HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-06-16 TranscriptionPage I
Call to Order
Teague: Good evenin', Iowa City. We are just waitin' for Councilor Weiner to ... show her
video. And we have our .... look like everyone is here! Um .... so welcome to Iowa
City City Council meeting, special formal meeting, for June 16th at 7:00 P.M.
Roll call please. All right! Well we are actually ...I'm personally very happy to be
at this opportunity. Um, at this time and at this place to talk about Item #2, Black
Lives Matter Movement/Systemic Racism and Police Policies. Um, before I kind
of read Item #21 just wanted to kinda give an update of what's gonna happen, let
people have some idea. Um .... we're gonna have open comment here in .... in a
minute for those that are wanting to participate through addressing Council. Um,
I'll open that up for public discussion, and .... we're gonna make a motion on a
resolution which we'll talk after the comments. And so ... um, when the
discussions do happen we're gonna have three minutes, um... ask for people to
keep their comments within three minutes. Our Mayor Pro Tem Salih, um, is here
and she's gonna be the timekeeper, and then she will, uh, interrupt to allow the
next person to come. All right! And I'll give a little further discussion, um, as we
go along the way, but very happy to be a part of this discussion tonight.
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2. Black Lives Matter Movement/Systemic Racism/Police Policies - Resolution
of Initial Council Commitments addressing the Black Lives Matters
Movement and Systemic Racism in the wake of the murder of George Floyd
by the Minneapolis Police and calls for action from protesters and residents.
Teague: Could I get a motion to approve the resolution? (several talking, garbled) Moved
by...uh, Salih, seconded by Mims. All right! So we will come back to talk about,
um, the commitments from the Council, um, after we hear from the comments,
and we're gonna open up the comments up until 8:00 P.M. and after 8:00 P.M. we
will do a hard stop because there's a lot of work and conversation that Council
needs to have. We have heard from, uh, lots of people through email, hundreds,
uh, we have heard, uh, have engaged with people by phone or in person, and so
just know that we want to open up this time, almost immediate, for you all to
comment, uh, for anyone that wanna comment. I would also like to say that
people on the phone, once you do speak, if there is .... if you would be willin' to,
um, and... and have the ability to connect with, uh, this meeting via another source,
such as, uh, FaceTime Live, because we only have a max of so many attendees
and so we want other people if they could have the opportunity to speak after you
have spoken if that's what you wanna do to allow that opportunity for someone
else to jump on. Um, all right, with that bein' said we're gonna open up, um,
public discussion, and if you raise your hand .... there's a raise hand button. And if
you raise your hand, and I'm gonna speak, uh, I'm gonna call people in the order
that I see hands raised, and we'll go from there. The first one I see is Raneem.
Welcome!
Hamad: Hello! (feedback, garbled) Sorry! Hi, I'm .... my name is Raneem Hamad and I
am an organizer repre.... uh, representing the Iowa Freedom Riders, and .... a
couple of us are also on the call, and what we're planning to do is just go ahead,
go through our demands, um, and get the Council... speak a little bit about our
demands so the Council has a clearer idea, um, in terms of the resolution that
they're going to pass after we speak. Um, so my .... the first (mumbled) that I
wanna speak about is dropping all charges against protesters and also ending law
enforcement surveillance of IFR organizers and activists. So protesters are
advocates for public safety and ending (mumbled) in racist policing. Studies of
ICPD stops and searches have consistently documented racial bias in local
policing as well. Racial bias in policing has serious life-long consequences for
the health, wellness, and freedom of black people in our community. Instead of
accountability for these harms, the ICPD has responded to the protests by
intensifying discrimination and misuse of police power against protesters, with
surveillance, unnecessary stops, and aggression. So in order to, um, our demands
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in terms of that, with respect to that are, one, um, demand ... or we demand that the
Council make a request to the County Attorney to drop all charges in writing, and
that the request letter be shared with IFR, Iowa Freedom Riders. Additionally, the
City should reverse charges made on May 30th and June 19a`, as well as June 6a',
for speeding and stop sign violations. These are the three citations not being
prosecuted by the County at this moment. We also want ... want to explicitly
demand that the ICPD and law sc... law enforcement surveillance and targeted
stops, police ... or police -initiated contact of IFR and organizers and activists to be
stopped. We, urn ... a lot of us have shared personal experiences of harassment,
um, by the ICPD to Members of the Council, um, you know, I've been, uh, I've
been sharing my experiences with you, uh, you know, Mayor Bruce, um, you
know, whenever I see .... you know, whenever I learn about anything else, and um,
I believe (mumbled) during the protests have also shared a lot of personal
experiences as well. Um, City Manager Geoff Fruin acknowledged that the City
is gathering actionable intelligence against protesters. So we want, um, and using
City resources to investigate or survey non-violent protesters is against the values
of our city and our community. So we want .... we demand that this surveillance
ceases immediately. If surveillance is being conducted by law enforcement
agencies outside the ICPD, we demand that ICPD and Iowa City refuse to
cooperate with outside investigators. Targeting protesters with new, minor
violations in order to enhance existing criminal charges or as leverage for
probation violation increases the harm of an already racist legal system. We
demand an end to this practice. And finally .... we also, um, wanna talk about
body cameras and we wanna reiterate that, um, from personal experience
(garbled, others talking) has a policy that body cameras must be operational at all
times. Officers have not been following this policy and so officers who fail to
keep their (talking in background, garbled) and/or terminate (both talking)
Salih: Time's over (both talking)
Hamad: Thank you!
Teague: And we're gonna have Tina followed by Shawn. Tina? We'll come back to Tina.
We'll have Shawn.... follow.... by Tina.
Harmsen: All right, can you hear me?
Teague: Yes!
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Harmsen: Excellent! Um, first of all I'd like to voice my support for the members of the,
uh, IFR, the Iowa Freedom Riders. Uh, thank them for their, uh, their courage
and their dedication to, uh, ultimately their goals are to make our community a
better, fairer, more equitable, and safer place, and ub, how can we do anything but
applaud that, especially when they're willing to put their own safety at risk to do
that, uh, for the benefit of all. Uh, I would like to voice my support for the things
that Raneem was just talking about, about dropping the charges. Absolutely, and
dropping the, uh, the surveillance and harassment of protesters. Um, that is
something that, again, does not reflect the values of this community. Um, and we
can do much better than that. Uh, I think it's important to think about, uh, you
know, banning the use of teargas and flash bangs and rubber bullets. Uh, we....
we've seen an incident here which was, uh, you know, a sad day for our
community, uh, to .... to have been a part of that in the early days of the protesting,
uh, and we can definitely look at other communities and see .... see tragedies that
we need to avoid, um, moving into the future. Um, and so, uh, I don't warm take
up too much time and I think we need to hear from the IFR protesters more than
we need to hear from ... from me, um, so I thank them for that and, uh, would just
like to say that I ... I support their demands and we need to make sure we don't lose
that as we discuss all the different things that are important to, uh, moving our
city forward. Thank you.
Teague: Thank you! And ... Tina, can you state your last name when you address us please?
Hello, Tina? All right, we're gonna move on to Ruth, followed by Steve.
Kahssai: Hello, are you all able to hear me? Yes?
Teague: Yes!
Kahssai: Okay. Hi, everyone, my name is Ruth Kahssai. I'm the Director of Justice and
Equity in Undergraduate Student Government at the University of Iowa. Um, to
echo what was said before, I would like to fully support (mumbled) personal
support not only in my role within the Director of Justice and Equity, but also as a
community member and as a black woman, um, for the Iowa Freedom Riders and
all their demands. I'd also like to add just some per.... perspective as far as
(mumbled) specific demand for defunding the police. Iowa City, um, I'm a social
work major. I've had the opportunity to work with many, many non -profits
within the Iowa City area and I've never lived in an area which had so many non-
profits, which is incredibly beautiful in many ways. Um, and so something that
I've heard as far as a descent as to why we can't defund and dismantle the police,
specifically ICPD, is that, um, we don't have another infrastructure to support
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community resources, um, so I'd like to counter that by saying that Iowa City has
the Rape Victim Advocacy Center, Domestic Violence Intervention Program,
Community Crisis Services, and food bank, a whole row and alley of non -profits
not only offered by Iowa City and the Johnson County area, as well as University
of Iowa. The University of Iowa is known for its social work program and social
justice programs, and inte... integration in student involvement and community
involvement, um, and so Iowa City has full structure.... infrastructure and support
in building a better community system, um, that could replace ICPD, um, as well
as funding other projects that are more useful to the community that aren't being
funded by the State as a whole. Um, and so Iowa City is a very rare, very, very
rare (laughs) in comparison to other Midwest cities, um, as to how many non-
profits and community resources and folks that we have willing to do work, in
comparison to other Midwest places, um, and so once again I'd like to put my full
support behind the IFR demands, as well as specifically really, really, really
behind, um, defunding and dismantling, um, Iowa City Police Department. And
that is all!
Teague: Thank you, Ruth, and we'll go to Steve, followed by Mohamed.
Roach: Uh, hello, everybody, and ... and thank you. Um, yeah, I .... basically I attended the
community meetings and I've been kind of paying attention to what's happening,
and again I wanna say as a community member I really support, you know, I
looked at the demands from the Iowa Freedom Riders and ... and they just seemed
inherently, uh, reasonable, and I ... I really ask that the .... the City Council try to
support them as much as they can. Um, and specific .... and I'm also really
concerned about, um, the .... the protesters that have been arrested. It just seems,
uh, really, um, the wrong time. They're, you know, these people are really trying
to work hard to change our society and I think, um, you know, the protests and the
surveillance of them is .... is totally inappropriate. And ... and finally I would like
to, you know, again, I think the idea of defunding the police, when we looked
at .... when I saw the information on how much money we spend in this
community on police, and it....it was incredibly disturbing to me. So I really
think we need to think about what are the alternatives, and I, you know, we ... I,
you know, with my children in the schools, I think we really have a lot of work to
do there. So, and .... uh, that's all, but I ... I really think the IFR's, uh, requests are
really reasonable and I think you should consider `em. Thank you.
Teague: All right, thank you. And Mohamed.
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Karar: Hello, my name is Mohamed Karar and um, I just wanna elaborate on some of the
demands and make sure that they're clear enough and so one of our demands was
that every Iowa City department should have at least 30% of its employment
capacity dedicated, um, to people of color and people of diversity to represent our
population. Um, we must say that it is not necessary to add more staff to meet
this goal, but we do think that it's very important to include in the job descriptions
the prioritization of diversity and inclusion for their roles. And, um, we also
demanded that every institution and business must implement an equity toolkit.
Um, we recognize (talking in background) we recognize that the Iowa City ...that
Iowa City has already implemented this goal in part, um, and we demand that the
resulting (mumbled) be shared more widely with the public for transparet ... for
transparency and accountability and we also want to improve reporting options
for residents who experience racism at Iowa City businesses. And, um .... lastly,
one of our demands was for affordable housing and we .... we, with that one we
are demanding the creation of an affordable housing plan that among other
priorities specifically addresses the availability of affordable housing in
downtown and the city's core neighborhood. Thank you very much.
Teague: Thank you, Mohamed. We'll have .... uh, Jacob and I understand it'll be followed
by Raneem. Her name is up again, twice following, but if I understand correctly
there is other people that will speak. Urn.... and.... and, uh, and they'll announce
themselves when they do come forward. Jacob!
Beal: Hi there! Um (clears throat) I'm a local parent, local citizen. Um, in general
very, uh, very much in favor of, uh, leashing our police, um, and making sure that
they are serving us and not the other way around. And I wanna make sure that,
uh, this discussion is expanded beyond just the Iowa City police. One of the
things that I am concerned about is that we're in this whole shell of
responsibilities. There's the City. There's the County. There's the State. You
know, I went to the Police Review Board meeting last week and was told there
essentially that the Police Review Board has no power. Um, and that the City
Council needs to act on this. Maybe the City Manager needs to something ... do
something. I think it's very possible that all of this could start sort of sputtering
out, into `Oh, the local can only control this much.' I really wanna push hard for
my, uh, representatives, you all on the City Council, to not let it go at, `Oh, it was
the State who did this, it was the County who's going to make this arrest, etc.'
Um, as a city, you have the ability to, um, withdraw cooperation, to file
complaints, etc., and to make sure that your citizens know that you're advocating
for us very strongly with these other organizations as well. Thank you.
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Teague: Thank you. And then we'll have Raneem, followed by Raneem, and I understand
that there's different individuals that will announce themselves.
Deng: Hi (feedback, garbled) Tina (mumbled) technical difficulties earlier. Um, but I'm
(mumbled) talk about, um, our other demands and clarify upon them.
Teague: Can you state your name? I understand it's Tina (both talking) Sorry! Can you
state your first and last name please?
Deng: Oh, my name's Tina Deng by the way. My last .... Tina Deng.
Teague: Thank you!
Deng: Hello! So, um, so .... our, one of our demands is reform for CPRB. The Council
should commission a review of CPRB best practices around the country and, um,
the review of the body should be fully independent. Under the ordinance it looks
like the CPRB only reviews complaints filed directly with them. If a complaint is
followed with ICPD, the CPRB doesn't see it. The ordinance (mumbled) amend
so that all complements regardless of where they are filed are referred to the
CPRB. The City must find a way to ensure the CPRB has investigated authority.
The City must commit to following through the complaints founded by CPRB,
and the City must do more to inform residents about their reporting options, and
then our other demand is also ICPD, um, devisement.... um, de ... excuse me,
divestment from military grade equipment. Um, we demand that the MRAP not
be used in Iowa City. Um, we ask John.... Johnson County to get rid of MRAP.
Um, we also (mumbled) an analysis of all ICPD equipment to determine what is
military grade and how to dispose of it. Um, order (mumbled) current ICPD and
City contracts with the federal government to determine whether ICPD will
receive any military grade equipment or training in the future. The Council
should amend or terminate contracts to ensure ICPD is not further militarized.
(loud beep in background) The Council should then hold a public meeting at
which it reports on the de .... demilitarization of IC ... of the ICPD and identifies
contracts which have been amended and... and/or.... and how are terminated. Um,
immediately prohibit the use of teargas, rubber bullets, pepper ba ... pepper balls,
and flash bangs, grenades against, uh, protesters and with that we'd also, um, we
really wanna know who it was that teargassed us on Wednesday so they can be
held accountable because we're being yanked left and right. The State, um, the
State Patrol is blaming it on ICPD and ICPD is blaming it on State Patrol, so we'd
really love the clarification of that. Um, and then also we'd like .... we demand,
um, to identify which law enforcement .... well, that's what I just said. Um, and
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then ... just so we clarify that. We really do need to know who did it, because no
one has been held accountable yet, and then also, urn, identify which law
enforcement officers discharged teargas on the evening of -of Wednesday, June
Yd. Um .... (both talking)
Salih: ...time is over. Thanks!
Teague: Thank you, Tina. And then I know that there's another Raneem on and we'll
follow that one by India... Indira, and um, and please state your first and last name
(noises in background)
Mohamed: Hello! Uh (loud beep in background) my name is Alaa Mohamed. Um, I will...
I'm also one of the organizers for IFR, Iowa Freedom Riders, and I am here to
talk about some of our demands as well. So I'll start with number four. Um, wait
(mumbled) number seven, uh, law enforcement may not enforce evictions. So
ICPD does not participate in routine evictions, but according to Interim Chief
Campbell, it is extremely rare that ICPD is involved in any evictions. Here is
how ICPD can support a moratorium on evictions. Uh, City Council (loud noises
in background) must contact the Johnson County Sheriff's Office with support for
discontinuing evictions throughout the financial recovery from the COVID
pandemic. They must also use City resour...resources to educate people about
their legal protections as renters. The next one is Iowa City funding for SPI
programs. The City Council must invest in the quantity of programs and access to
programs. They must also relocate money from policing to recreation/youth
programming. The curfew has already been lifted in Coralville, so that's done,
and then the last thing I have is restructure ICPD towards community policing. In
terms of ICPD, the City must issue a pledge similar to the issue.... similar to that
issued by the Minneapolis City Council, committing to a process of reimaging
public safety with goals of abolishing and defunding the police. We demand ... we
demand that the City immediately decriminalize individual drug possessions. We
are requesting that the City Attorney draft an ordinance decriminalizing drug
possession. Thank you.
Teague: Thank you, and .... Indira. Indira? Followed by Molly.
Sheumaker: Hello, can you hear me?
Teague: I can! Yes!
Sheumaker: (mumbled) anything?
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Teague: No.
Sheumaker: Okay! My name is Indira Sheumaker. Um, I am here in support of IFR's
demands. Uh, I just wanted to say I was kind of looking at the resolution you
guys drafted up. At first I didn't see, um, the kind of extended resolution. I just
saw the initial language, but um, looking at the resolution you guys drafted up, I
just wanna make sure that what City Council talks about today are the IFR's
specific demands. Um, I think it's clear that there's a large group that is behind
the demands that they have laid out, and so that there's large support from the, for
them, um, in the city. Um, I just wanna make sure that things aren't kind of like
it's not a different take on those demands, it's not a twist on those demands, um,
or like a half measure toward those demands. I wanna make sure that you guys
are discussing the specific demands with their specific language, um, and
supporting, um, those demands specifically. Uh, I am in support of all the
demands, um, and I also wanna acknowledge that, uh, this is a first step, that, uh,
I .... most in support of defending the police and I understand that that can be kind
of scary, but um, I think it was good to find out that we have the structure for it
here in Iowa City and I would also like to suggest that this is a plan to defund the
police and we're not like.... basically that I want you guys to be able to make a
commitment to having a plan to defund the police and have those things in place.
Um .... and I think that that would work out fine. I'm in complete support of that
and that's all I have to say!
Teague: Thank you! We'll have Molly followed by .... um, IFR, Iowa Freedom Rider.
Kelley: Hi there, thank you very much. I'm Professor Molly Kelley of the University of
Iowa and I just wanted to voice my full support for all the Freedom Rider's
demands and condemn the violence used against them at the hands of the City, in
addition to condemning the additional charges that the University of Iowa Public
Safety has brought against their leadership. Thank you.
Teague: Thank you! IFR, followed by Ma .... Madonna.
(female): Hi, this is Josie (can't hear). I'm also with IFR. Can you guys hear me?
Teague: Yes we can!
(female): All right, um, we need a strong statement from the Iowa City and ICPD in support
of protesters. We need you guys to pass tonight's resolution with an initial list of
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goals that respond to IFR's demands. (mumbled) commit to a plan to ensure
those goals are implemented and sustained in the City operations over the next
year, and commit to continuing the practice of racial justice and accountability as
progress (mumbled, talking in background) just give me a minute .... um .... um,
continue again. Commit to continuing a practice of racial justice and
accountability as progress is made and new concerns are identified. We expect all
City staff to communicate with the residents in a way that reflects the City
commitment to the Black Lives Matter movement. For example, in response to
residents complaining about graffiti and traffic. The full publication of the ICPD
budget and specifically on budget spending, among staff costs what percentage of
time was spent on which policing duties, how does the budget's allocation reflect
policing priorities. We demand that the ICPD provide more detailed explanations
of all the categories in the budget, especially what the expected public safety
outcomes are for each expense. What are the programs that these expenses
support. And that's all I have to say.
Teague: Thank you! We'll have Madonna White, followed by Angie Jordan.
White: Good evening, uh, this is Madonna. Um .... I am .... here to speak about the fact
that all Iowa City residents are passionate about what takes place in their city, on
both sides of the coin. If there are going to be any dramatic changes to
infrastructure or public domain, those need to go to public vote and cannot be
decided without the input from all Iowa City residents. I've lived here all my life.
I'm 65. My parents lived here, my grandparents lived here, and my great-
grandparents lived here. I don't warm see dramatic, horrible changes come to
Iowa City that aren't put to vote for all citizens. Thank you very much.
Teague: Thank you, Madonna. We will have Angie Jordan, and um, right before Angie
speaks, if there is, um, anyone on the line that will, um, allow space for other
people to jump on the line that may want to speak. I ask you kindly to, um, re...
um, allow that opportunity for someone else. All right! So Angie Jordan
somehow has disappeared.
Jordan: She's here!
Teague: Oh! Okay! There you are! (laughs) Great!
Jordan: Okay (both talking)
Salih: (mumbled) .... ust now.
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Jordan: Okay. Thank you for this opportunity to speak. As a person of color who was
born in Iowa City — I love this place! I love the opportunities, the many
resources, the diversity of people, the experiences that all exist here. That being
said, there's so much more growth Iowa City must realize and has to undertake.
Not just individual people or organizations or businesses, but also systems that
(mumbled) people of color and those in the minority in general. As a resident I
support and appreciate the Iowa Freedom Risers.... Riders using their protesting
abilities to demand the change and spotlight this change in our community. I
appreciate their strength, their passion, their organizational evolution to
collaborate with others so that the change is lasting. And, representative of many
underrepresented voices. (noises on mic) ...support all their changes they seek,
because it overlaps with so many of my changes that I seek and our changes that
we all seek. It's all of our change. Tonight I wanna ask the Council to not only
continue engaging and meeting these demands, but to build them so they actually
have teeth beyond their creation. I believe... an important way to do that is to
intentionally engage residents from parts of town that are underrepresented, like
the South District where I live. Our voices are not always heard and sometimes,
many times, we've been spoken for. We have been working very hard to ensure
that our voices are at the table and that's a very daunting task in general. I ask
you to spend time considering how to get an array of voices of underrepresented,
not just the loudest, um, not just the folks that have lived here the longest. I ask
that you involve us in creating (mumbled) directly affect our side of town. So
some real quick examples, um, with regards to police reform, how can residents,
say in the South District like me, be a lasting part of Iowa City and first responder
reform. Can we be part of the recruitment and the hiring process? Can we be part
of initial and ongoing training of the police, of the chief, of the community
engagement outreach officers? Can we weigh in, um, on .... on some of these
decisions, on the criteria of what's important, uh, when hiring? Um, how ...how
can we weigh in? In terms of increasing Iowa City staff diversity, how can
underrepresented populations like South District residents be considered, um, be
recruited? How and why are recruitment ways not already (garbled) diversity
demand, and finally as a resident and a person of color who wants her voice
heard, I also ask the Council to consider checking in with folks like me, and other
folks in South District areas, and families (garbled) parks or creating public art or
having festivals. Guys, we have so many ideas of our own and initial.... initiatives
that we are doing to reflect our neighborhood values and identity, we have those.
