HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-06-02 TranscriptionPage 1
Council Present: Bergus, Mims, Salih, Teague, Taylor, Weiner
CouncilAbsent: Thomas (unable to connect electronically)
Staff Present: Fruin, Monroe, Dulek, Fruehling, Havel, Nagle -Gamin, Seydell-Johnson
Others Present: Longenecker (UISG)
COVID-19 Update:
Teague/ I think we'll go ahead and get started, and I know that our, ub, City Clerk, Kellie, is
workin' with Councilor Thomas to get him into this Zoom meeting. We have a COVID-
19.... one, I wanna say welcome to everybody, uh, tonight. This is, uh, Iowa City City
Council work session for Tuesday, June tad, 2020. Um, and as many of us know, there's,
um, lots happenin' throughout our community. We still have COVID-19 that is very
prevalent, um, although the numbers today looked really good at zero, um, in Johnson
County, but we do know and expect a change there. Um, so we'll just put a plug out to
everyone to do what you can to remember the safety measures of COVID-19. I also
wanna just take a moment and acknowledge, um, what's happening throughout our
nation, in response to the death of, um, George Floyd, and this, um, when we start our
formal meeting tonight, um, I do plan to have some words there then on that, but I ... at
least wanted to take a moment to, um, state that our nation is hurting and, urn ... that's a
reality, and hopefully, urn .... we will be able to communicate better on issues such as this
and bring real resolution. So .... with that bein' said, I'm going to, urn .... open up, uh, our
floor to two doctors from the University of Iowa that's gonna talk to us a little bit about,
uh, face shields from some of the information that they learned, and, uh, we have Dr. E
....Eli, um, how do you pronounce your last name?
Perencevich/ Uh, Perencevich.
Teague/ Perencevich! Great, and we have Dr. Michael Edmond, and so welcome to both of you
and I'm lookin' forward to this opportunity to hear from you in this setting. I know that
Dr. Eli and I have had communications several times on this topic. So, please, uh, feel
free to, um, talk to us tonight!
Perencevich/ Okay, thank .... thank you, uh, Mayor Teague and Councilors, and all. Um, I guess
I'll start and then, Mike, interrupt and chime in. (clears throat) So, um, I've been a part
of the .... the University of Iowa Co.....College of Public Health modeling group. Uh,
we've been creating, um, I'm gonna actually (mumbled) epidemiologist and ... and part of,
uh, my role with COVID has been working with this modeling group, College of Public
Health, and uh.... we've been kind of, uh, kind of projecting the outbreak, and most of us
feel there'll be a second peak sometime, um, perhaps in the fall, perhaps now. We
don't ... we don't fully understand this virus. It's a totally new virus. Urn ... there could be
some seasonal benefit that we're seeing now, but we're not quite sure, but we know we
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have to be prepared and .... and, um, as groups of us been talking about how to prepare,
uh, for a second wave and save our economy and keep our businesses open, get our
schools open and universities opening, um, we started looking at the success we've had
at, uh, University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics. Uh.... uh, several months ago, uh, Mike
Edmond, uh.... um, and his group purchased 13,000 face shield and distributed them to all
the healthcare workers there. Um, they've been well received and .... and as we've looked
not only at the data at University of Iowa Hospital, but across the country, uh, probably
the best data is from New York City. It appears that probably the safest place to work is
in healthcare. The lowest, uh, infection rates in New York City are among healthcare
workers, surprising.... you probably are all like `I don't believe you,' but it ends up being
true. The lowest risk of those in serology studies, so antibody immunity, um, so people
that haven't been exposed at all to virus are in an intensive care unit, uh, doctors and all
doctors, then nurses, then other healthcare workers, and then other staff in the hospital,
and all of those are lower than community rates of transmission, and so the way I
interpreted that is PPE works. Um, we know that, um, masks and face shields and
goggles and gloves and gowns and all the preparation we do protects healthcare workers,
and so if it works there, you know, we .... there are a lot more essential workers than just,
uh, doctors and nurses. Why don't we think about the entire country as essential, um,
nursing homes, uh, any .... any business, especially meat packing. I think we could realize
might wanna get PPE there. Urn ... and so ... kind of coming from that, I think we need to
have a discussion, uh, as a state and community about how to get personal protective
equipment to all our citizens in a safe way, and so that's why face shields came up,
because they're sustainable. Like masks you have to bum through one a day. Cotton
masks you can make, but they're very uncomfortable to wear for long periods. They're
hard to breath. I can't walk up more than five.... four or five flights of stairs without
pretty much dying in a cotton mask, which doesn't happen in a face shield or a, you
know, a medical mask. And so we think it's an effective way, uh, to protect the
community and we wanted to kind of throw that out as an idea for the, uh, Iowa City to
think about purchasing and distributing face shields to the community. Uh, purchase
price, uh, they're pretty affordable, uh, anywhere from $1.60 to $5.00, uh, probably for
good versions of sustainable, uh, face shields that can be washed in soap and water, or
with a Clorox wipe. Um, and we think this will protect people almost as well as the PPE
we have in hospitals, and clearly the risk, uh, of exposure's far less in the community
than hospitals, apart from maybe meat packing. So we think this is something we should
discuss as a community. So I'll stop. Mike, I don't know, if you have other ...filings to
add. Is your mic not working? (laughs) He can't unmute himself.
Teague/ I'm sure our technical people are workin' on it.
