HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-08-18 TranscriptionPage I
Council Present: Bergus, Mims, Salih, Teague, Taylor, Thomas, Weiner
Staff Present: Fruin, Monroe, Kilburg, Dulek, Seydell-Johnson, Havel, Ford, Nagle-
Gamm, Fruehling, Sitzman, Hightshoe, Brotherton, Bockenstedt
Others Present: Van Heukelom (UISG)
Storm Update:
Teague/ All right, well welcome everybody to the Iowa City City Council work session for
August 18° and we have a few items on our work session agenda today. And so wanted
to start with some storm updates. I know that this has been a hard time for many people
in our (garbled) and throughout our state. So ... wanted to ... um, maybe have Geoff jump in
and kinda give us some updates on what's happening and ... Council can jump in after that.
Fruin/ Well thank you, Mayor and ... and Council, uh, we'll be brief tonight with our remarks, um,
but hopefully able to answer any questions that you have about the ... the City's response
this past week and ... and looking ahead. Uh, Jason Havel, our City Engineer, is going to
kick things off and then he's going to turn it over to Juh Seydell-Johnson in our Parks
Department, uh, to give you their perspective as well. So, uh, Jason, it's all yours!
Havel/All right, thanks, Geoff. Um, good evening, Mayor and Council. Gonna ... just gonna give
you a up .... quick update on the storm and then the City's response, especially from the
Public Works' side of things. So, uh, as you're all aware, on Monday, August 10' we had
a derecho storm event here in Iowa City, which was a first for a lot of people, myself
included. So ... um, it was.... obviously a severe weather event, left damage and debris
throughout the city, uh, tremendous amount of tree damage and with that, those falling
trees often impacting other structures, whether it's homes, garages, power lines, uh, you
name it. It was, uh, a wide spread storm. Had winds in the neighborhood of about 70 to
80 miles an hour in the Iowa City area. The most significant damage was located east of
the Iowa River and it was really in the area kind of bordered by Dodge Street on the west,
Rochester on the north, Highway 6 on the south, and then Scott Boulevard on the east
side. So that seemed to be the area of the heaviest amount of damage. Most of our
facilities were without line power at some point. That included the water supply and
treatment facilities, as well as the collection and treatment facilities on the waste water
side of things. Following the storm, City crews were deployed immediately after the
storm leaving the ... the City. Our initial focus was to get streets open and obviously that's
important for, uh, emergency response, for utility companies, public safety, as well as
City staff. Most of the streets were opened by the end of the day Monday, uh, there were
some streets that remained closed. A lot of those locations were areas where we had
electrical lines wrapped up in tree debris and so it just, we weren't able to get in there
safely until those electrical facilities were removed from the debris. So those were...
remain closed. Um .... also on Monday we focused on getting power to our critical
infrastructure. Uh, on Monday we had both our water plant and our waste water plant
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were on generator power. In addition, the Peninsula well field, which is a critical piece of
our ability to generate water was without power. With that water staff had begun the
process of securing a generator to help, uh, energize the ... the Peninsula well field again,
just due to the importance of that area. Um, and we worked with MidAmerican to
basically make that a priority, and by Monday at midnight, they were able to have that
power restored. So obviously that was a ... a huge sigh of relief to keep the ... it from
becoming a more significant issue. Uh, and along those lines, by end of the day
Thursday we were able to get all of our critical infrastructure back on line — power, so all
of our water and waste water facilities. Starting on Tuesday we began with debris, uh,
pick up and removal, which has continued all of last week, through the weekend, and still
continues. I think our estimate right now is we're probably looking at two months of
debris pick up and removal that we're going to be, uh, working through that process.
We're looking at doing a similar rotation of what we do for leaf pickup. So we'll kind of
work our way through the city and the different zones, again kind of picking up the debris
as we go. We organized crews last week during the weekend. So Saturday and Sunday
shifts in addition to the week day shifts. It sounds like we're gonna look at doing that
again this weekend. So again, continuing to get that debris picked up. Um, the storm
debris, we're taking that to various locations throughout the city for City staff, the stuff
that we pick up, we're taking that down to Mesquakie Park. It's an area that is .... that's
fenced in and we can kind of organize it there and hold it there until we're ready to deal
with it. Uh, commercial haulers are required to haul to the landfill. Residential, uh...
residential customers can also ... or users, can also take stuff to the landfill, but we've also
opened another, uh, debris... debris drop off site, and that's located near the transit facility.
That's down there at 1200 S. Riverside Drive. So that's where the snow storage typically
occurs, and so we're using that for people to come and drop off debris there and... and
we'll chip it once we collected it there as well. Uh, and that basically, the thought there is
it allows residents to drop it off little closer to home, not have to go all the way out to the
landfill to do that. And I believe schedule -wise, we're looking at having that remain open
at least through the end of the month. As with any event this size, uh, Dave Wilson and
his staff at Johnson County Emergency Management has been critical. They've been, uh,
very helpful in helping us locate and acquire equipment and other resources for the
recovery efforts. They were able to provide generators, which a lot of those were used
for traffic signals. You may have been drivin' around and seen a lot of those were
completely dark. So, uh, those generators came in handy to focus on our key
intersections and at least get those operational again. Um, in addition he was also able to
help coordinate with Iowa DOT and Johnson County secondary roads to help get
additional staff and equipment, especially on the trucking side of things has been a huge
benefit. So definitely a big thank you to DOT and ... and Johnson County for the help
there. MidAmerican Energy obviously has been a ... a crucial partner through all of this.
Um, you know, special thank you to Kevin Whitty and... and Karrie Leza, I hope I'm
saying her name right, but they've definitely been instrumental, as well as all of MidAm
staff and... and work, helping us to work through things and ... and to deal with their
facilities, but also help to deal with ours and ... and really get those critical infrastructure
pieces back online quickly. Um, we were .... again, we were able to ... to get arterial streets
open right away, uh, critical infrastructure, and most of our signals were back by Friday.
I think the last signal was back online power by Saturday. So less than a week after the
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event, and again, a big thank you to them. We continue to work with MidAmerican as we
come across debris, especially those locations where they have power lines or other
electrical components wrapped up in the debris. Uh, I think we're good on our major
streets, but there's probably still some pockets where we may find those ... those locations
where that's occurring. Uh, I think overall we're proud of the response that's taken place
and with all the coordination with staff and other entities, um, but we do ask folks to be
patient. Again we're lookin' at probably a couple months still of debris pick up and
working through this. As we get a little further from the event, I think it's going to be
more challenging for people to be patient as we work through it. There's a lot out there
and we're workin' through it the best we can. But moving forward we'll continue to
assess the situation and coordinate that debris pick up and .... and eventually chipping of
the debris, uh, as we work through that. So ... that's all I had, but certainly can tum it over
to Juli or answer questions as ... as needed.
Seydell-Johnson/ So I'll take over for Parks. Um, we were pretty lucky throughout the parks
(mumbled) as far as structural damage. Um, we lost the brand new, um, ball field
backstop at Creekside Park and a few other fences here and there, but didn't sustain a lot
of damage beyond the tree damage. Um, the tree damage, of course, has been very
substantial. Uh, the first few days after the storm our crews were assisting Public Works
with getting streets and critical infrastructure cleared and open. Our forestry crews have
been up in the bucket truck a lot, getting any of the street trees that have fallen on
property, um, meaning structures, houses, cars; helping getting those cleared, uh, and our
parks crews were able to move out into the parks starting on Thursday to start clearing
trails and looking for hazards throughout the parks. Uh, we found significant hazards
over a number of trails, playground areas, active use areas in the parks so they've been,
uh, very busy clearing those because, um, with COVID our park use and outdoor uses
remain strong through this entire time. Um, we estimate we have about a dozen parks
that are still affected that we still need to address. Um, but we've gotten through about
two-thirds of the parks and gotten the safety issues cleared out. You'll notice lots of logs
and downed trees still and we will get back to get those later. Um, the cemetery took
extensive damage throughout, um, due to the number of very large, mature trees. Uh,
they've cleared areas as needed for various funerals that have happened since the storm,
but they will have several weeks more of, uh, pick up and damage repair at the cemetery.