If we're asked, if we figure out a way how we be at the table too. You don't have
to come up with them. We will also do most of the work to make those things
happen. Um, I personally want the Council to understand how important and
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empowering it is that you listen and gave folks from underrepresented populations
like in the South District, engage us directly (talking in background) Thank you.
Teague: (garbled) Thank you. Um, we're gonna have Tyson, followed by TaLeisha. And,
Tyson, you're muted.
Wirth: Thank you. My name's Tyson Wirth. I was born in Iowa City, family's lived here
for .... for decades. Um, I've come back now and ... and just wanna really
encourage the Council to be bold and courageous, um, after, you know, these
public comments are done, because this is a moment of opportunity, um, that we
have. You know, I've never called in to a City Council meeting before. A lot of
people are doing things they've haven't done before, and that's obviously very tip
of the iceberg compared to what many are doing, but the point being, we elected
you as City Council Members, and this is our moment, our opportunity, to be bold
and courageous. So I would encourage you to think big, to think aggressively,
um, to be (mumbled) to really just also say thank you to the Freedom Riders for...
for showing the way, um, in a lot of different ways in their impressive
organization. So, that's all! Thank you.
Teague: Thank you, and I do see people are allowin' opportunities for other people to get
in the queue if they want to speak, so thank you for doin' that. Again, if you are,
um, if you would allow someone else to be in the queue and find another, uh,
media outlet to be a part of the meetin' after you've spoken, that'd... that'd be
appreciated. We're gonna have TeLeigha, followed by Eric.
Starks: Hi, can you hear me?
Teague: Yes!
Starks: Hi. I just wanna first off say my name is TeLeigha Starks (garbled) University of
Iowa I'll be attending grad school here actually in the fall. Um, I wanted to first
off give my utmost support also to the Iowa Freedom Riders (garbled) right along
side with them, first hand, one of their biggest supporters, um, helping get their
message across, um, along with our demands as a community. Um, one thing that
I ... I wasn't really going to comment or (both talking)
Salih: I can't hear anything!
Starks: Hello?
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Salih: Is it me only? (garbled) Or everyone?
(female): I can hear! I can hear!
Teague: I can hear.
Mims: I can hear.
Salih: I can hear now.
Starks: Okay. Can I continue?
Teague: Yes, please.
Starks: Okay, I wasn't going to, um, interject my personal opinion, but a comment made
by Madonna kind of sparked something that I think needs to be reiterated, uh,
before any decisions are made. Uh, the over, uh, arching goal of all of this is
growth as a community, period. Um, growth specifically within our black
community as we cannot be ignorant to the fact of what's going on, um, in our
community, in our world these days, uh, related to Black Lives Matter, and as
much as individual, um, people's lives — they're suffering in the sense of not
being able to have gracious memories of 60, 70 years, um, within this community.
There's some people that don't live past the age of 25, 30, um, due to things such
as police brutality, uh, condemning, uh.... uh.....uh, discrimination and such, um,
and so with that, that's why we need to focus, um, even more so to educate those
people who are, um, ignorant of recognizing that change that's needed and to
combat the ignorance and increase it with knowledge and making sure that when
we're looking at these demands we are understanding them in a knowledgeable
sense and not being, um, subjected to being closed minded to them. Uh.... I love
all of my people, uh, anyone who supports Iowa Freedom Riders, anyone that
supports the black community, um, in itself, and .... without it needing to be said I
will say it — all lives do not matter until black lives matter (garbled)
Teague: Thank you. Eric, followed by Veronica Tessler.
Harris: Okay, um, so my name is Eric Harris, and um, I'm going to echo some things that
like Angie Jordan said. I live in the South District as well and the South District
is the community that's in Iowa City that has the most people of color, and it
kinda feels like that ... like this community, um, is kinda not thought about or it's
kinda forgotten. Um, as far as the item ... as .... as far as the Iowa, uh, the I ... IRF
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(laughs) excuse me, um, the I ... the Iowa Freedom Riders, um, I support what they
are doin'. I don't support, um, some of the tactics that they are doin' with loud
speakers and things like that. I'm .... I'm a person of color so I ... I know it's not
just about George Floyd. It's been 400 years of things that has been goin' on.
Um, I wish that our community, you know, which is the South District, could get
more like more recognition, more resources, more money to help in our
neighborhood, and .... the last thing I will say is that like I hope people they
protest, they're protestin' for the right reason and not just to be outside vandalisin'
things because me bein' an African American, I'm .... I'm angry too about the
injustices and things like that and I don't want it to turn into, you know,
vandalisin' and tearin' up things and then the whole cause just gets put under the
rug because people are doin' things that they shouldn't be doin'. Thank you.
Teague: Thank you, Eric. Uh, Veronica Tessler, follow... followed by Leslie Carpenter.
Tessler: Okay, hi, um, my name is Veronica Tessler. I'm a small business owner, uh,
downtown and I want to express my support, um, of the Iowa Freedom Riders
demands and I urge City Council to meet those demands quickly. Um, our
community would be safer and our taxpayer dollars, uh, we would all benefit
from defunding the police and we can all talk about what defunding looks like,
but you know when I think about recently we got our mural downtown, uh, tagged
by protesters, this, uh, this did not upset me. Um, I think what upsets, uh, and
angers me is the kind of debauchery that my staff of mostly young women have to
put up with by intoxicated bar -goers, um, most weekend nights during the
academic year. That is upsetting to me. Um, and it is, uh, a safety concern, um,
for me and for my staff. Uh, I'd like to also express my support for the creative
solutions that the Iowa City Downtown District has put together in terms of, um,
solutions for, urn, the kinds of debauchery where at least the .... the kinds of work
that they're doing. I think as, uh, Tyson earlier said, I wanna echo what he said
about being bold and courageous. Um, now is the time to come up with these
solutions that will benefit all of us, um, everybody in this town that we all know,
uh, and we all love, and so I really just urge, uh, the Council to, um, to meet the
demands of the .... of the Iowa Freedom Riders and also start thinking about what
defunding the police looks like in terms of how to enhance the safety of
everybody and have a more appropriate response, uh, rather than sending law
enforcement. Thank you.
Teague: Thank you. Leslie followed by Brittany.
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Carpenter:
Teague:
Means:
Teague:
Thank you. This is Leslie Carpenter. Thank you for this opportunity to speak.
Um, I would like to thank the City Council for letting multiple people have an
opportunity to speak to these issues. I support many of the, um, demands. Um,
while I've been a social advocate for many years, I've never felt comfortable with
making a demand, but clearly, um, we're seeing that this seems to be an effective
means. Um, when it comes to looking at setting up some of the other, uh, social
supports, especially along the lines of mental illness treatment and mental illness,
um, services, um, I would very much, like Angie Jordan, appreciate a chance to
have a voice in that, um, and to lend my help, um, and guidance, um,and I believe
that we have many other people in our community that would be happy to help.
Thank you for this opportunity.
Thank you! Brittany followed by Aiden.
Hello, can you hear me?
Yes we can!
Means: Hi, my name is Brittany Means. Um, I've been an instructor and a student at the
University of Iowa and I've lived here for the past few years. I just wanted to put
in my support of the Iowa Freedom Riders. Um .... I, when I came to Iowa City
for the first time I remember I was touring the campus and I looked out and saw at
the top of the building someone had tagged BLM and it was the first indication
that I felt that I, a person of color, would be comfortable here, knowing there was
a community of people who would support me. Um, and since then, um, being an
instructor and being a student, my own students, I have seen them struggle and be
underserved, and I myself and my peers here have been struggling (laughs) and
have been underserved, and I think what Iowa Freedom Riders is doing is
incredibly crucial to the legacy Iowa City wants to have as an arts community and
as a place where things can change. Um, and I think that supporting them is a
signal Iowa City, uh, can put out that they care about black lives, and about the
students of color, who they tout, um, as ... the presentation in their brochures, and
this is a way to say we actually support you and we don't just want you on the
glossy side to show that we are ... a diverse community. Um, thank you.
Teague: Thank you, Brittany. Aiden followed by Alexander.
Bettine: Hello. Um, my name is Aiden Bettine. I'm a graduate student in the history
department at the University of Iowa. Um, and I'm also a resident in the
Longfellow neighborhood. Um, I wanna first, uh, provide my support, um, for all
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of the Iowa Freedom Riders' demands, um, to be addressed by City Council. Um,
and I also want to voice extended support as a transgender community member in
Iowa City, recognizing that the defunding and disbanding of the police, um, is not
strictly limited to benefiting the black community, although there is a clear
historic necessity and legacy of dismantling the police, just, uh, because of the
history of race in America. Um, but I wanna acknowledge that, uh, trans women
of color in particular, so this affects both the black and trans communities, um, at
their intersection, are 3.7 times more likely to experience violence, um, when
interacting with the police. And so I want to acknowledge that to create a safer
community in Iowa City, um, not only for the black community but also for the
trans community, and where, um, trans folks in communities of color intersect,
um, is the .... the safest and best way forward, um, so I certainly wanna voice that
intersectional support for, uh, defunding and disbanding the police, which I think
is the most urgent item on the IFR, um, demands. Thank you.
Teague: Thank you. We have about 15 minutes left of community comment, and we're
gonna ask that you keep your comments three minutes or less. Uh, there's about
seven .... uh, eight hands raised, so if people can take even two minutes and allow
someone else time. Thank you! We're gonna have Alexander, followed by, uh,
Celsiana.
Calvillo: Hi, can you hear me?
Teague: Yes!
Calvillo: Uh, I just wanted to point out that (mumbled) almost done and we've had over
majority of people here for the IFR. I'm (mumbled) and I just want to point that
out to the committee that, um, it seems like the community's with us because if
they were not, they'd be here expressing their opinions about it. Um, and I just
wanted to point that out because, you know, I don't think there's really any, uh,
people who .... there's more than .... I'm sorry (laughs) There was a majority, um
(laughs) majority of people, um, with us for this and that shows a lot of the
community is, uh, you know, has our backs. I just wanna point that out to you
guys.
Teague: Thank you, Alexander. And we're gonna go to, uh, Cele ... um, Celsiana, followed
by Drew.
Warwick: Hello, can you hear me?
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Teague: Yes we can!
Warwick: Uh, thank you. Uh, my name is Celsiana Warwick. I'm a professor at the
University of Iowa and I wanna express my full support for the IFR's list of
demands. Um, defunding the police and allocating more resources for mental
healthcare, um, and other services that would benefit the community is the way to
make us all safer. Thank you.
Teague: Thank you! Drew, followed by Kelcey.
Cameron: Hello.
Teague: Hello!
Cameron: Hello there. Uh, thank you for taking my call, Members of the Iowa City
Council. My questions are pertaining to the June 3`d, 2020, incident with the Iowa
City Police and other local police departments deployment of weapons known
commonly as and including flash bangs, tear gas (mumbled) pepper spray, as well
as the nature of the force posture and related personal body armor, helmets, hand-
held weapons (mumbled) equipment for the use of civil unrest and uprisings that
occurred during peaceable assembly and rightful exercising the constitutionally
protected and articulated amendments and protections under the rule of law. Who
was the leadership on staff that evening that made the call to deploy those
weapons? What was the police report from that evening (garbled) public dialogue
session to break down the (garbled) that evening? What weapons systems
(garbled) within the police department that we saw (mumbled) unleashed on
(mumbled) local community members by the police departments on June Yd in
Iowa City? Does the City of Iowa City or the County of Johnson County
knowingly participate in the federal distribution of military equipment, described
in the 1033 program? If so, for how long, and is there an accounting of materials
and equipment (mumbled) items that are available? Would the City Council
address banning the City from participating in such activities, including the
banning of chemical weapons in Iowa City, as has the City of Seattle, Washington.
Seattle has passed ordinances both to ban weapons like the ones used here in Iowa
City on June P. The language addresses such conditions as they would prohibit
the further use of those crowd control devices and any other that meets the
definition of projectile, chemical irritant, acoustic weapon, directed energy
weapon, water cannon, disorientation device, or ultra -sonic cannon. It would also
prohibit any device that is designed to be used on multiple individuals or crowd
control and has potential to cause pain or other discomfort. Source to the
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legislation is very easily available, including prohibiting the use of choke holds by
officers. Thank you for consideration of these important matters concerning
police violence (mumbled) escalation of force, and the use of military equipment
against largely young group of community members and students, exercising the
right of people to peaceably assemble and petition the government for a redress of
grievances, as described in the Constitution of the United States of America.
Thank you. My name is Drew Cameron and I am a resident of Iowa City.
Teague: Thank you. Kelcey followed by Zachary.
Patrick -Ferree: Hello! This is Kelcey Patrick -Ferree. I'm a resident of the South District also,
and I just wanted to reiterate that, um, I agree with Angie and Eric. It seems like
our voices get, uh, ignored a lot when the City is making decisions about things
that affect our area. I also want to emphasize, um, of the IFR demands, I think the
most urgent are the, um, demand to demilitarize, to get rid of some of that
equipment. Um, we have been .... for a very long time (sighs) asking for better
community policing practices and we've been very frustrated with how slowly
that's gone and .... how unresponsive the department often is to those requests.
And I also ... want to say that the other one that I find very urgent that we need to
address while other measures are being put in place is civilian oversight of the
Police Department. We have a, uh, Community Police Review Board but it
doesn't have any teeth. So we really need to make revisions to that. Thank you.
Teague: Thank you! Zachary followed by Susannah.
Slocum: Uh, hello, can you guys hear me?
Teague: Yes!
Slocum: Awesome. All right, my name is Zachary Slocum. I'm a member of the Iowa
City community. I wanna first start off by saying I support all the demands
brought forward by the Iowa Freedom Riders and protesters alike. Uh, it's great
to see that some of the demands have been met, but they are not being met at the
pace at which we are asking them to be done and ... and done so. Uh.... as Mayor,
you have the power to do more than you are letting on. We told you this when we
were outside your house. We will continue to march to your homes and disturb
you and your neighbors until the demands that we are asking for are being met.
We are within our rights to do so. We ... as the people have the right to dictate how
the government functions and it should function for us and on our behalf. I
implore everybody that is listening to please reach out to representatives.
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Although most of them, some of them, are done in November, it is important to
put the bug in their ear now. That way when their predecessors come in or the
people that follow them they understand what they're getting into, what they
should be voting for, what they should be voting on. Um, I am creating a website
called `community.' I am implore everybody in the Iowa City community to try
to get involved on this website once I have it published. It will provide you with
all the legislative members and their contacts and how to contact them with the
messages that we all have, uh, compiled together. Uh, again, I appreciate you
guys listening to me and take care, be safe. I love you all. Thank you.
Teague: Thank you! We have eight minutes left, and if you've already spoken, just know
that we, uh, ask that, uh, anyone that hasn't spoken go forward. Uh, Susannah.
Middaugh: Yeah, I would, um, my name's Susannah and I live ... we own a house over on
Douglas Street. Um .... yeah, I would really like to see, um, Iowa City oppose the
word `most' that was in the, uh, legislation that Governor Reynolds signed so
quickly on Friday. I think she really saw the huge loopholes and, um, there is...
there are not any good, uh, choke holds or strang.... or any way of strangling
someone, and that needs to be taken right out of there. I just .... it's a different
(laughs) no more waitin' around! People ... of color do not need to be dying like
this. Um, my other thoughts.... sorry for the anger there, um.....uh, is again as I
mentioned in the other meeting about, um, the monies that, uh, have been given to
our City for the coronavirus, if um .... if protesters and people that wanna go out
and have conversation with them could have masks and those shields as well. I
think more people over 65 would come out and be a part of. ... getting that.....that
`most' taken out of there, and then people can, um, start continuing to learn and
understand, but people need to stop dying first. So .... thanks (laughs)
Teague: Thank you. Eric, followed by Amanda.
Harris: Um, so I'm gonna touch on two things. Um ... and I'm gonna do it quickly cause
you said three minutes. So ... the (mumbled) the ... the Iowa Freedom Riders thing,
you know, some of the things that they askin' for, um, I respect things they askin'
for. You know, um, it's definitely, you know, it's a situation that needs to be, you
know, talked about, but I'm going to spend the rest of my time to talk about bein'
a black man in America. You know, I've been a black man .... I'm 40 years old.
I've been a black man in America and I've dealt with so much dis....
discrimination and like racism, and it's really sad to me that I have to go and talk
to my kids, you know, who are all of color. They are Latino and black, and you
know, I have kids that are white and black, you know, and all type of stuff, but I
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think that somethin' needs to happen, you know, that I don't have to have a talk
with my kids about how to be safe around law enforcement. You know, don't put
your hands in your pocket, you know, um, make sure you're listenin' and obey.
It's sad that I have to have conversations like that, so if anybody wants to, you
know, have a discussion about that, you know, I sent my information. We can
have a discussion about that, but it's really sad that I have to have a discussion
with my kids, you know, just to make sure that they don't get killed or don't get
shot or don't have a violent or a bad encounter with law enforcement. So thank
you.
Teague: Thank you. Amanda followed by Megan.
Lewis: Can you hear me okay?
Teague: Yes!
Lewis: Excellent! Good evening, everyone. Thank you so much. My name is Amanda
Lewis. I am a certified school psychologist and doctoral student in educational
policy and leadership studies here at the University of Iowa. First and foremost, I
would like to express my full support for the demands put forth by the IFR. Um, I
just wanted to, um, really emphasize how important this work is. Um .... I also
want to point out that we have incredibly rich resources here at the University of
Iowa, as we move forward in meeting these demands. Um, to tap into fleshing
out plans, fleshing out, um .... actionability, um, we've got some really brilliant
people here that we can tap into to really making, uh, making these... potentially
even, uh.... things to look to for ...for the rest of the community, surrounding
communities, you know, Iowa likes to think of itself as, uh, an overlooked, uh,
template potentially for the country. This is another opportunity. We can .... we
can lead here. Um, as someone who specializes in policy, I recognize that these
demands, um, these changes are nested in changes that will have to happen at
other levels. But these changes are ones that we in Iowa City, and you as Iowa
City leaders, can lead and we should lead. And are being called on to lead, and do
we really want to sit on our tails when .... every single person here at this meeting,
this whole time, has been saying `yes, let's lead!' Are we really going to sit here
and say `no.' So I encourage you to pick up that banner and listen to the people
here tonight, and take on that challenge and be bold and to lead. Thank you.
Teague: Thank you. We are down to our last three minutes, and so we will have
(mumbled) end with Megan Alter.
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Alter: Hi there, t hank you. I will try to be brief. Um, so much of what has been said,
I'm here merely to kind of wrap up and be a bookend on; however, I do wanna
particularly emphasize as so many of my neighbors in the South District have
already said, um, we agree with the sense of urgency. Um, in fact this area of
town has felt racial injustice and discrimination and flat-out racism, um, for years,
and through a lot of our own efforts have made this a really fantastic
neighborhood, fantastic community, of which we are incredibly proud, and so as
you move forward, um, again, like Eric and Kelcey and Angie have said so
eloquently, we're here to help. We want to be at the table. We want to know how
we can help, but also to be able to use the experiences, insights, and knowledge,
um, and tragic expertise, um, for many of the South District residents who are
here. Use us in a way so that we can help form better solutions, ones that people
will feel trust in. Um .... I guess really that's my point is to reiterate and to say
yes, what.... what.... people before have said, there's a sense of urgency as you
know, as well as anyone in this room right now .... and on the line, but in particular
as you move forward there's gonna be a lot of hard work in so many areas and so
tap into the resources that you have here, and in particular the South District. It is
a rich resource and people are eager for change, and we are eager to help, and we
want to help build and create, and carry on momentum that has been started,
grindingly slow, because so often it's only been on the shoulders of black people
who've had to do it in pockets in the community. Use all that expertise so that we
can all (mumbled) better so that actually so much of what is systemically racist
can be undone and made better, and sorry, undone and made in a way that can
move us all forward better. Thank you!
Teague: Thank you, Megan, and thanks to everybody that is in the public.... that, um, had
the opportunity to share with Council, and a special thanks to all those that are,
um, with their hand raised, thank you for allowin' Council to take this, uh, time to
really dive into this, uh, conversation that we so desperately need, uh, time to dive
into. So thanks for all of you for your hand raised. Um, unfortunately we will not
be able to hear from you, um, right now at this time. All right, so we are.... still
on Item #2, and .... there was a .... a late handout with the resolution, um, I'm
gonna ask .... (coughs) Sorry! I think we're gonna start maybe with the
resolution, unless there're some Councilors that want to make some general
comments. Hearing none I'm going to start with the resolution. I'm gonna ask
that they be posted. I also, uh, have been informed that the resolutions that were
posted in the late handout may not have been the final version that is presented on
the screen right now. Urn .... (both talking, garbled)
Fruehling: I apologize for that.
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Teague: Yes. Um, we are .... we have certainly been very attentive to, um, listening to all
of the demands from IFR, as well as .... as well as listening to our community
members. Many have reached out (mumbled) various ways through ... uh, email,
by phone, um, in person meetings, and so what we thought we would do and um,
is try to frame this up, um, in a way that we can start the conversations, um, on...
on this topic tonight, which is so desperately and past due. So I'm gonna go
through and I'm gonna read at least the resolution and once we get to the number
items, we'll stop and kinda go through each one of them individually, and I'm
gonna encourage our Councilors that ... um, if there's one of these items that you
want to ... um, express your, um ... thoughts on that you ... jump right out there right
away and talk about them. Um, there are some more things that, um, the Iowa
Freedom Riders has .... has mentioned that weren't in their listed demands. When
we had our last Council meeting last Tuesday, uh, but there was some spoken
things that they mentioned to us even last Tuesday, such as, urn .... uh, truth and
reconciliation commission, festival of black culture, um, or festival related....
