HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-04-07 TranscriptionPage 1
1. Call to Order
Teague: All right! So my lights go off if I don't move around for a little bit. All right,
well thanks and welcome to the meetin' via Zoom to everyone here. Um, this is
our second time havin' a Zoom meeting and it's very different, but it went well as
far as electronically the last time, and hopin' that tonight is, uh, goes the same
way. So, I just wanted to also give a little heads up as to how we will move
forward with, um, community time. So at the bottom of your screen, there's a
black section and if you hover over that .... you'll see a chat button, as well as
reactions. So if you wanna chat to let us know that, urn .... you want to say
somethin', or communicate with the host. You can .... utilize that button. If you
would like to speak on a particular item, if you go over the reactions button, and
raise your hand or .... thumbs up or .... it's a sign of a wave. Then we'll know that
you wanna speak on an item. For those on the phone call, you can press *9 and
that will raise your hand to let us know that you would like to speak on an item.
We also recommend that everybody mute their phones, as well as .... their screens.
Then on the bottom left, you'll see a mic and you can press that when you're, on
your computer screen or on your phone you can mute yourself by pressing *6.
So, I may review this a few times as we go along! All right!
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regular formal meeting of April 7, 2020.
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2. Proclamations
2.a. Arbor Day
Teague: (reads proclamation) And here .... to receive this is our Parks and Recreational
Director Juli Seydell-Johnson. Are you there, Juli?
Fruin: Mayor, I don't think Juli is on the call right now, but I'll gladly accept on behalf
of the Parks and Recreation staff.
Teague: Great! Thank you so much! And I have asked, um, Councilor Taylor to read...
the proclamation from Fair Housing Month.
2.b. Fair Housing Month
Taylor: (reads proclamation)
Teague: Thank you, Councilor Taylor, for readin' that.
Taylor: Sure!
Teague: And ... we have the Human Rights Commissioner Jessica Andino.
Andino: Yeah! So (garbled) Mayor Teague and the entire City Council for the opportunity
to accept this proclamation, um, on behalf of the entire Human Rights
Commission. Um, I just have a few words, if that's okay. Mainly I just (garbled)
human and housing rights are more than just access to shelter. They're a
multitude of indivisible, inner -dependent, and inner -related human rights as
adequate housing, uh, access to safe and healthy environment, affordability in
housing, and right to freedom from discrimination, and access to housing and
related services based on sex, race, ethnicity, or any other status. One is (garbled)
choose one's residence and to determine where and how they live. More so, the
human right to fair housing is a social (garbled) We as a community must focus
on fair housing in order to protect the human rights of all of our residents and in
order to reduce (garbled) here. Housing rights are human rights, and I'm grateful
to live in a community that has a City Council which supports not only
proclamations, but also actions to sustaining fair housing for all. Thank you.
Teague: Thank you, Jessica!
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Teague:
McGinnis:
Teague:
Taylor:
Teague:
Forchetti:
Dillion:
2.c. Marriage Equality Day
(reads proclamation) And to receive this is going to be Human Rights
Commissioner Cathy McGinnis.
Thank you, Mayor Teague, and thank you to the Council Members. I'm honored
today to accept this proclamation on behalf of the Iowa City Human Rights
Commission because what could be a more basic human right than the right to
love and commit to the person of your choice and have that commitment publicly
recognized. It's important to take this opportunity to recognize that when the
seven Iowa Supreme Court Justices unanimously ruled that it was unconstitutional
to limit the definition of marriage to opposite sex couples. They were doing what
was right (clears throat) excuse me, and they were leading the country in doing so.
In the Vamam (mumbled) ruling, the Court concluded that, and I quote, The
legislature has excluded a historically disfavored class of persons from a
supremely important civil institution without a constitutionally sufficient
justification. So on this I Ph anniversary of this ruling, thank you for again
shining a spotlight on the importance of recognizing all relationships as equally
valid and important. Thank you.
Thank you, Cathy.
2.d. National Service Recognition Day
(reads proclamation)
Thank you for that reading, and to receive it .... this, uh, proclamation today is
gonna be Volunteer Management VISTA at the Shelter House, Anthony Forchetti.
Thank you. I'm also joined hereby Katie Dillion and Gina Woolsey, the other
two, uh, AmeriCorps VISTA members at Shelter House, um, and I believe Katie
has something prepared.
Hi, thank you so much for the recognition of service. As you mentioned before,
national service and volunteerism is critical to our neighborhoods and it strives to
address.... issues that otherwise might get lost in the business of our every day.
I'm honored to be able to serve and to be able to represent other AmeriCorps
members here in Iowa City and all across the country. I'm very grateful to take
these experiences with me, to push me towards my professional goals, but most
importantly I hope to always utilize my newfound knowledge, unique
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experiences.... to better serve those around me. I would like to urge everybody to
find even small ways to serve the community, especially now as the whole world
is facing a new and unique challenge.
Teague: Thank you so much, and thanks to all of you for, uh, bein' apart of this today.
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10. Lease Agreement with MidAmerican Energy Company for a Solar Energy
System at Waterworks Prairie Park — Resolution approving the lease of land
at the Waterworks Prairie Park to MidAmerican Energy Company for a
large-scale solar energy system.
1. Public Hearing [Continued from 3/24/201
Teague: I'm gonna open the public hearing.... and I will have, uh, staff, urn ... at this time
Geoff Fruin.
Fruin: Okay, thank you, Mayor Teague and Council, uh, members of the public, uh, this
is an item that was deferred from your March 24' item, or excuse me, March 24'h
meeting. Um, and so I won't give the, um, the over ...the same overview that I did
at that meeting. Uh, the staff report is .... is available and I'm happy to go back
and answer some of those questions. Um, but I did put a supplemental memo in
the packet, uh, to try to address some of the concerns that we heard, uh, leading
up to today. And I'll just take a couple minutes to walk through that. Um, and
then I know that the.... folks from MidAmerican are on the line. They're not
planning to present tonight, but for your benefit they're here to answer any
questions that you may have. So, again, to .... to clarify our goal here, uh, this...
this project is certainly rooted in our climate action plan and was identified as one
of the 64 actions in our 100 -day report that you just considered at your, uh, at
your work session. Um, but the goal for ...from this project has been to seek the...
the coexistence of a large-scale solar with the, uh, prairie environment that we
have at the Waterworks, uh, plant, at the, uh, Waterworks Prairie Park, and so in
the memo I gave, uh, an example of, um.....uh, a project up in Minnesota that
we've looked to and .... and, uh, just reference that if ya look in, uh, to, uh, solar
prairie developments, you'll see a number of, uh, states and, uh, utility companies
are promoting the coexistence of both solar and prairie, uh, so that's definitely our
intention here. Uh, MidAmerican and the City are working with Applied
Ecological Services, who is our natural areas consultant and has been, uh, since
we did our master plan. We started that process back in 2016. So they're very
familiar with, um, our existing prairie and, uh, are here to guide us on how to
successfully restore, uh, the prairie on this site, should this project move forward.
Um, the, uh.... uh, Mid .... MidAmerican has estimated that, uh, just, uh, less than
an acre of. ... of the prairie will be permanently removed and this is necessary to
actually support the panels (mumbled) about the ... the footings for the, uh, panels
that will be there and also the maintenance drive that's needed to come in off of
the trail. Um, MidAmerican has indicated a .... a willingness to, um.....uh, pay
a ... a fee to restore that prairie elsewhere in the community and that's detailed in
the, uh, memo. So much like the tree mitigation fee was detailed in the lease, um,
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OMO
they are certainly willing to help, uh, compensate the City so that we can restore,
uh, the lost acre, uh, or less than acre, of, uh, prairie elsewhere in the community.
And again, should the project move forward, um, we would combine that into our
existing efforts, which I would just ... I'll describe in a little bit. Um .... there's been
some questions about the industrial use within the park, so um .... and our goal
is .... is certainly to keep the, uh.... um.....uh, a peaceful, tranquil environment
that's at the park and we think that that can be done, uh, even with incorporating
solar, uh, much like the water treatment plant that is situated there, uh,
successfully coexists within that park. Uh, the water plant is operated, uh, and
staffed 24/7, 365 days a week; has two significant large sludge lagoons, uh, a
parking lot, um .... and takes commercial deliveries on a regular basis, and so
there's already pretty heavy, uh, commercial activity or industrial activity that
takes place in the park. Uh, this would be a much lower maintenance, uh, type of
industrial use, and again we think with .... with proper care and planning that, um,
it can .... it can, uh (mumbled) just as the water plant does, uh, blend in with the
park very nicely. There's been a lot of comments about the Airport and other
locations. Uh, fust I just wanna make the point, uh, that .... that this is not, um, the
City's only, um ..... uh, desired location for solar. Uh, we envision, uh, in order to
achieve your, uh, a .... aggressive goals for climate action that we may need
multiple large-scale solars, whether that's partnering with energy companies or
taking that on ourselves with some of our more energy -intensive facilities.
That .... that certainly may be, uh, something we need to pursue. We also wanna
pursue small-scale solar and so .... solar that's owned on people's homes and on
businesses and ... and on City facilities. And I think the Council's aware of the
City facility efforts that we have under... underway. Uh, the Airport is a desired
location for ...for solar, and the Airport Commission has expressed interest in solar.
Uh... that, uh, it's not an either/or in our mind. It's .... it's a both, and plus some in
our mind as City staff. Um .... the, uh, the Airport project is .... is a lot more
complicated than this one. Um, and .... and you heard that from MidAmerican.
You not only have the FAA regulations that .... that have to be navigated, um, but
the Airport is .... is, uh, in a .... in the 100 and 500 -year flood plain and, uh, that
would make construction a little bit more difficult and a little bit more costly in
that location. Um, much of Waterworks Park is also in the flood plain, but this
particular leased area that we are looking at here, these 19 acres roughly, is not in
the 100 or the 500 -year flood plain. There's a little bit in the ... on the north,
um .... be the northwestern edge of ...of that leased area that gets in there, and
solar panels are brought in from that edge, but otherwise this sits outside
that ... that flood plain, and that can be verified by looking at the aerials of the 2008
flood. Again the Airport is in the 100 and 500 -year flood plain, um, making it,
um, a little bit more complicated and costly, but certainly doable and it's certainly
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a project worth pursuing and ... and that we would like to pursue, uh, down the
road. Um, I mentioned the .... in the memo (mumbled) also like to look at
possibilities for large-scale solar at our waste water, at our landfill, um, at....at a
number of other, uh, properties that we have, um, and .... and that's certainly part
of the climate action plan, uh, marching orders that.... that.... that, uh, the Council
has given us. Um, I'd like to step back a little bit also and provide some context
on .... on the City's, uh, natural areas effort. So back in 2016 and 17 we did a
comprehensive inventory of our natural areas, with the help of our consultant that
I mentioned earlier. Uh, that inventory determined we have 430 acres of forest,
188 acres of prairie, and 79 acres of wetlands. Um, as detailed in the memo, um,
we are, uh, trying to be aggressive in expanding those natural areas. So in 2019,
last year, we added 25 acres of prairie. Uh, the locations of those additions were
City Park, Hickory Hill Park, Ryerson's Woods, Napoleon, and some property that
we have out on Slothower Road. In 2020, uh, soon before the Council at an
upcoming meeting you will be asked to pursue, uh, a .... approve a contract for
more prairie establishment. Our staff is pullin' that together, um, currently. Uh,
we project, uh, 86 acres of new prairie to be established in the community, and
um, that would be dispersed over 18 locations with the most significant, uh,
additions at Hunters Run Park, City Park, Scott Park, Sturgis Ferry, and Willow
Creek Park. Again there'll be 18 locations, but all of those that I just mentioned
would have prairie of five acres or more added to t hem. So I think, um. ... um, it's
important to know that, uh, we do not have a disregard for prairie. We value it
very much and we wouldn't be pursuing this project if we didn't think we could
successfully marry, uh, the, uh, solar project with, uh, with prairie. Um, that said,
there is no doubt that, uh, the prairie will need to be disturbed and replanted and
it's gonna take several years to reestablish it. That's... that's absolutely.... um, the
case there. (input stops) Okay, I apologize for that. Hopefully our, uh, hosts here
are able to take those steps, uh, needed here. Um .... I'm gonna pick back up with
the natural areas, uh, so again, in 25 acres last year, 88 acres, uh, this year, um,
and we'll continue to try to be aggressive with that, uh... uh, going forward.
Um ... and, uh.... uh, again, looking at this project, we will lose one acre, um, but
we will be able to, uh, make that up with that 2020 plan. Uh, and again, over time
restore the .... the.....the prairie underneath the solar panels to the quality of the
prairie, uh, that we have, uh, there today and that so many people do enjoy. I do
wanna talk about the, uh.... uh, context with the climate action plan. Again this
was one of, uh, 64 actions in our plan, something that we've been working
towards for, uh, for many months now. Um, three -megawatts is a lot of...is a lot
of renewable energy and ... and certainly, um, small-scale solar plays an important
role in our plan and renewables play an important role, but, um, it is hard to
duplicate, uh, or replicate the benefits that we would get from a ..... a project of
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this scale. I put a couple of those examples in the .... in the memo, including, uh,
the .... the rough equivalent of 580 single-family homes is what would be
generated from this project on an annual basis. Um, this, uh, project would
provide enough energy to meet 170% of our needs at the water treatment plant,
uh, and, uh, our water treatment plant is the City's second highest emitting
facility, uh, next to our waste water plant. So, um, to be able to provide I00 .... the
equivalent of 100% of the electricity used by that facility, um, and then 70% on
top of that is .... is, um, a significant amount for us. Um .... the, uh, the partnership
to .... to green the energy supply, uh, is important. Again, um, the City has limited
funds that we can ..... that we can use. The Council did, uh, elect to use the
emergency levy going forward which'll generate a million dollars in property tax
revenue for our climate action plan, uh, but a project of this nature to generate the
level of, uh, electricity that we're talking about, uh, is estimated by MidAmerican
to be $6.1 million, and while it's very difficult to give you precise numbers, if we
were to try to, uh, replicate that project ourself, uh, through a, uh, solar on your
home, uh, type of project, um, and .... and.....and if the City were to carry that
cost, um, even using the ... uh, current tax credits, uh, assuming that we can do that
this year, which wouldn't happen, but assuming that those tax credits, uh, would
stay in place, we'd be looking at, uh, roughly a $9 million, uh, cost to be able to
do that. Again, those are .... those are rough estimates using the best data that we
have available to us. So again, um, I think I'd just like to .... to stress that this
project does not represent our sole strategy for climate action. It's one piece, it's a
very important piece of that, um, but it shouldn't be interpreted as this is .... this is
the only City, uh, the only City strategy. We need utility -scale solar. Uh, we need
small-scale solar. We need energy efficiency measures. We need to plant more
trees. We need to expand our natural areas. We need a lot of community
education. Uh, we need advanced regulations. We need all these things. The
goals that you have set, which are based from the .... the IPCC, um, are very
aggressive goals, and it's going to be very difficult for us to get there without
incorporating, uh, utility -scale solar projects, and helping our energy suppliers,
uh, green their overall, uh, supply to .... to the community here. So while staff, uh,
recognizes that the very legitimate concerns that have been raised and that you see
in your packet and the late handouts, um, we do feel that we could, uh,
successfully execute on this project, and create a, uh, an environment that is just
as cherished as the one is today. And with that I'll just .... I'll stop and be able
to ... to answer any questions that you have and again remind you that
MidAmerican Energy's here to answer questions as well.