We estimate park crews have at least two weeks more of clearing hangers from trails and
park use areas. Um, and in general, you know, we're getting things back online. We had
several questions about Fair Meadows splash pad. People were concerned that it was
closed off for construction and wouldn't be back on. Um, that was simply because of the
electrical outage due to the storm, and it should be back up and running, um, and we're
doing our best to keep things going as ... as normally as possible as we get back into
operations. I think that's it for parks at this time.
Teague/ Thanks to you both for your updates. Council discussion or any comments by
Councilors?
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Bergus/ I just had a question maybe for Jason. If, um, the debris pick up is continuing for a
couple of months, can you anticipate how that's going to impact normal leaf pick up that
would be happening into that time?
Havel/I think right now we're anticipating it would essentially probably just roll over from debris
pick up into leaf pick up, uh, I think timing wise it...it should work out pretty well, knock
on wood. Hopefully that's the plan anyway, but I ... I think we're probably looking at
something along those lines.
Mims/ I'd just like to say thanks to staff. I mean our staff was out there very quickly, uh, Ashley
did a great job with department heads of getting things organized. Um, I joked with
Geoff this morning that when he started as City Manager, or as, uh, Assistant City
Manager here, um, I think there were many as ... I'm not sure, as many as half a dozen
times that City Manager Tom Markus left town and we had a disaster like a fire out at the
landfill (laughs) so we were joking that he left town on vacation and Ashley got the
derecho. So ... uh, but no, everybody did a great job, and uh, just really appreciate all the
hard work and extra time that people have been putting in.
Taylor/ Uh, I echo what Susan said and the thanks to City staff as well as all the linemen and the
tree crews who worked diligently to ... to get the power back and clear debris and also the
neighborhoods. It was just amazing to see on social media, uh, the number of folks that
rallied to help, uh, one another out and helping to clear their neighbor's debris and ... and
that, and that was just amazing to see, but that .... that's Iowa City strong for ya!
Weiner/ Like to thank staff, starting with Ashley as well. I was really ...I thought that the
response and the, how nimble staff was, uh, and the ... and communications and the ability
to think of new and different ways to allow people to dispose of their refuse, um, hand
out bags, find collection areas for refuse, uh, was .... I was, uh, I thought it was really
impressive. Um, I also, you know, although people... some people were without power
for nearly a week, I know it takes a long time to get that back up sometimes, the critical
infrastructure, um, I hope people are aware that this is an enormous event that spread
over multiple states and while we had help from linemen from .... from out of town and
out of state and even from Ontario, Canada, it just takes a while. Uh, and by comparison,
I was ... I went up to Cedar Rapids on Saturday and Sunday to help out with some things.
We ... we took a very glancing blow. If anybody has time or .... or money to help, they
really need it, as do some other communities.
Teague/ I'll definitely echo many of the things that have been said so far. Urn .... one question
(garbled) get this from people (garbled) to the ... the yard (garbled) or the debris on their
street, is there (garbled) plan in place (garbled) at one point. It could happen when
regular garbage pick up is placed. Is there a general thought on when the debris will be
(garbled) if it's at residential homes where we service (garbled) or kinda yard waste?
Frain/ Uh, I ... I can .... I can take that, Mayor. So you're talkin' just the debris that's piled up on
the .... (both talking) Yeah, that's, um, you know, we're goin' be leaf zones and we're
tryin' to hit the hardest areas first. So it's.... it's probably gonna be, you know, a good
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several days to get through one leaf zone, at least this first initial pass, and maybe even
five, six days to get ... get through a leaf zone, I would guess. Um, so it...it could be a little
while, uh, for us to get in front of, uh, in front of everybody's house, and of course those
people that we're serving right now, they're still gonna have stuff coming out to the curb,
um, you know, as they get a chance to work on things and have contractors come in. So
they might have to have that second round of stuff sitting for several weeks in front of
their house. So, um, as Jason mentioned, it's going to take, uh, probably a good two
months to get everything.... everything cleared out, and uh, we'll continue to work as
much as we can. It sounds like we've got some plans for some overtime crews this
weekend, at least get through the first pass as quick as ... as quick as we can. Um, one of
the challenging things about this... about this storm is so wide spread is, uh, all our staff
have impacts at thein.. their homes and their families homes too so we have to find that
balance of, uh, asking them to come in extra hours and working extra hours versus
allowing them to do what they need to do at their properties as well. So, um, we'll be
able to give ya updates, you know, on a weekly basis, uh... uh, or as frequently as you
wish, but it's going to take for some home owners that happen to be in different leaf zone
area than we're in right now, it'll be several weeks.
Teague/ All right! Thank you. All right!
Bergus/ Mayor, I just wanted to direct people to the City website at icgov.org. Right in the
middle, in the news updates, there's a link to the disaster recovery page and on there
there's information about, urn, assistance... for replacing food. If ..if you were receiving
food assistance, there are state grants that are available with links to that assistance, um,
links to (garbled) United Way and those, uh, a variety of programs that can help people
out if they themselves, um, need help or if they know of anyone who needs help, and um,
the updates as well including like the debris pick up in different places that .... that Jason
was referencing, all that information is available in one spot there too.
Teague/ Great. And that is at icgov.org/stormrecovery. So, thank you! All right! Well, thanks
to, um, everyone in our community that have been helpin' their neighbors, um, helpin'
themselves, because it was quite the ... the undertakin' from the storm, even for everyone
who have reached out to other parts of the community, or even came to our community —
thank you. Um, I was able to talk to our, uh, Assistant City Manager minutes (laughs)
well actually it was still durin' the storm, um, because we were plannin' to meet up for
Community Connection that, on Census that we couldn't do. Um, and so
we ... immediately, uh, did see some of the devastation that was happenin' within the
community Uh, it went on longer than I ever anticipated, um, and so thanks to
everybody and all the staff for all they're doin' during this time. All right, we're gonna
go on to the next item on our agenda.
Fruin/ (both talking) Mayor, can I ... I apologize for interrupting. Um, I just got a note that
we're .... we're not streaming on Channel 4 right now so would you mind if we take a
couple minutes' break. We just need to make sure the public's able to (both talking)
Teague/ Absolutely!
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Fruin/ (both talking) hearing this conversation, so we could just take a couple minutes I'll report
back (garbled)
(PA USE)
Fruin/ Okay, Mayor, we have the, uh, YouTube link up as well, um, so we're .... we're streaming
on Channel 4 on YouTube. It's available on channel, uh, City Channel 4 on TV and then
the phone number is also posted on our social media sites, if folks wanna call in. So I
think we're good to restart the work session if you're ready.
COVID-19 Update:
Teague/ All right. Thanks to all the staff workin' really quickly to get us up and runnin' again
and, uh, sorry to the community that we're havin' some challenges. Um .... that's kind of
been the way of the world, uh, with many things around here lately. Um, all right! We're
gonna continue our work session, um, on August 18a' with the next agenda item, which is
COVID-19, uh, we wanna maybe have some updates there. Um, and just get some, uh,
Council thoughts as well.
Fruin/ Um, Mayor, I don't have any updates for the Council. Happy to answer, uh, questions that
you have, but we just keep this on the agenda in case there's any ... any, uh, discussions
that Council wants to have, uh, related to COVID or any questions you have of staff.
Mims/ I would just make a couple of comments, um, about the uncertainty of our future. I don't
know if people have seen that University of North Carolina -Chapel Hill shut down today.
Um, they brought students back and started class about a week ago. Uh, they've had at
least four cluster outbreaks and as of today, sometime today, they shut down. They're
sending all of their undergraduates home as coronavirus has spread across the campus.
Um, additionally it came out yesterday in the news that all of the state of Iowa reporting
out of the Iowa Department of Public Health has been incorrect for quite some time.