Similar to the Jazz, um, and then renamin' of a park, and so, um, we have, um,
you know, tried to incorporated that in here, some of those things that were
vocalized to us. I've had, uh, a few meetings with, um, IFR and some of the
things throughout those meetings, uh, we tried to put here, and so, um, there's
new things, maybe a few new things tonight, um, that I've heard mentioned by
either IFR or even people within our community, and so this is an opportunity for
Council, uh, to kinda .... this is just a template that we're gonna go through, and
we're gonna have open dialogue, publicly, about our thoughts on these items and
we can add, take away, or start over from scratch. So .... um, I did wanna give a
special thank you to Councilor Bergus. Uh, she was very influential and very
helpful, uh, to Mayor Pro Tem and I, uh, at helpin' us frame, uh, the conversation
for tonight. Um .... there's a lot in, you know, there was a lot to undertake. Uh,
we also had some technical assistance from our staff, so thanks to, uh, Geoff and
Eleanor for kinda helpin' us with some of that, uh, language as well. So I'm
gonna start with the resolution, um, and this .... the resolution of initial Council
commitments addressing the Black Lives Matter movement and systemic racism
in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police and calls
for action from protesters and residents. Whereas protests have erupted across the
country, and in Iowa City, in response to the murder of George Floyd by
Minneapolis police, and whereas the City of Iowa City strongly supports the
fundamental constitutional rights to free expression and assembly, as carried out
in peaceful protests. And whereas protesters and residents are demandin' that the
City and the City Council take action to address the Black Lives Matter
movement and systemic racism. And whereas systemic racism is deeply
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embedded in the fabric of our country and our city such that an extended and
intense effort will be required, and whereas the City Council is committed to that
effort, and it is in the best interest of the City of Iowa City and its residents, and
whereas the City Council desires to set forth its initial commitments to the Black
Lives Matter movement. Now therefore be it resolved by the City Council of the
City of Iowa City, Iowa, that the City Council commits to an extended and intense
efforts to address the Black Lives Matter movement and systemic racism,
including bo ... including but not limited to the following, and so we're gonna go
through each of these and just remember that this is a template. We can add, take
away, or start over from scratch. So .... all right, number one .... um, so .... by
December 15, 2020, develop a plan to restructure the Iowa City Police
Department towards community policing, including but not limited to reduction
of the public's reliance on police in non-violent situations, with use of unarmed
professionals and consideration of community policing initiatives in our cities. So
we will start with that one, and .... urn .... this, um, some of the language that was
mentioned tonight .... by .... um, Iowa Freedom Riders and even in their, um, their
list of demands, they talked about restructuring of, urn .... of the Iowa City Po....
Police Department. Um, I've even heard, you know, reimaging, um, what that
looks like within our community and so .... this item here maybe I'll ask, um,
Councilor Bergus to kind of walk us through, um, this item here. There are other
items that will address policing, uh, throughout this. There .... this is a 15, um,
we'll say item, uh, resolution.
Bergus: Thank you, Mayor. Um, very briefly in the context of all the comments that...
that we've received, this item is intended to reflect the call from our community
to defund the Iowa City Police Department. I think we've all looked at other city
models, hopefully had the chance to read and listen and talk to so many members
of our community, and also look at what has been adopted or proposed in other
places, as well, and what we're trying to hit on here is to emphasize that the ... the
use of, um, police who .... who appear with force, those who are armed, we've
identified as a significant impediment to, um, to the .... the feeling of safety and
trust in, um, whatever the City model is for public safety. So, you know, we
won't abandon the core need for a city government, for a local government, to
make its residents safe, but what is occurring now and the history that the Iowa
Freedom Riders and others have helped us to understand, um, shows that ... that
having, um, police ... just even on the scene of many, many, many types of calls,
um, is not necessarily setting individuals up for a, um, peaceful and successful
deescalation of whatever the call may be. So this is ... making sure that we look at
other communities and also talking about building a infrastructure of those who
could respond to calls. Um, in .... in recent history of the City Council, we have
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had information from the, um, Fire Department about how dispatch has changed,
even recently, so that fire trucks don't have to, you know, go to every, um, scene,
and so I think the idea of having, um, those in place who wouldn't be traditional
police officers, but who could respond to calls is, um, certainly something that
other communities are adopting and that .... that's the intent of that part of...this
aspect of the resolution.
Teague: Great!
Salih: I just wanna say something else here. Uh, first thank you, Councilor Laura, for
putting this together, but you know my initial reaction to this .... is really not what
the protesters request. We need like stronger word than this. I think exactly what
they said is `restructure Iowa City Police Department toward community policing
(unable to understand) similar to that issued by the Minneapolis City Council, uh,
committing to pro ... to a process of reimaging public safety with goal of abolishing
and defunding the police. I ... I think even if we wanna go with this language that
we have now, we just instead of doing it like .... in consideration of community
policing initiative in other city. We can just refer to like ... uh, something like
model similar to the one in Minneapolis. We don't have to have like this (unable
to understand) like this. Uh, I guess we need at least to put, uh, like similar to the
Minneapolis model, and I .... I understand, this is big change. I understand this
is ... this is need like a lot of planning. That's why even if we can extend the time.
We don't have to say by December 15. Uh, maybe we extend the time a little bit
more so we can.... change this. Uh, I just really have strong feeling that this is not
strong, you know, commitment. But we need to be like really bold on this and
saying that (unable to understand) city, like Minneapolis or, you know, and extend
the time ... that what I want to add.
Weiner: So I, um.....I like the idea of looking at other cities. I really like the idea of
looking at other cities that already have considerable experience and success with
alternative methods, um, places like Eugene, Oregon; um, and Denver, and there
are some other cities that are implementing things. One of the things that ... that's
easy to forget is that there are a lot of duties that have .... that have ended up with
police that were never intended to be there to begin with. Police were never
supposed to be dealing with people with mental health issues. They were never
supposed to be dealing with the homeless. They were never supposed to be, um,
dealing with a whole variety of things. The City here has made real progress
when it comes to, um, people who are experiencing homelessness. Um, not just
with Shelter House but with Cross Park Place permanent supportive housing and
another place.... another place that's now, a second place that's now been
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approved to be built. The, um ... and those I believe the police have been very
supportive, because they don't want to be in that business. I also don't think it's
appropriate even with, um, with the training that we had for police to be out
dealing with a whole variety of issues because they're not mental health
professionals. In some of these other cities we ... they have essentially, we already
have a mobile crisis team but what they .... what they've done is turn mobile crisis
teams in ... into a .... a really active part of public safety. So that when dispatch
goes out, when it looks like there's a .... there's a mental health issue or an
overdose issue, uh, or an issue with someone who is experiencing homelessness,
they deploy this mobile crisis team that consists of a mental health professional
and a medic, unarmed, ununiformed. Um, that's.... that's the sort of, at least for a
chunk of policing. I'm not even gonna start ... talk about traffic stops yet. That's...
that's a model that I would really like to see really closely researched.
Taylor: This is Pauline. Uh, I understand what, uh, Councilor Salih is talking about. Uh,
as far as the wording on this, but I think part of restructuring would be maybe
looking at the funding, uh, whether.... whether you go to the extreme of total
defunding, but one of the speakers, I was trying to search through my notes.
I'm ... I apologize. I don't remember which one it was, did touch on the police
budget, and uh, it did list in our notes what pages they're on and we got the brief
listing of what they spend, uh, but I think that speaker talked about accountability
for some of those items. Some of `em are a little vague. There were a lot of
technical support kinds of things, uh, we should perhaps .... part of this whole
issue would be, uh, requesting some accountability and explanation for those
budget items.
Thomas: Uh, this is John and, um .... yeah, I ... I think it's important to remember, and I'm
trying to focus in this way as well, that the, uh.... list, this list here is a, um, initial
response. It's not .... I don't view it as the .... the end of our response, but kind of
the ... the initial part, and I ... I would agree with Maz that, um, you know, putting
the December 15' date on this, uh, keep.... keeping in mind that Minneapolis is
allowing itself a year, um .... but I would expect that .... if. ... if we're going to
achieve what I think we're expecting to achieve with this particular item, it may
take longer. Um .... so in terms of the language, develop a preliminary plan is
really how I would almost more see it. I'm .... I'm concerned, I mean .... that, what
are we going to have by mid-December? Um ... but in any event, this .... this is, I
think for me, the most important of the items, um .... and as I said, I think I'm okay
with it insofar as it's really kind of an initial commitment, but this is the one that I
think is going to be the most complex in terms of the work involved. Um, another
thing I would mention is Minneapolis in their resolution include language of
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crating a work group ... to help guide the .... the development of that plan. So that's
just something to keep in mind, uh, as we move forward, how are we going to
make these decisions regarding restructuring the police department? Uh, who,
and who's going to be involved in making that decision? So ... so these are just
some of my concerns, uh, again I think as a .... you know, a beginning to this, uh,
this whole effort, uh, I'm okay with the language, but I think we need to be
mindful of the ... the challenge we face with this particular one. (several taking,
garbled)
Mims: I would agree with John, um, I think.... December 15th, um, will come a lot faster
than we expect, and especially when we do not have a permanent police chief in
place, um, and that ... I don't know exactly when that is going to happen and so
adding that word in there to develop a preliminary plan,um, I think is a great idea,
John. I think one, I think we do wanna date from the standpoint that I think it's
important to show the Iowa Freedom Riders that this isn't something that's ... that,
you know, we're gonna kinda push off and extend off to the next two or three
years. We'll still be working on it then, but we really are committed to trying to
make a certain amount of progress, um, sooner rather than later, but as you've
said, John, to call it a preliminary plan, um, and I would agree there's.... there's
lots of, um, details and minutiae to get into that we don't.....1 don't believe that
we warm start trying to get into tonight. We've got 15 of these and we'll have to
work through those details later, but to say that, you know, we're going to develop
a preliminary plan by December 15th, and I .... I totally agree with your comments,
Janice, too, the fact that we have police officers doing a lot of things, um, that
they probably didn't expect to do when they came into the force. We need to, as
part of this, look at broader use of social workers, mobile crisis, etc., um, to
partner with the police or to work in place of the police in certain circumstances,
but again, those are the details that we can work through as we start developing
that preliminary plan, and I would agree also with what John said, you know,
figuring out who's at the table, making sure we have a very diverse group of
people to help start developing that plan.
Teague: So, um, if I can jump in, urn .... so the, I'm lookin' at the Iowa Freedom Riders',
um, their own line, urn .... wording, and it said, `A plan to restructure IC ... Iowa
City Police Department towards community policing, similar.... similarly what is
happening in Minneapolis, urn .... uh, Caden, New Jersey, and Los Angeles,
California,' and so I'm not exactly sure if those other ...if. ... if those other two
cities that were just mentioned, if they were just .... if they're really identical to the
one in Minneapolis. I think what, um, what we're doin' is .... is, um, makin' that
plan to restructure the City of Iowa City department. U, somethin' that was
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mentioned tonight, uh, which I firmly believe that we need to dig into is the .... the
police budget, um, figure out what the .... you know, policin' priorities are, um,
look at what are the programs that we're spendin' the money on with .... within our
police department. Um, you know, we saw what was dedicated to police staff, um,
staff salaries, but we need to know like what of that is for domestic violence, what
of...what of that is for, you know, dedicated to traffic stops, or...um, policing, uh,
you know, drug type items. I think once we dive into all of the aspects of some of
the things that were mentioned, which I think are great, and I think we can even
go in, um, a little deeper into some of the .... the items, even beyond what has been
written, um, by the Iowa Freedom Riders, but.... December 15°i I believe is, um,
whether we use the plan preliminary or not, I think that's a good date for a plan to
really have started the conversation about the restructurin' of our police
department. Course community policin', I think we're all aware that what we're
going to be doin' in major. Um, we're able to reset, um, deadlines or...or aspects
of deadlines, dependin' on what we see, um, so there could be like step one of
whatever is going to be implemented by, you know, December 151 where there's
still other aspects that we might be, um, continuing to ... um, either reimagine, um,
you know, how the police force will work. Maybe there's other agencies now that
we need to start workin' with when it comes to ... when I hear the mental health
and how, urn .... in the... comparison of how the fire department now don't go to
every call, urn .... you know, and mental health, when there's a call, um, sometimes
the .... the police may be called to respond to that, whereas there could be other
ways for social workers or, um, other services to respond to those type calls. Um,
I think.... there's a lot of opportunity within what we can do, and I still feel that
this is the language that I see here, from the Iowa Freedom Riders, to restructure
Iowa City police. Um, so I do believe that we will be lookin' at throughout this
entire process, um, the policin' initiatives. The other thing that I might add is
there are some more items related to the police throughout here, and so maybe as
we go along we could come back, um, and either add to this or add somewhere
else, because like the police budget, um, we're gonna .... I already know that I
wanna add to, um, number nine, um, for the police budget, just to get some more
specifics in there.
Salih: Can I ask you (garbled)
Teague: Yes!
Salih: You know, I just believe, uh, you know, this is really important item. Maybe this
is, uh, important one on all the demand. And I understand that it need a lot of
(garbled) a lot of, you know, thought. Uh, that's why I just believe we cannot
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throw this with all the item together. If there is anyway we can just pull this out
of, you know, make it like a separate item, uh, that we can vote for. Because I
really.... don't thinks we can just like make it like that (mumbled) the whole...
with the rest of them, because this is the one that we gonna spend more time on it.
Teague: I think as, uh, what .... what we might .... was someone makin' a comment? I think
what we might do is move beyond this item and then come back at the end. If
that's agreeable to everybody.
Salih: Okay!
Teague: All right! So we'll go with number two, um, allocate.... City funds in the amount
with .... which this is, um, pretty .... pretty progressive or, uh, a .... a big
commitment, but allocate City funds in the amount of $1 million durin' the
current fiscal year, expirin' July 1, 2020, for efforts to promote racial equity and
social justice, includin' expansion of the special populations involvement
program, creation of a new affordable housing plan, support of the ... to be
determined efforts of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and hold a Council
session on or before August 1, 2020, to address specific allocations.
Salih: You know I really like this. No objection at all. Only I just would like to add
what the .... the IFR talked about, and what I really also wanna advocate for is
adding more like affordable housing in the core neighborhood, like the
downtown. Uh, like I wanna add that somehow.
Teague: Yeah, I think, um, now there is also, as I was flippin' through the page here, there
is also mention of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. On number five I was
just seein', uh, what was in there, but uh, maybe here is where, um, we can add
language to create..... creation of a new affordable housing plan. We can certainly
add language if that's what, urn .... you know, to include core neighborhood. I
don't know what others thinks.
Mims: This is Susan. My concern about specifically addressing the core neighborhood is
that is the most expensive place, um, for providing affordable housing, because
land costs are the highest. So we have to, I guess we have to make a balance in
terms of the number of units we would like to support and provide, um, versus
location, and so while we've always worked to try and do these around the
community, um, I .... I think we, we just have Del Ray is opening up and I forget,
that's 30 ... plus units maybe they're getting ready to open up here pretty shortly. It
was in Geoff's memo just the other day. So it....it is not, it is absolutely not that I
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am against doing it in the core neighborhood, but I think to call it out that strongly
maybe limits us, when we want to have plenty of flexibility to make sure that we
are able to help the most people, um, and that may be doing some downtown,
but .... but across the neighborhood to get the most bang for our buck, so to speak,
where things are not as expensive.
Teague: I guess my comment, um, on this matter is .... the .... the new affordable housing
plan ... um, those cover, they'll take up every community within .... or every
neighborhood within our community and look at those opportunities, um ... you
know, within the core neighborhood, within .... the city, and so as far as I think the
creation of a new affordable housing plan, they're gonna have a lot more language
or they're.... they're gonna look at the grandiose options within our community.
Sol...I feel like this does capsulate.... cap .... captulate that, um, it's not limiting,
um, and it also, you know, even with the affordable housing plan, I see
partnerships, uh, such as the ones that were introduced by, urn .... um, I'm blankin'
on .... um, Habitat for Humanities, um, you know, we have that ... that presentation.
So the plan won't be limiting in my .... I think a plan is a plan. You know, it'll be
created. So I feel that it is, um, I ... I feel that in the core neighborhoods is, um,
there, and maybe we either .... you know, start lookin' at and takin' note of some of
the assignments, you know, some of the specific allocations that we want to, um,
ensure that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission address. Maybe that's when
we start taking items that we want them to address, and that definitely would be
one of those items.
Salih: Just to Council Mims' point about the core neighborhood is expensive downtown.
That's exactly why we want affordable housing there. Because this area, the core
neighborhood is not only for people that have money. It's not only for business
people. It's supposed to be for everyone. That's why we want to have more
affordable housing there so the people who cannot afford the expensive part of it
they can (unable to understand) like, uh, you know, affordable housing. We don't
want to segregate or isolate our, you know, low-income people by like income.
That's why we (mumbled) more in .... in the middle of those expensive houses
(garbled) you know, in downtown. We need more affordable one as well.
Taylor: I .... I appreciate the comments that have been made about, um, the downtown and
the core neighborhoods, but that was my question, uh, Mazahir, was, you know,
who's the audience here. I keep thinking in the back of my mind the families and
be a family focus, but when I think of a .... of a neighborhood for them, I'm
thinking of proximity to grocery stores and schools, and I think that's where we
need to focus. We've seen so many P&Z items lately with these, uh... uh,
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developments on the outskirts of town and these homes that are 300, $400,000 out
there or even near the schools they're expensive. I think we need to look at that
and encourage the developers, uh, to do more of. ... of the affordable type units.
Uh, you know, not many families will want to live in the downtown area. They
want to live near stores and ... and schools!
Teague: I have a question (talking in background)
Salih: ....okay!
Teague: I....I.....I have a question. Is Council .... um, what are Council's feelins' on new
affordable housing plan? Cause we just had that discussion earlier.
Taylor: Right, that goes along with .... with the strategic plan we just made, the same.
similar wording, so it....it would be good to be consistent.
Teague: Yeah, well .... and so I think we are in agreement with the plan, and sorry, I see
you, Councilor Weiner. I just wanted to, uh, maybe help us along here. Since
we're in agreement.... since we're in agreement with the new affordable housing
plan, I think when.... when that starts, we'll be able to insert whatever, urn .... ideas
and processes, um, that we want them to consider. So .... if (both talking)
Salih: You know .... we always delay stuff. If we really passionate about this, be bold,
guys, and just say it. We need more .... and to Pauline point about there is no
grocery. Do you know how many mobile home park that they don't have any
grocery, and they have to take a bus to go somewhere? To get that? Downtown is
way closer and many, many mobile homes that they don't have anything by them.
You know, I .... that is not excuse for not (garbled) because I know they will be
happy to go .... like the Del Ray. The Del Ray's very close to go anywhere. You
know, HyVee, Wa1Mart. They can go. They can take a bus. And I guess we are
working very good in improving our .... our bus system so those low-income
people can go and take the bus. Let us do everything together. Make it easy for
them to live in the downtown and take the bus to go and shop.
Weiner: Okay I have a .... a .... simply a one -word suggestion, which is to insert the word
`robust' in there. That's all. Creation of a ... robust new affordable housing plan.
That's my only suggestion on this right now.
Teague: (garbled) As I'm ... and maybe, please chime in, um, as I'm .... as I'm further
hearing Councilors, even the word robust is inclusive of the core neighborhood
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and the downtown. Um, I'll just put my two cents in there. Any time we've
kinda did fee in lieu of, I've voiced it every time that fee in lieu of for me is ... is
not worth it because the experience of living, um, in the .... in the downtown or the
core neighborhoods is worth more than whatever $9 million or whatever we're
getting for ...in .... in fee in lieu of, someone livin' in that location. So .... um, I ... I
think if. ... if, with that bein' said, and I'm hearin' robust and I'm hearin' really
support for it, maybe we, urn ... maybe we say `creation of a new affordable
housing plan, to include core neighborhood and downtown.' I'm....
Salih: Sound good to me!
Teague: I mean we already look at it, but I think, um, we wanna make sure that this new
affordable housing plan takes a real close look at that.
Mims: It would seem to me that when we put together a new affordable housing plan, we
should have people from the community involved in this, not just Council, and
they should look at all the implications of, I mean we started out with a 15 -point
plan. We've done about ... I think 14 of them and maybe have one that is still
there. So I agree it's time to develop a new plan, and to me they need to look at
all of the neighborhoods. I don't think we should be calling out the downtown or
the core neighborhoods any more than other neighborhoods. We have lots of
neighborhoods that don't have any affordable housing in them. Um, we've got
Del Ray downtown. We've got Ecumenical Towers. So we do have some options
down there. But I ... to me, we're trying to make a decision and put wording in
here that should be .... given to whatever group we put together to develop the new
affordable housing plan. It seems like we're trying to preempt what a group
might put together as a plan, which may very well include the core
neighborhoods, but it's ... it's like we're trying to preempt their deci.... another
group's decisions.
Salih: Thank you for those two example, but if those two example were enough, we are
not here talkin' about it. It's not enough. We need to do more in downtown.
Thomas: Uh, Maz, I'll just say, you know, I .... I think I may have advocated for housing in
the core neighborhoods probably more than anyone, um, as much as anyone,
and .... and my feeling is at this point, um, it ... it's .... I feel it is a little bit better to
leave it somewhat ... not open-ended but not to .... be ... to specifically reference the
core neighborhoods, um, partly because I think the issues Susan raised can be
addressed, but it is a more complicated location to try to achieve affordability.
Uh, and I'm not saying that that should preclude it. As I said I've been trying to
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promote (coughing, unable to hear speaker) more diverse, affordable
neighborhoods in the core area, uh, for .... for many years now. So I'm not going
to forget it. Uh, I sense you're not going to forget it. Uh, so we need to keep that
idea alive. I ... I don't know that it needs to be in the language of the resolution.
Salih: It is time to put it on the language I thinks. There is no better time than this
time .... for us to act, you know, and be bold.
Teague: Okay! So maybe what we'll do is I'll put a little star, um, and we'll go to number
three. And then ... we can kinda see where we wanna land. So number three is
elevate the City's commitment to racial equity and social justice, and increase
resources devoted to those efforts as needed, to better train all City employees and
coordinate report on the use of funds dedicated for racial equity and social justice.
