HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-08-04 Bd Comm minutesCITY OIF IOWA CITY
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August 4, 2020
ATTACHMENTS:
Description
Airport Commission: May 14
Item Number: 4.a.
May 14, 2020
Page I
MINUTES FINAL
IOWA CITY AIRPORT COMMISSION
MAY 14, 2020 — 6:00 P.M.
ZOOM MEETING PLATFORM
Electronic Meeting (Pursuant to Iowa Code section 21.8)
An electronic meeting was held because a meeting in person was impossible or impractical
due to concerns for the health and safety of council members, staff and the public
presented by COVID-19.
Members Present: Warren Bishop, Scott Clair, Christopher Lawrence, Bob Libby, Judy Pfohl
Staff Present: Eric Goers, Michael Tharp
Others Present: Matt Wolford, Carl Byers, Alex Schmidt, John Moes
RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL: (to become effective only after separate Council
action):
None.
DETERMINE QUORUM:
The meeting was called to order at 6:04 P.M.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Minutes from the April 9, 2020, meeting were reviewed. Pfohl moved to accept the minutes
from the April 9, 2020, meeting as presented. Libby seconded the motion. The motion
carried 5-0.
PUBLIC DISCUSSION: None.
ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/ACTION:
a. Airport Website Update — Tharp stated that John Moes and Alex Schmidt from
FUEL are present this evening. He added that they did have a meeting with the
City's Communications Director. The decision was made at that meeting to host
the Airport's website off of the City infrastructure. Moes then spoke, noting that
they are now moving ahead full steam on the project. Schmidt then shared with
Members what she has been working on, in order to get some feedback from
them. She noted that after tonight's meeting, the team will move to the
development phase of the project. Schmidt gave Members a brief refresher of
what they have already reviewed and changes that have taken place since the
last meeting. Looking at the "Pilot's" page, Schmidt noted that she added a
listing of restaurants and lodging, per the Commission's request. There will also
be an addition of a diagram for the traffic patterns of the runways. Looking at
May 14, 2020
Page 2
new pages, Schmidt noted the "Community' page. There will be a highlight of
the restaurants, parks, and shops in Iowa City, as well as community links.
Schmidt continued to run through the various pages that will be added, noting
that they will basically match what Iowa City is doing. Members then discussed
other items of interest that could be added to the Airport's website. The FUEL
team then responded to Member questions, further clarifying what the finished
product will look like.
b. FAA/IDOT Projects
I. Obstruction Mitigation — Tharp stated this project is underway again.
The contractor is prepping the properties that have had trees removed for
reseeding and sodding. This should be wrapped up by the middle of
June, according to Tharp. He then reminded Members of a possible
phase two, to catch some trees that were missed during the first phase.
He will be working with the FAA on this proposed project.
ii. Terminal Apron/Taxiway reconstruction — Tharp stated that this project
will officially begin this coming Monday. He added that notifications have
been sent out and signs have been posted. This project will take care of
the pavement next to the terminal building and the adjacent taxiway.
Each half of the project is expected to take three weeks.
iii. Runway 25 Threshold Relocation — Tharp stated that they are currently
waiting for the FAA to give them their reimbursable agreement for the
PAPI. Byers stated that he did hear back from Brad Eurie today and he
hopes to have things ready in the next few work days.
Iv. Fuel Farm Expansion and card reader kiosk replacement — Tharp
noted that this project is moving forward. He has been in contact with the
manufacturer regarding this project. Byers also spoke to what he has
been doing in preparation for this replacement project to proceed.
C. Airport Operations
I. Management — Tharp noted that with the upcoming projects at the
Airport, he plans to be in the office more. He noted that he does not yet
know the City's time line for reopening its various facilities. He discussed
how they might begin to reopen the Airport facilities, such as use of the
conference room.
Iii. Budget — Tharp stated that this is the CARES Act grant he had emailed
info about to Members. This grant is for $69,000. Tharp then spoke to
the impacts that COVID has had at the Airport, such as a $10,000 hit from
loss of fuel sales. He then spoke to how he plans to use this grant money
to support the Airport's operating budget.
1. Consider a resolution authorizing Chairperson to sign FAA
CARES Act Grant for supplemental operations expenses —
Lawrence moved to approve Resolution #A20.11, authorizing
Chairperson to sign FAA CARES Act Grant for supplemental
operations expenses. Bishop seconded the motion. The
motion carried 5-0.
iii. Events — Tharp stated the auto -cross that was scheduled for this
upcoming weekend has been canceled. The car show scheduled for the
end of the month has also been canceled. Tharp stated that there are still
two auto -cross dates — one in July and one in September — that are still
on the calendar, as is the pancake breakfast. Tharp stated that he and
May 14, 2020
Page 3
Wolford have been working with Summer of the Arts and the Downtown
District regarding summer activities and have suggested a drive-in movie
event at the Airport. Wolford said they have suggested this in the past,
and during this time of social distancing, it would be very doable.
Members then discussed use of the conference room for small groups
and how they might handle this with distance restrictions.
d. FBO / Flight Training Reports
I. Jet Air — Matt Wolford spoke to the monthly maintenance reports with
Members. Mowing season has started, so crews are busy with that and
trash pickup. Speaking to Jet Air's business, Wolford stated that things
are still quite slow. In the past week or so, however, there has been an
increase in air medical trips. Flight training has been fairly stable,
according to Wolford. He also spoke to the COVID-19 safety precautions
that they are implementing.
e. Commission Member Reports — Judy noted that she dropped off some face
masks at the Airport and also got a sign for Tharp's door that says "Airport
Manager." Clair asked if there was any follow up on the person who got over a
fence at the Airport recently. Tharp stated that he went through the security
camera footage and did not see the individual until he was close to aircraft. The
individual has been arrested, according to Tharp, and has several charges
pending from various incidents. Members spoke briefly to security at the Airport
and the need to be vigilant. Pfohl spoke to the City's prairie installations and
Tharp responded that the City Parks and Rec did meet with him regarding the
small plot of land across from the Airport.
f. Staff Report — Tharp stated that earlier this week he was on a conference call
with the DOT, Aviation Bureau. It was a round table discussion on how airports
are handling the pandemic and what issues have arisen for them.
SET NEXT REGULAR MEETING FOR:
The next regular meeting of the Airport Commission will be held on Thursday, June 11, 2020,
at 6:00 P.M. in the Airport Terminal Building, via electronic method.
ADJOURN:
Lawrence moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:02 P.M. Pfohl seconded the motion. The motion
carried 5-0.
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CHAIRPERSON DATE
May 14, 2020
Page 4
Airport Commission
ATTENDANCE RECORD
2020
NAME
TERM EXP.
0
0
0
0
0
s
Q
N
.moi
N
!O
<O
{O
t0
fD
EO
ID
tD
W
O
O
O
O
O
Warren Bishop
06/30/22
O/
0/
O/
O/
X
X
X
X
E
X
E
X
X
E
E
X
X
X
Scott Clair
06/30/23
NM
NM
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Robert Libby
07/01/20
O/
0/0/
O/
Ol
O/
X
E
X
X
X
E
E
E
E
E
X
X
X
X
Christopher Lawrence
07/01/21
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Judy Pfohi
06/30/22
NM
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Key;
X = Present
X/E = Present for Part of Meeting
O = Absent
O/E = Absent/Excused
NM = Not a Member at this time
CITY OIF IOWA CITY
www.icgov.org
August 4, 2020
ATTACHMENTS:
Description
Airport Commission: June 11
Item Number: 4.b.
June 11, 2020
Page I
MINUTES FINAL
IOWA CITY AIRPORT COMMISSION
JUNE 11, 2020 — 6:00 P.M.
ZOOM MEETING PLATFORM
Electronic Meeting (Pursuant to Iowa Code section 21.8)
An electronic meeting was held because a meeting in person was impossible or impractical
due to concerns for the health and safety of council members, staff and the public
presented by COVID-19.
Members Present: Warren Bishop, Scott Clair, Christopher Lawrence, Judy Pfohl
Members Absent: Bob Libby
Staff Present: Eric Goers, Michael Tharp
Others Present: Matt Wolford, Carl Byers, Alex Schmidt, John Moes, Bill Eckloff, Jim Berg,
Nasr-Aldden Mohammed
RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL: to become effective only after separate Council
action):
None.
DETERMINE QUORUM:
The meeting was called to order at 6:03 P.M.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Minutes, from the May 14, 2020, meeting were reviewed,
minutes from the May 14, 2020, meeting as presented.
motion carried 4.0, Libby absent.
PUBLIC DISCUSSION: None.
ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/ACTION:
Bishop moved to accept the
Clair seconded the motion. The
A motion was made by Tharp at this point to move up Items 4.b.111 and 4.b.iv to
accommodate Carl Byers' schedule.
iii. Runway 25 Threshold Relocation — Tharp noted that the reimbursable
agreement is now ready. This will allow the project to move forward with
installing the new PAPI equipment. He then explained what the two
resolutions being considered this evening will do. Byers noted how his
experience with these installations has gone. Tharp then explained what
both of tonight's resolutions will do.
1. Consider a resolution approving reimbursable agreement
with Federal Aviation Administration for relocation of
June 11, 2020
Page 2
Precision Approach Path Indicator (PAPI) equipment -
Lawrence moved to approve Resolution #A20-12, approving
the reimbursable agreement with Federal Aviation
Administration for relocation of Precision Approach Path
Indicator (PAPI) equipment. Pfohl seconded the motion. The
motion carried 4-0, Libby absent.
2. Consider a resolution approving work order with Bolton &
Monk for engineering services related to the Runway 25 PAPI
Relocation - Lawrence moved to approve Resolution #A20-
13, approving work order #3 with Bolton & Monk for
engineering services related to the Runway 25 PAPI.
Relocation. Bishop seconded the motion. The motion
carried 4-0, Libby absent.
iv. Fuel Farm Expansion and card reader klosk replacement -Tharp
then spoke to the fuel farm expansion. He stated that QT POD is the
manufacturer of the card readers. He also spoke to previous agreements
with QT POD in the past and how this new agreement will be different.
Byers added that he does not have a date on the concrete work yet, but
the tank should be delivered around mid-July.
1. Consider a resolution approving service and support
agreement with QT POD - Bishop moved to approve
Resolution #A20-14, approving service and support
agreement with QT POD. Pfohl seconded the motion. The
motion carried 4-0, Libby absent.
a. Airport Website Update - John Moes with FUEL began his presentation. He
noted that they have made a good deal of progress on the website since the last
review. Tonight they would like to do a design review with Members, to get their
input on where they currently are. Alex Schmidt then addressed Members,
speaking first to legal statements on the site and how the Commission would like
to handle this. She noted what the City currently has on their site. Goers stated
that for now they should mirror Iowa City's site in every way they can. He will
look into whether they can just link to the City's pages or if they should create
their own legal statements area. Bill Eckloff also joined the conversation, further
explaining how key words and phrases can help Internet searches. Schmidt then
led Members through changes that have been made on the site. She further
explained the areas that are tied to the City's website. Eckloff spoke to the
business section that he has been working on. Members spent some time
reviewing the website `online' and asking questions of the FUEL team, and
making general observations of how they would like the finalized site to look.
A motion was made by Tharp at this point to move up Item 4.c.111.1 - the Pancake
Breakfast, to accommodate Jim Berg's schedule.
1. Pancake Breakfast - Special Meeting August 3 - Jim Berg with
the Optimist Club then addressed Members. He stated that the
club hopes to be able to host the pancake breakfast again this
year and that they are looking at Sunday, August 23. He added
that the club would like to make a definite decision by August 1, if
the Commission is agreeable, on whether they will hold this year's
breakfast, hoping that by that date COVID-19 won't be such a
June19,2020
Page 3
major factor. Berg then spoke to the various changes they will
need to make to the breakfast, in light of COVID-19 requirements
for sanitization and social distancing. Members spoke briefly
about having a special meeting around the August 1 to determine
If the pancake breakfast should move forward.
b. FAA1IDOT Projects
i. Obstruction Mitigation — Tharp said replacement trees are now in and
the contractor is doing some seed work. .
ii. Terminal Apron/Taxiway reconstruction — Tharp shared his screen with
Members, noting that concrete is currently being poured. The first three
strips were done today, with more getting poured on Saturday. This
would mean that next week they can move to the other side.
C. Airport Operations
L Management —
ii. Budget — Tharp stated that he is working with the City to put money into
the CARES Act grant that was given to the Airport by the FAA. He noted
that things have definitely picked up in recent weeks with fuel sales.
ill. Events — Tharp spoke to events taking place at the Airport amid the
COVID-19 pandemic and how they hope to be able to host events later
this summer.
2. Summer of the Arts Drive -In Movies — Tharp stated that this will
be moving forward, using the back of Hangar Mike to project
movies onto. At first participants will be required to stay in their
vehicles.
3. Autocross (July 26, Sept 20) — Tharp noted that so far these
dates have not been canceled.
d. FBO / Flight Training Reports
I. Jet Air — Matt Wolford spoke to the maintenance reports first. Highlights
included lots of mowing, and the spraying of fence lines and closed
runways to kill weeds. Speaking to the simulator, Wolford stated they had
14.2 hours in May. On the Jet Air side of things, June has seen a steady
increase in business.
e. Commission Member Reports — Bishop noted that he passed his CFI check
ride today. Lawrence noted that he did a touch and go at O'Hare two weeks ago.
f. Staff Report — Tharp stated that next week he would like to take Thursday and
Friday off. He added that in July they will have a new Commission Member, as
Libby's term will expire July 1.
SET NEXT REGULAR MEETING FOR:
The next regular meeting of the Airport Commission will be held on Thursday July 9. 2020 at
6:00 P.M. in the Airport Terminal Building, via electronic method.
Consider a motion to enter into executive session; "To discuss strategy with counsel in
matters that are presently In litigation or where litigation is imminent where its disclosure
June ll , 2020
Page 4
would be likely to prejudice or disadvantage the position of the governmental body in
that litigation."
Lawrence moved to enter an executive session. Bishop seconded the motion. The
motion carried 4-0, Libby absent. Entered: 7:28p.m.
Bishop moved to exit the executive session. Pfohl seconded the motion. The motion
carried 4-0, Libby absent. Exited: 7:46pm
ADJOURN:
Bishop moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:46 P.M. Pfohl seconded the motion. The motion
carried 4-0, Libby absent.