They have been backdating positive tests for people who had been previously tested
negative, um, and then later tested positive. They put the date of those positive tests to
the date of the original negative test, which means, uh, once they finally get that correct,
the trajectory of our infections is potentially going to be significantly steeper on the
upside, um, and the positivity rate is going to be higher. I don't know how much higher.
Um, you can actually thank, um, I can't think of her name. It's a nurse practitioner from
Iowa City who actually dug into this data and found it, um, there's another woman out of
Ames who is providing an incredible service online with digging into the state data and
she had suspected this for quite some time as well. Um, Iowa Department of Public
Health actually confirmed it publicly yesterday, um, and the news media has been
reporting this. So, um, this is worse than people thought, um, and I think as we start
seeing, um, universities like, you know, UNC at Chapel Hill trying to do ... trying to
reopen, and they were doing a lot of online stuff, um, what everybody is finding is you
bring these college kids, and it's not just going to be the college kids (laughs) I'm afraid,
back and no matter what you tell `em, you know, there's a lot of `em, you k now, we
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probably all were at that age too. We think we're invincible and they're gonna do what
they're gonna do and this is gonna spread. So we .... I don't think we have happy times in
front of us for a while.
Thomas/ I think I just wanna add to that and ... what I'm seeing up on the Northside is some
evidence of partying, uh, in large groups. Uh, and so you know one question I would
have to staff would be ... uh, is there a plan for enforcement? I know that some colleges
and universities have a code of conduct that students have to sign before... um, you know,
class begins, uh, and there are ... on some of them, I was looking at Drake's today. Drake
University. Uh, it covers both on and off campus behavior, and um, so one of the
questions in my mind would be what if any enforcement the City will be taking, uh,
should we see, you know, behaviors which, um, you know, could create... urn.... you
know, some problems with respect to the infection rate.
Taylor/ I ... I agree with that, John. I think it's something, uh, that we really need to seriously
consider. I mean we've heard some rumors out there, I think maybe you've heard some
folks, uh, email you about, uh, possibly closing the bars at 10:00 but of course then that
pushes the...the, uh, folks into the ... the homes, uh, apartments, etc., to party, but ... we had
a very alarming number today, 44 (garbled) increase in the numbers in Johnson County of
positive tests. That's very alarming! We've been doing .... you know, been lower, 10, 11,
12, but today's was 44 and ... and that sets up some red flags, and I think we really need to
look at this and the naysayers out there, this is very real, um, and it's ... it's scary, and we
need .... we need to do something.
Teague/ I've been in conversations (both talking) I've been in conversation with people over
the ... over the past week a little bit about a mask, uh, concerns with the bars at night, and
um, one of the things that I'm hoping to do is the Partnership for Alcohol and Safety, that
I'm a ... that I'm appointed to as Mayor, uh, to reconvene that meeting, uh, just to have
some conversations there to see what can we do, um, you know just continue the thought
processes there. One question is about enforcement here and I think that if there is, um, a
call that comes in from the community about a disturbance call, a disorderly household
conduct, I believe our officers will continue to do what they've done in the past. They go
and they try to disperse, uh, would be the hope, would be to disperse, and then you know,
certainly, um, if the initial response would be to cite, then ... then they get cited. I think
right now when it comes down to COVID and the safety of, um, everyone, I think that's
somethin' that we have to consider. Most people will say that young people, you know,
they... they've been not showin' major illnesses, uh, because of the, uh, COVID-19. And I
think as a general group that is true, but that, you know, the loss of one life is too many.
And, uh, and also the possibility of givin' it to other individuals within our community,
which we have a, I don't know what the average age (laughs) age of our community is,
but we do have a very active and gray, uh, part of our community that is out and about,
and um, the .... the chance of them bein' exposed to coronavirus, of course the more cases
you have, you know, that .... that rate increase goes up, even when you're doin' all the
right things, um, you know, there's always that chance that a person can be, um, infected
with COVID. So I do believe that, uh, right now we have to have.... more serious
conversations about what does it look like. We do know that the, um, and Geoff, you're
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gonna have to help me with the name of the, uh, entity that came, uh, from Des Moines.
The Alcohol Beverage (both talking)
Fruin/ Alcoholic Beverages Division.
Teague/ ...divisions and they did come from Des Moines, and not exactly sure what their end
game is, but urn ..... I know that their .... their whole point for comin' was to assess .... to
see how the bar scenes were doing, uh, essentially, and to my knowledge, um, there was
no...at least no follow up with the City. So not exactly sure what they plan to do, if there
are major concerns with how activity is bein' had at establishments, but I really do
believe that we have to ensure somehow that we, um, can increase the message, because I
think that's important. Uh, workin' with the University to make sure that they ... that, you
k now, they're sharin' the message. Uh, maybe there's some more outlets that we can do
throughout the community, through signs that talks about the mask mandate. Um, I know
Coralville has a sign and, um, cause I ... one .... one of the things we wanna make sure is
that people are aware ... of ..of the mask mandate, as well as some reminders when they're
goin' throughout their day.
Weiner/ Yep, we have a mask mandate, as does Johnson County. Uh, and it's really, wearing
some kind of face covering is really the only effective way unless you're going to stay
home .... to break the chain of transmission. So at the risk of sounding like Smokey Bear,
students, only you can prevent the spread of COVID! I know that, um, you wanna hug
your friends and have parties with people you haven't seen for months cause you're in
college. I know you wanna have social gatherings and parties. But this whole
community is counting on your to act responsibly. Please wear your face covering! If
you're a sports enthusiast you already don't have a football season. Let's not blow the
basketball season! Please be ... good to others and be selfish, protect yourself and others.
Thank you!
Taylor/ And, Janice, also stress that maintaining the social distance, cause you don't
necessarily .... that .... that's, they've heard that that when they're outdoors they don't
necessarily need the mask, but then it's still vitally important. I, uh, stopped in to see the
new Target store this weekend and everybody was very good about wearing their mask
inside but as soon as they left the store the masks came off and six or seven of `em,
walking side-by-side, uh, on the sidewalks downtown. So, uh, we've .... we've got to
stress that also.....cause that's also vitally important.
Salih/ I also (mumbled) I was at downtown with my children, and I also seeing like people, you
know, walking together in a big group or standing without like having masks on. And
there is no social distance, but uh, some people of course, not all of them, but there is
many groups that are not really serious about it and I'm (mumbled) make me think, okay,
when this ... all the student come back, uh, how ...if now we don't have a lot of students
now, but still we see, uh, some people are not really doing it and, uh, they are in public. I
understand that you sitting on the restaurant table, with your close family and you wanna
eat, that's okay but... taking it off, that's okay, but if you are just stand talking here and
they outside and you are not putting it, you know. I don't know how we can enforce that.
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Weiner/ I was out Sunday, late Sunday afternoon with my granddaughter and it, downtown, um,
and basically I .... I thanked some groups of students who walked by wearing their face
coverings, because I also want to, um, give some ... some real positive enforcement and
they seemed to appreciate that.
Teague/ I also don't wanna make sure ... I wanna make sure that this isn't all put on the students as
well, because, um, the nighttime life, um, even ... has not only been students.
Salih/ Yes, that's true.
Fruin/ Mayor and Council, I just wanna make sure that ... that, um, we can give appropriate
direction to our officers that are working, um, especially nights and weekends. Uh, am I
hearing a .... a desire for increased enforcement, um, where we have large groups, be it
in ... in bars or restaurants or parties. Currently we're not being very proactive. We are,
uh, still in kind of a COVID response mode, which is, uh, minimal enforcement
throughout the community, whether it's foot patrols downtown or it's, uh, traffic stops.
We're trying to focus on the .... on the more serious events that are .... that are (mumbled)
incidents that are ... that are being called into us. Um, but I'm sensing from this discussion
that, uh, perhaps you'd want our police department to be a little bit more aggressive with
our enforcement, is that .... is that an accurate assessment?
Teague/ One of the .... one of the questions I have is with the police department, um, I know that
there has been calls already and it ... how successful has it been with doin' the talk,
leaving .... or.....has that been successful?