Mims/ Can I ask a question while they're trying to work on that. What .... what kind of a source
would there be, I mean, if we were to look at some kind of community -wide program of,
um, doing some sort of a bulk purchase where then community members could buy those
from the City or...for people that can't afford it we provided them to them. I mean we're
talking... you know, 70,000 -plus people potentially, um, what kind of a source ... how hard
would it be to source that many?
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Perencevich/ Yeah, we started to look into that. There's a company in Cedar Rapids that
contacted us. We published a paper in JAMA, Journal of American Medical Association,
and so we're getting a bunch of emails from across the country about `will you look at
our face shields.' There's a company in Cedar Rapids that has a 150,000 on pallets. Um,
I know Mike, uh, you know, Dr. Edmonds, looked at those and thought they were a pretty
high quality. Can't remember the exact cost, uh, of those. Uh, I think it was under $10,
um, for those. So they have 150,000 and I think it's something like they can make 10,000
a day, um, and then there's also a company, I was just, uh, told, um, one of our palliative
care doctors, uh... uh, shared one with me that's made in Des Moines and they can make
thousands a day. Um, so I think it's more about .... I think the reason it's nice to talk about
now, as Mayor Teague said, we don't have a lot of infections right now, but if we plan
ahead and purchase ahead so we have `em by fall when we think this is gonna pick up,
we shouldn't have trouble sourcing them, but it's ... you know, an important question, and
those ... I think this Des Moines, they're .... I think I have it here.....this face shield. I think
they're $2.60 (mumbled) this version. It's kinda nerdy (laughter) but, uh, anyway, so
yeah, so ... so kinda the range, I think, uh, $1.60 to under $10.
Teague/ We can continue that conversation but I wanted to just let Dr. Edmond know that we
believe that you may have not, um....connected to audio in Zoom. So maybe at the
bottom of your screen there's a little, um .... maybe a little up cursor or somethin' that....
Next to the mic.
Salih/ I just wanna ask you question, when you .... oh, did I .... okay. (mumbled) Did I ... did you
said that we can use, um, the shield without the mask or it have to be both?
Perencevich/ Uh, we feel in the community you could just wear a face shield. You prob.... if a
well designed face shield, you would not need to wear a mask. And that has a lot of
advantages for children, people that are hard of hearing, and perhaps others. We .... we
feel it's a more, kind of open, uh, more humane personal protective equipment in the
community.
Salih/ Yeah, because as you said the cotton shield, yesterday I tried to put it on my mom while
we going to vote and she was like `I can't breathe well on this,' so...
Perencevich/ Yeah. Yeah.
Salih/ I think, yeah, the shield will be working very good because you gonna get air from around.
Perencevich/ Right, it's much more natural (laughs)
Salih/ Uh huh.
Perencevich/ It's like wearing a baseball cap or glasses really. Kinda big ugly glasses I guess.
Salih/ Exactly! Yeah. Thank you.
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Teague/ Dr. Edmond, I think we really do wanna hear from you. What I might suggest is you
sign ... sign out and sign back in. And... sometimes that fixes the issue. I know that I've
been wearin' face shields and personally I've .... I'm gonna use Councilor Weiner's, uh,
terminology. I find them liberating, um, it's .... it's very freein'. You can navigate with
them throughout the community and not ... I don't know, I have mine right here, so .... urn
(laughter) I have several (laughing) but ... but they are pretty nice and, um, this one, I
understand, was only a dollar to make. So there are certainly some that have, urn .... more
simplistic properties, materials bein' used than others, so ... um, I love it. I think it's been
workin' great. The research that you all have done, oh, Dr. Edmond! Please!
Edmond/ Can you hear me?
Teague/ Yes (several responding)
Edmond/ Oh good! Um, yeah, the only thing that I would add to what Eli has said, um, is the,
one of the real advantages of the face shield is that it protects your eyes. So when people
wear masks, they really aren't getting eye protection, and we know from this virus that
the way it's transmitted is primarily through droplets, and uh, in order to become
infected, a droplet has to touch your eye, your nose, or your mouth. Those are the three
ways that the virus gets into the body. So the face shield is, uh, a way to protect all three
of those sites.
Teague/ Great! So for the ... for the public out there, because I know that the biggest question is is
the face shield sufficient, um, when would it be appropriate for you to wear ...wear a face
shield and mask?
Edmond/ (mumbled) So I would say, um, I think it depends on your risk tolerance. I don't think
you really need it. So I will say, uh, as an infectious disease doctor, uh, when I go to the
grocery store, I wear my shield. Um, and I don't wear a mask with it and I feel very
comfortable and I feel protected doing that. I think if somebody feels they want more
protection than what a shield could provide, you could add a mask to that, urn ... uh, I
don't see a real problem with doing that, though I don't think you necessarily need to do
that.
Teague/ When it comes down to healthcare and direct, um, personal care, is th... there is a
difference there. So...
Edmond/ In the hospital setting, we do things to patients that create aerosols, um, and that's a
whole different story, and in that situation, even the face mask, the medical face masks,
are really not enough for that situation. We have to use these N-95 respirator masks, um,
if we're .... if we are generating an aerosol in the hospital. We still wear shields on top of
the, uh, N-95 masks because the N-95 mask doesn't protect the eyes.