7-%3lu /2p 2Z
CHAIRPERSON DATE
June 11, 2020
Page S
Airport Commission
ATTENDANCE RECORD
2020
NAME
TERM EXP.
0
0
0
0
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0
0
0
0
0
0
iV
i
i
i
0
Q
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ep
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m
eo
m
o
4
0
0
0
0
Warren Bishop
06/30/22
01
O/
O/
0I
X
X
X
E
X
E
X
X
E
E
X
X
X
X
Scott Clair
06/30/23
NM
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Robert Libby
07/01/20
O/
O/
0/
O/
O/
O/
E
X
X
X
E
E
E
E
X
X
X
X
X
E
Christopher
07/01/21
Lawrence
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Judy Pfohl
06/30/22
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Key:
X = Present
X/E = Present for Part of Meeting
O = Absent
O/E = Absent/Excused
NM = Not a Member at this time
CITY OIF IOWA CITY
www.icgov.org
August 4, 2020
ATTACHMENTS:
Description
Climate Action Commission: June 1
Item Number: 4.c.
MINUTES FINAL
IOWA CITY CLIMATE ACTION COMMISSION
J U N E 1, 2020 — 3:30 PM — FORMAL MEETING
ELECTRONIC MEETING
Electronic Meeting
(Pursuant to Iowa Code section 21.8)
An electronic meeting is being held because a meeting in person is impossible
or impractical due to concerns for the health and safety of Commission
members, staff and the public presented by COVID-19.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Madeleine Bradley, Grace Holbrook, John Fraser, Stratis
Giannakouros, Kasey Hutchinson, GT Karr, Matt Krieger, Jesse
Leckband, Katie Sarsfield, Becky Soglin, Eric Tate
MEMBERS ABSENT:
STAFF PRESENT: Sarah Gardner, Wendy Ford, Brenda Nations
OTHERS PRESENT: John Barr, Sylvia Cassada
RECOMMENDATIONS TO CITY COUNCIL:
None
Krieger called the meeting to order.
APPROVAL OF MAY 4, 2020 MINUTES:
Fraser moves to approve the minutes from May 4, 2020.
Giannakouros seconds the motion, a vote was taken and the motion passes 10-0 (Sarsfield not
present for the vote).
PUBLIC COMMENT OF ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA:
John Barr noted since early January he and his neighbors over on the far east side, bordering
on Scott Park, had been observing some tree removal along Ralston Creek and they've been
engaging the parks department in ongoing discussion, and had a formal meeting with them in
February. Barr stated the parks to prairies concept certainly seems to be a component of the
Climate Action Commission
June 1, 2020
Page 2 of 14
Climate Action Plan and it spills over certainly into the area of outreach where we're concerned
about interacting and educating and engaging the public. The epiphany that they had in talking
to the parks department was that aside from the prairie concept, they seem to be concerned
about creek bed erosion and the tactic they're employing is to do radical tree removal along
certain areas or adjacent to the creek. Barr noted the concern being with the concept of
preserving canopy, canopy refers to mature trees that have a significant carbon offset, and he
wanted to call this to the Commission's attention the fact that there are certain standard
maintenance practices of the parks department adopting what he chooses to call radical tree
removal of mature trees along the creek beds really doesn't seem to be congruent with the
overall Climate Action Plan. Barr is wondering what steps the Commission has to bring these
into harmony.
Giannakouros asked why does removing trees actually lessens erosion. Barr stated their
contention is there are a number of invasive species encroaching in on the creek bed and that
rationale did not really resonate with members of his neighborhood who have forestry
background. They have removed wholes sloths of trees along Court Street so a span of what
formerly was about 70 trees has been reduced to 15 and that's not even within 25 yards of a
creek bed. Another section along a creek bed has one mature tree remaining. So what he has
seen is they're adopting a maintenance strategy to be able to get equipment in to mow along
the creek beds unobstructed by trees. They have observed in the neighborhood there are trees
that remain with roots protruding on the creek bed. The park department's explanation is they're
going to plant prairies and other things along this area too but Barr noted in his experience,
prairies planted in areas that flood, which is what part of lower Scott Park is intended for, really
may show robustness for a couple of years and ultimately rot out due to the moisture. He thinks
they're kind of flying under the radar with a hardcore maintenance plan here that really doesn't
match very well with what should be the concept for canopy protection.
Giannakouros noted Barr was basically asking what steps the Commission is taking to assure
that the standard maintenance practices of the parks department are congruent with
accelerating Iowa City's climate actions and is encouraging steps be taken.
Krieger stated the Commission can hear the comments at this point and then explore those
further as needed in future agenda topics, at this point they're not supposed to have discussion.
Sylvia Cassada noted Miriam Kashia was unavailable to make this meeting, so she offered to
step in on behalf of 100 Grannies here from Iowa City. They wanted to approach the
Commission with 100 Grannies idea project that they would like to engage the Commission in
and receive like further guidance. They sent an email to Nations earlier asking her about their
concern regarding the prairie expansion project in Iowa City. They are left wondering whether
cover crops have an appropriate place in any of these types of prairie/conservation projects.
They understand that Iowa City has some vacant lots that are owned by the City and they'd like
to know instead of just having weeds growing on them, whether it be appropriate and prudent to
start considering having cover crops added to those areas, and the beauty of having some of
those cover crops added to these areas will improve the soil quality and adds nitrogen
sequestering carbon. Cassada said they could turn this into an opportunity for unemployed
youth to be a part of the conservation effort that's sponsored by the City. They also think that
this would build up soil in areas that that public has come to enjoy, such as Wetherby park or
Mosquito Flats. They'd really like to take this a step further in making sure that public spaces
where the City controls the land is building up the soil as well. They are looking forward to
Climate Action Commission
June 1, 2020
Page 3 of 14
hearing back as to a possibility of partnering up with respective departments that could help
them with 100 Grannies working together to make this happen and take the soil to the next level
for a lot of good reasons.
STAFF/COMMISSION ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Discussion of updated work plan for "Accelerating Iowa City's Climate Actions": Wendy
Ford introduced herself and stated her job at the City is Economic Development Coordinator
and noted some of the goals and missions of the Commission cross over to what she is working
on. She noted they have a number of urban renewal areas in the City and urban renewal areas
simply enable the use of tax increment financing used in projects that City Council deems
worthy. Sometimes there are projects, such as the Chauncey, that come to the City and ask for
assistance in creating this building that wouldn't have been create otherwise. In this case, they
want to target the industrial areas, and the area that fits between the Iowa Interstate railroad
that heads out of town going east near southeast and Highway 6. Between those two tracks,
they have several industrial areas and three of them have significant increment built up in them
and really that means there is a pot of money that could be used for incentivizing industrial
users to make energy efficiency improvements in their buildings. Ford stated they've been
working on legislative process for this and that involves putting a plan together, bringing that
before Council, having a public hearing and then the hard work begins which will be educating
and making one-on-one visits with the industrial users, especially those they think could really
benefit from a significant spur to help them make those energy efficiency improvements. What
they haven't worked out yet are the nuts and bolts of deciding what kind of project or how a
project should come to be. They want to bring a third -party evaluator in to look at the project
from the company to determine whether or not that indeed would be worthy of public financing.
Ford noted there are lots of details to be worked out that but they'll see those urban renewal
area happen yet this month in June and that is the beginning of the process, the rest will take
another four to six weeks or so. Ford noted as they look forward the model is fairly simple that
they've written into the existing urban renewal areas to amend. It's simple enough that they
could do the same thing in two other urban renewal areas that are not industrial but have
enjoyed a significant increase in property tax base from which they could fund additional
projects for energy efficiency in both downtown and Riverfront Crossings. Ford stated they've
got a big year ahead of them in amending these urban renewal plans, but the industrial ones
should have a significant impact in the carbon reduction goals.
Ford stated they have two other things they are working on. One, a tax abatement area that
they're putting together which is designed for small business and property owners essentially
along the Highway 6 corridor. The area between Sycamore Mall all the way out to the
intersection of Highway 218 and Highway 1 south and then up into Gilbert Street a little bit and
Riverside Drive. This is a tax abatement area that will allow for an abatement of taxes that
would occur when a business makes an improvement in their building that raises the tax base of
that building or taxable value by at least 50%.
The second is to provide an abatement for projects who are doing a certain level of energy
efficiency. They are trying to hash through that, and they'll have more to come as they get those
parameters figured out. Ford stressed the abatement of taxes is for three years to five years.
The third program they want to do and have been talking about for some time is a green
business recognition program. What they had initially planned was to have businesses who
wanted to participate in being recognized for their greenness sign up to participate in Portfolio
Climate Action Commission
June 1, 2020
Page 4 of 14
Manager, which is the online database that helps track improvements on energy use. This was
a little bit slow going and they're making a little bit of a pivot here and want to something
simpler, so they're still determining what that is now, but they will work closely with the Chamber
of Commerce to reach a wide public and pull them in very quickly.
Tate asked for Ford to repeat the location of the proposed project and what kind of things would
be used to help support energy efficiency. Ford replied that the three urban renewal areas that
are established already that they would be amending to be able to do this program which is all
the way up to Scott Boulevard and the area east of that bordered by the City limits of Iowa City.
The next one in is Heinz Road urban renewal area which has Heinz Road running right up the
middle of it and the third one is the Sycamore Mall/First Avenue area which includes the P&G
buildings, the Sycamore Mall or Iowa City Marketplace area. The question was how the
projects would be determined or what kinds of projects. Ford said the tax increment financing
funds in an urban renewal area have to be reused in that area only. They can't take an increase
in taxes from one area and spend it in another, the only exception is with affordable housing.
Krieger suggested sharing a summary of that proposal along with a map or a description of the
zones for the Commission's further review, perhaps the buildings working group would want to
look at that in more detail.
Nations thanked Ford and noted it's really exciting working on some of those larger buildings in
that industrial area and thinks it can make a really big difference in using some of those funds to
lower the energy. Looks forward to seeing the results of that.
Nations next noted since Monroe could not be here today, she wanted to give an update
regarding financials and about recovery with the COVID crisis. In May, the City Manager gave
an update for the financial picture for the City and although some of the funds have been
impacted, primarily the parking fund, which has really been heavily impacted, they're still in
pretty good solid financial shape. He did acknowledge they may have more impacts to the
general fund in future years if property values drop, but they presented a recovery approach
model at the mid-May meeting and Council is still deliberating on how they want to proceed.
However, the emergency tax levy that's been dedicated to climate action is still allocated to the
projects in the Plan, and that the recovery strategies actually might necessitate speeding up
some of the later projects, some of the rebates and incentives, but all the approved projects are
still moving ahead. Nations reiterated everything still is going straight ahead they'll continue to
seek assistance from the Commission and the working groups for execution of these efforts.
Also the federal funding for transit support will assist and provide funding that can really boost
the efforts to implement the transit system improvements that will be recommended in the
forthcoming study.
Nations next wanted to talk about Excel chart in the packet with all the 35 actions that are going
to be initiated this year. She acknowledged this group talked about having a work plan for each
of those actions. Nations noted this is not a complete work plan by any means, but they started
putting dates to when they will initiate these, so for each of the 35 actions that they plan to
initiate this year, they have added the month that they're going to initiate the work plan. For the
next meeting she will organize it by month, which would be easier to read, and will add some
Climate Action Commission
June 1, 2020
Page 5 of 14
columns for what area the action is in. Nations reviewed what they have worked on as a city in
the month of May. As they move forward, they can show the Commission what they've worked
on each month and if they're behind or ahead of schedule. Nations acknowledged there was a
request last meeting by somebody from the public wanting to know how they were going to
update everyone on the successes, so hopefully this chart will accomplish that.
Krieger thanked Nations for putting this together and thinks this will be a good communication
tool for the Commission and the working groups and it might also be a good communication tool
for the public, to increase transparency. Is there a way this could be shared or developed as a
tool on the website or in the newsletter or something as an attachment to be publicly shared that
is easy to find.
Nations noted that is a really good comment and something that they have thought about. Since
this is their first draft, they didn't feel it was ready for primetime, but it would be good to show
people that they do take this seriously and are working on some of these things.
Krieger asked if Nations wanted any comments or feedback on any of the specific items at this
point, or wait on that until they've had a bit more time to review within the working groups and
individually, Nations said either is fine, if someone has input, she is happy to hear it at any time.
Soglin noted it's good to see the equity column there and was wondering if they had developed
the equity co -benefit sheet. She wasn't clear whether that was something that needed to go to
Council and be approved by them in order for the Commission to use it to keep track of things.
Nations stated she and Monroe had talked about that, but from what she understands she didn't
realize anybody thought it was going to go to Council and she doesn't think that's something
that they need to go to Council for approval. Nations stated she was a little confused by the
email because they had talked about the City using it in projects and if City staff was going to
use it, then it probably would go to City Council. If this group wants to create something like that
and use it, it doesn't need to go to City Council. Soglin asked if there was consensus amongst
the Commission then to use the co -benefit sheet. Krieger replied there was consensus.
Nations stated the confusion is the Excel chart will be used by staff and the Commission, but the
co -benefit sheet is something that this Commission would use, not City staff. The co -benefit
sheet can be made into a PDF and put on the Google Docs drive for the working groups to use.
Updates from Climate Action and Outreach office: Nations stated she has a few quick
updates for other things that they're doing in the Climate Action and Outreach office. She
showed a document with recent activity so the Commission could see what they're working on
and focused on this month. She already went over the tracking and reporting of their actions,
they are finishing up the climate action grants that they were awarded last year and should be
finished by the end of this month. They awarded the grants for this next fiscal year and those
recipients will be named in the sustainability newsletter that goes out this week.
Krieger asked how many were awarded this year. Nations stated there were 10, except some
of them might get rescinded because of different situations. She noted they got a really
interesting mix of grant applications and feel really good about those.
Nations has also been working on the metrics spreadsheet so they can track their progress.
They've also been working on three festivals coming up, the Monarch Festival, which is going to
Climate Action Commission
June 1, 2020
Page 6 of 14
be virtual, the Farm To Street, they are still working on what that might look like in August, and
then the Climate Festival which will be addressed during the outreach working group update.
REQUEST FROM COUNCIL FOR COMMISSION TO RESEARCH AND ADVISE COUNCIL
ON THE CARBON FOOTPRINT OF BUILDINGS OF VARYING DENSITY AND SCALE:
Krieger noted this item has been assigned to the Building's Working Group for further review
and they hope to have a detailed update at next month's meeting.