Fruin/ Um, Interim Chief Brotherton's on the line here, uh, she (mumbled) better able to answer,
uh, that question about our interactions.
Teague/ Great!
Brotherton/ I'm here, can you hear me?
Teague/ Yes, we can!
Brotherton/ Hi, Council! So it's Denise Brotherton here. We have actually, um, not had a whole
lot of complaints. Now we've been kind of waiting for those to increase as our
population's increased. Uh, so kind of been waiting to see if we see that happening, but
what we've had, um, up to this point is our education has seemed to work. We've had
just a couple incidents where, you know, we've kinda had some pushback by a couple of
individuals, but it seemed to be more of like a mental health issue than it really was about
a mask issue. Uh, otherwise, you know, we've had some groups where they just didn't
know, and um ... and responded well. Now we have not been getting complaints about the
nighttime at the bars. Not saying that's not happening, I'm just saying we're not getting
those complaints. I expect, again, that will increase, and um, you know, as the City
Manager said, uh, we've kind of been working in that pandemic mode where we have not
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been so proactive, though we have responded to all complaints and if applicable, have
educated. Now there's some we respond to that everyone's following, you know, what
they should be and there's not an issue there. So therefore we're not taking any type of
action or making contact. Um, but if...if there is we will, and um, you know, we would
certainly still, even if we're increasing our presence. You know, our goal is still going to
be education first, and obviously, and like you mentioned before, dealing with if there's
other behaviors at hand, whether it's disorderly behaviors or (mumbled) behaviors, uh,
sorry, my dog just decided to speak up for us.
Teague/ Hello! (laughs)
Brotherton/ (laughing) So, anyway, um, yeah! So .... any other questions about that? That my
dog can answer for us, apparently! (laughter)
Salih/ (mumbled) just wanna ask you, if there is any plan when the student arrive, uh, what, uh
because, um, they were outside they don't know about, maybe some of them they don't
know about Iowa City now. They mandating, uh, this, the mask (garbled) and, uh, just if
there is any plan that .... some police will be around there just handing mask, telling
people, or we going .... or the University will tell, you know, the student that Iowa City's
doing this. I don't know.
Brotherton/ Um, I ... I've been made aware that the University has been sending out education to
the students and they have some plans they're working on. We still have the disposable
masks, which of course we'll have the officers have with them when they're out, and you
know, we can also put it on our social media. You know, we ... things came out early, but
you know like you mentioned we have a lot of students coming to town who may or may
not know, uh, and so I think we can certainly support University's efforts by getting
things out on our social media too. Um, I'm not sure about what they have as far as the
disposable masks like we do, but we have ours and, um ... we have them with the officers!
Salih/ (both talking) Yeah, and also I'm thinking about like a plan or anything, sorry, Geoff, that
like .... uh, one day plan (mumbled) will be like around like they are present and
everybody can see them and just like handing out masks for the people who don't wear
masks at that moment and telling them this is now we enforcing this or .... I don't know,
some like present, uh, like an event, after the student come, so everybody will know that,
uh, this is serious. If you don't wear it, next time will be, you know, you ... you will be
punished for it or .... get .... ticket (both talking)
Brotherton/ I think we can get education out there and get our community, um, outreach assistant
Daisy, who's been chompin' at the bit, to get back involved in the community more.
Pandemic has kind of pulled her back too, and I think we can get creative with ... with
getting some education out there and letting people know that we also have those, the
disposable masks.
Salih/ Sure.
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Thomas/ The one .... the one type of activity that I ... that I'm especially concerned with are these
large group gatherings, you know, which I've heard as super -spreading events and, um,
you know, the ... the, I .... I was not aware until rel... relatively recently about the percentage
of asymptomatic infection rate. I believe it's 40%. So you can see where you have these
large parties, people may become infected, they may be asymptomatic, and yet you're
talking about lots of people at one event who, um, spread the infection or...or are infected
at that event who then spread it throughout the community. So, that's the kind of thing,
you know, I'm hearing that a large percentage of the infections come at these super
spreading events and, you know, of course Iowa City is potentially full of them, uh, both
on and off campus, uh, so that... that's the thing that I'm .... I wanted to bring attention to.
Salih/ I think you're right, John Thomas, because I, uh, I heard about this event (garbled) that
being held by somebody and a lot of people came, over 40 people came. Ten of them
have COVID after that event, like few days after that event. And we don't know who
else, but at least we identify 10 people get, you know, they (mumbled) and they went and
tested and they get COVID. Uh, so this is event is really serious. We have to take them
seriously. Uh, you k now, if you wanna have the event, you have really to be serious
about mask and social distance and all this.
Thomas/ Yeah, I would have preferred if the University had done something like this, uh, code of
conduct that I was seeing on Drake University's, uh, you know, their program. I don't, to
my understanding we don't have such a thing, uh, occurring with the University of Iowa.
So, um, I think we may have to rely on at least, um, you know, some level of enforcement
because I don't know to what degree, uh, the students are aware that their behavior
matters, both on campus and off campus in terms of the pandemic, and um, so we may
need to do our education through enforcement.
Bergus/ (mumbled) just wanna weigh in and say ..answer Geoff more directly. I do think some
more proactive activity is in order and really pleased to hear, Denise, that your
department has had success when responding to calls with education being ... being the
way that those can be handled. So hopefully that, even you know expanding to more
proactive activity, focusing on education still, I think, is great, and I really like your idea
of, um, having Daisy involved in that. I think that's a really good fit for this kind of, you
know, um, getting out there and helping with that education piece.
Mims/ Yep, I mean I would like to see us focus first on the education piece before we start
writing a bunch of tickets. Obviously if there's other behavior or, uh, deliberate, uh,
unwillingness to ... to, you know, go along with wearing the face coverings then that's a
different story. Um, to your point, John, I found this just interesting. I just happened to
be scrolling through that article on UNC as I was sitting here, and they had a code of
conduct. Chapel Hill already requires students to pledge to practice COVID-19 safety
measures. And so while I totally agree I think it's a great thing to do, unfortunately it's
not the end-all, be-all, and they're calling out the community as well for their response
(laughs) responsibility as well, you know, not ... not just the students. Um, a couple of
things I was just thinking of, and I don't know what we're doing or how this would work,
and that would be ... um, and the Downtown District might be able to help us with this is
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....and I know they've sent out a lot of like, um, digital posters that businesses could print
off about masks. Can we do something like that with land boards and ask them to post
them, you know, in the hallways, in their apartment buildings, and at the entrances and
exits, that you know, there is a city and a countywide, you know, face covering, mask
mandate, um, you know, when you are out and about and what those rules are, and just,
you know, more....more information on preventing the spread of COVID. Um,
obviously not all of the students live on campus. Um, you know, in fact most don't. But
is there a way ...um, a lot of `em go onto campus and then come back across Clinton
Street. Is there some way of putting a whole bunch of signage on the east side of Clinton
Street, facing the campus, reminding them as they come off the campus into downtown or
head back to their apartments or whatever about those rules, I mean we can't put `em on
the campus, but we could ... we could make a real cute decoration along Clinton Street
(laughs) that you can't miss as you (several talking, garbled)
Weiner/ You could put up, along that line, you could use one of our electron... essentially movable
electronic billboard, sort of like you see when you come into Coralville, mask up with
a .... with a thumbs up at...at one or two really.... key points. It would definitely make the
point!
Teague/ Yeah, and I ... I talked to Geoff, I think it was yesterday, about maybe doin' some of those
movable light -up signs, definitely on Dubuque Street, students comin' in there, and
maybe on Dodge. So, um, it sounds like, Council, if we're okay with it let's kinda, uh,
give Geoff some direction to kinda work with the University, as well as Downtown
District, and other, uh, interested parties within the community to put some signage. All
right, anything else, and I did warm say, um, to Interim, uh, Brotherton.... Chief, our
Interim Chief Brotherton, um, congratulations, thanks for, uh, bein' in this role, and if I'm
not mistaken, you are the first interim chief female.
Brotherton/ Yes! I am, and thank you very much. It's been fun!
