uh, street
safety, uh, with special consideration to, uh, our Iowa DOT, um, right-of-ways or
designated streets, which would include Burlington, as well as the Highway 6 corridor.
Those were the two I was focused on. Um .... understanding, you know, this question of
.... with .... with our land use policy, are we confident that the revenues generated, uh,
when we expand, uh.... with new development, does that new development pay for itself
basically. Um .... and then there were a number of community engagement concerns, um,
making the City's website more user-friendly and appealing, um, encouraging
neighborhood engagement, and evaluating ways we could, um ... engage our youth in our
formation of public policy.
Salih/ (unable to understand)
Fruin/ No, I want you to repeat `em, if you have `em. Cause you all may be talking to different
folks in the community and....
Salih/ Yeah, uh, for me (unable to understand) housing. People talk about affordable housing,
and transportation. Also like diversity and like they want the City's ... the staff look like
the community, you know, and also economic development, where our city can bring
more job back. (unable to understand) livable wage. (unable to understand) ...and, uh, of
course the engagement, like, uh, people's.... like feel like isolated and we need like more
thing that so all the community can be like engaged, and urn..... the .... I guess (unable to
understand) ....people complain about the Police Department. I don't know how to put
that like the people complain like the treatment by the .... Police Department and
translation, like because sometime the police stop someone and not providing translation.
That's really doesn't like .... uh.....(unable to understand) Yeah (unable to understand)
Frain/ Okay!
Taylor/ Little bit on the lines of.....John talked about the redeveloping (mumbled) commercial
districts, I ... IId like to see the City have, uh, more of an aggressive, uh, involvement in
promoting retail, cause I'm hearing a lot of concerns from people about the empty
storefronts and they'd like to see, uh, see some sort of involvement with that, uh, perhaps
incentives or, uh, planning for that kind of thing. Uh, along the lines of affordable
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planning work session of March 10, 2020.
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housing, not only providing it, encourage developers to provide it, but again, uh, offering
some sort of incentives for rehab of properties, uh, that are already existing, cause they're
saying that (mumbled) so expensive that (mumbled) but there's an existing building they
could redevelop. Urn ... also hearing a lot about historic preservation, and I .... I would
hope that we could continue, um, funding incentives for property owners, uh, to rehab
their homes, as well as, uh.... doing something that encourages the property owners to
accept the designation (mumbled)
Weiner/ (several talking, laughing) Uh (mumbled) so I .... I did hear a lot about the .... the need
for continued historic preservation, maintaining Iowa City's (mumbled) (noises in
background, difficult to hear speaker) Um, east side and west side development, uh, in
particular business on .... on both sides, uh (mumbled) Sycamore Mall area, as well as
others, uh, figuring out how to focus on business development in .... in those areas, not so
in the downtown, so that there can be other really viable (mumbled) ...well, streets need
to be fixed, uh, was a big issue. Affordable housing, just like everyone else. Also
different ways of approaching it, whether continuing the .... the, to work on the bike
master plan. Um .... taking a look at parking and perhaps exp.... expanding metered
parking into.... into some of the other, further into some of the neighborhoods where....
where it doesn't exist to ... in part to help (mumbled), to help people (mumbled) parking
was a topic, somewhat to my surprise, that kept coming up in different ways. Racial
justice (mumbled) equity, and um .... transportation, again including interim measures for
evenings and weekends, until .... until we (mumbled) some solution.
Bergus/ I talked to a lot of people who wanted to know more about what the City was doing, or
they weren't really sure how to find information about what the City is doing, which
probably ties into website, as well as just general communications. Complaints about the
condition of the streets, as well as complaints about parking, especially downtown. Um,
folks being concerned that are, uh, particularly the downtown area isn't as welcoming or
inclusive as it could be, and contrasting sort of the success of the Public Library in that
realm, with other places and even other City facilities. Um ... sort of generally, public
safety and concerns about .... urn, maybe methods of policing and .... then sort of a
different category, which is I heard it among folks, just like sort of concerns about shots
fired and about what are we doing about this, what's happening in our community. Um,
similar to what Janice said about the character of the community and people... hearkening
back to the past and saying `what are we doing with development and growth.' Um ... and
then a lot of. ... housing concerns. So affordability in general, rental housing relating to
students at capacity, rental permits and moratorium, uh.... I think that probably hits
everything.
Teague/ So climate action of course has been mentioned, affordable housin' has been mentioned.
Um, I think the ... the rental and the ownership, um .... both for affordable housin'. I think
sometimes we think about affordable housin' just from a rental standpoint, but also from
a ownership standpoint. Um, there is definitely economic disparities within, uh,
individuals that do own homes, uh, within the community. Um .... um, for homeless, um,
I actually heard a lot of people talkin' about tiny homes ... for homeless people, um,
creatin' a tiny home, um, area. Um, transportation, I think that's been mentioned. Well,
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we know that's been mentioned. Um, and I think Sunday service and evening service
was the nain... main things there. Um ... accessibility, urn.... throughout the community, uh,
at our parks, at our City buildings, which I think we're pretty much ADA -compliant.
Um, curb cuts, I believe we're workin' on that, um, but that is, um, definitely
accessibility, and (mumbled) parking, um ..... that really has been relating to not enough
space downtown, uh, for cars, people have to drive around, you know. There's ....there's
full lots at times. Urn .... parkin' throughout the rest of the community, I don't ... I mean we
hear some things here .... here and there, but not too much. Um .... police has been a topic,
um.....and I think this, from .... it has to do with a lot of our, um, minorities, uh, people of
color who have, urn .... had some experiences that they would like changed.
Urn .... diversity throughout our departments, the City departments, um, that's .... um....
you know, from leadership and (mumbled) it's inclusive of minorities, um, which include
women, people of color, um .... as well as our immigrants, you know, people that are here
legally and can work in some of the (mumbled) departments, in higher up positions.
Um ... one -door organization, kind of like the Access Center in theory, where you go to
one place and you can, you know, coordinate with other .... urn ..... continuum of care
partners throughout our community. So for an example, um, we have the Housing
Fellowship somewhat, you know, under that City umbrella, and DHS is totally different.
Um, you know, they're very different, um, services, but often people have used
commonalities between them and so kind of a one .... one -door organization partnership.
Um .... and then one thing .... uh.... snow removal, I think we've heard a lot about that.
(laughs) Um.....snow removal is a .... is definitely a hot topic. Urn .... and then policies
are not intentionally set or crafted to harm minorities, um, but .... we do see at times that
they do, um, they effect them and .... a part of that is they're not, you know, sometimes
they're not at the table ... to talk about it, um, but then it's somethin' that I've heard, um,
you know, from several people. Uh, Library fees, that's .... I think that was more recent.
That wasn't during the campaign trail. Um, we .... we have made progress, which is
great! Um, but I think no library fees is kind of. ... urn .... the notion there. Small business
entrepreneurs, I think we need, um.....you know, makin' some headway there, but there's
a lot of people in our community that.... would like more opportunity and, um, I think we
can become more creative in how we do the economic development or the things for our
small business entrepreneurs. Childcare is huge right now (laughs) I've been hearin'
about that and there's, um, forums goin' on, you know, to try to tackle that. And then I
would have to echo what, uh, Councilor Bergus said about the downtown, um, I....I've
heard people even say the downtown isn't for me, like it's not inclusive. That ... there's
nothing for me to go down there for. Um, and .... and I also heard people say downtown is
everything! And we don't get anything in the periphery so .... um, I think maybe some of
that could be, um .... some of the events that we have. We may want to look at takin' `em
to some of the core neighborhoods, big events. Um, and that is all I have!
Thomas/ If I could just add one thing, after hearing everyone, and that was the, uh, the idea of
using neighborhood revitalization planning as a way of framing many of the issues that
we've brought up. You know, the .... I think the neighborhoods are an interesting way of
trying to understand, uh, since .... how these issues play out in everyone's lives, because
we all spend a lot of time in our neighborhoods. So ... you know, whatever these variables
we look at, how do they affect us in the neighborhoods, and are there patterns that we, if
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planning work session of March 10, 2020.
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you look at things from a neighborhood standpoint, patterns and convergences with
respect to some of these issues they might find. You know, I know that our (mumbled)
issues of housing, you know, this whole question of losing all controls over the student
rental market. You know, I've been here now 10 years and I would say some of us in the
neighborhood feel more vulnerable now than ever to .... you know, how this market might
be influenced, if the student market may affect our quality of life. We have issues, as
we've said, with parking. We have issues with respect to transportation. So using
neighborhood planning as a framework, uh, I've seen, and I've mentioned this to some of
you, um, has been useful in other cities. Uh, Des Moines has a, for example, a
neighborhood revitalization program, where they're focusing on specific neighborhoods.
So I find that to be a useful tool, to try to integrate some of these things which can kind of
be, you know, free floating variables that we look at,um.....without understanding that...
how these variables play out is very different (mumbled).
Salih/ I also want to add, uh, the .... you know, like the City documents need to be translated. I
don't mean all the documents, but especially when it comes to advertising a benefit or
advertising like some of, like the .... the UniverCity program, you know, the way that we
advertise it, the minority people and the people of color, and people who don't speak
English, they never hear about it. That's why like (mumbled) translating some of the
document, especially if you (unable to understand) like practically everyone in the
community or like it have to be reach out to everyone. And, uh (unable to understand)
hearing about (unable to understand) that's also something I been hearing about it
(mumbled)
Teague/ I did wanna add streets. I know it's been mentioned, but that is the, I mean, when I talk
to people, even this past week, streets have been, you know, one of the topics that is
frustrating for people, um, and so that's somethin' people notice, you know, right out their
front door, and then the other thing is just, urn .... funding accessible to non -profits,
enhancing, um ..... you know, that opportunity. So .... that's another thing that people have
mentioned.
Frain/ The good news is (laughter) none of those are surprising (laughter) Uh, I was gonna be a
little nervous if there was five or six things popped up that as a staff that we weren't
tracking, following, working on in some way, shape or form. Uh, I think the challenging
thing is that's a .... that's a really long kind of daunting list. So while we're going to make
incremental process on all of them, what I'm kinda hoping to do today is for you all to...
to help just kind of hone in on what those top priorities are, and again I don't wanna
sound like you brush aside anything .... any one of those, uh, ideas that you pulled up, uh,
but as I was keeping tally here, and I .... I took the liberty of kind of combining some of
your answers. Um, affordable housing was .... was the one that was most mentioned, and
then the next tier, um, of, uh, streets conditions, transportation, parking policy, uh, that
were kind of lumped together, and then uh, from there, um, it gets a little bit more blunt',
but I'd say there's probably another tier of, um, the auto -oriented commercial areas, more
of our suburban commercial areas, redeveloping, promoting retail. Uh, I've heard, um,
engagement, whether that's website or neighborhood based engagement, uh, was a theme
that three or more of you, uh, mentioned, and then equity, whether that's (mumbled) staff
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planning work session of March 10, 2020.
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that's reflective of the community or just equity in the way we provide our services and
the way we treat people while we're providing our services was also in that next tier.
Again, there were others that either one or two people mentioned but ... but those were
the .... those were the ones that were echoed multiple times, so, um.....keep.... keep that in
mind as we start to.....as we start this discussion and urn .... oh, I.....the last thing we
wanted to share is we brought the results, uh, from our budget engagement survey that we
did, and we .... Ashley's been (loud noises in background, difficult to hear speaker) the
last couple of years and if you're interested, the top three, uh.... uh, topics from that one,
no surprise — streets, public transportation, and affordable housing. So .... definitely some
overlap, uh, there on that top tier. Uh, the .... the next kind of group would be livable
community for all. Very broad. Uh, tree planting. And then, uh, equitable and
sustainable economic growth. (mumbled) ....kind of tier there. So (loud noises in
background) urn ... the survey .... uh.....if I look down at all these items, many of them
were mentioned here, uh, from public safety, historic preservation, reducing the property
taxes, um ... uh, small business, uh, support. Those are all on here as well, so I think
these .... what you're hearing from folks is reflective of kind of the general surveying tool
that, uh, that we used as well.