Weiner: Is this .... is this an appropriate place to .... to add in something about really focused
recruiting.... to increase the percentage.... percentage of, um, of people of color —
blacks, Latinos, and so forth — on City staff? Is this ... is this, uh, an appropriate
place to add something like that in?
Teague: I ... I think so. I know that, um .... um.....as far as like.....yes, I think it would be
very appropriate at this number, number three.
Taylor: Would it also be appropriate then kind of on those lines, uh, some language about,
uh, eliminating any barriers to application? You know, why is it that people aren't
applying? You know, do we need to get out there and do better recruitment or is it
a language barrier? Shall we .... you know, we've been, lately we've been looking
at, uh, thank you to Mazahir, uh, encouraging, uh, different languages for flyers
and things. So looking at the barriers, barriers to applications? Would that be
included in this also?
Teague: I think it could. So we have barriers to application and .... um, Councilor Weiner,
if you can sum up what .... what language you're thinking or.....
Weiner: To increase efforts specifically aimed .... that, to expand efforts specifically aimed
at increasing percentage of minorities employ.... employed by the City, including
eliminating, urn...... what was, what did you say, Pauline, including eliminating
barriers....
Taylor: Barriers to application (garbled) Yeah.
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Salih: What about the hiring.... people of color? How we gonna add that here? The
percentage.
Taylor: Well one of the speakers actually said that ... that the percentage wasn't necessarily
important. I know somewhere in the, uh, Iowa Freedom Riders there was
comment about a 30% number. I mean we could certainly do that, but again that
kind of holds us to something. I mean if that's what you're thinking about, Maz,
uh... as far as actually putting a percentage in there.
Salih: I really don't know how much percentage we have right now. So I can say, oh,
that's not enough. Let's us increase it to 30. Maybe we have ... we have more. I
really .... but what I am seeing, I think it's very low, because there is departments,
City department, that have zero people of color working there. So I ... I will love to
know, you know, the percentage, if. ... if Geoff can tell us if he .... if he know that,
of course! If he doesn't know that's fine, but uh, the percentage, and also I would
like to see a timeline. If we have a goal by reaching certain percent by this year,
you know, maybe like we're really going to work hard on them, but .... I don't
know. (several talking)
Bergus: Sorry!
Teague: Go right ahead!
Bergus: Well I was just going to say in our strategic plan that we just adopted, we .... I
think ... I .... I can't remember the words exactly, but it was about the City staff
being more representative of the community, and um, I guess that's how I
understood the intent of the Iowa Freedom Rider's demand, was to make sure that
City staff is committed to, um, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and reflect the
diversity of the Iowa City community. So I think we've... we've got it there.
We're talking here about, um, en .... enhancing those efforts within City staff and
then also, um, eliminating barriers to the application, recruitment, and hiring. So I
feel like that captures kind of all of those issues as ... again, as Councilor Thomas
said, as a first step, as our... commitment to, um, focusing on that. I don't know
that I'm comfortable putting a percentage in right now.
Teague: I think one of the challenges with the percentage, uh, I think Mayor Pro Tem said,
we don't know what we are for baseline. One good thing is we ... we will have the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and so that could be a part of their charge
is to look at what is the current percentage, you know, um, and make
recommendations, um, as to where ... we might wanna go. The other thing is here,
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you know, in number three, uh, elevate the City's commitment to racial equity and
social justice, and increase resources devoted to those efforts. Um .... so .... I think
it....it could belong here without the, I don't know that we can give a percentage
right now because we don't know where the baseline is. But I still feel that it can
be captured through either the Truth and Reconciliation Commission or we can
direct staff to report back to Council, um.....uh, some demographics and then
Council can take that up ourselves.
Fruin: Mayor (both talking)
Salih: ....go ahead, Geoff.
Fruin: Uh, pardon me, I just wanna interject here. Um, we .... we did provide some
information in your packet on .... on our baseline. We do have very good data on
what our baseline is. Uh, we provided some of that information on all of our
employees and then we broke it down, and the Police Department as well. Um,
currently we use the Census information as our benchmark in trying to make our,
you know, to ensure that our staff, um, is representative of our community, as...
as detailed in the Census. Um, certainly we can set, um, any ... any .... any
percentage goal that the Council would see appropriate, but if, uh, if down the
road — probably tonight's not, uh, the night for it. If...if down the road you would
like any more detail on our employee demographics and .... and some of the
trendlines that we've seen in recent years, staff is more than prepared to present
that information to you and have that discussion. Uh, we can also describe for
you the many steps that we've taken over the ... over the last few years to reduce
barriers, uh, to application and .... and, um, increase the reach of our, uh,
recruitment, uh, by no means sayin' that we're perfect or where we need to be, uh,
but understanding some of the steps that we have taken, uh, would be important
and would be informative to your discussions going forward.
Taylor: Thank you, Geoff, and thank you for mentioning the Census, and thank you,
Ashley, for all your work you did towards the Census, and I don't know, Ashley, if
you have any idea, uh, when that data's going to be available for the new Census
data, because that might be more helpful for us to know that rather than trying to
base things, you know, from three or four year old information, because I ... I, the
demographics are changing. I know the Hispanic population is increasing, the
Asian population, and... and certainly the Sudanese. Uh, it might be helpful to
know that so we can .... we can have a better number to base it on, if we wait ... wait
for the data to come out.
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Fruin: Yeah, I think it's safe to say that our benchmarks, um, need to be higher than the
2020 .... or I'm sorry, the 2010 Census data, cause we know the 2020 Census will,
um, show that we are .... we have grown in our diversity, uh, over the last decade.
Unfortunately that 2020 Census, uh, even under normal times, non-COVID times,
uh, it'd probably be, uh.... you know, late 21, 22 at the best before we get some of
that demographic breakdown. So, uh, for now the best, you know, the best
information we have is that 2020 Census, and of course knowing that, uh, we'll
have to strive, urn, to exceed those numbers.
Weiner: I think one thing that's tricky about putting in an actual percentage is there are a
lot of people already employed and to .... and to actually tremendously ex ... expand
the ... the percentage right now, um, we'd have to let go of a number of people. So,
um, it's ... it's gonna, like everything else, it's gonna be a process, um .... so, I mean
if we wanna have .... if we want to aspire to 30%, that's fine. I just wanna say that
it's not .... it can't, it's essentially one of these things because of all the people who
are currently working for the City it can't happen overnight, um, but if we're
looking for specific language, what I would propose adding in after social justice
is .... to expand the hiring of minorities and eliminate barriers to application,
recruitment,and hiring, and then after that (mumbled) increase resources devoted
to those efforts (mumbled) better train.
Salih: I know that we have a plan as, uh, Councilor Bergus said, uh, for two year, for the
strategic plan. But if we make it about like this, I don't .... I'm not sure if we, by
two year, we gonna finish from this. That's why when I say percentage I don't
want them to fire people, you know, the .... none, uh, like black people and hire
black people. No, of course (mumbled) but if we can say toward this percentage
or by this year we need to increase.... to see like increase, like something like that
commitment, but if we just have like open end like this, I'm not sure if by .... by
another two year from now we going to .... like be the same thing. (several
talking, garbled)
Teague: I think because we have the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, I think that
some things we can charge them with, um, to be in communication with, uh,
Council about. Um....
Salih: Sure!
Teague: I mean, cause I think if we're going to have this commission, that's a part of what
they do. They bring out the, you know, the truth of where the, you know, where
the, urn .... uh.....some of the current situations, you know, within our City
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operations. They find the truth, and then the reconciliation part is to say, hey, this
is where we think we need to be. And so I ... I think we can get there without, um,
but ... you know, we just have to make sure that that charge is a part of what they're
gonna do, which Council will come back and make sure that we list out what their
charges will be.
Salih: You mean if they come back later and say, oh, we really think we need to increase
the, you know, the diversity in certain department by this percentage, like on ... for
the next three years or two years. We can still adopt those change, that's what you
think?
Teague: Yeah, the....the.....the Truth and Reconciliation Commission we'll be able to
give, um, you know, what their charge will be, at the Council, and so .... we have
that option and I don't ... you know .... and also we have the option of keepin' that
under our own umbrella and .... followin' up with that as well.
Bergus: And, Mayor, I would maybe just emphasize that the .... I think the intent of our
resolution tonight is to be that initial commitment. So it makes sense to me that
we ... that it will ... it will be broader than ultimately where we want to land, right?
We will get the specifics and I think we're counting on each other and the public
to hold us accountable to .... to not, you k now, just kind of letting it go because we
say something that's not super -precise right now, but I think, you know, that is
definitely the kind of thing it sounds like staff is ... is well-equipped to get us that
next step of information so we can .... we can work on something more specific.
That's just kind of my overall feeling about our .... our action this evening.
Teague: Okay.
Weiner: I view it a little bit as a constitution, like an overall .... an overarching, guiding
document that .... that will be ... will be, essentially our lodestar as we work on each
of these items.
Teague: (both talking)
Salih: ...promise that we're gonna work on the finer .... fine details later.
Teague: Yes, and that's why the commission will be created, that's why, um, you know,
we'll continue to ... we'll evaluate, you know, some of the racial equity and social
justice within the .... within the City and increase the resources. So I feel like this,
you know, we don't wanna.... to have limiting while like .... this is just the start of
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the language of what will happen. So it sounds like we at least have final of
number three, if I understand. We will take the percentage away. We can figure
that specific out later. Uh, we'll add language for the barrier to application and
also to explain, uh.... um, to expand efforts to increase, uh, people of color, um, or
minorities employed by the City. Um .... all right? We'll go on to number four.
By August 41h, 2020, receive a report from the City Manager on Iowa City's, um,
iCPD's involvement in the use of gas and flash bang devices durin' the protests in
Iowa City on June 3`a, 2020.
Salih: The only comment I have on this, why is August 151? This is too far. I just
suggest it be July 151. You know, why is August 151? We need.....we need a truth
right now. We need to find out now, and the .... the people need .... of Iowa City
need to find out like as soon as possible. You know, just like .... I just feel like
August 151 is long, like why we wait for long time?
Frain: Mayor, if. ... if I may, I can ... I can weigh in on that.
Teague: Sure!
Frain: Um, my intention after hearing discussion tonight (mumbled) wanted to wait and
see where .... where your discussion was, but my intention is to try to find a, um,
agency that was not involved, uh, that evening, to .... to help us with an
independent, uh, investigation, so that you're not just hearing, um, a report from
...from me as City Manager, from someone that ... that directly, uh, oversees the
Police Department. Um, but instead to work with, um, again an independent
agency that would have the ability to .... to come in and look at, uh, the
involvement of ICPD without having, you know, been there themselves. So, um,
I .... I hope to be able to do that. I don't know how quickly, um, that .... that can be
turned around. Um, certainly we could put it as top priority, uh, but until I .... until
I can solidify those plans, I can't tell you exactly when, uh, a report like that will
be available.
Salih: But when you say like another organization or another, I don't know what you
said, but you mean like ... you mean another local enforcement that was not involve
on that night? That what you mean?
Frain: Correct, specifically, um, we'd probably look toward the State, to the Department
of Criminal Investigation, DCI, to conduct that. They're a .... a separate agency,
other, uh, outside of the Iowa State Patrol. Um, but I need to initiate that
conversation with them to see if they'd be willing to do that. Again, they're....
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they're outside of Iowa State Patrol so they don't have, uh, their involvement in
mind, they don't have our involvement in mind, uh, but they.... they have the
capabilities to ... to fully recreate and assess and report on that. So I need to have
that conversation, uh, with ... with the State leaders of DCI to .... to, um....
determine if they would be willing to take that step and certainly if they're not
able to ... to do that, uh, then we will have to do the best that we can, uh, to produce
that report, um .... uh, to you, um .... in as quick a manner as we can.
Salih: (unable to understand) concern I have, uh, to be honest with you I don't know like
how those local enforcement work with each other, but it will be a very concern to
me .... if the Department gonna investigate this have previous work with .... with
Iowa City Police Department. (laughs) I just don't trust that, to be honest.
Teague: So I guess the question is, um .... the investigation will, you know, in order for this
to be done.... urn .... I think to the satisfaction of our community, we're probably
gonna want an outside entity that wasn't involved. So we, you know, we had
Iowa City involved, maybe .... I don't know where any other entities such as
Johnson County or any other, uh, local municipality, um, was on that evening, but
the State Patrol was involved. So .... you know, do we go with DCI and again, you
know, maybe if we, um, what if we decide to go with an outside entity and not do
the investigation ourselves, um .... someone that's (mumbled) the City and from
the State Patrol, uh, so to speak, then they can do that inde... independent
investigation. Now we're .... you know, August 151 might be the date, um .... but we
can certainly ,um, ask for it to be .... you know, elevated so that we can find what
really happened there. I think if. ... if any of the local agencies do it, then there
could be, um, some, um .... some .... some skepticism as to, you know, how reliable
is that.
Weiner: Maz, I'm ... urn .... I didn't quite understand the, your last concern, because I agree
that we need to have some sort of independent investigation, that's not directly
associated with .... with any of the entities involved, um, I .... were .... were you
expressing concern that the DCI would not be .... is not an appropriate agency?
I'm just trying to understand.
Salih: I really don't know even what the DSI .... DCI is. To be honest.
Teague: The Department of Criminal Investigation.
Salih: Okay. I just like .... for example, what I .... I'm gonna give you a simple example,
maybe you can understand what I mean. I mean like for example if a .... if the, uh,
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Johnson County Sheriff was not involved on that night, and we just like asking
them to investigate Iowa City. That's to me, they ...they been working together for
a long time and I ... people don't even trust both of them. So I ... I just, seem like
that will be ... something that I personally not trusting, and I know a lot people in
the community are not gonna trust that, but uh, maybe the DCI, I ... I really don't
know, cause I know a lot of those like, uh, you know (mumbled) is this really
independent? Okay. Why not. That's what I really refer to, independent where
they don't have nothing to do with Iowa City Police Department.
Taylor: Right, Maz, I think that's what the DCI .... I think that is a good suggestion, Geoff,
as far as the DCI, uh, because they.... they're not independent but they're separate
from that. They don't have any ties so to speak with .... with the Iowa City Police
or the State Patrol, and so they can ... they can, uh, step back from it and .... and get
their eyes and their ears to the ground, to the information, and... and really sort
things out and find out who made the call and who used what and ... and so I think
if we're doing that then ... and if they have to talk to each of the entities, uh, August
lst, uh, would be an acceptable date.
Bergus: And I think the other thing we're gonna run into is who would have authority to
conduct such an investigation. So I think we're going to be limited from, I mean,
short .... short of litigation, which would take much, much, much longer than
August 1st, um, I .... I appreciate and agree, Mayor, that there'll be some
skepticism, probably regardless of who issues the report, but I think having an
entity that's not .... not a local, um, law enforcement agency and that isn't, uh, that
if it's at the State, uh, level is not State Patrol, that makes a lot of sense to me.
Teague: So it sounds like there's consensus on us usin' a independent, uh, entity, um, from
what I hear DCI is going to be the most removed, um, and dependin' on that time
frame, August I" would be the ... kind of our goal, but .... well, our .... our, uh, end
last date to kinda get that, but we could ask them to elevate it and to make it a
priority, um....
Salih: Sure!
Teague: ...at least advocate for that. So are we (several talking) Okay, so ..... (noises in
background) so are people good with that? (several respond) We'll move on to
number five .... great! Great! Well I was seein' head noddin' so (laughs) uh, we'll
move on to number five, by October I", create an ad hoc Truth and Reconciliation
Commission to bear witness to the truth of racial injustice in Iowa City and to
carry out restorative justice through the collection of testimony and public
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hearings, with such work to include a recommendation to the Council of a plan
for dedicatin' and/or renaming public spaces and/or right-of-ways in honor of
Black Lives Matter movement. And maybe I'll take a stab at this, cause I'm...
I'm actually excited for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Um, I'll just
kinda talk about what this means. Um, essentially the Truth and ... and
Reconciliation Commission, um, their charge is to really find out the truth of the
inequities within our, um, within our city operations, and to figure out how can
re .... reconcile, make whole, or, urn .... uh, you know, some of those inequities, and
I think a part of the process to get there, uh, would be to collect testimony, um,
from, you know, people within our community, um, to find out their direct stories
relating to the truth about ways that they have been disenfranchised and also
hearin' from the public, um, on ... on these things, and that's pretty typical where
we'll get public input, uh, through some listening sessions. And then this
commission, again, their charge .... as Council will be comin' back to talk about
what their charge will be, um, some of the charges that we're stating now will
include, um, a plan for dedicatin' or renaming public spaces, such as a park, um,
after the Black Lives Matter, and/or right-of-ways, which is .... right-of-ways is a
street, um, in honor of Black Lives Matter movement. So this is a res... resolution
saying that we are committed to, uh, figurin' out public space.... space, or spaces,
um, as rell as ... as well as right-of-way for .... in honor of Black Lives Matter
movement.
Taylor: And, Mayor (garbled) as far as the makeup of this commission, uh, I think you...
your thoughts were that it would be similar to how we, uh, appoint other
commissioners. Uh, was .... was that your idea as far as, uh, applicants and getting
it out there, and if we do that, I think we heard from several South District
Neighborhood Association members tonight, and we've gotten some emails also
that they really want input into this, especially if we rename the park, which was
suggested. That's their park and ... and they would like to have some say in it. So I
mean how would we encourage that, to encourage those applicants, uh, make sure
the word gets out, and... and have a diverse group on that commission.
Teague: What I would say is that's kind of the... we'll.... we'll take that up in a work
session and we'll have like the ... the, um, we'll have discussion about the Truth
and Reconciliation Commission makeup. Um, I think we don't have ... you know,
we will all have lots of ideas but if we get into the minutiae right now, um, you
know, we've made the commitment to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
We can figure out all of the other parts, um, as we navigate. So, um, if that's okay
with you all, and ... and you, urn ... uh, Councilor, um, if we can, um .... you know,
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we made the commitment to the commissioner, but we'll come back and kind of,
uh, talk about those specifics.
Salih: Yes!
Taylor: Yes, sounds good!
Teague: Thank you! Any ...any item .... uh, I definitely wanna get thoughts from, uh,
Councilors. Thumbs up, thumbs down, are we ready to move on?
Mims: Yes.
Teague: Ready to move on. All right! Um .... number six, make it a 2021 City Council
legislative priority to advocate for and support our State Delegation in enacting
criminal justice reform, and changes to State law that enable the City's plan to
restructure the police department and enhance the authority of the Community
Police Review Board, and reduce disproportionate minority contact, including
support of State legislation de .... decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana.
And is .... well is there someone that would like to interpret this?
Bergus: I can take a stab at that, Mayor. Um, so the .... the 2021, um, legislative priorities
will .... will be for the next coming legislative session since it's wrapping up now,
um, you know, we obviously don't have the opportunity to try and lobby for any
new legislation at this point, and so that's the intent of it being the next legislative
session, and this relates to, um, the .... the many calls that we've had, and I think
the .... the desire that we share to try and increase the authority of the Community
Police Review Board, um, knowing that there are some State law limitations
surrounding that, and so just doing what we can to ... to try and get those laws
changed, and also just knowing that, um, there are other reforms that we may take
here or may advocate for that require additional changes to State law. So we're
trying to be pretty comprehensive in knowing that because this is a bold plan,
because we are making a significant change, we're gonna run into some hurdles,
and making sure that we're advocating at the State level for, um, creating the path
to this type of change.
Weiner: I think this is going to be really necessary because, and I .... and I certainly hope
that, um, we flip at least the Iowa House, if not the Iowa Senate this .... this fall,
because what the legislature's been engaged in over the past couple of years is
restricting and reducing Home Rule. Um, and what .... what this .... this can be
done also in concert with other cities, other municipalities around the state to try
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and call back some of the ... the Horne Rule, um, the Home Rule basics that have
been ... that have been taken away, and that will make our lives as ... as part of the
government of Iowa City much easier if we have the ability to do certain things
for ourselves, rather than have to rely on the State.
Mims: (garbled) ...drafted some of this could you, um, possibly answer a question. In
regarding the ... the segment that talks about restructuring the police department.
Obviously we haven't made any decisions yet about the restructuring, I mean
we've talked a lot about getting other people in to do stuff that is not, um, safety,
violence related, uh, you know, mental health help and things like that. Are .... are
you aware of specific State laws that would prevent us potentially doing some
things that we might want with that restructuring, or is it just kind of let's
(mumbled) so we make sure once we get to that point, we're advocating for
changes if we need them.
Bergus: I'm not aware of anything specific, but I'll be quite honest I have not had the
opportunity to look.
Mims: Okay! Thank you.
Bergus: Uh huh.
Teague: I guess in response to that, a part of our number one here is, you know,
restructurin' of the Iowa City Police Department, and so if there is anything that,
um, especially if it's related to funding, um, you know, we can certainly talk about
that. If it's related to policies, we'll be able to talk about that. So I think here it's
really, uh, citing that we will have some legislative priorities that will include, um,
we'll be lookin' very closely at it, the plan that we develop, um, for the
restructurin' of our ...the police department, and seein' if there is anything that we
need to advocate to the State that limits our ability. (several talking)
Weiner: Go ahead, John!
Thomas: One of. ... one of the things I'd like to add on this item is the importance of, um, to
the best of our ability, advocating for the end of the war on drugs, because that
really has been damaging, um, to the community. I know we're referencing here
small amounts of marijuana. Um .... not sure how much .... how much scope we
want to give to this, but the war on drugs has been well documented as just truly a
war on the people rather than a war on the drugs. So, um, this is an important one
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and I hope we have .... you know, there's... the data is there. Hope we ... hopefully
we can make a good case with it.
Taylor: I had a question about including that disproportionate minority contact in here.