Teague/ (both talking) Yes! (laughs) That is .... that is exciting, and so, uh, definitely wanted to
acknowledge you and thank you for, uh, bein' in that role.
Brotherton/ Much appreciated! Thank you!
Teague/ Thank you! All right! If there's nothing (both talking)
Fruin/ Mayor (both talking) We do have, um, the message boards bein' deployed. I ... I was
thinking those would be up today. I don't know if they were, uh, installed or not today,
but if not they'll be deployed shortly. Um, our streets crew is a little stretched right now.
So they might not have got to it today, but um, we're gonna have one on Dubuque, one
on Dodge, and one on Melrose, kinda of the primary entrances into campus there, uh,
with that mask up, uh, message. So, uh, those'll be deployed and we can certainly, uh,
through the police department and other, uh, community stakeholders work on signage.
So good ... good suggestions.
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Continue the discussion on the resolution of initial Council commitments addressing the
Black Lives Matter movement and systemic racism in the wake of the murder of George
Floyd by the Minneapolis Police and calls for actions from protesters and residents:
Teague/ Thank you (garbled) All right, movin' on to the next agenda .... item on our agenda,
which is continuin' the discussion on the resolution of initial Council commitments
addressin' the Black Lives Matter movement and systemic racism in the wake of the
murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis Police and calls for actions from protesters
and residents. One of the things that came in the late handout is the ... um, investigative
report contract, and so ... um, wanted to definitely spend some time there .... on that item,
and that of course came from the resolution that I just mentioned, and I believe that in the
resolution that is item #4, where Council had ... um, had a part of that resolution stating
that the City Manager, uh, will give a report by August I" on the involvement of the Iowa
City Police Department in the use of tear ..in the use of gas, flash bang devices durin' the
protests in Iowa City on June 3'". Council had decided, um, that we wanted to really seek
other, uh, an outside source to maybe look at this, and now that is the ... the contract is a
result of that. So wanted to just open up the conversation. Geoff, certainly you can take
us away.
Fruin/ Yeah, thanks, Mayor. So in the late handouts was a, uh, contract that, uh, the City
Attorney's office had drafted, um, with, uh, the OIR Group, Office of Independent
Review. Um, they, uh, are a firm from California that, uh, focus exclusively on, uh,
conducting, uh, these types of reviews for the police departments, uh, really across the
country, but uh.... uh, most of their work is in the state of California. Um, we were, um,
referred to them, uh, through some other communities that have gone through
assessments in the past that, uh, thought that they did a .... a fair job, uh, in the
investigation and a nice job presenting it. Um, we did talk with a number of other firms
as well. Um, ultimately all the firms roughly have the same price. It was gonna be
somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 to $250 per hour, uh, with a not to exceed
amount, uh, that we would agree to. Um, so I ... I don't think you're gonna find a whole
lot difference in cost if you were to look elsewhere. Um, this ... this firm, uh, we felt
would be, uh, completely independent from the City. We've never contracted with them
before. Really don't see a whole lot of opportunity to contract with them going forward.
Maybe we will if we .... we, uh... um, get used to their services and ... and find there's others
that are, um, available to us, but uh, really think this would be a one-time contract with
this, uh, with this company and felt that, uh, their reputation, uh, is one of being very fair
and impartial. So I know that was important for the community and the Council. So
that's how we landed on this group. There's not a whole lot of firms that, uh, have
expertise in this area. You really have to know the law enforcement world, um, to ... to
really get into these types of complex situations, which you have multi, uh, agency
responses. Um, so this is the contract. They have signed it, so it's ready for Council's
signature. That's not on your agenda tonight. It's, uh, here at your work session so that
you can have further discussion. If you wanna see changes to the scope of service, if you
wanna go a different direction, now's the .... now's the time to start, uh... urn .... ub,
articulate those thoughts.
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Taylor/ My concern was that, uh, in .... in the information it gave them three months to .... to get
the report back to us and now if we're waiting, you're saying that we won't make the
decision tonight. We have to wait another two weeks till our next meeting. That adds
some more time to this and it was kind of a timely, uh, thing that we wanted to have done,
um, can we change that three months or .... or what can we do about that?
Fruin/ Yeah, we .... we discussed that and .... and pretty much every firm had that same, uh, two to
three month window. Um ... uh, I .... I don't think, um, that they can speed that up at all.
Um, it's just based on their, uh, their workload that they have with their .... their staff. All
these groups that do this are .... are usually very small firms or individuals, and uh... uh,
they may be balancing several contracts at....at one time. So, um, we had that discussion
and .... and unfortunately I think that's.... that's just what we would have to accept with an
outside review. Uh, they.... they've got a lot of homework to do, uh, to get started
because they're unfamiliar with the community, with the department, with our policies.
So there's a lot of, uh, a background that they need to do just to get started.
Salih/ I just think that .... I have another idea really I wanna see what the Council think about it.
Uh, the ... the main question was who made the call .... to do that teargas, and now we have
to send all this, uh, you know (mumbled) contract and send it and spend all this money to
just tell who made the call, and we know who made the call, and the Mayor and I
(garbled) chance to watch the video, and it can clearly tell us exactly who made the call
and also .... uh..... if we can just come up with, uh.... with the fact, as a city, uh, what
happen exactly on that day, and ... and (garbled) to the public! I ... I think ... uh, we can do
that like intemally without going to independent .... contractors to just tell us that. I don't
know what you guys think, but uh... the Mayor can speak further to that, but that what I
really believe.
Teague/ Yeah, so I ... I would just echo what you just said, Mayor Pro Tem. So we did, um, watch
the video and it was, um, clear that it was the ... it was the State Patrol, uh, that was makin'
all the calls, um, for this. So they .... they were, the commander. I don't know all the
terminology, uh, that, uh, that happens when there's multi -facet type of entities present,
uh, but they were ... they were the .... the head .... head in charge of the operations. When I
look at the resolutions that we did, um, on ... that we did for, um, on the 161 we passed and
approved those. Of course number four I just mentioned, that's where it stated, um, we
stated that we would receive a report by August 1St from the City Manager on the Iowa
City Public, uh, Iowa City Police Department's involvement in the use of teargas, flash
bangs, uh, from the protests. And .... if. ... if the question really is ... and that's what the
community wants to know is who did it, um, maybe we .... we can wait and put this on
next week agenda ... or next, um .... uh, the next agenda, whether we vote it up or vote it
down, um .... we allow time for the community to respond, uh, to our discussion tonight.
Um, when I look at the resolutions that we have as far as the activities that happened that
night, um .... I .... I immediately go to number, um .... 16 of our resolution that says, you
know, prohibit the use .... we wrote this, prohibit the use of teargas, rubber bullets, and
flash bangs against peaceful protesters. So we (garbled) so... as Council.... Council has
made it clear that we're .... we're gonna prohibit that. Um, there's some more things that,
uh, are not related to the protests that night, um, in particular but some other things that
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do, um, you know, bear ..bear mentioning when it relates to, um ,our Iowa City police
officers. And that is definitely number 11, as well as number 14. Eleven talks about, uh,
expressly banning choke holds, um, or any maneuver that'll cut off oxygen or blood flow,
and number 14 talks about the ... the officers, um.... Intervene and stop excessive force by
another officer. So ... in .... in, even though I know we're still talkin' about what happened
on June Yd, I ... I feel that our resolution and where we're havin' our focus is broader, um,
on a lot of levels, but when it comes down to the protests, the question really that I got
from the community was who made the call. Yes, the ... the teargas happened, the rubber
bullets. That's somethin' that Council came back and said, no, we don't want that to
happen again, and so at least for me personally, I believe that ... I would, you know, go
with Mayor Pro Tem's proposal where we do have somethin' in-house that is presented
(garbled) somethin', you know (garbled)
Salih/ You're breakin' up, Mayor!
Teague/ Sorry! (garbled) (several talking, garbled)
Salih/ You're frozen!
