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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-11-23 TranscriptionPage 1 Council Present: Bergus, Mims, Teague, Taylor, Thomas, Weiner Council Absent: Salih Staff Present: Fruin, Monroe, Kilburg, Dilkes, Fruehling Others Present: (Delegates) Senator Joe Bolkcom, Senator Kevin Kinney, Representative Mary Mascher, Representative Dave Jacoby, Representative elect Christina Bohannan; (Carney & Appleby Associates) Jim Carney, Doug Struyk, Jennifer Dorman Discussion of City Legislative Priorities with State Delegation: Teague/ Good momin', everybody. It is 8:00 A.M. on Monday morning and very excited for this opportunity to talk to, um, our legislative delegates. This is the City of Iowa City's, uh, special works or work session related to our 2021 legislative priorities. And we want to welcome all of our legislative delegates. And I think to get us started, um, because we do see a few new faces that just went through election. I think what we might do is go ahead and have all of our legislative delegates, um, introduce themselves and tell us, uh, what they represent. And we can start with ... um, I think we have five people. Is that what I see? Yes. So we'll start with Representative Mascher. Mascher/ Morning everybody, um, State Representative Mary Mascher, House District 86, which is the southeast side of Iowa City. Um, yay, South Side, uh, and, uh, also the Hills and, uh, University Heights community. So good morning, everybody! Teague/ Good momin'! And then we have Senator Bolkcom. Bolkcom/ Uh, good morning. Thank you, Mayor. Um, Joe Bolkcom, represent basically Iowa City, University Heights, and Hills. Teague/ And then I see, um, newly elected Christina representative (mumbled) Yes, welcome! Bohannan/ Hi, um, I'm representative elect, uh, not quite a (laughs) representative yet. Uh, lookin' forward to takin' office in January, and I represent the north part of Iowa City, essentially kind of from I-80 south, over to where it meets up with Mary's, uh, Mary's district. Teague/ Great. And then we have Representative, uh, Dave Jacoby. Jacoby/ Thank you, Mayor and City Council. Dave Jacoby. I represent Coralville, uh, the western part of Iowa City, and Penn Township. Looking forward to the discussion to see what we're gonna need to do this session. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of November 23, 2020. Page 2 Teague/ All right, and then we have Senator Kevin Kinney. Kinney/ Hi, I'm Kevin Kinney. I, uh, represent, uh, western and southern Johnson County. I don't have any of Iowa City. Uh, I've got the ... well close (mumbled) Lake Ridge and, uh, the fairgrounds, and the ... so like I'm close. Uh, I'then have Washington County and Keokuk County. Teague/ Great, welcome to all of you. Is there any, uh, delegates that I've missed? All right, and then I did wanna acknowledge our lobbyists, uh, that is also on the call today. We have Jim Carney. So if you can wave your hand, Jim Carney. Great! And then our other legislative, uh, lobbyist is Doug Struyk and Jenny Dorman. And I'm not sure if they're ... all right! There we go. Yes. So welcome to each of you. All right. Well, excited to have this opportunity to talk to you all because City Council, the Iowa City City Council, has some legislative priorities, as many of you know, um, and they're... some are pretty bold and, uh, some won't be surprising, but I'm happy to know that our lobbyist is here today and present. Um, I think as we go through this, um, certainly I want to have ... want us to engage in conversation. So what I might do is just go through each topic and then we have our Councilors that are present. Um, I wanna make sure ... I... I do see Councilor Thomas. His video isn't showing. Um, I'm going to have our Councilors just wave their hand because I don't wanna take, um, take for granted that everybody knows all of our Councilors. So, I'm Mayor Bruce Teague. I'm going to have Councilor Taylor wave her hand, and then Councilor, uh, Wiener wave her hand. Councilor Bergust... Bergus, and then Councilor Mims. And then Councilor John Thomas, who video is not showing right now. Um, he is also on the call. Um, are there any other ...um, I don't think we have our Mayor Pro Tem here today. Um, but Zoom is a little interestin', of course, we have to adjust a little bit, um, but we have some legislative priorities. And so the first one is, um, support for climate action initiatives, and, um, I think what I want to do is, uh, just kind of open that up and, um, just have, uh, some of our representatives talk about what their plans are, um, in supporting this. Fruin/ Mayor, would it... would it be helpful if, uh, I gave just a quick overview of the sections as we went ... went through, just in case folks don't have that document in front of `em and for the public that may be listening? Teague / Yes, yes. And if they didn't have the document, sorry about that. We, uh, try to email it to everybody. Fruin/ That's okay. I... I think everybody has it in email, but they might not have it, uh, right in front of `em this morning. Um, good morning, everybody. Uh, my name is Geoff Fruin. I'm the City Manager here in, uh, Iowa City. The, uh, City