HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-09-01 TranscriptionPage I
Council Present: Bergus, Mims, Salih, Teague, Taylor, Thomas, Weiner
Staff Present: Fruin, Monroe, Kilburg, Dilkes, Fruehling, Bockenstedt, Hightshoe,
Fleagle, Nagle -Gamin, Knoche
Others Present: Longenecker, Van Heukelom (UISG)
FY2022 Budget Discussion (IP3):
Teague/ All right, well welcome to everybody and we are about to enter into our work session for
Tuesday, September 1St. Uh, this is the City of Iowa City City Council meeting, and the
first item we're going to be discussing is going to be the fiscal year, uh, 2020 budget
decisions, uh, which is a part of IP3, and um, again if anybody is, um, watching on
various, uh, avenues, we're in our work session today at 5:00 P.M. and then we'll be back
at 7:00 P.M. for our formal meeting. So I'm gonna have the discussion for the fiscal, uh,
2022 budget discussion to start, I'm gonna start that discussion with our City Manager
Geoff Fruin.
Fruin/ Thank you, Mayor and Council. Um, this is an annual work session we do this time of
year. It's ... it always sneaks up on us pretty quick, but uh, even though you just approved
your, uh, fiscal year 21 budget in March, um, we're already working on the fiscal year 22
budget right now. Uh, that is a budget that, um, you will first see in December and first
discuss in January before you're asked to adopt it for next year. Uh, so this time of year
while we're still compiling the budget, um, it's always nice to identify any major new
initiatives, uh, that we need to be, uh, looking at as staff as we compile that budget. Um,
it's always a lot more difficult for us to make large-scale changes in January and February
than it is, uh, this fall as we are putting those, uh, budgets together from our various
departments. Um, so what we assume, um, is, uh, that our budget needs to be guided by
your adopted master plans, your adopted resolutions, certainly your strategic plan, and as
we compile our budget and .... and prioritize, um, submissions from our departments, we
use those as guiding documents. So we really don't need to get into the areas that, uh, are
encompassed by those various plans, resolutions, and urn .... your strategic plan, um,
however, if there is anything new, um, that you want staff to investigate, it would be good
to get .... to get that on the table, uh, tonight. Uh, if not tonight, shortly thereafter. So this
is really a chance for us as staff to listen, to answer questions, uh, so with that I'm going
to turn it back over to you, Mayor, and ... and, uh, see if there's anything that the Council
would like to, um, offer tonight.
Salih/ I just wanna talk about since .... oh, Mayor, you wanna say something?
Teague/ No, go right ahead!
Salih/ Yeah, LA just wanna, you know, talk about affordable housing, uh, because you know
since on the master plan or strategic plan, we had that we going ... we said we want to
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create a plan for affordable housing. So we ... we wanna be like more serious about it in
creating something that, uh, really going to solve some, uh, of the crisis of affordable
(garbled) I ... I really, because this budget is like .... if we come up later with this, uh, with
the money, uh, if we approve this budget as it is without like thinking of ways of, uh,
funding the affordable housing, uh, that means we have to wait after we approve this. I
don't know what you think, Geoff, uh, if there is a way we can find some funding for
affordable housing if we come up with like strong plan, solid plan, for that or...can we...
(mumbled) for it or .... what you think?
Fruin/ Um, sure, your, urn .... the plan that you intend, uh, to pursue was included in your Black
Lives Matter resolutions. So, um, with the funding allocation that you provided along
with that resolution, there's certainly ample dollars to pursue a plan if ..if you need
outside funding to help you get there. Um, in terms of incorporating new monies into the
budget, um, there's always.... there's always prioritization of resources and ultimately
that's your .... that's your call. Um, our intention without any guidance from you would
be to continue to provide, um, a million dollars in general fund, urn.... assistance for our
affordable housing efforts. Um, as you know that's certainly not all encompassing of all
our affordable housing efforts because we use state and federal resources, uh, to
accomplish some of those objectives as well. And later this month you'll get an annual
report from staff that provides you a comprehensive view of how we're using affordable
housing dollars. But this is a good time, if you warm allocate more dollars towards
affordable housing, uh, it would be good to know the ... the magnitude, the scope of what
you're looking to invest, and then as staff we would do our best certainly to, um, get you
as close to that goal as, uh, as we can, and we'd have to outline for you, um, what some
of those, urn .... cuts may need to be or .... or, um, reductions in service may need to be
depending on how large of an increase you wanna seek.
Weiner/ I mean I'm really happy that you brought that up, uh, Mazahir, because I think that ... that
now in alignment with some of, lot of the other things we're working on, including, um,
the Black Lives Matter and what we .... what we set forth in our strategic plan, would be a
really good time, uh, for a .... for a small group to sit down and try and ... and outline a
serious way forward on this to, um, to .... to take what the City has done before but look at
maybe other ways of converting existing housing or(mumbled) whatever the.... whatever
the possibilities are, but this ... urn, I'm, anyway I'm glad you brought it up now.
Salih/ I really want to, like to hear from other Council because this is, uh, we ... we going to create
soon the committee for affordable housing, and uh.... housing is not going to come just
like that. We need money for it, and if there is a way if we can, uh, work with our staff
right now to figure out ways ... uh, I thinks will be great. Uh, I really wanna see what you
guys think.
Teague/ For me personally I was hoping, um, to actually go through some of the, uh.... some of
our 17 points to ... just to kinda see where we are along the way, and then make some
tentative plans, uh, for creatin' those, urn .... uh.....more committees or more meeting...
whatever we need to do to move forward. So, um, I ... I believe that we do need to look at
that big plan for affordable housin', which we've been wantin' to do, and uh, been talkin'
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about. I ... I think that conversation does need to be had, because urn... we're.... we're still
at the starting point, uh, with housin', and so we need to move forward with that.
Taylor/ I think our, the last time our ...our staff, our City staff, did an admirable job of putting
together that 15 -point affordable housing plan, and a lot of good things came out of that,
uh, including that South District duplex plan, uh, so I think they are an excellent resource.
I mean that's the Neighborhood and Development Services, that's part of their job, uh, to
look for resources for affordable housing options, as well as we've got excellent
resources out there. The aff..we have the Affordable Housing Coalition for heaven's
sake. Sara Barron, she's probably on the line now. She's always there for us, she's
always got a lot of ideas, um, she knows what's out there and what needs to be done as
well as Crissy over at Shelter House knows what's needed. So I think we've got a lot of
those resources that we ... we need to utilize, as well as forming our own committee.
Thomas/ One ... one thing I would add is with the, you know, the 15 points that Pauline just
mentioned, is I recall, uh, we never .... we never completed the 151' point. I believe it had
to do with rezoning, you know, ways in which our zoning ordinance could be revised, uh,
tweaked, what ... what have you, to, urn .... to improve the affor...(garbled) Um, both infill
as well as new development, and ... and that seemed to me a pretty strong point, um, you
know, that could potentially, uh, allow for considerably more cost-efficient housing
should we revise our codes to allow for, uh, that ... that higher level of affordability.
Frain/ You know that ... that item is still in progress. We have .... we have made some good
headway with that. We've received great input from the Home Builder's Association,
and the Affordable Homes Coalition, and uh, we just need to spin that up and get that
goin'. So that ... that definitely is in progress, and one of the things I wanna emphasize,
um, with our ...our current, um, plan is just because we were able to check those 14 boxes
or whatever the number was, uh, doesn't mean that, you know, nothing else is happening.
Um, a lot of those items were just .... we're kicking off new programs, um, and ... and those
programs are ... are, you k now, forever in motion, uh, until we .... until we change
direction. So hopefully you'll see that, and I think, um, I don't know the exact date it'll
come out in the information packet, but I know that, uh, Tracy and Erika and staff are
working hard on an annual report, that'll be very comprehensive and show you, uh,
exactly where we have invested those affordable housing dollars, and I think that would
be a good launching point into a Council work session on, okay, this is what we've done
and here's, uh, perhaps where we need to go in terms of elevating, um, the resources
needed. So, um, we'll definitely be prepared to get you started with that conversation.
Mims/ I think for me, um, you know, as we look at this budget for 22, given COVID, um, given,
you know, the concerns that we've heard from staff about potential reductions in property
taxes, um, we know that our hotel/motel tax is ... has been basically non-existence here...
non-existent for six months, we know our road use tax has been way down. I'm ... really
reluctant to .... look at this point in terms of increasing any specific spending. Um, I think
we've been, you know, been really fortunate to be able to get the affordable housing up to
the million dollars. I'm certainly comfortable keeping it there. I think has kinda.... has
that pretty well line itemed, and I think once we get that report, um, and have maybe
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more specific ideas, then that might give us, um, maybe more detail as to where we can
have a really, you know, big impact on some of this more affordable, um .... how do I
wanna say it? Affordable housing is not costing us as much, you know, because whether
it's, you know, reusing, reutilizing, um, older housing that we know is ... is cheaper to do
than building new, um, and trying to get the biggest bang for our buck, um, and at that
point if we feel like there's some specific projects that really, uh, are worthwhile in terms
of, urn.... elevating or...or getting more money, leveraging more money I guess is the term
I want, and I'm certainly open to adding to that pot, but .... um, until then I ... I guess.. I'm
really not comfortable with adding any specific big dollar amounts or projects to this
budget yet.
Thomas/ Well I'll introduce, uh, I think I had three items that I wanted to bring up. Uh, I'd
brought them up before. I think I'm kind of in some ways looking at them with slightly
different eyes insofar as we've been going through COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter,
because I think, uh, they .... they play a factor in these three. Uh, but I'll run through them
(clears throat) The ... the first is addressing the equity gaps in the park facilities that were
identified in the park master plan for, uh, park facilities. Uh, that was a plan that we
developed in September, or adopted in September of 2017. So it's almost been three
years, and um, that plan identified three locations, uh.... east, the east edge of the west
district and portions of the west -central and central districts as defined in that plan. Um,
sol...I do think, we're almost three years past when the plan was adopted. Uh, with the
emphasis on Black Lives Matter, I think it's important that we take an opportunity to
address those inequities, and then what I found, uh, with COVID-19, where we were and
in fact still are in some respects, sheltering in place, urn .... the need for readily accessible
park facilities really was emphasized over the last several months for me and I know for
our neighbors, uh, and so .... we haven't seen the last of the COVIDs, I'm afraid. I think
they will be back and in any event, um, I think it's important to strengthen our
neighborhoods so that, uh, we ... we do have them well distributed across Iowa City. So
that's one. Uh, the second would be, uh, restoring our urban tree canopy. Uh, we
roughly a year or so ago, I think it must have been the last budget cycle, we were talking
about, and Project GREEN was a part of this conversation, uh, planting 10,000 trees, uh,
both on public and private property, as I recall. Part of that was I think in response to
Emerald Ash Borer, which I think we lost roughly 3,000 trees to ... to Emerald Ash Borer.
