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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-04-07 TranscriptionPage 1 Council Present: Bergus, Mims, Salih, Teague, Taylor, Thomas, Weiner Staff Present: Fruin, Monroe, Dilkes, Fruehling, Nations, Havel, Knoche, Hightshoe, Sovers Others Present: Longenecker(UISG) Climate Action Commission Presentation on Recommendations Related to the 100 Day Accelerating Climate Actions Report f IP31: Teague/ We have Matt Krieger that's going to lead this discussion for us, so welcome, Matt! (pause) And we can't hear you. Krieger/ (mumbled) all right, can you see me okay and hear me? Teague/ Yes (several responding) Krieger/ All right! I'll probably just put this back on my still image while I'm presenting, but I'm going to share, I'm logging on two different computers here, so I can share my screen, um, which is the document that was, um, sent by the Commission, with our recommendations. Um ... and I will walk through kind of the highlights of that. Uh, in case you haven't read it and (mumbled) yet, um, but ... so, yeah, let me switch this over now. All right! Can you see that okay? Bergus/ Yes! Krieger/ Okay. Uh, so at the front of our recommendations we had a summary letter, um, just outlining again some of the highlights. Uh, I've actually highlighted them here. Uh, can walk through it, but the process was, uh (garbled) was that each of our working groups, buildings, transportation, waste (garbled) adaptation and the outreach working groups all reviewed the actions in the 100 -day report, specifically related to their areas, uh, of the action, climate action plan. Uh, and then they provided the feedback, uh, and we met as a commission to review that in more detail, uh, discuss them, and then, uh, put together this final document, uh, with all of the, uh, comments included. Uh, and we'll get to those here in a moment. Uh, the .... I will say that the climate action as a comm.... Climate Action Commission as a whole recommends that all the actions be implemented, at some point, um, which we understand to be the intent from the City, uh, from the City staff. Uh, they have, if you might have noticed, uh, shown them being phased in over a period of time. So some, uh, some actions would happen sooner, uh, than others. Uh, generally the working groups prioritized and provided feedback on the education -based action items. Uh, there's a lot of things that can be done in that area, uh, which are, uh, you know, building awareness, uh, educating the public about certain, uh, components of the plan. Uh, the working groups, especially buildings, recognize the importance of both incentive -based and regulatory -based approaches. Um, we know that different... different This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of April 7, 2020. Page 2 approaches, uh, impact different kinds of stakeholders or people in the community differently. Um, some are, you know, really need that .... that.....that stick and others really prefer the carrot. So a .... a good balanced approach, uh.... uh, is identified within these, uh, and .... and is a good approach. Uh, it should also be noted that two of the working groups recommended, um, the adaptation action item equity review of neighborhood and population outreach, we made a higher priority. Uh, we'll get to a little bit more detail down below here on, uh, the approach to equity overall, uh, but keep in mind that the equity and adaptation working group and the outreach working group are both cross -cutting, uh, groups. Their .... their focus is not just to look at one specific area of the plan, but to look across all of them and also to think about more broadly, uh, the implementation of these, uh, and how that might be done. And then, um, within each of the actions, a robust implementation plan will be needed. This is, uh, if you wanna think of the overall climate action plan as a general, broad-based framework, our original 35 actions. This, um, 100 -day report included these 64 more specific actions which gets us to the next step, but then each of those actions will require, uh, a very rigorous implementation plan associated with that. So we can identify more specific goals, uh, what all researches will be required for each of them, and then, uh, you know, who might be impacted by it, and as part of that, it also needs to address equity and what, uh, might be the most equitable approach to each of them. Uh, the equity and adaptation working group, again (mumbled) the overall report, um, lacks specific actions and implementation timelines regarding equity, uh, focusing more on broader objectives, which is probably fine at this point, but I think, uh, again as we look at each ... as .... as the staff looks at each one of the individual actions, uh, well, that will need to be developed, uh, more specifically with each one. So .... what we did, the Commission did, was we kept maintaining the same format that was prese.... the 100 -day report was presented in, and then just added in, layered in, our feedback. Um, so if you ... if you do happen to have a copy of the 100 -day report next to you, um, the .... we're starting on what would've been page 10 of that report. Uh, and this is what outlined the .... kind of the time frame or the phasing of the actions, uh, and how they might be implemented. Uh, usually it was based on the amount of effort or, you know, engagement that needed to be required and if things had already been started, um, or not. Um .... but we also recommended, the Commission is recommending, that we actually apply more than just a color coding to this, uh, more equitable approach but actually be to, uh, to, uh, label them, uh, do different methods for identifying things. So in this case we're just saying add the (garbled) phase one, phase two, phase three (garbled) color coding. So the first section then is buildings. Um, at the start of each of the sections here, uh, you'll see that there's a .... um, overall recommendations from the working group that was associated with that particular section, and then, uh, the format follows that within the tables that were originally developed. Uh, the Commission, uh, provided an additional column here, added a column where our specific feedback was included. So, rather than trying to sort through a bunch of different documents or, uh, presentations that were given to you, uh, we're trying to consolidate it here all in one place so that it's easy to read and understand. Uh, and then we've also added the phasing, again, to the color coding. So overall, uh, the building working group, um .... uh, looked at several of the items that were, uh, high priority. Uh, they had recommendations for those as, uh, called the education actions, called the incentive actions, and a couple of the regulations actions. Most of these are, uh This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of April 7, 2020. Page 3 (mumbled) they relate to each other. Um .... we'll get, uh, to a couple of these other recommendations in a moment that we're changing priorities for a couple of them, and then, um, and then a couple of revisions. So we'll dive a little bit deeper here now. Within buildings, education action number one, um, this is promoting energy efficiency and performance tips to the public, and this being a, uh, you know, a big potential, um, impact, because buildings, again, uh, is the largest potential, um, source of greenhouse gas emissions that we can get across the city, and that's split between, uh, new buildings and existing buildings, and between residential buildings and commercial buildings, and so, uh, it's important that we get everyone on board in the community because we can't just do it with going and talking to specific builders or large owners (garbled) developers who are working on the big buildings. We need to focus on ... on our residential and existing stock as well. Um ... there is an action later, uh, within