Perencevich/ And I think the other benefit of face shields, um, even in those situations, or if you
wanted to wear a mask, like if you had a risk tolerance that made you feel more
comfortable wearing a mask, is that it protects you from touching your face, and then
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when you remove your mask, your mask isn't contaminated because it's been covered by
a shield the whole time, and one of the biggest risk factors, we think, is people touching
their face or touching a dirty mask and then touching their face, while they're removing
the mask. And so just an added layer of protection. I think if I was someone in a higher -
risk group, um, you know, especially someone in a nursing home or had to go out, or with
a lot of comorbid positions or someone in their 70s or 80s, uh, I would definitely wear,
you know, both probably, just to be on the safe side. But ... but, um, we think, and when
we modeled this, even if...um, and we think masks are probably 90 -plus percent effective
in blocking droplets from reaching your face, especially well designed ones. The one that
was tested in the best study was a really crappy throw -away one, not like the good ones
that we would recommend, but um .... even if the mask ... the face shields were only about
50% effective, we could eliminate the virus. It's practically like a vaccine, because as
soon as you cut off transmission, if enough of us have them, um, we can really, you
know, uh, keep this under control. Um, and .... and masks would work the same way, but
they only protect others. They don't protect you. So it's a double benefit from, uh, face
shields. They protect you and others by containing and blocking.
Edmond/ Yeah, I'll just pick up on that. What ... what Eli said, um, to stop the outbreak you don't
need an intervention that's 100% effective. Um, and .... from a public health perspective,
um, that ... we don't need to take it that far, and what I remind people about all the time is
that we really push influenza vaccine every year and that vaccine's 40% effective on
average. It's not near 100% effective, but yet we see benefit in the community from
people doing that. So .... so, um, you know, I think it's how you look at it, you might
come to different conclusions. If you look at it from an individual perspective — am I
protected — then you make a decision about whether you think the shield is enough or
whether you want to add a face mask to that, but if you're looking at it from a population
perspective, from a public health perspective, you don't need an intervention that's 100%
effective to stop the outbreak.
Weiner/Are you aware of any, of the suppliers around here that have smaller shields, that ... for,
say for kids and smaller kids? I mean I ended up getting one for a two-year-old off the
internet but (laughs) urn ... but there are a lot of kids, you know, there are school kids,
there are ... there are middle school kids, there are people who do not... whose... whose
heads and faces are not, uh, they would be dwarfed by the size of...of the ones that we're
getting for us.
Edmond/ I don't know about local suppliers. I do know ...I've seen multiple vendors, um, online
that have them, uh, and they have all kinds of fun ones, you know, that have, uh, make
your face look like a cat or a princess or whatever you wanna be, to try to, uh, to
encourage kids to wear them. So ... so they are available, um, I'll just add on, because this
is when I was muted and couldn't unmute, but when you were talkin' about different
vendors, um, I've been contacted by several different, uh, companies, most of these are
actually small companies who, um, have retrofit their production lines to start making
face shields. There's, for example, there's a company in Cleveland that's called
Cleveland Menu Company. They make menus for restaurants, those plastic things that
you put the menu in, and now they're making face shields. Um, and they've made
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actually several different models of face shields, um, and theirs are, um, when you buy
them, you know, at volume, they're like $1.75. Um, and they, uh, they've sent me some
of them, so I've tried them, um, and they're really decent quality ones that ... that would
last you.
Salih/ I also wanna ask you, uh, just (mumbled) like... understand that, understand you right. You
said .... as the Mayor said, we don't have numbers of increasing today, but I know that the
people.... people in the community understand that this is going to go away by like maybe
the end of the year, but I hear you saying this is will pick up again by the winter. If there
is a great possibility of this (mumbled) again during fall or winter?
Perencevich/ Yeah, I think that's a really strong possibility, because we ... we, it hasn't gone away,
so it's.... it's, we're still having ... in the state I can't remember the numbers today, but
they're 200 or 300 cases a day, um....uh, even now, and so it's not going away, and then
we have no immunity. Probably less than 1% of the people in Iowa are immune. So if
it's there, um, it's gonna spread. There's nothing magical. I .... I'm .... I am impressed
with people in Johnson County and... and Linn County because people are social
distancing, even though they're moving around more, I mean people are definitely
keeping their six -feet, they're doing a lot more things outside, uh, they're definitely
washing their hands. There's a lot of mask wearing, which is why I think face shields
will work here. I've started to see face shields pop up at Costco and Trader Joe's when
I've gone, and the Co -Op. So I think it took a good place to do it, but it...it will come
back. I think there's no one that thinks this will disappear until there's a vaccine.
Urn... coronavirus, we're ... we really don't understand, but coronavirus is the traditional
ones or the seasonal ones that come with the common cold are all gone by May. Um, just
totally gone, and clearly this virus is all over the place, in every state. Um, even now. So
we don't think it's going to go away. It may .... may go a little, um, become a little less
prevalent in the summer but it won't go away.
Taylor/ I think what ...what I've heard too is that, and maybe you can clarify this, that this one
is .... is somewhat unique in that it has more of a contact transmission effect, so that, uh,
that would, uh, encourage folks to wear the ... the face shields because if. ... if we don't
have that person-to-person conduction of...of the actual virus, that will help ... it might still
be out there, but your numbers will stay low, which is what we'd like to see. We don't
want to see the numbers escalate. Right?