Uh, since then, uh, we had a derecho pass through and lost another thousand or so trees.
Um .... I've been hearing from a number of people that are really .... both concerned with
what the state of our urban forest and really view it as an opportunity for community
engagement, uh, and... and achieving something that will be a very strong, positive action
to take as a city and as a community. Uh, there's been lots of discussion that I've been
hearing in hopes to truly use a ... an urban forestry replanting as an opportunity for the
community to volunteer in that experience, uh, that it wouldn't be reliant strictly on staff.
As Susan mentioned, you know, funding is going to be an issue. So how can we leverage
the community, um, so to speak and help with the planting. I was just talking with Janice
earlier today, uh, I think we .... we might find interest among our students ... to participate
in such a program. And I think volunteering, uh, on a tree planting, I think we can
accomplish that social distancing while doing it. So it's something we can move forward
on, uh, in a group. It could be a group volunteer effort while still maintaining the safe
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distance. Uh, so that would be number two. And the third has to do with ... issues of
traffic safety, you know ...you know how interested I am in that. Uh, but the new wrinkle
there for me was in discussions over Black Lives Matter and realizing that .... uh.... as we
know, our .... our streets in some.....some areas are conducive to speeds higher than our
speed limits. That results in ... a situation where, you know, you have such a high degree
of speeding that it's really the discretion of the police officer as to how to enforce those
speeds. So ... with that discretion, as we have ... have seen, uh, we often see
disproportionate contact with ... with our black residents. So through.... aligning, uh,
better alignment of our traffic, actual speeds with the ... what we want the speeds to be
through road diets and other measures, uh, I ... and by dropping the speeds, uh, we will
take away some of that discretion, because it will no longer be necessary. The traffic will
be moving at the appropriate speed. So I'm ... I'm hoping we can, uh.... utilize, you know,
this may not be a high cost measure because in many cases with road diets, as we've
seen, uh, we're not moving, necessarily moving curb alignments. We're just simply
reallocating the, um, right-of-way. Uh, so I ... I do think we would not only improve
traffic safety, advance our, uh, you know, enhance mobility for walking and bicycling. It
would also have a social equity aspect to it. Um .... so that .... that's the third item, um,
that I would like to, uh, put before you.
Bergus/ I'll just respond to the .... I'm sorry, Mayor! Um, the ... the affordable housing question.
Um, I think that, yeah, we need to absolutely look at that in the context of our, um,
current focus on our 17 -point resolution. When I looked at the memo asking for
additional thoughts on guidance for budgeting, I ... I reviewed the strategic plan goals that
we set forth just so recently and am still totally onboard with those, and when I think
about maybe some tweaks that have happened since we approved that, the conversation
about affordable housing certainly has come, um, more into focus, and the idea of having
the plan. So, I think some.... some acknowledgment of elevating that in recognition
to ... and what we've done with our 17 -point resolution since the adoption of our strategic
plan for the coming years makes a lot of sense to me. Um, and I think that having a...
getting that work session conversation from staff on the current state of things and sort of
the, um, not just where all the funds are allocated currently but also that the last item of
the 15 -point plan and where we are with that and directions we might go. So ... I .... I think
that's great. Um, and more generally my only other comment was just to, you know,
when we look at the goals from our strategic plan, and I know Geoff said let's just focus
on new things, but for myself you know just making sure that the social justice and racial
equity continue to be in the forefront in our, um, budget process for the coming year.
Salih/ Okay, just the last thing I wanna say on this affordable housing. So I know that maybe we
gonna have, uh, a work session about it, uh, but uh.... I really I'm not like budget
experience, like the staff of course, but just like by looking at the budget and seeing that
sometime we .... we borrow money to do some project, I'm just gonna ask Geoff if we can
do the same thing and using the affordable housing money (mumbled) because I know
that 50% of the million will go to the Housing Trust Fund, I understand that, but there is
another like 50% with the like land banking money or any of the money (garbled) for
affordable housing if we can borrow money and .... and use that money to pay, uh, for
that, that's could be an option. I really don't know, but sometime I just look at it and see
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that, but I thinks you can come up with ... the staff can come with a creative, uh, you know,
solution for this, or creative ideas that we can use, uh, to find some fund for affordable
housing. I'm really looking forward to have a work session just specifically for that, and
also just encouraging the staff to come up with ideas, because you guys have the
experience on this things and if we ... you can ... you can find out like some creative
solution.
Fruin/ Yes, um, the short answer is yes you can bond for affordable housing projects, and if that's
desired by the Council, um, you'll just need to consider, um, you know, where you wanna
position the City in tennis of, uh, the amount of debt that we carry. Uh, so do you want to
reduce bonding for other items or do you wanna bond additional dollars, and if so you
may have to raise your debt service tax levy, but we can walk you through those
scenarios and talk to you about the limitations that might accompany a bond for... for,
uh.... um, affordable housing. Um, one of the .... one of the big points of the plan that we,
um, presented a few years ago was to make sure that, uh, the funding for affordable
housing was, um, kind of permanently inserted into the budget, and I think we've gotten
to that point, uh, absent major financial crisis where we feel really good that ... that we
have these stable funds in there, but you all know that one of the other things we've been
working on is identifying other funding sources for affordable housing as well. So, um,
you know an example of that is the, uh, tax increment financing project we did on the
Foster Road extension. Um, a lot of the increment that is developed from the senior
housing project that was completed up there and any future development that .... that
comes from that area in the next 10 years, um, that will spin off additional dollars for
affordable housing that can be added to the million dollars and invested in the
community. Um, similar we have the fee in lieu of provisions in our Riverfrom
Crossings District too. Those are monies that we have collected and we can put to use.
So, um, just keep in mind that there are other revenue sources that are slowly developing,
um, as...as, um, as these things take a little bit of time to accumulate. Um, but those
revenue sources will be ... will be increasing over time, um, and we can look at new ones
as well, whether that's bonding or utility taxes or any number of alternative revenues that
could be available for you.
Salih/ Thank you.
Teague/ Yeah, I ... I'll be lookin' forward to that opportunity that Council will have to get that
report and hear from staff. All right, any other ...uh, thoughts for budget items that people
wanna put out there?
Salih/ (mumbled) talk to us about, am .... the budget for policing.
Frain/ Well we'll.... we'll, um, part of the reason that your resolution has a preliminary plan date
of September 15`h is so that we can try to anticipate any changes you wanna make to the
police budget. Um, we, uh... uh, you know, until we get really moving forward, um, on
that restructuring plan, um, there is no ... there is no, urn... direction in place to ... to
significantly alter that police department budget. Um, I could tell you we have some
ideas, and you see one of those on your agenda tonight, uh, for some new, uh, civilian
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positions in the ... in the police department, and we'd like to get to the point where we can
present those to you, but uh, certainly want to allow you and the community to have some
more conversation and for some more ideas to be shared, um, about, um .... uh, ways in
which the City can respond, either um ... uh, inside of the department, uh, with different
approaches or investments we can make outside of the department that would, um, also
assist our .... our, um, officers in some way.
Salih/ Okay. Thank you very much!
Teague/ Geoff, I have a question for you related to .... are there, oftentimes we know the
departments have been, um, kinda asking for things, uh, either staff or, um, programs that
may not have been funded. Is there anything that you or...and I would actually extend
this to any other, uh, City staff that are here, um, puttin' ya on the spot, but is there
anything that you can think of that Council should be thinkin' about for consideration,
um, that can ... um, of course it would be something significant, potentially.
Fruin/ Well, um, yeah, I'll jump in. I think one of the major, um ... um, Councilor Mims
mentioned earlier, we're entering a ... a period of uncertainty with our finances. Uh, with
COVID we don't know how quickly we're going to emerge financially from the COVID
crisis. Um, we've had to cut significant dollars already out of this year's current budget,
um, to ... to manage through the COVID crisis, and we don't know how quickly that'll re-
emerge, and then we also, um, have the last few years of the, uh, property tax reform
which we're, uh, which we are anticipating to be the most, uh, significant in terms of the
financial impact to the City. So, one, we're operating in a context where we have, um, a
strain on our resources. In addition, uh, we're not gonna see our tax base grow like
we've seen in the last five to seven years. Um, you get ... you get the, uh, building permit
reports once a month in your information packets, and urn ... uh, you can see, if you were
to look and compare those to previous years, the .... the, um, development activity this
year, uh, is .... is quite suppressed compared to .... to past years. Uh, we're probably going
to end up at a valuation, uh, of permits that, uh, we haven't seen in ... in 10 or more years.
That's how low it's gonna be, and so the .... you have to anticipate what that impact is, and
it's not .... it's not an immediate impact, but two or three years from now, um, when those
taxes come on, uh... um, they're gonna be a lot lower and we're gonna be more
constrained. So we just have to keep that in mind, but to your specific question, Mayor, I
think the biggest challenge that we're going to find is with the transit study. Um,
and ... and you're gonna be lookin' at that on October 6'. That's our plan, at your work
session, is to present to you, uh, the recommendations from that transit study, and right
now we're operating in an environment where our ridership is down 60 to 70%, uh, and
that has a significant impact on our revenue. Um, and I think the community has high
expectations for what we're going to be able to do with ... with transit, and ... and we never
anticipated finishing up this report with ridership down this low, and uh, even if. ... even if
COVID ... COVID is behind us, in ... in 2021, we don't know if that ridership will return.