Teague/ Okay! Keep goin', I'll be back (laughs)
Salih/ Okay, and um.....you know, also when I watch the video, I just like, uh, there is many
thing that we ... is on the video that we just (mumbled) have to come with a statement
about it, and I thunk we already did regarding the officer, uh, the question will be, uh,
from IFR that I receive is who made the call, who ... who did it, who did the action, and
also, uh, they want somebody to come out say, yes, we did. Uh, I was requesting that if
we ... if the City can reach out to the State and yeah, we help you on this and our resident
would like to make sure that you are the one who direct the police, Iowa City Police
Department, uh, to take this action, and if we have somebody say, yeah, I did this, and I
think that's it. I don't know. I asked for that letter and I don't know what the status of it,
or if we can do it anyway. And, um ... uh, where our police .... it was clear (garbled) the
Iowa City Police Department get the order from the State and they did use the teargas and
they, we were very present - no doubt, uh, City Police Department were there and a lot of,
so a lot of officer there and I guess, uh, City ...the City Manager in his, uh, I guess it was
press release or something like that and you ... he did admit that, yes, uh, the Iowa City
Police Department did that. Uh.... if we have all this fact and we can prove it, uh, just let
us, uh, I guess as the Mayor said, wait for next meeting, make it public, and people can
just weigh in. Uh, if they decide, you know, people can just send us their comment and if
they would like to agree with our decision not to, you know, just come up .... the City
have to come up with a statement who did the call. If we receive the letter proving from
the State that they did the call, and we will say yes we were present. That's not .... we are
not saying something not true, and we did the teargas with other, like uh, local
enforcement around the area. And if we can just come up with statement and do that, I
guess problem solved, but if the public think this is .... they wanna go further, of course
I'm with the public (mumbled) uh, this is my proposer and I think we just .... we can talk
about this more on the next Council, after we receive, uh, you know, public input.
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Bergus/ Probably somebody else on Council has a better memory than I do, but my recollection
was that we've talked about the question of whether we should do an internal or external
report a couple of times, and I remember saying well maybe we have some information
that we could release to the public in the short term so we get something out quicker, and
our agreement was no, let's not do that because we need to have a complete and
independent report. So I, uh, you know, in my business I feel like we're kind of
relitigating an issue we already decided, um, which is .... I guess the only thing that I can
identify maybe that's changed is that, Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem, you had the
opportunity to watch some video, um, and I think it's.... it's ..... I guess it's good that
changes your mind as to what the appropriate process for disclosure to the public should
be, but I think the rest of us on Council don't have the benefit of that, and we were
responding to, I'll speak for myself, in ... in our prior decision making, I was responding to
our understanding from public input at that time that we really did need an independent
investigation, not just to who gave the order. I think just based on Iowa State Patrol
being the ones holding the line to the interstate, I think we understood that they were the
ones who were in command that night, um, so I thought we really were looking for a
deeper.... inquiry into how everything went down. You know, I've said myself I don't
think policy was violated. The issue is what policy might need to change that we can
influence.
Mims/ Yeah, I would .... I would agree with you, Laura. I was .... I guess I'm just kind of
surprised by what I'm hearing tonight. Um .... because it seems like a complete 180 from
our previous discussion of. ... the City Manager and City Attorney had .... had, you know,
offered to do, you know, kind of the "investigation" or gather the information, and um, I
felt it was if not unanimous, pretty much a major consen.... consensus of the Council that,
um, that wasn't going to be acceptable, um, I think to some Council Members, as well as
we figured it wasn't going to be acceptable to the public to have it done internally, and so,
um, I ... again I would agree with Laura that I think we pretty much knew who made the
call because we knew that the State Patrol was the one in command, um, at that time and
so it was more .... why did it happen, how did it happen, and as Laura has said, what can
we learn from looking at it in detail in terms of, um, informing us on policy and practice
going forward. So at this point, I would be in favor of signing the contract, which
obviously we can't direct tonight because it has to be on the formal agenda.
Salih/ We are not like really saying that we ... we going to do this way. We are talking about it.
This is going to be on the agenda for next time. You still have a chance to vote for it.
(both talking, garbled) Let me finish! You don't need to say that (mumbled) like upside
down or...at least Laura said that we have the opportunity to watch the video and that
changes our mind, and you guys can have the same opportunity between now and the
next Council. This is an idea and uh, I'm still .... I'm just bringing it because I want the
public to know about it and I want the public to (mumbled) on this and let us know
(mumbled) Council meeting how, what the direction they want us to take! And I said I
will go wherever the public going to say, but that doesn't like prevent me from saying,
uh, base on what I see and, uh, all this money that we going to spend, and now it's okay
for this, and when it come to use it for something else it's not okay. Uh, but let us ... I'm
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gonna leave it to the public until next time and we'll see whatever the public decide I will
go with it.
Weiner/ Guess the ... the one thing I would say now is (mumbled) the evening of June Yd was an
enormous catalyst, basically for everything that came afterwards, including our
resolution, including a lot of the things that we've been working on up till now, um,
including item four of the ... of the resolution that we passed. So I think we should just...
we should, at least I'm going to be looking at it through that lens as well because it...it
was the culmination of a number of actions by people, um, and .... it .... I just wanna make
sure that .... that we deal with it thoroughly, because it was an incredibly.... it was an
incredibly important catalyst, um, in the demonstrations that followed, leading.... leading
up to, uh, leading up to our resolution.
Thomas/ Well I'm certainly, um. ... you know, interested in ... in the public's, the community's
response to this particular.... contract. Uh, in terms of my own.... involvement on this
particular matter, I ... I really was deferring to those among the Council who were
advocating for this, uh, this ... this study. Uh, my .... my personal take is more reflective of
what the Mayor said, which was that the, uh, the benefit, if you will, of the event was that
it triggered a number of changes to our policies regarding police behavior, and um,
frankly, you know, now what .... what has also changed is, okay, now we're seeing the
kind of the financial consequences of. ... of pursuing this and urn .... I've kind of been
inclined to think, well, we ... we did benefit.... we've, from the event, in that we've
changed our policies, and I kind of have that more looking forward inclination myself,
that um .... uh, you know, perhaps we can find a better use for the funds that would go
toward this contract. Um .... but that's just my personal take and as I said, I'd be
interested in the, um, what .... what the community has to say as well.
Taylor/ I .... I agree with what John just said and I'm sittin' here thinking that, uh, the public and
the IFR have all had a chance. We talked about this, uh, and stated that we would look
into an independent contractor. So they've known since that meeting that we talked
about that this, that that was possibly the plan. So I'm ... to get any more input from them,
I know now we actually have the contract in front of us, uh, but they've known this and if
they wanted more of a, uh, let's get this done and ... and let's, uh, somebody from within
look into this, uh, they've had that chance. Um, so ... I'm .... I'm almost leaning towards
like, uh, the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem's idea, uh, about ... not doing much more than this.
We .... we know the details from the video, and as John said, thin ... good things, positive
things have come out of it, so what more could come out of it if we do an in-depth
independent investigation that takes three more months. I just can't see that there'd be
much more good come out of it.
Weiner/ I guess what I would say is complete transparency about all the ... the event, the whole
evening and things leading up to that. So I'm not... obviously we're not making a
decision this evening. Um, I just add that we did also in the resolution ... uh, allocate a
million dollars for this whole process. What if we choose to go through with the, um,
with this contract then what, and it doesn't mean that $50,000 would be spent either.
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That's the cap. Um, if we choose to go through with it in the end it will come out of that
money that we've already allocated to this whole process.
Taylor/ The more I think about this too though, uh, the plus side of...of this independent con ... uh,
contractor would be, uh, having the State, speaking of transparency, having the State be
held accountable, if indeed they were the ones that, uh, called on these actions to take
place and ... and more or less forced our officers to take part in it, uh, they should be held
accountable and they should be made aware that that's not acceptable in our community.