Thomas: Geoff, do .... do you have any sense o£...uh, how, what role, uh, utility -scale solar
will play in terns of our plans to .... be basing our .... our electricity on renewables?
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In other words, how many megawatts.... for example, do you think need to be
generated through utility -scale solar? To meet our goals.
Fruin: Well I ... um, I don't have an exact megawatt answer for you, um, John. I don't
know what that would be. Um, I think we see, uh, the potential for two to three
type of projects, um, when we're projecting out to those 2030 or 2050 pro ... um,
goals that we've set. Um .... again, whether that's a ... that's a second partnership
with MidAmerican or Eastern Iowa Light & Power, uh, or it's our own large-scale
solar, uh, say down by the waste water plant, which ... which is our, again, our
largest, uh.... uh, electric consuming facility. Um, but I don't have an answer for
you in terms of how many megawatts we need.
Bergus: Geoff, in terms of the location of this particular project, um, from MidAmerican's
presentation last meeting, and then how you're articulating offsetting the waster
water plan usage at this location, can .... can you clarify, or maybe MidAmerican
can clarify the use of this renewable energy locally versus just being placed onto
the grid and kind of how that works?
Fruin: Yes (both talking)
Jablonski: ...Adam Jablonski with MidAmerican. I can take that if you'd like. Um, so we,
uh, looked at the load, uh, of the water plant there at the site and then compared
that to the energy that this three -megawatt solar farm, uh, would produce, and the
equivalent is 100....170%, um, of...of usage from ... from that plant. Um and when
we talk about where the electricity's going to be used, um, this ... unlike some of
our wind projects that tie into a, you know, high voltage transmission system and
travel longer distances, this will interconnect directly into the, uh, lower voltage
distribution system. Um, that distribution system that the, you know, citizens, uh,
businesses, etc., of Iowa City, uh, get their electricity from. So (mumbled) go into
that local distribution system to be used locally in Iowa City.
Teague: Any other questions for Geoff? From Councilors. (several talking) Go right
ahead!
Salih: I just wanna hear from MidAmerican that I know that the, you know (garbled) uh,
as they said (garbled) require a lot of, you know, contact with the FAA and
(mumbled) all this, uh, you know, kind of permission and all this kind of things.
Besides this .... why the Airport is not a good location?
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Jablonski: Yeah, I think there is, I mean we haven't done a high-level due diligence review
of that site, but we have, um, you know, started looking into it, and I think Geoff
mentioned the two, uh, key things that .... that may be prohibitive to the site is, um,
any FAA restrictions, uh, just not knowing those. Uh, I assume there'll be some,
being that close to the Airport, and then two, the majority of those acres that are
farmed now that are south of the Airport are in a 100 -year flood plain. Um,
MidAmerican, you know, does not put operating facilities, uh, in .... in the 100 -
year flood plain, uh, that's just a high risk generation facility to us, that, you
know, obviously a flood could impact the .... the generation coming from that site.
Salih: Because in the beginning last time, when we had the meeting, they said this was
another option. If it's another option that means it...it could work somehow, that
what I really believe.
Jablonski: Um, possibly somewhere down the road, but ... but the majority is in that 100 -year
flood plain, and when we looked at this Waterworks solar site, uh, we specifically
avoided those areas that were in that 100 -year flood plain for a reason. So, uh,
it'd be hard for MidAmerican to take the risk on putting the generation facility in
a 100 -year flood plain, uh, we .... we just avoid those with our .... with our
operating facilities. It's just a high risk location. Uh, there may be some parts of
that that may be feasible, uh, for .... for a solar project, uh, but it's gonna take us,
you know, months to perform due diligence, uh, on that, like we've already done
for the Waterworks site, you know, testing the soil, getting detailed flood plain
mapping, uh, running through the interconnection process to see if the distribution
system would even handle, you know, the ... the energy coming out of that plant.
As .... as a few examples.
Salih: Okay, thank you.
Jablonski: Yep!
Teague: All right! Anyone else have questions for Geoff? Geoff, has our,
urn.... commissioners from our Climate Action weighed in on this at all?
Fruin: I think formally, uh, you're received correspondence from a couple of those
commissioners, uh, but I do see that, uh, Matt Krieger's on the line. There may be
other commissioners, uh, on .... on this call too, and if...they're willing to address
that directly, it's probably best that you hear it from them.
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Teague: Okay, and .... and I guess I should have resaid it. Has anyone reached out to you
directly? I know that we have (garbled) on the line and he is signed up to talk,
and some other, uh, commissioners, but nothin' from the Commission itself. Just
individuals.
Frain: No, I have not received any individuals. Um, Ashley and Brenda, um, you can
speak up if you've heard anything from commission (mumbled)
Monroe: So, uh, two of the commissioners that submitted written (mumbled) some written
comments were Casey Hutchinson and Becky Soglin contributed. Um .... Matt
was .... I know Matt answered a question earlier with the work session, um, in
response to a Councilor's question but outside of that, I had not heard from others,
other active commissioners that have weighed in personally.
Teague: If there are no more questions for Geoff, then we are at our public comment
section, and again I do have two individuals that have already submitted their
names, um, and I'm gonna introduce them in a second, but if anyone else would
like to address this topic that is on the Zoom and at the bottom of your screen
there's a black area. If you hover over that you'll see a chat button and you'll be
able to submit your name to let us know that you would like to speak on this
topic. Or in ... or if you have a question for, um, the host (both talking)
(female): I'm sorry, I didn't .... this is, go ahead.
Teague: Yep!
(female): I didn't hear the phone, that's all.
Teague: Yep, I'm gonna get to the phone option as well. Thank you!
(female): I apologize.
Teague: No worries! Yep, we're navigatin' this together. Um, if you actually wanna speak
on this item, one of the easiest ways to do is ... press the reactions button at the
bottom, and there's two options. There's a hand wave and there's a thumbs up.
So if you click one of those, then we'll know that you wanna speak on this item.
For those that are on the phone, um, at the end .... I'll be able to, uh, come and ask
those of you that wanna speak on this item and you can unmute yourself, um, by
pressin' *6 but to raise your thumb, and .... and let us know that you'll want to
speak on this item, you can press *9 on the phone, and so I'll know that you want
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to speak on this item. I'll try to call ya out by the last four digits of your phone
number, potentially, or just have you all chime in one by one. So we're gonna try
this. We're going to have Jeffery Ford and .... followed by Matt Krieger to speak
on this item. I'm also askin' that, um, I'm tryin' to see how many thumbs up we
have, or hand waves. So far I .... I find .... that we have six individuals that wanna
speak on this topic. I'm gonna ask you to keep your comments to three to five
minutes please, and we're gonna start with Jeffery Ford and followed by Matt
Krieger.
Ford: Good evening, Members of the Council and my neighbors. Uh, I know I speak
for dozens and dozens of people I've communicated with in the park, families,
dog owners, bird lovers, walkers, people of the Peninsula and Mackinaw Villages,
hundreds who live within walking and biking distance of this particular park, and
I know I share the sentiments of the Johnson County Song Bird Project and the
Iowa City Bird Club. Waterworks Prairie Park is not simply an underused
walkway. It is a refuge. It is a refuge to families and neighbors, birders and
bikers. As the only park in town with significant wide and level concrete paths, it
is a refuge for the ill and those with disabilities, like myself. It is a refuge because
it is wild and beautiful and is accessible. More importantly it is a refuge to
countless birds, frogs, turtles, fox, rabbits, moles, voles, etc. The list is enormous,
and includes the rare American kestrel, bluebirds, and meadowlarks. Proceeding
with this project will destroy at least this year's nesting. Make no mistake, if you
proceed you will destroy a quality prairie and its adjacent woodland. The other
projects, which have been discussed where prairie and solar have been put
together were sites which prairie was introduced after the sol ... solar was in place.
The notion that there will be only a net loss of one-half acre of prairie is
disingenuous and duplicitous. The proposed pollinator garden will be a hollow
ghost of what is currently thriving. The diversity will be limited and changed
from species that thrive in sunlight and open, tall grass prairie to low -growing
shade pollinator plants. It has to. The nature of solar is to absorb energy. Energy
that would otherwise be available to the same diversity of plants that now exist in
the largest extent.... space of prairie in the park. I fully support solar, and believe
we have viable alternatives. I know they have been dismissed, ignored, and put
aside or .... dangled out there as future projects. But you are talking about making
a move quickly for no good reason, other than to check a climate statement box
and to garner green credit for MidAmerica. I know there is at least one major
Airport Commissioner opposed to this project in Waterworks. I know he is
supportive of being .... of solar being placed at the Airport.... where you have twice
the acreage available. Five hundred homes worth of power is not enough. A
thousand would be better and there are 40 acres at the Airport. Solar in
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Waterworks Prairie Park is purely a symbolic project preferred for its visibility to
I-80, make no mistake about that preference. Do we really want to be the city that
destroys dedicated parkland? For the symbolic benefit of being green. Please, I
ask you, do not destroy this local gem to save the world. Save the world and the
park you were charged to protect, our parks, when you took office. Thank you.
Frain: Mayor, you're muted.
Teague: Thank you, Jeffery. We're gonna have Matt Krieger, and after Matt we'll have
Martha Norbeck.
Krieger: Uh, thanks, Mayor. Can you hear me okay?
Teague: Yes!
Krieger: All right. Uh, thank you, yes ... um, my name is Matt Krieger. I am Chair of the
City's Climate Action Commission, although tonight I am speaking on behalf of
myself. Um, I think we need to think holistically about this as a community, and
our total environmental impact. Um, climate ... the climate action plan addresses
the need for both increased renewable energy and an increase in plantings and
vegetation to help with adaptation, to .... to climate change. And to capture
carbon. The Waterworks Park project does both by replanting prairie alongside
the solar array. The City is also developing a tree canopy project to plant more
trees throughout the community, uh, and thanks for your Arbor Day proclamation
tonight, uh, as .... as testament to that as well. There's this idea about ... we call it
NIMBY, not in my backyard, that exists with large-scale wind farms too, uh, and
we need to get past that, I think, and come together to solve the climate crisis. It
is a crisis and it is something we need to be acting on today, now. We need
projects like this one throughout the city. Not just at this one site, but all of them,
all of the sites, um, as .... as the City Manager noted, uh, that combine a renewable
energy installation with plantings and shared resources. (noise in background)
Um, prairie and solar should be distributed throughout the community. Smaller
design issues related to each site can be mitigated and worked through, through
careful planning and design. They shouldn't just be scrapped for those reasons.
And so I do encourage you, the City Council, to support this project. Uh, it is one
step among many that we need to take, um, to meet our climate action goals, and I
think it can be done reasonably with good design, uh, to also support the park.
Thank you.
Teague: Thank you, Matt. We will have Martha Norbeck, followed by Rob Davis.
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Norbeck: Can you hear me?
Teague: Yes.
Norbeck: Great! Um, well I wanted to (mumbled) what Matt said that, um, and I've read
through the correspondence, um, and I understand this is a very complicated
issue, and .... and it is hard to balance .... the competing issues in terms of habitat
and solar and .... and I think the City's commitment to expanding prairie, um, 88
acres, was that next year, Geoff, that very impressive, um, and I think by
expanding that habitat is a very important contribution to (mumbled) to creating
the linkages (mumbled) habitat. You can't just have all the prairie and Waterwork
Park.... Waterworks Park and expect (garbled) to be able to thrive. You need to be
able to have lots of habitat and do I think the City is supporting that. Um, so I .... I
re .... I completely have compassion for all of the concerns, but I feel like we're in
an all of the above situation, um, and I think this is an important project, uh, to
make a statement about the City's commitment, and I know people are concerned
about the location because it's visible, but I guess that's why I'm in support of it,
because it's visible. Because.... that's what people connect with. They want to
see the solar. They want to see the wind. If it's doing energy efficiency in
buildings doesn't connect with people, but seeing the solar, people really connect
with. So I appreciate all the letters from people, and I love that people love
Waterworks Park so much, that's wonderful, um, and I hope they support the
prairie in other parts of the city and don't complain about, you know, possible
snakes or mice or any other critters and support the expansion of habitat as well as
solar across your community. So thank you.
Teague: Thank you, Martha. We're gonna have Rob Davis, followed by Allison Jay...
Jaynes.
Davis: There we go, thank you (laughs) Hi, my name is Rob Davis. I run the Center for
Pollinators and Energy at a non-profit called Fresh Energy. We're just .... we're
just down the road here, um (mumbled) 35 and um, I ... Councilors, I am
completely empathetic to your challenge in ... in maximizing the benefits, the
public benefits, um, and .... and folks in Iowa City. I am completely empathetic to
your challenge. Um, the urgency of climate change, it...it absolutely is unceasing.