REVIEW AND DISCUSS TRANSPORATION AND WASTE METRICS:
Nations stated one thing she has really been working on is that they'd like some metrics within
the Climate Action Plan and within the specific actions to show the progress so they can see
change and whether their energy is focused in the right places and where they need to tweak
things. There are five groups and her goal is to come up with 15 to 20 approved upon metrics
that can show more details about progress in the climate action work. She has been looking at
other city's metrics and trying to figure out with our specific actions and our goals, how we can
show progress in those areas. She has talked with the transportation working group and also
staff and is feeling pretty good about the transportation metrics but wanted to run this by the
whole group and see if there are any comments or suggestions.
So, with the transportation metrics, greenhouse gas emissions are calculated according to
vehicle miles traveled for all the different vehicles within city limits. But what they want to do as
a group is to encourage people to drive alone less, to ride the bus and walk and bike. They also
want to promote electric vehicles. For each of these metrics in these areas, the City wants to
have its own metric to show that they are working on that ourselves too. The metrics that came
up were total vehicle miles traveled, which is given every year by the DOT and they could divide
that by population. Transit every year provides the number for bus ridership and as previously
reported they have a goal to double the bus ridership. Next was transportation mode spilt,
which is a little bit more mushy. Data is estimated from the American Community Survey from
the census. There are annual estimates, which are only estimated, but every five years there is
a better number to find out how many people are biking and walking to work. They would like to
get the number of registered electric vehicles, which would be countywide, and they might look
at that by percentage of all vehicles or by population. Then the City wants to look at vehicle
miles traveled per the amount of gasoline that they use for those vehicles and hope that
improves as they have increased electric cars and efficient cars. So those are the type of things
that they're looking at. If they see that our transportation amounts have gone up, they can
understand why and note if they need to work on getting people to ride the bus more or walk.
Tate stated one of the things they talked about briefly last time was not just looking at these
things schematically, but also maybe thinking about level of impact for some of these things,
and it might be useful to start considering what projects to do or indicators to implement in the
transportation metrics, one or two of these may be really more impactful than the others.
Nations agreed and stated perhaps one they have the new data person start they could look at
those types of things to see where they are having the biggest impact, not just the number.
Tate stated if they want to spatially disaggregate things, they have to take any indicators and
start with total because they're not going to be able to map that.
Climate Action Commission
June 1, 2020
Page 7 of 14
Krieger noted however with bus ridership, for instance, they could see if they had improved
ridership in certain segments of the community neighborhoods.
Nations stated the goal is to first work with staff and working groups to cover all the five sections
of the Plan and then once they get it all firmed up then collect the last two years work. They
completed the Plan in 2018, which would be a baseline. That will show the progress and show
where we need to work. But also, the next Plan update, which we said we're going to do in five
years, is now only three and a half more years.
Nations noted for example if they want to grow electric vehicles and support electric vehicles.
Once they have a baseline if they want electric vehicles to be increased 25% of the passenger
vehicles on the road, and they know if there is currently 5% or 10%, we can know what's
reasonable and what the growth is expected, then have much more concrete goals. The more
concrete numbers are to start with, the more concrete goals are, which is a lot better than
having vague goals.
Soglin noted in the planning world they're reading a lot about the potential that mass and public
transit are really going to be impacted by the virus. Maybe it'll just be a year or two, in a way that
makes it all the more important to be measuring. She doesn't know if there's any new
information out there on how the virus would impact these particular metrics in the sense and if
this is something else they should be measuring? Because there's this new variable that we
didn't really have in mind three or four months ago from a public health point of view.
Soglin also noted perhaps the American Bicycle Professionals will have suggestions on other
data because of the use of mushy data. It's hard to get that data but it would be great if for non -
motorized vehicles they had data that wasn't so mushy. Nations agreed and noted they have
been talking about that internally and if anyone can come up with anything, they'd be happy to
entertain other options. That's why they're vetting it with the different groups and with this
Commission and with City staff and trying to come up with data that is relatively easy to get
every year, and that's available so they can see progress. What they want to see through the
years, even with the virus, are changes from the baseline data. They know these metrics are
behavioral habits with what people do and so if they're not riding the bus, maybc we can see
how people are getting around and how those changes are impacting the goals. They will also
be able to see how things change because of things like this crisis.
Giannakouros noted there will be a data person that comes into the office one thing they can do
in the future would be to normalize these metrics. If one really thinks about measuring metrics
such as bus ridership, its avoided vehicle miles traveled as the common denominator. All of
these five points can be expressed to some degree. If the goal is avoided emissions you can
look at a one person's vehicle miles and that for one person, one car driving around, and that's
the worst case scenario, you can compare that to the emissions from a bus ride versus a single
transit. Then in terms of distributed impact, we can assume that if you are economically
insecure, you're more likely to ride a bus, or you're more likely to have an old car with high
emissions, high maintenance, and you're devoting a larger percentage of your income to transit.
So thinking about that how do we on the back end think about these metrics as proxies for how
to target those groups that can benefit. It does need to be done from a data perspective, to
normalize all those first five metrics, and then think about who the groups are and how they're
just differently impacted by these modes of transit. We want to help those groups, and climate
Climate Action Commission
June 1, 2020
Page 8 of 14
action as a vehicle to helping the underserved areas of Iowa City, go hand in hand. That's why
this is a Climate Action Plan and not just an emissions reduction plan. The impact of the
changes in transportation should also have an impact with those groups that we think we should
be helping as a City. The City should start to target getting those old non -efficient cars off the
road, and giving some kind of money incentives to get those cars off the road as the best bang
for our carbon buck and because it helps those families to have an alternative or to get a better
car. That changes the emissions profile. Students at University of Iowa or someone could start
to unpack and figure out are these novel ways of rethinking about how we go after emissions in
the context of energy insecurity, transportation insecurity, low income households, and money
spent there has a disproportionate impact and then getting those emissions reductions. The
goal is to have those people taking the bus, but it is different results from an emissions
standpoint from someone with a fuel-efficient car versus an old, non -efficient car owner taking
the bus.
Soglin wondered if it is worth getting information about the year of the vehicles registered here
but realize you're going to pick up the older ones and probably some will be antique or vintage
that somebody keeps for pleasure, that kind of thing, so that will not be a useful metric.
Nations stated they've looked at different things for transportation and also noted there's a large
portion of the population that their vehicles probably aren't even registered in Johnson County.
So while it would be really interesting to look at Johnson County vehicle registration, it will not
show the whole picture.
Leckband noted that the State rules do have object specific exemptions for additional
information about locations and registrations and it can be shared with municipal government
employees that are doing their work. He doesn't know if there's any restrictions on how you
store that identifying information, but for the purpose of summarizing and evaluating analysis, he
thinks that would be able to be released.
Giannakouros suggested they could also look at the permits the City sells for parking downtown
and track bus ridership and once the bike share program is going get the bike share ridership
tracked as part of the metrics to see if that's increasing or not.
Nations stated that as far as waste metrics go, she has been working with internally with City
staff to get the right ideas and threw out some ideas to them. If we were look at the total amount
recycled or composted, then we aren't really looking at on reduction of consumption. We could
increase recycling but also the consumption could still be increasing, which is not the goal. And
same with composting, it could be just more food waste so they're trying to be really thoughtful
in looking at waste as far as lowering consumption, not just increasing what one does with
waste. The other thing that complicates waste is landfill totals as a rule across the country go
down when the economy goes down and when the economy goes up landfill numbers go up
too, so it's tied in with that. She noted there's all these little ins and outs and complexities that
they're trying to make sure that they capture and then choose the right metrics. As soon as they
get some metrics, she'd like to run them by the waste group and then next she would like to
work on the building metrics with the building working group.
PUBLIC INPUT ON "ACCELERATING IOWA CITY'S CLIMATE ACTIONS":
Krieger stated they've had discussions on this off and on back in March, when they finalized the
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June 1, 2020
Page 9 of 14
feedback on the 100 -Day Report and identified this agenda item to discuss what that public
input process might look like. Through those past discussions, and with the working groups,
they've heard discussions on what the content should be or what the format could be. Now that
they have an engagement specialist, Sarah Gardner, she'll be focused on this effort as well so
perhaps today's discussion could be about providing ideas to Sarah about that process or about
what we as a Commission consider to be the goals for that effort. Nations added Sarah is
already working on the ambassador program that's going to be get input back from the people
that are in that and the Climate Festival (which is going to be a virtual event).
Giannakouros stated just really quickly to go back to the waste metrics for a brief second, and
noted at The University of Iowa they're in the same situation where they had difficulty meeting
the goals because as you get better at recycling, it's like a weird paradox where you just kind of
its self-defeating in terms of an absolute reduction. So that's one piece. The other piece is that
they're looking more intently at sustainable materials management. You all may be familiar with
EPA's SMM program in the State of Iowa, and thinking about how to prioritize things, normally
you prioritize it with what's the most toxic stuff, what's the most carbon intensive stuff, however
in this case, you'd probably look at carbon intensity and then seeing how do we just target those
things more clearly and stop saying we're going to catch all waste. They know with the 337
plastics they don't move the needle very much, but paper and food waste and other organics
do. So, if the City wants to think about aligning waste goals with the Climate Action Plan, you go
after CH4 and CO2 emitters that are the highest bang for your buck, and then quote those things
and not absolute reductions and adopt a modified SMM approach for this Climate Action Plan.
Krieger returned to the public input topic and noted they can talk about general goals, things like
transparency in the process, of working on the Climate Action Plan, gathering input for further
planning as part of specific topics. One of the questions could be should public input focus on
specific topics and projects as they arise rather than the whole plan so that it's easier to
consume and partake.
Soglin stated regarding having some focus on specific projects, noted the Gazette had an
editorial that called upon them as a Commission to basically do a better job though obviously,
it's not just up to us of getting public input, some of that relates to the Council and beyond our
control. Perhaps it's worth getting a better understanding of the process of public input and not
for discussion right now but putting on a future agenda to better understand what has not
worked well in the last couple months and get a little bit of a handle on that and maybe it can
inform what we do going forward.
Krieger agreed and stated especially based on recent events, if Council is going to be voting on
something that is reviewed by the Commission and there's public input process, transparency
process around those issues to more fully vet them. Soglin agreed and noted for example, like
even today, they had two comments from the public that essentially have to do with how staff is
running projects and while she doesn't want to interfere and second guess them without them
also being involved. So it's not just hearing from the public, this process will involve better
understanding how staff are able to directly reach out and inform others and respond to the
input.
Krieger stated there needs to be an ongoing process in place, and he thinks that's part of
outreach and communication. They need to have a continuous method or a certain frequency of
being able to ask for input, provide information, to get what people care about in a structured
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June 1, 2020
Page 10 of 14
format so people know what to expect.
Giannakouros asked if it is onerous to have City staff across departments think in explicit ways
to have answers, for example, the trees in the in the creek bed, can City staff have an answer
for someone on what's the environment or carbon impact and would they have thought of that.
It becomes onerous if everyone constantly has to think of that, but there's probably certain
projects that it might make more sense. If you're going to cut trees down, that's an
environmental trigger, and there should be some way that departments in the City are prepared
to react to that and say what's the rationale, to note they've considered the climate piece, the
environmental piece, and the different stakeholder angles to a certain extent. It wouldn't be for
everything all the time, because that would be onerous, but in cases of cutting a tree down or
putting up a solar array, those things that will get the attention from people that are particularly
concerned in terms of climate language, it should come back to the Commission in some form.
Krieger noted they now have full time staff working on this issue and thinks this is something
that each of the Working Groups should address as part of their discussions in more detail.
ENSURING EQUITY IS CONSIDERED FOR ALL CLIMATE ACTIONS;
Nations noted that equity considerations were added in a column in the spreadsheet for their
review and the Equity Working Group will also review and discuss what was added in that
column.
UPDATE ON WORKING GROUPS:
Buildings:
Soglin noted their focus is on the building density issue. At this point they have like seven or
eight things that they are keeping track of and noted that some things, such as the Iowa City
School District data, are on hold due to the virus. She did note they are retroactively getting
building data back to 2008.
Soglin also stated speaking on behalf of the County they have the Johnson County solar group
launched and the first webinar will be on June 4t" and can be viewed on the Solarized Johnson
County.org website. Anybody within the city of Iowa City as well as any other city or the
unincorporated areas is eligible to participate.
She noted one a member of the public had raised a concern about just how some residential
energy was depicted in the report and read to address that, and she thinks they satisfied their
inquiry on that.
Transportation:
Leckband noted their discussion was about the metrics and what are the impacts of COVID. He
thinks most of their discussion was engaging. He invited the MidAmerican EV program manager
and so they'll be interfacing with him and he's going to provide a little more information on
programs and how they're helping with other cities.
Climate Action Commission
June 1, 2020
Page 11 of 14
Outreach:
Fraser noted The Climate Festival certainly is an ongoing topic as part of outreach and also the
ambassador program, which he is little behind on because he hasn't had a person to person
meeting with the folks that are doing the main work on that, but it's a big topic.
Fraser stated some good news and bad news for himself. He's just been asked to come back
for a second shot at being the president of the Iowa United Nations Association. He almost
turned it down but there are too many synergies with what he's doing and other aspects of his
life and certainly the Climate Action Committee is one. The advocacy committee of the United
Iowa United Nations has been really aggressive on their thoughts regarding climate action, all
the way from national issues of lobbying to nationally to get back into the Paris Climate
Agreement. Good luck with that under the present administration, but he thinks that could
happen next year. The good news is they're also advocating for encouraging the governor to
join the Climate Action Alliance and to encourage mayors and local officials to join the global
covenant of mayors. When they're talking about Iowa City, they're already there but the good
news is everyone in Iowa United Nations, all the members, all the board members, are focusing
now on what they can do to reduce greenhouse emissions, reduce the carbon footprint, and do
the right thing and support the local climate action plans. So he is going to be in a position to get
some arms and legs to help us which will be good and that's frankly, the only reason he agreed
to come back for another two year term.
Krieger noted with the climate ambassador program, Sarah has been working a lot on that and
at the last outreach meeting she talked about creating a framework for online trainings, how that
overall program might sort out as different tiers of ambassadors, climate ambassadors and
climate leaders, so that that program is in development right now. With the Climate Festival
planning, the festival will now be almost all virtual and spread out over a week rather than just
one day.