Perencevich/ Yes, yeah, I think so, I mean it's spread by droplet and contact, so sneezes and
coughs, and then ... so if directly you cough on someone, in fact it almost happened to me
a couple ... a week ago now. I was wearing my face shield in Walgreens, where a person
just let go a sneeze like three feet from me. Fortunately I had my face shield on, and so if
that would of landed on my mouth or nose or eyes, I would become infected and that
....or if what they sneezed on was something and then I touched it and touched my face,
then I could of gotten infected as well. So droplets in the air directly with cough and
sneeze within six feet or...if you touch something right after they sneeze you might pick
up enough to become sick, but uh, mostly the sneezes and coughs though we think, and
speaking and singing in choirs and things like this ... are big risk factors.
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Teague/ Great! Well thank you all for comin' on and sharing... about face shields and how they
can help decrease our risk. Really appreciate hearin' this and thanks for all the work that
you do in our community for those that are ill and bringin' some, um, some ... some more
opportunities for regainin' of health, so thanks for all that you do and .... yeah! Appreciate
you joinin' us tonight!
Edmond/ Thank you.
Perencevich/ Thank you, Mayor Teague and Councilors. Uh, let us know if we can be of further
assistance.
Teague/ Great! (several talking) (mumbled) we are still open to COVID-19 updates. I don't
know if anyone, um, has any updates or if anyone from the City staff wants to give an
update?
Fruin/ Um, Mayor, I can just give a brief, uh, service update, uh, to you and, um, before I do that
I'll just mention, um, we have, uh, as a city, procured about 1,100 face shields, just for
our .... our employees. Uh, some of those, about 400, through the Emergency Operations
Center, and then we've purchased 700 ourself for our employees, and right now we have
about 450 of those distributed. So employees can ... can request those. Uh, they're not
mandatory. Masks, uh, are... are mandatory or...or coverings, face coverings are
mandatory for our employees, um, but urn ... uh, we do give `em the option, but clearly
with 450, um, already distributed, uh, face shields are a popular choice, uh, for .... for our
employees and I think as the weather warms and ... people get, uh, used to the .... the
differences in comfort, we'll see more of those face shields go. So, urn .... uh, put a plug
in there for our experience so far. Uh, quick service level update, again, um, our Public
Works' operations are pretty much back to full speed. We had the Landfill back open, uh,
and this week we resumed our white goods, our bulky waste pickup at curbside. That can
be done by appointments now, again. Uh, our Transportation Services operations are also
slowly getting back to full speed. We do have, uh, our parking system back up, uh, so
again there are charges in the ramps and we do have enforcement again downtown. That
has been going well. Uh, we are gearing up for a return to our normal transit service, our
summer transit service on June 15'', which will include a ... a return to front -boarding, uh,
and fare collection as well. Um, busy time in parks with lots of changes the last couple of
weeks. Yesterday we reopened playgrounds. We have caution signs at those
playgrounds, but they are open. Uh, we have, uh, lap swimming that we hope to start on
June 15a' at Mercer. Uh, Council knows we're doing a lighting project in the pool area,
so we wanna make sure we get that project complete, uh, get the pool filled back up, and
get the State to inspect it, uh, but right now it looks like we should be on track for the
15th, if all those things fall in place. We'll have limited capacity and it'll be by
appointment only, um, but we will be able to accommodate, um, those that, uh, are
missing the opportunity to swim. And then, uh, they are gearing up for some
programming, um, as well, and programming's gonna look a lot different this summer as
you might imagine. Be smaller groups, uh, bigger areas, um, mostly utilizing outdoor
areas, not indoor areas, uh, but some of that will be announced here shortly. Uh, we do,
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uh, intend to resume our Party in the Parks, and we'll be using, uh, larger parks this year.
So, um, starting, uh, in ... in June, targeting June 181, uh, we'll look at, uh, some of our
regional parks that allow people to spread out a little bit more. So City Park and
Riverfront Crossings, Willow Creek, and Mercer, uh, are some.... some good examples of
the parks we'll be utilizing, uh, this summer, uh, for some programming. Happy to
answer any, uh, questions you have about our services. Um, otherwise we will just turn
the floor back over to the Mayor!
Teague/ All right! Well thanks for the update. Any other items for COVID-19 that Councilors
want to talk about?
Mims/ I do, well it's not a different one, but given the presentation that we just had, I'm curious
what other Councilors think about .... trying to start a program, and I'm not saying the
City does this by themselves, but to really educate the community about the benefits, and
maybe even additional safety, of the face shields versus masks, and potentially even, you
know, with other organizations doing some sort of fundraising to buy shields, um, to
encourage people to, you know, like buy two to give one away to somebody who can't
afford it. It just seems to me that as we go forward I think people are getting really tired
of the face masks. I mean theoretically you can even go out to a restaurant, um, and...
and eat with a face shield on. Um, if you're using a straw, you could probably drink and
those sorts of things. So it just seems like it could be a big improvement and maybe, um,
I know they're a little bulkier to carry around, but if you're .... if you're gonna wear your
mask or shield all the time you're out in public anyway, I don't know. It's just ... it's just a
thought off the top of my head after listening to that presentation, but it's something that I
would be interested in having us think about pursuing a little bit more.
Taylor/ This is Pauline. I ... I agree with Susan. Uh, when Councilor Thomas and I were, uh,
walking Willow Creek with some neighbors there, one of the ladies had been making
masks and as we walked along she saw some .... some joggers that weren't wearing
masks. She offered it to them and they took it. They ...they were very grateful and put
them on. So I think if we have some kind of a program where we educate folks about the
shields, and uh, partner with a group to be able to provide these shields, I think we will
see people being able to wear them and wear them out in public.