It must be addressed, and we need communities to act boldly and take steps
urgently. Um .... also, the concurrent challenge of saving our native pollinators,
our monarchs, our native bees, our song birds — and they all require habitat at
scale. And without action, our generation could see the, uh... uh, the, um, the
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Western Monarch and the Eastern Monarch populations disappear, but I think it's
not just the ideas of...of climate change and, um, saving pollinators and birds that
are, um, connected to your community. I think it's also deeply about legacy, that
people connect with this park and this area because, and they're engaged in this
conversation because of legacy, and so what I would share with you is that I've
seen, working from Vermont to Oregon, to Florida, to Texas, to Minnesota, and to
communities all around the country, that this is an opportunity to use private
sector dollars to create habitat that's scale, and because it's visible, because Iowa
City's project is so visible, it will have a direct influence on the 30,000 acres of
solar that will be built in Iowa in the next 10 years. Because it's visible, it will
have influence and create habitat at scale for the more than 200,000 acres of
habitat that will be built on solar farms throughout the Midwest, in Minnesota, in
Illinois, in ... in states to our south. We need leaders like Iowa City to say `we can
stack benefits; we don't have to do turf grass like at the Airport,' where they can't
create habitat because insects attract birds, birds and airplanes really don't go
together. So we need to set a precedent and send a message that we can stack
these benefits, and I've walked around acres and acres and acres of these projects,
and they are just a (mumbled). You just expect like a rainbow and, uh, a unicorn
to come coming around the corner, because the panels are silent, the bees are
buzzing, the monarchs are just flying at each other all over the place. They're
gorgeous. It's really unbelievable. And that just brings me back to this idea of
legacy, that when you and your grandson and your granddaughter are walking
around Waterworks Park in the future, you'll be able to say `that's the energy that
we ... that we chose to invest in,' because that's a clean energy future and we're
stacking it and pairing it with habitat. We're creating habitat at scale. We're
creating clean energy at scale, and we're making it visible, because we warm
share our values and broadcast those values to the rest of Iowa, and set an
example. I had the delight to speak at Pheasant Fest this year and, uh, it was held
here in Minneapolis, and there at Pheasant Fest we presented an award to Excel
Energy and Southern Municipal Power Company, because the two utilities
pledged to ask not just for low-cost solar, but also to pair every single one of those
projects with high-quality habitat, using private sector dollars, and so we gave
them a Conservation Solar Leadership Award, and so each of those opportunities
can create a fantastic habitat. Um, Applied Ecological Services is a great
company. They have fantastic expertise. They know how to do this at scale. And
I'll just share the alternative. If we don't, uh, have visible examples of high-
quality habitat, then something that could happen is right here in, um, at, uh, this
is in Iowa. This is the Raccoon Valley Electric Cooperative, and this is acres and
acres and acres of class -five gravel, under and around all of these panels. This is
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what's possible. They're beautiful sites, and I encourage your support of this
project, and thanks for your time.
Teague: Thank you, Rob. We're gonna have Allison, followed by Steve Roach.
Jaynes: Good evening, Council!
Teague: Good evening!
Jaynes: I'm Allison Jaynes. I'm a Professor at the University of Iowa, but tonight I'm
speaking as an individual citizen. So I took a look through those emails that had
been sent to the Council within the past days and weeks, and it's clear from just a
cursory look that the citizens have made their thoughts known. We do not wish to
have one of these small areas of open space that we have left to be developed. I
can assure you that the animals, the birds, the butterflies, and more who depend
on that area do not care about your promises that the area will recover "in a few
years." We've seen those nice photographs of the .... the habitat being built up
underneath and around these solar panels, but that takes a while and in the
meantime we have a diminished and degraded.... region (garbled) to the
biodiversity of this area in anyway. One of the main reasons for building on this
site is that the area is viewable from I-80, so it's gonna lend some favorable PR
optics, but I would just ask you as the Council to look closer, think about the
underlying reasons for choosing this specific site. Make no mistake there are
individuals receiving kickbacks and backroom deals being made, and I'd ask that
you don't be a part of that. MidAmerican says that the feasibility of these other
potential sites will take months to assess, so fine! Let it takes months! Have
them do the leg work to make those assessments. It should not be your
responsibility to meet their demands. I'm not sure why there's a rush at this
moment, during a pandemic, to get this vote through. But I'd ask that you
consider some of these, uh, comments that have been made that you take the time
and ask for the information to be gathered before you make a choice. Thank you.
Teague: Thank you, Allison. We're gonna have Steve, followed by Warren Bishop.
Roach: Sorry, I had it ... took a second. Um, hi, I'm Steve Roach. I'm a resident of Iowa
City. I live in the Peninsula. Um, I think the first speaker that talked about
duplicitous and disingenuous when the last ... the speaker, um, that was basically
talking about stacking. That's basically using jargon. We're gonna create habitat
scale? You're not creating habitat. The habitat's there! If you take these solar
panels and put `em in a cornfield, then you're creating habitat, then you're doing
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something good, but what you are proposing right now is to destroy habitat and
then to recreate a degraded habitat. Um, the, uh, City Coun... uh, the, um .... City
Manager mentioned that there's two to three projects! Why don't we look at
those other two projects that are not on a natural spaces that we already have. In
....when settlers came into Iowa, 75 to 85% of this state was prairie. How much
do we have left now? What we should be doing is thinking about creating more
par ...prairie, and that can be done at the Airport. Do your stacking there! Do your
stacking in a cornfield! How many cornfields do we have that are gonna be
growing corn that we'll have no markets for this year! It's a .... you're looking at a
resource it is very rare you wanna destroy it, while ignoring resources that we
have a way .... way overabundance of. I ... I really hope that you all think about
what you're doing. This is not about balancing two goods. You ... you should ... the
....yes! Solar energy is very good and habitat is good. We don't have to destroy
one to get the other. We have plenty of land in the state that already does not have
habitat on. Thank you.
Teague: Thank you, Steve. Warren.... Warren is next, followed by Jerry Wetlaufer.
Warren: Uhl hello, uh, you see me? This is Warren Bishop. Um, I'm a, uh, retired
University Professor. I'm also a member of the Airport Commission, and uh, I'm
also a .... a local airplane pilot. Uhl first I'd like to speak as a private citizen, uh,
not as a member of the Airport Commission. I live quite near, uh, Waterworks
Park and I actually make use of that park, uh, as a place to walk and ride my bike,
uh, several times a week, at least, uh, and uh.... it's just marvelous this time of
year with the ... the bird song and, uh... uh, the .... the blossoming of the prairie that
we have there, and ... I'm actually very pleased to hear that this can be eventually
made into a project that's.....some.... somewhat acceptable, urn .... but I .... I just
fear that ... that this beautiful, natural environment will not be the same, uh, after
row upon row of solar panels is placed there. Uhl so .... I .... I also share some of
the concerns about the rush to move this forward. Now speaking as a member of
the Airport Commission, uh, and as a pilot, um, I can tell you that many airports
around the country have solar farms, and uh, this is not something that is difficult
to do. There are concerns that the FAA has, for example, with reflection of light
from the panels at night, uh, blind a pilot on .... on approach to a particular runway,
uh... but that's .... can be mitigated by anti -reflective coatings and the proper siting
of the panels. In the Iowa City Airport, uh, case, the fields where these might be
located are south of the runways, that the, uh, glass panels would be facing south
away from the Airport, and I really don't expect that this would be significant
problem. Uh.... I was, I agreed that ... that this is probably an area where there's
some flood risk, but um, the 2017 City study on solar, um ... uh, installations
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included this part of the Airport as .... as a ..... as a plausible site and seemed to
indicate that this could be done, just simply by raising the panels, uh, I think it
said eight -feet off the ground. Uh, the Airport Commission is ... is actually very
interested in, uh, in hosting this project. Currently though that 40 acres or so that
we have, um, available for that is planted in row crops and leased to a fanner. Uh,
the ... the Airport, as most commissioners know, is ... is not receiving much in the
way of City fund, except in grant matching funds, and so we're very dependent on
things like fanners, lease payments, uh, to make our ends meet. So this would
have to be something, if we were able to do it, that would, uh, help us balance our
budget, and uh, I think it could do that. So anyhow, the ... the Airport Commission,
um, at our last meeting, uh, voted to raise this issue, uh, with MidAmerican, and
we've done that, uh, and we would love to work with the City Council, uh.... uh,
on moving this forward, regardless of what your decision is with Waterworks
Park. That's all I have to say.
Teague: Thank you, Warren. We're going to have Jerry, followed by Regenia Bailey, but
before Jerry comes I just wanted to remind those that want to comment on this
item to raise your hand and you can do that, um, at the bottom of the screen where
it says `reactions.' There's a little thumbs up or a wave that you can give. For
those that are on the phone, and you want to address this topic, you can press *9
and that'll notify, um, me that you want to also comment on this item, and
remember we're askin' everybody to keep their comments three to five minutes,
and now we will have.... Warren follow .... I'm sorry, Jerry... followed by Regenia
Bailey.
Wetlaufer: Okay (mumbled) (noises on mic) uh... um .... my name is Jerry Wetlaufer (garbled)
at the University of Iowa and I speak to express my strong opposition to the
proposed agreement which the City (garbled) much loved and much used
Waterworks Prairie Park, MidAmerican for the construction of a large industrial
power plant comprised at its core of 10,000 solar panels. I will leave to others the
task of explaining the effect, or focusing on the effects on the park, and its
ecology, and on its many users, but in a nutshell, we're talking about a long-term
lease of (garbled) acres that would contain an industrial -scale installation of
10,000 solar panels, casting everything beneath them in deep and permanent
shade. We're talking about a seven -foot fence, topped by barbed wire, built
within (garbled) of approximately 2,000 feet of the park's walkways. Even
outside the 19 acres, we're talking about the elimination of those trees that now
buffer the park from the interstate, as well as the elimination of an unspecified
number of trees on the eastern boundary. Urn .... all of this will destroy much of
the park and diminish its (garbled) who use it. The points I wanna make primarily
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are ... maybe, may sound a little bit counter -intuitive but ... um, hear me out, um, the
first of them is that approval of this project will contribute nothing to our shared
commitment to the use of renewable energy and the preservation of our prairie
parkland will in no way set back the cause of renewable energy. MidAmerican
tells us that if the City doesn't give them the use of this park, they will simply find
some other site for the plant. (ringing noises on mic, difficult to hear) I hope
that's not my time up. (ringing continues) Plus MidAmerican (ringing continues)
has assured us...... (ringing continues) Can we stop that?
Teague: I'm not sure what that noise is. Jerry, you're silent.
Wetlaufer: I am! Thank you, Bruce. (garbled) projects will contribute nothing to our shared
commitment to the use of renewable energy and the preservation of our prairie
parkland will in no way set back the development of solar energy. MidAmerican
tells us that if the City doesn't give them the use of this parkland, they simply will
find another site (garbled) park. Plus MidAmerican itself has assured us (ringing
noise on mic) a decision to preserve the prairie parkland will have no adverse
effect on the development of renewable energy or on the reduction of carbon
emissions. Second (garbled) that the project will do nothing to advance our
shared commitment to a 45% reduction in Iowa City's carbon emissions (garbled)
construction of the plant.... inside of Prairie Park will not measurably increase the
amount of renewable energy that will be consumed in Iowa City. My .... (garbled)
two points here, and my first one, and um .... and MidAmerican may have spoken
to it but a little obliquely. It's long been my understanding that power produced
by .... power plants.....goes onto the grid, and .... and it cannot be directed at
particular locales. The... similarly, Iowa City's electricity me .... needs, are met by
connecting the City to that regional power grid, and thus taking whater...whatever
power is there. Apart from that, apart from the fact that we .... (talking in
background, difficult to hear) that the power may not be dedicated somehow to
the needs of Iowa City. The second problem is that even if all the solar power
were not dedicated to the regional grid, even if it's somehow being delivered to
Iowa City.....which I think it cannot, the most that could be said is that we would
be substituting the use of renewable solar power.....or the power that
MidAmerican would otherwise deliver to us, but .... that would not be a case of
replacing dirty power with clean power. Through its development of wind power,
54% of the power MidAmerican presently delivers or (garbled) delivered to its
customers was from renewable sources, and MidAmerican tells us that by the
time (garbled) by the end of the year, they will have completed the present wind
project they're involved in and they will become the first ..... (garbled) electric
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Teague:
Wetlaufer:
Teague:
Wetlaufer:
Teague:
Wetlaufer:
utility to generate renewable energy eq .... equal to 100% of its customers' usage
on an annual basis.
Jerry? (both talking)
Sir?
You've been.....your five minutes is up.
May I have just a moment to complete (garbled)
If you can... just take a quick moment. I need to be....
I understand that! I appreciate that! Thus in the very best case we would be
substituting solar energy for the renewable energy that MidAmerican is already
providing to us and in the end what we are looking at is a lease agreement, not a
partnership of any normal kind. It's a lease agreement by which we would
privatize the use of our parkland in exchange for ...lease payments from
MidAmerican, and I .... I think it makes no sense. Thank you for your time.
Thank you, Bruce.
Teague: Thank you, Jerry. We're gonna have Regenia Bailey next, and before we have the
other two that are signed up, we'll go to the phone to see if there's anyone there
that wants to give comment. So, Regenia Bailey.
Bailey: Thank you, Mayor. Um, I wanna point out to the Council, and to staff, that
implementation of current community goals should not be incompatible with
other community values. This isn't a matter of NIMBY -ism. This is about our
shared understanding of what parks mean in our community. In Iowa City,
designation of land for use as a public park .... park creates a community
understanding and expectation of that land in perpetuity. That's how we
understand parkland. As a community, we understand that our parks and open
spaces, when we designate them, by their varying nature, by their definition as a
park, are underdeveloped and undeveloped land, and are to remain that way in
perpetuity. Although we might build park structures or trails or restrooms or
playground facilities that enhance the parks' usability for residents, we share an
understanding that parks are not developable land! It's ... it's not land for use in
other projects, no matter how worthy, no matter how those other projects achieve
our community goals. The only projects that we expect to see ... in public parks are
projects that enhance the use of that land as a park. The use of that land, the
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projects are in service to the use of that land as a park, and I believe that that's
why you're seeing so many people supportive of the use of solar energy,
supportive of. ... of the Council's goals around sustainability, but frustrated, upset,
concerned, aghast about using this space that we understand is not to be
developed for anything else, using this designated parkland for development! It's
not .... it's not a compatible use with our comm. .... (input stops) what it is to be a
park. It's not compatible. This project, with its fencing, its security barbed wire,
its obscuration of the open prairie by solar panels is not a development in service
of the park. It's in service to perhaps very worthy goals, but ... but it's not in
service to the park and therefore it's an inappropriate use of parkland, as we as a
community understand this definition of a public park. Moving forward with this
project at this location.... not the project. The project isn't flawed. It's the
location. And the selection of the location that .... that was flawed.....moving
forward with this project in this location would be a violation of our shared
community understanding, our shared community values of parkland, and it...it
makes me wonder if we need to have an addi.... an additional conversation as we
move forward with these kinds of projects. If we have to have additional
conversation about our shared community understanding of what it means to
designate, um, land as a park, because that I think is a strongly held community
value and I ask you to bring that into consideration as you look at this project.