this overall chart that speaks to, um, outreach, and the approach to that, and that is to develop the Climate Ambassadors Program. Um, and, uh, one of the things that the outreach, uh, working group identified was that that Climate Ambassadors' group could really impact many of these actions. So where that's potentially possible, uh, that is noted within our feedback. Uh, and that is something that is, uh, a program that is looking to get started, uh.... uh, right now, uh, within the next month or so (garbled) Urn ... the other thing that we noted here is that we should also be coordinating with other .... our other community partners like the Iowa City Community School District on this effort, uh, especially now that they have their own climate action plan, um, could be working with them on that as well. Uh, developing a website to showcase some energy efficiency success stories, um, which would be a great educational and awareness tool (garbled) Uh, we also want to, um, request that as you move forward in developing this action, uh, in more detail that we get more specific metrics, uh, for, um .... more specific data, the dialed -in data, uh, that we can really look at. Right now the data is really community -wide, uh, within the entire community, but if we could start looking at more of a neighborhood -by -neighborhood case, uh, basis, you know, still maintaining privacy and security for .... for everyone, uh, but looking at it in a bit more detail. That's going to be important going forward. And then providing a reporting tool, uh, would be important part of this action for homeowners, to (garbled) measure energy efficiency changes. You know, if you think about, back to, uh, MidAmerican, when they were providing the, kind of relationship of `how well are you doing compared to your .... your neighbors,' or am I doing better or worse. This would take that kind of to the next step, make it a bit more effective and understandable in what you're actually doing, uh, how you're actually performing. Uh, so education action item number two, partnering with stakeholders to promote green building and rehabilitation was another high priority action. Again, we need to be able to, um, really affect.... impact our building stock, and that's going to be a very hard challenge, uh, within.... within the community to do. And so, um .... this is one of those high priority items that can really make an impact in that .... in that, uh, segment. Um, and so .... uh.....so, yeah, so we want to also make sure that we are again applying an equity -focused, uh, approach to this. Um, affordable housing should be a consideration. Um .... and.....um, you know, just a .... getting a cross -cutting with the.....with the different staff who ... who impact different aspects of the .... of the community here. Um ....but it will take, as part of the overall implementation plan, it will take developing the list of, uh, detailed list of partners that would .... that would be helpful in, uh, in working This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of April 7, 2020. Page 4 on this. Uh, action item number, uh, education item number three, which is related to coordinating with the local realtor community, um, to `green' the MLS, the multiple listing services. Uh, we recommended just moving this one from a blue, uh, phase two to a green phase one priority, and that's because we're really already started working on this, urn ... uh, as a.....as a working group with the Commission, uh, trying to set up some meetings with the local Iowa City Area Association of Realtors. Uh, this has been very successful in other communities. Um, one of the reasons we're focusing on it is, uh, it creates a demand for green building. So if you can show, uh, and be more transparent about what are the features that are sustainable, uh, within.... within the listing service then that creates.... that shows people what's out there. It creates a demand for more of it, um, which then, uh, incentivizes people to do more on the rehabilitation side, uh, to create those, uh, and incorporate those sustainable, uh, aspects. So that's one thing that we think can help to drive the market differently than some of the other actions that are, uh, in the report. Moving on to, uh, buildings, incentive -based actions. Uh, so, uh, action number one here, offering free home energy assessments with the Green Iowa AmeriCorps. We saw this as a high priority action, um, and I'll get to a few more of the specific recommendations below. Uh, within each of the sections, uh, there was kind of a .... a more detailed approach that was kind of pulled out of the chart and put down below. Um .... so we'll get to that here in a moment. Uh.... action item number two was enhancing energy standards for City rehab projects. Uh, we saw this, again, as a high priority action, um, but if we are (garbled) these programs, we need to be able to ... to apply, uh, rigorous standards to those. Uh, so there's some additional detail that was included here in the feedback, uh, about (noise in background, difficult to hear speaker) that's part of that more detailed implementation plan. Um .... so something (mumbled) would be...be worth looking at in more detail. Again there are other, uh, communities that have had (mumbled) some of these, and so we can .... we don't have to reinvent the wheel, uh, we can copy what's being done in other communities. Uh, again we're generally supportive of all these other actions that I'm not going into detail .... more detail here today. But incentive option number six, which was develop or partner with local stake.... stakeholders on a comprehensive climate action rehabilitation program. Uh, this really, uh, relates well to, um, some of the education -based actions, and so we're recommending that are .... that are happening sooner and so to really tailor those and partner those together, we're recommending that that be moved up in priority. And I think the other part of this is that there are, uh, things already starting to happen, rehab programs that are happening, uh, and so it's just a matter of scaling those up. Okay .... so that, um, incentive action number one, uh, more detailed recommendations down here are included. Again, thinking more about the next step of a more rigorous implementation plan. These are some things that should be thought of as part of that. Um ... making sure that we have, uh, strong education for residents, uh, especially, uh, within the program, um, not just having the (garbled) come in and do the ... do the upgrades or the updates, but having more of an education part of that, um, so that it, uh, is operated well, um, so that its upgrade is effective. Uh, we also want to ensure that we have measurements, um, so that we understand, uh, the quality of the improvements, um, and not just the quantity. Uh, again, uh, equity needs to be thought of as part of this, um, what are the groups that, uh, are being impacted, uh, who's benefiting from this, uh, and the Green Iowa AmeriCorps program has been pretty good about that in the past, uh, as has the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of April 7, 2020. Page 5 (mumbled) program. Uh.... and then also thinking not just about energy but about some of the other ..