Salih/ (mumbled)
Fruin/ Yes. Well, that's good, right? (both talking) It should give you some confidence
when .... when determining what these next steps should be or where your focus should
be. Today's not about finding solutions necessarily. It's id .... it's identifying priorities
and goals for two .... for the next two years. So with that, uh, I .... I think that the next step
is to, uh, have a broad discussion on the seven goals. So we're gonna kind of revisit
some of these as .... as potential action items, uh, in our subsequent discussions, but for
now, I think it'd be really good if you had a discussion, and I'm gonna try to just be quiet
and not play the role of facilitator, if you all can .... can have that discussion, but are you
comfortable with these seven goals? Do they need to be refined? Uh, do you wanna
narrow that scope? Do you wanna expand that scope? And then from there what I
thought we would do is we'd take each one of those goals and allow you to add any
detail, uh, that you want, to bring clarity to that or to .... to supplement with, uh, specific
projects, policies that you'd like to consider. So, Ashley, can you bring up the seven, just
that cover sheet. The first one is a strong and resilient economy.
Bergus/ Are these in any kind of priority order?
Fruin/ (several talking)
Salih/ No. (several talking)
Thomas/ Well, one thing I was looking at was we had .... and this is where I try to .... (mumbled)
some of the things I said, um, how they might fit into this discussion. There were four
items under `promote a strong and resilient local economy,' and it seemed to me what...
are we, do we want to change any of these, delete any of these? You know, have we....
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planning work session of March 10, 2020.
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have we satisfied whatever was identified with these particular.... actions or goals
underneath each of the main headings?
Mims/ When I heard (mumbled) and I kinda like this is .... is before we focus on the underneath
things, are these seven .... in general what .... what we wanna keep? I can see some that we
might (mumbled) little bit and .... and I know Geoff in his memo said something about a
mission of vision statement type thing for each one of `em, maybe to explain in more
detail what we were getting at. Um ... but to me if we start by just focusing.... with the
idea that we might reword the titles a little bit. Conceptually are these .... do we feel that
these seven are still all important? Do we feel like we can eliminate any? Um ... or do we
have ones that we wanna add?
Fruin/ So for example, the last .... two years ago when we did this, we went from six to seven, I
believe, and there was a recognition by the Council that we need to be ... we need to be
explicit about our .... our views on the environment. So promote environmental
sustainability was added, if my memory serves me correct. Is there anything out there
like that.....things have changed in the last two years. We have to make this a top goal
(mumbled)
Weiner/ While I'm not sure that I would say that things have changed so much, but when I ... I'm
trying to figure out where you fit in, um, some.... some pretty serious infrastructure...
work that .... that (mumbled) that maybe we expand number four to be maintain a solid,
uh, financial and infrastructure (mumbled) something like that. But, uh, I would .... given
the ....the focus on infrastructure, both from folks who've (mumbled) for the City to plan
on infrastructure (mumbled) our populous to think, oh, they're not paying attention to the
need for a fire station or the need to fix all these streets and find .... find (mumbled) funds
to do that. I think that if we include that (mumbled) also be easier for us if we do look at
local option sales tax and say this is .... this is a really.....this is a .... a really, um....
feasible way to start moving this goal, for example.
Mims/ Maybe the way to do that, Janice, just... quick thought off the top of my head is on number
four when we say maintain a solid financial foundation, maybe we expand and reword
that. As I think when we started with that, you're looking..... we're talkin' about money
to run the City, but what you're also talking about, and I agree is incredibly important, is
looking at .... the total infrastructure and assets of the City. And making sure that we are
maintaining those, and so that is where we could put in this whole issue of streets, uh,
building the resources for the new facilities that we need, because it's not just about
dollars. It's.... it's about maintaining all of our infrastructure, upgrading our
infrastructure as it need .... as it's needed. It's that core financial and physical part that the
City owns, so maybe we could tie it into that one by rewording that, um, I think that
could be a good place to go with it. I think that's a really good idea, to get it a little more
front and center, cause you're right. I think if we get into that LOST discussion, streets
are gonna be part .... a good part of that.
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Thomas/ It seemed to me it's either one or four, I mean ... where things like streets and
infrastructure would fall (both talking) cause right now transit is under number one.
So... (both talking)
Mims/ .....City buildings.... don't necessarily affect the economy. So yeah, I mean I agree
(mumbled)
Thomas/ I mean to me resilient local economy is.... is, the economy is.... in a sense very
comprehensive thing that includes lots of issues, urn .... I mean it's .... it is very hard to sort
of figure out ways sometimes to find .... one of these things in which to place something,
or in other cases you could put it under three or four different things (laughs) so it's a
little bit challenging in that way.
Weiner/ (mumbled) take out financial (mumbled) maintain solid foundation for the City both
financially and (mumbled) (several talking)
Bergus/ When I read number four, thinking in terms of fiscal responsibility, and I liked what,
Susan, you said about sort of managing the assets of the City, right, physical as well as
(both talking) fiscally (laughing) general (mumbled) Yeah. That makes a lot of sense.
(mumbled) highlighting the .... sort of physical infrastructure aspect being a priority. But
otherwise I think everything .... I like all these goals.
Taylor/ (mumbled) ...you mentioned the LOST. That's gonna have to be incorporated in there
somehow (mumbled) discuss that (mumbled)
Fruin/ As you work through these, I encourage you .... what we... what we'll do after we're done
today, staff will wordsmith this stuff and you'll have the chance to make revisions to
ours, but ... uh, you don't need to get hung up on words. We'll .... we'll help you through
that process. So a couple things to think about. We have, uh, transportation was
mentioned (mumbled) As John noted, number one is fairly vague and we just left
transportation under there. Um, and what I was gettin' at in my memo was do you wanna
put a mission or a vision statement with ... with some of these goals. I was tryin' to
address that situation. We've .... we've got some things that the average person would
read and don't.... won't, they won't know what that means. You know, what you just
discussed with number four is very straightforward. I know what you're talkin' about.
But a strong and resilient economy, I don't know if you're talkin' about retail. I don't
know if you're talkin' about transit. So.... is there .... is there a different focus there or
underneath, or you wanna worry about that once you get underneath it and just leave it as
it is (mumbled) but, um, transportation is certainly one. Uh, if that's gonna be a top goal,
you might wanna be more explicit (mumbled) Same with affordable housing, we have
that, um, (several talking) in the healthy neighborhoods, um, which is great, urn .... that's
kinda a call for you, how... important is it for you to be able to tell your constituents that,
look, affordable housing is a clear goal. Uh, it's stated in there, or transportation.
Salih/ I don't know, I think (mumbled) affordable housing being brought by most of the Council,
and also being top priority for the people of the Iowa City, from the surveys, and people
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will come (mumbled) Council meeting. I just think that we need .... to put it like a priority
by itself. I don't know (unable to understand) to the City, I don't know how can ... if I
don't go into the details what that means. How can I understand that's like a city's really
caring about affordable housing? I ... I, for me I really, and I .... when I (unable to
understand) but as a person also live in this city as immigrant and when I read this, I
don't thinks this is .... has nothing to do with affordable housing. Yeah, it could be
something else, but I'd have to go down and read exactly what ... what it means. So after
that maybe I will find one of the (unable to understand) affordable housing.
Fruin/ Right now it's included under healthy neighborhoods.
Salih/ Yeah! I know! Yeah! That's why I'm ... I'm saying ... it shouldn't be. Like I ... I just wanting
to be highlighted that, yeah, we all ... you (unable to understand) affordable housing, we
care about affordable housing. We need to be serious about this. We, all of us, most of us
(mumbled) affordable housing and all of us hearing people saying that, but we really need
to (unable to understand) Doesn't have to be this year, next year, or -just there is a kind
of (unable to understand) Pauline (mumbled) talk about those kind of small houses
that.... someone else has (unable to understand) I talk, I also hear, I don't know, Janice or
somebody else (unable to understand) about something. Like if we had like (unable to
understand) can focus on and figure out something, even if this something gonna have a
goal to be happening after three years from now or two years from now, but we really
have to create like a .... a goal for that, and work toward that goal. (unable to understand)
climate action. We just ... (mumbled) that we ask the public to like increase (unable to
understand) so we can have this money so we can do it, and because we .... we just assign
it as emergency. So we need crisis, we need to do it, and affordable housing also is a
crisis in Iowa City.
Thomas/ Could we say foster healthy neighborhoods and affordable housing (both talking)
Salih/ ...I just need affordable housing more to be there, so the people who say, oh, we are really
having as a priority.
Thomas/ (both talking) ...cause housing is typically in a neighborhood.
Salih/ I know (both talking)
Thomas/ ...part of a (both talking)
Salih/ (both talking) ....there is many thing else in the neighborhood.
Thomas/ ....need to say healthy neighborhoods and affordable housing might be (several talking)
Mims/ I have no problem with that. I .... I wouldn't pull it out separately and the reason I
wouldn't pull it out as a (mumbled) is I think we have to .... think really carefully about
how we approach affordable housing, and our main emphasis to me at this point has been
throwing money at it ..... and you're not gonna solve the affordable housing problem or
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crisis by throwing money at it. You're gonna create more, but you're never gonna solve
the problem, because as long as the supply and demand are so out of sync in Iowa City,
it's always going to be expensive, and the issue of whether housing is affordable is not
just the cost of the housing. It is what is the income for individuals, and what we're not
focusing on enough, as far as I'm concerned, and .... and it's probably the most difficult
aspect to focus on is what do we have for jobs in this community? What do .... what
wages do those pay? You know, so when you have a plant like Procter and Gamble, who
pulls out a lot of jobs, what is, you know, what does that do? What .... what are we doing
and what more can we do in terms of coordinating with, you know, Kirkwood or with
unions on apprenticeship programs and getting people trained for higher income jobs,
you know, I mean it goes back to the simple thing of, you know, providing a fish or
teaching a person to fish. I mean we can throw money at affordable housing forever and
you can help a certain number of people, but you're not gonna help the majority of
people. And so to me pulling it out by itself is .... is the throwing the money at the
problem. Whereas keeping it as part of something else but when we talk about a strong,
resilient local economy, what kinds of additional things can we do to help people in this
community improve their lot in life, through education, through training, you know,
through learning English, you know, whatever it might be. So I don't have a problem
with adding it to the title, but I just think it's much more complex and solutions are better
if we're looking at a wider variety of things than just throwing money at subsidizing
housing or building affordable housing. So....
Salih/ I agree with you, Susan, but what I meant really not like (unable to understand) you know,
just (mumbled) I just wanted to be highlighted (both talking)
Mims/ No, I (both talking) I get it, and like I say (both talking)
Salih/ But like what it is, are we putting money (unable to understand) something else, are we
building houses, are we, uh, making the developers like do certain things affordable, like
the details — I'm not experienced to tell you what the details is. And you know I guess we
can come out with the detail laters, just.... because this is really priority for the people,
priority for the Council. Then we (mumbled) need to be highlighted there, yeah, we are
thinking about this and people would know that, yes, we have it as a priority (both
talking)
Weiner/ I think that's an important point, and I think that's .... as .... further to .... to Susan's point,
you can also add in whether under.... assuming you add affordable housing to number
three as part of the title and think about it as ... you can also add (mumbled) under number
three or number one this whole .... all of this discussion about, um, broadening
accessibility and .... and making daycare more affordable, for example (both talking) State
House we've been doing, I've been part of this action, this task force that the, um, that
the formerly known as Chamber of Commerce (several talking) This partnership is not
pursuing what the Iowa Women's Foundation (several talking) as well as the (mumbled)
pushing through. Um, can I just say because I .... when I (mumbled) primary, I started .... I
talked about the need for an off -ramp from .... instead of just a childcare cliff (mumbled)
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Salih/ Yeah, good! (talking in background)
Bergus/ (mumbled) ....we don't, you know, the wordsmithing isn't too much hard problem, but I
agree that calling it out and elevating the term affordable housing makes sense (talking in
background) and I think (both talking)
Salih/ Because they think (unable to understand) I mean we are .... if we went back and see how
much we did, but people are not seeing for somehow, you know, that's why when we
highlight it they think, oh, they (mumbled) priority. So .... people (unable to understand)
we gonna work on it. It's gonna take (mumbled) it's not something we can do it
tomorrow. Yeah.