Council declared a... a climate crisis, uh, last year and we have a climate plan that we're working diligently on, uh, here in Iowa City. We're asking for a few things, uh, for your consideration. Um, one would be, uh, a push for the State to create its own Climate Action, uh, Plan. We think that's imperative, um, to... to get some leadership on the State level on that topic and allow various programs to filter down to cities. Um, while this doesn't require legislative, um, efforts, um, we do also encourage the State to adopt the 2021 International Energy Code, which we feel would go a long way to ensuring, uh, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of November 23, 2020. Page 3 that our buildings are following the ... the best, uh, practices, uh, that are out there. So any assistance that you could offer in ... in working, um, with, uh, the State to adopt that would be fantastic. And then the last item is ... is that, uh, un ... unlike other building codes, uh, currently the City does not have the ability to make local amendments to the energy code. And, uh, we would like to see that authority going forward, so that if we wanted to be a little bit more aggressive in some areas with our building standards that we would have that flexibility to do so. Again, we ... we do have that flexibility with other building codes, but that does not exist with the energy code. Jacoby/ Thank you for the walk-through, Geoff. I think the ... the key point for me is allowing cities, local governments the ability to make those amendments. And as we know ,we've had a history in the legislature, uh, saying we support local government and then maybe not necessarily do so. Sol...that... that's a key to me and I will bring that up on every front. Uh, it...it...whether the State adopts the plan or not, I think it's real important that we allow cities, counties, local entities the ability to make those amendments, if it helps our community. Bolkcom/ Um, this is Senator Bolkcom. Um, last week we had a tour led by the Johnson County Energy District of...really important projects going on in Iowa City, and one of the things we talked about was the energy code and the need for the State to update it and also the need to give local communities more ... more flexibility or basically more authority to have a stronger code if they want one, and so I think we should ... we should push for that. The last time the State, uh, put together a climate plan was back in 2008 and 2009. Uh, it was a plan that recommended about 56 different action items. I think if you were to go back and look at how we've done, you could find maybe three or four of those 56, uh,items moved forward. So, we really have a lot of work to do in this area. Um, one of the ... one of the policy issues this session that's also of interest to folks is, uh, with the federal solar tax credits expiring at the end of next calendar year. The State has a small $5 million solar credit that either needs to be decoupled from the federal, uh... uh, credit or...so that ... that's an issue, and then there's interest to see if we can boost. It's been phenomenally successful in, uh, putting renewable energy projects on the ground, but it's been a really important employment and, uh, economic development tool, which is (mumbled) actually affected, um, all 99 counties. I think in the big picture on this, we have a Republican legislature who's shown very little interest in doing anything on this issue. Uh, the good news is that I think the Biden administration will be aggressive here, and its my hope that whatever kind of infrastructure plan comes forward that it's a green infrastructure plan that allows us to ... states and localities to ... to improve our investments in ... in energy efficiency and in renewables. Mascher/ I was just gonna comment that, um, many of us have worked on the bottle bill and expanding it, uh, for many years and have looked at that as something that should be on the agenda and something that we should be able to get bipartisan support for. There have been a number of proposals out there, everything from increasing the bottle, you know, the deposit and including more, uh, varieties of cans and ... and bottles. Obviously there's a lot that still go into the, uh, waste stream that could be, uh, put into the bottle bill if we would take the initiative to do so. There has been some movement in terms of, uh, the drop boxes and some of you are familiar This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of November 23, 2020. Page 4 with that and are aware that, um, this has been done in some other states where they have locations in local areas where people can bring their bottles and cans back to that wouldn't include the stores, that wouldn't necessarily be brought back into the actual, um, supermarket or marketplace where you bought them, but there would be availability for getting those deposits put into the drop boxes and then there's a variety of ways to get your dollars back from that. And I know that, uh, those initiatives have been shared with us and we've been up to the Can Shed in Cedar Rapids, where a lot of our cans and bottles go, but right now, um, only about 60% of our cans and bottles are