Fraser had one more comment regarding the very large elephant in the room and it's got to do
with our whole country being on fire right now with looting and protests and the hijacking of
legitimate protests by unsavory groups that are going well beyond what is appropriate. He
doesn't know if it's appropriate for us as part of the outreach committee or part of the
Commission and maybe they do it through equity, but they need to be proactive. When they see
people with their knee on someone's neck, they need to step up and say, get your knee off their
neck. They can generalize that in all our equity efforts and wonders if it would be worthy or
worthwhile or appropriate to draft some sort of a support statement supporting our mayor and all
the people that are thinking and doing all the right things right now. He doesn't want to get
political about it, but it's almost unsavory that they don't talk about it.
Equity:
Hutchinson noted during their last discussion they pretty much focused on Kuann's work and
most specifically the spreadsheet that she developed that lists all the potential stakeholders in
the community. That's the spreadsheet where she placed them in various quadrants, mainly
based on the degree that they're impacted by climate change. So they want to start with that
and also focus on information received by Nations on what Fort Collins has done because
they've gone through some of these same exercises. Once they go through the documents they
will figure out the mix of stakeholders that they would like to try and start to establish
Climate Action Commission
June 1, 2020
Page 12 of 14
relationships with and invite onto the equity working group to make sure that they come up with
a mix that's going to be most effective at addressing the equity issues and making sure that they
are effective with those efforts.
Tate noted it sounds like they have some homework for our next meeting to take a look at this
equity column that Nations and her colleagues have added to the climate actions and give some
feedback on that.
Waste:
Bradley noted they talked about how COVID has been really challenging for those easy fixes in
regard to waste that usually engage people. For instance, people can't use reusable bags
anymore or reusable mugs and things like that. Therefore they talked about brainstorming ways
to overcome those problems and continue reducing waste in the community and encouraging
people to come and take waste reduction a step further than just those. They are also working
on reaching out to different community members in groups and getting them involved with the
working group.
RECAP OF ACTIONABLE ITEMS FOR COMMISSION, WORKING GROUPS, AND STAFF:
1) Add to the agenda if something comes up during public comments, the Commission
cannot comment at that time but can request it be added to the next agenda.
2) Nations will to answer the 100 Grannies about their email ideas and will also speak with
the parks department as it is really a parks question and she will need to collaborate with
them.
3) Soglin is going to use the co -benefits sheet and change that draft into PDF and upload it
into Google documents and it will be in the next packet.
4) Nations will share that website for transportation and the change in different
transportation how it offsets greenhouse gases.
5) Nations will share the Gazette story for all to read while they think about getting the
process around public input on climate and how they can do better.
6) Nations will to talk to motor vehicles in Johnson County and look into different metrics
that they might use their data.
7) Krieger asked for Nations send a summary of what Ford reviewed along with the map for
zones.
8) Soglin requested exploration of making an online version of this year's action item list so
the public could see that.
9) Working groups are to think about public input methods. Also, if anyone has ideas about
the metrics let Nations know.
Climate Action Commission
June 1, 2020
Page 13 of 14
Nations noted she will send out this list of action items out to the Commission via email.
Giannakouros noted following up on Fraser's comments about recent events, perhaps they
should put a placeholder in the next agenda as it is an endless discussion. Doesn't know what
the limitations or the mandate of this Commission is, but on a personal level, he just feels it's
sickening, the country is in turmoil right now and it's hard for any part of normal business to be
normal and to ignore this. Perhaps for this Commission, the discussion should start offline in the
working groups to figure out what does this mean. He feels it's worth as a public commission
thinking about this.
Krieger added another item might be to get a Parks and Rec update based on the public
comment at the beginning of the meeting. Perhaps they would be able to provide an update on
intent and what's going on there.
ADJOURNMENT:
Krieger made a motion to adjourn.
Tate seconded the motion.
Climate Action Commission
June 1, 2020
Page 14 of 14
CLIMATE ACTION COMMISSION
ATTENDANCE RECORD
2019-2020
KEY: X = Present
O = Absent
O/E = Absent/Excused
NM No
Meeting
-- -- = Not a Member
A vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously.
O
N
N
\
Ili
I.-
\
\
\
00
NAME
TERM EXP.
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
tD
to
G
0
0
0
0
0
0J
Madeleine Bradley
12/31/2022
--
--
X
X
X
O/E
X
X
John Fraser
12/31/2020
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Stratis
Giannakouros
UI Rep
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Grace Holbrook
12/31/2021
X
X
X
0/E
O/E
O/E
X
X
Kasey Hutchinson
12/31/2022
--
--
X
X
X
X
X
X
GT Karr
12/31/2020
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Matt Krieger
12/31/2020
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
MidAmerican
Jesse Leckband
Rep
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Katie Sarsfield
12/31/2020
X
X
O/E
X
X
O/E
X
X
Becky Soglin
12/31/2022--
--
X
X
X
X
X
X
Eric Tate
12/31/2021
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
KEY: X = Present
O = Absent
O/E = Absent/Excused
NM No
Meeting
-- -- = Not a Member
A vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously.
Item Number: 4.d.
August 4, 2020
ATTACHMENTS:
Description
Economic Development Committee: January 27
r
�`f.® CITY OF IOWA CITY
MEMORANDUM
Date: July 23, 2020
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Wendy Ford, City Council Economic Development Committee
Re: Recommendation from City Council Economic Development Committee Board
At their January 27, 2020 meeting the City Council Economic Development Committee made
the following recommendation to the City Council:
Thomas moved to nominate Mims for Chair of the Economic Development Committee.
Salih seconded the motion.
The motion carried 3-0.
Salih moved affirmation of the FY21 budgeted amount, and intent to budget FY22 and
FY23 financial assistance for Riverside Theatre.
Thomas seconded the motion.
The motion carried 3-0.
Additional action (check one)
x No further action needed
Board or Commission is requesting Council direction
Agenda item will be was prepared by staff for Council action
S:RECform.doc
EDC January 27, 2020
APPROVED
MINUTES
CITY COUNCIL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
JANUARY 27, 2020
EMMA HARVAT HALL, CITY HALL, 4:00 P.M.
Members Present: Susan Mims, Mazahir Salih, John Thomas
Staff Present: Wendy Ford, Geoff Fruin
Others Present: Derek Willard (Riverside); Adam Knight (Riverside); Kate Markham
(Riverside);
RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL:
Thomas moved to nominate Mims for Chair of the Economic Development Committee.
Salih seconded the motion.
The motion carried 3-0.
Salih moved affirmation of the FY21 budgeted amount, and intent to budget FY22 and
FY23 financial assistance for Riverside Theatre.
Thomas seconded the motion.
The motion carried 3-0.
CALL MEETING TO ORDER:
The meeting was called to order at 4:01 P.M. Wendy Ford asked those present to introduce
themselves.
ORGANIZATION OF COMMITTEE:
Ford noted that since this is the first meeting of the newly appointed Economic Development
Committee, the first order of business would be to elect a Chair.
Thomas moved to nominate Mims for Chair of the Economic Development Committee.
Salih seconded the motion.
The motion carried 3-0.
Susan Mims was elected to continue as the Chair of the EDC
CONSIDER APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM THE OCTOBER 28 2019 ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MEETING:
Mims noted that it is a bit awkward for the new Members to vote on these meeting minutes, as
they were not a part of the Committee at that time. She noted that Fruin and Ford could attest to
the accuracy of the submitted minutes.
Thomas moved to approve the minutes from the October 28, 2019 meeting as presented.
Salih seconded the motion.
The motion carried 3-0.
Consider affirmation of FY21 budgeted amount and intent to budget FY22 and FY23
financial assistance for Riverside Theatre:
EDC January 27, 2020
APPROVED
Ford noted that there are several folks from Riverside Theatre present to can give the Committee
an update on the theatre. She noted the history of City support of Riverside Theatre, and the
most recent two years' support of $20,000. The Riverside staff then addressed Members, noting
that they now have a full-time development director on staff. Markham then reviewed Riverside's
fiscal year that ended at the end of August, 2019 and their standing in current budget year.
Reviewing FY19, Markham noted several challenges for Riverside Theatre. Lower subscription
sales and ticket sales were a major issue. Also at issue were leadership changes within
Riverside. On the bright side, expenses were less than budgeted. This still resulted in an
approximate $34,000 loss. Moving on to the fiscal year-to-date report, Markham noted that
subscription and ticket sales are up. She continued to share with Members how the current
fiscal year appears to be shaping up — the budget is stable, contributing income is up, but cash
flow remains an issue due to lack of assets and savings. The good news is that there is an
anticipated $10,000 surplus next year, which will help to pay down some of the long-term debt,
according to Markham.
Continuing, Knight addressed Members regarding Riverside's history. He noted that over the
past four years they have been going through a transition, away from a founder -driven institution
and towards a mission -driven institution. He spoke to Riverside's mission of challenging their
audiences, yet still needing to bring in enough in ticket sales to carry them forward.
Knight shared that three of the eight plays being offered this year were written by women, which
is above the national average. Also, this year will be two plays written by people of color, which
is probably a first in Riverside's history. Looking at the summer schedule, Riverside hopes to
program an all -black cast in a production. Continuing, Knight shared some of the upcoming
productions that Riverside will be offering. He talked about some of the programming they offer,
from where students come for matinee performances which helps to further their mission within
the community. He stated that everyone that works on their stage, from actors to production, are
paid for their work. Knight said they are working to increase student attendance and noted that
they have a goal of increasing this by 10%. Currently, they are at 17% with their first three
productions. Regarding the summer Shakespeare Festival, he noted that this will be the third
year of making this free to the public. They continue to work with business and corporate
interests for financial backing. There will be a third week added to this year's Shakespeare
schedule.
Derek Willard expressed how grateful Riverside Theatre is for the City's continued support. He
added that getting feedback from the City is helpful for them as well. Regarding downtown, he
stated that he is glad they can be a part of the revamping that is occurring in the Northside
Marketplace area of downtown. Mims thanked the Riverside staff for sharing with the Committee
and praised their goal of increasing student attendance at plays. Salih stated that she does not
know a lot about Riverside Theatre, and she spoke to the diversity they say they want in their
productions. She asked who the audience is for the plays being offered. Knight responded,
noting that the 17% student attendance is very promising. He added that this is not a Riverside -
centric problem, but an industry problem, that almost every theater in the U.S. is concerned
about diversity as well. The topic of outreach was touched on, with Salih stating that since this is
taxpayer money being used, she would like to see everyone in the community be made aware of
what Riverside does. Knight agreed, stating that outreach is something they have been working
on the past few years, as changes have taken place at Riverside. Thomas agreed with Salih's
comments, noting that he will be attending four of the eight plays this year. He spoke to
expectations of those attending the theater and how this has been changing. He applauded
Riverside for their outreach to high school students and other cultural organizations in the area.
EDC January 27, 2020
APPROVED
Members continued to discuss some of the issues of outreach, diversity, community interests,
etc., that Riverside faces as they move away from a founder -driven to a mission -driven theater.
Salih moved affirmation of the FY21 budgeted amount, and intent to budget FY22 and
FY23 financial assistance for Riverside Theatre.
Thomas seconded the motion.
The motion carried 3-0.
STAFF REPORT:
Ford spoke first to the `climate action at work' programs staff has been working on. One program
is to get local businesses to sign up for a program called `portfolio manager,' which is a national
database for tracking energy and resource use. Ford stated that this will help people understand
the metrics of their energy use, in their own building, and will allow them to compare themselves
with other businesses, both locally and nationally. The first business to begin this program is
Beadology, with Karen Kubby. Ford stated that Kubby let staff in to help her get started with this
program, and that it has been fairly simple so far. A local bank is also interested in the program,
and Ford stated that staff will be helping them as well. Another item staff has been working on is
tax abatement areas in the Highway 1/Highway 6 corridor, excluding existing urban renewal
areas. Lastly, Ford noted that staff will be amending three of the urban renewal areas that are in
industrial zones. The plan is to create incentives for these industrial buildings to undergo energy
efficiency projects. Ford noted that buildings typically lose 30% of the energy they consume.
COMMITTEE TIME:
None.
OTHER BUSINESS:
None.
ADJOURNMENT:
Thomas moved to adjourn the meeting at 4:39 P.M.
Salih seconded the motion.
Motion carried 3-0.
EDC January 27, 2020
APPROVED
Council Economic Development Committee
ATTENDANCE RECORD
2020
Key:
X = Present
O = Absent
O/E = Absent/Excused
TERM
NAME
EXP.
N
O
I
I
Susan Mims
01/02/22
X
Mazahir Salih
01/02/22
X
John Thomas
01/02/22
X
Key:
X = Present
O = Absent
O/E = Absent/Excused
Item Number: 4.e.
CITY OIF IOWA CITY
www.icgov.org
August 4, 2020
ATTACHMENTS:
Description
Housing & Community Development Commission: June 18
r
CITY OF IOWA CITY
21110
P �4ft 47 L-` MEMORANDUM
Date: June 25, 2020
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Brianna Gabel, Housing and Community Development Commission Staff
Re: Recommendation from Housing and Community Development Commission
At their June 18, 2020 meeting, the Housing and Community Development Commission made
the following recommendation to the City Council:
1. By a vote of 8-0 HCDC recommends that City Council support local efforts to provide utility
assistance for households in need.
2. By a vote of 8-0 HCDC moved to send letter written by Fixmer-Oraiz, Padron, and
Eastham, regarding systemic racism and police militarization, to City Council on behalf of
the commission with the addition that when crisis calls come into Johnson County
Emergency Communication Center, that there be social service professionals to triage
calls.
Attached are the corresponding minutes and letter.
Additional action (check one)
X No further action needed
Board or Commission is requesting Council direction
Agenda item will be prepared by staff for Council action
MINUTES
FINAL
HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
JUNE 18, 2020 — 6:30 PM
ELECTRONIC MEETING
Electronic Meeting
(Pursuant to Iowa Code section 21.8)
An electronic meeting is being held because a meeting in person is impossible
or impractical due to concerns for the health and safety of Commission
members, staff and the public presented by COVID-19.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Peggy Aguilar, Megan Alter, Matt Drabek, Charlie Eastham, V Fixmer-
Oraiz, Lyn Dee Kealey, John McKinstry, Peter Nkumu, Maria Padron
MEMBERS ABSENT:
STAFF PRESENT: Brianna Gabel, Tracy Hightshoe
OTHERS PRESENT: Simon Andrew, Roger Goedken, Sara Barron, Kathleen Crawford
RECOMMENDATIONS TO CITY COUNCIL:
By a vote of 8-0 (Aguilar not present) HCDC recommends that City Council support local efforts to provide
utility assistance for households in need.