Um, people are finding other ways to move about. Um, they may not be comfortable
with public transit because of the ... their COVID experience, and so we have to really be
careful with how we're projecting transit revenue going forward. Um (clears throat) we
were also really, um, banking on the idea that we could use parking funds to help
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supplement transit, and ... and really move some.... some excess parking funds into the
transit fund, um, to ... to bolster those services. And as you know, parking has been the
hardest hit area of operations that we have with COVID. So our two biggest funding
sources that were gonna support our transit investment are ... are down, and ... and there's
some tough decisions, uh, coming a ... uh, coming up ahead on how we're gonna fund
Sunday service, how we're gonna fund expanded, uh, night and weekend service, if that's
what we wanna do, and that could require, um, an investment, um, from other sources
that we weren't anticipating, whether that's general fund, again utility taxes, sales taxes,
things like that that ... that we really weren't banking on for that idea. So, Mayor, that's
probably the biggest item that .... that gives me concern headed into this budget prep is
how are we gonna meet those community expectations with ... with those two, uh, revenue
sources, um, currently just bein' clobbered by this COVID pandemic.
Teague/ I do know that it's been a challenge, of course, for the City, um, resources. Um, hotel/
motel tax is down, um, that we get. Um .... as far as the transit study and some of the
hopes that Council, um, I don't know if I'm speakin' for everybody, but one of the hopes
that I think we had was for there to be some type of submission for zero fare, um, as an
option. What .... what would that entail? And it sounds like of course that, um, do you
still think we'll get that as an option ... in what will be presented?
Fruin/ I mean we'll have kind of a menu of...of options that can be pursued. Um, at the time
(mumbled) little bit off memory here but I think moving to zero option is ... or I'm sorry,
zero fare option was somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.5 to $2 million. That's the
revenue loss that we would have to replace to do that, and um, again we were kinda
gonna lean on parking, uh, to hopefully be a big ... be a big part of that solution, and so I
don't know right now where ... where we're .... where we could find $2 million, for
example, to go fare free. Um, I think that's gonna probably take, urn .... um .... I'm not
su... I don't even know what that would take right now. You know, the type of funding
source that we would need for that is ... is probably your local option sales tax, um, and,
uh... uh, that's of course a tough decision for ...for Council to contemplate, um, during a,
you know, during a time where... where, uh, folks are struggling so much. So, uh, Mayor,
yes it will be an option. We'll present you with those numbers, uh, we'll kinda walk you
through, um, how we might get there. Um .... but making decisions this fall and even this
winter on ... on transit's going to be very difficult because we won't know what that
ridership rebound is and we certainly won't know what the parking rebound is, uh, so,
urn .... we'll navigate those discussions the best we can, but they're.... they're definitely
going to be tricky.
Teague/ Yeah, I'm .... I'm personally looking forward to that because I do know that there's still
need out there and, uh, the community has really come out, I ... I think strongly, um,
and.... and talked about their need for Sunday service, and uh (laughs) evening service,
late-night service. The Harrison Street, uh, parkin' ramp, when we spent some of that
money, um, some of those reserves, could that have gone towards transit?
Fruin/ No, not ... not the...not those reserves. That ... that, those could not have been dedicated, uh,
towards transit. Um, what we were contemplating initially with the, uh, with the parking
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fund, um, would be a increase in meter and permit fees. And using that increase in those
fees to generate, um, operational dollars to, uh, to pay for that, because, um, one of the
things .... one of the things you have to consider, um, and this would apply to our general
fund reserves. If...if you know that we need $2 million for fare -free and you just took $2
million from our reserves, well that buys you one year of fare -free and now you gotta
figure out how ya gonna pay for year two of fare -free and if you keep takin' from
reserves, eventually that bank account runs dry. So we really look to .... to make sure that
we have sustainable funds for an initiative like that, unless the intention of Council is
really to do a pilot program, where the community knows there's an expiration date, um,
you really need to find operational dollars, and that's why an increase in permits would
still be there year after year, or an increase in meter fees, uh, would still be there year...
uh, year after year. Urn ... uh, whereas reserves, you know, eventually would... would dry
up, so that ... that's what makes that .... that a little bit more difficult.
COVID-19 Update:
Teague/ Thank you! Any other budget items? All right! Hearing none, well I think we'll move
on to COVID-19 updates. We, uh, are certainly seeing some increases in our community.
Um .... I .... I wonder if, um, is there anyone that wanted to say anything about COVID-
19?
Thomas/ I had, uh, one comment on that, and it's, um, it's, again, related to traffic. Um, that, you
know, I believe we had in place, uh.... a change to our .... uh, traffic stop policy, kinda
taking a soft approach to ... to lower the, um, number of...of stops, uh, due to ... due to
COVID, and uh, as I understand it, I think we've lifted that to some degree. Um, I
would .... I would suggest if we haven't already to go back to a more restricted, uh, policy
with respect to the stops and only... only, um, enforce what we felt was really critical for
public safety issues, um, so that we do sort of avoid ... uh, you know, the unnecessary, the
unessential stops.
Fruin/ I might provide some context for other Councilors or the public that may be listening.
When .... when the COVID pandemic, uh... urn .... uh, really hit us in mid-March, um, we
pulled back on, uh, not just traffic enforcement, but a lot of enforcement activities to ... to
try to make sure that we limited officer contact with the public, keep our department
healthy, uh, keep the public healthy, and really just focus in on those, uh, urgent public
safety matters. Um, we have not returned to, uh, pre-COVID enforcement, um, but
certainly as we saw, uh, more and more people, uh, coming downtown and enjoying
nightlife, um, we felt, um, it was really needed, particularly around, uh, OWI
enforcement. And so we have, um ... uh, started looking for, uh, you know, um,
enforcement opportunities. You know, if we see, you k now, if we see issues related to
that, but really focusing in on that drunk and impaired driving, that's where ... that's where
that focus is. Um, any stop we make we ... we should feel that there's a pressing, you
know, a public safety issue. Urn .... uh, so, um, while we're not necessarily running radar,
um, like we would have been, uh, in a normal year, we still are, um ... uh, identifying
reckless driving and things like that and making stops, as .... as needed. We're just not
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doing the proactive, again running radar, uh... uh, type of enforcement that ... that we
normally would.
Weiner/ Um, I'd actually just like to speak to the severity (goes silent) Iowa has the worst
COVID outbreak in the nation right now, basically the third worst in the world, if we
were a country all by ourselves. And Iowa City and Ames, um, are ... are leading the pack,
which is not a place where any of us wanted to be. Um, the ... I know that the Faculty
Senate was meeting this afternoon to give recommendations to University President
Harreld. I'm hoping that all levels of government are really going to work together, uh,
really swiftly on whatever we need to, but I wanted to give you a little perspective, um, of
what, sort of basically what we're doing right now with the numbers that have been
coming out of..of positive cases, we're looking somewhat... they're all lagging indicators,
we're looking in the rearview mirror. Um, and there's a .... there's sort of a .... there are,
the weeks of COVID and the rule of weeks goes that if you're infected today, um,
within—within a week, if you're going to have symptoms, you'll have symptoms. It's
two weeks, it's basically two weeks from infection that you'll end up in hospital if you're
going to end up in hospital. A week after that, if you have to be transferred to the ICU
and a week after that, um, ends up with mortality. So we have no idea right now what the
burden is going to be on our healthcare facilities and, um, it's really incumbent on
everyone in this city, and everyone in Johnson County, to continue using face coverings
to ... to do social distancing, to stay home if you can, to sanitize, to do whatever you can,
because whether we realize it or not, the measures we've taken to date are actually... are
actually, if we hadn't taken the measures, the situation would be even worse than it is. So
the ... this is, um, I ... I would like to see, personally, the University go all online, like now,
um, and we're also going to have many, many students, um, stay here regardless of what
the University does. So they're all part of our community. We need to work together,
and everyone needs to take care of everyone else.
Teague/ I did wanna mention, um, the Governor's order in relationship to, uh, the six counties
that were, uh, closed. Um, that ... there is some bar and restaurant closures. Um, and so
that happened on the... September 20`h. Um, Johnson County was a part of that closure,
um, and so ... urn, I ... and I'm ... I'm gonna try to find, um, because the ... the, um, the
Alcohol and Beverage Division, uh, as well as the Department of Inspections and
Appeals are a part of the ... um .... the, I guess what you would call the ... to ensure
enforcement, um, or to assist with compliance, um, even during the day, and so I actually
had a conversation with them on Monday, on Monday and um, the Alcoholic and
Beverage Division does have, um, some ways that they've been engagin' with people in
the community, um, when there is an incident, that they notice. They're tryin' to be non-
punitive, of course, where they're tryin' to engage in conversation, uh, to ensure that
people understand what it means to, um, operate under the current guidance of the
Governor. And so I would encourage any of the businesses out there that are still
operating, uh, to reach out to the website of the, uh, the Alcohol and (mumbled) Alcohol
and Beverages Division, because they do have some great resources. There are some
questions and answers, uh, where people can go and just ask some questions, um, or...or
find some answers to how they can... effectively operate durin' COVID. So it is
abd.iowa.gov/coronavirus,um,/COVID-19. So, um, if they reach out through that
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website they'll be able to get some information, um, and again I know that it's a
challenge in our community to have to have some closures, um, within our community,
uh, and even (mumbled) of alcohol at 10:00 P.M. I know that for a lot of businesses that's
a huge part of their revenue, and so we know, uh, there ... there are people that are
challenged by that, and some entities, they can't open at all because their entire operation
is after 10:00 P.M. Um, so ... uh, my heart goes out especially to our local businesses that
are havin' some challenges there, uh, but just wanted to make mention of the ... the closin'
of the bars, which ultimately the hope is safety, and to get the numbers down in our
community.
Taylor/ I echo what you just (garbled) Mayor, uh, I ... I too am sorry that it came to that, and of
course it was the Governor's plan to .... to shut down those bars and just in those six
counties, which noticeably it was college towns, university towns, and ... and that's sad,
cause it will affect our economy, uh, but I think that stresses to people, uh, please, please
avoid large crowds, uh, don't ... since the bars are closed, don't ... don't have the large
gatherings, the large parties, uh, and if you do, uh, at least maintain social distance
and... and wear a mask. It is serious. This is getting very serious. When our numbers, uh,
at first when we did the mask mandate, thank you for that, a while back, Mayor, uh, we
were in maybe 10 to 12 to 14 new cases a day, but then we started rising, 70, 80, 90,
100s, uh, that's.... that's scary. This is very serious. People need to pay attention and...
and follow some guidelines.