That of course has been an issue over many, many years here and we'd have the
St. Ambrose group looking.... looking at that for years, but I almost think it's....
it's a separate item as far as, uh, I think I would like to see included in there that
the officers would be held accountable. I mean if it's the same name coming up
every time and the same actions that they're doing, uh, they need to have some
accountability, but that would be, uh, kind of adding a little bit too much to this
and .... and, uh, getting away from what the real intent is as far as the legislative
action, and I'm not exactly sure what on the legislative level what they would do
as far as reducing disproportionate minority. That I think falls on our individual
police department.
Mims: Pauline (several talking) to your point, I ... I think, you know, when we .... and I
don't think we'll get to this tonight, um, but there was certainly information in the
packet from staff about a lot of the general orders for the police department, and I
think also in here and potentially getting changes to give the CPRB more
authority and certainly with a new police chief coming in, I think that gives us,
uh, plenty of opportunity to have that discussion about, um, what are those
procedures when officers, um, violate orders, the general orders, and how, you
know, what kinds of steps are taken to make sure that, um, within the police
department and through the City Manager that we are doing everything we can to
hold, um, our officers to the highest level of accountability, um, to improve the
kind of policing that we have and their interactions, uh, particularly with people
of color in our community.
Salih: And who gonna do that, Susan Mims?
Mims: Well I .... that's where I think we, one, I think a lot of it comes from if you have a
good police chief. I think Jody Matherly was very good. I think he was very
dedicated to doing those things. I think as we talk about making changes to the
Community Police Review Board, and them potentially having more power, um, I
think we have to work through that process. I can't sit here and tell you right now
who is going to have the authority to do that, but those are things that we have to
talk about and work through the process.
Salih: That's what exactly we talking about! (garbled) sit here and make the police chief
come and do this change. We had a lot of. ... we had, Jody came. There is no like
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a lot of improvement that I can see. Still people are suffering, still people are
complaining. We .... we, it is time we need somebody independent from the police
to tell them what to do. (mumbled) community to come out and talk about this.
And exactly to (mumbled) police what we need. We need the City Council to
listen what the community are saying and come back and tell the police what we
need to see. But we are not gonna wait for a police chief and wait for the police
to correct themself. That's... that would be like same thing when a complaint
come, somebody complain about the police and give it to the police chief. No!
(several talking, garbled)
Mims: ...was we're talking in this ... to me in this context, we're talking about this at the
high level and we are talking about that legislative priority and one of those things
is advocating for State law that would enable changes to the CPRB, and so that is
the start, um, of having more independent outside authority.
Bergus: And I would say we're gonna engage them in that process too. If you look at
number eight in this draft it's specifically about increasing the authority of the
CPRB and seeing what we can do to maximize that, even without legislative
changes, and I also believe based on the conversations that we I think have all had
in the last two weeks, that we are getting to a much better place of helping
members of our community know how to, um ... how to provide that feedback
about specific issues and complaints, and make sure that they are supported and
protected in providing that, so that it isn't just something that gets reported and
then, you know, ignored or doesn't get addressed and I think the, um, Truth and
Reconciliation Commission and the idea of having people who can provide
individual stories. I think there are ways that that also is going to really enhance
that accountability that you're talking about, Mayor Pro Tem, that ... that we will be
able to .... to better identify, um, problem issues and deal with them .... like right
now according to the policy that's already in place. I mean I ... I've sort of framed
this as for the very immediate future, we have.... compared to other communities,
right, prior to any ... any changes that we're making tonight and going forward, we
have some pretty good policies, right, but we know that the lived experience of
our community, um, of our black community in particular, is not ... is .... is not
positive when it comes to our law enforcement and so we need to identify the
policies that need to change, but also just where there are violations, and I really
think that the raising awareness that's happening right now will help with that,
and I think, you know, I'm asking the public to .... to keep us accountable and help
make sure that we can keep that process going. So I .... I hear your frustration and
I understand it, but I think .... I think we're moving in the right direction to address
that accountability piece.
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Weiner: Um, and I (both talking)
Salih: Yes, I'm okay with number five. I'm not like suggesting anything, but I was just
like, uh, answering (mumbled) That's it.
Weiner: I was just going to add that I think that dealing with ... with almost any of these
issues, and starting with the CPRB, is going to be a multi -step process. Like first
determining what we have the legal authority to do, doing that. At the same time
as, uh, as we start to lobby and... and work really hard to get State law changed to
allow us to ... to give them more authority.
Teague: With number six, um, Councilor Thomas talked about .... um, war on drugs. Um,
I .... I think that's major. Um, as far as like the legislative priority for us to, um,
maybe include that in ... in what we're going to do with the.... State legislative
priority, and um, makin' sure that they're.... this is in their face and that they know
that Iowa City want to change.... um, what's happenin' with.....throughout our
nation. So I don't know what people thoughts are on addin' that language. We
can certainly, um, have it .... I feel like that's a big one, right, when you're talkin'
about war on drugs, which needs to be even further broken down, um.... and ... and
also marijuana is a separate item as well that I think we want to specifically talk
about. So I don't know what people thoughts are there.
Taylor: I agree with you, Mayor, I was thinking that exact same thing, you and I had
talked about that earlier. I think, you know, if the wording is more (mumbled)
war on drugs in general, some people consider marijuana a drug, but you know
I'm all for decriminalizing that and so maybe, uh, talking more about, um ... uh,
addictive -type controlled substances, uh, break it down more like that, as opposed
to marijuana, uh, more a war on that, uh, but lessening charges fon.. for marijuana
and those kinds of substances.
Teague: And I think decriminalizing it is the ... is the .... is the proper terminology for certain
for marijuana. Uh, what .... so ..... um, are .... so I think we have three on war on
drugs. Is there one more and then we can move on to the next one? To add that
language?
Bergus: Yeah, I'm not sure the exact language but I ... I would be favorable to including in
our legislative priorities, urn .... a.....addressing the war on drugs.
Mims: Yeah, I would be as well.
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Teague: All right, so I think we have majority there. We'll move on to number seven.
Um, and actually, let's move to number eight and then we'll come back up to
number seven, since we just talked about the CPRB. To request and receive by
January 1", 2021, a report and recommendation from the CPRB and consultation
with its attorney, um, regardin' changes to the CPRB ordinance, that enhance its
ability to provide effective cival ... civilian oversight of the Iowa City Community
Police Department, includin' but not limited to those that address compelling the
testimony of officers with the report to include a summary of measures considered
and rejected by the CPRB, whether it be for policy or legal reasons. Um....so....
um, maybe I'll give this one a stab, unless someone wants to kinda... uh, interpret.
Okay, I'll give it a stab. All right .... so this is where there.... there'll be, um,
CPRE, there's.... there's a couple of things goin' on. There are some legislative
things going on, there's some local things goin' on, uh, where we have to look at
what our current, uh.... uh, law or ..... what we perceive our current abilities are
within our own CPRB. We also have the.... charge to the C ... CPRB here, what we
say consult with your own attorney, outside of our City Attorney, uh, to learn
what, um, to interpret the law in your .... your abilities, and so maybe we can come
back together and talk about all of it and then try to figure out what can we do
now to enhance, urn .... uh, CPRB ability, and we also had that at the State level.
That's gonna go on the legislative priorities next year. So that's kind of a quick
rundown of what this number eight is.
Salih: The only thing that I really would like to see changing in this is in consultation
with (unable to understand) As a previous CPRB member, I thinks we need to say
independent attorney to review, to help and review the CPRB recommendation.
Uh, that's, you know, we need somebody independent. We don't need somebody
who been there doing the same thing that is not working. Uh, that what I
really .... and of course this is need money. So we have also to think about we
have to allocate some money for independent attorney, to help, uh, and review the
recommendation of CPRB. If we really wanna give it power, that's how it is!
Weiner: We'll be ... we will be meeting according to this, assuming we agree to this, we'll
be meeting, um, on or before August 1 sc to ... to allocate the .... the $1 million and I
don't believe it would take a very large chunk, part of that, to have an attorney do
the review.
Salih: Yeah, that's fine! You know I just, uh, as long as (unable to understand) I'm just
talking about independent. That's the most important!
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Bergus: And I think by ordinance they do have to have an independent attorney. I .... or
I'm, even if it's just by practice, but it needs to be someone not .... not in the City
Attorney's office.
Teague: And ... and maybe what we .... yes, I .... I think what I'm hearin' is there current...
maybe there's a current attorney (garbled) maybe a little bit too close to this,
maybe someone that can take a fresh eye, a fresh look, and so if...if Council agree,
it'd still be an independent attorney, maybe it's at the, you know, the CPRB can
help navigate that, uh, so to speak, if they want their current attorney or they want
someone else (mumbled) and that can be communicated to them. Um .... it's still
an independent attorney. So do we just (both talking, garbled)
Salih: ...instead of say it is (unable to understand) can you say like with independent
attorney, instead of like (mumbled)
Teague: Yeah, so I'm comfortable with that. I don't know what people are .... are, because
it is an independent attorney and maybe they'll just .... we just have to get the
verbiage that if they want someone other than they have, uh, to do this, uh,
portion of their review, they have that ability. So if...if peop.... I mean, it's an
independent attorney so I think that they .... if we're in agreement, we'll move on.
All right, we're in agreement. (laughs)
Dilkes: I'm sorry, Mayor, is the language staying as it is then?
Teague: No, it will ... be added with an independent attorney.
Dilkes: Can I suggest that you say with an attorney ...of its choice? I mean I ... I assume
(both talking)
Teague: Sure!
Dilkes: ....the idea is that the CPRB's gonna be making this decision about who its
attorney is.
Teague: Yes!
Dilkes: We're not going to be.
Teague: Correct.
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Salih: What the different, Eleanor? Can you tell us what the different, if we said
independent or if it said was their choice?
Dilkes: Well, and ... and they're really kind of. ... an independent is an attorney that is
chosen by them. (several talking) We could say independent of the City
Attorney's office.
Salih: No, no, I don't wanna say that! I just wanna say independent attorney.
Taylor: And... and... would we, now you can correct me, Laura and Eleanor, I mean from
my experience, uh, with the unions and we would have a lawyer on retainer, uh, is
that what we mean, I mean should we .... (mumbled) we were talking about the
cost and that wouldn't be as expensive. It'd be, you know, just when you need
them and per hour or on consultation. Uh, so more like an on a retainer
(mumbled) monthly pay salary that you are the CPRB independent attorney.
Bergus: I don't .... see I don't think we wanna dictate the kind of fee relationship that they
would have, but I think their .... I think of their choosing would actually be the
most independent, right? So that we're not dictating who it is, but that they as a
body who wants more power that they choose who it is, I think is the ... is the most
removed, or the .... I think that's the best way to say it.
Weiner: (garbled) describes it well.
Taylor: Yeah, I think it....no matter how we word it, I think it...it is important! I mean the
CPRE, when I was looking back on the history, it was established quite some time
ago, and ... and hasn't really been looked at since then, and it probably is high time
to really look at, uh, what their... what the intent is, the mission, and .... and how
they can accomplish that.
Teague: So it sounds like, um, the intent is really to ensure that the CPRB knows that...
they have .... they can choose their attowney .... attorney. Like they're not limited.
Is that what I'm hearing? I .... I think that's what I'm hearing. So .... (several
responding, garbled) um....
Weiner: ...their choice, right?
Teague: Yeah. So I think.... whether .... I think it's more explicit because if we say of their
choice because independent is what they have now. They have that now, so it just
let's them know they get to choose. It's the same thing. Um .... so ..... sound like
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we have more in favor of the word, um, with an attorney of their choice. All
right? It still does the same thing. All right! Number nine, oh, we're going to go
back up to number seven. Continue use of the ... a racial equity toolkit by City
departments and expand such trainings to the City Council, and work with other
local business partners to educate and train the business community on use of a
racial equity toolkit. I know that there was one thing that was mentioned, um, it
was acknowledged that, um, of course City Council don't have reign over
businesses within our community, but we .... we have the ability to .... uh, use
resources for businesses in our community, and that was kinda one of the notes
that I took down, and so this does address, um, you know, really, uh, creating and
using some .... uh, creating some opportunities for those within our community,
but I also believe that, um, City Councilors, us, ourselves, can ... also go through
this trainin' and, um, gain great benefit from partakin' in it ... partaking in it
ourselves. Any thought there? There was a mention of 30% diversity and
inclusion, and ... and I ... I'm hearin' the terminology here that ... that is percentage of
staff and it's not the percentage of staff. I've heard, um, I believe I've heard that
with clarity. It's not the percentage of staff. It's more, urn .... uh, part of the equity
toolkit where, you know, 30% of the staff that is current, um, is lookin' at items of
diversity and inclusion within the department is my interpretation. I don't know,
uh, if anyone else has interpretations there, and I might add that the 30% diversity,
you know, um, diversity and inclusion could either be a number... a part of
number seven or it can be a part of number three. Um....or is a part of number
three. We just don't have... the.... the.... the percentage of 30%, um .... there, so....
Weiner: I was confused by the 30% until one of the speakers this evening seemed to me to
try and make it clear that they were talking about the goal of 30% of each
department consisting of. ... minorities (noises in background) assume people of
color. Um....
Salih: That what I hear too.
Teague: Um, so .... what I .... what I wrote down was 30% diversity and inclusion.... and
inclusion, and is not the number of staff. But the work people do ... but the work
people do is related. Urn .... so .... (both talking, garbled)
Weiner: ....not clear (several talking)
Bergus: Just to clarify the ... urn, Iowa Freedom Rider's demand reads: every Iowa City
department should have at least 30% of its staff dedicated to diversity and
inclusion. So I ... I think, and we need to have accountability, but it should be
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100% of staff are dedicated to that, but obviously not their only job but everything
that they do is informed through that lens. So, um, I ... I may be misinterpreting it,
but that .... that, I just want to make sure we've got the language of the demand
on ... on the record.
Taylor: That .... that's a good point, Laura. I mean whether, uh, dedicated doesn't
necessarily mean, uh, that's more like committed to, you know, how you
(mumbled) in this, rather than that's the number of staff that you absolutely have
to have so then. ..then you're correct. It should say 100%1 100% should be
dedicated and committed, uh, to eliminating any racial bias in their department.
Teague: I do wonder if this isn't an item that we, you know, I don't wanna throw too much
at the commission. I think ... we just heard Councilor Bergus say we're .... we want
100%, right? Um, so maybe what we could do just to include the language, um,
I .... I might propose that we either include it here, you know, the 30%, even
though we know that we'll be aspiring for higher, but there also has to be some,
um, communication. We can .... I feel like it's ... we're throwin' too much at the,
uh, Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Um .... so I feel like .... we .... we
(several talking, garbled) include this language.
Bergus: I think, Mayor, you know, we're .... we're committing to using the ... the racial
equity toolkit in all departments and City Council, and promoting that to the
business community, and I presume non-profit community as well. Um, we've
already previously walked through how we're going to be sure that our staff is
representative of the community and remove barriers to ensure that... that, um,
applications, recruitment, and hiring are .... result in a more diverse workforce. So
I mean I ... I think at least through this we are meeting or exceeding what the Iowa
Freedom Riders are asking us to do. I would be hesitant to put in a percentage
that would suggest we'd be (both talking)
Salih: No! I don't think (both talking) you get what the staff ...what the Iowa Freedom
Riders said because it just makes sense to make sure we are ... we are in the same
page. They said that 30% of the staff time is ded ... dedicated to diversity and
inclusion, like their job description would include that, you know, as a priority.
That what it is.
Weiner: Um .... that's a really interesting concept. I'm not quite sure how to do that. Um,
I, from my perspective, the things that Councilor Bergus just said make a lot of
sense. Working on at least two fronts to increase the percentage of minorities
that ... that we've hired, um.....as well as ensuring that we basically have 100%,
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uh, compliance or use of the racial equity toolkit, including all the ... all of those of
us on, um, on Council.
Mims: I would agree with (garbled, noise) I would agree with Janice and.... and Laura. I
think that, um, you know, that expanded use of the .... the racial equity toolkit,
getting that through the rest of the departments, through Council, um, and through
that making an effort that all of our staff members are thinking in that line and
as .... as Laura said, um, you know, that's the lens through which they are
approaching a lot of their work, um, we know that they're using that as they look
at new policies and ... and what that impact is. And so that we want .... we want all
of our staff doing that. I think as Janice said to try and, um, indicate that we're...
are going to have 30% of staff time dedicated to that, there ... I personally don't see
how we can, um, hire enough people to do that and yet still have staff time
available to do the serious work that needs to be done, whether it's, you know,
streets work or transportation, um, we need to have it more integrated to what...
what everybody is doing all the time and not, um, setting aside 30% of their time.
It needs to just be integrated to .... with all their activities.
Teague: I ... I (both talking)
Salih: ....way behind. That's why we need to make it up (unable to understand) We are
way behind. That's why we need to indicate 30% of their time, so that we can
have more, you know .... uh, diversity and inclusion in the City.
Teague: Uh, you know the... the... the more I'm hearin' this conversation, I really believe
that the, uh, the ... the commission, this is a part of what they can do. They can
look at, um, you know, it's the Truth and Reconciliation, which, uh, Mayor Pro
Tem just mentioned. Um, I feel that instead of us gettin' stuck here, that we, you
know, charge this to be one of the things to look at, um, by the commission.
Because (mumbled) that's essentially what they're doing. I .... I'm in business, so
when I think about like, uh, diversity and inclusion and 30%, um, of. ... of person's
work. So when you're talking about someone that does payroll or financials, um,
you know .... that's just that, and when we look at our City operations, when
someone, uh, you know, is driving the bus, they're drivin' the bus. So I think in,
so we don't get caught up here, um, I think that it is more the reconciliation that I
think I hear ...beard mer .... Mayor Pro Tem mention, but we give this to the Truth
and Reconciliation Commission for them to walk through some of the challenges
that we're .... that we even (mumbled) wrappin' our heads around here. We charge
that to them to come back to us.
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Mims: I would encourage us, Mayor, to keep it in here so that it's clear to the public and
to the Iowa Freedom Riders that we are committed on this point, and that like
other things in this list, we may very well want to pass those on to the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission to address. They may not all be things that we as a
Council do, but I would be hesitant to remove it from this list if we support the
concept, because then the public isn't going to see that we support it.
Salih: But as the Mayor said, uh, earlier, you know, Council Mims, like the .... the bus
driver is not gonna do that. We are not saying like ... we know which department
need to do 30% of their time to .... to do inclusion, and you know, diversity and
inclusion. Uh, I thinks we ... we need to leave it here and we need to promote it.
That's supposed to be the thing that's supposed to be happening.
Teague: I think I heard Councilor Mims say that we added in here. Was that my
understanding?
Mims: No ... no .... no! What I was (mumbled) is I think we should leave.... number seven
in here as it is written. I do not agree with adding the 30% in .... because I do not
believe that we can .... dictate 30% of staff time to do that work in addition to what
they are already doing. I think it needs to be more included across all of our staff
and .... and the way they look at their .... their whole job and their work, as Laura
has promoted, um, but I think we need to leave number seven in the list so that the
public and Iowa Freedom Riders see that we still support the use of that racial
equity toolkit and then once we get the commission formed, we can .... put this to
the commission to .... to investigate and .... and lay out details, um, more fully than
what is in here. I .... like Councilor Bergus said earlier, I think we have to be
careful, and you've said, Mayor. We have a list of 15 things and we need to stay
kind of at the high level tonight to try and get through and show what we support.
We'll have a lot more work to do, um, to flesh out details and to determine who is
going to do some of this work, whether it's Council, staff, uh, the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission, urn.... whatever, but I .... I would promote leaving it
in there, as is, with more discussion on it later and ... and as you've mentioned,
maybe putting it on the commission to work on.
Teague: It sounds like there's been kinda majority to kinda, urn .... addre.... because when
we talk about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which Mayor Pro Tem
just talked about, this is a Truth and Recre... uh, this is like a recre... um,
Reconciliation, so when we have our work session, talkin' about the specific, uh,
allocations that we're gonna give to the commission, I'm makin' a note now that
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that will be one of the items that will be discussed, um, as far as givin' that to that
commission, um, so .... are we ready to move on to number nine?
Salih: Um .... all done. I .... I really don't know. Yeah! (mumbled)
Teague: Okay. Number nine, direct staff to provide a detailed expenditure summary of the
police budget on City's website. Um ... so I'll .... I'll open it up for anyone to chime
in.
Mims: I think in Geoff's memo they indicated, you know, that has been done. The
question is, you know, as we move forward, and I think you've talked about
tonight, Mayor, is there .... is there more breakdown of that that we want and as we
get into that deeper discussion, um, we can certainly talk about that and request
any additional detail that we need, but certainly in Geoff's memo, um, they've
tried to make it clear where that budget is.
Salih: I really also ask, you know, the staff to add what programs are this fund for, how
much for like for example drug crime, property crime, traffic crime, etc. We need
those kind of details.
Frain: Mayor and Council, if I may jump in. Um, we did, uh, to....today, well let me
backup. In the packet we just informed you and the public on where you can get
the basic Police Department budget information. Uh, today we took our best stab
with, you know, 24 -hours, 48 -hours to ... to put up additional information on the
Police Department website. So you can now access little bit more detailed
information on the Police Department budget on .... on their website, and our plan
would be to ... to listen to this discussion and ... and ensuing community discussions
and... and give, um, more detailed breakdowns based on the, uh, questions and
feedback that we're getting, but I do wanna call your attention, uh, to, uh, a new
page on the Police Department website that has a .... a ..... uh, more detailed
breakdown than our ...than our typical budget provides.
Taylor: Um, Geoff, um, do you mean as far as and we'd heard that from the speakers
tonight too, a breakdown of like how ...what percent is devoted of the budget, uh,
payroll, to ... to traffic versus, uh... uh, policing and ... and those .... those kinds of
things that the breakdown that way? Is that included?
Frain: Well, uh... um, yes and no. Um (both talking)
Taylor: Okay!