By a vote of 8-0 (Aguilar not present) HCDC moved to send letter written by Fixmer-Oraiz, Padron, and
Eastham, regarding systemic racism and police militarization, on behalf of the commission to City Council
with the addition that when crisis calls come into Johnson County Emergency Communication Center,
that there be social service professionals to triage calls.
CALL MEETING TO ORDER:
Fixmer-Oraiz called the meeting to order at 6:30 PM.
CONSIDERATION OF MEETING MINUTES: APRIL 16,2020:
Eastham moved to approve the minutes of April 16, 2020. Alter seconded and a vote was taken and the
motion passed 5-0 (Aguilar, Padron, Kealy and Nkumu not present for the vote).
PUBLIC COMMENT FOR TOPICS NOT ON THE AGENDA:
None.
MONITORING UPDATES:
The Housing Fellowship: Simon Andrew (Executive Director) gave an update on the low-income
housing tax credit for 628 South Dubuque Street and noted they'd like to have a certificate of occupancy
next week and start filling the units by July and per the tax credit process they need to have 14 units filled
by July 31. Andrew noted the construction was delayed by a couple of weeks when contractors had to be
pulled off the site due to coronavirus, but feels they are back on track. 20 of the 33 units will be targeted
for 60% area medium income rents and are 2 -bedroom or 1 -bedroom units. The rest of the units are
market rate units.
Eastham asked if there were very many Housing Fellowship tenants who are in arrears on rent payments.
Andrew replied that has been increasing every month, as of today they are at $24,000 in late rent for
June rent, he did note a lot of folks are starting to catch up but are using stimulus and unemployment
payments to do so and may not have funds moving forward. He noted they were able to forgive several
thousand dollars in rents due to a donation from The Community Foundation of Johnson County but
understands that the economic effects of this pandemic are going to continue for some time.
Eastham asked if the Housing Fellowship is trying to develop a plan moving forward to assist tenants
unable to pay rents and avoid eviction. Andrew said they are and noted historically they do not evict
tenants for inability to pay rents, it is contrary to their mission they do whatever they can to keep families
in their homes. Long-term plans include restructuring debt, two of the LIHTC projects are reaching year
15 and at that point the nonprofit has the opportunity to acquire at a very small price, taking on the debt
and restructuring their cash flow, so if they acquire those units they will add those units to their pools and
strength the Housing Fellowship. Andrew said debt restructuring and partnerships with their lenders will
be very important moving forward. They need to look at all their units and see which ones would be
affordable at current market rates and perhaps sell those and acquire new properties that would be less
expensive to maintain.
Successful Living: Hightshoe gave an update from the report Successful Living submitted as of June
2020 which summarized their projects. They completed their FY18 rental rehabs, the FY20 rehabs and
they have acquired their units for FY19. For the FY20 units they are looking to acquire three buildings but
due to COVID and hiring staff they have not been able to take on tenants for all those units yet.
Successful Living did note they used to have approximately 37 beds available in the 2 large houses and
they sold the one house that had 20 beds and have recoup those beds in smaller houses with up to 5
beds and as of today they have 50 beds. Doing this they have found it to be a much more efficient and
effective model.
Eastham commented in reading the report he felt Successful Living has done a remake of their program
starting in 2016 to go from living units with larger number of folks in them to smaller numbers because
that works better and he feels that is a very admirable thing on the part of the organization. They were
able to note their program model was not working out so well and take a substantial capital improvement
project to purchase more homes and provide a better service and Eastham thinks that is a commendable
plan on their part.
Alter agreed and appreciated the report because it helped her understand what Successful Living's goals
were and it expanded upon their applications which don't always have the space to tell the full story.
Roger Goedken (Executive Director) thanked HCDC for all they do and did note they have been under a
major overhaul of their housing program, they had just three houses a few years ago and now they are at
10 and looking at 13 for the next fiscal year and they have a huge waiting list.
Drabek noted that the house on Johnson Street is his neighbors and he has seen over the past few years
the transformations and stated their programs seem to be working very well.
Little Creations Academy: Hightshoe gave an update, they were awarded a total of $109,00 and they
utilized $108,876 to do quite a few things; remove the asbestos floor tiling, install new floors, install new
doors, build a shed out back, install cubbies, room dividers and new h -vac units. Hightshoe stated the
project is complete and now the City is just waiting for some annual reports so they can close the project.
In FY21 Little Creations is awarded $78,000 for a kitchen rehabilitation and the City is currently awaiting
the environmental review for that and the release from HUD (which should come by July 1) so they can
enter into the agreement and Little Creations can proceed with the project.
UPDATE ON COVID-19 FUNDING AVAILBILITY
Hightshoe noted as the Commission is aware the City approved an amendment on May 5 that included
how the City would spend their COVID dollars, the City will receive $410,422 from HUD to directly
administer for those impacted by COVID, whether it be agencies or individuals. In the plan that was
approved, 60% of the funds would go direct aid for households, 40% would be set aside for nonprofits
that would apply through a competitive process and award funding based on applications. Hightshoe said
they submitted the amendment in the Annual Action Plan and Consolidate Plan to HUD, the City has
called and emailed HUD for updates and to answers questions and have not yet got a response back nor
have the funds been sent to the City yet so they are still waiting and cannot yet proceed with releasing
funds at this moment. Hightshoe said she has been in many webinars and meetings to learn about what
documentation is needed to award these funds, as they have to all be spent in direct impact to COVID.
They have been told HUD will send out a federal register notice that will explain guidance but they have
not seen that yet. They are hoping to receive guidance by the end of this month but Council decided
while the City is waiting to get the funds from HUD the City would start a program out of the Affordable
Housing Fund for emergency evictions to cover both rent assistance and utility assistance if someone is
in arrears, they would have to be in arrears for at least two months, and it would have to be April, May or
June. The City has entered in a contract with Shelter House to administer these funds. If someone is
eligible for the State's eviction program they must apply for the State funds first, if not eligible for the State
funds then they can apply through the Shelter House. Hightshoe noted this program just started on June
10 and have had 20 inquires, but out of those inquires no one had submitted an application to the State
so they have to go through that process first. Hightshoe reiterated this will just be bridge funding until the
HUD funds become available.
Eastham asked if the City funds are available to people who are not documented. Hightshoe said they
would be eligible, as long as the residence is in Iowa City. Additionally, mobile homes are available if
they are paying lot rent. She added the program has not been available to homeowners but she did talk
to Shelter House today and they haven't had any requests from homeowners yet, it has been all renters.
Eastham asked if this program has been marketed or publicized. Hightshoe said they have sent
notification to all the legacy agencies, the Center for Worker Justice, Iowa City Compassion, and also the
Affordable Homes Coalition listserv.
Fixmer-Oraiz asked if the notifications were translated or if it was up to the nonprofits to do so. Hightshoe
said the City has not translated it yet, they are hoping this is just a bridge program and the agencies
would market it to the folks that are not applying to the State program. The City is still relying on the
Federal funds and hoping they come in soon. Fixmer-Oraiz was just hoping by translating it would be a
little more user friendly. Hightshoe said when they get the Federal funds and work with the Community
Crisis Services they will translate all the information into Spanish and other languages as well.
Alter asked if there was a chance this money from HUD won't come through. Hightshoe said she has a
high degree of confidence the City will receive the funds from HUD it is just unsure when they will receive
the funds so that is why they needed to implement this bridge program.
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Nkumu noted that Johnson County has a similar program for rent and utility assistance and wondered if
the City would be working with Johnson County to avoid people double-dipping. Hightshoe said the
Federal funds come with the stipulation that they can not do duplication of benefits or the City will have to
pay the money back, so they are especially cognizant of that and the two agencies the City is contracting
with to administer these funds, Shelter House and Community Crisis Services, are both using coordinated
entry which is a shared database other agencies can see and it will alert if another agency is helping that
individual already. Additionally, the funds will go directly to the landlord or utility provider and it will be
checked first to make sure they have not already been paid and there is no duplication of benefits.
Eastham noted it would be helpful to the community as a whole if after a month or so they hear some
analysis of the program and if people are applying to multiple services. In the Center for Worker Justice's
case, they have an application for similar programs and they ask if people have applied for other sources
and take them at their word, they are not part of that database. In the long-term it would be good to have
an overall analysis of what people are doing.
Sara Barron (Affordable Housing Coalition) noted they have had conversations with many of their
partners that are providing rental and mortgage assistance about this issue, not just from the point of view
of accidently duplicating resources, but more importantly how effectively and successfully are they
providing support to families. Right now when she is telling people where they can go to get help with
their rent or mortgage she is giving them a list of four or five places, which is not good in these times of
crisis, who has time to contact four or five agencies to get assistance. They are hoping to quickly bring
together an expansion of the coordinated entry process that would allow someone to go to any of the
places that provide assistance, enter application in just once and all the agencies would be able to see it
and help the person see what programs they are eligible for. This way the person would then get a
response from the agency that could help them, rather than going to four or five agencies before getting a
response. In the past Johnson County Social Services has been a bit of a Ione wolf out there, not
connected to the other agencies, but Barron said to be successful at this they will want to bring everyone
into the shared coordinated entry. Also using this type of process will help with tracking and auditing of
the funds as well as the impact of the funds to the community.
DISCUSSION ON UTILITY BILLS:
Alter explained her interest in getting this topic on the agenda predated all the BLM issues and urgency
that has been brought to the City Council's attention, however this topic brings to light inequities and who
is suffering more through the pandemic and this has been brought up to Council through affordable
housing as a recommendation to forgive City utilities for those affected. Alter thought it was important for
the Commission to address this topic and make a recommendation to Council on the urgency of this
matter.
Sara Barron (Affordable Housing Coalition) stated that very shortly after the pandemic hit the Coalition
identified an opportunity for cities to offer utility relief to residents who were impacted by COVID-19. The
reason the Coalition targeted utility relief because water, sewer and refuse are utilities directly provided
by cities, not just Iowa City, but also Coralville and North Liberty, and they recognized cities receive in
revenues more than they have to spend for those utilities. Additionally, it is very difficult to apply for
multiple programs depending on different income qualifications or guidelines that leave some people out.
Also, because everyone use water, sewer and refuse it is a way to reach all the households that need
assistance. Barron stated they also recognized the City of Iowa City will receive some CARES Act
funding through CDBG because they are an Entitlement City, and the cities of Coralville and North Liberty
will not have access to those same funds. Doing the utility forgiveness is an equitable way for all the
municipalities to participate and offer relief to residents throughout Johnson County. Barron stated they
partnered with the Center for Worker Justice and the Iowa City Federation of Labor in making the request,
The University Student Government and Graduate Student Government also joined in calling for utility
relief again recognizing it is the program that could reach the largest number of households. The City
Council heard the request, they decided not to move forward with it at the time for a couple of reasons.
One reason was because the City is offering a deferral of water payments and not doing water shutoffs
nor assessing late fees for water bills; second was an extension of that idea, because it was very early on
in the pandemic they weren't certain what types of requests they would be getting for assistance and
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didn't want to make a decision that took them too far down one path only to find out later there were other
needs also to cover.
Barron explained since they have received more data that reinforces the need for some type of direct
assistance of relief to households. The reasons for that are: one, most of the programs they are seeing
for households for relief are for households that are already behind in their rents and utilities. Barron
noted that makes sense, it is very clear those households would have a very urgent need for support.
However what they are seeing in the survey they are conducting right now with households about housing
needs and national data is many people are struggling to stay current on their rent and utilities and are
using things like the stimulus checks or unemployment checks that are going to expire. Also, the
increase each month to the number of people who are charging to a credit card their housing costs is
going up. The data also shows a significant portion of people are borrowing money from family or friends
or doing payday loans and such to make ends meet. So even amongst households who are currently up
to date they are really struggling to pay those bills and in many cases taking steps that are going to create
further financial constraints and vulnerabilities for them down the road. Barron stated the question then is
do they want the relief they offer to depend on people falling behind on their bills before they can access
support and what are the consequences to families trying to keep up with the bills if they are not
preventively working to lower the housing costs while they have less access to money, paychecks, etc.
The second reason is they know that a number of households that have not paid their water bill has gone
up immensely which data has shown the costs and what assistance would be needed to be helpful. In a
typical month there would maybe be 100 households who were behind on their water bill, but now due to
the pandemic, in June that number was closer to 900 households. Barron stated when they brought this
to the City Manager's attention, his concern was the amount it would cost to cover unpaid water bills, and
she understand why they would not want to take a deep dive into the City's FY20 and FY21 budgets but
they show the City does have a pretty healthy position when it comes to the enterprise funds. All the
money the City receives in revenue for utilities is money just used to sustain those utilities, it is separate
from the City's general operating funds. For example, in FY20 the City transferred $4 million in reserve
funds for water and there is a plan for FY21 to transfer $900,000 into the reserves. Barron acknowledged
some of those reserves are needed for the City as a condition on some borrowing but is confident the City
could find a way to free up some of those funds within the enterprise for water and sewer to pay for utility
relief for households. Barron noted that in their recent housing survey it shows clearly the assistance with
rental and mortgage assistance is a wide-ranging problem and there are limited resources. So if the City
is going to commit a large amount of money to something is it better to offer temporary rental assistance,
is it better to help people already behind in their bills to get caught up, is it better to put more money
towards urgent needs in a crisis and take money away from longer term strategies that promote
affordable housing, those are all decisions that need to be made in a informed way. She added it is very
clear they are just at the precipice of a long-lasting crisis, on top of the crisis that already existed for
housing, and they will have to be bold and look at all the resources and come up with a plan, it is not just
up to the City to come up with long-term solutions. Barron commended the City for being conservative
with it's spending over the years and to create reserves but added if there was ever a time to dip into
reserves, this is it. Barron stated if the Commission is interested in supporting utility relief for households
impacted by COVID, they would appreciate the support.
McKinstry thanked Barron for her presentation and acknowledged that Simon Andrew also pointed out
earlier in his presentation the number of people in arrears with The Housing Fellowship rents and he also
stated that these folks have either exhausted or are about to exhaust their options for assistance (friends,
family, stimulus, credit cards, etc.) so the City needs to be prepared for a long-term assistance plan as it
will take a while to climb out of this hole. McKinstry thought Council was pretty clear about trying to keep
people in their homes as a top priority which is because it is incredibly costly to get people back into their
homes so spending the money to keep them in the homes is a better use of funds. He also noted the City
also agreed to help families with utilities and that is important because water is a fundamental need. He
thinks that utility assistance should continue to happen alongside assistance for rental and mortgage
assistance. The key is to find a way to help people before they are so far in debt it compromises their
financial future.