Continue discussion of Resolution (20-159) of Initial Council Commitments addressing the
Black Lives Matter Movement and Systemic Racism in the wake of the murder of George
Floyd by the Minneapolis Police and calls for action from protesters and residents (IP4):
Teague/ All right! Well, we're gonna move on if no one else has any more comments. And
we're gonna continue our discussion on our resolution with, uh, Black Lives Matter
Movement and systemic racism, and so ... um, well .... we'll have at it! I, and ... and maybe
if we can, one thing that I do hope today is to bring up, um, IP4, which actually has, uh,
the resolution itself and kinda the matrix of where we are. I think it could be helpful if
we can look at that during this discussion. And so I would have to rely on Kellie or
someone from the IT team to bring that up. I should have pre -prepared you (laughs) that
that was gonna happen, from IP4. (several talking, garbled)
Mims/ I'm sorry, if I could while she's trying to do that. One of the, actually one of the first
items on there is, um, developing our preliminary plan to restructure the Iowa City Police
Department. And one of the things we've talked about (clears throat) excuse me, talked
about a few times is the need for public input, and we, you know, we talked about
scheduling some dates, and I think we ... we've just been busy. We've kind of worked
around this or kind of glossed it over as we've, you know, kind of been busy and moving
from meeting to meeting. So I looked at the calendar today and I apologize, I didn't have
a chance to get this out to everybody, um, ahead of time, but what ... and I can send it into
Kellie later so she can get it out to everybody, but I'll just throw out six dates that I came
up with and I thought maybe we could get on the calendar, um, in the next six weeks or
so, and then ... uh, everybody could kind of let Kellie know which one or ones might work
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for them. So I'll just run through them real quickly, and like I say, I'll send them to
Kellie so she can get `em out to everybody and .... but if you know right away you see
issues. Uh, in order to actually have some time to ... to announce these, I ... first one I put
out was Wednesday, um, September 16' potentially at Mercer. Then going to Tuesday,
September 22nd, doing a Zoom meeting. Um, Saturday, September 261i at Pheasant
Ridge. At 10:00 A.M. Uh, the evening ones I was suggesting 5:30 was just my idea.
Tuesday the 291i at Wetherby. Monday, October 51', either at Robert A. Lee Recreation
Center or out in the Chauncey Park, depending, you know, maybe on weather. Um, and
Thursday, October 8", again a Zoom meeting. So, I mean if you see any problems with
those right away, um, I'm glad to hear it, or if once you actually get it in writing, um, if
you see any conflicts that ... with major, you know, events in the community that I've
overlooked then maybe let Kellie know that and we can make some adjustments. Um, 1.
I've tried to kinda go east and west side on a couple of these, as well as Zoom meetings.
Um, Pheasant Ridge is really kind of the only one on the west side. If you think there's
another, uh, good location, I .... and I put one downtown. I don't know for sure if that's
the best place, um, depending on who we're trying to get and everything, but I.Yrn
certainly open for any ideas and suggestions. I just was concerned that time kept going
by and we weren't getting anything on the calendar. So I wanted to at least throw out a
tentative schedule, uh, with locations, urn ... for feedback so we can get started with this.
Salih/ (mumbled) thinking about like, um, physical meeting?
Mims/ I am, and that's why I was looking like at Mercer. Um, if the weather's okay we could do
it outside and be physically distanced. If not, if the weather's not good, um, potentially if
the gym would be available and still be able to do physical distancing, that's why I was
also looking at, um, Robert A. Lee or the Chauncey. I ... but that's also why I've included
a couple of Zoom.... suggesting a couple of Zoom ones. So if people aren't comfortable
coming in person and socially distancing with masks and face coverings that they could
do a Zoom one. So to give people, uh, different opportunities, depending on what they're
comfortable with. And I ... I'm certainly open to suggestion. I just wanted to at least get
something on the table because we've been talking about this for quite a while and
December's going to be here before we know it, and need to get some public input! So...
Teague/ Yeah, I ... I mean I certainly know the need to really engage people in our community.
Um, I ... I, one of the questions that I would have is what .... what do we need to do in
preparation? Um, I know that we have, um, we're waitin' for the military -grade
equipment inventory review.... report, um .... transparent and accessible. I, you know, uh,
budget details ... I'm not sure that's, you know, if that's all that we want to have ready
before we do that. The question will be will that be ready. Um, but I am ... I mean I think
it'd be...what you proposed as far as like timing -wise, I think it's, um, it could be ... uh,
potentially a good time. I just wonder what is it that we wanna have out there, or is it
really just listenin' to the community and hearin' input from the community about (both
talking)
Mims/ Mayor, I think that's a really good question, and my suggestion on that, um, I know Laura
and Janice and I have talked a little bit about this, urn .... is I think we need to, um, and I
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think, you know, everybody can kind of send in ideas. I think to go to a meeting like this
and simply ask people, um, how do you think we should restructure the police department
is ... is a really big question and one that I think is gonna be really, really difficult for
people to necessarily give constructive input to if they don't understand, you know, a lot
about policing and how it works. So I would think that if we could ... um, come up with a
list of potential ideas, um, for people to react to and at least be a starting point in the
conversations. For example, John has proposed, and he did this on our .... our Zoom
meeting last week with a couple members of IFR, the whole idea of, you know, being
able to reduce interactions, um, in the traffic stops by using cameras. Now ...I'm probably
the only one that was on Council when we actually had a .... uh.... a signed, not a petition,
I can't remember the word, but anyways, from the public to ban the use of cameras. So
we'll have some heavy lifting to do if we're going to do that, but to start with some ideas
like that, you know, would you rather see cameras used for, you know, running red lights
or things like that, rather than have police doing those stops. What do you think about,
um, hiring mental health professionals or maybe expanding, um, the, uh, I am sorry
tonight! My mind is ... going blank here on my terminology. Uh, mobile crisis! You
know, expanding agencies like mobile crisis who can respond alongside police officers,
etc. I think any ideas that we can come up with to, um, kind of put on a list and give to
people, just kind of start that conversation, would be really helpful, because I think
otherwise people are sitting there like, uh, what do you mean? We just don't want `em to
be racist and we don't want `em to be biased and we don't want `em to target people and
we don't want `em to be violent, and I mean, so I think starting that conversation with
some ideas would be helpful.
Taylor/ I think that's an excellent idea, Susan. I mean we could even do it the sa... similar to how
the Climate Action Commission originally did it, with the little stickies and the priorities,
you know, people could, uh, like itemize which ones from one to six, what ... what they
feel are the most important and where we should really start, and back to John's idea
about the traffic cameras, and I appreciate your historical perspective, um, but I think, uh,
the climate's kinda different now and I think John has stressed all along that ... that those
cameras don't see color, and so that ... that's, uh, kind of the important thing on that as far
as to stress that, uh, that it wouldn't necessarily be stopping a person of color. Uh, the
light wouldn't see. All it sees is the, uh, or the camera wouldn't see (mumbled) sees is
the license plate. It doesn't see the driver or the color of the driver. So I think stressing
that point might help sell the cameras.
Teague/ One .... one thing I will say is, uh, I've been amazed to some of the conversations I've
been engaged with, in ... in terms of reimaginin' police, um ... there are, uh, various people
out there that, um, have some background on what... community policin' could look like
or just certain aspects of, um, policing. Um, so we might be highly surprised at the
information that we get in this type of....in this type of a setting.
Bergus/ I think two work sessions ago maybe we had some really good ideas about the kind of
information we might want to have available also. So even I would say maybe before we
are presenting, or concurrent with presenting ideas, um, just the ... the current state of
affairs, like the current statistics, and as we have different areas of town where we hope
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to be talking with people, having available that data. Um, I think Geoff had indicated that
that would be definitely doable to ... to have there in terms of, um, you know, what are the
kinds of interactions that occur with police in this neighborhood, um, so that we can
maybe help identify those areas for improvement that would be specific to different parts
of town. And then also having available for us the current state of policies. Um, where,
you know, we've done, I think we've done a really good job of making more transparent
on the website, um, what current policies are, but just also, you know, sort of, uh,
preparing ourselves as we're going into these meetings with what the current policies are
and that the really immediate changes that we've made and the changes underway. So we
can be talking contextually with what we've... what we already kind of know is happening
and then have this big, um, more open conversation about what can happen.
Fruin/ One thing I would, uh, encourage, and (clears throat) I ... I agree with, uh, Councilor Mims
in that as you ... as you hear people talk about, um, reimagining the police department, um,
a lot of the same themes come through, and ... and people may state `em different ways,
but it's a lot of -how as a community do we wanna address homelessness, how do we
wanna address mental health, how do we wanna address addiction services or youth
services. If..if you have themes around, uh, if you decide to have themes around your
listening posts, I just really encourage you to ... to bring in some of your ...your local social
service providers, non-profit providers, that have that expertise, and almost treat it as a...
as a roundtable discussion, where .... where not only the community can provide input, but
they can hear from those providers, and they can maybe, uh, even learn about some of the
efforts that are .... that are underway. I ... I don't think there's very many people in the
community that know about the mobile crisis unit and what it does here. Um, it would be
very beneficial, I think, to .... to bring in the staff that works on that, 365 days a year,
and... and talk, uh, to them about what it is and, um, how they see that type of service
expanding and ... and how they collaborate with law enforcement and how they could
enhance collaborations with law enforcement going forward, to ensure that best outcomes
for folks. Um, I think you'll have a lot more productive conversations that way in these
listening posts and I ... and I think it'll go a long way towards community education as
well.
Teague/ All right, any other thoughts on that?
Fruin/ Would you like us to go ahead and... and work with Council offline to get the dates that
Susan mentioned scheduled... with each of ya and ... and find various Council Members to
look ... look at those dates. Is that ... somethin' we should follow up on?
Teague/ I guess my question would be is how many Councilors, um, and maybe Eleanor can
chime in on this, are we gonna be limited to how many Councilors can be present?