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Frain: We do ... we do breakdown, you know, how many, uh, for example, you know,
what goes to supplies versus sworn officers versus civilian officers, uh, you know,
how much is dedicated to our Animal Services operation versus field operations
or support services. We break it down in that way. It ... it's a little tricky and ... and
we'll have to get into discussions on how you want this represented. Obviously
our .... our patrol officers respond to any number of calls — traffic.... traffic calls,
uh, mental health crises, violent crimes, um, and, um I'm not sure exactly how
you represent what portion of their time re ... you know, corresponds with .... with
each of those, uh, entities. We don't have an officer assigned just to traffic or just
to violent crimes. The officers, you know, do it all when they're on patrol. So
you can't go to the budget and say X amount is dedicated towards, uh, this crime
or that crime. For example, a few years ago we had four murders in the
community. We had a substantial amount of officer time, investigator time
dedicated to investigating and prosecuting those murder cases. Uh, the following
year, um, I believe we had zero murders. So, uh, the officers' time would have
been reallocated to other types of cases that they were investigating or other types
of, urn ... uh, situations, uh, on the street. So, um, that's a little bit more
complicated. I'm not saying we can't do it, but we just have to think of the
appropriate methodology, uh, to ... to blend our budget with our calls for service
data on a year-to-year basis.
Teague: Okay. So I wonder if there's, um, a combination of. ... where we have .... budget
and, uh, stats .... from the Police Department. Urn ... I don't know if they have
some, you know, some statistical data that can kinda.... help us along with getting
...some of what we're after.
Fruin: Certainly, Mayor, we have, um .... we have .... a lot of statistics that we can offer.
We ... we've put some out in an annual report, which is available on our website,
uh, annually. Urn ... uh, but we can slice and dice, uh, the numbers, uh, you know,
primarily looking at calls for service and the classification of calls that we
respond to. Um, we can give all kinds of trend line data on that, um and uh, we
can figure out the best ways to blend that with .... with the budget. Um, that has to
be, in my mind, if you're.... you're looking at a plan to restructure police, you
really have to do that kind of detailed dive into the calls for service to really
understand the nature of the calls, uh, the volumes of the calls that are being
responded to by the Police Department. Um, I think last year the number was....
was probably about 77,000 calls for service in the Police Department. Um,
average of over 200 a day. Um, and you're gonna have to take some analysis to
look at that, and then determine which .... which types of calls for service, uh, can
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be and should be split off to, uh, non -police response, uh, programs in the
community. So I think that's a absolute must going forward to .... to inform the
discussion.
Teague: All right! All right! Um, so I guess for this ... for this item, is there .... I mean
because we're gonna get more detail .... do we wanna write it here? Or is it
already there?
Thomas: I'm personally willing to just, um, leave it the way it is. I ... I was satisfied with
Geoff's description that we've already seen, uh, you know, the staff has already
expanded on the .... the data, the information on the website, if I understood it
correctly, and I think then as we move forward on this, urn ... uh, there's a treasure
trove of data that we can ... uh, select from, depending upon how we want to frame
the analysis.
Salih: And also I see that we saying like provide a detailed ... uh, summary, which is now
I guess, Geoff, know what kind of information we want, and what kind of (unable
to understand) details we want. I hope if you can include as much as we ask now,
will be great!
Teague: I think what I, and Geoff can speak for his self, but I think what he said was, um,
after this conversation, you know, there.... they'll be able to know a little more of
what Council is wanting.
Salih: Uh huh!
Teague: So with that bein' said I think that this is, number nine is appropriate. All right, so
number ten .... (mumbled) uh, attached as Exhibit A to the Johnson County Sheriff
supporting divestment of MRAP, urn ... vehicle and obtain a report from city staff
on the military -grade equipment currently used by the Iowa City Com..
Community Police Department and the federal contracts that promote.... support
to the police department. (several talking, garbled)
Taylor: Yeah, I .... I do too. I think this is very good. Uh, I ... I'm not sure if, uh, I'd like it
expanded though. It's not just...I don't wanna know what they use. I .... I'd like
an inventory of what they have. Do ... do we ... cause I don't know that for sure. Do
we have chemical irritants in our supply, uh, of ..of equipment, and if we do I'd
like to eliminate that. I think it ... that's been proven to be highly dangerous and
bad for people's health and not a good method. So I ... I would like to see that as
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far as an in ... inventory and encourage that to be, especially to eliminate any
chemical irritants from .... from their supplies and their inventory.
Salih: Uh huh!
Bergus: So, um, Pauline, are you saying we need to specify not just used but also have, is
that the....the distinction that you're making, so that we can understand well
maybe if they haven't used it they still have it in (garbled, both talking) Okay.
Taylor: Right, yeah, because it could be 20 years old. Maybe it's sitting there in their
inventory and they just never use it and they say, no, we don't use it, uh, but
they've got it, so .... if they ever felt the need to use it, they.....they would go and
get that and use it. I would hope they wouldn't because it's not the best thing to
use. So, yeah, I would .... I .... I think a little bit stronger language about what...
what actually is in the inventory and eliminate particularly any of the chemical
irritants.
Salih: Uh huh! I agree!
Weiner: I mean it could say something like ... um .... military -grade equipment currently...
in the ICPD inventory.
Taylor: Right, yes, uh huh. Right!
Teague: Okay! All right! Um .... so we'll .... we'll kind of get those reports. Now there
is ... do we wanna do anything, um, I mean right now, you know, prohibitin' the use
of teargas, rubber bullets, flash bangs. We ... I know we're asking for a report. Do
we want to put in, um, maybe a moratorium on (mumbled) I think we can discuss
like later the details. I ... um, as far as I'm, you know....we need to know what's in
our toolbox if ever we should need somethin' to protect, you know ... uh, from .... if
there's a need for protection, and I don't know what's in the toolbox.
Salib: Are you talking about number eleven or....
Teague: I'm talking about number ten.
Mims: Yeah, I would say, Mayor, that we start with getting the list of the inventory, um,
and then potentially, um, once we have that and we have questions about some of
the things they have that we think, uh, maybe they shouldn't have, that we ... get an
explanation from the Police Department of why they, if they still believe they
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should have it, under what scenarios, uh, they could potentially see themselves
needing to have it, to help give ... make us more informed in terms of making a
decision, uh, about whether we want them to continue to have it or not.
Teague: I do wonder if, um, given the events that happened, if we don't put a moratorium
on it right now, at...at least (both talking)
Mims: Let me just propose a scenario and it may be a far out scenario. We've had a lot
of protests here, promoting the Black Lives Matter, which I totally support. What
if we had .... a hundred or two hundred white nationalists armed with AK -15s or
17s or whatever they're called, with automatic rifles, coming into town, uh,
attacking people in the southeast side or taking over the ped mall. What kind of
force and what kind of. ... equipment would you want Iowa City police to have to
deal with a situation like that? That's.... that's my point in not rushing .... to
judgment or rushing to a moratorium. I'm not saying there's a lot .... a likelihood
of that happening, but before we rush to those decisions, I wanna know for sure
what they have and what kind of scenarios they play out in their minds that they
feel they have to be prepared for and what kind of equipment they have to have.
Sol...I would vote no to a moratorium. I would want to see what the inventory is,
why they think they need it, in what scenarios they feel they might use that, and
then have that information to help us make a decision.
Teague: I ... I think, um, the reason why I'd set a moratorium, urn .... and .... and not just the
total abolishment of it is, at least until we're more informed, is for the scenario
you just gave. If there was white nationalists that came in and we could not, um,
you know, what ... what will be the tools in our toolbox when you don't have
enough police to protect, you know. And ... and that is the conversations that I
believe that we have to have, because I was out there, in our own local
community, and um, that would have been frightening. Um, when you have anti -
protesters coming, uh, you know, against the protesters that are there for Black
Lives Matter and, you know, so .... I do hear and feel .... um, that we need to
ensure .... we know what's in our toolbox and maybe this is somethin' that, you
know, we .... we come and take up later, you know, maybe we .... I feel like we
need a few special sessions goin' on here. Urn .... maybe we take up this, you
know, at our next ... uh, Council meeting, where we .... and I don't know how, you
know, how fast the Police Department could go with, uh, locatin' all of what is
military or that type stuff, but I think we can talk about this at our next Council
meeting, but I don't feel like we need to put it (mumbled) too far out. But I ... I do
have fear that we need somethin' in our toolbox, if a scenario like that happened
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because, um, we need to do .... we need to be able to protect people, when we
absolutely are convicted, uh, but that is our duty and responsibility.
Mims: I agree and that's why I'm not supportive putting a moratorium in place until we
have that additional information.
Salih: But is the moratorium for just regarding the peaceful protester or regarding
something else?
Mims: (garbled) more specific definition. Urn, I think if you put in a moratorium, it is a
moratorium. .... sol ....I mean I think it's pretty clear, and we've given that
message to the City Manager that we do not want that used on the Black Lives
Matter protesters as long as they, you know, continue to be peaceful as they have
been, so I'm not concerned about that right now in that situation. I wanna make
sure our community is protected if we were to become a target, um, and if we're
in the middle of a moratorium and something happens unexpectedly, we've got
police that can't use the tools that they have, and so .... that's my position. I've
said enough.
Salih: Really my position is I agree with the Mayor. We need moratorium about this.
Definitely!
Taylor: I don't necessarily approve of a moratorium. I kind of am in agreement with
Susan and the only, uh, particular item that I'm particularly concerned about in
the inventory is knowing about the chemical irritants. Uh, because I ... there's just,
there's studies and it's proven that ... that, uh, that's very harmful to the lungs. It
doesn't just stop the people, it's harmful to them in the long run and I don't think
that's the kind of thing we .... we wanna use, but there are other items that they can
use to ... to protect the community. So I do agree with Susan that we don't know
what's out there, what'll be the next step. Uh, went from COVID-19 to ... to these
concerns, so uh, I ... but I don't think moratorium would be the answer, just ... just
acquire that inventory of what we have.
Salih: Well I'm not here today because we (mumbled) somebody will come from outside
Iowa City armed and we need all this equipment. We are here because a peaceful
protester has been like, uh, you know, they use some kind of teargas, they use
some kind of, uh, stuff for the ... for the, you know, peaceful protester. We are here
talking about that right now. Uh, I don't know why you bringing something else.
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Teague: I do wonder if we don't ... uh, we can explicitly, you know... say.... um, we prohibit
use of teargas, rubber bullets, flash bangs against peaceful protesters.
Salih: Yeah!
Teague: And .... and whether that's a moratorium, we could always change it. And maybe,
um....
Salih: If you are (mumbled) I'm sorry, Mayor, to cut you off, but if we are referring to
protester, we need to ... to say all those and it'd have to be a moratorium. But ... we
are ... we are talking about a specific thing here. Why not talking in general, of
course if like somebody come to attack Iowa City (mumbled) like by, uh, all this
kind of, uh, high technician weapon, we .... we, you know, just like our police
cannot like just put their (mumbled) and not do anything. I understand that. But
we talking about a specific thing here.
Teague: I ... I think, um, I wanna know what people thoughts are right now on ... um...
language, cause I know that we've all explicitly have expressed no teargas and
that type stuff. Do we want to .... prohibit that against peaceful protesters, even
though we know that, um, we'll be able to come back and get our requested
information and then we'll be able to .... move forward from there. Um, I ... I think
we, there could be some language that we could derive that kinda meet
everybody's, um, I think the census is, uh, we don't want it against peaceful
prote... uh, protesters, but we also.... don't want to not have it in our toolbox if
somethin' should .... if we should become a target as Councilor Mims mentioned.
Like if we become a target and, you know, we have (laughs) like this rush over
here to kind of ...you know.....do some bad things, you know, urn .... so .... what
are thoughts there? Um ... and ... and maybe I'll make a suggestion for language and
somebody can help, uh, guide it. Um, and it would just really be prohibitin' the
use of teargas, rubber bullets, flash bangs, um, towards peaceful protests.
Salih: Yes.
Thomas: That seems okay with me.
Bergus: Yeah, I .... I agree with that. I think right now we .... we really can't... effectively
define peaceful and I think that's where we would get into a very tricky area with
even the scenario that ... that Councilor Mims put forward. Um .... but, yeah, I'm...
I'm in favor of what .... what you indicated, Mayor. I think the understanding is
for some kind of immediate, um .... signal to those who are continuing to
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peacefully protest that they're not gonna be met with that kind of force. Is that
the intent?
Teague: Yes.
Bergus: I agree with that.
Taylor: Could you read that again please, Mayor?
Teague: Prohibiting use of teargas, rubber bullets, flash bangs towards peaceful protesters.
Salih: Just keep in mind we saying peaceful protester here.
Taylor: And that .... that's a big vague. I mean how ...how do you, people define peaceful
differently as we've .... as we've realized through all of these, uh, events over the
last couple weeks, and uh, does that mean when we're telling them they can't use
it but that ... we're not telling them they can't have that in their supplies, the
teargas, so that they (both talking, garbled) when they'd want or...uh, how do we
(both talking, garbled)
Teague: So we're sayin', uh, Council is saying it cannot be used. Um .... but I also think
that given that we're going to have another conversation about this, we'll be able
to ... you know, at our next Council meeting is the hope. Uh, we'll be able to talk
about this some more, but just for today this would be the ... right now we have
four. We have the majority of four. Uh, that have said yes to what ... um, I would,
I (mumbled) um, suggest that this be number sixteen, so that we don't get our
numbers all crossed up. Um, cause I feel like (both talking) Huh?
Salih: I wanna say something after you finish.
Teague: I ... I feel that this is a different item, you know, it's not combined with any other
item. It's a separate item. So we would make it number sixteen. All right, Mayor
Pro Tem!
Salih: No, I ... I just, this is regarding what Pauline said. I just wanna say something to
the Council and to the public, that if you ... if you just think ... if we talk about the
protester in Iowa City. Uh, maybe when I say peaceful protester, they are! They
were peaceful. And maybe they make some public, uh, you know, some of the
public uncomfortable a little bit, but they were not dangerous! They were not at
all dangerous! They break some windows, they bum some, you know, buildings.
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I understand those not right thing to do, but this just makin' people uncomfortable
so you can move forward, but on the most part they were not dangerous. We
cannot say they are not peaceful, because they did not kill nobody, they did not do
anything! They are peaceful protester!
Teague: All right, so we'll move on to number eleven. Direct the Ci ... City Manager to
expressly ban in the Iowa City Police Department's general orders any use of
chokeholds or any other maneuver that cuts off oxygen or blood flow.
Taylor: I think that says it all!
Teague: This is (mumbled) this ... this furthers the language that the Governor did and how
Senate file, I don't even know what right now (laughs)
Weiner: It also ex ... would expressly state in our general orders what is ... what is right now
implied and ta... sort of talked about in other terms. I think it's really important to
have these words, uh, written down.
Mims: Agreed!
Teague: All right, sound like majority there. Can we move on to number twelve? Direct
the City Manager to ensure that Iowa City Police Department's policies and
practices regarding employment of officers was consistent with the goals of
recently (mumbled) Iowa House file 2647, to ensure that officers workin' in Iowa
have not committed serious misconduct as defined therein.
Weiner: (several talking, garbled) say Iowa City?
Weiner: I think it is supposed to say Iowa City, urn .... I .... I just wanna expand on this a
little bit, Mayor, because this .... this is a little bit opaque, right? It's referencing
the, um, the law that was just enacted this week, um, or late last .... I don't even
know when it was — within the last few days, um, regarding (laughs) uh, the ... not
rehiring or not hiring officers who have committed serious misconduct. Now
there is the ... the definition in that bill actually, uh, in my opinion was pretty broad
and favorable. I mean that ... that legislation is relating to sort of certification
standards, but I think the serious misconduct includes an officer who quit for, um,
who resigns or is ... sort of terminated prior to the finding of serious mis....
misconduct or prior to being terminated for that reason. So I feel like it helps
catch, um, some of those cases where an officer may be, um, committed some
misconduct that they should be terminated for and kind of got out of it before the
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termination happened. So that, I just wanted to provide that background so it
doesn't look like we're, um ... just to be more explicit as to what, um, what that
bill says.
Salih: What about if that officer .... who did the mis, you know, the serious misconduct,
is left the department and he went to the city next to us and he's been hired there.
If there is any way we can say that ... to make a commitment to make sure .... to
report the serious misconduct in the officer file. So (both talking) No, yeah!
The, I guess you get what I mean (laughs)
Bergus: Yeah, and... and actually the legislation that was just enacted does provide like a
central, um, reporting, like a centralized reporting requirement, so that entities
that have officers who are .... either terminated or released in this way have to
report that so that there's kind of like a clearing house of that information so that
just that instance that you said, Mayor Pro Tem, hopefully would not occur. So
that other .... other municipalities, other entities would know that that had
happened and then they would not hire that person.
Salih: You mean the police department is reported, right? (both talking, garbled)
Bergus: Right, so like the City would have to report an Iowa City officer.
Salih: Okay.
Taylor: In that respect I think that wording, it is supposed to just say in Iowa. I think that,
uh.... talks to your concern, uh, Mazahir, uh, them not being hired anywhere. I
mean they could just go even to University Heights just across.... across the line.
So I think maybe it is supposed to stay to ensure that officers working in Iowa, so
that anywhere, you know, if it's self-reported and there's a list anywhere in Iowa,
but especially Iowa City, uh... has to have the practice in place that they don't hire
those folks.
Salih: Uh huh! Agree!
Teague: All right, sound like we're all in agreement there. Um, it passed whether we are
or not (laughs) Um, number thirteen, direct the City Manager (mumbled) view
the systems (mumbled) are important mechanisms and (mumbled) place at the
ICPD for evaluatin' compliance with the ICPD's body -worn cameras and in -car
recordings general order, ensure that such systems result in consistent compliance
with the general order and revise as necessary to achieve that goal.
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Bergus: As I said again, Mayor, this is in direct response to the concerns that we heard
including this evening that there have been, um, problems with body cameras, um,
not being turned on or batteries running out or, you know, maybe just lack of
compliance in certain circumstances. So the policy that we have in place already
regarding, um, camera use, both for the body -worn and the in -car cameras and
kind of how those, um ... how those work together, that policy was, um, just
adopted in I think April, 2019, and wouldn't normally be up for review until April
of 2021. So just making sure that it ... that it has the teeth that we would need it to,
and also that it is being complied with!
Taylor: Uh, Laura, uh, I'm not familiar with that, so in that does that include, uh, an
officer, uh.... uh, assuring before they start their shift that that camera is working,
the battery is going to be sufficient, etc. Is that in there then?
Bergus: Um, I don't know off the top of my head. I did just read the policy today. I
don't ... I don't, I honestly don't recall. Um....
Fruin: I can clarify. The policy does require that the officer test the camera before the
start of the shift.
Taylor: Thank you, Geoff (both talking)
Salih: (unable to understand) you know I .... yeah, that's ... if that's there, I don't wanna
say if that true, if that's there already why some officers their cameras not
working?
Teague: I ... I do have questions about, urn ... how are .... how are officers notified that their
cameras aren't workin', you know, kinda like a smoke detector, that when your
battery gets low, you kinda have that annoying beep noise that won't go off.
What, you know, maybe that's somethin' that we'll need to ... we won't have the
answers tonight, um, but I think we need to figure out what are some of the
warnings, because a .... a battery does go dead, right? That's a reality. They're
gonna go dead, um .... unless you put one new one there every night, um,
potentially. And even those may go dead or stop workin' or malfunction. So I
think, um, what we want to do is definitely, um, make it very clear that, you know,
if your body camera or, you know, or the car is not recording, um, we ... I believe
that there is maybe someone lookin' at this centrally or if the .... if the cop, if the
police officer is aware that it's not working, then you know, they need to stop
whatever they're doin' and call someone else to finish whatever they need to, uh,
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to do. So, um, this is .... you know, this right here, number thirteen, urn .... talks
about makin' sure that it is in the policy, um, that, you know, cameras and even
the.....the in -car recorders are running, um, but I think I would be more interested
in finding out what are the alerts to the officers that it's not working, or that it's
not, um, no longer operational, because then if someone is violating, you know,
this order, urn .... or...not bein' compliant, then we do have something... you know,
they're not bein' compliant at that point. So I.....I....I do have questions about,
you know, what does the .... are there any alerts, I guess, uh, to the officers to say
that it's not working properly or not working. Or soon to stop working! (several
talking, garbled)
Dilkes: I ... I think that's exactly how this language reads is that, um ... looking at whatever
systems we have in place to monitor compliance and assuring that there is
sufficient .... (several talking)
Weiner: ...because I would like to make sure that if, uh, sorry, Maz!
Salih: Go ahead! Go ahead, Jan!
Weiner: Okay, I ... I would just like to make sure that there is a real consequence.
Salih: Yes! That's what I was going to say (both talking)
Weiner: ...having, for not having body camera on. And I understand what you're saying,
Mr. Mayor, but I'd like ... I'd like to make sure that as part of this there's.... there is
a real con... consequence to an officer, um, if they are .... not doing what they're
supposed to, which is ... you start to get, you're getting out of your car, you turn on
your body camera.
Salih: Yes, you know, Janice, you just reading my mind. That's what I was trying to say
and you just jump in and say it. Yeah (unable to understand) you know, in
operation all the time I guess. Officer who fail to keep their equipment in
working order must be (unable to understand) in the event of multiple (garbled) I
thinks we need to add that strong word there, so we ... we can have consequence.
Teague: I believe that definitely needs to be present. And ... and add a language for
consequences, um, specific language, I think. Um, we can certainly do that. I'm,
um .... I .... some of your wording, Mayor Pro Tem, was interrupted I think from a
little bad connection for a second there.
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Salih: I was saying body cameras must be operation ... in operation all the time. Officer
who fail to keep their equipment in working order must be disciplined and/or
terminated in the event of multiple violations. Like if they done it more than one
time.
Teague: Yeah, I ... I (both talking)
Dilkes: We're gonna have to talk about compliance with the order because there are a
number of situations in which the camera is to be turned off. When the policy
was developed, uh, we worked, urn ... we got the input of the ACLU, which is very
interested in the privacy of persons who are being filmed. So for instance there
are circumstances, if..when they're interviewing a sexual assault victim for
instance, uh, when they are in a residence, um, and they're not making an arrest or
doing a search, where the camera is turned off. So ... I think we're gonna have to
talk just in general about compliance with the policy.