N
Nkumu noted it sounds like the City has enough money in the reserves so he is wondering why there is a
question of helping people with utilities and such. It doesn't make sense to him that the City would give
people money just to have that money be turned around and repaid to the City in water bills. It would be
better to have an option to forgive a couple months of billing.
Barron added that for the $50,000 the City made available for emergency needs through Shelter House,
that money came out of the Affordable Housing Fund, and will be paid toward the enterprise fund for
water utilities, so it is the City kind of paying itself. It is also important to add it is not good to raid the
money that has been set aside for affordable housing priorities for utility relief. This is why it is so
important to look at the reserves and the utility enterprises as they are self-sustaining funds. She
reiterated having the reserves is important but noted this crisis is hopefully a once in a generation crisis
and that is what these funds should be used for.
Padron asked if everyone who is behind on their bills would receive assistance or would they have to
show joblessness or some other criteria. Barron said there are lots of ways to do this, they are advocating
for a very low barrier for access to the assistance, people who have lost wages due to COVID could
provide they have applied for unemployment or show the lost income, but the key is to not make it too
cumbersome so there is not a deterrent for access.
Padron asked for clarification on how what the utility payments are used for by the City and if they were to
take some of the funds from that enterprise would it affect other things such as Shelter House. Barron
replied that the funds collected by utility payments are used to pay for the enterprise only, the City staff,
the maintenance, the costs associated with providing those services to residents, it is a self-sustaining
enterprise and does not affect other entities such as affordable housing initiatives.
Padron questioned if it is possible to just wait for the City to receive the CDBG CARES Act funds, and
also what those funds are earmarked for when the City gets them. Hightshoe stated the City is to receive
$410,000 from the CARES Act they just don't know when that money will be transferred to the City from
HUD (early July, late July). Staff presented a plan to Council on how to spend those funds of 60% to
direct aid to households (rent, utility assistance) and then 40% reserved for nonprofit agencies to help
with homeless services and childcare who have been affected by COVID.
Eastham pointed out that the Federal funds (as this $410,000 would be) are generally not available to
undocumented residents. Hightshoe confirmed that but said there is a provision in HUD funds that state if
they work through a nonprofit the nonprofit does not have a legal responsibility to ensure the people
receiving the assistance are legal residents, so by contracting with Community Crisis Systems or Shelter
House the City can serve undocumented residents.
Padron noted it has been shown that getting behind on utilities is the first step to homelessness. Fixmer-
Oraiz agreed and asked if there is an understanding of the 900 residents currently behind on utilities,
what the average amount in arrears is, so what is the cost right now of forgiving those accounts. Barron
noted that if there were 1000 households that wanted to use this program each month it could be about
$100,000 per month. Fixmer-Oraiz added they would need to know how long this assistance would need
to be projected out as well, but even if $100,000 for 6 months was needed ($600,000) that still has to be
less than the cost to rehouse people at that magnitude. So, the cost of forgiving the utility bills feels like
nothing compared to what the costs to the City and citizens could be. Fixmer-Oraiz strongly supports the
City forgiving these utility bills and is for a recommendation to Council.
Padron also added that by helping the citizens with the utility bills, it will indirectly help the nonprofits in
town, which is the mission of the Commission, because it would then be less citizens that are relying on
those nonprofits and their scarce resources.
Alter noted in the May 19 Council meeting minutes the City Manger did frame this to show all the different
aspects they have to consider with assistance due to this pandemic and to ensure they are using the best
ways to prioritize. Nevertheless, it also seems like he was advocating for business as usual but this is not
usual times, this is not normal, and this is also extending though the current crisis and sense of urgency
7
of racial equities. Right now, there are a lot of high-level discussions so if this Commission can go to
Council with a concrete actionable item they can act upon and make an immediate impact. Alter is
supportive of providing utility assistance or forgiveness.
Eastham agreed and stated he is very much in favor of doing this, Iowa City's water and sewer
department is financially a very strong department and it will continue so. The pandemic crisis will
probably not go on for more than a couple of years, so it would not be a long-standing change to the
water and sewer revenue to the City.
Drabek is also supportive but raised the questions how the recommendation might be worded to
maximize the effectiveness. Fixmer-Oraiz agreed but noted there is a coalition of organizations putting
the data together on this so it would be best to see how the Commission can amplified those voices and
make the recommendation as actionable as possible.
Kealey stated she is also fully supportive and it would be best to include parameters in the
recommendation, say for 6 months and then reassess.
Barron stated their initial appeal to Council was not effective so they would need to add in more data and
perspective that they have now to show the need. They did offer some fairly straight -forward parameters
in their recommendation of showing someone has lost income due to COVID and if they were behind on
their water bill. Since that recommendation Barron noted her thinking has changed a bit, she now
believes of the data now showing the amount of people trying to stay on top of their bills but in financially
unstable ways (credit cards, payday loans). She feels the recommendation now should include the hard
data and projections of what this might look like over the next six months or so and she will add that to the
proposal.
Fixmer-Oraiz noted one recommendation is the framework of the burden of service to the City when
someone is homeless and emphasizing the catastrophe it would be if hundreds of people became
homeless. Having a compelling narrative is important. Additionally, this is an urgent issue that will only be
increasing every month so can it be acted upon quickly. Barron noted they have the data ready and they
have conducted a housing needs assessment survey to show the need. The results were alarming, the
dire tone from families in crisis was overwhelming and the questions of where to go for help.
Barron restated the request they previously made to Council. They are asking the City of Iowa City to
forgive water, sewer, refuse bills for households where one or more adults are unemployed. They
recommend the forgiveness period start immediately and include any outstanding balances. This relief
should be offered to any household that pays its utility bill directly to the City. Barron said they also did
empathize the equity impact in their documentation. Their justification was that a utility relief program
provides direct aid to households and the greatest economic need in that they can reduce housing costs
through this action, utility relief can be equably offered to every eligible household and providing utility
relief will reduce stress on households and provide a clear directive for City staff.
Padron said they should add this relief will also impact the nonprofits the City supports.
Hightshoe stated they might want to reword the part about one or more household adults are unemployed
because that doesn't necessarily mean the need is there. If a household has one partner making
$500,000 per year and the other partner is laid off, they reasonably should still be able to pay their bills.
One would assume they would not apply for assistance, however under these terms they could. She
recommends stating support for households at 80% or less of the median income. Barron noted they did
consider that but decided to air on the side of making it more accessible to people without the barriers of
having to produce proof of income documentation. They also assumed those that did not need the
assistance would not apply for it, hoping that wasn't naive.
Padron moved to recommend Council support local efforts to provide utility assistance for
households in need. Alter seconded the motion, a vote was taken and the motion passed 8-0
(Aguilar not present for the vote).
7
DISCUSSION ON RACIAL JUSTICE:
Fixmer-Oraiz stated back on June 6 with the activity of the Iowa Freedom Riders and some of the protests
going on around town, V, Padron and Eastham provided a statement to City Council. It was not provided
by HCDC because there had not been a meeting, but now want to put it on the agenda and discuss with
the entire Commission. The statement asked Council to de -militarize the police and their use of force and
recognizing this relates to the work they do here on the Commission when looking at vulnerable
populations and access to housing which is why the first two bullet points in the letter were to reduce the
police department budget by 15% and reinvest those funds into the community. Fixmer-Oraiz added
there is a real misunderstanding of the term "defund the police", it really should be named "invest
community" as it loses some of the nuance to state it that way because it doesn't show the services such
as mental health calls, etc. that police have been asked to do and those services can be provided
elsewhere and not from the police. The letter also goes into other points about law enforcement,
termination of police officers with a history of racist actions, identifying those accountable for throwing tear
gas, and other points in the document to say in the face of all that is going on the City needs anti -racist
policies recognizing this goes back hundreds of years so it will take everything they have to dismantle
those errors. As a Commission they have access to the City in ways other citizens do not. Fixmer-Oraiz
noted at the last Council meeting they did come out with a 15 -point agenda on how to handle the racial
inequity in the City and V believes this Commission could really pay a role in that.
Eastham first wanted to commend Fixmer-Oraiz and Padron in drafting this memo to Council and noted
how most of what was said in the memo was incorporated in the Council's 15 -point agenda from the last
meeting. He is in support of the Commission going ahead with supporting the memo sent to Council and
hopes the Commission moving forward keeps supporting such changes against racial inequities and the
policing in the City.
Drabek stated he really likes this document as it puts some concrete proposals into what the Council
adopted with is essentially a framework. This letter gives a specific budget target for police reduction and
he believes that is very much what the Council needs to hear right now, he might even argue for more, up
to a 25% budget reduction.
McKinstry feels they can add some concreteness to it as Crissy Canganeli from Shelter House had a
recent report on how much money was saved from emergency room visits and jailing because of the
implementation of the Cross Park Place Housing First program. That illustrates with hard figures that
supporting people with housing and community programs it saves actual dollars in policing. It is not a
matter of wanting to hurt the police department but rather shifting resources to where they are more
effective. He does support the letter.
Alter suggested resending the letter signed by the entire Commission showing support. Hightshoe said
that can be done, they could send a note to Council stating the whole HCDC supports the letter.
Padron noted in their letter they asked for the de -militarizing the police however in the Council 15 -point
statement they just talk about getting rid of military equipment but that's not really what the point was.
The letter sent was to address more of what happens every day and using weapons like tear gas.
Kealey wanted to add a bullet a point to add when calls come into the 911 Emergency Communication
Center to have more social workers triaging those calls and helping to deescalate those calls before
emergency services such as police are dispatched. Fixmer-Oraiz agreed that would be a good addition
to a motion.
Kealey moved to send letter written by Fixmer-Oraiz, Padron, and Eastham, regarding systemic
racism and police militarization, on behalf of HCDC with the addition that when crisis calls come
into Johnson County Emergency Communication Center, that there be social service
8
professionals to triage calls. Drabek seconded the motion, a vote was taken and it passed 8-0
(Aguilar not present for the vote).
HOUSING & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT INFORMATION:
Fixmer-Oraiz noted there are outgoing commissioners, and this is their last meeting. Eastham, McKinstry
and Fixmer-Oraiz are all thanked for their services. Fixmer-Oraiz noted it has been an honor and
privilege to serve on this Commission and looks forward to seeing the work continued. Fixmer-Oraiz
stated they have just accepted a position on the Johnson County Affordable Housing Coalition and
therefore can continue to be a part of the conversation and pushing for radical change.
McKinstry echoed Fixmer-Oraiz's words and stated he was very grateful to serve on this Commission.
Eastham noted his appreciation to Fixmer-Oraiz and Padron for their leadership over the time he was on
the Commission and stated they have made the Commission effective and he hopes that continues.
Eastham will look for ways as a member of the School Board to work with the Commission in providing
equitable and fair education for all.
Hightshoe also wanted to thank Fixmer-Oraiz, McKinstry and Eastham and acknowledged how much of a
commitment they have put into the Commission and how much hard work it is. The City of Iowa City will
present each of them with a certificate of appreciation.
ADJOURNMENT:
Eastham moved to adjourn. Alter seconded the motion and a vote was taken and the motion passed 8-0.
10
Housing and Community
Development Commission
Attendance Record
Name
Terms Exp.
7/11
8/15
9/19
10/17
12/19
2/20
3/12
4/16
6/18
Aguilar, Peggy
6/30/22
0
X
X
O/E
X
X
O/E
X
Alter, Megan
6/30/21
X
X
O/E
X
X
X
X
X
X
Drabek, Matt
6/30/22
O/E
X
X
X
O/E
X
X
X
X
Eastham, Charlie
6/30/20
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Fixmer-Oraiz, V
6/30/20
X
X
X
X
X
O/E
X
X
X
Kealey, Lyn Dee Hook
6/30/22
O/E
X
O/E
O/E
X
X
X
X
X
McKinstry, John
6/30/20
X
O/E
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Nkumu, Peter
6/30/22
O/E
X
X
X
O/E
X
O/E
X
X
Padron, Maria
6/30/20
X
X
X
X
O/E
X
O/E
O/E
X
• Resigned from Commission
Key:
X = Present
O = Absent
O/E = Absent/Excused
--- = Vacant
10
Kellie Fruehlin
From: V Fixmer-Oraiz <vfixmeroraiz@astigplanning.com>
Sent: Saturday, lune 6, 2020 10:27 AM
To: Council
Cc: Maria Padron Personal; Charlie Eastham; Erika Kubly; Brianna Gabel
Subject: Letter to Iowa City Council members in response to police actions on protestors
r
r
IRISIK
Dear Councilmembers,
We are contacting you regarding the police response to peaceful protestors in Iowa City this past week. The
Iowa City Police Department threw flashbangs and tear gas at peacefully assembled community members who
had their hands up and were chanting "hands up, don't shoot." They also pepper sprayed a peaceful protestor
who was trying to assist others who had fallen as a result of unnecessary police force.
Our community is not exempt from the events unfolding in recent weeks across the country. The militarization
of our police department and its use of force against those peacefully exercising their constitutional right of
assembly is a serious threat to our democracy.
The Iowa City Police Department's actions are both unconstitutional and unconscionable; we cannot allow it to
continue. The Iowa City Police Department must be held accountable for its actions.
It is time to stop over -investing in law enforcement and start re -investing in our communities. As
commissioners of the Iowa City Housing and Community Development Commission, we know that research
demonstrates that providing access to affordable housing, education, recreation, and art programs enhances
safety and promotes wellness for all who live and work in our community.
We demand immediate action to start addressing systemic racism and police militarization in Iowa City,
including:
• A reduction of the Iowa City Police Department budget by 15%.
• Redirecting those funds to communities of color and vulnerable populations (e.g. to improve neighborhoods,
create and improve parks and community centers, affordable housing programs, youth and elderly recreation
programming, and public transportation affecting those neighborhoods).
• Prohibiting law enforcement from enforcing a range of non-violent offenses, including issuing fines, and making
arrests for non -dangerous behaviors, eliminating many of the unnecessary interactions between the police and
community members that have led to so much violence
• Termination of employment for police officers with a history of racist actions
• Identification and accountability for those responsible for throwing tear gas on June 3'd
• Required sensitivity training and de-escalation training for all local law enforcement
• Sending a letter from Iowa City Council to the Johnson County Sheriff Department and demandi action on these
same issues.