Teague/ I know Geoff mentioned number one, just the title and even the items under. I don't
know if people have thoughts on that. It's kinda hard to .... for the common person to
understand exactly what .... not a common person but, uh, someone that really (mumbled)
through it all to try to piecemeal what that actually means, and it's number one and so....
Fruin/ Most people that see this are gonna think commercial retail development.
Salih/ Yes!
Fruin/ And support of industry. They're not .... my concern is they're not gonna think
transportation and as that is one of the biggest decisions that this Council will make in
your two years.....you might wanna just think through.... either creating a transportation
one. I mean I look at number two as well, um .... especially, you know, there was a
number of you that talked about parking (mumbled) little bit of a surprise to me, but um
......when we bring the transit study forward, parking is necessarily going to be connected
into that, because of ...because of funding needs to .... to support some of these services.
So I think those two will go together. Uh, I think you could work with either number one
or two to....to work in that transportation piece, and then if there is consensus among
Council that .... that maybe you .... you do get a little bit more aggressive with some of the
suburban commercial areas, uh, First Avenue corridor, Mormon Trek corridor, whatever it
may be, Highway 1, Highway 6, and then maybe that stuff starts to go into number one.
Mims/ So have we kind of reached agreement on those seven, with the renaming kind of ...of the
third one? So are we ready.....I guess what I'm trying to figure out is are we ready then
to start looking at the details under each of `em?
(female)/ (unable to hear person speaking in background)
Fruin/ Changing three and four.
Mims/ Yeah, three and four. Yeah. (talking in background) Yeah.
Thomas/ (several talking) ...three? Do we have affordable housing under three (both talking)
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Mims/ Yeah. I think your suggestion (both talking)
Thomas/ And four is ..... is four changed in any way?
Mims/ Yeah, adding (several talking)
Thomas/ Okay.
Weiner/ Do we want to do something with number one in terms of title, to make it clearer to
people what we're talking about, and if so, how?
Taylor/ Yeah, are we talking about the entire community and fostering that for individuals and all
residents to be able to stand on their own two feet financially?
Teague/ Number three, I mean, I'm .... item C, I think, can go under number number seven,
potentially.
Mims/ Wait a minute, let's go back to the naming (several talking and laughing)
Teague/ ...because I think....
Mims/ ....process person (laughs)
Teague/ I think maybe the naming .... was that way to cap .... you know, to really captivate all of
this, and maybe some of the items within there can go elsewhere and we can create a
different name. It may alleviate by trying to be very encompassing.
Taylor/ So back to number one, did we want it (mumbled) comment for individuals and
businesses, local businesses, or....
Teague/ I wonder if. ... I wonder if, um, this really isn't related to our community bein' a livable
community for everybody.
Bergus/ That's the word that was in my head too. Livable. When you were talking about all the
different ways we can help people (mumbled)
Mims/ Well and .... and I wonder too, I mean .... I think you.....I think you wanna keep these titles
short, and so I think .... to, back to Geoff's, you know, idea in his memo. Does it make
sense at least on some of these, and maybe do it for all and be consistent, that we try to
come up within may .... maybe a two -sentence blurb, you know, that's kind of under the
title that can be a little bit more expansive, that basically then your bullet points come out
of that two -sentence blurb. I think otherwise you get .... a title that's so long when you're
trying .... I'm just thinking, you're trying to do documents, you're trying to-do posters,
you're trying to put it up on the screen at our Council meetings, and you've got a title
that's 10 words long, it....it doesn't grab people.
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Bergus/ Well what do people think about trading out number two, which is really focused on the
core, which I, to me says downtown. Maybe that's not as much of a focus in the coming
two years, as overall transportation and livability. They're mutually downtown
components, so (laughs) (several talking in background)
Thomas/ Well it, yeah, this is tricky, I mean I .... I was sort of assuming we were keeping them as
they .... as they are more or less, and um .... looking at some of the things that .... that I
developed and it...it still was, the notion of (noises in background, difficult to hear) was
still valid in that sense, and I .... I feel the work downtown is not finished, you know, that
Burlington Street is .... is a real impediment to everything we're trying to do down there,
um .... and then the question of the student housing. You know, the ... this has been an
ongoing issue, as well, is how do we manage student housing, which tends to....um, I
would say by and large it's not limited to the downtown area, but I think it's focused
down there. Um, and maybe that's one of the questions — is that where we want student
housing to be focused or is it something that we want to, uh, more disperse.... throughout
Iowa City in some fashion, but .... but it still was useful to me, urn .... in the sense that it is
....the downtown urban core is an important feature in Iowa City. And, um .... you know,
a number of things play into it, as well as some that I was proposing we add, as well.
Weiner/ If we're .... if we're adding affordable housing to number three, explicitly, um, I think by
and large students are looking for affordable housing (mumbled) under....
Thomas/ ...under three.
Weiner/ Under three.
Thomas/ It's already there, so that's why it's (both talking) we brought it up to the heading and
then (both talking)
Weiner/ ....so I certainly agree with where Laura's going, because it seems to me to some extent
at least looking at it, not necess.... just looking at it from ... an outsider looking at the
goals. Two and three right now look almost interchangeable, if I didn't know what's in
them. So if we .... if we put a lot of that meat in number three then ... then maybe you
figure .... we figure out how to, um .... take .... what we want out of number one and two
and come to more or less what Laura was talking about, focus on. (mumbled) transit,
different forms of transportation (noise in background, unable to hear speaker)
community, um, movement (mumbled)
Bergus/ Is mobility the right word (several talking)
Fruin/ Community mobility, something along those lines. You're encompassing the walking.
You're encompassing the biking. You're encompassing transit, parking. If ..if that
becomes number two .... uh, I .... I think that would be a lot clearer to the public, that
transportation is the top priority. It's not to say that you can't build (mumbled) that John
mentioned under.... under three.
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Bergus/ And I like the idea of having number three speak to downtown as well, right? Sticking
affordable housing under that, but having it separate goal relating to the urban core, sort
of feels like (whispers) we know that's not affordable (regular volume) which I don't
think is what we mean. (mumbled) need to distinguish the urban core from the
affordability.
Thomas/ Yeah, I .... I had suggested taking... taking C out of number two. Um, but you know,
perhaps encourage a vibrant and walkable city, is that what we're....
Bergus/ I think it's more than just walkability though. It's bikes, it's transit (both talking)
Thomas/ ....underneath, I mean ... walkability typically.... if, you know, at least in terms of the
literature, walkability's shorthand for bikeability and transit's part of the mix but, um...
Weiner/ I guess I like the term mobility because it also includes a variety of modes of
transportation, as well as ADA, as well as accessibility, within... within that concept.
Fruin/ We could .... we could work on some language for ya there, if that's.... consensus change.
Thomas/ Well, you know, (mumbled) an accessible and walkable city, something along those
lines. And any mobility could be worked into that (mumbled)
Weiner/ (mumbled) (laughs) Um, you can have a strong .... and resilient economy that works for
everyone, or you can have, um, a strong and resilient economy throughout the city or sort
of civic. It doesn't just (mumbled) again that's potentially (mumbled) the downtown or
potentially only focused on....I guess what I'm looking for is wording that .... that reflects
if. ... if (mumbled) reflects that it's not just for a certain segment or it's not .... it's not only
aimed at (both talking)
Mims/ The businesses or just downtown (both talking) It's community wide, it's businesses, it's
individuals (mumbled)
Fruin/ It's inclusive (mumbled) for everybody, um, that .... that includes.... geographically
(mumbled) as well recognizing geographically (mumbled) along those lines.
Mims/ Staff is really good at wordsmithing (several talking and laughing)
Fruin/ Okay, uh, and so we've got (mumbled) changes to one, two, three, and four. I think, uh, if
you go back up, Ashley, to the top. Um ..... five is ... is pretty clear to me. Six, the only
thing I would suggest is, uh, environmental sustainability gets swapped out with some
type of climate action because that's how we're branding our efforts (several talking) and
then seven seems okay to me, but if...if you wanna look at five and seven, make sure
you're comfortable with those.
(female)/ I like five. I think it's very clear .... to me.
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Weiner/ (mumbled) ...a subtext under it (mumbled) make clear (mumbled) everyone who lives
here.
Fruin/ Okay, if we have our seven, um, one thing I forgot to ask is the, uh, all the way at the top,
Ashley. (mumbled) right there, the .... the more inclusive, just, and sustainable Iowa City,
that was kind of the tagline overall. Are you still comfortable with that? (several
responding) Okay. Perfect!
Bergus/ So I started off by asking if these were in any priority order. I spent, you know, a year
sitting in Council meetings looking at that up on the wall and assuming that they were.
So I think we should just consider if it's going to be laid out in this way..... either making
it more clear that they're not in some sort of priority order or reordering them based on
our priority, assuming that number one is the top. (several talking and laughing)
Mims/ ...is there a way, just graphically, using our Communications' people (several talking)
circle or (several talking) take the map of the city and, you know, doing them at different
corners of the city or .... some .... something like that that's not just a linear list.
Bergus/ (mumbled) removing the numbers.... might help? I understand (several talking) helpful
for us to have (several talking) Yeah.
Weiner/ ...color coded and ... and (mumbled)
Mims/ I think that's a really good idea though that, you know, you sitting there thinking, well,
they must be in priority order (several talking and laughing) ....sittin' there like nope!
(laughs) (several talking)
Fruin/ We can work on that!
Teague/ I guess the question would be is if it were in a priority order, is that somethin', I mean if
staff....
Fruin/ I think you're gonna have a real ... if you put `em in priority order, you're gonna set
yourself up to get criticized (several talking)
Teague/ Okay. Cause everything is important, right (several talking) and we're workin' on all of
these things (laughs) (several talking)
Salih/ I guess some kind of graphic that .... uh, as Susan said, it will be drawings (several talking)
Thomas/ (mumbled)
Mims/ You know, or one of those things that.....you'd have to be careful how you do it, make
sure it's still readable, but you know when they do those .... those word exercises and the
words that show up the most times or in the largest print (several talking)
Even... something like that where maybe if we get these short enough that all seven of
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those are in the largest print and you might still fit in some other smaller words that help
clarify what some of these actually mean, um.....I don't .... I (mumbled) out ideas. I take
no offense (mumbled, laughs)
Bergus/ (mumbled) do really like the little, um, graphics though. I think they're actually quite
helpful (several talking)
Teague/ It helps you pinpoint what .... what's being talked about.
Mims/ Except 1 think the solid financial foundation, number four, needs to have more than just
dollar signs (several talking) It needs a bridge and it needs a building, I mean or .... or a
street or, you know (several talking) They are! (several talking)
Fruin/ Okay! Well congratulations, you've just gotten through the first step o£...yeah?
Salih/ I just have a question. I know that like you just ask us question, we come up with six
priorities and now, you know, to me ... not all of them has been reflected there.
Fruin/ Yep! So that's the next step. We're going to go through each of these areas and you're
gonna build out (both talking) what your priorities (both talking)
Salih/ Okay!
Frain/ And I don't care if you take `em in the same order there. I think whatever you feel most
prepared to .... to talk about, just pick one of the seven and .... we'll listen and answer
questions.
Salih/ Sure! Thank you.
Mims/ Number four might be the easiest one to knock out. Um ... when we talked about streets,
and we talked about adding, you know, the city's infrastructure and... into... into this, so, I
mean, I think our whole .... I think almost everybody mentioned streets (laughs) when we
were talking, um ... you know, we've got that street inventory that, uh, is coming. Uh, the
things that we are.....that Geoff had in his list that we either are already working on or are
coming, you know, police facility, fire facility, Senior Center, more Public Works' stuff,
the transit center, you know, figuring out a way to .... you know .... in a brief manner, but
yet City facility planning and then maybe there's some examples that go with that.