Thank you.
Teague: Thank you, Mayor Regenia Bailey. I just wanted to point out again for those that
are on the phone, press *9 if you would like to chime in on this topic that, uh, if
you press *9 you'll be able to raise your hand. We are havin' people raise their
hand from the phone, so that is great. Um, so if you're on the phone, again, press
*9. We have Colleen Opal, followed by Maggie Elliott that will speak next. And
so, Colleen Opal, if you're on the .... (both talking)
Opal: Yes, I am here! (voice echoing)
Teague: Great!
Opal: Ooh, I hear myself echo, and there's a storm coming, so I don't know if y'all got
the alerts, but I can hear it, so I apologize if my dogs bark. They think thunder is
a dog growling at them. So I just wanted to say I'm glad to hear so many voices
advocating for our parks, and advocating for solar. So it's hard when these two
things conflict, but I don't think it has to be an either/or. I think it's worth it to
take the time to invest in .... our goals, like Regenia said, our goals that .... are
compatible with each other. And .... I heard a MidAmerican representative say
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that it takes time and it would take time to find another location, and I think that's
okay. I think it's okay that .... we take the time to find a suitable location, because
prairie would take so long to develop and I'm not an expert on prairie, and so I
think it's worthwhile to get a prairie expert in the conversation to do an
environmental impact statement to see.... how.... what is the actual impact here,
and the City, I .... I really feel, should be behind creating, not tearing down, and so
those are just the points I wanna say, and also just concerned about.... the.... the
corporate, uh.... collaboration, per se. You know, I feel like it's kind of rushed and
it makes me concerned, you know, what the rationale is for giving away land. So,
okay, that's it. Thank you!
Teague: Thank you! And we're going to have Maggie Elliott, followed by Laurie
Crawford. (pause) We'll come back to Maggie.
Elliott: Hello?
Teague: Hello! There you are!
Elliott: (laughs) Took me a while. I thank you for, uh.... thank you for, uh, allowing me
to speak tonight. I warm commend the City Council,um, for your strong efforts
to address climate change, and I also think the private/public partnership is a great
idea. However, I am with the 50 -plus citizens, Iowa Citians, um, who have
written in protest of placing the proposed solar farm in Waterworks Park. Uh, one
issue that I haven't heard mentioned tonight is the proposal's touting of the
creation of a prairie solar park, and yes they are popping up everywhere and a
great idea to combine energy production with (garbled) through prairie plantings.
Um, that's all great. However, in Waterworks Park the soil is already in prairie, so
the soil improvement is happening, um, and the addition of the solar park brings
no additional benefit to the park. In fact, I don't see any win for the park. Um, so
I .... I, that's my...the end of my comment. I do have a question, or wanna lay a
question out there on the table, is in the past I was a member of the Park and
Recreation Commission, and I ... as I read this, it occurred to me that this would be
something that would come before the Park Commission, and I wondered if it had
and if it had, what was their recommendation for the .... to the Council on placing
a solar system within the park. Um, I appreciate so many community members
speaking up for this proposal and thank you for your time. Thanks!
Teague: Thank you, Maggie! Laurie Crawford is our last person that has signed up, so
Laurie Crawford.
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Crawford:
Fruin: Laurie, you're muted.
Crawford: (laughs) Okay, I'll start over! Thank you! Um, thank you, Mayor and Council
Members. Um, I'm one of the people opposed to placing the solar panels at
Waterworks Park. I'm not opposed to solar panels at all. Um, Waterworks Park is
a .... it's a ... concerns me because it was established to restore landscape to a prairie
wetland. The purpose of the park was to provide a protected haven for organisms,
including turkeys, deer, coyotes, fox, mink, beavers, and a multitude of turtles and
fish. It's also a popular birding spot. Um, there are many pollinators that live at
the park as well. If we take this habitat.... it means potential loss of bird
populations. Grass land bird populations have already declined 53% since 1980.
I think that taking some of this land will contribute to that. Solar panels are
known to cause bird deaths. They burn birds or the birds die when they try to
land on the panels. They view them as bodies of water. This will also happen
with pollinators, uh, insects. We need pollinators for our survival! Pollinators are
necessary for three-quarters of our food crops. This loss of this area also will
impact human health. The degradation of the environment through air pollution,
noise, chemicals, poor quality water, and loss of natural areas with the emphasis
on loss of natural areas .... may be contributing to substantial increases in rates of
obesity, diabetes, diseases of cardiovascular, and cancer. I really wish that the
City would look at options, different places to place the solar panels. This park is
very important to people, particularly those of us who live close to it. I know I
live in the Peninsula area. I walk under the interstate and walk through the park.
There are already wood duck nests there that I assume would be disturbed by the
location that you are planning (garbled) and I just ask that you slow down, based
on the fact that we have this pandemic going on and people can't voice their
concerns or don't even know that this is happening, and .... let's put these in the
right place. Thank you.
Teague: Thank you, Laurie. On the phone we have someone with their hand raised. So
we're gonna go to the phone and please state your first and last name, and if you
can also spell it for us.
Lacy: Uh, this is Feather Lacy, F -e -a -t -h -e -r. Lacy, L -a -c -y. Glad to hear you, cause I
pushed *9 four times! (laughs) Um, I would like to say that first of all I am an
advocate of solar panels, but not at the Waterworks Park. Please do not replace
the prairie in the Waterworks Park with solar panels. Just because the solar panels
will be visible from I-80, and used as an advertisement for MidAmerican Energy,
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does not justify destroying the prairie and putting up a very tall fence, topped with
barbed wire, only 10 feet from the trail. This is hideous. Apparently the City
staff, without doing much research, already discard the idea of putting the solar
panels at the Airport and looked at no other locations, including other parcels of
land, rooftops, parking lots or parking ramps, etc. MidAmerican has indicated
that the 19 acres of solar panels will produce three megawatts of electricity. A
satellite image survey of the available city rooftop space, which would be suitable
for solar panels, show that there is enough space.... qualified space for at least 10
megab.... 10 megawatts of solar panels. The University has about that much
space also. Commercial buildings would add another 10 megab ....could add
another 10 megawatts of power. MidAmerica says that these small spaces,
compared to the 19 acres, are inconvenient to work with, but individuals are
putting solar panels on their own homes now. I visited the prairie in the
Waterworks Park this last Monday. The people that walked by all agreed that
solar panels should not be placed at this location. I suggest that if the City
Council actually wants community input, you postpone the decision until next
spring, after the staff has considered other options as previously mentioned, and
the City and the community can actually participate in the public comment
meeting. In conclusion, I would like to quote Dale Helling, who was the Interim
City Manager .... the Interim City Manager, from a memorandum dated September
12, 2007. This memo is in reference to the 2007 proposed ordinances granting
franchises to MidAmerica .... MidAmerican for electric and gas utility services,
and I quote him: The ordinance clarify that the right ... that the right of the
company to locate infrastructure in the public right-of-way does not extend to
other public places such as parks. Please keep it that way! Thank you, I'm
finished!
Teague: Thank you. I'm happy you were able to join us.
Lacy: Me too! Thank you! (laughs)
Teague: Is there anyone else on the line, on the phone .... that would like to talk about this?
Rosa maybe? (noises in background) I am hearin' no one else on the phone
line ... from the public that would like to address this topic. All right, Councilors,
are we ... ready to move forward with closin' the public... hearing? And .... I think
I'm gonna .... look at all the Councilors and .... and make sure we're ready to close
the public hearing. All right. I'm gonna close the public hearing. Could I get a
motion to approve resolution?
2. Consider a Resolution [Deferred from 3/24/201
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Mims: So moved.
Thomas: So moved. (garbled)
Teague: Moved by Thomas.
Mims: Second by Mims.
Teague: Seconded by Mims. Council discussion?
Thomas: (several talking) I'll, uh, I'll start the conversation. Um, I wanna thank staff, uh,
for the effort that they've put into this, and it's, um, certainly been helpful, uh,
learning that while this project has been under consideration that their efforts
looking at, uh, other sites as well, and uh, I'd also like to thank all the, uh,
comments we've been hearing from the community that certainly gives us a very
clear sense of how, um, treasured, uh, this, the Waterworks Prairie Park is to the
residents here. And, um (clears throat) so in trying to process (laughs) all of this,
which is a challenge to say the least, uh, I think what .... what I would like to say is
that I, and .... my .... my sense of ...of how this would, uh, if we were to proceed
with this project, I do not view a .... a solar prairie overlay, so to speak, to be
equivalent to what's there now. Uh, what's there now is truly a ... extraordinary
resource and valued landscape, uh, to the residents of Iowa City. Uh, I would .... I
would need much further, uh, documentation and discussion to .... to come to a ... a
different conclusion with respect to that, but given the information that .... that
we've been presented, uh, I don't find the ... uh, the notion of a solar prairie
overlay to be equivalent to what's there now, so my inclination would be to then
consider what other sites, uh, we could consider, uh, to .... to meet our goals with,
uh, utility -scale solar, which I think is an important piece of our strategy. And, so
with that in mind over the last few days, I have been looking at what ... other cities
and counties are looking at, uh, with respect to their strategies in achieving, uh,
sco... utility -scale solar. And what I found is that, um, in the time that I've been
looking, is that many of the sites that we've been, uh, exploring, uh... are
consistent with what other cities and counties are pursuing, and that ... that being,
for example, airports, uh, landfills, uh, in particular are two sites which are, uh,
looked at very carefully in terms of achieving solar at a utility -scale. Uh, another
approach, uh, which I've not heard mentioned but kind of speaks in a way to
what, urn .... um ..... Rob Davis was describing is .... cities and counties, uh,
working at leasing lands in the fringe areas of their cities, uh, and installing, um,
solar, often using, uh, this perennial concept as the ground plain, and for example,
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uh, and I have a couple of `em for you. Um, the Madison, uh, Metropolitan
School District is partnering with the City of Mads.... Madison in creating a
seven -megawatt solar farm to be developed by Madison Gas & Electric. Uh, this
....this would be located, as I said, on the outside of, uh, Madison, and it would
serve both the ... the school district and the City of Madison. Um .... so that's, that's
a project that, uh, would be roughly anywhere between 35 and 40 (mumbled) and
would power over 1,800 homes. So it's considerably larger than what we're
looking at, uh, for Waterworks Park, but I think it suggests the potential for
leasing lands, uh, at the fringe areas, uh, you know, using an analysis which
would factor in all of the qualities that we would (mumbled) we would prefer with
respect to installing a utility -scale facilities in those locations, where we could in
fact increase our, um, land cover and pollinators, preserve the use of prairie, uh,
the prairie at Waterworks Park, and .... leave it alone, at least for now. I mean I ... I
really would prefer any serious consideration of Waterworks Park to be something
that we do not put at the front end of our project, but rather do our full inventory
of the oppo.... of the opportunities we have, both within the city and in the fringe
areas before we start looking at ... uh.... the .... the solar for that particular park. So
I .... with that being the case, I at this point would like to either indefinitely defer
this item or to say no, urn ... to what I'm seeing as proposed, because what .... what
I'm seeing, uh, in the proposal, I .... I just feel is not going to be, uh, as Regenia
would say, compatible, uh, with the current character of the park.
Salih: I would like to start by thanking the staff and all the resident who come out this
evening to talk about this, or for the public benefit. We receive a lot of emails,
and those people who took the time to write in opposing this project. As Colleen
said, they are not opposing the solar or (unable to understand) to do, but now why
either/or. We need both of them. So ... uh, as also Regenia said, this land has been
designated (mumbled) like certain things, and never have the intention of
developing it. That's why I ... I think that we need ... we .... we, all the residents who
brought the point, they brought a very good point, and I agree with John Thomas,
uh, in .... we need more time to evaluate this, and to me it seem like some resident
reach out to the .... uh, some Airport Commission and one of them spoke to us this
evening ,and....I guess they are supportive the idea for this to be at the Airport.
Even though I understand that Geoff said this is like ... also like, uh, the flood, on
the flood, uh.... you know, the flood area, but is still, they said that the 2016 study,
they said that they can do it, but they can do it with a certain measurement of, uh,
you know, how they implement it. Given the fact that many airport .... uh,
elsewhere have already establish this and also our own .... (unable to understand)
people like to do this, and also given the fact that .... you know, the resident, the..
this land has been, you know, designated for certain use, I just think that, you
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know, we need .... we need to establish this solar project somewhere else. Either at
the Airport or somewhere else. You know, as the .... and also.....I think providing
the .... if we have this project at the Airport or somewhere else, this is would
provides the need and that is there for solar and will protect the quality prairie
habitat in the Waterwork Park. As (mumbled) said, and I will quote him, uh, he
said that MidAmerica is well -funded corporation. I don't think they need the
taxpayer assistance, and I agree 100% with that. If they don't like the .... the
option that we have, whether the Airport or some suggestion that John Thomas
provided, or another area. They can buy another land that (unable to understand)
Iowa City and do this project. Since I'm a public servant, I will go ahead and
serve the best interests of our taxpayer and voted no for this project. Thank you.
Taylor: This is Pauline. When I first heard of this project, to be honest I was excited
about it, because after all it seemed to go along with our climate action plans, but
I have to admit, I .... I knew very little about that Waterworks Prairie area. I ... I'd
never been out there, um, and.... therefore, as Geoff noted, I requested info on the
history of the development of that prairie park, uh, and thank you, Geoff, for
including that info in the late handouts, and I .... I hope my fellow Councilors took
the time to read all of that, uh, material. It's very ...it was very helpful to learn
about the development of. ... of this park. I was amazed at the amount of thought
and planning that went into the original project, uh, right down to the species of
plants, uh, how many seeds would be needed, and even included a REAP grant,
uh, the resource enhancement and protection fund from the DNR, uh, to the tune
of $80,350 and City even put up 30,000, so over $100,000 went into this project.