• Full accountability and disciplinary action every time there is a proven complaint filed by a community member.
All of you are aware of the tensions between Iowa City police policies and the impacts they have on our
communities of color, and some of you have campaigned on this issue to be elected. This is your opportunity to
take action.
Sincerely,
V Fixmer-Oraiz, Maria Padron, Charlie Eastham
Commissioners, Iowa City Housing and Community Development Commission
CITY OIF IOWA CITY
www.icgov.org
August 4, 2020
ATTACHMENTS:
Description
Human Rights Commission: July 14
Item Number: 4.f.
APPROVED Minutes
Human Rights Commission
Electronic Formal Special Meeting Zoom Meeting Platform
July 14, 2020
Members Present: Ashley Lindley, Jessica Andino, Cathy McGinnis, Zachary Rochester, Mark Pries,
Noemi Ford, Jason Glass, Bijou Maliabo.
Members Not Present: Adil Adams.
Staff Present: Stefanie Bowers.
Electronic Meeting (Pursuant to Iowa Code section 21.8) An electronic meeting was held because a
meeting in person was impossible or impractical due to concerns for the health and safety of council
members, staff and the public presented by COVID-19.
Recommendation to Council: No.
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 5:3213M.
Approval of the June 19, 2020 meeting minutes: Lindley moved with one edit to approve the minutes;
the motion was seconded by Maliabo.
Approval of the July 7, 2020 meeting minutes: A motion to approve was made by Pries and seconded by
Rochester.
Strategic Plan:
Top 3-4 areas of interest
Bijou:
1. Education
2. Immigration
3. Outreach
Cathy:
1. Outreach & Education
2. Immigrant Issues
3. Racism
Zachary:
1. Outreach
2. Anti -Racism specifically
3. Indigenous persons education
Jessica:
1. Outreach, Resources getting the word out about current resources
2. Outreach
Ashley:
1. Outreach and Education
2. Focus on a lot of the issues of racism and discrimination against immigrant and
Indigenous persons and establish a BIPOC issue.
Jason:
1. Communication and Assistance to the City staff/Council
2. Events
Mark:
1. Juneteenth Celebration
2. Volunteers and Subcommittees
3. BIPOC groups together around affordable housing
4. Partnering with City Council
Noemi:
1. Access to health and mental health Racial disparities
Areas of focus and then create working groups:
Past Sub Committees
1. Public Safety
2. Housing
3. Education
4. Outreach//Know Your Rights
Zachary: have it be re -assessed in January but can still do programming on prior 4 or this three
as long as led by the Human Rights Commission.
1. Racism/Anti-Racism
a. Bijou
b. Zachary
c. Ashley
2. Health Equity
a. Cathy
b. Noemi
c. Jessica
3. Housing
a. Adil (subject to his approval)
b. Jason
c. Mark
Reports of Commissioners:
Noemi established a new health care clinic for immigrant and refugees on the east side. To
serve community within the community. Very limited on clientele at this time. Will send out
trifold on the program.
Mark has a Wednesday morning Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, topic is white nationalism worship,
Thursday he will be attending the Interfaith Coalition Meeting, topic is racism.
Jessica is more involved with Center for Worker Justice (CWJ) and is making a more streamlined
resource for consumers.
Zachary, CWJ request for $25,000 for My Homes to Yours program.
Bijou, every Wednesday 10AM to 4 PM, Shelter House is at CWJ to help with rental assistance.
Staff spoke on using a racial equity toolkit and possible meeting with the Iowa Freedom Riders.
Meeting adjourned: 6:5413M.
Member Attendance Sheet
Member
Term
1/7
1/21
2/18
3/17
4/21
5/19
6/16
6/19 7/07
07/14 7/21 /28
Maliabo
1/2021
Present
Present
Present
Excused
Present
Excused
Present
Present Present
Present
McGinnis
1/2021
Present
Present
Present
Excused
Present
Present
Present
Present Present
Present
Rochester
1/2021
Present
Present
Excused
Excused
Present
Present
Present
Present Present
Present
Adams
1/2022
Excused
Present
Excused
Excused
Present
Present I
Present
Excused Excused
Excused
Andino
1/2022
Present
Present
Present
Excused
Present
Present
Present
Present Present
Present
Ford
1/2022
Present
Present
Excused
Excused
Present
Excused
Present
Present Present
Present
Lindley
1/2023
Present
Excused
Present
Excused
Present
Present
Present
Present Present
Present
Glass
1/2023
Present
resent
Present
Excused
Present
Excused
Present
Present Present
Present
Pries
1/2023
Present
Present
Excused
Lxcusedl
Present
Present
Present
Present Present
Present
Page 2
CITY OIF IOWA CITY
www.icgov.org
August 4, 2020
ATTACHMENTS:
Description
Library Board of Trustees: June 25
Item Number: 4.g.
IOWA CITY
PUBLIC LIBRARY
123 S. Linn St. • Iowa City, IA 52240
319-356-5200 • icpLorg
Hougs: Mon-Thurs 10-9, Fri 10-8, Sat 10-6, Sun 12-5
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Minutes of the Electronic Special Meeting FINAL APPROVED
July 9, 2020
Electronic Meeting (Pursuant to Iowa Code section 21.8)
An electronic meeting was held because a meeting in person was impossible or impractical due
to concerns for the health and safety of board members, staff, and the public presented by
COVID-19.
Members Present: Wesley Beary, John Beasley, Carol Kirsch, Robin Paetzold, Tom Rocklin,
Hannah Shultz.
Members Absent: Kellee Forkenbrock, Derek Johnk, Monique Washington.
Staff Present, Elsworth Carman, Melody Dworak, Alyssa Hanson, Patty McCarthy, Anne Mangano, Elyse
Miller, Jason Paulios, Candice Smith.
Guests Present: Maeve Clark.
Call Meeting to Order. President Beary called the meeting to order at 5:08 pm.
Public Discussion. None.
Board Annual Report. Carman said this document was introduced at the last regular Board meeting. It
is an annual document that goes to the City and identifies accomplishments for FY2020 and goals for
FY21. Beasley thinks COVID-19 related items should be grouped together for clarity. Shultz agrees, as
does Beary. Beary said this is still a draft and will be presented at the regular July 2020 meeting. Beasley
asked if the document assumes business as usual or is attempting to bridge the gap for FY21. Carman
said the document considers what is happening right now and includes the current COVID-19
environment. Paetzold wondered if there needs to be a goal to reestablish our traditional service model.
Paetzold said the phasing document might be helpful for this and for assessing how we are doing now.
She also wonders if there should be something about the financial changes that may come with this,
both from the government and private sector. Carman asked if the Board is comfortable with 30% of
resources used for BIPOC or if this needs to be framed in a different way. Beary said currently there is
no existing dedicated percentage of work and Carman agreed it has not been identified this way in the
past. We have used resources but we have never called it out specifically. Rocklin applauds it as a goal.
Carman said we will present goal language at the next regular meeting but the tactics that make those
If you will need disability -related accommodations in order to participate in this meeting, please contact Elyse Miller,
Iowa City Public Library, at 319-887-6003 or elyse-millerPkpl.org. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow
sufficient time to meet your access needs.
goals happen are not typically brought to the Board. Rocklin was struck by the word "with". Paetzold is
concerned about qualifying this when we don't know how the budget will be impacted. She
understands it is a priority but is uncomfortable with an unknown budget. Carman said it is 30% of
whatever budget we have. Rocklin said he is leaning towards making this commitment. Beasley agrees
with Paetzold and does not want to commit to a specific percentage. Paetzold suggested changing the
word "dedicate." Budget reductions are more of a reason to put the percentage there, said Carman, to
show the commitment, but he understands these concerns. Carman believes if we are going to change
the scope of this, perhaps it needs to be changed or moved off as a goal. Beasley needs more
information to determine the appropriate amount to dedicate.
Shultz asked if the Bookmobile fits in as part of the 30% in response to Paetzold's point about the
Bookmobile going to under -resourced areas of the community. Carman said it does include the
Bookmobile. He is willing to bring back a few iterations of this goal to the next meeting for the Board to
look at. He thinks if we remove the 30%, it may not rise to the level of a Board report goal. Paetzold
wants to know what expenses would fall under here, for example, the Bookmobile and outreach, in
particular. Paetzold wants to see more about outreach and programming. Carman said he could list
examples in collections, too. Rocklin asked if expenditures are tracked this way or would we need to
track this in a new way. Carman said it will be new but dovetails with other planning changes we are
hoping to introduce. Paetzold asked if we can we reach out to the community to help us defray costs
for these measures. Carman thinks it is hard to tell right now. Carman said we think this is critical to the
development of our community even in this limited resource environment. Rocklin said this coming
year is going to be a challenge, but doesn't want this to mean it is a way we change our goals. Beasley
wants to make sure basic work and services are able to be covered.
Beary pointed out the budgetary changes that happened this year due to COVID and wonders if our
flexibility would be reduced by allocating a specific amount. Carman said, for example, after core bills
are paid, if there are 10 programs for the year, 3 would be BIPOC. Beary said we prioritized purchasing
eBooks when COVID happened and wonders if we would we have done this in this way? Paetzold asked
if getting hotspots into the community would fall into this? Paetzold is primarily concerned with the
service delivery model.
Beary said there is a desire to have more context/clarification/scope on the 30%; what are the things
that are sacrosanct before the 30%. Carman asked if members want the strategic plan in the regular
Board packet; Paetzold said if there aren't any surprises, it can be in the packet. Paetzold asked if there
are other parts of the community that are not being receiving attention. Carman said there are many
other groups that have been traditionally underserved and it is always a challenge to balance resource
allocation. Carman said this goal is about reaching into everything we do.
Fines. Staff recommend that fines be waived from January 1 to March 15, 2020. A motion to accept the
staff recommendation and waive fines from January 1, 2020 to March 15, 2020 was made by Paetzold
and seconded by Rocklin. Motion carries 7/0.
Director's Report. Beary said COVID-19 related items should be the topics at the special meetings and
all other topics saved for the regular monthly Board meeting.
If you will need disability -related accommodations in order to participate in this meeting, please contact Elyse Miller,
Iowa City Public Library, at 379-887-6003 or elyse-miller0icpl.orq. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow
sufficient time to meet your access needs.
N
Shultz noted there are no indicators for moving through the phases. Carman said initially there were
two weeks of declining cases as the first indicator at each phase. Risk is minimal during the early phases;
leadership weighed the importance of library service with the desire for harder benchmarks. Staff
wondered how long we could keep resources from the community as we see our peer agencies open.
The solution was to base phasing on things that we can control. External people cannot make the
determination about whether the building or staff are ready for the public to be back in the building.
Carman said we can put specific benchmarks back in the document. Beasley said staff need to make a
recommendation to the Board about changing phases and then bring it to the Board for approval.
Beary felt drawn to a metric but understands the two -weeks of declining cases is not workable. Other
metrics such as a moving average over the last week per 100,000 population, were discussed. Tying
action to a benchmark makes things easier said Beary, but reduces flexibility. Paetzold said we should
identify the epidemiologic expertise in the community we are using. Shultz said she is concerned that
without a metric we have no justification for moving through phases. Rocklin said he thinks the Director
of the Johnson County Department of Public Health should be our expert. Paetzold suggested this
might be a training topic for the Board in a short session.
Beasley asked if other Board members want to take responsibility for opening the building instead of
staff having to do this alone. Paetzold thinks the Board should support the staff and approve the
phased changes. Rocklin agrees. Beasley would like an expert at the next meeting in July. Members
would like and expert to speak about COVID-19 at the next Special Meeting. Phase 3 involves patrons
coming into Meeting Room A for computer access and Beasley is not comfortable having anyone come
into the building without a recommendation from public health. The plan reflects the information we
have that is available now. Paetzold asked about whether we are in conflict with the State regarding
opening the building. Carman said he took Reynolds statement to mean that libraries may open.
Paetzold asked if our accreditation will bejeopardized; Carman said the State Library supports what we
are doing. Carman said we are truly committed to safety and appreciates the support we receive from
the Board. Beasley wants the library to address the challenges we will face when schools open. Beary
wanted to clarify if the Board needs to be consulted if the library needs to go back a phase. Rocklin said
approval does not need to be sought but notification would be warranted.
President's Report. Beary said three to five hours of continuing education each year is recommended
for trustees. Beary asked members to let him know topics in which they might be interested. He said he
believes we have been compliant with appropriate laws but feels he has not been as careful about
sunlight laws and open meeting standards, and want the Board to be more mindful about items on the
agenda. If an item comes up in a meeting that is not on the agenda, it needs to be moved to an agenda
item at the next meeting. Paetzold asked for training about issues related to social justice and inclusion.
Adjournment. President Beary closed the meeting at 6:33 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Elyse Miller
If you will need disability -related accommodations in order to participate in this meeting, please contact Elyse Miller,
Iowa City Public Library, at 379-887-6003 or elyse-miller@icpLorq. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow
sufficient time to meet your access needs.
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CITY OIF IOWA CITY
www.icgov.org
August 4, 2020
ATTACHMENTS:
Description
Library Board of Trustees: July 9
Item Number: 4.h.
IOWA `...!ITY
AwPUBLIC LIBRARY
123 S. Linn St. - Iowa City, IA 52240
319-356-5200 • icpl.org
HOJRS: Mon-Thurs 10-9, Fri 10-8, Sat 10-6, Sun 12-5
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Minutes of the Electronic Regular Meeting FINAL APPROVED
June 25, 2020
Electronic Meeting (Pursuant to Iowa Code section 21.8)
An electronic meeting was held because a meeting in person was impossible or impractical due
to concerns for the health and safety of board members, staff, and the public presented by
COVID-19.
Members Present: Wesley Beary, John Beasley, Derek Johnk, Carol Kirsch Robin Paetzold, Tom Rocklin,
Hannah Shultz, Monique Washington (in at 5:20).
Members Absent: Kellee Forkenbrock.
Staff Present: Elsworth Carman, Karen Corbin, Bond Drager, Melody Dworak, Beth Fisher, Alyssa
Hanson, Heidi Kuchta, Kara Logsden, Anne Mangano, Patty McCarthy, Stacey McKim, Elyse Miller, Brent
Palmer, Jason Paulios, Shawna Riggins, Angela Pilkington.