Mims/ I would assume three.
Salih/Yeah, three.
Dilkes/ Okay! (laughs) Yes, three!
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Teague/ Okay. All right. I didn't know if there was any way we could be present and listening
or...but we can go with three.
Dilkes/ Well, you could... actually, you know, it's the old (mumbled) stump rule, um, that we refer
to, meaning if you go and you sit and you don't say anything or participate at all, then
you can have more than three. That's hard to do ... that's hard to do when the conversation
is about something that is so within your purview.
Taylor/ Eleanor, does that still hold true if it's posted as a Zoom meeting and ... and that's the
agenda on the Zoom meeting, does that still hold true that we couldn't all be on that
Zoom?
Dilkes/ Well I think .... I think the same rules apply. I mean if you're on the Zoom meeting and
you're being like a tree stump, sure! If you're on the Zoom meeting and you're
participating in the conversation, no.
Mims/ But ... but the problem, Eleanor, if...if I'm understanding this correctly, if there's four of us
there, all four of us have to act like a tree stump, correct? We can't have three
participating and one act like a stump. Correct?
Dilkes/ Correct.
Mims/ Yeah, so in that case, I would strongly urge that we do not go over three because I think
it's really important that we are there as Council Members actively engaging with the
community. I think they're going to be very frustrated if they have four of us there and
we say, `Oh well sorry, there's four of us; we can't talk to you.' If I were a community
member, I would not be happy! (several talking)
Weiner/ I think there are going to be enough meetings that, um, that find ... that it's, that three will
be just plenty as we spread ourselves out.
Teague/ I wonder if, um, since we're all together right now, if we wouldn't take maybe the next
three minutes or less to look at our calendars and, uh, try to assign who's gonna be where,
preliminarily. We have Wednesday the 16`h, Tuesday the 22 ad, Saturday the 27', Monday
the 29`h, correct me if I'm wrong (laughs) And then October 5`h. I don't know what day
of the week that is. (several talking, garbled)
Salih/ What was the first one?
Teague/ Uh... um, September 16`h. Wednesday.
Salih/ Laura, do you wanna do that with me?
Bergus/ Yeah, that would be great!
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Salih/ Okay.
Bergus/ Thank you!
Teague/ And I think we have, um, I think we have the opportunity of, uh, people, some people
doin' it three times or...or twice if we want three people. Or are people thinkin' just two
individuals?
Mims/ I mean I think if people wanna be there, everybody gets, you know, at least two to three
opportunities to do it, then I say the more the merrier, so we can all get as much input as
possible.
Teague/ Okay.
Taylor/ Janice, would you be able to do the Saturday the 26`h at Pheasant Ridge, since that's
kinda in our neck of the woods, our neighborhood? Would you be able to do that? And I
would do it with you?
Weiner/ Um ... sure!
Teague/ What day of the week? I mean, which .... which date?
Taylor/ The Saturday the 26`h, at, uh, Pheasant Ridge. I think you ... you said two times, Susan. I
think you said a 10 or a 5:30, which ... which one was for that, Susan?
Mims/ I guess I was thinking 10:00 on Saturday and 5:30 for the ones during the week, was just
my suggestion.
Taylor/ Okay. Sounds good!
Weiner/ Did somebody else wanna join on the 26`h9
Teague/ Um, I can certainly join!
Salih/ And, Laura, do you wanna do the South District?
Bergus/ Yeah, I'd like to do the Wetherby one also.
Salih/ The Wetherby?
Bergus/ Yeah, Wetherby the 291h.
Salih/ Oh! Is the Wetherby the 29`h? I saw the Wetherby is the one, is the first one?
Bergus/ I think the first one is Mercer, which I'm also interested in.
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Salih/ Okay, I can ... yeah! Okay.
Fruin/ Folks, just to remind, uh, Wetherby's under construction right now, um .... and I don't
know if I would .... 29th the trail project will also be under construction. Um, it's a big
park and there's probably ample opportunities to sit, but just to let you know that, um,
you might deal with some construction traffic while you're there.
Teague/ Okay, so (both talking)
Mims/ ...were you going to do the 29`h also with Laura?
Salih/ Yeah, I can do that, no problem.
Teague/ And I .... I can jump on there, at Wetherby.
Salih/ Yes! Okay.
Teague/ So it seems that we have....
Weiner/ How bout the Tuesday, September 22"d Zoom, I would also volunteer to do that.
Mims/ I'll do that with you, Janice.
Thomas/ I can do that one too.
Teague/ All right (both talking)
Mims/ ...Monday the 5`h.
Bergus/ I can do that one too.
Salih/ Where is that at, Susan?
Mims/ Uh, it's either at Robert A. Lee or the Chauncey Park. Um ... so we need to kinda get that
figured out.
Taylor/ I could do that too. This is Pauline.
Mims/ So Laura and Pauline and myself.
Salih/ Okay.
Teague/ Um, one .... one thought came to mind. I don't know if, um, we can do some special
efforts to get some of the youth involved.
Mims/ Okay!
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Teague/ To come out.
Salih/ Well if we can do one at the Dream Center.
Mims/ (mumbled) that's a possibility!
Taylor/ That's an excellent idea.
Weiner/ It's a really good idea.
Longenecker/ We can also advertise the USG for students in the area that would like to come,
and post that through our social media channels and so on, um, if that would help.
Teague/ Awesome! Thank you. So....
Mims/ (both talking) don't have anybody (garbled) do we?
Teague/ No one on the 8`h.
Thomas/ I can do the 8`h.
Salih/ I guess one of the Zoom meeting, do we have two Zoom meetings, Susan?
Mims/ Yeah, I did one on the 22"d, and then the one on the 8°i.
Salih/ (both talking, garbled) can be at the Dream Center.
Mims/ Pardon?
Salih/ I said one of the Zoom meeting can be at the Dream Center maybe?
Mims/ I don't care. (several talking, garbled)
Thomas/ If the 8`h were .... I'm not up for any of the, um, the ones out ... out in the field. So yeah,
if we ... if we made the 8' on the Dream Center I could .... I could do that.
Salih/ Okay, great!
Mims/ So you wanna make the 8`h at the Dream Center and have just one Zoom meeting, is what
I'm hearing then. Is that....
Teague/ Is it possible that we, cause I ... urn, maybe for (mumbled) um .... maybe we can use both
of the Zoom meetings as an option for him. (several talking) It's early enough, um ... if ..
if there's a challenge I think, um, Kellie can try to reach out to whoever to make some
changes.
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Salih/ Uh huh. Definitely!
Teague/ So then at the Dream Center, um, we have John. Um, I would certainly be happy to go.
Salih/ And I can be there too.
Teague/ Okay! All right, so .... um, Kellie, I hope you were helpin' us out by recording
everything (laughs)
Fruehling/ Yes! You wanna recap?
Teague/Please!
Fruehling/ So on September 16`h I have Bergus and Salih; September 22nd I have Weiner, Mims,
and Thomas; September 20h I have Taylor, Weiner, and Teague; September 29`h I have
Bergus, Salih, and Teague; October 5`h I have Mims, Bergus, and Taylor; and October 8'
I have Thomas, Teague, and Salih. (several talking, garbled)
Mims/ (laughs) Janice, you and I were both gonna add our name to the 16`h. Go ahead, that's
fine (laughs)
Teague/ And I think I'm on four different ones. Is that correct, one, two (both talking)
Fruehling/ Three.
Teague/ Okay. All right. Um, so if anyone feels like they're missin' out on an opportunity and
they wanna go somewhere, just let me know. Um....I.... I would be willin' to share...
share the love, but I'm also happy to go!
Mims/ Well I'm really (garbled) to see that everybody's got at least two, some people have
three, um, and we actually have three Councilors signed up for every single one of `em,
and I think that's absolutely fantastic, and we have different combinations, um, of
Councilors together, and I think that's really important too. And the ... the only final thing
I would just strongly suggest is if something comes up at the last minute, somebody can't
make it, please try and reach out to the rest of Council so that somebody else can try and
sub in if they want to, so that everybody can, you know, take full advantage of, um,
getting the input from the public. So....
Teague/ Full disclosure, I haven't looked at my calendar for any of these dates (laughter) so I
might be rearrangin' a little bit. We'll ... we'll navigate through it! All right! Um, so, uh,
well I wanna thank you, Councilor Mims, for that proposal. I think that is a, certainly a
step, uh, forward, um, in ... in the efforts we're doin' as a community, and so .... uh, Kellie,
is it possible that you can pull up our progress summary? Great!
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Mims/ Can I add just one real quick thing there and that would just (mumbled) I think staff kind
of understands some of the information that we would like to have prior to going into
these meetings. So if...if they can maybe let us know what that is, and then I would
encourage all of Council Members, and I don't know, probably, Kellie, if you're the point
person, maybe to get her a list of ideas or suggestions that we might want in a list that we
would be able to take out with us. Um, again I think trying to start a conversation with
simply how ... how do you see reimagining the police department is a tough one, and
may... I think Kellie, either between Kellie and Geoff and the Mayor or somebody, we
need to be thinking about who do we want.... cause I believe Geoff asked, suggested a
really good thing of asking some of the non-profit providers. So that needs to be
coordinated as well. So, urn .... if staff, can we dump that on staff (laughs) to help
coordinate maybe some of the non-profit providers to be with us.
Fruin/ Yeah, I think that's very doable, and what we might do is, um .... focus in on a key, one key
issue per event, and it doesn't mean that entire event has to be dedicated to say
a ... addiction issues or, uh, or services I should say, um, but that could be the focus and
then there can be an open portion to the event too and we just make sure that we have
some field experts at each one. So I'll work with the Clerk's office and we'll try to do
that. If there is any specific location that you want, uh, a theme to, uh, just reach out to
me or to Kellie and we'll work on that. Otherwise we'll, you know, we'll assume you're
at Dream Center, for example, we'll focus maybe on some youth, uh, issues and invite
youth providers and... and so forth.
Mims/ Thank you, Geoff.
Teague/ I know that one thing that Mayor Pro Tem and I had talked about was just that, um,
havin' one item, um, per event, and so I think that plays right into the thought process of,
um, how to be most productive. I do wonder just with, um, some of the suggestions that
we'll be given by the community, will there be staff or someone present to kinda just take
that information? Gather it?