Uh, and that .... that's a lot, and (mumbled) as alluded to by Laurie Crawford
earlier, uh, she touched on, uh, natural area restoration, flood plain management,
and public recreation uses with intent to establish 120 acres of native prairie,
creating an attractive natural area in an urban setting. Uh, and I have to say in my
five years on the Council, I think my other Councilors can say this too, I don't
remember getting so much correspondence regarding any issue. Uh, I actually
lost count of how many we received and we received even many, many more even
yet today, and they all have the same message, but yet they were different. They
were very personal. It wasn't like a template that we get sometimes where they
just fill in the blanks. Uh, it was very personal messages on ... on their love of this
prairie area. Uh, and we just can't as .... as, uh.... Mazahir alluded to, we can't and
shouldn't ignore the concerns of our conu... community members. We ... we've
heard from so many of them on this, and with all due respect to you, Geoff, and
all of your staff members who spent a lot of time on this, uh, while I applaud a
partnership with MidAmerican Energy in an attempt to, uh, reach our climate
action goals, uh, I just believe we should seriously examine other options, uh, as
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locations for this, because this location just, uh, seems contrary to the original
effort of establishing this as a true prairie park.
Mims: This is Susan. I'll go next, I guess. Um, I have to say this is an issue that, um,
I've really struggled with over the last few weeks since we first started with it,
because, um, it .... two very important but in my mind competing, um, goals of the
City, and that is, um, certainly developing and maintaining excellent parkland of
all sorts for our residents, um, as well as, um, the designation of our (garbled)
crisis and our climate action plan. Um, the more I've looked at this and tried to...
to go through the various details, um, of things .... I've.. A guess my first
comment, or my next comment would be I .... John, you phrase things ... you hit it
on the head with a lot of the comments you made. I .... I agree with the fact that
while the vegetation would be .... new vegetation would be put in place, it would
not be the same vegetation, nor would I consider it, um, I think as you said
equivalent to .... to the quality of the prairie that's there now. It would be
pollinator type species, but not necessarily the same, uh, prairie aspect that we
have there now. I ... I wanna thank staff, you know, for all the work, um, that they
have put into it. I think part of what has gotten us here is ... is .... is some
unfortunate timing I think in my perspective, um .... we passed our climate action
crisis. We've been getting the Climate Action Committee up to speed, and when I
really look at this, and think about it, um, one individual asked had this gone
through Parks and Rec Commission, because it's talking about a major change to
one of our parks, and also the question of, you know, could it or should it have
gone through, if the timing were different, really gone through the Climate Action
Commission as well. And I think if we'd had the opportunity to have it go
through both of those, it would of given the public a lot more notice, um, of what
we were potentially looking at doing and given them a lot more opportunity to
give input early on in the process, which I think would of made, uh, it easier for
everybody as we get towards the end of this. Um .... I walked out .... I've been out
to the park a lot over the years, um, and I walked out there again today because I
just felt a real need to go back and really stand there and look at, and imagine
what that would be, with 18 -plus acres, um, of those 10,000 solar panels out there,
and the fence and barbed wire at the top of the fence and within 10 feet of the
trail. And I cannot envision that. I can't see that as .... as a good use, or an
appropriate use of that park. And I wanna thank Regenia. I think she did a great
job of...of kind of capturing, I think, some of the things that have been going
through my mind and that I've kind of struggled with over the last few days, is
that when we do designate a park .... our community members expect that to be a
park in perpetuity for use as a park, and so then the real question becomes ... what
do we put in that park that has, um ... that does not .... does not make it a better
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park, so to speak, for the utilization, and people can have different opinions of
whether this would be a compatible use. I would say it's not a compatible use. I
think when people go out there they go out there to really enjoy nature, um, and I
don't .... think this kind of a structure, um, in that area would do that. I look
forward to the opportunity through, um, the .... the Climate Action Commission
and staff and Council to explore other options for industrial size, uh, solar
complexes within our community. I think we need to do that. Uh, I think this has
unfortunately has been maybe a little bit rushed and we need to really take some
time to do some .... some, I think Janice said today when I talked to her, strategic
planning in terms of ...of how we .... what do we need and where the best place is
to put it. So I will not be supporting this project.
Bergus: I think when we look at all of the ... the factors that we have to balance in .... in a
project like this, it's become very clear to me that it's much more nuanced than it
looks at fust. Um, and .... and what I am seeing and ... and what I'm trying to
balance in listening to all the different comments is .... how we may have failed in
the process in this particular project. Um, as Pauline mentioned, we've received a
tremendous amount of public input and are hearing from, um, new individuals yet
this evening, um, and .... so, you know, L. A feel in my short time on the Council
that it's wonderful to have this level of public engagement, but ... those who are
speaking and saying we need to, urn .... have considered it longer or have had
more notice, we've failed if we haven't communicated that effectively. Um, you
know, earlier in the year we approved the ordinance, um, to allow for this type of
utility and at that time it was very much in the open, I perceived that we were
talking about, uh, locating this at Waterworks Park and so I was .... I was a little bit
surprised to begin the hear the public, um .... being so disconcerted in terms of the
value of the parkland and what that means in relation to our climate action goals.
So, you know, I think it's important as we move forward that .... we .... we just be
very open in continuing to talk about that prioritization and that in this process it
sounds to me that .... that a variety of individuals, and I'm including myself, are
maybe kind of taking for granted what the priorities might be. I came onto the
Council getting a tremendous amount of input on the importance of minimizing
our impacts on the climate and what that means in terms of our climate action
plan. We've heard from members of the Climate Action Commission that they're
favorable to this project in this location, um, with ... you know, due to the layering
and ... and the coexistence of plants that aren't as good as the prairie that is
established there but would provide pollinator habitat. So I think it's just
important to know that it's ... it's nuanced and we .... we haven't done a good job of
establishing for ourselves or for the public how we would prioritize that, because
before two weeks ago, I ... I absolutely thought that we would of said it's worth
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giving up parkland for ...three -megawatts of renewable energy and that's clearly
not the will of the public in Iowa City. So tonight I won't be supporting this
project, but I think it's very important that we know, um, that that's the choice that
we're making and that we're being honest about that.
Weiner: I thought about this also long and hard, uh, and I think that in part some ... some of
what has taken place is because there is such urgency to confront, um, our climate
emergency, and over in ... in the months that seem so far .... so long ago now, prior
to the pandemic, there was a real push to ... to put together the climate action plan
that .... that City staff put together, and.... and..... and it seems to me that one of the
things that happened is they saw this, MidAmerican saw it. They said this is a
great opportunity and let's seize on it. Um, I also appreciate the .... the enormous
input from the public. Um, the only thing that I would .... that I would add to that
is I honestly believe that .... that everyone who was working very hard on this on
staff did so only with the best of intentions. Um, as well as everybody who has...
who has commented to us from the public, and'emails and in person. Um, the ... I
guess what we're looking at tonight are ... we .... we need to be clear this ... this
project up or down at this point. Um, and then we .... move forward with
something else, and I'm also very mindful of the .... of the extremely unusual
circumstances that we find ourselves right now. We just have to look at the screen
to see how unusual a time we're living in right now, and uh.... so I think that this
is not, um, because of the ... the push to push forward on actions to....to mitigate
climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Uh, this hasn't been
through Parks and Rec, and it hasn't been .... it hasn't been through necessarily to
the extent that it ought through the Climate Action Commission, and I would like
to see us, um, step back and go back to the drawing board and have the Climate
Action Commission, um, basically say, give us some notion of what should we be
doing, what scale should we be doing in terms of...of utility -scale solar, what
amount should we be doing in terms of distributed power that's.... that's local
to ... to houses and others, what mix do we want, and where do we want it. Um,
so ... uh, it may not end up being a .... a project with MidAmerican, but I think that
we will end up down the road with projects that... that everyone, that the
community at large can support as we move forward to this incredibly important
goal of reducing our greenhouse.... greenhouse gas emissions and meeting the
goals of our climate action plan. So I will also not be supporting this this evening.
Teague: Well I think most of, uh, the Councilors have shared some of my, uh, comments.
I .... wanna just mention a few things just so that I can, uh, hear .... allow the public
to hear it from me directly. When I ... this project, when you think about it, and
the, what Council has been workin' on, bein' very courageous and creating a
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climate action plan .... you know, this kind of met that goal, and so we were, you
know, lookin...... personally I was lookin' forward to this, um, as bein' a way for
us to really show and demonstrate for the public visibly how we are serious about
our commitment to climate action, and this is our way to get there. Of course I
didn't anticipate all the community comments, um, and I didn't know the history
of how this park came to be, and so (garbled) and thank you, uh, Councilor Taylor
for requestin' that because that history really did bring about a different light
about all the work that went into the creation of this, uh, back in 2003, 2004.
So .... that gave me a .... a greater perspective of what the restoration looked like
and what this really meant to a lot of people within our community. I think those
expectations are somethin' that we're hearing from, um, because, you know, when
you designate a park, you're thinkin' it's in perpetuity and if you're gonna do
somethin' to it, then, urn .... we need to ensure that we have that process in place
where we get ... public comment.... you.... about what's going to happen, and
public buy -in. I believe that, you know, the 17 or 18 acres, um, of solar that
would have been provided there, certainly would meet a lot of goals, but I think is
the .... it .... it's the location right now, where, um .... is a challenge that most of the
Councilors have talked about, and so for me, one thing that I hope in the future
that we do, before we look at any more projects is to begin with the end in mind,
and I say that often. Begin with the end in mind, where we really do look out...
look at what is our ...goal throughout, um, any of our solar, um, plans, what we,
you know, put that out, as well as go to the Parks and Rec, go to our Climate
Action Commissioners and .... and have conversations with them, and the public,
to .... to ensure that we're doin' this collaboration with everyone Navin' input, and
so I am not gonna support this tonight, but I do think of course our staff, that have
worked really hard at puttin' this together, and countless hours of course that
they've done, as well as MidAmerican Energy, um, and our Councilors again,
thank you all for diggin' into this and for the public, I have to say, I ... I was tryin'
to figure out (laughs) um, we had so many people comment on this from the
public, and I couldn't quite figure out how they all became knowledgeable of it,
uh, which we don't want to hide anything from the public and I don't think the
intent was to by any means try to pull a fast one during COVID-19, to push this
through. Uh, any of that conversation, I think, can be squashed because that's not
what our Council, um, does, nor our staff. I really believe that they are committed
to .... our public, um, and so we do have to, um, step back and listen to the public,
and we even have advocators that want this project to go through, and I recognize
and I acknowledge them as well. Um, I think right now for myself I will vote no
on this item. Um, I .... I don't know if Geoff had any final things that you wanted
to mention about this item.
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Fruin: Yeah, thanks for the opportunity, Mayor. I do want to thank the .... the public and
the Council for your deliberations, and certainly respect your position and, um, I
hope you know staff's going to continue to work, uh, diligently to .... to get us to
our nat.... both our natural area and our climate action goals. Um, but before...
before you, uh, vote and move on and some people jump off the line here, um, I
really feel like I need to, uh, say thank you to the folks at MidAmerican, uh
(garbled) Jablonski are on the call here, and um, you know, we've been working
with them for a year now. They've been, um, incredibly responsive to ... to our
needs here at the City, uh, on this project, and on many others. Um (mumbled) as
you all know, uh, MidAmerican Energy is probably the most important partner
that we have, uh, for .... in order for us to reach our climate action goals, and um,
they've been very supportive of our climate action plan and ... and, uh.... uh, have
indicated every step along the way that they wanna be partnered with us, uh, and
that's not just this project. That's, uh, that's throughout the entire plan, so I wanna
thank them, cause they've invested an incredible amount of time and energy, um,
and money into this project, and um, I know we'll continue to ... to reach out and
work with them, uh, going forward, but I wanted .... wanted to publicly
acknowledge them before, uh, we moved on to the next item. Thank you for the
opportunity.
Teague: Great! Any other comments from Councilors? Hearing none, roll call please.
(feedback noises) Motion fails 0-7. Can I get a motion to accept
correspondence? (several responding) Moved by Taylor.... seconded by....
Salih: Second!
Teague: ...by Salih. Roll call please. Motion passes 7-0.
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11. Sale of 1234 Sandusky Drive — Resolution authorizing conveyance of a single-
family home located at 1234 Sandusky Drive.
1. Public Hearing
Teague: I'm gonna open the public hearing. And we're gonna have staff presentation on
this!
Kubly: Hello! This is Erika Kubly with Neighborhood Services. The 1234 Sandusky
Drive is the first home to be sold through the South District home ownership
program. The City acquired the duplex for 124,000, or 62,000 per unit, in August
of 2019, and then converted the duplex to a two unit condominium to solve the
eligible home buyers. The property was vacant at the time of purchase due to a
kitchen (garbled) fire (garbled) caused substantial damage. Um, the unit was
essentially (garbled) has been completely restored. Other improvements include
an updated kitchen, bathroom; upgraded electrical; new siding and garage door;
and a fenced yard. And I believe we have a before and after picture, if Kellie is
able to pull it up. And so here we have, um, the before, the brown home on the
left is the before and on the... greenish home then on the right. You can see, um,
some of the improvements. Um, staff also incorporated several sustainability
improvements, including solar panels, added installation, energy -star rated
appliances, tree plantings, new windows and doors, and (garbled) Um, the home
appraised at 144,000, but the unit, uh, the sale price was listed at 115,000, which
is the acquisition cost plus renovation cost, as well as (garbled) that the City
incurred. Of the 115,000, 35,000 was funded by local funds and will be (garbled)
on the property that will be forgiven over 10 years, as long as (garbled) continues
to live there. The buyer is also expected to receive 25,000 in downpayment
assistance, um, through the Federal Home Program funds. The remainder will be
financed by a local lender, and monthly housing payments are expected to be
around $600, which is well below the home fair market rent, which is currently
$902 for a two-bedroom unit. Um, the buyer is, uh (mumbled) Taylor Drive.
They've lived there for over 15 years and they are also a first-time home buyer.
That's all I got!
Teague: Thank you, Erika. Any questions for .... for Erika? Hearing none, um, at this time
we're gonna ask for public discussion. I didn't see anyone that wanted to speak
on this item. So if you're on Zoom, or if you're on the phone line, please feel free
to chime in at this time, and keeping your comments to no more than three to five
minutes.