Teague/ As far as the conse... the State's involvement, I think we've heard from, um, Geoff and
potentially Eleanor where we ... their involvement or participation in this study is highly
unlikely. Even, um, potentially .... at, gettin' a letter from them just to state, yes, they...
simple like check yes or no were you in command that night (laughs) I think that is, um,
highly unlikely that we're gonna get any of that participation. So sounds like, uh, we're
...we're gonna defer, well we're gonna have more discussion about this at our next
Council meetin', which it will be on the agenda, on the, uh, on the formal agenda, and the
public, we would ask them to weigh in.
Salih/ (mumbled) at least, Mayor, I really would like to request something (mumbled) even
though I know that, uh, Geoff and Eleanor saying that, uh, they might just, the State
might just, uh, don't participate on this investigation, I still want the City requesting the
City to send letter asking the State to do this, and even after that I need .... we need to see
the letter from them saying that they don't want to participate. I don't care about that, but
we ... even if they reject it, participation, at least as a city, we did our part. You know, and
I think (mumbled) I talked to some IFR people and they said they need to know if the
State did it they need something from the State, and at least we'll say, hey, we send this
letter to the State and the State (mumbled) they said they don't wanna participate on this,
but we done our part. We just, uh, don't wanna just sit there and assume they are not
going to do it, even though you ... you sure from your experience and everything, I
understand that, but let us do it so we have proof. Please.
Teague/ I do think (both talking) I do think the letter can be expanded, that this is ... we're
enterin' it, you know, we have the option to enter into a contract, um, so if Council ... I
mean if the hope is that the State will be .... because ... a participant, because at this point,
all of the information will be potentially comin' from the Iowa City .... um, the City of
Iowa City for this study. So is there, are there any thoughts for a letter to go to the State,
even at this juncture, to .... to make mention that there will be a .... that there is potential,
um, for study to be done and .... and wanted to .... ask for their thoughts on their
involvement, um, and we can clearly ask, you know, one of the things that our
community have blatantly asked us to ask you or have you come out (garbled)
involvement (garbled) So wanted to just (garbled) thoughts there. We only have really
about .... or zero minutes before we need to break.
Bergus/ I ... I just wanted to ... to jump in and say what we're .... I think the whole universe of
information we're talking about is going to be public records, and so when we're
engaging an outside firm, they're gonna be doing a whole lot of research and
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coordination, and you know, compilation and all of that, and ... and if..if someone else
isn't doing it, then we need to be doing it. We probably are responding already and the
State is probably als... responding already to .... to public information requests with this
information. So whether or not we do, uh, maybe a letter specifically asking it, I think
we're entitled to that information. The public is entitled to that information, and it can be
obtained. I think the third party, the idea was to have someone independent from the
government actors who were there to say this is how it went down. So I ... it's not that
they're going to be creating, you know, new information, but I just think these... these are
public records and so my...I just request that if we come back next time and we choose
not to enter into a contract for a third party to do it that we give very clear direction to
staff as to what we're expecting to be produced to the public if it's ... if it's just this one
video that you're referencing — I don't know — but I just think we're kind of conflating...
I don't know, several different issues here (laughs) Sorry, I'm rambling! (laughs)
Mims/ I don't think right now is the time to decide on a letter. I think we need to decide on
whether we're going to do the contract. Um, if we are then that's who should be
contacting the State. Um, if we decide not to then we would, um, and like Laura said
then I think we have to look at what's public record and that sort of thing. So I'm not
ready for us to do that. I think we need to decide on our process first before we send the
letter.
Salih/ If the public ask us to ask the State, if you want that to come formal to the City, we can do
that, but if the public want us as City to ask the State, we should do it, regardless, if
Council I guess .... I don't know, but a Council should agree to the public, and this is
something that they need to know about it. Since we are (mumbled) like part of the
cooperation that the City been doing with State Patrol all the time, it is like an agreement
where... whenever we need them they can help us and if we ... if they need us we can help
`em. Just part of that agreement, if we send a letter say, yeah, we would like to know on
that day who did this. What's wrong with that and (mumbled) on that, you know, that
something like small to ask.
Teague/ It does sound like the public, uh, input is going to be very valuable next ... next meeting,
and so I think we have, uh, kinda put some feelers out there for what Council is interested
to hear from the public on this item, and I would encourage people to write us, call us,
or...and .... and, uh, come and speak at our meeting during open.... open times to speak.
So, anything else on this item before we .... kinda adjourn for our formal meeting?
Hearing none, so we will adjourn until 7:00 P.M.
(BREAK FOR FORMAL MEETING)
Clarification of Agenda Items:
Teague/ We finished the discussion of the... investigation report contract. Did we want to go back
there or...do we feel ... we can move to the next item?
Fruin/ I think staff has our direction to put that on your next agenda.
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Information Packet Discussion (August 6. August 13):
Teague/ Okay. All right. I just wanted to make sure. All right so then, um, there's .... we
already .... we already went through the agenda, so there's going to be no clarification
items, unless there's somethin' somebody wants to say. (laughs) Um, so informak...
information packet discussions. Um, certainly we can highlight anything that we wanted
to talk about ... from any of the .... um, August 6th info packets. So maybe we'll ... maybe
we'll start with any updates and then we'll go into Council direction on the (mumbled)
IP5 from the August IP, um, info packet. So let's start with info packet August 6`h. If
there's anything anybody wants to address.
Fruin/ Mayor and Council, on the, um, naming policy, we are continuing to get emails and
inquiries about the renaming of the park that was mentioned earlier. Uh, am I correct that
you're gonna be looking to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to make some
recommendations on renaming of facilities? I just wanna make sure we're... we're able to
respond to inquiries that come in on ... on the timing of that decision.
Teague/ Yeah, I....I.....I personally.... um, think that we can .... turn that over, um. .... to the Truth
and Reconciliation (garbled) I also am not opposed if Council wanted to take one, um,
park and consider it as well. Um, I ... the person who's bein' recommended by everybody,
um, I can't begin to tell you how worthy I believe he is, uh, of this and it's in his
neighborhood, right off Rundell Street, um, so .... um, he was definitely, um, he ... he just
his history and ... and some of the milestones that he made was just remarkable. So
personally I would .... I feel like, Council, if we really wanted to look at that a little more
in-depth, we certainly could and that won't disturb anything else with, um, a namin' of a
park, um, that the Truth and Reconciliation would have, from my personal opinion.
Mims/ Then I would suggest that we direct staff to move forward with their process, based on
that naming, uh, policy to ... look at that and bring us a recommendation.
Taylor/ I agree, because we've been hearing from the public for this for now several meetings,
and uh, we just talked about the establishment of the TRC, which isn't going to be until
October -something, and then by the time they get established and get this on their
agenda, it could be even later in the year or early next year before it gets done, and I
think, uh, the earlier the better, uh, that we can get this done. It's as simple as, uh, the
process and naming it and perhaps getting signage. So I would agree, we could go ahead
with the process now.
Bergus/ I agree with using the process and having staff bring us a recommendation on it soo....
and not waiting for the commission on this one.
Thomas/ That sounds good to me.
Weiner/ (garbled)
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Teague/ Yep. All right. Well .... we .... we need a write up about Mr. McPherson. He is
phenomenal (laughs) and he was a jokester, so he ... very highly intelligent, but um, he
would make you laugh. All right! Um, movin' on, any other items from August 6`1`9 On
to August 13a'. Um, why don't we start with IPS, and this is just memo from the
Assistant City Manager about the Telecommunications Commission report submittal.
Mims/ I just have a question, Geoff, do we have any time frame from ImOn in terms of, I know
they've got their loop of fiber installed around the city. Um, so they have their
redundancy. We know we've got Mediacom. We've got .... who's the other one, um, for
interriet? I'm drawing a blank.
(female)/ Century Link.
Mims/ Century Link, thank you. So when ImOn is in, that will give us three. They're going all
fiber, which I'm assuming will allow for higher speeds than probably either Century Link
or Mediacom. So ... for me, I'm sitting here saying I ... it's really hard for me to fathom
looking at any kind of a municipal plan when we're going to have three, and particularly
with ImOn. So do we have any ...uh, idea from ImOn of their, um, buildout plans
and .... and timeline of hitting different parts of the City? I know they're already in the
South District in some areas down there. Um....