Froin/ Yeah, we .... we can have somebody present to do that. We have also created ... it's up on
our website now, an online submission form. I know it's on the Black Lives Matter
website, where you can find the status report, but I believe it's also on the police, um...
um, web page too. So we'll make sure that you have directions on how to get ... you
know, how to allow people to submit electronically in addition to whatever we might take
in the in-person events.
Teague/ All right, thank you. Um, so ... I ... I think, urn .... we're gonna go through this list a little
bit. Now there might be some things that are gonna be on our agenda comin' up, so those
we'll just kind of defer until then. Um, so, uh, the next one would be .... receive a report
of Iowa City police involvement in the gas and flash bang devices. So that's gonna be
comin' up on our next event (mumbled) um, at 7:00 P.M., and so we're.... that's on our
formal agenda, so we're gonna talk about that then. So we'll defer that. Um, for the
accountability authority of the CPRB, uh, is there ... um, I know that we've seen, um, and
I've read the ... some minutes from the CPRB, but is there any update, uh, formally on,
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um, any movement with them findin' either a ... a private, uh, lawyer that they chose or
anything of that nature, at least from my perspective. (garbled)
Weiner/ My understanding is they would ... is, and they could change, they could have changed at
a subsequent meeting or they could change is that they were probably going to retain
their current attorney, uh, and use him for that, but I did warm point out that, um,
speaking of (mumbled) just organizing, they are doing their community, their community
forum on September 21' at 5:30 P.M. by a Zoom, with a focus on, um, police policies,
practices, and procedures, and we're asking people to submit questions in advance. So
that might actually be really interesting for some of us to ... a couple of us to sit in on if we
have the time. I plan to try, um, to ... to sort of see, preview a little bit, even though one of
our ...two of ours will already have taken place, but to preview a little bit what they are
hearing as well.
Teague/ Any other thoughts on the CPRB? And I've talked to, urn ... uh, a ... a member from the
CPRB and so I do know that they are, uh, happy for this opportunity, they really are!
So....
Weiner/ Yeah, I also know that they've sent out, they're in the process of or they've already sent
out, um, the questionnaires to pre ... to previous members, uh, and are ... are putting in ideas
from their own members as well.
Teague/ Great! Improve transparency and accessibility of detail ICPD budget expenditures.
Frain/ Mayor, we do have, um, some additional budget information on the, uh, Iowa City Police
Department website and then we'll have a ... a kind of a keen eye on this as we develop the
fiscal year, uh, 22 budget as well, and we'll ... we'll make sure that, uh, we provide
expanded, uh, materials in the budget document and on the website.
Teague/ All right, so ... and because at the end of this, hopefully, we'll have time to go to the
bottom and kinda, uh, see where we are on the checklist. I'm not sure if anything moves
down there or not. Um (mumbled) inventory of military -grade equipment in the ICPD.
Frain/ Um, that ... the, uh, military -grade equipment should be in your information packet on
September l Ott'. Um, the evaluation of federal contracts is in your, uh, August 20'
information packet, which you ... you have the ability to discuss later today, and then the,
um, letter to the Johnson County Sheriff's Office has already been sent, Mayor, so um...
two out of three on that, um, have been provided and one in the works.
Teague/ Okay. All right, two out of three! And then four, enact ICPD general order expressly
ban the use of chokeholds and any maneuver that cuts off oxygen or blood flow.
Frain/ That general order has been updated. It's been reviewed by the CPRB and is available to
view on our website.
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Teague/ So then will that .... and I don't .... let me see ..... so as far as like the order itself, would
that move toward bein' finished?
Frain/ Yes, that's, uh, that's one item, um, that needs to be updated on our next issuance of this
report. Um, the, um, this item will shift over to the green column and will be complete.
Teague/ Great! All right! And then we have... ah, lose my place! Continue ICPD policy and
practice to be consistent with the Iowa House File 2647, ensurin' police officers in Iowa
have not committed serious misconduct.
Frain/ Uh, so this is in reference to the State reform bill that passed earlier this year. Uh, it's
already been our practice to not hire officers with serious misconduct. Um, as the, uh,
law was passed, the next step is for the State to draft rules, uh, how they're going to
administer this law. When those rules come out we will certainly make sure that, uh... uh,
we are compliant with ... with, um ... um, and that includes both how we hire new officers,
but if officers leave our employment because of misconduct, you know, ensuring that we
have the systems in place that properly report those to the State so that other departments,
uh, so not, uh, hire that individual.
Teague/ So we're... we're almost there!
Frain/ Correct. The, uh..um, really there's nothing we can do to speed up this process right now.
The rule-making process at the State has to take place and then we may have to adjust
some of our internal human resources policies just to make sure that we're consistent, but
until those rules are done at the State level, um, there's nothing we can do to get that over
to the green column.
Teague/All right! So compliance and evaluate, uh, investigate compliance and evaluate
disciplinary action related to property use (mumbled) body cameras and vehicle
recording devices. .
Fruin/ So this general.... this is the third general order, uh, that we'll update as a part of this
resolution, um, and this one is scheduled to be on the next, urn ... um ... uh, Community
Police Review Board, um, meeting, and that is, uh, September 31. So that's Thursday of
this week. (mumbled) be on the CPRB agenda and then per your request or your
direction with this, um, resolution, you will also see this one. So this ... this then will go
from CPRB to City Council before it's fully adopted by the department.
Teague/ Okay.
Frain/ Um, the next one is the duty to intervene and stop excessive force. That has already been
completed. You can view that general order on our website as well, and if you'd click...
if you pull up this report these are all hyper -linked and so you can kinda drill down and
get links to those. Uh, prohibit use of teargas, rubber bullets, and flash bangs against
peaceful protesters, uh, we anticipate, um, an update to a general order. Um, we're gonna
wait for the independent review to be complete on ... on that one, because that independent
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review, uh, may guide discussions on how best to update our policies. So, um, that one is
still pending and will be taken up after the, urn .... uh, after that independent review. If
you go forward with it, if you decide not to go forward with that, then we'll have to, um,
make our own changes and discuss those, um ... uh, changes, urn .... uh, with the CPRB and
with ... with you. The legislative priorities, the Council typically adopts those in, uh,
November, December. Uh, so our office, uh, will be, um, drafting, um, reform, um...
priorities for you to consider. We'll ask that you adopt those and then we plan to host a
meeting with our State delegation, uh, to discuss those prior to the commencement of the
legislative session.
Teague/ Great!
Fruin/ The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is on your agenda for further discussion, uh,
tonight. The one million, uh, dollars is, um, identified in the budget and that will just
await your direction on how that is allocated. The, uh... uh, if I'm going too fast or you
wanna discuss, please stop, but the artistic expression, you had the, um, recommendation
from the Public Art Advisory Committee, uh, on your last agenda, I believe, so that is a
work in progress. Um, we have not initiated, and would like to have some discussions
with Council on, um, artistic expression beyond, um, the mural. So we've talked about
festivals or other, uh, engagement opportunities, and we'd just like to get that, uh... uh, get
that discussion with you before we set forth any plans. Juneteenth as an official City
holiday, I've initiated discussions with our three bargaining units, urn .... uh, holidays are,
um ... uh, bargained in our union contracts and thus it will take, uh... um, a, uh... uh,
agreement with those unions to be able to accomplish this. I'm confident we'll get there,
but urn ... uh, we have not completed that yet. The, urn ... uh, report on the diversity of our
City workforce, as well as what we have done in past years to expand equitable recruiting
efforts and to, um, offer training to our employees. That is in your information packet on
8/20. Uh, hope you had a chance to read that. You'll have an opportunity to discuss that
tonight if you'd like. There's also recommendations in there about how we might
continue that effort going forward. And then finally the toolkit. Um, we continue to, uh,
employ that toolkit. I believe we have a public hearing on tonight's agenda that, uh, will
give you a preview of, uh, one application of that toolkit related to our, uh, water fees,
and then, urn .... uh, the training to the community has begun, and we've done one
community training, uh, focused on the business community. On September 9' we have
an additional, uh, community training opportunity, um, that's targeted towards landlords
and property owners, but is also available for the general community as well. So those...
those efforts are being coordinated by our Human Rights office and uh, we'll continue,
urn ... uh, certainly through this year and next.
Teague/ Okay!
Fruin/ So this is the snapshot on ... on kinda where things stand right now, um, with the exception,
uh, that this item here, which is the general order on chokeholds, is ... is now in the
completed column. Um, so you see some of these that are both completed and underway,
um, that's just recognizing that there were multiple, uh, objections in that ... in that item.
So, um, for example, the military -grade equipment is still under review. You have sent
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the MRAP letter, and you now have the federal contract information, um, in front of you.
So there are some.... some kind of partially completed indicators there. The only two that
we've listed as ... as waiting Council action would be the allocation of the million dollars,
uh, which, um, I trust will .... will come as you get deeper into some of the, urn ... uh, the
other items here, and then, uh, this, uh... uh, artistic, um, opportunities for artistic
expression, again, beyond the mural. We'd just like to have a short conversation with
you about, uh, some of your thoughts before we, uh, really engage some of the, um, the
art's community on how to move forward on that.
Teague/ All right! Council.... thoughts?
Bergus/ I'll jump in, Mayor, if that's okay. Um ... I just, first of all thank you for the overview and
pulling this all together in one list. I think that's incredibly helpful, you know, we're
looking at this all the time and ... and seeing the updates, you know, in our information
packets, and I think it's really good for us to do that also as a group and to look at it. Um,
a couple of things that jumped out to me, um, being able to review, it was in our ...as
Geoff mentioned, August 20" information packet, IP3, the report on employee
demographics and, uh, diversity, and I just wanted to .... to raise something we mentioned
before but maybe haven't picked back up, which is training for City Council, um, and
opportunities for that. I know ... I think John Thomas and I, uh, participated in ... in, um,
one, urn .... that was put on by Lauren Gray. I don't recall even when that was (laughs)
um, that was directed towards.... towards City staff and other, um, I think mostly
government employees, but if there's something that we could do as a group. I know that
the City Council previously had engaged, um, GARS, or the Government Association of
Racial Equity, for some really concerted, um, training and discussion. I just wanted to
bring that back up and see if...there's an appetite among the group for that.