Bergus/ I agree with that, and I think specifically, Susan, um, I don't know if the Better Together
group has addressed face shields specifically, but I reached out to the Masks of Wellness
folks, several weeks ago, I think before even, um, Eli and Michael's, uh, article in JAMA
was published, but just said are you thinking about face shields as being, um, an
alternative for businesses who could be sort of certified in that program, and I think, um,
if that's .... if that's tied into the Better Together initiative, I think that would be .... that
would be really great. So hopefully with the science a little more solidified we could
push that again.
Mims/ I think that's a good idea. No, we haven't talked about that yet at the Better Together, but
I think that's a .... a good place where we could maybe initiate some things.
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Salih/ And I also heard that City Manager Geoff said before, uh, this is .... you can buy
(mumbled) planning on buying...... no, no like ideas, you was providing ideas that we
can, uh, buy some of the masks. Instead we can do the shields, especially we have this
money coming and we know this is something that ... that's a good cause to use it for. Uh,
also that's an option we can use for the Iowa City resident.
Weiner/ Um, I've been a big face shield fan for quite a while now. I started (laughs) I started
wearing it pretty early on in the grocery store and got a few odd looks and I thought what
do I care? They can see me, I can see them, I can't touch my face, um, my glasses don't
fog up, even if..so there, to me .... also, anyone who is hearing impaired can still see my
lips, and that to me is also, when we're talking about inclusivity, that's also a very
important point.
Teague/ So it sounds like maybe, um, if Better Together... Councilor Mims, you're on that
committee. So (garbled) somethin' that maybe you all can navigate and kinda get back,
uh, and let us know if there's anything our City Council or City needs to do.
Mims/ Yeah, I'll ... I'll mention it, uh, might reach out to some of you individually and see what
other contacts you have and ... and how ...how we might want to coordinate this, and I'm
not ... I'm not just trying to dump it on City staff. But look at some way that ... and I think
that Better Together group is really trying to do a lot of community -wide, and it's more
thanjust Iowa City. It's really all Johnson County, um, and of course we all interact with
each other in various places. So, um, we'll kinda start there. I'll reach out to some of
you and get some ideas and maybe we can figure out a way to kinda get a program going,
both educationally but some sort of a purchase program, um....again, where maybe
people who can afford them buy their own and maybe encourage them to donate another,
enough for another one or two for people who can't afford them. So I'll reach out to you!
Thanks!
Teague/ Great! Thank you! All right, we're gonna move on to the next item on our agenda,
which is Ashley kinda leadin' us down this road once again on the strategic plan for 2020,
uh, for our 2021 (mumbled)
Continue Development of the 2020-21 Strategic Plan:
Monroe/ Okay! Well thank you! Um, we are getting close here. Last, uh, last work session we,
I'm gonna work on sharing my screen, but, um, last work session we got close to
finishing here. Um .... the ..... the general overtone of the discussion, in ... in light of
COVID and ... and really all other activities happening today, um, there was an interest in
siting the health condition also of our residents, and so we drafted this statement that will
be paired with, um, our... original kinda statement — The strategic plan intends to foster a
more inclusive, just, and sustainable Iowa City, and it adds, `By prioritizing the physical,
mental, and economic well being of all residents.' That's a statement that, um, is up for
discussion by Council. If it's detailed enough, or specific to your wishes and ... and what
you're planning to convey, this, urn .... this explainer kind of just starts the plan or...or the
strategic plan document. So, uh, it's the header and then we would have some type of
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graphic that is improved upon my .... my draft there that identifies each of our priorities,
and then it goes into the specific, uh, the specific strategies that ... that you've identified,
you know, the ... the bulleted items. So, um, if you wanna discuss that firs segment, then,
um, once we finish that we'll just, uh... jump to that last section that we haven't done yet.
Mims/ I really like that header. I ... I think it hits on .... virtually everything, I mean, when we've
talked about more inclusive, just; we talk about sustainable; and when you talk about
people's health, um, it is. It's the physical, it's mental, and so much of that then also
becomes their economic opportunities and ... and economic well being. So I don't know
who came up with the wording, but I certainly like it.
Weiner/ My only suggestion would be it ... and there are a couple places where it could go in,
would be to consider inserting the word `equitable' as well. Just the word `equitable.'
Salih/ Yes, I agree with Janice.
Monroe/ Okay! We can certainly, um, fit the.... equitable somewhere within that statement, um,
to make sure that we're including that as well. Okay! Good? (mumbled) move on. Uh,
we've been through.... the.... the couple of sections here — advancing human rights,
climate action, engagement with the community and intergovernmental relations, um,
investing in public infrastructure, our fiscal, um, circumstances. We did, um, slightly
modify, based on Council's discussion, this foster healthy neighborhoods and affordable
housing throughout the city. Um, we modified that first initiative to, um, identify new
efforts to expand and adapt the City's affordable housing and neighborhood improvement
strategies to meet long-term needs throughout the community. So we've included
identify new and long-term needs. So thoughts or further discussion about this one?
Teague/ I think this was one John kinda chimed in on, and I think it does ... what I remember, of
what I remember, does meet kinda the discussion goal.