Um .... I guess I would have this question to everybody, maybe to Geoff as much as
anybody, does it make sense — we've had some preliminary discussion about trying to put
forth discussion on local option sales tax. My thought is we throw this in there as one of
our ...um .... steps because when we keep looking at all of these things that we want to do
and continue doing, and keep looking at what the State is doing to us, we've got to find
another revenue source, and that is .... the best, I think most viable, largest... that hopefully
we can get the community behind, and so that kind of puts it out front and center that,
hey, we're gonna go after this.
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Teague/ I....I do ... sorry! I just wonder from a process, you know (laughs) do we sit here and
determine if we're gonna, you know, vote as a Council for LOST or do we wanna
definitely vet that through the community in .... in some fashion, or...you know, put it on
the agenda first before we add, I mean that's a major thing. So that's, I mean, I'm not
(both talking)
Mims/ No, I'm not (both talking)
Teague/ .....that's the only thing that (several talking)
Bergus/ ....as a revenue source and its viability (both talking)
Teague/ (mumbled)
Bergus/ ....rather than say we're gonna do it.
Teague/ Okay, all right!
Taylor/ So we could say evaluate possible (several talking)
Thomas/ ...under four right now, one could, I mean, the first one is, and I'll just .... it talks about
property tax reform, which we may or may not wanna keep, but .... uh, evaluate
alternative revenue sources (several talking) of the local option sales tax. (mumbled)
highlight that as (several talking)
Mims/ Yeah, so Ashley's got the current ones up there on screen now. So .... um.....
Thomas/ So, Susan, do you like the start of that first one (mumbled) many of these were your
suggestions....
Mims/ (both talking) ....right, um .... I guess at this point I would say yes, because I think in the
State Legislature, and maybe this'll be done by the time we approve this, they're talking
about accelerating that decrease in the property ...in the taxable valuation of the multi -
families, right, Geoff?
Fruin/ Right! Yeah, the... the.... the most challenging piece is still coming and, um. .... I .... I would
put that in there .... I would keep that in there, because this .... this (mumbled) I sent ya a
note on Friday by email about the first two months of building permits bein' down
(several responding) little too early to draw conclusions on that, but if we have a down
year this year, and the multi -revenue.... multi -residential starts to happen, urn .... we could
find ourselves in a pinch. The other thing that's hanging out there that I haven't talked to
you all about, uh, the ... that I'll be able to provide a little bit more information on is ACT
is challenging their property valuations, uh, which .... a number of. ... property owners
challenge their valuations, but ACT is ... is doing that and there's likely to be a significant
reduction in their, uh, property values out there. Um, don't know how that would end up,
urn .... they're challenging the value and they're also challenging the fact that they're
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taxed at all. (several responding) On ... on that second piece, uh, we feel pretty
comfortable that they don't have a good argument to be completely tax exempt, but,
urn ..... it's likely their value will go down a little bit. They are our largest tax property
paying entity, uh, so, um .... you know there could be some .... there could be kind of a
convergence of financial pressures that hit on 2024, and we just warm make sure that
we ... we keep that as a .... keep that out there for, if not us for ...for the public to know
that....it's out there, and maybe even needs to get a little bit more specific, to .... to put
where that pinch point is, cause after 2024, we don't need to talk about the reform
anymore. The reform's done, unless there's (several talking)
Mims/ Yeah, so I .... yeah I think we should. I would agree with Geoff, we should leave that in
there, and yeah, and maybe have staff put something more specific in .... that evaluate
altem.....(several talking)
Fruin/ ...separate bullet....
Mims/ Yeah.
Thomas/ (mumbled) ...revenue sources (both talking)
Mims/ ....separately (several talking)
Bergus/ So concurrent with that discussion, what about letter D, is that realistic? (mumbled)
....reduce property tax levy?
Mims/ I think it should be kept in there. I realize that it may not be ... attainable as we go forward,
but .... if we get the local option sales tax in place, it will be, and it probably....
theoretically it'll be part of the language of the local option sales tax, but you can move
money around to ... to do a lot of different things. Um, I .... I think we (mumbled) still look
at our .... tax levy compared to, um, you know, other cities in the state and other local
cities. I .... I think it should be a goal. I think we have to ... we have to accept and I think
the public has to accept that, you know, these are things we're working on. We may have
some setbacks at times. Um .... what's not .... what's kind of interesting that's not out there
publicly that I heard from a professor at the University who stays on top of this is, uh,
Coralville's raising their tax rate by 60 or 62 -cents this year, in one year.
Thomas/ How much? Sixty (both talking)
Mims/ ....60 or 62 -cents I think it is. It's amazing (mumbled)
Weiner/ But ... the other .... the other advantage to leaving that in there or even if you wordsmith it
a little bit so that it'd look like we're actually going to continue it (mumbled) consider
(several talking)
Thomas/ ...word I had was strive.
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Weiner/ (both talking) ...anybody who actually looks at these recog.... and who's ang.... mad
about their property taxes (mumbled) say well property taxes are high, looks .... looks at
this and says well they have been reducing it, they're still trying to, don't know if they're
going to be able to, but at least they're thinking about it.
Mims/ I think John's, you know, strive to continue. So it says we're working on it, but it also
shows we've been doing it (several talking)
Weiner/ It could be that we're never able to do it again.
Mims/ Okay.
Weiner/ But it's .... it's an acknowledgment that people... that many people are concerned about
the .... (several talking) property taxes and that we're taking that into account (several
talking)
Mims/ And...and then I think the other one is ... okay, you've got it in there, Ashley. City ... City
facility planning. So....
Frain/ Okay, so we got (several talking)
Thomas/ This .... this is a ... this is the category where I, you know, this question, which ... you
know, I'm seeing many cities performing now, and that is this evaluation of
understanding the .... the, urn .... (both talking)
Mims/ (both talking)
Thomas/ ...the relationship between our development costs and the revenues generated by that
development.
Mims/ So, I think that's a really interesting .... you and I have talked about this at different times,
John, and I mean basically the studies show that particularly like single-family residential
neighborhoods do not pay for themselves. I mean that's .... I've seen that over the years,
that that is definitely the case. I guess the question is .... and .... and maybe staff can think
about this, I mean (mumbled) how, you know, how would we do ... how would we do that
analysis, how time-consuming and, you know, effort would it be and then .... we need to
think about how would we use that information. I mean does that mean that we .... refuse
(mumbled) and (both talking) no, I'm just saying, does that mean that we say, okay, we're
not going to do this residential development because it costs us more money than it
brings in .... but then how do we use that maybe to inform the type of residential, which I
think maybe is where you're getting at (both talking)
Thomas/ Where it goes is is that ... it, urn....it....it stresses the idea that we should ... as we
develop, we should be thinking about... basically, you know, if it stays residential
development. There.... there's arguably a portfolio of housing types that one could build.
Each has their different degree of return on investment, on a per acre basis. So that this
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trying to better understand if you want this new development to .... to essentially come
close to covering its cost, it has to be a mix of housing types, um .... rather than, you
know, vast swaths of (mumbled) single-family, detached residential. That's the lowest
performing housing type, but again, you can try to .... what .... what firms can do is
(mumbled) you know, ways in which one looks at all the factors that come into play as
you expand your city. So it's .... it's not only the .... the housing, but it's the services, you
know, as well as the infrastructure, and .... and trying to understand ... as well as, and I've
sent it to some of you, um, you know, looking at our own tax policies and so forth, you
know, ways in which we under .... what are our revenues and our liabilities, you know, our
expenditures, and understanding that part of the... discussion. So it's not simply looking
at, okay, you know, and I know there's sort of this reaction that, oh, are you saying that
we're just not going to do single-family homes ( laughs) anymore (both talking)
Mims/ No (laughs)
Thomas/ It's .... it's trying to look at all the factors that go into the cost, the liabilities and
benefits, or revenues generated by development.
Mims/ And I also comes back to our whole concept in a way of the complete streets, because I
would argue that in some places, we are overbuilding. You know, by the time we put
bicycle lanes, both sides of the street, you're adding probably 12 -feet of pavement, by the
time you put a bicycle lane on each side, and then we've got a five or eight -foot sidewalk
on one side and an eight or 10 -foot sidewalk on the other side. And so I'm sitting there
thinking to myself, you know, you've talked before about how much pavement we're
putting down (both talking)
Thomas/ ....think these are fair questions, and those are the kinds of questions we need to be
asking ourselves, as to, okay, this .... this is going to add to the cost of the development.
Mims/ Right.
Thomas/ So ... so, but we don't understand these things until we start doing the math, as they say,
and ... and it does seem to me it would be very useful for Council, staff, and the public to
understand this issue, because I think we all kind of assume, oh! If you're .... if we're
expanding that's good for our revenue generation (laughs) without necessarily
understanding that in fact (both talking)
Mims/ The cost!
Thomas/ ...the cost to expand may exceed the revenues that are generated. So in effect what
you're doing, what.....what you're doing is you're basically subsidizing (mumbled) I
mean no one's going to be saying, sorry, folks! We're (laughs) you're on your own
(several talking)
Bergus/ My understanding is redevelopment has always (mumbled) places in the city that
subsidize less valuable places in the city. So in Iowa City the downtown subsidize a lot
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of the other areas, so I'm interested ... I mean, I love the idea of getting information, but
my question is to what end? Like what policy are we ...... would it be impacting (both
talking)
Thomas/ I think it would be....it could be affecting, as Susan was saying, more development
standards. It could be affecting the mix of housing that we would be proposing
(mumbled) development.
Bergus/ But we don't, I mean we don't propose that. Right?
Thomas/ Well but we would .... we would need to .... we would need to understand and make it,
you know, clear to developers that .... that this may be good for your business, but in terms
of our long-term solvency, it's putting us at a disadvantage.
Mims/ It could, Laura, because I think you have places, and I can't remember where it is
(mumbled) done away with single-family home zoning. You cannot go in and develop 10
or 20 or 80 acres of single-family homes. They have just done away with that. Um, and
so if we got to, you know, a form based code for the entire city, let's say, you know, we
might have certain density requirements, minimum and maximum density requirements
for example, that could impact, you know (both talking)
Thomas/ ....that simple, you know, but until you do the math, you may not ..... you may be
(mumbled) as low as we go, for example. You know, you have to increase the density
(mumbled) also emphasize, you know, this idea of, uh.... where are .... where are our
current land uses underperforming and it gets into the, you know, a lot of this
neighborhood commercial, I suspect you would find is not performing as well. Until you
do the math, you know, the math would tell us that. It would be like being a farmer and
saying, okay, I'm gonna now look at the revenues my different crops are generating per
acre and we ... we get better seed, oh, you know, Sycamore Mall is generating this per
acre. You know, depending on where you are in the city, the revenues will vary
depending on their yield, with respect to revenues, and their .... the cost.
Mims/ I'm gonna change direction on it for just a second. Conceptually 1 totally agree with what
you're saying, and I think there's a lot of value to it. So now I want to come back to
practicality. Are there studies out there where people have already done this that we can
piggyback on. You know, if we talk about hiring, you know, consultants to do it, that
costs us money and it also takes staff time. We have a lot of things that staff is already
busy on.
Thomas/ So my suggestion would be, um, and this is true for a number of these things that I've
suggested. Uh, you know, staff could reach out to some of these firms, get an
understanding of what the potential scope of services will be, and their associated costs,
you know, explain what we hope to gain out of this, and ask consultants how they could
help.... respond to those concerns with .... with the scope of service and a cost associated
with it. (mumbled) to me it speaks to, you know, I think we're doing really well in terms
of, you know, with our pavement management. I mean that's a .... that's a huge piece of
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our liability that.....we're getting a much better handle on. Um, and I think these same
issues apply to our overall development patterns. And so I think it's .... to understand
what exactly we're talking about, I mean Laura's right. There's typically... that's their
responses. Well we all understand certain land uses have a cash benefit and others are,
you know, may .... may not pay for themselves, but it all balances out in the end. I ... I
think we need to do the math to better understand that. You know, that .... that to me
seems like a very .... a short answer to I think what's a much more complex problem.