Fruin/ Yeah, um, it's probably been a .... a year or more since I last had that conversation with
them, and I warm say it was a .... a three to five year community buildout, um, so
(mumbled) few years into that. I would think they're not too far off, um, to ... to getting
nearly full coverage in the city. Um, now I say that without knowing the impact of the
storm on their ..on their infrastructure, uh, because they, uh, were primarily relying on
above -ground, uh, utility poles where they could. So particularly in the older parts of the
community, they would, uh, they would use aerial, uh, fiber, uh, which obviously saves a
little bit of money. So I ... I don't know, um .... what impact, uh, or delays they may
encounter from repairs due to the stuff they've already put up, urn .... but, yeah, originally
it was...it was probably lookin' at about a five year, I would say.
Mims/ Well I guess my reaction to this is ... the Council looked at this a number of years ago and
some of the numbers that we got back were really, really high, and particularly for a city
who didn't already have fiber in the ground, because they had their own like electrical
or...or other utilities (mumbled) already run their own fiber. I don't really see, um, a lot
of prospect for us to move forward with anything, um, so I think for my perspective, with
two servers already here, another one, um, coming in and building out in the community,
um, I don't necessarily see a purpose for us continuing with the Telecommunications
Commission.
Taylor/ I ... I just would like to thank the Telecommunication Commission for all of the
information, you k now, that took them quite a while to, you know, research other
communities and ... and all that. I'd heard the term DSL before, but I had no idea what...
what a lot of those terms meant or .... or what the differences were in ... in the different
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broad bands. So I .... I would just, whatever our decision is, I would just first of all like to
thank them for .... for going to that effort and giving, providing all that information for us.
Bergus/ Um .... I just wanted to jump in. I think it's really telling that what we received from the
Telecommunication Commission didn't include a recommendation that the City pursue
municipal broad band, and I think if that was their recommendation that would be very
clear. Um, you know, some of the statistics they provided about the availability as far as
the speeds, I would say, you know, if the information from the FCC is correct, um, you
know, 98.1 % of households in our community have access to 100 -megabits per second
download speed and 10 -megabits per second upload speed, and ... and I think, you know,
full disclosure, I served on this commission for nine years (laughs) so including during
the time that the, uh, it was before I guess the ... yeah, when the franchise expired and also
during, you kn ow, was involved in, um, the State, uh, legislation that .... that got rid of
cities franchising authority, um, unfortunately was ... was, uh (mumbled) at that time. So,
um, I ... I do think before we would consider disbanding the commission, we need to pay
attention to the digital (mumbled) divide that persists in our community, because fiber, or
broad band access is not just about is the infrastructure next to your house. Broad band
access is about can you afford it? Do you have the technology to connect to it? Is it
actually readily available in all of those ways, and I found it very telling that their report
included, uh, information from former Superintendent Murley that the primary issue with
students lacking access to broad band, uh, during the pandemic was a lack of bandwidth,
rather than access to technology, and if someone is lacking bandwidth, that's probably
because they're not paying for that high-speed service that is available to their home
because it...it doesn't make sense or they're not able to do that. I mean I think the ... the
cost of those services are definitely an obstacle to many, many members of our
community. So I think we should.... consider that before disbanding the commission, and
also to .... to think about not our regulatory authority, but are there things that we could do
to and not ... not our pursuit of installing an entire fiber network or a ... an entire, you know,
wireless mesh network for the ... for the City, that the City would own and operate, but
what can we do to assist in ... in closing the digital divide and even facilitating funding
opportunities. There's a section of this report that said that grant opportunities exist for
either building infrastructure or subsidizing access to new or existing networks. I think
that is something that just, you know, maybe we should ask the commission to find out
more about and see, you know, the funding that they indicated (mumbled) actually wasn't
any that, that they listed out, but I really do think, um, if we could maybe ask them to
make a recommendation to us as to .... if that's appropriate in our community or not.
Before we would disband the commission.
Thomas/ I ... yeah, I'm in complete agreement, uh, Laura, and .... you know, that the issues
of...access and affordability, um, you know, it's been exacerbated by COVID and the fact
now that schools are ... you know, going virtual, um, but you know, I saw, I think in the
Washington Post just the other day, it's viewed as a crisis. It's a national crisis. Uh, it
may not be as .... you know, significant a crisis as it might be elsewhere, but we ... we do
have here a classic case of the potential barrier or a real barrier, uh, to opportunity and
quality of life. So I ... you know, whether.... whether it's municipal or not, I don't know
that that's .... my main focus is we need to address the issue of universal access at an
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affordable price, uh, that is ... that I think the Council should be focusing on and um .... if
that requires a, you know, a further conversation, I .... I think we need to have that.
Weiner/ I agree with you, John. It's the... the....
Mims/ So do we need to change our charge to the commission on..do you think what we're
looking for from them we can do, ask them to do under their current charge? Um, I guess
that would be my question.
Fruin/ I think if you're just, if you're asking for, you know, a little bit more information or
investigation into the content that they've already provided, then .... (mumbled) don't
envision it as a .... as a long-term commitment, then I think you're fine. You're just going
back and (mumbled) If you ... ub, are looking at the prospect of, you know, making ... if
you're making that decision to make this a ... to continue this as a permanent City
commission, then you're gonna need to actually get into the ordinance and the City code
and change the scope. Uh, so at this time it sounds like you're.... you're just wanting
them to pursue a little bit further into the work they've done. I think there ... you're okay
in moving along in that (mumbled) framework.
Teague/ All right! Um, it sounded like we had at least .... two to three Councilors that wanted to
go in that direction, and I would, uh, certainly be a fourth one to kind of pursue, um, as
well. So, and I see noddin' of heads, so (both talking)
Taylor/ Yeah, I would agree too!
Teague/ All right, great! All right, any other items from, uh, the August 13`h info packet?
Hearin' none, um, I think unless there's any final Council updates or thoughts.....now
would be the time!
Mims/ I just would .... I'm sorry, on ... on the August 13`h one, I just wanna point out IP7. The
Iowa College Access Network careers in building trades... trades brochure. There was a
lot of really, really good information in there, and um, I don't know if there's way for
staff to push that out through our communications systems for people. Um, but there's
just a lot of really good information on all the different, um, trades and ... and, uh, I'm...
it's late, I can't think of the word I want. Um .... (both talking, garbled) Yes! Thank you,
apprenticeships! (laughs) Thank you, Janice! Um, and even s hows a lot of information
on wages and stuff. So if there's a way of publishing that, uh, pushing that information
out, I think that would be great.
Fruin/ So (mumbled) we included this because we sponsor t his publication, uh, with local trades,
uh, came to us asking if, uh, we would help out with this. So I think it was maybe a
$5,000 contribution or so, urn .... uh.....and, um .... this was developed as a statewide tool
but, uh, one of the benefits that we found was, uh, we're actually gettin' into every hi...
every high school, um, throughout the state of Iowa and providing these booklets to the
guidance counselors and... and teachers that are helping students kinda figure out next
steps after high school, uh, which was something that we really wanted to make sure and
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promote, but uh, we'll get some extra hard copies, uh, that we can distribute around the
community. Uh, we also have this ... this digital version, which I've already shared with
some of our economic development partners as well. So we'll continue to look for ways
to push that out.
Mims/ What about translation on any of it? I mean ... I don't know what the issues are in terms of
these apprenticeship programs, you know, depending on people's language skills. So I
don't necessarily know .... you know, if you translate it and people don't have the
language skills can they even go into the apprenticeship programs. I don't know enough
about those details, but is there benefit to doing some translation on some of thus?
Fruin/ I'm quite....I'm sure there's benefit, um, we'll have to talk with, uh, you know, this isn't a
City publication. So we'll have to talk with the, uh, our trades contacts, um, but that's a
good point.
Mims/ Okay. Thank you!
Teague/ All right, anything else? Goin' once, twice, and we are ... done! (laughs) Good night,
enjoy your evening! (laughs) (several responding)
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