(mumbled) upgrades could do for the health and indoor air quality. Um, and ... and just better, you know, as you do weatherization projects or you seal up homes, uh, what are the things, uh, what is the air quality like then within that home, uh, and so are you .... are you creating a negative impact, uh, trying to make the .... the, um, residence more energy efficient. So just some things that need to be thought of, uh, that might not be at first glance. All right, so then within the regulation section of buildings, uh, high priority action that we saw was to create a more robust energy code inspection program. Uh, and that, uh, the households are benefiting from the (garbled) utility bills, uh, something that we need to think of as part of this. Um .... and then one of the other things that we looked at was that for those projects that are getting, ub, TIF support, tax increment financing, uh, that the, uh.... that they don't (garbled) period. So that we want to maintain that affordable housing (mumbled) for a longer period of time. As part of action number two we saw those, uh, regulation action number two incorporate stricter energy standards into the TIF policies. Um .... you know, some of this has already been started when it comes to, urn .... uh..... as part of the current policy, but this is looking at it in a bit more strict and robust, uh, way. Um, and then as part of, uh, item number three, incorporating those standards into some of the other, uh, incentives. So for example, the height and density bonuses. We recommend that this action be moved up, as it's something that's already being discussed, um, and it's .... and the TIF policies are already in place, so it's something that can easily.... could be applied to some of these other incentive programs. Um, we think that if the City is going to have incentive programs, no matter what they are, rehab programs, urn .... it could be, for instance, the, um, the rehab for, you know, storefronts downtown, whatever the.... whatever the program is. It should incorporate some kind of, uh, energy efficiency requirements, um, and .... and be aligned with the climate action plan going forward. Uh, within the, uh, City policy section under buildings, uh, under advocate for local control of energy codes, one of the things that we looked at as a working group here, uh, and the Commission, was a suggested revision to this. Um, having different codes, um, localized codes could create, uh.....um, potential issues, uh, especially... and confusion, within the building industry, because the building industry, both, uh, builders, designers, uh, they work across jurisdictions and, uh, having a whole lot of different codes, uh, energy codes, uh, could create other potential problems, and so one of our suggested revisions here is that we advocate that the State always adopt the most current energy code, uh, and then explore other NG code opportunities as part of incentive programs, and those, there are those.... those do exist out there, including, uh, the zero code, uh, so that's something that could be reviewed... in more detail and ... and what the application of that would look like. Okay! So I think that's what we have as far as highlights that we wanted to go through on the building section. Um .... do we wanna maybe as part of this format just ... see if there's any questions within each part or .... wait till the end? Teague/ Maybe we'll wait till the end. Krieger/ Okay. Teague/ (mumbled) someone has somethin'. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of April 7, 2020. Page 6 Krieger/ All right. So within the transportation section, there .... uh, wasn't a lot of, uh, specific changes, uh, recommended to this, either to the timeline or to the actions that were being recommended. Again, um, just supporting all of the actions and recommending that all of them be done at some point. Um, within the Commission feedback though and from the working group, uh, a lot of the comments that came up as part of this section were related to making sure that we are engaging, um, a broad based, uh, group of people within our community, um, and that we are taking, again, an equitable approach, uh, to that. Um, and so, um ... just because within, again, this current framework, these charts, uh, there wasn't a lot of detail provided. Again, it's just a .... it's a input, it's a specific action with a description and a goal, um, but as that, uh, implementation plan is developed in more detail, those are things that need to be looked at more closely. Uh, one of the other things that we wanted to highlight here with the transportation incentives, uh, as far as incentivizing the public transit options, uh, is consider a partnership with the Iowa City Community School District. Uh, there's a lot of bus riders, uh, that would be impacted with the program, um, but attend the schools, staff and students, and so that's one that we probably wanna reach out to, uh, along with the University, and have a more engaged, uh, approach. Uh.... and so yes, there weren't really, again, a lot of changes to this section. Um .... but overall it was .... it was well put together, well thought of...as far as the overall number of, uh.... of actions. Uh, one of the things that was brought up as part of the .... as part of this project, uh, action number one, uh.... with the completion of the transit study and the implementation of that, uh.. just need to make sure that it's thoughtful ..... it's thoughtfully linking planned actio... activities, uh... with, uh (mumbled) and realizing the benefits to underserved (mumbled) again. So, um, I believe as part of the study what we heard, um, from, uh (mumbled) was that the, urn ... that there was, uh, interviews and, um.....surveys done specific to where people want to go, want to travel, and so making sure that that's incorporated to be an effective approach. Okay. Uh, moving on to waste. So, overall our community is doing very well on the waste, uh, approach in general. Um, as part of the education action item one here though, uh.... not just engaging the public to compost organic waste, uh, but... through residences, but also through businesses. Um, we do recognize that, uh, businesses usually have a, um, you know, hire a, uh, privately, uh, hauling company for recycling and composting, um, but this is more about awareness and engagement, and so we need to think more than just the residences, but also the businesses in our community, and how they could contribute. And again, the Climate Ambassador Program that I mentioned earlier (garbled) uh, actions and campaigns. Okay, otherwise generally we were supportive of all the, uh, actions within the waste section. This one policy action, uh, was recommended (garbled) instead of a phase two, which is requiring all public (mumbled) and use green event practices. Uh, this is something that we have (mumbled) models for already. Um, so it seems like it could be done sooner rather than later. Moving on to adaptation. So again the equity and adaptation working group looked at this section in detail. Uh, they did rec.... they did notice that the report, again, lacks specific actions and the implementation timelines concerning equity. Uh, and that the, um .... the items that are related to equity in the report are few, lack urgency and lack permanence, and so again this just goes back to .... again this is more of a broad, uh, a broader framework, uh, of objectives and ideas, uh, as part of the more detailed implementation of those should be looked at more This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of April 7, 2020. Page 7 closely. Um, and it's something that both City staff can look at, uh, as part of the development, as we incorporate some of our community partners, uh, you know, the outreach that's conducted, who's involved in developing those programs. Uh, that should be a diverse group of people as well, uh, it shouldn't just be, uh, staff or the Commission. It should be a larger group of people that are contributing to the overall development of these actions and not just part of what happens on the (mumbled) implementation. Uh, so adaptation action number one was developing that Climate Ambassador Program. Uh, I have a bit more detailed information below this chart (garbled) Uh, as part of education action number four, uh, concentrated education campaign for private properties about native plantings, (mumbled) pavement, rain gardens, (mumbled), and cisterns. Uh, overall we, uh, think that, uh, that we should consider opportunities for coordinated education efforts with the local agencies, as well as coordination