Mims/ I don't have a problem putting it in there for now. I .... I do think I want abetter
understanding (both talking)
Thomas/ Yeah!
Mims/ ...detail, just based on the workload that staff has, even taking that time to reach out to
consultants and get, you know, a scope of services and cost is time consuming for staff,
and so with all that other stuff I just ... I wanna kinda take that into consideration as well.
Fruin/ So typically what I see .... this is .... this is something that cities talk about a lot, and frankly
cities struggle with a lot, and have for decades. Urn .... cities have effectively used these,
uh (mumbled) types of studies as educational tools, as .... as ways to inform the
community, the Council, the staff about the overall cost of development and .... and really
provides a framework for you to think long-term about some of these decisions. Where I
think cities really struggle, and because it's really hard to do, is apply this framework to
individual decisions before the Council, and part of that is because of. ... Laura, you were
trying to (mumbled) or trying to talk about if you think about .... the extension of
Tamarack. We have in -fill development of, I forget how many — 50, 60 lots — um, those
houses are gonna be probably, you know, 500 -plus in value, 500,000 -plus in value. So
you're not taxing services as much and you're .... have high-value homes. The numbers
may look pretty good on that, actually, for single-family, pretty small setbacks. If you go
and you do a 50 lot, uh, analysis down on Covered Wagon, on .... on the south end of Iowa
City where the homes may be 200, 250,000. It's not gonna look as good, and ... and what
really .... what councils and cities struggle with: how do you compare these two things
and say this one's okay and this one's not, and ... and it's .... and it's not that this is an ... an
absolute, that if it doesn't pay for itself it's not going to work. But you know how these
(mumbled) the neighbors will (mumbled) anything that ... that they can to .... to support
towards a ... or to prevent a project from taking place. And so .... it gets really complicated
when you try to apply this thing to a ... to .... to a individual land use situation. Can it be
done? Yes. Do people do it? Yes, but it's a constant struggle. Again what I would ... I
think where John's goin' is let's learn a little bit more about these, what they are. We can
share some examples from other communities and you can maybe decide for yourselves
what would be helpful here, if anything, cause this is a .... pretty hot topic in city .... city
circles. Has been for a while.
Thomas/ So maybe .... maybe it's just a work session item that we could agree to, is that what
you're suggesting (both talking)
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Fruin/ Well I .... I think it's okay to put that in here for now, uh, or .... or you can keep it in the
plan, uh, but 1 would just .... I think it's a good approach for Council to learn about it,
become familiar with these types of studies, and then decide if you wanna do that.
Teague/ One thing I know we've been talkin' about which kinda complicated this, uh,
conversation to some degree, um, is predictability, uh, for staff, us, um, for developers. 1
think that's real important, and so form based code, I think if we're really thinkin' about,
um, that some of the decisions we're makin', um, form based code can help with that or
revisin' the comprehensive plan, urn .... bein' part of that. You know, we .... we've put
conditions and height bonuses in there. You know, some of that stuff can be predictable,
uh, from the start. And so we know that, um, Opticos had talked about, um, you know
we're havin' these bonuses, but what they mentioned is that it .... that should be from the
start. They should know how high they .... can go. Ura .... and then you go down from
there. So .... so the ..... I .... I just wanna make a statement that (both talking)
Bergus/ Maybe your concern about.... adopting something that might add any more discretion, is
that kind of what you're saying, that that's not (both talking) We wanna be careful that
we're not creating something that would ... would make more certainty.
Teague/ Yes!
Mims/ Well it comes back to my comment about, you know, hearing from people that "the City's
difficult to work with," not that staff is difficult to work with, but again, it's those
uncertainties.
Teague/ Sure.
Mims/ Our zoning code and even our staff (mumbled) our zoning code is incredibly complex.
Um, and ... yeah, and there's areas where you want flexibility but there's areas then that
the developers get frustrated with that flexibility cause they wanna interpret it one way
and staff interprets it another way, and they may interpret it differently depending on the
project, and .... and the circumstances of that project. So ... yeah, I .... I would agree with
that. I think those are for another piece of this actually, but.....
Thomas/ Well we ... we (talking in background) about our downtown, or Riverfront Crossings
code, as I recall, and it was a conversation based on the Opticos' recommendations or
observations, and as I recall we were just going to defer on that. (several talking)
Mims/ So on these, on number four, do we have other things that we .... we've already got six
bullet points. Are .... do we feel like we've covered....
Weiner/ (mumbled) more than enough (both talking, several laughing)
Mims/ I know, I....
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Bergus/ (both talking) ....I mean I don't wanna remove the fiscal responsibility ones, like the
bond rating. I think that is sort of (mumbled) to me. Um .... and I don't know about the
emergency fund (mumbled) status of that but....
Frain/ I would say, um .... from a, the bond rating, to me that's.... that's implied. I don't wanna be
the city manager that delivers you a ... a downgrade (laughter) (several talking) ...that
downgrade. So we worked hard to do that. I don't know if we'll be able to keep it
forever, cause those criteria can change (mumbled) cities lose them, but .... believe me,
that's (mumbled) (both talking)
Mims/ So how many ...do we have now? Ashley? I mean you just scrolled down to this (several
talking)
Monroe/ (mumbled) oh, yes (mumbled) through the old ones. These are .... these are six bullet
points (mumbled)
Mims/ Okay.
Monroe/ (mumbled)
Frain/ I don't think you need the emergency fund. Um, what we've done the last couple years,
once we hit that five million mark, we felt pretty comfortable at that level and didn't feel
the need to continue to build that. That's when we created the facilities reserve and
started to build that. So .... um, I .... I'd be comfortable eliminating emergency reserve
and .... it's up to you on whether to include bonds (mumbled, noises in background)
(several talking) Yeah.
Bergus/ ...didn't want to purposely remove (both talking)
Mims/ .....maybe, if..if people don't have an objection, cause these are kinda spread out, can we
just have staff maybe bring it back with ... all the old ones and the new ones, so we just
kinda see `em all together and then maybe we can see if we wanna consult (several
talking) Does that, is that (several talking) Thanks! (mumbled)
Frain/ Do you wanna take a quick break before we .... jump (several talking)
Teague/ People wanna do a five-minute? (several respond) All right, we'll do a five-minute.
(BREAK) All right, we're back from break and we will continue. (mumbled) ...Geoffl
Frain/ Well you have number four done. You wanna scroll back up to the top, Ashley? Pick
a ... pick another one. If you're lookin' for easier (both talking)
Salih/ Number six!
Fruin/ Five, six.
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Salih/ Seven and eight.
Fruin/ Your call. You're gonna have to do `em all eventually. (several talking and laughing)
Salih/ I think that's where we want to add the.....the (unable to understand) That's a good place
(several talking) Yes, diversity (unable to understand)
(female)/ (garbled)
Mims/ So something to the .... (several talking) (mumbled) .....continue to try and increase the
diversity of the staff.
Bergus/ To be reflective of the community. (several talking)
Teague/ (mumbled) ...um, small entrepreneurship goal there. Not sure where else it'll fit
(laughs) (several talking) ....sure. Okay. Yes! So then it'd totally fit (laughs)
Taylor/ Do you want that to in .... include that, um, being more aggressive in promoting retail
businesses? Or just the small business entrepreneurs?
Teague/ My .... my statement was for small business entrepreneurs.
Taylor/ I still think we need something in there about the, uh, incentives for.... encouraging
businesses to come to the community.
Fruin/ (mumbled) finish out seven (several talking) and then we'll circle back to that one on one?
(several talking) So can you pull up (mumbled) Yeah. (several talking) Yeah, the
current. So our current ones, we've, uh.... um.....A was primarily for the access center,
uh, when that was developed. And of course that's moving forward. Uh, we did make
the change in our purchasing manual to give preference to businesses that are 10....10 or
higher. There's some language added there. The toolkit, uh, is .... we're actually going
through out last cohort of departments this year, with our toolkit. Um, so then they will
all have gone through the toolkit in the last three maybe years since we started this. And
you know where we're at with minimum wages. So ... I don't know that any of these need
to be carried over, unless you wanna continue to expand on some of these efforts.
Salih/ Do we really wanna have it (unable to understand) already did it.
Fruin/ Well we have one more year to go.
Salih/ Oh (mumbled)
Fruin/ So .... so you may wanna keep ... you may wanna keep that in if ya, um .... probably a good
idea to keep the $15 minimum wage.
Salih/ Okay.
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(female)/ (mumbled) ....the word consider. (several talking)
Taylor/ (several talking) ....elevating, cause we (both talking)
Teague/ ....even put a date in there. (several talking) Yeah. By whatever date.
Salih/ (unable to understand)
Fruin/ Um, January... or song, July 1 of 21.
Salih/ (mumbled) 21?
Fruin/ Yeah. So this July we'll go to 1325 and then (both talking)
Salih/ (mumbled)
(female)/ (unable to hear) (several talking)
Bergus/ I think if the toolkit implementation is done it'd be nice to have something more general
about continuing like ... sort of what .... what was behind that, or what the intent of it is, to
make sure that there's ongoing staff development along those lines.
Mims/ And I think there's so many of those .... that training and staff development that's done,
and it's kind of. ... integrated in the system, but I think even to call it out in the strategic
plan, so as people from the public look at this .... cause a lot of people say `well you
should do this training.' Like, uh, yeah we're already doing more than what you're
suggesting.... sometimes. So even something in here, you know .... need to continue and
explore, urn .... different new trainings, whatever, you know, whether it, you know,
whether it's the CIT type stuff, or whether it's, you know, racial type things, urn .... but it
just kind of calls out to continue (mumbled) explore the new opportunities for continued
training.
Bergus/ I noticed the Council was involved in that. Did the Council undertake some part in the
toolkit?
Fruin/ Um, no not the toolkit itself. The .... I think we've invited Council to participate in a
training (mumbled) little while ago. And we did boards and commissions training as
well.
Mims/ I think Maz's comment earlier about, urn.... translation, um, you know, look at additional
translation of. ... of, um, you know, particularly like notices and, um, advertisements
(mumbled) like that.
Taylor/ Information that goes out to the public (both talking)
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Mims/ Something general but .... see what ... what works and what the costs are and what...
Fruin/ From a staff standpoint, um, we have been increasing the amount of translated documents
every year for some .... some years now. Um, what would be helpful is if Council... could
articulate certain types of documents, kind of what are the `must have' translation. As we
were saying earlier (mumbled) programs to the public, are those.... are gonna say that all
the incentive programs need to be promoted in various language, because we put out a
ton of documents (laughs) and .... and I probably see a .... a small fraction of `em. You
probably see a smaller fraction of them. We ... we're just a big organization that has a
wide range of services that we offer. So it's probably not feasible to expect that we're
going to translate everything that comes out of City Hall.
Mims/ Sure.
Fruin/ So .... so maybe it's a work session discussion (mumbled) some guidance to say `here are
the priority areas' — transportation services, housing services, or incentive programs, or
whatever we're.....wherever we land. That would .... that would help us out quite a bit.
Salih/ Yes. I thinks that sound good.
Mims/ I mean sometimes they say, you know, things that are ongoing you don't put in your
strategic plan, which I tend to agree with, but there's also the idea that thi.... it calls things
out to the public's eye things we're doing, and we do the social equity and racial grants,
and we put, what, 70, 75,000 (mumbled) into that. 75. Urn .... so, I mean I don't know
what people's thoughts are of saying, you know, continue. Again, those are things that,
for a lot of people (mumbled) they don't even realize that we're doing, um (both talking)
Thomas/ Yeah, that's a good point. I mean Janice (mumbled) someone who were new to this
town or just interested in the highlights, this could serve that purpose.
Mims/ So I don't know what others think about that.
Bergus/ (mumbled) agree with that.