being recycled because, um, we have not upgraded that whole system. So to me, that is something that, uh, we need the partnership with the distributors, the grocery stores, the citizens, and just to educate people about that. I know more people are putting those cans and bottles just into their recycling bins, as opposed to taking `em back to the stores, because, um, again, we haven't done what we needed to do to upgrade... update that. So that's an area that, um, a number of us have worked on and will continue to take a look at. Um, we were getting some traction last year and then, as you all know, everything shut down in March, and then when we came back in June, no one was willing to take it back up again. So we're hoping to work with some of the same legislators who were interested in doing that. We need the penny, um, increased to be able to make it profitable for those who are taking those cans and bottles back. Uh, there has been some interest in moving from five to 10 cents in terms of the actual deposit you pay. So those are all discussions that I think'il be on the table and, uh, your help and input would be appreciated. Bohannan/ This is Christina Bohannan. Um, I just wanted to add a little bit. I ... I totally agree with Joe about the, uh, solar tax credit. Uh, that's a priority for me, personally, um, and it's something that, um, that I wanna work on. I think, um, you know, right now there is a huge waiting list for people who want, uh, to invest in solar energy and wanna get that tax credit. It's capped right now at $5 million, as Joe said, um, and that's just ... that's a really small amount, uh, when you look at our overall budget and ... and how we might invest, uh, in the kinds of state that we wanna see and ... and the kinds of energy we wanna see. So, you know, I'm really hoping ... and it's also an area where we might get some bipartisan support. Uh, it was, uh, there was a time when they were thinking about phasing that out and actually the pork producers teamed up with the, um, with the solar energy folks and and, um, and ... and saved it. And so, um, you know, because... because a lot of pork producers use solar energy, uh, in their, um, on their farms and so, um, that says something that ... that I think maybe there... there's some hope for. Uh, I agree, um, that, you know, the election did not go the way we hoped. And I know a lot of people in Iowa City worked really, really hard to elect people who care about climate change and wanna see action on that. And unfortunately that's not what happened. So, uh, we will, uh, do the best we can to get, uh, to get some of this, uh, stuff done. Teague/ Great! Great, great, great! Thanks. Uh, as ... as you all know, uh, the City of Iowa City has been a fore ... have been on the forefront of trying to make some climate action changes, and so anything that you all can do this legislative session would be very much appreciated. Um (both talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of November 23, 2020. Page 5 Mascher/ Bruce, can you tell us a little bit about, I know you've been using, um, solar on some of your newer buildings and obviously geothermal has been a part of your, uh, construction plan for quite some time. Where are we on that and what is being done locally? Teague/ (mumbled) Go right ahead, Geoff. Frain/ Sorry, Mayor, I didn't... didn't mean to cut you off. Teague/ No, go right ahead! Frain/ Mary, the Council created a Climate Action Commission, which is now a standing, uh, commission for the City. Uh, that ... that group is charged with, um, overseeing our ...our local efforts. Um, we have, uh, created a Division of Climate Action within the City Manager's office and now we have, uh, dedicated staff. Uh, currently it's a ... it's a team of two. We're authorized to add a third person, uh, as well. So we'll have folks dedicated to that effort, and really we're lookin' at things, um, all across the spectrum. We are, uh, doing what we can when we're building, uh, a public facilities to ... to make sure we're building energy efficient buildings. Our Public Works building, uh, new Public Works building on, uh, Gilbert Street, has won some energy design awards this year for, um, for leadership there. Um, we're also trying to incentivize the best we can private development. Again, we can't ... we can't manipulate the energy code to require higher levels, but we can incentivize and we've done that on several projects. Uh, beyond that, um, I'd say, uh, much of our focus has been on transportation, improving bicycling infrastructure. Um, Council's really looking hard at our transit system right now and really trying to make investments to ... to bolster ridership, uh, on transit. And then we've had some really good success with ... out, uh, with our waste diversion efforts, and it was encouraging to hear the conversation on the ... on the bottle bill. Um, our ...our team, uh, at the Landfill, um, has been workin' really hard to ... to boost our recycling programs. We now have curbside compost that has been wildly, uh, successful. Um, we're seein' our yard waste numbers go up too, and that's just allowing us to ... to divert, uh, from the landfill and create compost for the