Fruin/ Funny you should mention that. We do have an opportunity. We just haven't, uh, I
haven't, uh, pushed that out to you yet, but there is a .... a GARE-related training that, uh,
Stephanie Bowers made me aware of today, uh, coming up in November, and I plan just
to review kind of the agenda for that and... and if it looks like it fits well for elected
officials, uh, we'll connect ya to that opportunity, and then I believe I've mentioned to
you that, uh, as City staff, um, right now we are, um .... uh, pushing to our employees a
21 -day equity challenge. Um, that is being run through East Central Iowa United Way.
Uh, and uh, that ... that challenge, uh, is designed by, uh, Dr. Eddie Moore, who's done
some City training with us before, and this is really just a .... a phenomenal resource for
us. Um, that's certainly a training that, uh, that the City Council can participate in. Um,
that's kind of on your own, it's not necessarily a gather together, uh, type of training. Uh,
but you make that commitment yourself and you go about it at your pace, uh, over the
course of those 21 days. So, if you'd like that information I'd be happy to share it again
with ya, um, and we'll continue to, uh, provide those opportunities to you as well, but I
do concur that having something you can all attend and then maybe after that, you know,
at a work session or public meeting discuss what your ...what your takeaways are and how
those might influence your deliberations and decisions going forward would be ... would
be pretty impactful.
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Teague/ Okay.
Weiner/ Thanks for raising that.
Teague/ Great! Well ... um, seem like we are, um, movin' along, um, not as fast as we certainly
hope, but, um, definitely bein' very intentional, um, at ... right now reviewing and tryin' to
get to the next steps, urn ... because we are committed, at least myself and I know I've
talked to the Councilors, uh, we are committed to, uh, these, uh, 17, uh, points, uh, in...
in the Black Lives Matter and Systemic Racism, uh, resolution that was created. So, uh,
thanks to the Councilors for all of your work that you've been doin', and thanks to the
City staff, and even everyone in the community that's been a part of, um,
recommendations and lettin' your voice be heard on these matters, and it ... and, so that we
can move forward together as a community, um, it's .... thank you! All right! Can we
move on to the next item on our agenda? Which is gonna be clarfe... clarification of
agenda items. And this is from the formal agenda.
Clarification of Agenda Items:
8.c. David Etre (x2): Homeless Harassment
8.d. Bob Oppliger, Create Bike Advocacy Committee (Staff response Included)
Thomas/ I have a couple of, um .... things that come ... came out of the correspondence that I
wanted to ask about. Uh, one had to do with, urn .... the situation downtown. I think the
downtown harassment may have been, in my notes anyway, how it was described and uh,
I don't know, Geoff, there's some question as to ... the, urn ... the manner of police presence
in the downtown, uh, that .... I'm not clear where this ... where this ended up. It sounded
like there were differences of opinion on this, but uh, whether we have someone who's
kind of dedicated to the downtown in the way that say David Schwent was at...at one
point. Um, there was some concerns about the, uh, from what I've heard, the ... the time
lapse from an incident beginning and when a police presence was actually, uh, there on
the scene to respond to that incident. So I just wanted to ask about that. And ... maybe I'll
just mention the other, uh, as well. Um, Bo ... Bob Oppliger's, uh, correspondence related
to the bike advos.... Bike Advocacy Commission, or Committee. Um .... I .... I do hope we
can, my hope in reading this exchange between Bob and ... and, urn .... uh.... oh, Kent, um,
regarding how to move forward on these .... this question of the structure for advising
staff, uh, and also just engaging on the question of advancing our ...our bike.... culture.
Um, my hope was that there might be an opportunity for staff to meet with Bob, uh,
members of this, uh, the current, uh.... uh, Bicycle Advisory Committee and others as
necessary, to try to ... you know, go through what Bob was suggesting, um, to see if we
can't do a better job of addressing all the aspects of the, urn... advancing our bike culture,
um, which seemed, if I understood it, it seemed like the engagement was primarily on a
project -driven basis, you know, with ... with when we were proposing bike lanes and
things of that sort, and Bob was suggesting it could be an expanded role, um, but my
hope is that might .... we might have that meeting, uh, to just see how we want to move
forward, um, more productively, uh, with one of the stated goals reaching the gold status,
which, uh... I was noting with Pauline the other day that, urn ... that was something that we
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brought up probably four and a half years ago was ... is our hope to achieve that and we're
still not quite there. So if...if making any changes to the advocacy for our bike culture,
um, would help us achieve that, as well as just on the ground, promote culture in Iowa
City for biking, um, perhaps having that conversation would be useful.
Taylor/ I ... like John I also had concerns that correspondence, I think that was 8.c. about the
downtown. So I think... because I had gotten phone calls about these issues too, about
what was going on downtown, uh, with certain individuals and, urn .... so I think we just
kind of needed a clarification about the status of...of a downtown liaison officer, if that
still exists or where we are with that.
Fruin/ (garbled)
Teague/ Hey, Geoff ..uh, for whatever reason your mic is really fuzzy. Or is it just my speaker
(laughs)
Fruin/ (garbled) (several talking)
Taylor/ No, the audio's terrible!
Fruin/ (garbled)
Teague/ Gotta love Zoom (both talking)
Weiner/ ...fine earlier.
Teague/ It was! Well he wasn't totally robotic. That's typically what happens (laughs)
Fruin/ Okay, I'm going to pretend to be Ashley for a moment (laughs)
Teague/ All right!
Fruin/ Um ... uh, on the, uh, downtown issue, we do .... we do still have a downtown liaison
officer. Uh, Officer Fowler, uh, continues to do that work with us. However, we're
probably I think four or five, uh, police officer positions down right now from our
budgeted amount, and um, that means that those officers on specialty positions are often
called to regular patrol calls. Um, it's ... it's very common, uh, no matter if you're on days,
evenings, or nights that you're gonna go call to call to call, and when we don't, um, have
full staff, uh, we can't dedicate as much time to those, um, those specialty, uh, o ... um,
assignments like the downtown patrol. So that's one of the things that we're struggling
about right now. Um, we did hear these complaints, um, we did make sure that Officer
Fowler, and others, could, um, respond as they do, uh, with ... with compassion and... and
eye towards connecting individuals with .... with services they need, and I think, uh,
we've received some good comments from the business community to ... to say thank you
for ...for that assistance. Um, but I imagine that's something we'll continue to struggle
with as long as we stay down, uh, those police officer positions. Um, regarding the bike,
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uh, advocacy, um, the ... the...the, um, goal for gold, um, is still very much, uh... urn .... urn,
our target and well within reach. Uh, the nature of that program is that you only apply, I
think, every three years or so. That's why that goal's been hanging out there. We applied
immediately after Council established that goal, probably three or four years ago, and fell
just short of that, um, with ... with the biggest knock on us bein' that we don't have enough
on -street bike facilities. Uh, we feel that after all the, uh, additions of bike lanes that
the ... that the Council has authorized in the last few years that we'll have a really good
shot of getting gold and I believe that application's in process right now. I'd have to
verify that with ... with Kent and his team, but urn .... that's .... that's underway. Um, you
saw Kent's response to ... to Mr. Oppliger's, uh, request there and I'm happy to follow up
with ... with Kent, but uh, we feel like we are executing on that master plan as it was
designed and ... and we feel like we have good input. Can always be better and... and
perhaps a restructuring makes sense, but we'd certainly want to get the impact of..or get
the input of. ... of. ... of the other advocates that have been helpin' us, uh ....um, make
those decisions.
61. Willow Creek Park Improvements
Taylor/ Thank you, Geoff. Um, I had a question about Item 6.f., uh, that was with the Willow
Creek Park completion. Can somebody clarify what happens again when a company
goes beyond the expected project completion date? I mean I understand that there were a
lot of extenuating circumstances with this project, um, but it was delayed for a really long
time, and I might have misunderstood, but I thought there was something about, uh,
instead of a fine or a penalty, an amount was just deducted from the final payment. So is
that reflected in those figures that we got on this item? Do you know?
Fruin/ I'm not sure if...I see Ron is on the call. Um, Ron, if you have any information if we had
liquidated damages on the Willow Creek Project?
Knoche/ I ... I don't know if we ... if..if we have liquidated damages on that, uh, project or not.
We'll double-check that before the Council meeting and we'll have that information for
you, uh, at the meeting.
Taylor/ Thank you!
Knoche/ Yep!
Teague/ All right, anything else from the agenda?
7.a. Amend Water Collection Ordinance FY20
Weiner/ I was just looking for a little bit of clarification on 7.a., which is the water collection
ordinance to ex ... explain a little bit the background of that and ... when I saw the numbers
in there and how it brings it down, it just, uh... the ... uh, for some reason it .... confused me
some.
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Fruin/ Sure, uh, Dennis, you wanna handle that one?
Bockenstedt/ I can ... I can try and answer that question for you and, um, you know, this goes back
to the racial equity and toolkit that the Finance Department did several years ago, and we
took a look at the impact of, uh, the water collection process on, um, minority
community, and we did a, uh, through our GIS system, an analysis of where those past -
due accounts were taking place across the city. And we found that it was really, uh,
disproportionately impacting the south-central portion of the community. And so at that
time, um, we found that the, uh, low income, uh, program, the discount program, was
very effective, and we decided to put more resources into that program at that time. Um,
since then, um, and that's been working and we've been getting higher participation, but
we went back and took another look, uh, at that program and what we were doing. And,
uh, at that ... at the initial time we were a little reluctant to eliminate the carding fee or, um,
you know, all the fees associated with that collection process. Um, but after lookin' at
that again, we decided, uh, perhaps that was the better way to go, um, and eliminate that
carding fee and then, uh, in lieu of that, try to do more things electronically, like send text
message notices and email notices to people and... and because we really felt that fee was
a rather high fee comparably to the other communities, and it was really primarily
impacting, uh, those residents in the south-central portion of the community that really
ultimately the better way to go was to eliminate that fee. Um, and then alter our
collection process a little bit. So we really this is what this ordinance does is it just
authorizes, uh, the reduction or the elimination of that $45 carding fee. It does increase
the, uh, initial late fee a little bit, um, and that's because we're in the process of
purchasing software that will allow us to send email, text message, and other electronic
notices, uh, so there is an additional cost associated with that, uh, particular program.