Guests Present: Maeve Clark.
Call Meeting to Order. President Beary called the meeting to order at 5:02 pm.
Public Discussion. None.
Items for Discussion/Action.
Policy Modification #801: Circulation and Library Card Policy. This is a special policy review to modify
section 801.21, Fine and Replacement Fees of the Circulation and Library Card policy. This clarifies the
terms and specifics about previous action taken about fines. Paetzold said the Board asked staff to
recommend language. Carman said the recommendation is to strike the current policy language, but
keep the strikeout viewable to indicate the section is suspended for now. Rocklin asked what will
happen after January 1, 2021. Carman believes the policy would revert. Beasley said he is confused
about the status of fines from January 1, 2020 to the day the library closed. Beary said this is a different
discussion. A motion to formalize the suspension of fines in Policy #801 was made by Rocklin and
seconded by Johnk. Motion carried 7/0. Beary would like a proposal from staff for forgiveness of fines
from January 1, 2020 until the library closing date. Beary and Carman will discuss.
Election of Officers. Beasley said the Nominating Committee thought keeping the current officers in
place, with the exception of Secretary, in this difficult time was appropriate. Derek Johnk has been
If you will need disability -related accommodations in order to participate in this meeting, please contact Elyse Miller,
Iowa City Public Library, at 319-887-6003 or else-miller@icpl.org. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow
sufficient time to meet your access needs.
nominated for Secretary of the Board. A motion to approve the slate of officers as presented, Beary,
President, Kirsch, Vice -President, and Johnk, Secretary of the Library Board of Trustees was made by
Rocklin and seconded by Shultz. Motion carried 7/0.
Board Annual report. This is the regular time to review the Board annual report. Kirsch said the goals for
2021 were not included; Carman said this is part of what this discussion is about. Paetzold said there
needs to be a plan in place for next month. Rocklin agreed and proposed a goal around adaptability.
Paetzold said it could be in response to community priorities. Kirsch likes the word adaptability; she
acknowledged we have no idea what library services are going to look like in the fall. Paetzold thinks we
could work on responding to community priorities, like Black Lives Matter and COVID-19. The building
as well as buildings around us and the impact this has on managing our services also needs to be
addressed. Paetzold said this might need to be tweaked depending on who is responsible, the City or
the library. Beary said soliciting more/broader community input is not COVID-compatible, but he
believes we ought to know what the community wants/needs. Beasley thinks the report should be
tailored toward our goals in the current environment, not like in a "normal" year. The library is in crisis
management now, he said, the building next door is crumbling, COVID cases are on the uptick, and the
report should reflect this. Carman appreciates these thematic suggestions from the Board. Carman said
we can focus on this at the next special meeting. Beary says what may be appropriate is how we expect
to proceed rather than what we expect to accomplish. He said It is difficult tb be strategic at this point.
Paetzold said the Board is required to have annual training, and suggested open meetings rules. There
will be a draft report in two weeks for the Board to discuss.
Staff Reports.
Director's Report. Carman said nothing has changed with the building next door. Technology access has
been postponed. We decided to pull back because of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases and we
need to adequately train staff, particularly when communicating and working with patrons in an
unusual environment. The leadership team worked on a phasing document and it is difficult to include
dates. The document will be sent to the Board and Carman will write a blog post. Graphics for the
phasing plan should be ready next week.
Paetzold asked about a timeline for the building next door. Carman said the building is old brick, and
the engineers on site said it probably just shifted, which created a crack. The City's engineers as well the
engineer from the landlord went into damage control mode. They are going to remove the back wall; it
is supposedly not as unstable as it looks. Machinery has been brought in to take it down brick by brick.
There have already been two unexpected structural changes. So far, it doesn't appear that our building
is any more at risk than it was yesterday. Paetzold asked if we have prevented access to places in the
alley; Carman said any areas that could be affected have been taken care of. We do not have overnight
staff scheduled right now, in response to a question from Paetzold who worries that if it rains a lot the
Children's Room will suffer damage. If the drain is not full of debris, Building Manager, Brad Gehrke,
believes it will not be like when a drain is blocked. For safety, the whole area is blocked off, having staff
there in any capacity is risky. There is a cover for the transformer, which might help withstand some
damage. We are prepared to have staff come in overnight if needed. Tenants are not in the building.
Carman discussed the phases in response to a question by Beasley. Computer access will not begin until
the number of cases comes down. Beasley proposed that the Board should decide when to open the
If you will need disability -related accommodations in order to participate in this meeting, please contact Elyse Miller,
Iowa City Public Library, at 379-887-6003 or elyse-miller(&icpl.orq. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow
sufficient time to meet your access needs.
2
meeting rooms to computer access. Carman hopes the Board will have a good framework from which
to work when they receive the phasing document. Beasley said consent and approval of Board needs to
be in place, not just staff making decision about when to open. Beary said it makes sense to see the
document so there is less speculation. Carman said the phasing document will be ready for discussion
at the next two-week special meeting, in response to a question by Beary.
Departmental Reports:
Adult Services. It was noted that adult programs are challenging and reaching new audiences is always
difficult. Teaching people how to use Zoom has been popular, according to Stacey McKim. Online book
discussions are also going well. Kirsch asked if Heidi Lauritzen's replacement has arrived; Paulios said
Amanda Mae Monson started on June 8 as our Supervising Librarian. Beary said to share our welcome
and hope the transition goes smoothly for her.
Children's Services. Pilkington said AIM Card information was included to provide a six-month update,
despite students' lack of access to materials for the past three months. All of the AIM Card partners
decided to continue the program. Paetzold asked about fees; Pilkington said fees are just to ICPL.
Pilkington said there are many books still in the community. Paetzold thinks this is expensive for three
months and is interested to see what the annual update will look like. Beary said he and his daughter
really appreciate the storytimes and virtual programming offered by the library. Kirsch said the Craft -to -
Go is great programming. Pilkington said it is a surprise hit and we will continue to add more offerings.
Collection Services. Johnk asked if the public knows about Flipster. Right now, there are many more
magazines available to patrons than there will be in July.
IT. Kirsch asked for a summary of MS Teams. Palmer said it is an online platform and productivity tool
for staff to work together. Staff can chat with each other, have different spaces identified for different
kinds of work. Staff can work on documents and projects together and have ongoing conversations
with each other while not physically together in the building. It is a more immediate experience than the
Zoom electronic platform.
Development Office. McCarthy said this was a $820 week.
President's Report. No comments.
Announcements from Members. None.
Committee Reports. The Friends Foundation Board met; officers were elected and budget passed.
Laura Ebinger, President, Catherine Erickson, President-elect, Jeff Rudolph, Treasurer, Erin Dougherty,
Secretary, David J. Bright, Past President.
Communications. None.
If you will need disability -related accommodations in order to participate in this meeting, please contact Elyse Miller,
Iowa City Public Library, at 319-887-6003 or elyse-miller@icpl.org. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow
sufficient time to meet your access needs.
3
Consent Agenda.
A. Approve Minutes of the May 28, 2020 Regular Meeting of the Library Board of Trustees.
B. Approve Minutes of the June 11, 2020 Special Meeting of the Library Board of Trustees.
C. Approve Disbursements for May, 2020.
A motion to approve the consent agenda was made by Kirsch and seconded by Johnk. Motion carried
8/0.
Paetzold asked about feedback from the community. Carman and Paulios said communication from the
community has been mixed all along; some people appreciate having any services, others feel we
should be open for all services. Paetzold asked if it would be helpful for the Board to make a public
statement supporting the library. Carman thinks public Board support might be more beneficial at a
more difficult moment in the future for the library. Paetzold said public Board support should be
included in our strategies for reopening.
Set Agenda Order for July Meeting.
Special Meeting in two weeks.
Suspending fines from January staff proposal.
Annual report draft, phasing document.
Adjournment. A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Beary. President Beary closed the
meeting at 6:11 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Elyse Miller
If you will need disability -related accommodations in order to participate in this meeting, please contact Elyse Miller,
Iowa City Public Library, at 379-887-6003 or elvse-miller@icpl.org. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow
sufficient time to meet your access needs.
4
Board or Commission: ICPL Board of Trustees
ATTENDANCE RECORD
12 Month
*March 26, 2020 meeting cancelled; beginning of COVID-19 pandemic
KEY:
X = Present
O = Absent
O/E = Absent/Excused
NM = No meeting
Meeting Date
Term
Name
Expiration
9j26/19
10/24/19
11/21/19
12/19/19
1/23/20
02/27/20
*4/23/20
5/7/20
5/28/20
6/11/20
6/25/20
7/23/20
Wesley Beary
6/30/21
X
X
x
X
x
X
X
X
X
x
X
X
John Beasley
6/30/21
X
X
X
X
X
o
X
X
X
X
X
X
Kellee
Forkenbrock
6/30/23
X
X
X
O/E
X
X
X
X
X
X
O/E
X
Derek Johnk
6/30/25
X
O/E
X
X
X
X
X
O/E
X
X
X
X
Carol Kirsch
6/30/23
O/E
X
X
X
X
O/E
X
X
X
X
X
X
Robin Paetzold
6/30/23
X
O/E
X
X
X
x
X
X
X
x
X
x
Tom Rocklin
6/30/25
X
O/E
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Hannah Shultz
6/30/25
O/E
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Monique
Washington
6/30/21
X
X
X
X
X
O/E
OE
X
X
X
X
X
*March 26, 2020 meeting cancelled; beginning of COVID-19 pandemic
KEY:
X = Present
O = Absent
O/E = Absent/Excused
NM = No meeting
CITY OIF IOWA CITY
www.icgov.org
August 4, 2020
ATTACHMENTS:
Description
Senior Center Commission: May 21
Item Number: 41
Approved Minutes
May 21, 2020
MINUTES
SENIOR CENTER COMMISSION
May 21, 2020
ELECTRONIC Formal Meeting
ZOOM MEETING Platform
Members Present: Lorraine Dorfman, Scott Finlayson, Zach Goldsmith, Angela
McConville, George Nelson, Linda Vogel, Paula Vaughan
Members Absent: None
Staff Present: LaTasha DeLoach, Kristin Kromray, Michelle Buhman, Kevin
Crawley
Others Present: None
Electronic Meeting (Pursuant to Iowa Code section 21.8)
An electronic meeting was held because a meeting in person was impossible or
impractical due to concerns for the health and safety of council members, staff,
and the public presented by COVID-19.
CALL TO ORDER:
The meeting was called to order by Finlayson at 4:10 PM.
RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL:
None.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM THE APRIL 16. 2020 MEETING:
Motion: To accept the minutes from the April 16, 2020 meeting. Motion
carried on a vote of 710. Vogel/Goldsmith
PUBLIC DISCUSSION:
None.
COMMISSION ASSIGNMENTS:
McConville suggested the Commission presents to the Board of Supervisors in
the fall.
OPERATIONAL OVERVIEW:
Approved Minutes
May 21, 2020
DeLoach reported that the Senior Center will be doing a 4 -phase reopening.
There is no set date for this to begin but she anticipates sometime in June.
Phase 1: Staff in the building but no public. Potentially instructors could come in
the building to do a streamed/filmed zoom class. Phase 2: Public can come in
the building for specific appointments only. Members will be able to use fitness
areas or computer lab at scheduled specific times. Phase 3: Limited
programming at 50% capacity. Phase 4:Full building access.
Dorfman is concerned about enforcing people who need to wear a mask and how
to enforce people staying 6 feet apart.
DeLoach noted that there will be modifications in the building such as moving
administrative staff to the mezzanine level and putting up plexiglass to provide a
barrier for staff. Masks will be required in the building. Hand sanitizer, sanitation
wipes and/or spray will be widely available.
Nelson raised concerns about funding and hoped online memberships will be
available soon. DeLoach noted that they will be.
DeLoach noted there is unlikely to be a fall program guide, but staff is working on
programming in 2 -month time frames. Virtual programming will likely continue to
be a focus for some time. The Senior Center is finding that some out of state
people (who have moved from Iowa City) are interested in rejoining for the digital
programming.
The request for proposal is still moving forward and the contract will go before
the City Council in June.
Survey report that the University of Iowa Public Policy college conducted earlier
this year is completed. Staff will meet with them next week to go over the
findings.
DeLoach noted there is one remaining policy to look over, the Community Use of
Center Space. Nelson voiced his opinion that individuals should also be given the
Senior Center space for free of charge or for a reduced rate. DeLoach noted that
individuals can use the Senior Center during the business day at no cost. If there
was a special circumstance for afterhours use, there is a provision in the policy
that would allow the coordinator to make that determination.
Motion: To accept the Community Use of Center Space policy. Motion
carried on a vote of 710. McConville/Vogel
COMMISSION DISCUSSION:
Goldsmith noted that he would like the commission to get nametags for future
public meetings.
2
Preliminary Minutes
May 21, 2020
Motion: To Adjourn. Motion carried on a vote of 710. Goldsmith/Dorfman
Preliminary Minutes
May 21, 2020
Senior Center Commission Attendance Record
Name
Term Expires
6/20/19
7/18/19
8/14/19
9/19/19
10/17/19
11/21/19
12/19/19
1/16/20
2/20/20
3/19/20
4/16/20
5/22/20
Kerne Bowen
12/31/19
NM
X
X
NM
NM
NM
X
--
--
--
--
--
Cheryll Clamon
12/31/19
NM
X
X
--
--
--
--
--
--
--
--
--
Lorraine
Dorfinan
12/31/21
NM
O/E
X
NM
NM
NM
X
X
X
NM
X
X
Robert (Scott)
Finlayson
12/31/20
NM
O/E
X
NM
NM
NM
X
X
X
NM
X
X
Zach Goldsmith
12/31/21
NM
X
X
NM
NM
NM
X
X
X
NM
X
X
Angela
McConville
12/31/21
NM
X
X
NM
NM
NM
X
X
X
NM
X
X
George Nelson
12/31/22
--
--
--
--
--
--
--
X
X
NM
X
X
Paula Vaughan
12/31/22
--
--
--
--
--
--
--
O/E
X
NM
X
X
Linda Vogel
12/31/20
--
--
--
--
--
--
--
X
X
NM
X
X
Hiram (Rick)
Webber
12/31/19
NM
X
O/E
NM
NM
NM
O/E
--
--
--
--
--
Key: X= Present
o= Absent
O/E = Absent/Excused
NM = No meeting
-- = Not a member