of existing and expanded programs that incentivize storm water, best management practices on private property. Um, so again it's more of just coordinating a lot of the things that (mumbled) exist. Um, and ... and looking at additional opportunities within them. Uh, under education action number five, which was coordinated efforts with (mumbled) agencies. Um, part of (garbled) is that this needs to also include critical infrastructure entities, so this wouldn't just be the government entities but also, uh.... uh, entities (mumbled) utilities, uh (garbled) part of that as well. All right, so with the .... there's quite a bit of information here that was developed by the outreach working group, as part of the Climate Ambassadors Program development. Um, really thinking in more detail about what that looks like. Uh, I think they're farther along on that because, um, they are, uh, looking at developing that with the additional staff that were being hired, um, as part of, uh, the climate action efforts. Um, and so that'll be kicking off here in the next month or two. Um, but this is ... just broadly this is a group, Ambassador Program is a group of people that would be trained by staff and/or the Commission members, uh, to go out into the community, attend events, uh, be part of our normal community things that are going on, uh, like farmers markets, like, uh.... uh, you know, the Summer of the Arts programs, um, you know, just kind of attending everything that is in the community, but also setting up, uh, events and things like the listening posts that, uh, Council Members conduct, ulr, to try to bring input, um, to the .... to the action plan and not just, um, not just teaching or .... or creating awareness. Uh, it should be, uh, kind of the two-way conversation that's happening there. Um, we don't warm just push things on .... onto the community. It needs to come from the community, uh, and that's where we're gonna be most effective. So that would be part of the Climate Ambassadors' mission or effort. Uh, part of it also needs to look at the equity (garbled) Um, so again, who are the ... who are the groups that are benefiting or being impacted by, um, by the efforts, by the actions, uh, and ... and developing outreach targets or looking at who those stakeholders might potentially be, uh (garbled) some focused outreach. And then at the bottom of this list is the overall, the number of actions or the specific actions that could be impacted by that Climate Ambassadors Program, um, and these were included in that .... in that chart above, um (garbled) One of the other things that the outreach working group, um, looked at more closely was promoting education action number three. Again this is, um, educating and coordinating with local agencies on the health impacts. Um, one of the reasons that we highlighted this, um, was that this is a way to really, um, reach out to people and think about climate action, um, and climate, uh, impacts and climate change differently than This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of April 7, 2020. Page 8 what they might normally think about it. Um, if it's impacting your health, then you might, uh, that might speak to different types of people differently. Uh, and so, uh, we really thought that this could, uh, create more .... some effective action, uh, broad based action in the community, uh, and so we started thinking about, you know, what are the agencies that should be included on that, that staff could, um, could partner with these and create a, kind of a kick-off meeting to really start working out what are the more specific things we need to be looking at, what resources need to be pulled together to better understand the impact of climate change, uh, on .... on our human health (mumbled) research exists. So it's a matter of pulling that together, uh, and then developing specific actions around it. Um, so we thought this was something, uh, that should happen sooner rather than later, um .... and, uh ....uh, it might involve potentially some of you (laughs) as, uh... uh, if you're interested in being a part of that. Okay. And so .... looking down here a little bit farther, under the adaptations, um .... uh, projects, again these are related back to some of what was mentioned earlier in the adaptation section, uh (mumbled) some of the, um, storm water management programs, um, and uh, and applying those to public and private development, not just residential development. Um .... just make them more broad based. And then this was the, uh, so .... project action number four, which is the equity review of neighborhood and population outreach, developing an outreach plan for populations, uh, highly impacted by climate change. This really, uh, is critical to all of the actions, and so something that should be moved up to phase one. Uh, and developed sooner rather than later. I think probably (mumbled) in this time frame, as part of phase two, uh, because of the amount of time or effort that would be needed to put it together, but that is something that needs to be done probably right away. (noises in background) Uh, then moving on to sustainable lifestyle, uh, the last section. And so, urn .... a lot of this is, uh... uh, action ....education action number one, uh, hosting sustainability forums and events. This goes right to what we were talking about with Climate Ambassador Program, um, and what they could be, uh, focusing their efforts on. Um .... launching the green business program, climate action at work (mumbled) education action item number two should be a top priority to promote upgrades in existing commercial buildings. Um, oftentimes the incentive programs that are out there are related to new construction, uh, so this is something that would help promote it within the existing commercial building, uh, stock, urn .... in a hard to reach, um, group. The rehab programs could do that as well on both the residential and commercial side. (mumbled) Uh, and as part of that launching the green business program, we did have some additional recommendations, specific recommendations here, uh.... um, about tracking energy use in buildings, about helping businesses do this, and this is something I think City staff are already starting to roll out. Uh, it's .... it's, uh, kind of like a pilot project, to, um, help some of the businesses in the community track or understand how much energy they're using, um, show that information, uh, and eventually maybe that rolls into a (mumbled) program that is, uh, in a way the phase, um, but (garbled) uh, as a baseline. Uh, this is one area, this program is one area that could, um, that could, uh, be a good spot for some future financial incentives. So for green, uh, for businesses that are looking to make upgrades, once they've understood their, um, understood their energy use, um, and how they compare to, uh, baseline buildings of their type, uh, across the .... across the U.S., then they could start then identifying, uh, what are the upgrades that might be needed, and so that'll take some money, and um, maybe it's a cost -share, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of April 7, 2020. Page 9 uh, with those, uh, property owners, uh, to be able to, uh, make those upgrades. Um, they would probably, one, need, uh, it takes funding to do the assessment, uh, as far as what projects they could do, and then of course implement those projects. So that's a potential item for future, um, you know, future incentives. And expansion of the rehab programs. All right, and so then I think the rest of these, uh, sustainable lifestyle actions we're generally supportive of Um, I don't think there was anything ... um .... that was too, uh, too (garbled) That gives you an overview of what we were looking at as a commission. Um, certainly willing to take any questions or discussion on any of `em! Thomas/ Well I'll just start by saying how impressed I am with the, um, rigor that you