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Barron: Hi, Mayor Teague, this is Sara Barron. Can you hear me?
Teague: Yes, welcome, Sara!
Barron: Hello! I am sorry that I'm not joining you by video tonight, uh, the Barron family
has been sheltering in place since March 13a' and no one wants to deal with my
quarantine hair, I promise. So you get my picture of houses instead! Um, I just
want to say thank you to everyone who has invested in this project. Um, you all
just went through a very difficult, um, discussion of another unrelated to housing
issue, um, where you had a good idea, um, and feedback from the community,
um, and the investment of ...of that feedback, and you all listening to that
feedback, um, has the potential to make the project even stronger. Um, and in this
case, if you'll remember, um, there was a plan to acquire some housing, uh, to
convert it to owner -occupied housing, and public feedback really helped to focus
this project in a way that makes it ultimately so much more powerful. Um, I can't
help but notice that you all had the proclamation at the beginning of the meeting,
where you talked about Fair Housing Month, and the importance of affirmatively
furthering access to housing. Um, the fact that you are providing an opportunity
to someone who has lived on Taylor Drive for 15 years as a renter, to become a
first time home buyer in their own neighborhood is exactly, um, a wonderful
example of affirmatively furthering fair housing. So thank you for your
dedication to this project, the investment that you've made, uh, the example that
you set for fixture opportunities like this, and we really look forward to seeing
more like this from the City. Thanks so much to everyone.
Teague: Thank you, Sara. Is there anyone else that would like to address this topic?
Hearing none, I'm gonna close the public hearing. Could I get a motion to
approve resolution? (several responding)
2. Consider a Resolution
Weiner: ...second.
Taylor: Taylor!
Teague: Um, moved by Taylor, seconded by Weiner. Council discussion?
Taylor: This is Pauline. I ... if. ... if y'all will remember when this program was first
prop.... proposed and moved from the UniverCity program to this type of program
with the duplexes, uh, it (mumbled) concerns, but I think now, um, there couldn't
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be a better endorsement than hearing from Sara Barron and how, uh, positive this
program has turned out to be, as far as providing, uh, fair, uh, housing for folks
and to be able to purchase their own home, I mean there's no better feeling than
that to be able to own your own home, and I think there were doubts that there
would be anyone interested in it, but we can see that, uh, there is interest and ... and
it's great, and this truly is more affordable than even the UniverCity programs
ever were, and ... and I always love seeing the before and after pictures. Kudos to
the staff that, uh, worked on that. It's great. I'm very much in, uh, in favor of
this.
Bergus: (mumbled) this is in my neighborhood and really (mumbled) to know how staff,
um, really worked hard to come up with, um, helping people in the neighborhood
understand this opportunity was available and to work with individuals who were
eligible and to get someone in there who, um, like Sara said (mumbled) for a long
time who will be owning this. This home is just phenomenal. So really excellent
work on a creative project.
Salih: I also want to echo everyone like Pauline and Sara Barron and also Bergus about
what they said about it. It's really, really great, you know, opportunity and we as
a city are doing great on providing, uh, you know, affordable, uh (unable to
understand) housing, which is really great. I hope to see more of this kind of
project. The only thing that I really wanna talk about is .... I would really love to
see people of color who live there to be part of this, because we don't wanna
(mumbled) you know, makin' the....area, because I know there's a lot of people of
color there. If they applied for this but they could not get it for ...for certain
reason, and if the City can help them out, there is many, many ways we can help
those people who are interested and in like getting this houses, because, you
know, they already paying their rent, which is .... which is means they are paying
the mortgage, and the taxes, for the .... for the owner, of course. So they .... they
are eligible income wise, uh, but unfortunately maybe they have another barrier
like maybe bad credit, maybe another things. I hope the City will provide a more
assistance for those people who are interesting in applying for this kind of project
to .... so we have diversity of people who ... you know, buy this kind of houses that
provided by the City. Looking forward to seeing more people of color
buy .... buying this houses and ... with the help of Iowa City. Thank you.
Thomas: I would just like to add that, uh, I think another .... this is a beautiful project, first
of all, uh, with lots of. ... as has been noted, lots of participation in getting here. ]
would ... I would just also like to add that I think this is, for me anyway, a good
example of a project.... where you ... you end up with something that serves as a
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model. So you have an ... an example within the neighborhood, uh, a ... kind of a
transformational change to existing housing stock, which people can see, they can
walk through the house and be inspired by it, and I ... I would hope that that would
have its own kind of momentum that would build behind seeing that, uh, within
their neighborhood, and expanding the program through their own initiative, if
that's possible. But I ... I think it's really helpful to have that renovative aspect and
spirit that's taking hold in the neighborhood, that I hope will spur more
renovations moving forward.
Weiner: I'm .... I agree with John. I had a chance to visit one of the units, and it's really
remarkable what was done with relatively small amount of money, to .... to really
make it sparkle. So, um, I hope the new owners enjoy it, and I hope we have
many more in the future.
Mims: (several talking) These are great programs and we certainly have, urn .... things
have changed over the years. We started with the UniverCity program and ... really
ended up running out of houses that fit that particular model, and as we've moved
to different parts of the community, um, we've adapted the program, and I think
that makes great sense in giving the opportunity to people who live within that
neighborhood, um, to move into that owner category, um, is great, and as John
said, you get one out there. It's a model. People see that these are possibilities
and hopefully, you know, we've got various programs for people to go through
the educational process to help them, um, learn how to be a homeowner and what
it takes from both the financial to taking care of a house, etc., so that they can
work towards that, um, as an option for themselves if they're interested. So ... it's a
great program and thanks to staff.
Teague: So this is one of the first items that was bein' promoted when I came on Council
in 2018, and as, uh, Councilor Taylor talked about, we didn't know exactly what it
all meant and ... what we knew is that we wanted to do somethin' within, uh,
the .... the area over on Broadway/Taylor Street and converting some renters to
home owners, and so this is a ... a result of that initiation. So happy that we are
able to get to this point today. Urn ... and lookin' forward to many more
opportunities. I know that we haven't talked ... in great length as Council on
what's next. Uh, we're very grateful for the four units that we currently kind of
have underway, and so very happy for this evening, and I won't repeat what
everybody said, but, uh, kudos to the staff for following through on what Council
vision was for this and, um, it really does show the values of this Council, and
even our City staff, as well as our community, in supporting, um, work that we do
in the housing, uh, world to create housing, affordable housing, for people within
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our community. So, with that bein' said, if there's nothin' else, we will do a roll
call. Motion passes 7-0.
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12. Iowa Avenue Bridge Repair — Resolution approving project manual and
estimate of cost for the construction of the Iowa Avenue Bridge Repair
Project, establishing amount of bid security to accompany each bid, directing
City Clerk to post notice to bidders, and fixing time and place for receipt of
bids.
1. Public Hearing
Teague: I'm gonna open the public hearing. And do we have staff that will present on
this?
Knoche: Uh, Mr. Mayor, Council, Ron Knoche, Public Works Director. Uh, the project
before you tonight is to repair four expansion joints that are in the bridge deck of
the Iowa Avenue bridge over the Iowa River. Uh, there'll also be some work
(garbled) be some concrete repair work, uh, as they do the .... uh, expansion joint
repair. Uh, the project is estimated at $100,000.
Teague: Any questions.... from Councilors? Hearing none, uh, this is a time for the public
to have the opportunity to weigh in on this item. I don't have any ...one from the
public signed up to respond. If you're .... if you would like to respond either, uh,
through Zoom, whether you're on a computer or a phone, now is your
opportunity. Hearing no one I'm going to close the public hearing. Could I get a
motion to approve the resolution?
2. Consider a Resolution
Mims: Moved by Mims.
Taylor: Second Taylor.
Teague: Council discussion? Roll call please. Motion passes 7-0.
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13. Wastewater Code Modification — Ordinance amending Title 16, entitled
"Public Works", Chapter 3, "City Utilities", Article D, "Wastewater
Treatment Works Users", Section 6, "Building Sewers and Connections";
and Article E, "Wastewater Treatment Works Indirect Discharge", Section 4,
"Pretreatment Standards", Subsection B(2) to establish updated influent
limitations for Zinc. (Second Consideration)
Mims: I move that the rule requiring that ordinances must be considered and voted on for
passage at two Council meetings prior to the meeting at which it is to be finally
passed be suspended, that the second consideration and vote be waived, and that
the ordinance be voted on for final passage at this time.
Salih: Second (garbled)
Teague: Moved by Taylor, seconded by Salih.
Taylor: No, Mim.... (several talking) Mims!
Teague: Moved by Mims, seconded by Salih. (laughs) Public discussion? Is there anyone
on the phone or anyone on Zoom that would like to address this topic?
Knoche: Mayor, Council, uh, Ron Knoche, Public Works Director. Just wanna, uh, remind
you that this ordinance will, uh (mumbled) will codify our policy in regards to
sanitary sewer, uh, connection abandonment and that also will establish our local
limits for our zinc, uh, influent at our plant.
Teague: Thank you. Council discussion? Hearing none, roll call please. Motion passes 7-
0.
Mims: Move final adoption (both talking) I'm song, move final adoption at this time.
Thomas: (several responding) Thomas.
Teague: Moved by Mims, seconded by Thomas. Public discussion? Anyone from the
public like to address this topic? Hearing none, Council discussion? Roll call
please. Motion passes 7-0.
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14. Credit Program for Parking Pass Holders — Resolution Authorizing the City
Manager to Develop and Implement a Credit Program for City of Iowa City
Parking Pass Holders.
Teague: Could I get a motion to approve resolution?
Salih: (mumbled)
Teague: Moved by Salih (several responding) seconded by Mims. Council discussion?
Frain: Mayor, this is an item that I'd like to request, uh, an indefinite deferral on. Um,
essentially what we were asking for is the ability to implement a rebate or a credit
program for our parking pass holders. Urn ... uh, recognizing that the Governor's
orders, uh, have, uh, closed or significantly limited business operations, and also
recognizing that we've been strong with our stay-at-home message, uh, we've got
a number of pass holders that have requested, uh, those refunds or rebates or
credits, and uh, this item was to get your approval to move forward on that. Um,
between the time we, uh, issued the packet and .... and today, uh, we had an
opportunity to dig in a little bit deeper to our coverage requirements, uh,
specifically for our Harrison Street lease. Um, and if, uh, for those Council
Members that aren't familiar, we do lease the Harrison deck, and then we will
become the eventual owners of that after our lease period. Uh, that lease
agreement does require certain, um ... uh, net revenue coverage ratios, and uh, our
ability to issue credits, um ... uh, may be limited in a way we didn't anticipate
when we wrote this memo. So we just would like to request some additional time
to talk with our bond counsel, to talk with the, uh... ub, the lender, uh, in that .... for
that project, to see if, uh, indeed something is possible, and if it's not possible, uh,
then we'll have to move on, uh, from this concept and, of course, you know, we're
considering all kinds of different ways that we can help the community, including
the business community, rebound from this crisis. So for the time being, I just ask
that you would consider a indefinite deferral, and uh, hopefully we can circle back
to this at a later date.
Mims: I'll move for an indefinite deferral. Mims.
Salih: Second, Mazahir. (mumbled)
Teague: All right, moved by Mims, seconded by Sali ... Salih. Uh, Council discussion?
And this is for an indefinite deferral.
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Salih: Yes!
Teague: Hearing none, roll call please. Motion passes 7-0.
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15. COVID-19 City Employee Pay Plan — Resolution Authorizing the City
Manager to Implement a City Employee Pay Plan During the COVID-19
Health Crisis.
Teague: Could I get a motion to approve the resolution?
Salih: Moved by Salih.
Thomas: Second, Thomas.
Teague: Moved by Salih, seconded by Thomas. Council discussion? Actually, um...
would anyone like to address this topic?
Fruin: Mayor, if I could I'd like to ... to just give a brief overview of the memo in the
packet, and uh, unsurprisingly we have a little bit of new information here that I'd
like to present tonight. So, um, you all know the speed at which things are .... are
changing, uh, and have changed. This pat ... past month has been, uh, incredible,
and we've tried to adapt and ... and maneuver as best that we can. Uh, and so some
of the things that we've done, uh, since the middle of March when ... when this
crisis really hit with us, is that we expanded the use of paid sick leave for
employees, uh, particularly employees that are in those high-risk categories of...of
being above the age of 60, uh, and those with, uh, underlying health conditions,
uh, that ... that can increase the risk of serious complications from COVID-19. We
also worked with our bargaining, uh, units to, uh, expand, uh, the sick leave bank
provisions in their contracts, uh, and extend that to the non -bargaining, uh, folks
as well. Uh, we have benefit protections that we've implemented during, uh,
for...for any case in which there may be unpaid leave. Uh, we've implemented
childcare program, uh, for those employees, uh, that have had, um, significant
challenges with childcare. Um .... and then the .... a topic for tonight is the, uh,
what we're calling COVID-19 pay. Uh, so, um, on Mach 24a`, which was, uh,
Tuesday after the joint statement by the Mayors, uh, encouraging, uh, people to
stay home, the City, uh, took some drastic steps to, um, maximize the number of
people, uh, that we could have working from home too and really tried to clear
out a lot of our buildings and .... and keep employees home to be consistent with
that message. Um, as you might imagine, uh, there's some jobs that convert very
well to working from home, uh, and there's others in which the duties that they
typically perform can't really be done, uh, or at least, uh, not wholly done, uh,
from ... from their homes. So, um ... in those cases, uh, where an employee cannot,
uh, do 100% of their work, we have implemented a COVID pay, which is
essentially, um, pay, a normal pay that they would get for any of those times in
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which they can't be, uh, completing their work. Uh, as Council is familiar, we
have, uh, really two categories of employees. We have permanent employees and
we have temporary employees. Um, our permanent employees are both full-time
and part-time. Uh, they are fully benefited and, uh, tend to work very regular
schedules throughout the year. Um ... those employees, uh, again, fall into that
category of many can work from home on a .... at full capacity, but others, uh, may
not be able to do that. So we do have, uh, permanent employees earning COVID
pay, which is essentially paying them their regular salary when they may not be
able to perform all those duties. Those permanent employees remain, uh, on-call
for us, so they have to be ready for duty, uh, during their regular shifts. If there's
something urgent that comes up at their .... at their place, uh, at their department,
uh, they can be called in to complete those tasks. They could also be reassigned,
uh, to different jobs, um, and they just generally must be available to work at any
time. Um, what we're really seeking guidance from Council on tonight is the
other categories of employees. Those are our temporary employees, hourly
employees as they're sometimes, uh, referred to. Uh, these employees, uh, tend to
work, um, variable hour schedules, although we do have some, uh, that work
fairly regular schedules in a couple of our operations. Um, but ... but again many
are seasonal in nature. Uh, these categories are not (mumbled) these positions,
sorry, are not fully benefited like your permanent positions. They do get an
hourly wage, um, and, uh, right now we have 260, uh, approximately 260
employees that are in this temporary, uh, category. Um, what we decided to do,
uh, in .... in those days leading up to the March 241i date is extend, uh, full pay to
those temporary employees through April 12th, which coincided with, uh... um,
one of the Governor's first orders. Um .... so we projected the, uh, hours to be
paid to these employees by what they would have worked under typical working
hours, and if that wasn't possible we did a look back to see kind of what the
average hours were. Uh, so the expense, uh, for us to do that, from that March
24th period to April 121i, so a little less than three weeks would roughly be
$86,000 to keep those 260 employees on payroll. Um, more than half of that, or
48,000 of that 86 is, uh, in our Recreation Division of Parks and Rec, and we've
talked about that a lot in our conversations with Council on temporary employees.