Thomas/ (mumbled) (several talking)
Weiner/ ......we could focus on, we don't have but the (mumbled) notion of, um, expanding
the .... uh.... coordination of different Iowa City facilities, whether it's the rec centers or
the .... (mumbled) Senior Center, the Library (mumbled) to all (mumbled) working
together to (mumbled) appropriate programming or something (mumbled) Again, that's
something that (mumbled) already doing (mumbled)
Teague/ And then, um, just to maybe touch base on what Susan just mentioned (mumbled) racial
equity.
Mims/ Yeah. (mumbled)
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Teague/ I wonder if we ... since it's somethin' that we're not doin', I mean .... you know, let's
complete (laughs) Um .... if we would expand the wording to include maybe human
rights of all ... (mumbled) identify racial equity. And I don't know if that's just too broad.
Or be in the same sentence somehow.
Bergus/ In the heading, you mean?
Teague/ Um....as one of the points. Cause I think about, you know, the LGBTQ+ community,
um. .... and .... and if we somehow made it more inclusive of human rights evolved, and I
think .... we'll continue to use our racial equity toolkit, but somehow try to....
Mims/ What about advance social justice, racial equity, and human rights? (several talking)
Fruin/ We can work on it. Staff (both talking)
Teague/Sure!
Fruin/ ....figure out (both talking)
Teague/ Okay! And .... I'll just make (mumbled) in our community or somethin' like that, cause I
think, um, we have a lot of, uh, great women, since this is Women's Month (laughs) So,
are we good with seven? (several responding) Number six? (several talking)
(mumbled) ....environmental sustainability.
Fruin/ To say on this one you have.....(mumbled) in it (several talking and laughing)
Mims/ I think there's one .... one bullet here (several talking)
Fruin/ We can reference the .... the accelerated plan and .... and maybe reemphasize the, uh,
revised goals that are consistent with the IPCC. (several talking)
Teague/ And call it a climate action crisis. The declaration.
Fruin/ Oh, okay.
Taylor/ Continue to make progress towards the goals. (several talking)
Bergus/ (mumbled) to see how far we've come from this to where we are now. (several talking)
Teague/ Do we wanna navigate to another one now? All right (several talking) Oh! (laughs)
(several talking and laughing) That's how I like to do my (mumbled) actually (laughs)
(several talking and laughing) Yeah! Yeah!
Bergus/ I would love to make the website explicit in this, and that may not be a complete
overhaul. I understand completely (mumbled) that is, but....
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Frain/ No, it's .... we're to the point where the website would be a complete overhaul, um....
Mims/ Yeah did we .... contract with the University two or three years ago (both talking)
Frain/ We did (both talking) So we .... we went through kind of an experiment, uh, we ... we
asked, uh, University was rebuilding their site and I don't know how the conversation
came up, but they said, hey, we can .... we can do yours and then be on the same platform.
There might be some efficiencies there. Um, I think it was .... I think it was an okay
experiment, but ... because we've learned.... University (mumbled) staff changes over so
much and (mumbled) staff over there hasn't been great, and we, you know .... just don't
have as much flexibility with that tool as we can get with some of the off-the-shelf
municipal designs that are out there. Um, there's four or five companies that specialize in
city sites and, uh, they're just gonna meet our needs a little bit better and provide some
flexibility. So, you know, it was ... probably six years ago. It's .... six years in the life of a
website's pretty long (both talking)
Mims/ ....that's how good my time frame is (mumbled) two or three (both talking)
Frain/ Yeah!
Mims/ (both talking) ....six (laughs)
Frain/ So it's.....it's already on our .... on our list of things that we know that we have to address.
Mims/ What kind of price tag would you expect that to run?
Frain/ Oh .... (mumbled) maybe 20.
(female)/ Yeah, I'm guessing between (mumbled)
Frain/ Lot of it depends on how much content you pay to have them (mumbled) versus how
much you do.
Mims/ Okay.
Frain/ I think we paid the University 60, 70, and that was a little bit of a discount at the time, so
(mumbled) (several talking) So we would .... we would probably include it in next year's
budget, and ... and really not get started on it until kind of the tail end of this plan, but at
least it would be (mumbled)
Mims/ I would agree.
Teague/ With number five, um.....you know with our, um, goals with climate action and stuff
like that, and maybe the ... we can talk about this in the future, but I do wonder if we
shouldn't start thinkin' about, um, some.... some of the people that we wanna partner, if
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we shouldn't be directly askin' them, um.....you know, will they help us meet our goals,
such as the University, Mid .... um, MidAm, um ... cause historically we haven't ... you
know, directly asked or written letters to the, you know, to the University or to ... I imagine
MidAm we might of A .... I don't know, but I think in order for us to reach our goal, that,
you know, that's been a tradition that we haven't done. Um, we may need to think about
that.
Taylor/ (mumbled) part of the climate action plan (mumbled) with that commission (mumbled)
the private entities?
Fruin/ Yeah, remember your commission has standing members from those major partners,
MidAm and the University specifically, so we designed that commission hopefully to
make that communication (both talking) pretty seamless. And then Ashley's close to
hirin' a climate outreach coordinator right now, and that person will then .... be one more
body (mumbled) to, uh, to .... to help us with that engagement.
Teague/ It'll be needed! (laughs)
Thomas/ Well there .... there were a couple that I had ... um, included under this category. One was
the idea of ...uh, you know, considering some way to engage youth in our .... um, you
know, what I refer to as the making of public policy. I'm .... I'm hearing a lot of concerns
about .... you know, our youth basically, you know, in terms of what's happening in our
schools. I mean I know that, uh, Mark Nolte has on a number of occasions.... posted on
Facebook about his concerns about behavioral issues in the schools. I'm not as involved
and I don't know how that, you know, don't have any more detail on that, but um .... it's
certainly concerning, and I did run across that, uh, you know, Marion is one example of a
community, has a .... has (mumbled) youth commission, some.... some body, um .... where
there is, you know, an intention of engaging youth, and.....(mumbled)
Mims/ We had (several talking) and it (both talking)
Fruin/ I've been in two cities and both commissions have not (several talking)
Thomas/ I don't know if it's a commission, you know, what exactly the form of it is, but um...
cause I remember raising this four years ago (laughs)
Weiner/ Well I .... I will say that I think that the .... that we've seen a (mumbled) youth activism
over the last couple of years, from where it was before when you look at climate action
and gun safety and .... and similar issues. I'm wondering if there are folks at high schools
that are quite active now in a number of those issues, so I'm wondering if we might
figure out some way to at least put it as a (mumbled) item to .... to see how we might best,
uh, be able to include some of this youth activism as either commission or (mumbled)
boards.
Fruin/ I think the struggle of cities often have with youth commissions is the .... the rigidity of the
commissions themselves. You know, the.... engaged.... engage youth in junior high and
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high school (mumbled) These are the same folks that are in extracurricular activities and
what not, and their schedules just really don't blend well with standardized meetings and
coming year round. They may have a sport or a .... a ..... an arts event that prevents them
from meeting in the spring and so we really struggle to get continuity there. And the
other thing is cities struggle to get .... to give them topics to .... to work on, and .... and
while we think we may have a lot, that's a constant struggle. Um, we can engage outside
of the commission format. We can think of ways to do that. We can certainly make it a
point going forward in our master plan efforts. Clearly the rec center and pools and what
not, we could have a very concerted effort to, um, engage with those populations.
Weiner/ I had talked to somebody at some point during the campaigns, once the campaign was
over at making an effort to open and talk to government civics classes and discuss city -
level government. Something like that might be a starting point. (several talking)
Taylor/ City government class did offer that, I think it was just last year. Uh, several of us were
invited to their .... to class throughout the day and they were all very engaged (mumbled)
juniors and seniors in high school and asked very good questions and they'd been paying
attention to what we've been doing, uh, as part of their government class, so .... um, that's
an excellent idea and maybe they would be willing to do that. The government teacher
was very accessible (mumbled)
Salih/ (unable to understand) department or other organization to like make kids include in like
city government stuff, but like if we have programs, if we can (mumbled) the City ...if you
want the youths to be engaged on like something in the City but the City doesn't have
time or like (mumbled) and all this, they can just work (mumbled) department within the
City or another organization.....to do that.
Weiner/ (mumbled) rec department, I know there's some outreach efforts there (several talking)
Salih/ That .... that what I mean, like rec center (mumbled)
Bergus/ I asked if we have a TikTok channel (laughter) for (several talking and laughing) ...first
sub point here is engaging with diverse populations (mumbled) social media. So I think...
I think making sure that we're changing with the times, which is challenging as staff who
are, you know, probably 15 years older than the constituency that we're trying to reach,
but um.....I think keeping that as a sub goal's important.
Mims/ Well and I think the challenge too .... and, you know, try not to get the cart in front of the
horse, but what's our goal? You know, what is it .... what is it we want, you know, for an
outcome? Is it to ... you know, to try and, you know, engage in terms of, you know, what
kind of activities do they want that the City isn't providing? Is it ... you know, getting
more information from them on, you know, what kind of transportation do you need
and .... and at what times, so that you can do things that you can't currently do? I mean,
what do we want out of it, because I think .... when you ..... when we try to figure out what
we want out of it, you know, maybe the way to go about it, obviously is I think you need
to go direct to the students, but you know can .... in what ways do we utilize the schools?
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I mean that's, you know, nine months out of the year, that's where they spend most of
their time, is in the schools. So what are the teachers and counselors and principals
seeing and hearing, particularly at the junior high and high school level? Um, what
information, you know, South District Neighborhood Association has, you know, trying
to do some, you know (mumbled) work. What ... how do we make those connections with
parents and families, and I think probably through the neighborhood associations was one
of the good ways. What ... what do they want and need? Why .... why are we having these
shootings around the city? You know, who ... who are these people? I'm making the
assumption, I may be totally wrong, that these are older youth, you know, and they may
not be. They may be well into adulthood, but .... so I think we have to think about what...
what do we want to get out of that engagement?
Thomas/ Well I think it ... I think it .... what one thing you just said kind of tied into another aspect
of this enhancing community engagement that ... (noise in background, unable to hear
speaker) potentially tie together this ... this notion I'm trying to (mumbled) neighborhood
engagement with youth. So ... you know, engaging in the neighborhood, having a town
hall, where the subject of the quality of life for the youth is part of the agenda, to try to
understand what can we do as a city to improve their every day lives, um, if it's, you
know, they don't .... and I've heard, you know, it's always anecdotal, but the, you know,
this .... often a comment that, uh, they don't have enough to do. Well, how can we help
you with that, you know, in terms of activities within the neighborhood or better transit,
better bicycle, you know, but how .... as you were saying (mumbled) I do strongly believe
in face-to-face conversations, that social media's great, but I think if you don't
complement that with face-to-face conversations (several talking) connections can be
very weak. In fact I think it's the lack of face-to-face conversations that have contributed
to our behavioral issues.
Taylor/ (mumbled) that they are a part of the community and that they do matter to us (both
talking)
Thomas/ Right. So I'm .... I'm very interested in having and I know it's .... you know, the actual
making this operational is a question (mumbled) in the Northside and I suspect in the
South District, where you have strong neighborhood associations. The potential for
having a neighborhood town hall meeting, I think, is there, you know, where you talk
about all the factors that come into play that influence the quality of life within... within a
certain area, geographic area, of Iowa City is a useful conversation. And ... and youth
could be part of that .... agenda (mumbled) try to get (noises in background, unable to hear
speaker) A direct .... a direct connection to those who at least attend the meeting.
Teague/ I guess my thought is that maybe, um, because we don't know, um, how the youth will
actually interact, I wonder if, um, we wouldn't start with maybe a town hall meetin', as
you just mentioned, but we invite the youth and then, you know, go from there, as to what
their input is to Council, um, and then we can probably create somethin', or not!
Um .... but .... I love the idea that bein' a part of our strategic plan. I just don't know that
we have the answer of how that looks beyond (both talking)
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Weiner/ ...don't necessarily have to have the answer (both talking)
Teague/ Yeah.