apply to the, uh, climate action plan. I'm very impressed with ... with the thoroughness of your review. Ub, I also, uh, support this emphasis that you've given on the question of equity, uh, which is something I think we just have to continually be mindful of, uh, as we move forward on the plan, and uh, I also appreciated your emphasis on public health, which with .... this infectious disease epidemic that we are dealing with at the moment, um, it seems to me that may be something to consider and try to integrate, or at least coordinate, uh, because if, you know, many people are speaking about how ...what lessons can be learned from .... the coronavirus and how we've responded to it. I think there may be some opportunities there to, um .... consider how infectious diseases and climate action relate to one another. Teague/ I've had a chance to talk to a few of the commissioners. Am I echoin'? Taylor/ No. Teague/ No? Okay. I've had a chance to talk to a few of the commissioners and have been pretty impressed with their involvement... with all of this (laughs) report, which was a lot. Um, one thing I wanted to really mention here is the outreach workin' group and what is planned for the future. I think it's going to be very imperative that we reach a lot of people to really express the .... the seriousness of the action plan and how their involvement can get us to reach the goals. That's where I'm feelin' that the greatest, uh, impact is gonna be is through that outreach. So I'm happy to know that there was a lot of time and attention put to that. (garbled) equity (garbled) echo what John just said, because it's pretty important that, uh, we realize what it's created now, and will even change in the future as to the equity and so just wanted to make sure that we are awareness that times we may have to make some adjustments to meet some of those equi .... equity, uh, challenges for people in our community. Mims/ Yeah, I would .... I would echo comments of John (input stops) I'm sorry, accidentally muted myself there. Appreciate the hard work; um, the Commission went through this, obviously spent a lot of time analyzing it and appreciate that. One... comment that I guess I would have is given the circumstances we are in and some of the things I've been hearing in the last few days, it sounds like even when we come out of this pandemic, it's not going to be going back to the old normal so much, and I think as the Commission looks at some of these outreach plans, there may need to be some adjustments made or... or thought of adjustments if we still have, um, issues of. ... interpersonal contact. Um, so 1 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of April 7, 2020. Page 10 just ... it's just something to keep in mind, because I .... people don't think we're going back to the old normal once .... once the social distan ... distancing starts letting up. So it's just something to keep in mind. Bergus/ I had a specific question. Um, Matt, thank you to you and your commission for all of the work. Um, just one item under the buildings section. There's a public projects sub- section, um, that I think you just indicated you ... the Commission agreed with kind of what was at force here. Um, number one action, which was slated for .... um .... I'm sorry I don't have a ... it's page eight in what I'm lookin' at. Yep! So that number one, and if I understand the color coding, that's sort of this year, 2020, but continuing into the future. Um ... the utility scale solar installation of two -megawatt, or greater, um, did the Commission, or the working group, the building working group....talk about that much or have feedback on that particular item? Krieger/ Um .... again, yeah, we were generally supportive of that action because we need to be able to,um, increase the amount of renewable energy, uh, that is part of our grid within our community which helps reduce our greenhouse gas emissions overall. Um, obviously I think that's gonna.... probably needs to be phased in multiple projects over time. Um, the, you know, one of the things with MidAmerican's, um.....uh, renewable energy portfolio is that it's mostly made up of wind energy, uh, and, uh, sometimes the wind doesn't blow. In fact it blows more in the winter than it does in the summer, and it pairs well when you combine it with solar power (garbled) projects, because, uh, the energy production for solar energy goes up for the summer, which balances out the wind well. So when you look at an annualized, uh, average, uh, for renewable energy production, uh, then that helps balance that out, um, and, um, again the one project, uh, with MidAmerican at this point (mumbled) small, very small percentage of course of their overall portfolio, uh, but it's a start and it, uh, it would help with the local, uh, emissions. Bergus/ Thank you. (noises in background) Weiner/ I echo what the others have said. I just wanted to add that I .... that I really like the focus on existing buildings, especially, um, green business and figuring out ways to incentivize improvements to those, because buildings overall are an enormous contributor. Thank you for the rigor with which you went through this. Taylor/ This is Pauline. Can you hear me? Krieger/ Yes! Taylor/ Okay, um, I also wanna echo what everyone said. Thank you for all this work. It's, uh, very, very intense and uh, I .... I would like to echo what Susan said though too (mumbled) won't go back to normal anytime soon, so I would hope that you wouldn't get too hung up on like specific deadlines, uh, because it...it is going to ... to take time to get back to normal. Uh, we can keep our goals in mind, but not have like strict deadlines to get to. Just take our time. Uh, I did appreciate that I think it gets us as a city some things to think about, especially when it comes to the, uh, code, um, code requirements, uh, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of April 7, 2020. Page l l because we often forget that we have our lobbyists and we could... should utilize them for that aspect, to encourage them to, uh, work at the State House, uh, to get those codes, uh, changed. Salih/ I also just agree with every, um, one, everything that they said, and I just would like to (mumbled) this like great work, long report that you come up with, and just this really good job, and.... continue. Thank you. Teague/ Well thank you, Matt, for givin' us this report. We really appreciate, again, all of the work that the commissioners have done. We realize that it's no easy task and I ... I am amazed that you all were able to break up into groups and kind of navigate through it all in the amount of time that you did cause it's a lot of detail in there. So thanks again to all the commissioners. Please share that with them from the Council. Krieger/ I will (garbled) pleasure and yes, it is a .... it is a long effort, but it's something that we are all certainly passionate and dedicated to, so ... (mumbled) COVID-19 Update: Teague/ Thank you! All right, if no more questions then we will move on in our agenda .... to COVID-19 updates, and ... of course we're livin' in this moment, day-by-day in our community where ... and in our nation, as well as globally, where COVID-19 is a challenge and .... we're all tryin' to navigate how to get through it, um, on various levels. Here at the City I know that Geoff Fruin and all of the City staff has been very ...involved in tryin' to figure out things within our .... things at City Hall, things within our city. Um, daily at 9:00 A.M., um, the City staff meets. Actually at 9:30 A.M., City staff meets with a lot of the department heads, and it's headed by Chief Grier, where we meet for, um, updates and talk about things that are significant that we need to think about durin' this time. I know that, um, many of you are aware that Johnson County has the EOC that also meets, and that meets every day at 3:00 P.M. and there is a lot of discussions happening