The vast majority of our temporary employees, uh, do fall in the Parks and
Recreation department. So again, 48,000 of the 86,000, uh, goes to our
Recreation Division. Uh, the next biggest, um, department or division would be
the Library. Um .... and the Library has about 26,000, um, in temporary expenses
for this, again, just shy a three-week period. All the other departments and
divisions, uh, only have a couple of employees, or a handful of employees, that
fall in this category, and the commitment to those employees is less than $4,000 in
each of those individual departments. So using that, um, a good rule of thumb
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going forward is, um, it's about 25,00 to $30,000 a week, uh, to keep the roughly
260 employees, um, on... on payroll. Uh, I'll stop there and .... and before I get
into the next step in this, any questions, um, on the difference between permanent
and temporary and the costs of keeping the temporary folks, uh.... um, on? Okay,
um, so there is, um, federal legislation, the stimulus legislation or the CARES Act,
um, that has been passed, uh, that, um, expanded access to unemployment
benefits, and uh, what we've learned, uh, the new information that we've learned,
uh, since when we first, uh, put this report out last, uh, last Thursday, um, we were
under the assumption that the CARES Act benefit, um, would not impact all, um,
unemployment applicants, and we weren't, uh... uh, sure that they would impact
the City, uh, benefit, uh, the City employees if they were to seek unemployment.
Um, we've since learned that the federal, uh, benefit, which is an extra $600 per
week would be extended, be able to be extended, um, to, uh, to our, uh, temporary
employees. Um, so you have your .... your regular state benefits, which can range
anywhere from $87 to $591, per week, plus this new federal, um, addition of $600
per week. Um, what's very difficult for us to ... to determine is what individual
employees may be eligible for, urn .... uh, for unemployment. Um, we do know of
those 260 that it's very likely that some of those employees would probably get
paid more going the unemployment route. And they would receive actually more
dollars going through the unemployment route than they would with the City. Uh,
and there's others that probably would not. Um ... uh, unfortunately there's no
good way for us to analyze, uh, that because your unemployment benefits depend
on a number of things, including, um, your wages over the past 18, um, months,
um, it .... and that's total wages. So a lot of these employees may only be working
five, 10, 15 hours a .... a week for us, which means they may have second jobs or
third jobs, and that factors into unemployment, um, benefits as well. Um, and
also, again, the number of dependents that you have can increase those level of
benefits. So it's really difficult for us to say with any certainty that X number of
the 260 would be, uh, compensated more through unemployment, um, but we do
believe that, um, certainly a number of the .... of the 260 would probably get paid
more through the unemployment route. Um, what we detailed in our memo to
you, um, are different options that we can take moving forward, uh, with our
temporary employees. I'll walk through those options and then I'll explain the
recommendation that I have. Um, the, uh, first option would be to continue to....
to pay, um, our temporary employees based on those projections, and without
definite end date, uh, that, uh, again would be about 25 to $30,000 per week.
Now those expenses are budgeted. We did anticipate those in our budget, and we
would only be, um ... uh, paying those employees that are still, uh, available for
work. So for example if we had somebody that, uh, maybe was a student here
that was working, and they have, uh, maybe they're from out of state and they've
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moved back, uh, to their ...to their home state during this time as the semester was
canceled. We wouldn't be ... urn, compensating those individuals. These are folks
that are ... that are here and otherwise would be, uh, ready and willing to work for
us on those work schedules. Um, the other (mumbled) or the other option would
be to extend a pay through a date certain, and uh... in our memo we recommended
May 16'x'. May 16°i is, uh, falls at the end of a ... a pay period. So we'd really, just
for ...ease of accounting it would be good if we do set a date, uh, certain to, um,
utilize, uh, those pay period weeks so that we can, uh, end it, uh, within one pay
period. Um, that certainly would give some employees, uh, some certainty going
forward. They will know exactly how long they will be compensated by the City,
and they'll be able to take that time to prepare and investigate, uh, and apply for,
uh, the, um, unemployment benefits through the State of Iowa. Um, the other
option is, uh, to, um .... uh, furlough those employees at the conclusion of the, um,
April 12' date that we previously committed to. So, we could inform those
employees, um, next week that, uh... uh, they need to go through the
unemployment process and we would certainly provide as much information as
we could to ... to help them through that process. So those are the three options we
laid out. Now there is any number of other variables that .... that you could
introduce to .... to, uh, a pay plan like this. Um, you could cap the number of
hours and the University has taken some steps, uh, to cap hours with some of their
similarly classified employees. So for example you could say that we'll .... we'll
pay up to two weeks, and then after two weeks, or...or 80 hours or whatever your
....your metric may be, um, then .... then you'll need to, um, go to the
unemployment route. Uh, the other option would be to pay a portion of the wages,
um .... and not pay full wages. Uh, we haven't.... we're not recommending either
of those, um, but certainly I wanna make you aware that there's almost an infinite
number of, um, possibilities. Um, we ... we did in our memo, uh, lay out the
recommendation that we would continue to pay, uh, our hourly employees based
on projected schedules through May 16'x' (noise in background) uh, we do have,
uh, certainly the financial capacity to do that, um, and ... and that's not a worry.
Um, that would give those employees just shy of about two months, uh, worth of
....of pay, ub, if you're going back to March 25° ...March 24" , excuse me, so
March 24°i through May 16', is that COVID pay period there. Um, certainly
again it gives them some, um, some time to plan, some time to investigate their,
uh, other opportunities for employment, or the unemployment route, urn .... um...
that said, um, we do know that there may be employees that, as they learn about
the unemployment benefits, they will say why don't ya let me go now or why
don't ya furlough me now because I'm actually going to be better off, and that's
....that's kind of where we're strugglin' with right now because again we ... we
can't, uh, we .... we can't perform that analysis for employees, and we can't really
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treat individual employees different. This really has to be a policy decision that
can be carried out across, um, across a ... entire work groups. Um .... uh, we can't
tell one lifeguard that, um, they're gonna be on furlough and keep another one
based on their individual circumstances. So we have to be uniform in the which
way ... in the way whi... which we apply this, and there's gonna be, uh, people that
fall into either side, either better off on the furlough side or better off on the City
pay side. So I'm comfortable with the May 160' date that we've set. Um, but
understand, given the CARES Act, uh, information that we .... we've learned since
this packet was issued, that uh, if we warm scale that date back to, um, you
know, a pay period, that would be May 13th, and again, we would .... we would
only, and I think we're all trying to take actions that are in the best interest of our
employees, and I'm .... unfortunately, um, that's a very.....that's a very tough call
to make, uh, across an employee group of 260. Um, we can certainly, um, try to
do that, but I think I'll stop there and ... and open that up for ...for Council
questions, uh, and discussion, and ultimately what we're looking for in a
resolution here is your direction, um, on ... on how you'd like us to move forward,
and uh, your... basically, uh, authority to me to implement, uh, implement that.
Salih: Geoff, I just wanna ask you, do you ... do you have like .... do you know exactly
how much the highest... hourly rate now for the temporary employees? Like do, is
some people get 17 an hour for example or 15 an hour, what the highest?
Fruin: Um, I can pull that, I can probably pull that up here if ya... if ya give me a little bit
of time.
Salih: I just ask you this question because if I assume there is some employees get ... say
the $17 an hour, which is most likely maybe less than that, and they work 40
hours a week. They will get around 680, and 680 of course if they apply for
unemployment, they will get less than .... a portion of the (mumbled) of the 680
that they get every week. Plus, the $600. That's why I .... I, uh, like the past two
like one week I been helping a lot people for unemployment, and we have a lot of
(mumbled) about who is eligible, who is not eligible, and all this. That's why I
think .... uh, you know, personally I believe they will be .... like better off .... on the
unemployment, but .... we as a city, I think we need just to .... move with your
option. I don't wanna talk about this now, but I .... that's just my question is, uh,
we can discuss this later when come to Council discussion, but that what I really
want to ask you because just by doing the math ... and adding the 600 .... it is really
better for unemployment.
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Fruin: Yeah, the...the, most of the wages, I'm .... I'm looking through them now, fall
between $11.50, uh, 50 -cents, up to about $14. Uh, we do have some at 16, 17,
um ... but I don't see any, uh.... immediately higher than, uh, we've got a couple at
18. That's probably the max, um, that I'm flippin' through here. Um, but again
what's.... what's really difficult from the unemployment side is if you've got
somebody workin' let's say 20 hours a week at the Library, um, makin', you
know, $14 an hour, $12 an hour, whatever it may be, we don't know if they're
working 20 hours a week with another employer, you know, makin' $20 a week
or .... or $20 an hour, $25. We also don't know their dependent situation. So it's
hard for us to ... to .... to tell an employee, to say yes you would be better off. It's
really a determination that they need to .... that they would have to calculate with
Iowa Workforce Development.
Salih: Yeah, that's why I don't .... I'm not saying that you tell them that, you know. No,
of course not. Uh, I ... if we (mumbled) Council discussion, I will really support
the extension of May, but with the option of. ... telling them if somebody think that
they will ... getting, become lay off, if they become lay off from the job, they will
benefit more, they can request that. You know, I ... I don't know how you can
phrase it, but I mean like .... we as a city will pay you until May 16, uh, but if you
believe you would be better when you apply for unemployment, then you can
request that as well.
Fruin: Yeah, so unfortunately .... I mean I agree, that would be an ideal situation for an
employee, um, but they're not going to be eligible for unemployment benefits, at
least for ...for their earnings that they would have with the ... with Iowa City, if they
have an option to work here. So the way that that unemployment works is that it's
only for those that .... that do not have the ability to get paid or work for... for ...for
them, so that's where we get into trouble sayin', uh, you know, if...if a lifeguard
A, um, if we're willing to pay lifeguard A, um, then lifeguard, you know,
lifeguard B falls into that same category. We can't tell lifeguard A to stay with us
and lifeguard B to go through unemployment. Because they're.... they're gonna
end up probably getting into some issues themselves by going through a process
that they're not technically eligible for. So ... they have to be furloughed or laid off
in order to get those benefits, and if we're leaving that door open to say `if you
wanna stay on our payroll,' they're not gonna be eligible for those benefits. I'm
sorry, I probably didn't articulate that very well, but um (both talking)
Mims: Yeah, I mean it sound .... it's like an all or none, it's.... ideally it would be nice to
help the employees by giving them a choice if they could figure out which way
they would be better, but based on unemployment law, and qualifying for this, I
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think as Geoff is saying, they have to be officially furloughed by the City and we
have to be consistent. So I think that's, from the start when Geoff said we need to
set a policy, um, of going one way or the other. I've been going through this with
some people as well, and as Geoff said, the .... the difficulty is you don't know if
somebody has another job, and then also the number of dependents can increase
the amount, etc. I would... venture that an awful lot of our hourly employees will
be better off on unemployment because of that $600 per week, uh, CARES Act
benefit. So I ... would be supportive of going no longer than May 16a'. Um, if...if
people wanna discuss a ... a sooner date, I don't have a problem. One of the
reasons I say May 16`x' is, um ... people .... people can apply right away, um, as soon
as they're furloughed, but they're not necessarily gonna get money right away,
and I think the State is getting very backed up in the processing of unemployment,
um, and this would at least give people a chance to know that, okay, I've got four
more weeks of that income, I don't know exactly when the unemployment will
actually come to me, but I know when I'll be eligible for it. Um .... I think at least
it gives them a little bit of certainty for another four, roughly four to five weeks.
So I would be supportive of that.
Thomas: I'm .... I'm fine with it as well. It seems like a good compromise.
Weiner: I think one of the ... one of the advantages to it is that if there are ... if, and I have no
idea obviously what the future's gonna hold, but if there are some things that
can ... that can gradually be brought back online, those employees are still there.
Um, whereas if they're already off the payroll, then there's another whole process
to .... to interview and bring folks back on.
Fruin: Yeah, and just to clarify that. We would seek to furlough the employees as
opposed to terminate them. So we would ... we would hopefully create a situation
in which they can .... they can come back as soon as we reopen, whether that's a
day, a month, or two months.
Weiner: Okay. Thank you (mumbled) clarification.
Teague: At this point I'm more in favor of option #2, and that just gives, um, time for the
employees to have knowledge of what might be comin' down the pike, and ... and
what that'll mean for them for unemployment benefits. Maybe that's somethin'
that they can kind of navigate. Uh, we .... we, of course, can't be able to gauge
how this would impact each employee. We know that some will benefit, and
some will not, and so I think that's just the reality. Um, furloughing makes the
most sense, and so I guess my...option two would be my choice, and if I'm hearin'
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correctly, I think I'm hearin' other people saying option two as well, but I'll get
clarity after everybody has had a chance to speak.
Salih: Yeah (both talking)
Weiner: Could I just ask if...if we have any idea what other communities and the County
are doing? Not that the ... see if, just to get a sense of where we are in that mix.