Weiner/ ....as long as it's sort of our thought process (mumbled) working on over the next couple
of years (mumbled)
Teague/ So maybe just keep it general, you know, um, navigate.... youth engagement. (several
talking)
Salih/ But my question again, just like what Susan Mims said, uh, what kind of engagement do
we want? Do we really want the young youth ... all the youths to be engaged with the City
government, learn about it, or do we want to keep them busy or .... what exactly, you
know, when you say engagement of youth?
Weiner/ I think we need to find out from them, in part, what they need, what they ..what they
need and want, or would be interested in.
Taylor/ (mumbled)
Salih/ But .... as a city, what our goal .... of that? Why you wanna do that.
Bergus/ To me the easier piece that we're doing already, that we need to just ramp up is the ... is
kind of the government relations, and I realize it says inter -governmental relations, but a
lot of this engagement is the push of information and getting the information, like what
we're already doing into people's minds and hands and hearts, right, like helping them
understand what's happening in the community, and that's to all people including youth,
because if they know what we're already doing then we can kind of engage them on what
can we do better, what else do you need, that sort of thing. So to me the goal more
immediately is .... is anything (mumbled) that push in different, you know, the different
platforms and upgrading the website, because that will .... reach more people more
effectively, and I ... not to get too into the weeds, but I do ... I wonder about video, like I
really like what the City is doing with the very high-value, high-quality City update
videos and I think those are really good, accessible, but it's interesting to me that Iowa
City, like this meeting isn't being televised. That our strategic plan, you know, that like,
um, more of the commission meetings aren't ... put online, like there's just a layer there
where it's like City Council, it's good that our work sessions are. I appreciated when that
happened (mumbled) but there's kind of layers of that as far as the pushing the
information out and giving people the opportunity to consume it that I think we can
approve.
Teague/ So .... (both talking)
Thomas/ That's... that's one thing that sort of...getting me out into the neighborhoods cause I do
feel there's a gap, you know, between City Hall and .... what happens in Iowa City at....at
the neighborhood scale, so to speak. And how do we bridge that gap?
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Salih/ Then you talking about the (unable to understand) not only (mumbled) because (both
talking)
Thomas/ Right, but I mean, youth .... youth are an important piece of it, in my view, because... it
seems to me, you know (both talking)
Salih/ ...I mean youths included too but .... I .... you are not just referring to the youths.
Thomas/ Right, I ... I mean to me it's sort of ...right. It's .... it's a special condition with the youth.
I think they .... they deserve, and need, special attention, but I'm .... I'm looking at that as
something that's framed within a neighborhood context.
Teague/ So I wonder if. ... if I hear you correctly, like there's.... there's a lot of segments within
our community that we ... would like to have more engagement with.
Salih/ Uh huh!
Teague/ Um, and so maybe we can expand, you know (mumbled) some examples that include
youth, um.....and, you know (clears throat) immigrant population or .... or community.
Maybe we expand it a little bit?
Salih/ (unable to hear)
Teague/ Oh, you're sayin' just navigate community engagement with all aspects of our, uh,
community, including youth.
Salih/ Yes, that's what I want to say, because I believe everyone.... there is .... they saying that
youth is not ... they been ignored (unable to understand) I don't wanna use that word, but
still, there is many, many people also need to be engage with the City government, and
they are not.
Weiner/ That's a good point.
Teague/ So...so, yeah. (several talking) It will be somethin' that we will work on, from
(mumbled) (several talking in background)
Salih/ (several talking) Yes!
Teague/ Are we good with this for now?
Mims/ I have a quick question. How many .... does staff know how many neighborhood associ...
number one, how many neighborhood associations we have and how many of them really
meet on a regular basis?
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Fruin/ I mean we do have that. I don't know off the top of my head, but .... (several talking)
....32, 33, somethin' like that. Yeah, not all are very active.
Teague/ Marcia Bollinger (several talking)
Mims/ I just.... throwing around my own mind the idea somehow a little more formal
engagement, you know, with them, not, you know, whether it's a presentation to `em once
a year from some staff or from a couple Council Members, uh, or a combination of that, I
mean, but meeting their.....meeting what they want and need, but.... actually getting on
their calendar at least once a year and ... talking about some of the issues in their
neighborhood from holding some of that engagement that way.
Teague/ Maybe ... we're doin' some form of that, where we go to the parks (both talking)
Mims/ Right, we've got the Party in the Park, and of course we have our listening posts, but I'm
just thinking maybe something that's a little bit more formal (several talking) Yeah
(mumbled) and I realize not all of `em are (both talking)
Taylor/ .....if they meet on a regular basis, right.
Bergus/ I think that's another thing that we're already doing that maybe we're not
communicating that well, which is the City provides support for neighborhood
associations and I think maybe if more community members understood that opportunity,
it might help revitalize some of the neighborhood associations. So I don't know if we
need to consider some kind of.....
Teague/ I do know Marcia Bollinger is really good at, um, when someone comes and they say
they wanna have a block party, she'll... she'll say, okay, you know, what do you wanna
do? Uh, let me kinda help you navigate it, cause people'll come with startin' at wantin' to
do something but they.....the mechanics are so much that they kinda stop it. So she's
been really good at saying `let me help you with that.' So, that's been a positive.
Weiner/ And that's for the neighborhood area, I would guess.
Salih/ I do like the idea of what, you know, Mims said about like meeting with those
neighborhood, like even if like once a year, and also encouraging the area that they
(mumbled) association to make one, uh, somehow, so we can go around to city and
hearing from neighborhood what is going on. That's what help us as a Council, to bring
issues, uh, and listening directly from the people who live on that neighborhood. Uh, I
don't know how you gonna form it, but really that's a good idea, and I encourage that
idea to happen, and also (mumbled) creating a neighborhood association for the area that
they don't have, so it will be equally. We are visiting people (mumbled) and the City.
Weiner/ So but what actions (mumbled) put down there is that ... is that, something like that more
appropriate in the other, one of the other goals that deals more with neighborhoods, or is
it appropriate here?
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Monroe/ Um, I think you could put it in either. I think it's ... it depends on what you want to get
out of it. It was just something that we were discussing while we were (mumbled) so if
it's a emphasis on communicating about the resources that we have in our .... (mumbled)
association and all the things that go along with it. Maybe in this area it depends on if
you wanna... if the emphasis is on (mumbled) all different populations or .... (mumbled)
Weiner/ (both talking) ...get down to the weeds on this (both talking)
Teague/ Sure.
Weiner/ (mumbled) .....that can be in a different .... I mean it's a really valid point (mumbled)
the ... the part that I would (mumbled) this, from ... from the last time around, is sort of
maybe a combined B and C, um, the ... the B in the old one was to improve collaboration,
collaborative problem solving with governmental entities and (mumbled) topics of shared
interest. That can be shortened (mumbled) continue to work I think with .... with other
governments. (mumbled) ....we're gonna see shortly (mumbled) the ... the press
conference, and C, improve relationships with the executive branch. I'm not sure how
possible that is at this point, to be honest, but .... and the legislature that is possible,
especially with .... with some seats that may change this fall, by reaching out to the
legislators and other elected officials, and working with City lobbyists. Again that can all
be somewhat, um, accordioned into a shorter sentence, but I'm .... but I think that we need
to be, um, building relationships with maybe people from other city councils and other
cities, and the .... aside from just the .... yes, we have lobbyists in Des Moines, but .... but
often the most .... the most effective people to lobby are not your, assuming you know
what you're doing (laughs) not your lobbyists, but going as a group, going yourself.
Going and talking to people, whether it's your legislators are going as a group to talk city
issues, city day on the Hill or something, city issues with .... with a variety of legislators
there, to help start (mumbled) avoid the sorts of things that keep hitting us. Um
(mumbled) if we have a broad coalition of folks who can .... that we can (mumbled) and
take up there as a .... as a Iowa City .... not just Iowa City but cities (mumbled) League of
Cities Day on the Hill or something, so that (mumbled) many more people (mumbled)
expand our.... outreach in that way. That's sort of (mumbled) wishful thinking but I think
we really, um, need to think about different ways to have an influ... influence that
(mumbled) um, because the cities are .... one of the things I keep writing on social media
is that cities are really the engines of both in this state, and if...and anything that,
things ... so if they want the State to grow and prosper, um, they.... legislators as a whole
should be thinking of ways to improve our lives and not make them more difficult.
Salih/ I just wanna say another thing. You know like....(unable to understand) neighborhood
(unable to understand) Again back to the neighborhood association. You know, I guess
(unable to understand) all the neighborhood association that I can .... (unable to
understand) mostly. I don't see immigrants being on those neighborhood association at
all. And when I think about it, I just think that the immigrants (unable to understand) and
I don't know people of color, but the immigrants mostly, they have association like for
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their (unable to understand) association, Congolese Association. I been seeing those
association. How can we also .... like go and visit those people (both talking)
Mims/ ...include those, just like we would the "neighborhood associations," since they're other
(both talking)
Salih/ ...if we can add also immigrant association or something like that, just to .... to consider not
only neighborhood association because some people don't have a neighborhood
association, but they have this kind of association. (several talking)
Teague/ All right, anything else on this one? Wanna go on to three? I think that's where we are.
(mumbled) healthy neighborhoods throughout the city.
Fruin/ This is where we added affordable housing.
Teague/ Yes (several talking)
Salih/ (mumbled)
Fruin/ (mumbled) Ashley, when you're done (mumbled) to the (both talking)
Teague/ I wonder if it'd be .... if we don't (mumbled) little more, um, global in concept. Um....
with, you know, reevaluating ..... you know, or adoptin' form based codes and (mumbled)
comprehensive plan, um, just relookin' at that and makin' that somewhat of a priority. Or
makin' it a priority!
Mims/ Well we're kind of in the middle of that, I mean as we're looking at it for the South
District, and I think our commitment before was once we get done down there we're
goin' to the Northside, right? Wasn't that our plan or not?
Fruin/ Yeah, we'll start (both talking) the Northside visioning. That's just really the commercial
district though. The Northside visioning, uh, should start this spring or early summer.
And that's not .... that is not a comprehensive plan update. That's a visioning exercise, but
it could lead to .... decisions to change zoning or change comp plans or take other actions.
Teague/ So I guess I'm suggestin' that we maybe just, um .... not be specific by sayin' missin'
middle, but just broading .... broadening the terminology. Um (mumbled) evaluate
....form based, you know, form based code comprehensive plan throughout our
community, whatever that may look like as it comes up. I mean either as staff
recommendations or Council saying ... you know, we're done with the South District.
We're movin' over to kind of the Northside, even though that's the commercial piece,
maybe we can .... (several talking)
Mims/ I'm sorry! Go ahead!
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Fruin/ A couple things, uh, just from a planning standpoint that are on our minds. Um .... Susan
mentioned the complexity of zonings and we're gettin' ready to add yet another zoning
chapter, if you will, uh, to our code. Now our .... our hope is that if ..if the South District
plan is, and .... and zoning code, is done right, then as we annex we use that as the ... as the
framework and that becomes the new standard, and you can actually rezone existing parts
of the community to this ... this new code. It's not as simple as, you know, a couple
readings at Council. It takes quite a bit of staff work to .... to adapt a green field code like
this and be able to drop it into a .... a (mumbled) neighborhood, but that does impact
redevelopment opportunities and if we do, you know, if we do (mumbled) that would be a
next step, and so eventually we hope this code does replace a lot of the residential zones.