there, from a .... Johnson County, um, collective providers, urn... viewpoint. A lot of people are comin' and givin' reports, such as the hospitals. Uh, we do have a social service agency representative there, that talks about some of the needs there and some of the things that they're doin' within the community, and so that is headed up by...uh... uh, Dave, uh, and I'm gonna ... Dave Coach is Public Health, but Dave Wilson is ... it's headed up by Dave Wilson, and he really is, um, stayin' on top of the ball and, you know (garbled) those reports, um, and any needed items, he's prioritizin' that. I did warm just talk a little ... I know that we're gonna talk about this, um, as a Council. One thing we might want to consider as potentially a resolution to our Governor, to request, um, if people are agreeable to it, I've talked to many of you, um, to request a shelter -in-place. We know that the Governor has a 12 -point system that she's talked about and she hasn't totally given information of how her configurations came about. And so we don't know all of those details, except... what we know is, um, within our community and within our state, as of today we have 1,048 cases. Um, today that rose by 102 cases. Um, we're up to 26 deaths, and not to be totally gloomy on this topic because there has been some people that have overcome from COVID-19, but ... as we're lookin' at the ... the cases goin' This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of April 7, 2020. Page 12 to an increasin' amount, um, I think .... there could be some .... some great purpose for shelterin' in place, and so I wanted to put it out there for Council to kind of think about, if that's somethin' that we wanted to do. Um ... I also wanted to give a lot of praise and gratitude to those frontline workers within our community. Um, we'll start at our own City, uh, with our fire and our police that are really doin' a lot of frontline work. We really appreciate all of the things that they're doin'. We have other staff that are doin' frontline work, that is workin' with people in the community, that, um, is at risk for, you know, COVID-19 because of the interactions with the community and so thanks to all of those individuals that work for the City that are doin' those. We, in our community, have the hospital staff and, um, thanks to them. We have people that are (mumbled) home and community based services that are providing frontline work. Thanks to them. Our grocery store, we never realized how important they were, until this time. So thanks to all of them, and I know that there's a, uh, an enormous amount of other individuals, our ser.... service, social service agencies are doin' a fantastic job. There's a lot of needs out there and they're navigatin' various things, but they're really doin' a great job. So thanks to all of them. Um, I did just wanna give maybe the update as to what the cases are within Johnson County. We have 134 cases in Johnson County. Um, today there were 16 cases of the 102 that I mentioned. Um, I also just for a point of reference since the Governor has put us in regions, um, which .... we're part of the East Central Region, which urn .... Johnson County and Linn County is a part of that region but for COVID-19 we're not in the same region. But Linn County is at 186 cases. So I just wanted to kind of definitely.... mention what's happening in our community and try to get some feedback from ... or try to open up the discussion on COVID-19. Salih/ I really, you know, very.... scared from what going on today, especially when the update today was 16 extra in Johnson County, and the way that they put us in region, and they, uh, they did not include Linn County with us, even though that we are very close. We seem to be like one community because people like, uh, commute from, you know, Johnson County and Linn County all the time for work, for everything. Uh, I really believe that, uh, there is a reason for the Governor to just put those two county in different region, which is, uh, is not gonna make the .... the 12 -point system coming up soon, but if they combine of course we already have that, because we have a lot people, you know ,and the .... we have 134. We are the highest increase today, which is 16, and after that I guess it's Scott County, which is 14. This is really, you know .... make me very, very concerned and we really need to do something. If, uh, sending .... a resolution or doing something, communicated with the Governor will help, I will support that definitely. We need to do something and advocate, uh, for the shelter -in-place as soon as possible. I don't know how much people want them to get this disease, you know, just to shut down. Uh, this is really terrified and uh.... I .... I now start seeing close people that I know they get the disease, and I know that this is not the real number because two people that I know, and they're very close to me, they are ... they have this and they are not being count because they deny tested. Not like they deny tested, uh, because of anything, but because, for example, a mother have it, they don't test (mumbled) they live here in Johnson County. I know those people, you know, and I know another county, another state, we don't have to talk about that, but just speakin' about our own county, I know some people. They not been tested, and they have it. So the number that we have in This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of April 7, 2020. Page 13 Johnson County is not the real number, and if there is a way that we can do something about this, and ... and the people who did not been tested, not because University of Iowa does not wanna test them. No! Because they have somebody in the house already been tested and they been around them, so they don't need to be tested. They just told them that (mumbled) amazing job by communicating to those people every day to ask them how they been doing, but they .... they did not been included. We need another column to be added to this. If we know the people who has been tested that's the real number is 134, we need another column for the people who have it, but never been tested. Uh, I really just very concerned because the people who really gonna suffer from this is a lot of people that they don't have insurance, they cannot be treated, a lot kind of things. Uh, if we can do something, please let us do it. Thank you. Taylor/ This is Pauline. I ... I agree with Mazahir. I think the numbers that the Governor is working with, her ...her metrics are not accurate, and I think that the way that she's been stating is about staying in place. People are not taking it seriously. It needs some teeth to it, and L. I, if we can do something to encourage her, uh, to do that, I ... I would be in favor of that. Um, I would like to add on to what the Mayor (mumbled) some of those to, uh, thank. I ... I'd like to comment on those individuals are... continuing to work during this crisis. You're helping to keep our community afloat and safe and healthy, and I'm especially grateful of course to the healthcare workers and their support staff, as they're right on the frontlines in an effort to help to end this crisis, and in all my years of nursing, there were only a handful of cases where we as staff members cautiously cared for a potentially contagious individual, but these folks now are .... are doing this on a daily basis. Uh, it's hard to really imagine what they're going through, uh, and ... and for that reason I was particularly disturbed to see some photos that were shared with me, uh, this week. One in particular was of a group of people, right here in Iowa City, very close to where we live, Bruce, gathering on someone's front yard, uh, in their driveway in what appeared to be a party. There was no social distancing, uh, they were all grouped very closely together, and these types of actions needlessly place others at risk, and .... and this is really concerning