Monroe/ Okay. I think we worked on the language during the meeting, um, and sort of came to a
consensus about it, so ... that's reflected there. Okay? We did not make changes to
`enhancing community mobility for all residents.' And then we left this final section
about inclusive and..... an inclusive and resilient economy throughout the city.' So, um,
there were some ideas thrown out there, uh, last meeting and we came up with the
following three. Through collaboration with local partners, increase opportunities for
marginalized and low-income populations to obtain access to skills training, good jobs,
and affordable childcare. (mumbled) included the ... the childcare component and, um,
slimmed down specifying who those partners were, uh, from the prior strategic plan. The
next one is encourage healthy, diverse, and sustainable economic activity throughout
Iowa City, including taking steps to invigorate neighborhood commercial districts and
create new, small neighborhood commercial nodes. There were ... there were pieces of...of
the wider neighborhood commercial districts and then those little neighborhood gems that
we like to think we could grow. And then finally it's to effectively market the local
foods' economy and small locally owned businesses. So those are for ...up for discussion
and .... (mumbled) on anything you wanna talk about.
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Weiner/ So at the .... at the, um, demonstration last .... on Saturday, one of the things that one of
the speakers noted is that, um, and I don't know if it's 100% correct, is that there are no,
um, black or minority-owned businesses downtown. Is that correct? (garbled responses)
Taylor/ (garbled) ....owns Makers Loft and that's downtown. So that is inaccurate (garbled)
Weiner/ Okay, good. That's right. I was just wondering if we should .... if we should somehow
basically up the ante on that some and just have a word or two in there about, um, also...
supporting or .... support for minority-owned small businesses as well.
Teague/ I don't know if our City staff know, but we can see their screen, uh, the IT staff. (pause)
There we go!
Monroe/ (mumbled) ...was taking notes. Okay. So we are including the, um .... minority-owned
businesses potentially within that, um .... that second.... objective there? Or....or in that
third.
Weiner/ I was thinking about in the third but someone else may have better ...a better idea or
better ...better way to include it. I just wanted to throw that out.
Monroe/ Certainly!
Fruin/ Just a suggestion, um, I would .... um.....I would put that as a .... as a, maybe break that
third (mumbled) up .... bullet up, um ... the way it reads right now, and the way that I, at
least I was understanding it, was `effectively market and grow the local foods economy
and small locally -owned businesses.' It almost sounds like the small locally -owned
businesses is also tied to the food economy. So if you just want to promote minority
businesses in general and be very, um, expansive with the definition of what types of
businesses those are then I ... I would break that out separately. And you may or may not
still want to keep the small locally -owned business piece and ... and maybe we should take
the opportunity to clarify whether that's tied to local foods or not.
Salih/ I just believe it's not supposed to be tied to local food only. Like just as, uh, my
understanding what Council Janice said is just in general, like minority-owned business
in general.
Fruin/ Then I think we'll just break that out into a separate bullet, if that's okay.
Salih/ Yeah, I thinks is good idea (several talking)
Mims/ Yeah, either a separate bullet or...I don't know if you want to get bullets under bullets, but
what you could do with that third one is effectively market and grow, semi -colon, and
then kind of three bullets underneath it — the local foods economy, small locally -owned
businesses, minority-owned businesses. Cause you, to me what it seems like we're
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talking about the same thing, but three different categories of businesses. (several
talking) Just a suggestion. I don't wanna try and wordsmith the whole thing here.
Salih/ (mumbled) Yeah.
Teague/ Yeah. Anything else with this one that we think we want to .... change? I ... it looks pretty
good to me now, with the changes.
Salih/ I don't see the changes.
Teague/ They'll bring the changes back. They're writin' it down now (laughs)
Salih/ (laughing) Okay! (several talking) Okay, but I agree with Susan on like, yeah... yeah,
look good. Yeah. We can do that!
Fruin/ So what we will do is, uh, finalize these changes, uh, in the document and then the next
time you see this it'll be in resolution form and we'll ask you to formally adopt it and
that'll ... be our, uh, our .... our permission to get goin' on this at the staff level.
Salih/ Sure!
Weiner/ Sounds good.
Teague/ All right! Anything else on this? Ashley?
Salih/ Thank you, Ashley, and thank you all the staff.
Weiner/ Thanks for your persistence!
Taylor/ (laughter) Patience and persistence!
Teague/ Yes, yes!
Mims/ Thank you to staff and, yeah, probably especially you, Ashley. You've done a ... you've
done a lot of heavy lifting with a lot of the wording here probably, so thank you.
Fruin/ Geoff has pitched in plenty, so um, thank you to everyone (several talking)
Teague/ Yes!
Monroe/ We're excited about it! We'll get it back to you, um, at the next meeting. Thanks!
Taylor/ Sounds good!
Clarification of Agenda Items:
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Teague/ All right, well thanks to you, Ashley, for your persistence and patience (laughs) through
this process. So, all right! We are on to clarification of agenda items ... for our tonight
meetin' which starts at 7:00. Again I did just wanna make mention that, um, towards the
beginnin' of the meeting, um, I will make some statements related to George Floyd and I
have also, um, or we ... we also will have, uh.... um, some representatives from our Police
department, which will be, um ... um, Campbell, our Chief Campbell, who will come and
present, and we will also have the union, someone from the union, if I understand
correctly (both talking)
Fruin/ ...that's correct, yes.
Information Packet Discussion (May 21, May 28):
Teague/ Yeah, so ... so, yeah! So we will, I will do that at the beginning our our, uh, formal
meeting tonight. If nothin' else from the formal agenda, then we'll move on to info
packets, May 21".
Mims/ I'm just glad to see with IP2, um, which talked about this before with the increase in
vouchers and increase in budget authority, uh, for housing, so glad to see that.