However, when you ... when you do the math it turns out that in .... rather than that $45 fee
they might pay an extra $4.50 late fee. Um, so, you know, there's ultimately a much
lower cost, uh, or lower charges on that collection fee that is levied on those past -due
accounts. And we're hopin' that, one, this might help people from getting their water
shut off or helping them to pay those bills once they get behind, uh, but also then, um...
allowing us more ways to communicate those late bills to people, other than just
somebody, uh, driving up and putting a notice on their door. And so that's kind of, you k
now, the background of that and ... and ultimately it's going to be a much lower cost for
those individuals that are ... that are behind on their water bills.
Fruin/ And ... and just a point of clarification, uh, this is assuming normal times. We are still not
shutting off water during the COVID period. Uh, so we're actually looking ahead to
where we resume normal collections.
Weiner/ Thanks very much!
Teague/ Any other agenda items? From the formal agenda (both talking)
Salih/ I just ... is that on the Consent Agenda? The water item. I'm sorry I ... I wasn't like lookin'
at the (both talking)
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Teague/ Yep, it's on the Consent Agenda.
Salih/ Yeah, I really wanna talk about that .... also. Uh, because you know I ... I just believe that to
begin with, uh, as long as we using, you know, employees of the City to go and shut
down the water, why we charging people 45 even before it's shut? I understand that you
are working to take out that. I'm in the right, uh... the right item or I'm off? Okay.
Teague/ You're on the right item!
Salih/ Okay! You know, I'm ... I'm just thinking that, uh, I know that you are now working on
waiving the 45. I agree. Uh, but you are increasing the fee (garbled) like you are saying,
oh we are waiving the 45 because to begin with it's not like... yeah, we saw it is not okay,
but instead we gonna increase the ... the fee so we can ... you know, just like ... what my point
is, just to begin with, you sending somebody from the City to go and do that and put that
notice on the door, and you charge the people 45, uh, dollar. That by itself it was wrong.
I know that you are changing it, but you don't need to increase the fee. You just correct
(mumbled) that was to begin with is wrong. We using the (garbled) the people who go
there and put this, uh, you know, who go there and shut down the water, the people who
go there and put the notice, are a City employee and we pay them a salary. We are not
giving them more money because they ...we sending them out, and also, uh, the other
thing is like ma ... it snakes sense to me during the weekend because you have (garbled)
the water for those people. It makes us completely to charge that person extra if they
request their water to be back on the weekend, but on weekdays, why we do that, if we
using a City employees and my question to you, Dennis, do we pay ..extra money for
those people who go and put the notice, do we pay extra fee for those people who go and
shut down the water or turn it back on or anything?
Bockenstedt/ We do not pay them extra in that sense (mumbled) overtime. Um, there is a cost
associated because anytime we would send out an employee to card a property or shut off
a water, they're doing that in lieu of something else, like replacing somebody's broken
water meter or going out and reading meters or, uh, doing some other form of repair. So
there is a cost because it does take time for those individuals and ... and the individuals that
are doing these activities are funded from the water system, which is a self-funded
business operation. So it's ... it's not bein' funded from property taxes or other, uh, other
forms of...of revenue, so that the revenue that is generated by the water fees pays those
employees that (mumbled) this work. Um, so although.... there is no really additional
cost, there is a cost associated to have the additional... additional time on staff to be able
to do that work.
Salih/ No, but if...if nobody....if nobody have this problem and everybody pay their fee on time,
we still pay the same salary to those individual who do this work. You know, I ... I really
just don't understand that why we charge the people. I understand that we canjust do it if
you ... you do it over times, you giving people over time to do that, after hours, and also if
you doing it in the weekend, I understand that you can (garbled) fee to the person in their
bills, but just if you doing it during the day and you doing it, why we do that?
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Bockenstedt/ I guess ... are you talking about the $45 carding fee?
Salih/ Uh huh!
Bockenstedt/ And that's the fee that we're eliminating.
Salih/ (both talking) Okay, but what you adding?
Bockenstedt/ Well, there's a ... there's a late fee, like when you do not pay your bill on time, right
now it's a 5% late charge. And so the average bill's about $95. And so the average late
charge on that bill is about $4.50. And so (both talking)
Salih/ ...what you are increasing it?
Bockenstedt/ And we're raisin' that essentially to a 10% fee, which'11 go from $4.50 to $9.00,
and that's because we're purchasing software that will allow us to notify people of their
late bills and late fees through email, text, and other forms of electronic communication,
in lieu of havin' to ... to do it manually through labor, which we were charging $45 for.
Salih/ Do you know who the people who really get this char ...late fees and ... (garbled) water
always shut down? It's the low income people who are not even check their emails most
of the time, because they don't have time for that. I ... I guess you are putting a lot of
burden on those people. You don't even need, to me you don't even need to buy the
software if you decide not to charge the people, uh, like fee. So I ... I really don't know,
but I think this is wrong, and it have to be corrected, and uh, also like turning on the
water, if somebody came. If you are charging them late fee, also you charge them turn on
fee?
Bockenstedt/ There is a fee to restore the water. So if somebody's water is shut off, there is a
$45 fee, actually it's $47.25. We're reducing that to $45 to have an employee come out,
because they have to physically turn the water off and then come back and physically turn
the water back on. So it takes roughly two hours of staff time, and equipment time, to ... to
shut the water off and shut it back on. So there is a cost associated with that actual
behavior. (both talking)
Salih/ But during the ... during the normal hours you are not paying them extra.
Bockenstedt/ Well (both talking) they are salaried .... or they are paid hourly. Um, they are union
employees. Um, the amount of staff time it would take, with or without those activities, I
guess that would have to be evaluated, how much of their time is ... is required to handle
those accounts that required shutting off and carding.
Salih/ That means we charging them 45 ... we still charging them $45 if we turn on the water, and
we adding to the late fee because we going to purchase this software that will remind
them. Most of the people are not going to see this reminder. Who are... you k now,
maybe the people who really pay their bill on time and they have, you know, they have
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access to pay their... their bill on time because they always do that, they have good job.
Those people who are still going to see the reminder if you send it to them, but not the
low income people, and ... and I just think buying this equipment, you getting... and adding
more late fee, you getting a lot of burden on the low income people, and you still
charging them if they come and say, okay, I'm paying it. Even though I'm paying fee for
late fee, you still charging me $45 to turn my water back. This is ridiculous (several
talking)
Frain/ May I make a suggestion, Mayor, um, tonight you're bein' asked to set the public hearing
on this, um, so you're not ... you're not takin' a vote on the ordinance tonight, and I don't
have the agenda in front of me, but that's my recollection. Dennis, is that correct?
Bockenstedt/ Yeah, tonight is just setting the hearing. Actually September 15a', uh, your meeting
will be the actual hearing itself.
Fruin/ So we can go through this. I mean I think what's .... what we're arguing here, what
we're... what we're hearing is, um, a .... a degree to which we want to lower the fees,
cause staff is coming to you saying let's lower the fees, uh, to reduce the burden, and
what I'm hearing from Councilor Salih is let's lower that even more, and so we can have
that degree of, uh, you know, how far do we wanna move with this, and staff ...this has
been an informative conversation and staff can kinda walk you through these various
elements, but I think that's probably important to do at the public hearing. Um, and
tonight you're just setting that public hearing. You're not voting on this item.
Salih/ Still, I just wanna say my two cents!
Teague/ (laughs) All right!
Salih/ Okay, thank you!
Teague/ We ... we will reconvene, uh, our work session after, uh, the formal agenda, and so for
now, um, I'm going to bring this meeting to a close (recording ends)
(BREAK FOR FORMAL)
(RECONVENE WORK SESSION)
Information Packet Discussion (August 20, August 27):
Teague/ All right we are, um, goin' back to our work session, which started yesterday, uh, the
first of September, um, at 5:00 P.M., and so, um, we have finished our clarification of
agenda items. Um, wanted to just allow an opportunity for any information packet, um,
An .... August 20°i.
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Mims/ (mumbled) quick comment on IP3, the ... the staff demographics, um, recruiting and
training. There's, I think there's an awful lot of training going on that people aren't
aware of. It's a long, long list. Um, so I think really good information, uh, from staff.
Weiner/ And then (mumbled) the fire department do more. Seems like everyone was going a lot.
Teague/ Any other items? Okay, we're gonna go to .... IP, um, 8/27. Hearin' none there. Um...
well, I think we can probably consider ourselves adjourned. Unless there's somethin' else
people wanna bring up right now.
Bergus/ Um, Mayor (garbled) I'm sorry, one quick update from the, uh, City of Literature
Board, because we talked about it at our last meeting. The possibility of renaming a park,
um, in honor of James Allen McPherson. Um, gotten a couple of comments, one of
which may have gone to all of Council as well, about the possibility of maybe more
significant space than the very small green space that was being considered. So I just
wanted to bring that forward and I certainly agree with that ... that sentiment. And then I
maybe should have said it during regular Council updates, but I just wanted to take five
seconds and say ...I'm really, really proud of us. I know we've let down a lot of people in
the community on a lot of different things in the last few months, but I see all of your
hearts. I know we're trying. Um, I know we're going to continue to try. We're not
gonna walk away from any of the really, really, really hard stuff that we're dealing with.
So I just wanna say thanks for this opportunity to be your colleague, cause I ... think
we're... we're doin' all right.
Teague /Great!
Weiner/ And I apologize for adding to this but I wanted to make one note about Item 6 in the
August 27a' packet. Um, it's amazing what we're able to do with these CDBG funds and
3,000 of our own funds to fund all these, um, requests, over $260,000 in requests for
homeless prevention, childcare, mental health, food assistance — that are all under the
CARES act, that are all caused by COVID. So the ... the fact that we ended up with the
funds to do that is, um, is ... is a real positive, and I just wanted to note that.
Teague/ Anything else? All right! We're adjourned! (laughs) Long night! (laughs) Yes, all
right. Bye! (several responding)
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