Salih: I guess they can say that before they turn their camera on. They can say now we
are entering the situation. That's why I'm turning my camera off! You know?
This is ... but we .... we, what we talkin' about (unable to understand) where you
just have interaction with, uh, all this .... is a complaint of the protester, what
they .... they been seeing and when we, they ask about the police cameras, they say
it's not working. That what we really talking about. But I know that there is
another (mumbled) you just said. Of course we are not talking about those.
Teague: How ...how can we get that in language where ... where this isn't affectin' those type
situations?
Bergus: I think, um, maybe for the sake of this evening's conversation, uh, Mayor Pro
Tem, are you comfortable with the ... the fact that, I think we're all on board, that
the intent of reviewing this policy and then making any needed revisions is
because of the concerns that the protesters brought forward of officers indicating
that their camera wasn't working or had run out of batteries, and so the way that
this reads is, you know, to make sure that... whatever, however the policy is
worded exactly, that it results in consistent compliance with the order, which
would be revised as necessary to achieve that goal. So I think that, you know, I...
just for the sake of, um, this evening's discussion, knowing that the goal is to...
have consistent body camera use with potentially some exceptions, like have been
recommended to us by the American Civil Liberties Union, but that we'd be
looking at the policy to make sure we're achieving that goal. Are you
comfortable with that?
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Salih: You know I will be comfortable with what Councilor Weiner said about the
consequence. We need to know what (garbled) punishment if this happening
again and again.
Teague: I ... I do think that, um, the language that was mentioned can be included because
we're talkin' about, urn .... ensure that such systems result in consistent
compliance with the general order. So .... if the general order says that you can
tum your camera off in these type situations (both talking)
Salih: Exactly!
Teague: ....then I think that doesn't apply, um, to the language that Mayor Pro Tem
mentioned, at least in my understanding. And it's more ..... more so that we want
that language in the ... in the policy. What are (several talking, garbled)
Taylor: Well I agree with you, Mayor. I think we've been talking all along on several of
these. I think it's you that has brought up oftentimes about not being really
individually specific on things, so if you're talkin', I mean, these aren't.... these
are the resolutions. These aren't the policies, but I think, yes, that ... that kind of
strong language needs to be in the policy, uh, you know, an officer, uh, needs to
know that there will be real consequences if..if they're found to consistently, you
know, way that it was a dead battery, but not doing anything about getting a
different battery. Check it ... check it often. I'm sure they check to make sure, you
know, uh, all of their equipment is .... is .... is adequate and working order, so, uh,
but I think not getting into the real nitty gritty specifics right now but making that
statement that we strongly believe this, that it's important and that it's important
that they...they know it's in working order.
Teague: Yeah, and I .... I think for at least, since that's so critical, that's like really, really
critical, and it's very specific to discipline and termina.... and discipline and
termination that I think it....it should be spelled out here, um, so that it's very
explicit to be included in such policy.
Bergus: Mayor, I ... I would advocate that there would be similar consequences for
violations of ...any of these policies, right? Not just the failure to .... to
consistently comply with the body camera policy but if we had an officer who
fails to comply with the duty to intervene or, urn .... you know, the ... the chokehold
maneuver, I mean I .... I, isn't that our intent, that there would be consequences
across the board for violation of. ... of policies?
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Mims: I would agree with Councilor Bergus. I think .... I think to try and get into, um,
what are ... what are the discipline issues for one ... for violating one general order is
getting beyond where we want to be tonight. I think what we also might want to
have that discussion is what ... what are the policies within the police department in
terms of any officer, um, with... either multiple violations of general orders or if
there's a violation that is serious enough even one time of...of a general order that
would cause certain discipline or termination. So I think we might want to ask for
information from staff just on what ... what do those things look like so we have a
better understanding of how that works, um, and when they would discipline or
when they would actually move to terminate. But I would agree with ... with
Councilor Bergus. That should apply to more than just the use of body cams, to
help us have that understanding of those procedures.
Teague: I think for number ...if. ... if we were to do this as a ... as separate item number
seventeen, I think you're ... I think you're exactly right. We want all the policies to
be adhered to, and I think we can utilize that language that, um, Mayor Pro Tem
stated, but I think we can highlight, urn ... um, you know, two things. One would
be, um, the body, you know .... urn .... to include, we can write to include body
cams ... and chokeholds, because those .... in relation to Black Lives Matter, I think
that we can end the resolution and at least highlight those two things, even though
we're talkin' about all policies.
Salih: I don't think when the protester protest up, they brought it for us to tell us, yeah,
some of your cameras not working. Make sure the police to have their camera on
(mumbled) I think they need to know what going to happen if somebody just like
still doing the same thing and there is no policy in place to punish those, you
know, those officer who have multiple violation. And, uh, if we really need to act,
and ... to say yeah ... because this is happening with all the black, like most of the
people who came and complain are black, at least, and Black Lives Matter. This
is will ensure that. If we have one officer who is not following this, we have
policy in place, that officer should not be working on Iowa City department. Uh,
you know, police department. That what I really think. We need to ensure that
we have the strong... you know (mumbled) policy or termination policy if this
multiple, if the officer have multiple violation of not turning their camera on. I
really believe we need to add that, even if I'm the only one saying that, if I'm the
only one voting for that, uh, this means I'm not gonna vote for this item, and I
don't know how you gonna take it out.
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U.:
Taylor: Well, Mazahir, I kind of alluded to that when we were talking about the
disproportionate traffic stops, which I think that's almost more severe than, you
know (both talking)
Salih: Yes!
Taylor: ....if ..if there is an officer and ... and we need to keep a record of that, that ... that's
continually the one that's doing the disproportionate stops of. ... of people of color
or that, uh, there needs to be a consequence with that also.
Salih: Yes. True. I agree.
Mims: The point that I was trying to make a minute ago was that there should be
consequences for officers not following the general orders. Right? But we need
to understand what proced.... what policies and procedures are in place now. So..
I mean I agree with what ... what Mayor Pro Tem is saying. I agree with what
Pauline is saying. We can sit here and talk about it all night, but my point is let's
ask for staff to just give us a report or .... or point us in the direction of what those
procedures are when officers are found to be iii a violation of any of the general
orders, so we have a better understanding of how that process works.
Teague: I ... I, um, I wanna chime in. I think... urn.... you just said that .... we want officers
to obey any .... all of the policies, right? And Councilor Bergus said it. Mayor Pro
Tem is sayin' it. I'm sayin' it. Councilor Taylor is sayin' it. I think we're all
sayin' the same thing, and it...it won't change .... what we're sayin' now, I don't
see changing today or six years from now, like officers should follow. The
language that Mayor Pro Tem stated, it could either go for all departments or all
policies, and it can have a ... including, if you wanted to highlight something, or in
this instance, I think what I'm hearing is ... we all agree that it should be a part of
this one policy for the body cameras and the in -car recordings. So maybe we just
added here, we just add language here which ... we added here specifically here for
this, but really we can add it later down the line, for everything that the ... that the
policies are. So I hear everybody sayin' the same thing, so I would suggest that
we kinda get a ... a consensus on if we want to add the language right here for
number thirteen specifically.
Salih: You know, I think there is many, many policy in the police department need to be
review and change, but for the sake of what the protester exactly ask, we need to
add that language here. And after that we can go to "the rest of the policy, because
I know there is many, many other policies, but we need to focus now. You know,
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Councilor Mims said earlier we need to focus on what the ... demand of the
protester is. That's one of the demand. I guess we need to add this to this one, to
this demand.
Bergus: I .... I apologize, Mayor Pro Tem, and Mayor. I'm lost as to what language we're
actually adding.
Teague: Would you read that again, Mayor Pro Tem?
Salih: Uh, I said earlier body cameras must be opera... operational all the time, uh, officer
who fail to keep their equipment in working order must be disciplined and
(mumbled) or terminated in the event of multiple violations.
Bergus: Yeah, so I'm looking at the discipline policy right now and there's progressive
discipline and then the grievance procedure that would kick in from our current,
um .... uh, collective bargaining agreement and also Chapter 400 of the Iowa Code.
Sol...I am not opposed to what you said, um, Mayor Pro Tem, except I think .... I
think I would say take out the very first part that says they have to be on at all
times because we know that the policy has those limited exceptions that I think
from what we know were carefully crafted with trying to balance the .... the need
for always having cameras on during public interactions with those very limited
exceptions for privacy reasons. So ... so could we take out just that at all times, but
include the (both talking)
Salih: What about just all the time where it's required, because there is .... situation is not
required, you know, like you have to turn it off as our City Attorney said in certain
like, uh, you know, uh.... situation. When they handle certain situation is not
supposed to be on. Uh, just you can change that to, you know, to add this
language. I really don't know how, but...
Teague: I wonder if (several talking, garbled) Go right ahead! I wonder if we ... we
(mumbled) times consistent with....you know, the .... the policy. Cause... because
the police lays it out when you can turn it on and off, on ... on or off (garbled) So
maybe we add that language, consistent with .... I don't know!
Dilkes: If I can add, um, as ... as, um .... Laura noted, we have requirements for progressive
discipline. We have appeals to the Civil Service Commission of discipline, and
one of the cornerstones of determining what appropriate discipline is is to
examine the specific facts of any particular situation. So to ... determine as we sit
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here.... what.... particular behavior will result in what particular kind of discipline
is going to be problematic.
Teague: I .... I do think .... when we're talkin' about body cameras and that type stuff, that is
the .... that's a safety net within the community. Um .... especially given, you
know, the recent stories that is, you know, across our entire nation. I ... I think this
is not a huge leap for body cameras. I think, again, the .... the person will be able
to tell their story, I believe. This didn't just say terminate. It said discipline or
terminate. So, you know, if the person's story was, you know, every day this
week I left from this private meeting that I had where I couldn't film the person
and I got called right away to someplace else, and I arrived and I didn't have it on.
I think that... all that can be somewhat taken into consideration, dependin' on the
outcome of that, you know, interaction, of course, right? If there's complaints
from all of those interactions then you have to believe that the person just leavin',
you know, the private meeting, you know (laughs) So I ... I still feel, I mean ... that
the language is acceptable, at least for my per.... personal opinion, but....
Fruin: Mayor, Council, if I may try to help you with this discussion, and I ... and I do
think that we can help you, urn .... uh, kinda navigate the policy and all the
surrounding, whether it's collective bargaining or State law regarding disci .... we
can help you navigate all of that. Uh, you have clearly made your intent known
that you want the cameras on at all time, and if a camera is not functional you
don't want an officer on the street. You want that officer to ... to come back and...
and get a functioning camera before he or she proceeds, uh, with their ...with their
shift. Um, right now as it's worded, um, you are directing me to ensure
compliance. Um, why don't you have me .... why don't you just add something in
there that, um, requires me to report back to you on ... uh, on this item, and that
way you can see what changes I've directed to the policy, uh, and you can make
sure that such changes address your concerns with, uh, compliance with policy,
with progressive discipline, and we can take that .... we can take that time to ... um,
help inform you of all the surrounding pieces to ... to that policy. So, right now,
again, as it's worded you're just directing me to do something. I'm not
necessarily reporting back. Why don't you just add a .... a ..... a commentary
that ... that, um, provides for your final review and approval of any changes to this
policy, so that you can ensure that it's completed, um, in line with your intent, uh,
that you're articulating tonight.
Salih: I really am sorry, Geoff, but I don't agree with that. Uh, I don't know the other
Council, what they say, but I ... I have to be clear, uh, and honest. I don't agree
with that you come back to us. We are here today to solve the, one of the requests
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of the protester. We have to speak up our mind, we have to find a punishment for
an officer who will do multiple thing. I ... I don't know, I know the, kind of the...
the (mumbled) I .... I .... I hear Janice, you know, Weiner said we need like some
kind of consequence, and I .... I know that Pauline Taylor, a little bit, she ... she said
something about this. I ... I think, I really need to hear how many Council import
of like ... of this, so we can go from here. Because this is .... it take a long time.
Mims: I support (both talking)
Thomas: ...supportive of ...of Geoff's, uh, suggestion. I ... I think there are too ma ... it gets
too complicated it sounds to me to try to capture ... the disciplinary and termination
aspects of...of what it is we're trying to say here. Uh, I mean I ... I think it's clear
we're concerned about it. I don't know if...if the resolution of it needs to fall
(mumbled) the outcome of this needs to fall within this resolution. Um, if, you
know ...this is .... should in my view should be at a much more general level than
getting into the procedural aspects of our policy.
Salih: (several talking, garbled)
Bergus: Sorry!
Teague: Could .... could I just add that the language that Mayor Pro Tem said was, um, I
deal with policies every day (laughs) so, um, she's ... she said that it would be
disciplined and/or, if I'm usin' the words correctly, termination. So ... the ... the
existing... protocols for our determination within all the other bodies, this does not
go outside of that process, but this boldly states that .... we will look at any of
those officers that don't wear their, uh, body cameras consistent with, you know,
the policy, we're gonna look at that very closely. So I don't feel that ... I .... I feel
like this make our bold statement. It doesn't go against, uh, what's already in the
policy. It doesn't go against, um, the person not usin' their, um, body cameras in
those private situations where they can turn it off. This doesn't go against that, in
my opinion. It just states very boldly that, you know, we ... we want body cameras
....to be compliant with the policy. So that's how I see it.
Bergus: I agree with the City Manager's recommendation of seeing exactly how that
would play out. I think ... I think there's a lot going on here. I think we're getting
tired and I still have concerns with calling out discipline for one policy but not for
violations of others.
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Mims: I would agree with Councilor Bergus and Councilor Thomas. I ... would go along
with City Manager's recommendation. There's a lot of legal aspects when it gets
into, um, discipline and termination, and so I think we should leave that out of this
and let the City Manager come back with, um, the changes that he's made and we
can address things there if we feel like we need to do something differently.
Taylor: I agree with, um, Mims and Bergus and ... and Thomas. Uh, as I'd said earlier I
just don't think it's the place here to get really specific. We didn't do it with the
others, uh, so if it's in the policy, then it can lead to termination, uh, or discipline
or .... whatever. Uh, that should be sufficient.
Salih: If you don't agree, and this is on the resolution, how this work? And also I was
trying to add on this resolution later about dropping the charges and everything. I
would like to know, as one of the protester demand. How this going to work?
Teague: Well, uh, my...my, so my thought for the droppin' of the charges, that is somethin'
that we'll submit to the County. Um, I think I .... I have a little, uh, and maybe
staff can help. Uh, we're gonna talk about the dropping of the charges (both
talking)
Salih: But we need it as a part of the resolution. This is one of the demand of the
protester. Why you taking it outside, you know, this, uh, this demand? I ... I want
that to be here, and also, you know, if...if you wanna take it out, then take this out
too!
Weiner: (mumbled) I think we can draft something additional on the charges that we can
add to this. I don't think it should necessarily .... necessarily be separate because
this is an expression of our will this evening. Um, I would simply offer one
possible compromise on language from what we've been working on, uh, on,
urn ... on number thirteen, to say at the end of it ... um, result in consistent
compliance with the general order, revise as necessary to ... to achieve that goal,
with real consequences for non-compliance. Or to include real consequences for
non-compliance. I mean I .... I agree with you, Maz and Bruce, doesn't look like
there is consensus for that right now. I'm trying to find something that will be...
make it very clear that we expect there to be in whatever the final general orders
are, real consequences for non-compliance, without specifying what those
consequences are.
Taylor: (garbled) that, Janice.
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Mims: From a procedural standpoint, I guess I would like to request that we .... we have
four Councilors who have indicated their support of the City Manager's
recommendation, um, that we simply add to that, that he will report back to us,
and since we do have that majority, I would like to request that we honor that, add
that to that number thirteen and move on.
Salih: And just right now Pauline said that we need to add what Janice said, and now we
have four too here.
Teague: I .... I guess I'll .... I'll ask one last time .... with what Councilor Weiner just
suggested adding .... uh, towards the end, and again we can even include the City
Manager language. What are people initial response? It ... it was .... it
was .... (mumbled)
Bergus: The City Manager would report back and there would be the expectation of real
consequences.
Weiner: (mumbled) for non-compliance.
Bergus: (mumbled) with that.
Teague: All right. Uh, given all the conversation I'm comfortable with that as well.
Bergus: Can I just ask a procedural question though ... to .... to Mayor Pro Tem's point of,
um, you know, what's included in this and what isn't if we haven't hit all of the
protesters' demands, um, what... how.... how do we handle that? As we go through
all of these, I think, you know, we've been able to reach at least consensus on all
of them, but, um .... do we need to .... address that before we finalize this?
(mumbled) ...for the City Attorney.
Dilkes: Well, that could be done in any number of ways. Um, if you can agree on the
language of a resolution, or get a majority for .... to support the language of the
resolution, then ... you can move forward with this resolution. If you warm break
it into pieces .... and allow for votes on .... individual pieces of it, uh, you can do
that too.
Teague: So I think for the sake of right now, there, um, there is majority vote for the City
Manager... uh.... (mumbled) submit, City Manager, uh, submit a report and that,
um, real consequences. We talked about that. Uh, bein' a part of number thirteen.
So then maybe we move on to number fourteen, if people are ready to move on.
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Direct the City Manager to revise the ICPD's general orders to require officers to
intervene and stop excessive force used by other officers, and report the incident
directly to a supervisor, and enter into a memorandum of understanding with other
law enforcement agencies regarding such intervention when the excessive force is
being used by an officer of another agency, such as that currently bein' discussed
and circulated among area law enforcement attached as Exhibit B. And I don't
know that we have that Exhibit B to, um, display here, but um, is there someone
that wanna kind of give a, uh, explanation of this number?
Weiner: Was it....it was in one of our packets, the... the.... the draft letter (mumbled) the
draft memorandum of understanding, there it is, which basically says, you know,
if you .... all the local area law enforcement agencies, you have a duty to intervene,
um, if you .... if excessive force is being used.
Teague: Yep, and that's exactly, um, like our ...our officers specifically will intervene, um,
if excessive force is bein' used as well, and then at the bottom it, uh, it had some
of the law enforcement entities that we would submit that to. And maybe if you
wanna just show the bottom.....so people can see that it's .... um .... yep! All right!
Any .... any, I'm assumin' consensus on that?
Salih: Yes!
Teague: Yes, lookin' at nodding heads (several talking, garbled) All right! Number
fifteen, request and receive a report and recommendation from the City's Public
Art Advisory Committee after input from and consultation with local black artists
on measures Council should consider to provide opportunities for artistic
expression by the Black Lives Matter movement and communities of color,
including but not limited to visual arts as well as a public festival dedicated to the
celebration of black culture. And I might ask, um, Councilor.... well, Councilor
Bergus to speak to this, so that, um, it can be kind of explained, cause this is
really in conjunction with.... well.... I'm not gonna explain it! So if you don't
mind (laughs)
Bergus: Yeah, well we .... we've heard.....we've heard a good deal of input, um, about the
need for artistic expression and also celebration of black culture, um, specifically
and most recently I think the Iowa Freedom Riders had mentioned on our last
work session the Jazz Fest, um, and also there was, uh, some conversation about,
you know, murals and other public art. So trying to encompass all of that into,
um, making sure that there is, uh, different visual arts festival, music, um, all
different types of art, and dedicating that and .... and tasking our Public Art
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Advisory Committee, um, in consultation with the black community and black
artists to .... to celebrate and elevate that. That's the intent of that one.
Teague: I think this'll be great and um, in conjunction with the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission, I think whatever this, um .... whatever the Public Arts Advisory
Committee kinda ... uh, comes up with, it can also kinda be a part of that
committee, just to allow them to focus on some fun stuff, urn .... some .... some
great aspects. So, yeah! I think it'll be great!
Salih: Yes!
Teague: All right (both talking)
Weiner: I think it was noted in our package that we also, the last two years, increased the
budget for the ... for the arts, which means the winner project they come up with
ought to be able to be funded quite expeditiously.
Teague: Yes! All right, so we ... we have, um, just a few items. There's just a few items
that I had, um, that we needed to just touch base again on. Um, I only see two.
It's number one and it might be.....it might be number two, but I'll clarify that.
Um .... (both talking, garbled)
Salih: Mayor, I'm sorry, it's not only two because you did not talk about the ... the
demand about dropping the charges, you know, we need (both talking)
Teague: Oh, yes! Yes! Yes, I ... I'm referring to there's two more things that we have to
review, that we've already talked about, and then the other item is going to be the
demand, uh, for droppin' the charges, and actually, uh, prior to tonight, I know
that Councilor Taylor wanted to talk about that. So...
Taylor: Yes! Yes, thank you. When we get to that.
Teague: All right. So ... urn .... let us go back to the, it's number one. Um .... that (clears
throat) I wanted to make sure that we had consensus there .... on number one. Um,
it...it talked about .... you know, preliminary plan or it talked about ... uh, policin'
initiatives in other cities, um, which .... I guess personally I feel that this is ... this is
that, we have opportunity to talk, um, about all of our policin' towards community
policing, um, but .... I.....I kinda got, well so I wanted to get a consensus on who's
okay with this language. Or was there somethin' else that wanted to be
suggested?
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Bergus: I'm fine with this or with a preliminary plan, which based on my notes that was
kind of the change. I mean I .... I don't wanna push the deadline out. I want us to
have something concrete before the end of the year. I very much, uh, appreciate
the ... the need that this will be a much larger, um, this is a very large and complex
undertaking, but I want us to be time -bound in what we're, you know, to get
something in place before the end of the year. That's... that's my feeling.
Salih: And the only (several talking, garbled)
Mims: I would agree with Councilor Bergus, and I think I like John's idea of adding the
word preliminary in there, because we don't know if we'll be able to get a fully
developed plan by that date, so that... gives us a little bit of leeway. So I'm
comfortable with it, with.... particularly with adding the word `preliminary.'
Salih: My request was just referring to one of the cities, like Minneapolis and other city,
in the state of. ... just leaving it like that, cities. Because that's what the protester
ask for! If we are really here to do what they ask.