Um .... I don't think we want to get into a situation where we're developing... the next, I
guess the next zoning effort that we do, short of expanding the South District one, should
be a comprehensive one, in which we are looking at everything holistically and we're
trying to simplify and .... and unify some of the fragmented codes that we have. That is a
massive, massive undertaking. That is something that would last well beyond a two-year
strategic plan. That is a three, four-year effort. Um, Eleanor, you could probably recall
back in 2006, 2008 (unable to hear response) 2005 was the last one we did. Um .... that's
tough.... that's a tough undertaking. You really have to have dedicated staff, uh, to work
with a consultant team to do that. In terms of, um ..... looking at existing plans, uh, and
where .... where we could really use some planning efforts going forward, assuming that
we're gonna continue to be in a growth mode, where we're gonna have demand for
growth. We've got a couple areas of town that either don't have a comprehensive plan or
whose plan is .... is, uh, fairly old and not very relevant any more. And so, uh, one of
those areas would be northeast Iowa City, around Churchill Meadows. As we .... as we
look at Taft and Herbert Hoover, all the way up to the interstate. Really don't have a
good plan for that area. Um, and.... especially with some of the water improvements that
we're making, there's gonna..... there's already demand to ... to annex that and .... and think
about residential growth out there. Um, we should .... we should be thinkin' about comp
plan, and then the other .... be the other end of town, the .... the Carson Farm area, which
you could think of as between the highway by Menards, all the way up to Rohret Road.
Uh, in our CIP, four years out, I think we have a sewer going underneath 218 and if that
project stays on schedule, uh, that land is highly desirable for growth. We're .... we're
pretty much .... we're not out of inventory on the west side. Um, but uh... there's not a
whole lot left. There's a little bit of the, uh, last subdivision (mumbled) urn .... Rohret
Road. It's called Westside Estates, uh, out there that goes out to Slothower. There's a
little bit of that left. They're startin' their last phase this year. And there's a little bit on
Camp Cardinal. And ... and that's it, so .... and the west side of town is a very desirable
place with the hospital and even closer proximity to ... to some of the employment
opportunities in Coralville and North Lib ... North Liberty too (mumbled) Cedar Rapids.
So just so you know, those two are gaps, and we can certainly do more. You know, we
can go to existing neighborhoods and redo comprehensive plans, but from a staff
standpoint, we should probably get in front of some of these growth areas before it's too
late.
Thomas/ One thing I would add to that, urn .... and I kind of mentioned it early on was... the... the
question of, you know, what I like to call neighborhood revitalization. So .... partly
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because we have seen some pretty dynamic activity in the core neighborhoods at least,
with respect to the student housing, the surge in student housing, both the lack of any
kind of regulatory framework in terms of the student rentals, and how all that will play
out, and you know, what I....when we were under the moratorium, I mentioned at that
time, uh, because it did sort of cause me to .... to really .... take a deep dive into this whole
question of, well, how do ... how were we managing the vitality of these neighborhoods,
and the sense that I had was that with ... what we were attempting to do in some respects
was regulatory control, preventing certain things from happening, rather than what is it
we want. Now I think the UniverCity program was an expression of what we were
hoping to achieve. But, um .... it does seem to me we are in a inflection point here.
Something's.....something's going to happen in those core neighborhoods, I mean I ... I
did have an opportunity, and I mentioned this to Geoff, to talk to, uh, Mike Olivero last
week. You know, he owns over a hundred properties in the core area, and he's interested
in developing, in fact he said 20% of his properties are now, uh, a non -student population,
which may be a good trend. You know, I was pleased to hear that. So the question is
what... and this is where, you know, this notion of, you know, what .... what I'm seeing in
Cedar Rapids and also in Des Moines, where there .... there is a neighborhood
revitalization program, for the legacy neighborhoods, which is sort of a separate category,
from, you know ...the new stuff. So you have the new stuff, and then as an older city we
have the old stuff, the legacy neighborhoods, which go through a whole set of other
challenges. And .... they in particular are going through this, uh... disruption so to speak,
resulting from, you know, what's happening with the State legislature (mumbled) our
housing markets in the center of town. So .... it seems to me, I ... I certainly would like us
to spend.... give some thought as to what's our plan. You know, how we .... how are we
going to ... address this situation, which does seem to be, to me, very dynamic. Maybe
offering opportunities, uh, but also posing threats, and uh.... you know, whether there's
some way we ... without going through full blown form based coding, could try to, um,
you know, take a ... you know, a .... a simpler version of such a concept, you
know.... perhaps in a way that Minneapolis is considering, you know, where you're not
talking about, uh, what we're seeing in the South District, but you're acknowledging the
fact that perhaps some opportunity to .... allow what currently is not allowed in these
legacy neighborhoods, as well as perhaps some rehab, you know, financing for
rehabilitation of existing structures, which kind of gets into the affordability issue, you
know, the .... the most affordable housing is that housing which has been ... is legacy
housing. It may need work, but it's probably the most affordable housing in Iowa City.
And that's actually one of the issues is if we see that the student population, should it
leave the neighborhood, who's gonna fill that vacuum? You know, it may be that
that... those houses that they ...they vacate, uh, in their current condition may not be
suitable or marketable to the general population. So it...it seems to me there are a lot of
questions that I have anyway, in terms of...of what will be happening in these core
neighborhoods, and I'm .... I'm concerned that we have some kind of ...intention there,
response, that um ..... tracks what's going on and comes up with .... you know, a set of
recommendations as to how we can respond to the situation as it ... as it unfolds.
Teague/ We have about 15 minutes left. (several talking) I just wanted to make us all aware.
(several talking) So ... do you wanna.... updating (mumbled) language here or....
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Weiner/ (mumbled)
Thomas/ Yeah, I hadn't .... I hadn't really reduced that one down to a specific language, but um...
you know, it sort of speaks to the, what we already have in there, which is, um, that's
currently under, you know, foster healthy neighborhoods, A .... (mumbled) under that
(mumbled) I mean it's under the, uh, number two. Uh.... yeah, it's under vibrant and
walkable core, evaluate existing strategies and consider additional actions to address the
need for reinvestment in the City's existing private housing stock. So it's....
Mims/ Maybe we just move that to number three. (several talking)
Thomas/ ....that's what I had suggested, is we move it to three, um .... with an understanding that
that's sort of an unusual condition that's happening in the core neighborhoods. (several
talking)
Taylor/ Yeah, I think it goes with three better.
Fruin/ Just so I have a good understanding of this. Are you .... we went through, with this ... with
this bullet point here that was in two last time, we went through all our, uh, incentive
programs and we provided you a memo, giving you an overview of those, and we
recommended some changes to those programs. Nothing major, but some tweaks to
those programs. I ... I don't think we need a comprehensive review again, do we, or are
you wanting to revisit the decisions of that? Urn .... or you want us to think of new
programs?
Thomas/ I have to revisit it, but it did seem to me, um, you know, this ... we ... we need to ... to
incentive what it is we want, and I'm not .... I'm not certain that what we ... you know, the
...the things that we talked about during the moratorium, are going to achieve that. It just
seems to me there needs to be .... stronger incentives through the, whether it's through,
um .... you know, economic policies such as tax rebates, uh, being one example, uh, ways
to....
Fruin/ And the incentives are to encourage....
Thomas/ Basically what we called for in the moratorium, which is, you know, a more diverse
demographic.
Bergus/ Well I think maybe tracking the changes that we did make, right, so staff has given us a
really good summary of the changes that were made in response to that, which are
(mumbled) are more (mumbled) but I think that also the intent of a lot of that was to
disincentivize some of the things we didn't want to see, which then incentivizes that the
things we do want to see. So I think it's kind of two sides of the same coin. To me
what ... what I hear you saying, John, is if we keep track of that, if we keep tabs on that,
with all the data that the staff has been collecting about like the number of rental permits
in those core neighborhoods, after (both talking)
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Thomas/ Right, those .... (both talking) That's, and I had mentioned that during the moratorium.
I am concerned where things are going, and so I do feel the need to understand, you
know, what .... what is the permit situation? What is the situation with respect to building
permits, cause you know there were building permits being issued, where are those
happening? Uh, are they in any way something we should be concerned with, and then
the possibility of considering, and I .... I, this is a little bit into the weeds, but you know
(mumbled) where this could go, but developing a pilot program to look at ways in which
we could .... test the idea of. ... the kind of missing middle increase in density that could be
possible in the core neighborhoods. In other words, allowing .... if we have a dilapidated
single-family home, replacing it with a duplex property. So we double the density, which
has an economic benefit to ... to whoever develops that piece of land. So .... using, you
know, using our zoning and economic carrots, you know, to use your phrase. How can
we ..... how can we attract the kind of activity that we want, you know, good .... good solid
investment in the neighborhoods. And I mentioned... you know, in ... in some (mumbled)
the, urn ... you know, Des Moines has a program called Invest Des Moines, DSM, um,
which is a .... a non-profit, so it's no longer a government entity, but it's.... it's headed by a
former city planner from Des Moines. Looking at four target neighborhoods in Des
Moines and with a goal of investing $50 million over 10 years. So there are many cities
which have, you know, non-profit community development organizations that take on this
issue. So it's .... it's, to me it's something to be investigated. How ...what, what is it we
need to do, because I'm not sensing that, um .... what we have in place now is going to
move the needle. I'm just not convinced.
Salih/ I think what we have here now is consider (unable to understand) housing conditions
neighborhoods. We can go to the (unable to understand) this is general idea. Maybe we
can think about (both talking)
Thomas/ ...that's very general but still valid (both talking)
Salih/ Yeah, we can implement anything that we want through this, if we have this general idea
there.
Fruin/ What if we .... what if we commit to, um, a bullet point that ... staff will present an update
to .... to Council, a year after the moratorium was lifted, or 13 months after the
moratorium was lifted, to give you some statistics on what Laura was mentioning, and
then determine what recommendations need to be in place. I'm a little hesitant to .... to
get in front and say, well, this is what's needed when we don't know what the impact is
going to be quite yet.
Bergus/ I think that's good, because we also have like all these market forces that we are sort of
waiting... and we need a little bit of time to see what's happened with that. So I ... I think
that's a good approach. (mumbled)
Teague/ I would agree.
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Thomas/ Yeah, I think that's fine. I hope ... I mean, Geoff, is this something you look at on a
regular basis, cause a year out a lot can happen in a year.
Fruin/ Yeah, we can. After the moratorium was lifted I sat down with, uh, NDS and ... and we
went through and made sure that, you know ..... what they would need to be tracking. You
know they always have that data, but (mumbled) ask them to look at it. Um, I'm
assuming they're gonna tell me if we have a spike in the rental permits or building
permits in those areas. I get the monthly, um, building reports, just as you do in your
packet, um, and actually get a more detailed version of that, and ... and it's not just
(mumbled) Those are ... those are building permits in there too, so it doesn't have rental
permits, but it has building permits and I ... I would certainly notice (mumbled) city wide
(mumbled) dive into that, but....
Thomas/ And I wanna make ... it's not just the Northside. It's .... it's Miller Orchard, it's, you
know, it's the area (both talking) Yes, the University impact zone .... (mumbled) affected
by these forces.
Teague/ Do we wanna go to two? Encourage a vibrant and walkable urban core.
Fruin/ You're tannin' out of time there. You've got five minutes.
Teague/ I know. (several talking)
Fruin/ ...walkability, livability, accessibility (several talking and laughing)
Mims/ I would go with Geoff's suggestion. I think this is something that takes more than five
minutes. This is one of the more complex ones I think (both talking)
Teague/ All right.
Mims/ I think we wanna have adequate time to....
Teague/ So maybe we'll add it to a work session, is that ... or do we .... we should be able to add it
to a work session, instead of (several talking)
Fruin/ Maybe that first one in April, and that'll give us some time to flush out some of this and
(several talking)
Teague/ And we'll also continue the organizational (several talking) part of it. Okay!
Um ... anything else for today? That anybody wanna mention?
Mims/ I think we made good progress! (several talking)
Weiner/ ....good time in a new Council (mumbled) to do this, but I think it also gives us an
opportunity to get to know how the other people (mumbled) (several talking)
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Page 45
Salih/ I really like (unable to understand) done in the beginning, so like everybody put their
(mumbled) Seem like all of us in the same boat, you know, just great. Make me happy,
yes, all of us (unable to understand) same thing. (mumbled)
Teague/ Anything else? (several talking) Absolutely thanks to the staff for making this all
happen for us. So thanks. We are adjourned!
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council strategic
planning work session of March 10, 2020.