Teague/ Info packet, May 281'. And I know IP5 (mumbled) from the Neighborhood and
Development Services about the eviction protection update, for both tenants and .... um,
owners of, um, houses. I don't know if there's anyone that can give us an update. I don't
know if anyone (both talking)
Fruin/ Uh, Mayor, I can .... I can speak briefly to this. Um, Tracy Hightshoe and the NDS staff
has been .... uh, working on a, um, kind of a bridge program, if you will, uh, based on, uh,
based on the last discussion, or based on discussion at the last Council meeting, um, so
what we're looking at is a period of..of time, uh, while the State program is bein'
launched, um.....uh, and um, before the CDBG dollars are available, we wanna make
sure there's rental assistance to anybody facing emergent situations. While we don't
believe that there's going to be, urn .... uh, a .... an eviction crisis, if you will, uh, in the
month of June because of some of the protections in the CARES Act and... and just the
nature of restarting operations at the courthouse. So, um, but we don't want to wait until
there is that crisis either. So what we're looking at here is, um, allocating, uh, $50,000,
which is a fairly small amount, given the magnitude of the problem, but $50,000 of local
funds, uh, for, uh, emergency, uh, housing relief, uh, ad this could include some utility
relief too, if there's emergent utility issues that are ... that someone is facing, uh, like a
disconnect type of situation. Um, and, uh, what this, again, would be, uh, what ... what we
would do is work with our non-profit partners, um, I think, uh, right now we're working
with the Shelter House on this program. It doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to
split the $50,000 up, but uh, we would work with the Shelter House, uh...uh, to make sure
that this $50,000 is available. We would then broadcast that through, um, other, uh, non-
profits that would work with folks that would need this, uh, assistance, so they would
know that's there, and then again hopefully that fills a gap for a few weeks and ... and by
that time, uh, we hope to get the CDBG dollars rolled out. We still don't have the final
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okay from the federal government to roll out our CDBG allocation, uh, but we hope that
is coming, and uh, that will then provide a more substantial amount of rent relief,
and ... and after that we'll (mumbled) have a ... a better handle on the situation, because the
State program will have been out for several weeks, the CDBG program will have been
put out, uh, we'll have local funds. There could be a need for more local funds, and staff
will come back to you and give you that assessment, um, after talking with some of our
providers who are, uh, working with the public that has these needs. So, um, this is just
more of an information, uh, informational item, uh, for you. We'd love any guidance that
yo have because we don't have our agreements executed on how we would spend this
50,000, but again it's, uh, it's ... it's looked at as a bridge type of program for .... for, um...
uh, very emergent circumstances, um, and we are targeting those that are not eligible for
the State programs. So we're still pushing anybody that's eligible to the State program
onto that program first, but if you are not eligible for the State, we wanna help get
through this local program if you're facing an emergency.
Salih/ I just wanna ask you, you just said, uh, the 50,000 for the people who are not eligible for
the State program. That what you thinking?
Fruin/ Yes, that's correct. If you're eligible for the State program, then we would, uh, again
through our partners, we would help you apply for those funds and secure those funds,
but, uh, if you are not eligible, or if you're denied, I should ... I should add that. If you're
denied for some reason, if they run out of their funds immediately or there's some other
circumstances, uh, where you don't get the funds, then we could look to help you
(garbled)
Salih/ But if we want this to start as soon as possible, because we know the State programs
would take maybe a while, uh, how.....how we gonna know that the people been denied
or the people are not eligible or not? Is there a criteria or .... policy that in place?
Fruin/ Yeah, so the State program's already been launched, and so we know the criteria, um,
that's out there, and um ... we can, again, through the .... through our providers, um, help
people apply and then we'll know right away if they're not eligible. Um, there's some
circumstances that we know right off the bat they're not gonna be eligible. If you're
receiving the extra $600 a month in unemployment insurance, you're not eligible for the
State program. If you're an undocumented resident of our community, you're not
eligible. So those people would immediately go to the front of the line for our .... our
local program, if there's an emergency there.
Taylor/ So, Geoff, is there any sort of a ballpark figure of how many you think there might be, or
maybe, Mazahir, through your work with CWJ, we have some idea of how many perhaps
undocumented folks out there might, uh, qualify for this program?
Salih/ (unable to understand) ....because we are giving people, not only Iowa City residents, uh,
you know, just from My Home to Yours program that we ... we launched, and (unable to
understand) $80,000 debt we distributed to the people who are not eligible for stimulus
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check, we ha .... we distributed to 140 family so far, but some of them of course are not
Iowa City resident. Uh, but most of them are.
Bergus/ I just have one, uh, policy question that I'd raised to Geoff. I wanted to make sure that
we do ... that we're, you know, not ... not adding any barriers to the program because the
intent of this is to help folks who may not be eligible for other... other benefits, but just as
far as the logistics of it, to make sure that I understand correctly, any of these funds are
not going directly to families. They would be going directly to the landlords. Is that
right?
Fruin/ Correct, yes.
Bergus/ And so I had just raised the question of is there ... is there some mechanism for when
we're spending, you know, City ... City funds, is there some mechanism for ensuring that
we're not subsidizing I guess what I would call sort of profit on ... on the landlords, um,
and I know that that's a, uh, fraught issue and probably way too complicated for
something that we're trying to roll out very quickly, but ... you know, when we provide
assistance of any kind with public dollars direct to individuals or families, there are so
many requirements and qualifications, typically, that it's just an interesting policy issue
that I wanted to raise and see if you had any thoughts on from the staff level.