Fruin: Mayor, if I may, um, certainly staff has no objection to listing a particular city that
any Council Member may want us to look into, whether that's Minneapolis or
Camden or Los Angeles. Uh, we'll be open to looking at any city and ... andthe
models that they put forward, or that they already have in place. Um, I wanted to
just mention the September 15'h date, the importance there, and I....1, uh, I .... I
agree that a .... a fully developed plan by that date will be, uh, will be tough. Um,
I think preliminary is good, but December 15'h is ... is roughly the time that we
deliver the ... the budget to you, and I think you're gonna wanna be clear ...uh, or
you're gonna wanna see in a proposed budget that there are resources behind
whatever plans are put forward. So I would encourage you, um, to keep that
December 15°i date, uh, and that holds staff accountable to make sure that there're
....there are budget resources behind whatever plans are developed. I do like the
preliminary language, and again, no objection to naming any .... any particular city
that any of you want us to look at. We can always include `and other cities' on
there to be all encompassing.
Teague: You know as I'm .... as I'm reading this right now, I think ... um, if I was to just take
a leap out there, we could.... state, and I was ... I read the other cities a minute ago.
I don't even know where they are anymore. But there is three different
cities .... (several talking, garbled) I ... yes?
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Salih: San Francisco, California I guess and that's (garbled) (sighs) I don't know.
Weiner: (garbled) reference to Camden, New Jersey.
Salih: Yes! New Jersey!
Weiner: Um .... I would, I'm fine with that. I would also like to have San Francisco in
there, if -and to avoid sort of a long list, but I think the ... I think Geoff's
suggestion of `and any other cities' we would like to add or something like that
would be fine.
Teague: I think, um (garbled, noises in background) ...on the conversation here that
I'm.....that we're havin' right now, um, police initiatives in other cities, including
and then we list the four that was just mentioned, and I think we leave it at that.
Weiner: How bout adding including but not limited to?
Mims: Yes, I think so too. We shouldn't limit it to just four. If anybody finds others that
are relevant, we should not limit ourselves.
Teague: All right! All right, are we good with that language?
Salih: Uh huh!
Teague: All right, and .... uh, number two .... I have a asterisk and, um....
Salih: Core neighborhood!
Teague: Yes, core neighborhood. And do we, um .... creation of a new plan ... a new
affordable housing plan. I think, um....
Salih: What of the same wording, including and not limited, to the core neighborhood.
Teague: Cause the core neighborhoods will always be a part of ...it's always a part of a
plan. So .... I think if. ... if the language of the .... of the, you know, of the
protesters, um, and .... and personally I think that we have allowed the core
neighborhood to kinda get out of, you know, havin' affordable housin' with the
fee in lieu of. Um, again this plan doesn't say that, you know, the protes.... uh, I
mean that the, uh, Truth and Reconciliation Commission don't say, well .... the
money is worth more than actually standard or they ...they want the money, uh,
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versus someone stayin' in the core neighborhoods, and they can put it somewhere
else, but I think if we have it in here, it at least puts the.... emphasis on that
discussion. What are people's thoughts?
Weiner: I'm fine with using the similar language that Maz... that Mayor Pro Tem just
suggested, including but not limited to.
Bergus: I also am fine with that. I think it needs to be inclusive of the entire city, but if
other Councilors feel strongly that it call out the core neighborhoods. Uh, my
note said core neighborhoods and downtown, but however that's worded, as long
as it's included but not limiting. (both talking) ...including but not limited to.
Salih: I agree too!
Taylor: And I would be okay with that language, cause as I'd said, uh, I don't think we
need to limit it to downtown and ... and core neighborhoods, but should be
throughout the entire city. So, uh, the .... the not limited to would.... would, uh,
speak to that.
Thomas: Yeah, that...that's fine.
Mims: (both talking) ...not limited to, and I would just clarify one thing. Particularly in
the Riverfront Crossings area, if the fee in lieu is used, that money has to stay in
Riverfront Crossings. So just .... (both talking)
Salih: Yes!
Mims: ....clarification.
Teague: (several talking, garbled) So, um, it sound like we have consensus, which is
great. So, um, we're .... we will use the terminology, um, if everybody is in
agreement, um, core neighbor.... downtown and core neighborhood. Is that okay?
Salih: Yes!
Mims: ...but not limited to.
Teague: Yes, but not limited to.
Taylor: (several talking) ...correct, yes.
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Salih: ....but not limited to (several talking)
Teague: I just wanted to make sure that those two were highlighted. All right? All right,
so we .... I don't have any, I think we are con ... we're in agreement with everything,
at least through majority vote or a majority on every item here. We just have one
more item to discuss and that is, um .... I think that'll be item number seventeen
related to charges. Um....
Salih: If you don't mind, Mayor, you know, I just wanna make sure about something we
discuss very briefly and you said that this is up to the (unable to understand,
garbled)
Teague: Yes!
Salih: ...Commission. Uh, you know, uh, we talked about like diversity of the staff and I
guess, uh, also, uh, Councilor Bergus said we have that on the (mumbled) plan,
uh, you know, just by .... by (unable to understand) with, uh, with—with, uh, you
know, IFR, I just find out what ... what's really was, you know, uh, they were, uh,
talking about was, uh, 30% of the employee to be people of color. That what it is,
but I understand that the challenge of the 30% that everybody was talking about.
I just wanna make sure this is will be a goal, not like a goal of percentage. No. I
just mean like a goal of, um, like hiring people of color somehow either by
putting language there or by, uh, you know, ensuring that the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission will talk about it.
Teague: Um, I'll chime in and say that we have it in two different places stated, um, in the
two ways that you described it in. So ... in number three we added, um, to expand
efforts to increase people of color employed by the City, decrease in barriers for
the, you know, bein' a part, and then in number two, where we talked about the
Truth and, uh, Reconciliation Commission, uh, when Council .... uh, addressed the
specific allocations (mumbled) specific, urn .... I don't know, task (laughs) I'm
blankin' on my words right now. Uh, to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
that 30% of diversity and inclusion, uh, will be a part of their conversation.
Salih: Uh huh.
Teague: So we do have it in both terms that you just mentioned.
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Salih: Okay. And when you talking about number seventeen, because the last number
we have here is fifteen, are you saying sixteen to be added to the resolution or
what you talking about?
Teague: Yeah, so number sixteen is prohibitin' use of teargas, rubber bullets, flash bangs to
peaceful protesters. We added that.
Salih: Sure. Okay. And seventeen now. Okay.
Teague: All right? All right, so we are .... any other item above, because I know that, um
(mumbled) we're gonna go on to seventeen. All right, and we .... I know that
Councilor Taylor wanted to, uh, kinda lead the discussion here.
Taylor: Yes, thank you, Mayor. This ... this one particular item of the demands, uh, of the,
um, the group, uh, really struck at me, uh, and I wanted to take it seriously, and
that's why I'd asked for the list. I .... I wanted to see what have they been charged
with and ... and so I really wanted to speak, uh, what I believe are... are some really
minor infractions, uh, and ... and think that in most of those situations, uh, those
citations should be lifted. I mean, uh, disorderly' conduct, unlawful assembly, uh,
failure to ... to dis.... disperse, those kinds of things. Uh, I ... I really do believe, uh,
these charges that incurred during that time period, I think it was May 30`h to, um,
June something, June .... sixth? June ... yeah, that date in June. Uh, although, um,
there are a few that I would consider, uh, slightly more serious, and even to the
point of being safety issues. So I ... I want everybody in the community to know
that this isn't a green light that things such as failure to stop at a stop sign,
speeding, or driving under the influence are acceptable practices, because, uh,
those are safety issues and they aren't acceptable. Uh, and a little bit more serious
than some ... some of the other ones, but ... but I do believe that for the most part,
uh, these charges should all be dropped.
Teague: So for the sake of, urn .... I was lookin' at each of them, um, do you want to be
charged with that or do you want, um, do you want ... do you wanna go through the
list?
Taylor: Oh, go over each of the items? And ... and (both talking) Sure! I mean if. ... I
mean it's getting late (laughs) but very late and I know everybody's getting tired,
um ... uh, we could just go over it and just sort of discuss it and if one of `em jumps
out and somebody in the group would say, oh no maybe we better keep that on the
books and pursue that, uh, that's fine, cause I know like one of them, the .... the
first one like, well there were two OWIs but we didn't really have what the, uh, it
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said pending results because they ...they didn't really give what the alcohol content
was. I mean if it's just a minuscule amount that's... that's a pretty, uh, minor
infraction, I believe, but if it was a very high content, no! That person should not
have been driving, but, uh, so if people wanna... and you know, and speeding, we
didn't know. I mean, that could be five miles over or was it fifteen miles over?
Uh, so I ... is that what you'd want to just go over each one of `em and talk about
`em that way or .... (both talking)
Teague: Yeah, so I am ... urn ... I don't know if anyone has ... I'm tryin' to pull up the list. I'm
not on my regular laptop tonight, um, so I'm tryin' to .... pull it up right now. I
(both talking)
Salih: ....is everybody saw that list or just (both talking)
Taylor: I .... I have the list! It was included in ... in our information, in one of the IPs I
think(both talking) Yes, yes! Uh huh, so I've got it in front of me.
Salih: For the sake of the time, if everybody saw the list, let's talk about it. We don't
have to go through it if everybody already saw.
Taylor: Well I think we could do the .... the blanket statement about, uh, lifting, uh, the...
the citations, but if there were some that stood out, like ... like I said the speeding
or the OWI, uh, or you know, driving even without a license. That one, that's
pretty severe too, you know, if there were those. Uh, you know, we've already
talked about marijuana, uh, we wanna decriminalize that. So I'm sure people
would be in agreement like toss that out, that's not right, and possession of the
paraphernalia, uh, you know, define that too. What ... what did they have, what
kind of paraphernalia did they have? I ... I think I used the, uh, the, uh.... story of,
you know, people that actually have meth labs in the back of their car. Now that's
serious, but if it's just some .... like a bong or...or a roach clip or something like
that, uh, that .... that's pretty minor I think and we should just toss that out. But...
but, yeah, if there were ... maybe that's the route we could take. If..if there are
some of you out there that thought maybe some of these were maybe a little more,
uh, extreme and serious or a safety issue, uh, we might pull those out, but what
does everybody think? Everybody's quiet (laughs)
Bergus: Well, Mayor, I just wanted to note, I'm not gonna weigh in on any of the
individual charges, just because I feel like I have a ethical conflict of interest, um,
on influencing individual cases, so I'm not gonna weigh in on that, but I want ... I
hope everyone... yeah. Go ahead and just....
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Mims: Well I'll .... I'll weigh in. I think if you look at the list, um, to me the first six
should... should not be .... we should not be recommending. Those are OWI,
pending results; speeding; driving under suspension; uh, says stop sign, I assume
running a spot ... stop sign; speeding and other OWI; possession of firearms under
influence. So those on that first, on page five, I would not agree to, uh, requesting
any of those be dismissed. Um .... I guess I'll just stop there and see if there's
agreement on those. There's a couple others that I...
Salih: I just, uh, you know I really don't agree with that. I just think that those people
has been target, like they ...the police did not find them somewhere and stop them
because they did something. They been target, they been waiting for to get out
from the protests, so they can arrest them and search them and find all this
problems. But you know that's why just the .... the notion that they have been
target by the Iowa City Police Department and, you know, that's just make me
say drop all the ... drop the charges and that's it.
Taylor: Anyone else .... have any comments?
Thomas: (several talking, garbled) you know I ... this was ... this was a, kind of one where I
moved around a bit over the process of thinking about it. And, um .... I think
given ... I kind of landed with the sense of given the circumstances of the event, uh,
you know, that were kind of a historic moment, uh, where there was... and it was
sort of at the peak of the, uh.... the ... the protests in terms of the ... the, you know,
the energy and so forth associated with it, uh.... that I just felt, you know, asking
for all the charges to be dropped at this point, urn .... seemed to be the most
appropriate response, rather than getting into, you know, kind of a line -by-line
item, which under other circumstances it would be my preferred approach, but
in ... in this circumstance, uh, you know, waiving the charges seems the most, um,
appropriate, given... given the nature of the event.
Teague: I was gonna chime in just to, um, to say as you look at the list, urn .... you know,
we ... we would be makin' judgment calls on what is serious, what isn't serious,
um, or what we're concerned about, what we're not concerned about. I think for
me, um, Councilor Thomas just said it best — is that given the circumstances, you
know, there was, um, unacceptable behavior bein' performed, um, and .... and....
and I, we see it all the time. We see it, urn .... for football games here, when
there's football games there's... there's.... there's allotment and acceptance of
behaviors that just would not be tolerated any other time, and of course once the
game is over, things are back to normal, and so that's where I am seeing this as...
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if we get into, you know, sayin' this, this, and this is ... is bad and this is good, I
think given the circumstances, um, and this, urn.... situation, I would say we
waive all the char ...we .... we waive the charges within our ability, or suggest how
we waive the charges. I'm not (mumbled) all that goes, but .... urn, and I think...
the .... the protesters, um, the Iowa Freedom Riders, we have been developing, um,
you know, conversations with them and about safety, and we're gonna continue
those conversations, because they want safety within those, you know, protesters
that come, and so .... I believe ... and I believe they're workin' hard to do that,
because they don't want somethin' to happen to anybody. So, in this instance I
will say that we support, uh, waiving all of the charges, um, given the event and
the circumstances.
Taylor: Thank you, Mayor. I .... I, that's kind of the way I was leaning too, uh, and I don't
know if we're going to take time for some closing comments. I was just going to
throw in here too that I think, uh, I wanna thank everybody that .... that called in
earlier during.... during the public comment time, because I think that's been
important through this whole process and with all of us tonight (garbled) as
Council Members that, um, to make appropriate changes through cooperation of
everybody that's involved or would be affected by the decisions and it ... we as a
group, everybody need... needs to have the courage, uh, and the will to ... to make
some really difficult decisions and make these things a reality and... and make
changes in a way that, uh, we can follow through with also, and ... and making a
good faith effort, and I think that each one of us did that and the folks that called
in made a good effort too to ... to make their point, so just wanted to thank
everybody for that.
Teague: We have four Councilors that are in support, um, I'm assumin' if Councilor
Bergus is going to refrain from (several talking, garbled) I'm sorry, did I say the
wrong name?
Salih: No, you did not give Councilor Janice to say something.
Teague: Oh!
Weiner: No, I'm just sayin' I'm in agreement in this ... under these circumstances. Um, I,
you k now, I would like people to do their best to be law abiding and all ... all this,
but going forward, but I thought that your comparison to like a game day or
something like that was ... was apt and we've heard that others time before. It's not
that they're really comparable but we forgive a heck of a lot, uh, that ... that
happens under those circumstances. So .... um, and before we close this whole
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thing, I actually have one more additional short suggestion, but continue with
whatever you're doing now. I'm gonna prolong us like two more minutes.
Teague: Okay.
Salih: I wanna ask something on this. I don't know how you guys gonna word this, but
I ... I will (mumbled) some suggestion if you don't mind, and uh, just if you can
include that or discuss about it, you k now, I thinks when we ask, you know, of
course we have to ask the County Attorney because they are the one who
supposed to drop this charges, but I really want that to have it in writing and also
the request (mumbled) letter to be shared with the IFR. And we need also to
revise citation and the City authority. I .... still if this protest gonna continue, I
would really would like to tell Iowa City Police Department to stop, you know
(mumbled) and targeting IFR organizer and activist. (mumbled, garbled) civilians
immediately. I .... I really don't wanna see that, as long as they ..they come out,
they said we are peaceful. We been seeing them like really peaceful in the way
that even Iowa City police what they mean by peacefully. They been peaceful and
I thinks we need to, uh, really try not to target them, search them, you know, while
they are of course protesting. So .... uh, also just like also (mumbled) targeting
protester for minor violation, as we just said. We don't want .... yeah, I understand
that we don't want nobody to have, to do something wrong, you know? I .... I
don't like people committing a violation, yes, we don't want them, but if there is
minor thing that happen inside the protest, uh, you know, protester (mumbled) just
like targeting them for those minor violation, which can, uh, become more
serious ... can have more serious consequence (mumbled) I always have hard time
pronounce that word right. Yeah.
Teague: (mumbled) understood (laughs) All right! So .... any other comments? One thing
I was mentioning was for Councilor Bergus ... since you didn't weigh in on this
item, is this an item that you want pulled separately?
Bergus: I don't know, I guess I would defer to the City Attorney. I really wanna vote yes
on everything that we've talked about and just abstain from that one item.
Teague: Okay.
Bergus: If you guys are okay with that, if...(Iaughs) might make that work (laughs)
Teague: I know that we have (both talking)
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Salih: ....I'm not like agreeing with on the ... on the other items, I can vote no for it, or
what do you mean by...I just wanna understand.... like... if I'm not 100% agree
with one of the .... sixteen or seventeen, I can ... I can vote no for that?
Teague: Um, maybe we'll have, uh, City Attorney Eleanor talk about if someone didn't
want to vote on an item that they .... wanted pulled. The other thing is, um, I was
sketching some notes. Do we have the final of this on..or is ... or how is that ... how
do we plan to get the final of what we discuss tonight?
Dilkes: Well I ... I think Kellie and I and... and Geoff have all been keeping notes, trying to
make sure that we've got a fairly good, um, summary of the changes you made.
We can also listen to the tape. Um, if ..if we are unclear about those things. In
terms of, urn .... so .... so you're probably gonna wanna make a motion to amend,
um, the motion on the floor, to, um.....adopt the changes for which there was
majority support, uh.... tonight. Um, with respect to abstaining on certain items of
a resolution, I think that's tough. I....1 think you have to, I mean .... I think we're
gonna have to pull `em apart if you want to be voting on each separate item.
Or...or Councilperson Bergus wants to not vote on seventeen.
Mims: I'm comfortable with pulling seventeen out because I think .... I agree with
Councilor Bergus, she has an ethical issue as an attorney and I ... totally understand
that. I guess my philosophy would be on the rest of them is .... I don't necessarily
agree with every single detail that's in here, but overall I wholeheartedly support
the intent of what we're trying to do, um .... and my preference would be for .... for
time frame that we just vote on those other sixteen as a block, understanding that
we each may have certain ones that we don't like or don't agree with, but if we
support the vast majority that we could go ahead and support the whole thing.
Otherwise we're gonna need to pull these apart and vote every single one of `em
separately.
Weiner: I agree with what, um, Councilor Mims just suggested. I ... I was interested in
adding one more short one, that I'll tell you about right now. If you don't wanna
go there, that's fine. I just wanted to throw it out. And it is to have the ... the City
of Iowa City, uh, declare Juneteenth to be a City holiday. Um, and that City
employees, as a swap with another holiday such as President's Day, the day after
Thanksgiving, or the floating holiday. Um, to make... essentially to make a
statement to the, um, to the City, to employers. A couple of `em have already said
they're going to declare Juneteenth a holiday now, and I don't know that we can
do it for this year because it's in three days and that's... but going forward.
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Salih:
Mims:
Weiner:
Mims:
I agree 100% with that (garbled)
I ... I really like that idea, if it fits in with the personnel polices and the way they do
their holidays. I ... I just don't know the details of that.
I checked with Geoff on that.
Okay! Thank you.
Weiner: And he was the one who suggested that we, rather than creating a new holiday,
that we .... that we swap it with an existing holiday, such as President's Day or the
day after Thanksgiving, something ... or .... or there's apparently a floating holiday.
(several responding)
Thomas: Good idea, Janice!
Teague: So I'm hearin' majority vote for that! That's awesome! All right, so we'll add
that to be number eighteen. City of Iowa City to declare Juneteenth (both talking)
Salih: ...so we can take out the ... the, drop the charge as a separate item.
Dilkes: I think ... in thinking about this, I think what you wanna do is you wanna... as .... as
Councilperson Salih says, let's make that one seventeen, let's... when you make
your amendment let's pull the charges off of the resolution, and we'll, um, simply
vote on the drafting of the charges by motion, without a resolution.
Salih: Uh huh.
Dilkes: (mumbled) by motion to be, um ... uh, reflected in a letter, uh, by the Mayor, uh, to
the County Attorney.
Taylor: That would work, cause that would work then for, uh, Council, uh, Bergus.
Teague: All right! Yeah, I ... that's why I kinda didn't think this would be in here, but... but
here we go! All right, so is there any other item, and actually number seventeen
wasn't a part of the original resolution. Um, well the charges wasn't a part of the
original resolution. So .... um, but we do have some changes, of course. So could
I get a motion to amend... any... any other conversation?
Salih: No!
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Teague: (laughs) Yeah, I'm .... I'm excited! This is .... (several talking, garbled) we're not
all the way there, don't get me wrong, but this is amazing! Um .... all right, so
could I get a motion to amend ... the motion on the floor to adopt the changes as
discussed in tonight's, um, discussion?
Taylor: So moved, Taylor.
Salih: Second, Salih.
Teague: All in favor say aye. Actually we're gonna do a vote, urn ... um, roll call please.
Yes. Motion passes 7-0! And then could I get a vote on the charges, urn .... (both
talking)
Dilkes: Mayor, I'm sorry! All we've done is amend it. Now we have to vote down the
resolution.
Salih: Okay.
Teague: All right. So could I get a motion to (garbled, several talking) I'm gonna get a
motion to approve the resolution.
Dilkes: It's already on the floor.
Teague: Okay (several talking) So we just go ahead and vote.
Weiner: You just have to vote on it as amended now.
Teague: All right. So .... roll call please. Motion passes 7-0. Now could I get a, um, could
I get a motion to approve the Mayor submittin' a letter to drop the charges as,
um ... as mentioned?
Taylor: So moved.
Teague: All right, um, and so we're gonna do a voice vote here as well.
Mims: Roll call you mean.
Teague: A roll call, yes! (laughs) Motion passes 6-1, abstaining by Councilor Bergus.
Motion passes.
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!��
Salih: Congratulation!
Teague: Yes! Alrighty, we are movin' on to item .... um, actually let me look at this. Could
I get a motion to accept correspondence as amended?
Weiner: So moved.
Salih: Second.
Teague: Um roll call please. Motion passes 7-0.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council
special formal meeting of June 16, 2020.