Frain: Um, I can't speak for ...for certain. I ... I explored this with my counterparts in
Coralville and North Liberty, um, around the time that we extended it to April
120i, uh, so ... so probably late March, and it was my understanding at that time that
they were not going to pay, um (mumbled) position temporary employees going
forward, but I would have to verify that as .... as I note things are changing by the
hour and they could of...they could of pivoted and changed direction at that time,
but my guess is if I were to ... to kind of survey other communities, that your....
your lifeguard positions, again, and your .... your rec folks, which are the vast
majority, would have been just not extended any hours going forward, essentially
furloughed from the get -go.
Salih: I really would like just to say that ... we .... we really been setting the standard very
high by providing the wages for all hourly employee, whether they are permanent
or temporary employee, or seasonal employee. Uh, I thinks really we're doing the
right thing right now and, uh, I ... I appreciate all the work that Geoff did, and the
staff together, to come up with all this ideas and figuring out how much
(mumbled) all this like hard work you have done, and speaking about as a
communities, you know, at least we can look at the model of the School Board,
Janice. They, you know that the School is paying for everyone right now, even if
you are long-time sub. They pay you, and I guess they also doing very good job,
and we are doing the same thing. I'm really proud of our city by like giving,
paying our people. Yeah (mumbled)
Bergus: I ... I agree with all those comments and it's pretty great to me that we're having a
conversation where I think everyone is on the same page, that we wanna do
what's best for the employee and no one I think has any qualms with, um, the
concept of someone being able to get more benefits from, um, unemployment. So
I commend us for that. Geoff, just to clarify, are you, um, given the additional
information since the packet came out, do you have a different recommendation
than May 1601?
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Fruin: No, I ... I think May 16' provides those employees an opportunity to plan. Um, I
just ... I anticipate that we're probably going to hear from ... from some of them
that ... that would probably like us to change their ...you know, to furlough them,
because they know that they can access more, but um .... you know, we've kind
of...we've been wringin' our hands on this one. There's just no way to kind of
customize this to .... to, for individual employees. So I think ... I think May 16'h is a
fair date, um, and I forget which Councilor mentioned it, but, um, you know, the
State does have quite a backlog now so it's a little uncertain when those extra
benefits will be coming out, and this provides some protection if those employees
are really livin' paycheck to paycheck during this interim time.
Salih: Uh huh, yes.
Bergus: That sounds good to me.
Taylor: This is Pauline. Me too!
Teague: Well, if I heard correctly, everybody was interested in #2.
Salih: Yep.
Thomas: Yes.
Taylor: Yes.
Teague: All right! All right, so .... that's what we're gonna vote on tonight. (laughs) So
roll call please. Can't hear ya, Eleanor (laughs) Motion passes 7-0.
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16. Council Appointments — Applicants MUST reside in Iowa City and be 18
years of age unless specific qualifications are stated
16.a. Civil Service Commission — Civil Service Commission - One vacancy to
fill an unexpired term. Upon appointment - April 4, 2022. (Stephanie Houser
resigned)
Teague: Council discussion on this item? So there are two applicants. We have no gender
balance. And .... what do people think?
Taylor: This is Pauline. And as we talked about, uh, last meeting, we made a Civil
Service appointment or reappointment as such, and, uh, Councilwoman Mims
mentioned that, uh, the Civil Service Commission in particular has kind of
somewhat unique needs and almost needs someone that can jump right in, and
um, no offense to these two applicants. They're.... they're very worthy of,
they .... they said their preference is Human Rights Commission, and I think that
both of them would fit very well in that, and um, my belief is I don't like leaving
the Civil Service Commission, uh, short, but uh, I would hesitate to make an
appointment just to be making an appointment. So I don't think either one
(garbled) on the Civil Service Commission.
Mims: I would agree, Pauline, uh, and I did comment before that, I mean a Civil Service
Commission can do certain things like, you know, people do the testing and they
certify them and it's pretty routine, but if we ever gt any employment issues
related to civil service, that's a whole different ball of wax and needing people
who really have some.... some experience and some expertise there. So, um, if...
if we agree not to appoint, I will make a real effort in the next week or so to, um,
dig around with my contacts and see if we can find somebody with some skill st
and qualifications to get their application in, but I would agree with Pauline on
this.
Salih: How many people we have in there? (several responding)
Mims: There's two applicants and it's only a commission of three people.
Salih: Oh! But the, I mean like commission of three, we already .... we already have
three? Two?
Mims: We have two. We only have two.
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Salih: And the two are qualify you think, like they have experience?
Taylor: We just reappointed the second one, um, Mr. (both talking) two weeks (both
talking)
Mims: ....certainly has the experience, and I ... actually off the top of my head don't know
who the other one is at the moment, so I don't know their background as much,
but I know Rick's.
Salih: Yeah, because I really don't know the names, that's why I ... okay.
Taylor: In our (mumbled) report it's a Melissa Jensen whose term expires next year. So
she must have been (garbled)
Salih: Melissa Jensen, yeah and (unable to understand) 2022, okay. I just feel like if we
have two of them ... they have experience and .... the third could be somebody who
gonna learn from them.
Dilkes: Um, I .... I would note that, um, particularly in cases where there's an appeal of
a ... of a discipline, the ... because my office typically cannot represent the
Commission, they, um, it's been their practice to hire outside counsel. Um, so
they have advice from ... in those situations, and .... and that's really where they
need that advice.
Salih: I see. Okay, maybe you can postpone it?
Dilkes: There is, as you know, a hearing that's ... will not be ... will not go forward until we
have three commissioners.
Salih: But, Eleanor, if that's okay, if we know that some people apply for it, we can just
not appointed them because we think ... we need, uh, people who are really have
experience and this is like legally okay?
Dilkes: Yes, it's a discretionary appointment. If you think that, I mean... obviously it can't
be based on any protected characteristics but you .... if you think you need more
experience on this particular commission, that's certainly, um, your right.
Salih: Then I guess we can defer it, or what you guys think?
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Thomas: Well it .... my understanding is their ...their preference would be to work on another
commission. So ... in that regard, it .... it, um .... it's, I'm ... I'm supportive of the idea
of holding off.
Salih: Okay.
Teague: Yeah, I read both of the applications and .... um, I guess Amanda Nichols, uh, she's
been in town for a while. Um, I ... I agree that the, when we're talkin' about
holding hearings and, um .... really talkin' about people, employment, and that
type stuff, I feel that you have to have some experience, um, on some level.
Definitely I think both of the applicants could be great in Human Rights
Commission, um, that's where it appears to have their first option. And even
experience. So I am okay if we delay this. But (both talking) we do need to find
someone.
Salih: Yes, especially the commission is only three people, if it's like more people so it
doesn't matter, but three people .... we need people with experience.
Bergus: Do we ever give applicants the opportunity to speak to Council about their
applications?
Mims: They can call us. They're encouraged to, you know, email us, call us.
Teague: And we can also reach out to them as well.
Bergus: So I guess I'm just thinking if. ... if either of the folks who applied really are
interested in serving on this commission and think that, you know, we ... we're
maybe not reading enough into their applications. It'd be great to maybe hear a
little bit more from them.
Mims: And I think this is also another example of. ... when we have applications that
are ... rather sparse in detail, urn .... I, unless I missed something, I didn't recall a
whole lot of detail about interest or experience, you know, maybe a one sentence
here or there, but not a whole lot there.
Salih: I agree.
Teague: Yeah, I think that's what we're missin', uh, is some detail. Um, I ... I guess I would
be inter ...I would be .... okay with deferring this and .... and see what happens.
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Sahh: (garbled) deferral, we call it just like extend the time.
Teague: Well if we extend the time then more appli... if there are any more applicants that
will come through (several talking, feedback noise) Maybe we'll have ... Eleanor
(garbled)
Dilkes: Kellie?
Fruehling: Yeah!
Dilkes: Can you .... can you speak to this timing issue?
Fruehling: Well I mean we've already done the required 30 -day notice. So .... we could defer
it to the next meeting, we could do two meetings out, I mean it .... or.....
Dilkes: But we'll continue to accept applications, correct?
Fruehling: Yeah.
Dilkes: Okay.
Fruehling: I mean it's ... it's open until filled.
Dilkes: Okay. So we'll just, these two will stay on the table and we'll see if we get
anything else before the next meeting.
Fruehling: Okay.
Salih: Okay.
Fruebling: So deferring to the 21'9
Salih: Uh huh!
Dilkes: Yep!
Teague: So I'm gonna get a motion to defer, till the 21�`.
Salih: Move. Salih.
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Mims: Second by Mims.
Teague: Roll call please. Motion passes 7-0.
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19. Community Comment [IF NECESSARY] (ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA)
Teague: We are at Item 19 with Austin Wu! I think I saw you.
Salih: Before you go to him Mayor if you don't mind, I just would like to ask Kellie if
she can reach out to Wifag Mohammed and Amanda Nichols about another
positions in the City so if they are interesting.
Fruehling: Oh, as far as the other openings?
Salih: Yes.
Fruehling: Uh, yeah, sure. We've got, they'll get something anyway saying that it's been
deferred to the 215. So ... we can also put a statement in there about checking the
website for additional vacancies that are currently open.
Salih: Okay.
Teague: All right! Austin Wu, are you on still?
Wu: Yes I am. Um, I don't have very much, uh, the only thing I really have to say is
that, um, the University is now in its second week of all online course instruction,
and um .... it was confirmed today that commencement activities will also be
taking cour...taking place virtually, in some form, to be determined in the future.
But, uh, that's all I have for today. Thanks!
Teague: Great!
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20. City Council Information
Teague: Anyone have any updates? I'll just let you chime... should I just let people chime
in or should I go around (laughs) Very little updates these days.
Taylor: It's Pauline. I have nothing.
Thomas: I'm just sheltering and distancing, so nothing for me.
Weiner: I did help with free lunch on Friday with a different group, which is entirely
different experience right now, but everybody still needs to be fed, and I would
point out that, and this is for everybody across the board, uh, that the, um, you can
request an absentee ballot now for the June 2°a primary. All you have to do is
print out the form from the .... from the Auditor's Office and send it in, or they
have a dropbox there. So ... to ... to continue the physical and social distancing, I
think everybody .... I would encourage everybody to get an absentee ballot!
Salih: And I just wanna say on Friday, this Friday, we gonna have, CWJ will have a live
meeting. I encourage you guys to attend, uh, it's online Zoom, but my question
will be to the .... to Eleanor, uh, what about if four Council come Zoom, what ... for
any kind of meeting, is that possible, or no?
Teague: Can't hear you! (several responding)
Dilkes: Sorry! I think the rules would be the same for Zoom meetings as they are for any
other meeting. Um, if it's ... if it's a .... if it's a meeting that the ... that involves City
business or is a topic that the City Council could be asked to weigh in on, um...
there shouldn't be more than three of you there, and if there are, you should be
tree stumps, meaning you don't.... participate.
Salih: Oh, okay.
Dilkes: Just the same as when you're in person.
Salih: Okay. Sure.
Bergus: Nothin'. A lot of people are watching, uh, at this time of the evening, Mayor, but
just in case people missed the work session where we did have a good update on,
uh, COVID-19 and sort of the state of how things are with the pandemic in our
community, and so I just wanted to take this chance to reiterate that, uh, Governor
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Reynolds did close additional businesses and reinforce the stay-at-home, even if
you're not sick, um, so please for people to limit any movement to only essential
activities, to stay home if you can stay home, to not gather in, uh, groups, and that
that I think as Eleanor let us know during the work session that if people are
gathering in groups like you see a birthday party in someone's front yard that it
would be appropriate to try and .... and prevent that from happening, including the
possibility of...of engaging the City or...or law enforcement, um, to disperse a
group, if that was necessary. So I just wanted to make that more clear, since
there's been a lot of questions and a lot of changing in terms of what, uh, has been
closed by the Governor or not. So thank you to everyone for staying home, not
touching your face, washing your hands all the time, covering your (laughs)
cough, and social distancing, and the CDC is also recommending masks when
you're out and about now. So face coverings of some kind. Thank you, Janice
(garbled) (laughs)
Teague: Laura, you just sound like you did another Facebook Live, so (laughter)
Bergus: Every day!
Teague: Thanks to all the Councilors that have been doin' the Facebook Live, that's been
very helpful. It's spreadin' the message throughout the community and so
continue to do that and, um, of course many of you know that I've been doin'
Community Connections, um, have had some great guests on there. Geoff Fruin
was the mighty mighty warrior guest of today and so that was released and, uh,
really appreciate, um, bein' able to communicate with ... with our community, all
the things that are happening during COVID-19. I think, um, people are
appreciatin' whatever message it is and uh, resources that are bein' offered during
this time, I think any communication, um, no matter if it's in texts or video I think
is appreciated and needed throughout our community. The other thing that I
wanna mention is Census 2020. So, um, (laughs) we ... we need you out there, to
get our numbers up, so, um, Austin, I don't know if you're still on here, with
those students that are gone, we need them to fill out their 2020 Census, so
community is very important, that, uh, we recognize the census count really does,
uh, if we get a full count, it really does bring funds into our community that is
well needed, and I hope Ashley will touch base on that a little bit! So I'll leave it
at that, and urn .... I've been in meetings here and there, but nothing that I wanted
to ... to just make mention right now, so .... um, anybody else? I think that was
everybody! All right.
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Wu: I just wanna say we did release some social media post directing students
(garbled) on April 1"...to mark their addresses Iowa City, even if they're back
home with their parents.
Teague: Great! Thank you!
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21. Report on Items from City Staff
a. City Manager
Teague: Geoff Fruin?
Fruin: I'll give Ashley my time.
Teague: Great. All right!
Monroe: (laughing) Um, well the Mayor started addressing the census before I could get to
it. Everyone can still safely and securely fill out their census form, took me about
five to six minutes, um, you can do that by phone, by, um, internet, at your
computer, on your ph .... you know, on your cell phone, whatever you choose as a
device. Um, mailings are still coming in the mail, so uh, residents should of
gotten a couple of reminders, paper mailers, as they go online to fill out your
census at 2020census.gov. Just go to that main page and it'll start you off right
there, and then, um, the actual letters or paper forms are still going to be coming
in transit through the mail system, uh, in the next couple of weeks. So ... um,
complete that census while you're home. Thank you.
Teague: Great!
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