to me. Uh, to those of you who are cautiously practicing social distancing, thank you. Um, there's still so much that's unknown about this virus. It is very serious and people have to take it more seriously, um, these are very confusing and uncertain times, uh, but please stay home, uh, but when you need to go out, remember social distancing, wash your hands, uh, take care, stay well, uh, put hearts in your windows and chalk your sidewalks, uh, and ... and together we can all persevere and get through this. But please be safe! Thomas/ Yeah, I ... I would agree that, uh, further action seems to be needed. We, you know, the numbers, as Mazahir was saying we're just seeing the reported incidents. We do not know how many people are going about Iowa City and elsewhere, uh, who may be transmitting the virus. So it's .... it seems at this point in time, you know, we've in good faith tried to keep our controls.... short of a shelter -in-place, but it does seem to me at this point in time, at a minimum, uh, a regional approach for most of..those urbanized areas of Eastern Iowa, which are .... when I look at the maps now, it almost seems like all the counties are kind of converging, uh, and it would be difficult to ... to isolate say Washington, Johnson, and Linn counties. It seems when you, the Quad Cities are only R This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of April 7, 2020. Page 14 miles away, so there's lots of opportunities for this thing to be transmitted in all sorts of directions and so it does seem at this point in time, where we're really at a critical juncture, uh, a shelter -in-place would be, along with I think greater enforcement, uh, important at this point. Weiner/ We're cons .... from the very beginning, because of the lack of testing, we've been flying blind. And... and having to use the bluntest of tools, and that has been I think for many people the ... the great frustration. We don't know, because of the lack of testing, we don't know how broad spread it is in the community. It's one of the reasons that they've asked folks to wear masks now. A made one is not pretty, but it wor...but I wear it to grocery stores right now. Um, the.... when.... when I need to go out for something like that. Um, I think the most effective thing I would hope would be a coalition of cities going in. I know that Cedar Rapids and Cedar Falls and Waterloo are considering similar resolutions. It wouldn't surprise me if Des Moines and Dubuque, and maybe the Quad Cities consider them. Um, we ... we need .... we need to model, we need people if they possibly can to stay home. We need to wear masks, um, but (child talking in background) sorry for the noise, there .... there is nobody here to babysit. Um, there's... there are different, um, there are things we can do. We can talk to people, we can FaceTime with them, we can Zoom with them, we can do what we need to in order to keep in touch, um, but we should not be having gatherings of any size at all, and I would be supportive, particularly if we have a coalition of cities, that all pass similar resolutions, um, because the .... as I watched the Governor of Virginia decide to do a shelter -in-place, on one day he basically said, `Well, we're already doing the equivalent of that,' and then Ralph Northum, who's an M.D., the next day came out, realized that actually having an order has more teeth, has more meaning, and came out with one that lasted through the .... through the beginning of June. Um, so I .... I am supportive. Mims/ I'm supportive as well, and I agree with what Janice has said. I think it's a lot stronger if we can get a coalition, whether it's working through, uh, through the Metro Coalition, Iowa League of Cities, um, to get as many onboard as possible with a ... a similar or identical, um, resolution, I think that carries a lot more power, um, than just one city. So I think doing it that way would be .... would be really helpful. And I will, I'll just add, I had... communication with a long-time .... long-time good friend, um, who's a physician on the frontlines of this, and um, they are worried and they're, you know, afraid of running out of the personal protective gear, and one of the comments that was made was, uh, even the average symptoms of this, um, are terrible, are just really, really bad for people, and so I think people are not understanding the severity of this. So anything that we can do to, um, encourage and enforce the social distancing, uh, to help our frontline workers, I think, is really important to do. Bergus/ Yeah, I agree with that and I'm not entirely sure what action we're proposing. I think I heard, uh, communicating with the Governor, asking her to make a clearer order for shelter -in-place and I think a coalition of cities and, um, counties providing that message and that strong request makes a lot of sense. Um, I know from just yesterday the additional closures and the, um, part of the Governor's press conference that emphasized law enforcement, um, and.... the.... the guidance that would be given to, um, cities about This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of April 7, 2020. Page 15 how to kind of, you know, different law enforcement agencies that could, um ... carry out, for example, the no groups of, uh, 10 or more, and I was just wondering if staff could maybe weigh in on, um, if we're gotten that guidance, if that seems practical, if we understand what that entails, um, because I think that piece of it, and the explicitness with which that was communicated for the first time in the press conference yesterday is really important for our residents to understand. Frain/ Um, Eleanor may have more up-to-date information than me on that. I don't think we have ... at least I'm not aware of any guidance that has come down since yesterday's press conference. I did hear the Governor, um, reference that, or actually the Director of Public Safety reference that. Um, but we've .... we've had guidance from the initial order on ... on what our police can and ... and cannot do. Um, so, Eleanor, do you want to describe the powers in that order that we have? Dilkes/ It's been clear from the start that, um, the ... the code allows any peace officer to enforce that order. There was a little bit of messaging that confused us at one point, but that was cleared up, and that happened before the Governor's press conference yesterday. I think the police field a fair number of calls about gatherings of, you know, more than 10, and I .... I know we're getting calls from businesses about what they can and can't do. You know, for instance the example that Pauline used about the party in the .... in the driveway. It would be completely appropriate to call the police and .... and ask them to address it, and I think they would do that. You know, their whole goal is to do it with education, um, if they can. But ... but that, there's certainly a tool for addressing that particular circumstance already. Teague/ So it sounds like from the Councilors, if I was to take a guess, we would be in agreement with a resolution, uh, what are people thoughts if we did the resolution through the Metro Coalition or the Iowa League of Cities? I know that I heard two say yes. (several talking, garbled) Thomas/ Yeah, that sounds like a good idea to me. Taylor/ Me too. This is Pauline. Teague/ Okay. Salih/ Me too. Teague/ All right. We will try to navigate that some more. (laughs) So ... all right! So .... I think, Geoff, you'll assist with that. Frain/ Sure, I can help with that. Teague/ Awesome! Thank you! Anything else for ...on COVID-19? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of April 7, 2020. Page 16 Dilkes/ I would just add to that, um .... the city attorneys from the bigger cities that I'm in touch with have at various times had these conversations with their mayors. Um, and with their councils, and so we can certainly, I mean if ....if something would come together through the Metro Coalition, we could certainly work on having a .... a document that everybody would us, whether that was a resolution or a letter to the Governor or whatever. Teague/ Yeah, and I ... is it fair to say that we would be (mumbled) whatever that looks like, whether it's a letter or a resolution? I'm seein' some noddin' of heads. Yes. All right. Great! All right! So clarification of agenda items. Clarification of Agenda Items: Fruin/ Mayor, if I could start. Um, I do want to inform the Council that on the parking rebate item, um, I'm gonna ask for an indefinite deferral on that. Um, as we, ub, had a little opportunity to dig deeper into our .... um, coverage ratio requirements that we have with our Harrison Street deck, um, we .... we have some unanswered questions on whether we would be able to go forward with a program like that. So, um, basically what that means is when we built the Harrison deck, um, we took out .... it's a lease -to -own arrangement, and so we are paying, uh, paying that lease down until we become owners of it down the road. Uh, with that lease agreement there are some coverage requirements, not .... not just they don't just look at your fund balance, but they actually look at the annual revenue, uh, coming in. So if we dip too ... down too low on revenue, while .... while we have plenty of fund balance, uh, we ... we may be, um, risking defaulting on that lease. Um, which, um, would have a ripple effect into, uh.... um, our credit ratings and things like that. So we just need a little more time to ... to process that and ... and to make sure that, uh, we're not gonna have any unintended consequences there. So I'll ask for indefinite deferral on that and ... and, uh, I think in a few weeks we'll have a better idea of what is possible, if anything, from a rebate standpoint. Thomas/ I had a very small question on Item 6.d., uh, which was the, um .... contract for the Scott, Napoleon, and Fairmeadows improvement project, approving the, uh, the bid, and I think we were going to be adding the alternates, and in the, uh, the Council's.... the Council action report it looked like the alternate 1 and 2 were both going to be shade structures at Napoleon Park, and I wasn't sure .... the, uh, if that was in fact the case or if perhaps one of the shelters was .... uh, or shade structures rather was, um, going to be at one of the other sites. Fruin/ Yeah, I believe that's accurate and I see, uh, Public Works on the line and they can jump in, but at Napoleon, the ... the playground approach for this project was instead of building one central playground, there's going to be a couple of smaller playgrounds throughout the complex and I think the shade structures are destined for different locations within the park, but um, Ron and Scott, it looks like you're there. Um, is that accurate? Knoche/ That's correct. Thomas/ Okay, thanks! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of April 7, 2020. Page 17 Taylor/ I just had a .... on a different item. Is that all, John? Did you have anything else on that? I ... I had a question in relation to 6.b., the resolution for the solid waste containers in downtown alleys. It was more of a clarification, whether it might be a typo, on the (mumbled) down, it says, urn .... dah, dah, dah, it should be extended to June 30, 2020, to allow the City, with input from the Downtown District, time to evaluate current system. Is that also supposed to be June 30, 2021, as in the final sentence? Dilkes/ Yes, we ... we caught that ... caught that, Pauline, and it's already fixed, but thank you. Taylor/ Oh, good. Thank you. Information Packet Discussion [March 26, April 21: Teague/ Anything else from the formal agenda? Hearing none, we will move on to info packet for March 26t . Hearing none there .... we will move on to info packet for four .... April 2ad Fruin/ (mumbled) briefly mention that the deer management report is in there, if you haven't had a chance to look at that. We've gone ahead and forwarded that to the State for their review and then, uh, the Police Department is .... is working with the Department of Natural Resources on the .... on the parameters of a bow hunt, uh, eventually it'd have to bring to you for .... for guidance. Uh, so if we put that together, individually if you have some questions, concerns about, uh, about either what we have done or what we're looking to do in the future, please, uh, reach out. Thomas/ One ... one comment I would have on the deer item would be, uh, if it would be possible to have a map of the, uh, the different zones, which from what I saw they were descriptions, but if those descriptions could be translated into a map, I think it would be a little bit easier to understand where exactly those zones, what their .... what their limits are. Fruin/ We .... we do have a map, and uh, can forward that on to Council. Thomas/ It was interesting to see how the .... the results of the hunt were not evenly distributed across the city. I mean there were parts of Iowa City where, uh, the numbers were not significantly reduced, so it would be ... challenging and interesting to see how the, you know, the follow up to this will try to help in those areas that didn't see a significant reduction. Mims/ I would also comment, if. ... if Councilors have read it, you will notice that they did indicate that they felt that the feeding of the deer, uh, by residents in the community, I think they indicated particularly maybe around Oakland Cemetery, was a problem for them in terms of setting up successful bait sites, and I think when you look at dealing with wildlife, and um, promoting their coming around buildings and ... and changing behaviors, they have recommended that we might want to consider an ordinance, um, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of April 7, 2020. Page 18 banning the feeding of deer, and I think that's something we should have a discussion about. Taylor/ One thing I didn't see in the report. They talked about how they had sent the number of deer, uh, to the meat processing plant, uh, is that where these deer are then tested then? They didn't mention testing them for like the wasting.... wasting disease. Do you know anything about that Geoff? Fruin/ They're all tested by the State and some of the .... the deer meat is held, um, by .... before it's distributed, held until those test results are received back. Taylor/ Okay, thank you. Fruin/ There were no positive results on the tests. Taylor/ Good. Mims/ I'm assuming our contract was for 500. So they stopped when they got to 500, is that correct? Fruin/ Um, no, there wasn't a hard number in the contract. Their goal was to hit, uh, 25 deer per square mile in all the areas of the community. So, um .... uh, it was kind of a rolling number, and I think it just ended on 500, kind of coincidentally, a nice round number. Mims/ Okay. Thank you. Council updates on assigned boards, commissions, and committees: Teague/ Anything else? All right. Hearing nothing .... so Council updates on boards assignments, commissions and committees. And I think if anyone has any, just chime in. There won't be too many! (laughs) Taylor/ I have nothing. Thomas/ I have nothing either. Salih/ Nothing. (several responding) Weiner/ Everything's canceled. I was going to try to get in touch at least by email to ask the ECCOG people about what measures they're taking for the 380 bus, that I know is still .... that is still, um, traveling between here and Cedar Rapids. Mims/ The access center group has started doing Zoom meetings, um, I think their first one was this afternoon and I was not able to participate. So, they're getting set up that way. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of April 7, 2020. Page 19 Teague/ All right, well if there is nothin' else for the moment, then we will, uh, take a break and come back at 7:00 P.M. for our formal meeting. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of April 7, 2020.