Fruin/ Yeah, it's a ... it's a really difficult one. Uh, we've started talking about that internally. I
had a side conversation, um. .... uh, with Shelter House on that as well, and I think we all
recognized exactly what you're trying to, uh, to .... to get at here. We just haven't figured
out the best way frankly to .... to address that yet. So, um, with .... with this pot of funds,
um, we don't have any type of protection like that built in. Uh, we do require that the
landlord verify that, uh, you know, that they, urn .... uh (mumbled) rent is in arrears and
that, um, they will certify that they will not pursue eviction. So there is landlord
certifications in there that have to accompany our .... our assistance, but um, we don't
have any type of mechanism right now for a ... a financial kind of health check for the...
for whoever the landlord is.
Salih/ I really—urn, Council Laura, if you don't mind if you can tell me exactly what you are
worried about, because I couldn't .... I really .... I start getting my .... my connection wasn't
good and I couldn't understand exactly what you are worried about, especially that my
understanding (unable to understand) written to the landlord, but I guess you said
something else. Maybe I didn't understand (mumbled) understand.
Bergus/ Well I don't think I said it very clearly either. My .... my concern, so when we provide,
um, public assistance to individuals and families from not necessarily directly from the
City, but just the idea of providing that assistance, there's all these requirements of need,
right? A family or an individual has to substantiate their need with sometimes very
invasive and complicated, um, application processes, and so when this money is going
directly to the landlord, my question was do we have any way of assur...ensuring that
we're not subsidizing what I would call profit for the landlord, that there is some need
and so Geoff articulated that at least the landlord does have to say that the rent has not
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been paid and that they will not be pursuing eviction. So I ... my concern was more that
we're not just funneling public dollars to, uh, a landlord who ... who isn't actually missing
out on the financial need of their rent.
Salih/ Okay, got you. Yeah, okay, that makes sense. Yeah, thank you.
Teague/ I guess from a ... and I hear what you're sayin', and I .... do think that it's appropriate that
we have the landlords certify and .... but for me I think we stop there. Uh, we just saw our
entire nation, um, get some funds through PPE. I'm sorry, PPP (laughs) um, where
essentially there were companies that are billionaires, um, billions and trillions of dollars
was able to get some of that money, without ... very little question. Now we're not the
nation, we're not the White House, you know, distributin' those monies. Of course we
probably would have had a little more, urn .... um, where's the need associated with the
funds that we're releasing, um, but those funds were given out with very little
requirements, and ... I think when we often look at, urn.... individuals with need,
sometimes we ask too many questions and, um, I'm not sayin' what you're (laughs) you
know, ours ... is sayin' it's inappropriate at all, but I think we stop there, personally. We
stop at havin' the landlord certify and if they certify, if there is any type of, um, under-
handed, tryin' to get over on the government, I think we just leave it at that, knowin' that
our good was .... um, our intentions are to do good and to help people, in the quickest,
least invasive way possible.
Salih/ The only thing I wanna say about this, Mayor, is that, you know, my experience of helping
people with the Shelter House or with the Crisis Center, I know that they have system in
place, whenever you come and apply for a benefit like, for example (unable to
understand) or for the ... for the, just the Crisis Center, where you apply for utility help, uh,
usually you have to bring a bill that, you know, showing that you are past due, and
they ..they will provide... before they write the check to the, you know, to ... to the utility
company, or to the landlord of paying the rent. So I think we already have a mechanism
there to make sure that they are not doing .... like they are not just like somebody who are
not in need. Uh, I understand your concern, but you know, hopefully we can just
minimize the question and let those, uh, people handle this the way that they used to
handle ... I guess they have very good system in place, you know (mumbled)
Council updates on assigned boards, commissions, and committees:
Teague/ Great! Any other item from May 28h9 Info packet. All right! Council updates on
assigned boards, commissions, and committees. Even durin' COVID-19 there's been
(laughs) work still bein' done!
Taylor/ I think most of us, of course except for you, Mayor, since the Mayor doesn't sit in on it,
went to the .... or attended the Zoom MPO meeting, uh, recently, last week. Uh, major
item was, again, the federal aid swap program, uh, which the majority present felt that
there still was not enough supported data to ... for our group to opt in. Uh, we've been
asking the last couple times it's come before us for data, particularly any financial reason
to ... to opt in to this, uh, which is like for roads and bridge projects with the federal funds
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being swapped for state funds. Uh, so the majority of the folks did vote to opt out again
this year. So it'll come before us again, but we'll continue to opt out of that program.
Mims/ Geoff and I continue to sit in on the Friday Better Together, uh, meetings and I think
Geoff has probably given as good a synopsis of that as ... as I could, in his Friday email, so
I'll just...if you didn't read that, refer you back to his Friday email, just to save us some
time. I think he was pretty complete in his description of our conversations.
Weiner/ We had an ECCOG meeting also, uh, by Zoom. The ... the, almost the irony of this is that
the ... because of the CARES Act funding, ECCOG is gonna end up in better shape
financially than it has been. So there... there won't be .... they won't be in deficit. They'll
be able to actually work on the fiscal year without having to worry about that, um, and
for people who are not in .... within Iowa City, there ... the housing portion of what they do,
the ... run by Tracy Auchenbach has some funds as well that they are reaching out to some
of the smaller communities (mumbled)
Teague/ Okay! Hearing no other updates ... I guess we will be back at 7:00 P.M. for our formal
meeting.
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