community. So, uh, there's probably about 30 to 40 different steps that we've taken so far, but, uh, those are ... those are some of the highlights. Bolkcom/ Before we leave this one, um, just a couple comments. Um, really congratulations to Iowa City and the Council for their leadership in the ... in the climate area. You... you've been doing a fantastic job across all those areas that Geoff mentioned. I think they...two action items I come away with on this is the, uh, bill draft on adoption of the 2021 energy code at the ... at the State level and giving local governments more authority to go further on energy efficiency and energy code, uh, enforcement. Teague/ Great. All right, movin' on to the next item. Um, support for reform measures to reduce racial disparity in criminal justice systems and address systemic racism. As we know, um, there's an over representation of, um, people of color, um, in the criminal justice system. Um, some of the things that the Council would like to see, um, is definitely a, um, decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana. Um, we know that the Governor has a focus committee and we do This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of November 23, 2020. Page 6 support the recommendations issued there on the criminal justice reform to promote, um, unbiased policin', which include requirin' and automating data collection on race, ethnicity from traffic, and adoptin' a ... a statutory ban on disparate treatment in law enforcement activities. Um, we also, um, would request that the State really consider doin' a community review board, um, statewide and correspondin' legislative priorities, to ensure these bodies have adequate oversight powers. So those are just a few of the things. I know there are some other things that I might have, um, and Rachel, I know that you're here as well. She's the Assistant to the City Manager. So please feel free to chime in as well. Fruin/ Mayor, if I may just expand on one of those items really briefly, um, and that is the, uh, Community Police Review Board. Um, Iowa City's had a ... a Community Police Review Board since 1997. Um, in recent year ...in recent years, uh, University Heights has added one as well. Um, I think the City of Coralville, um, is, uh, just about to, uh, move in that direction, and we see Cedar Rapids and other communities across the state doing this. As ... as we're seein' CPRBs kind of proliferate throughout the, um, throughout the state, I think every city is going through this struggle of what are... what are the State laws that restrict the various authorities that these ... these boards can have, and, um, I think it would be really helpful, um, perhaps as a ... as a study item for the State to ... to do a comprehensive review of community police review boards and analyze the ... the typical powers that they have across the ... across the country and compare those to ... to current laws that we have in place, that... that... that may be restricted, or overly restricted. I know for Iowa City, there's been a long conversation over a decade or more about expanding the powers, but we frankly don't have the ability to expand those powers. So, um, we don't have specific recommendations on ... on how to do that yet, but with so many cities going in this direction, I think it would be really prudent for that ... the State to do a ... a comprehensive review and ... and hopefully from that develop some recommendations on, um, either legislative changes that are needed or...or steps communities can take to create an effective CPRB. Mascher/Geoff, did you have specific recommendations on what the local, uh, control issues would be and what they are seeking? Fruin/ (mumbled) we're in the process of that, uh, now, Mary. Actually the CPRB has been asked by the City Council to ... to kind of develop, um, that list and ... and from there we're gonna go through and ... and see what's possible, based on the current framework, and, uh, what ... what law changes would be needed, uh, to expand those powers. So, um, I expect we'll probably have that list, uh, in the next 30 days and then, um, maybe ... maybe come January, early February, we'll have a pretty good idea of what we might be looking at there. Mascher/ And then, Geoff, are they working on that with your top 10 cities in the state, the ... your group that meets to deal with governmental issues for all of `em. It just helps if there's a unified voice on that, as opposed to, you know, every city having their own list. And so I didn't know if that was part of the legislative agenda for those large cities or not. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of November 23, 2020. Page 7 Fruin/ Yeah, it's ... it's really not this year, Mary, but ... but several of those cities are... are considering the CPRB right now. So I ... I think, uh, it's probably gonna become, uh, an issue that, um, has a little bit more focus, uh, in ... in 2022, as cities kind of work through this process right now. I think for 2021, um, it's ... it's probably gonna be hard to get, uh, get all the cities together on this, just because it's ... it's so new for so many cities, um, and they're... the... the conversations are still ongoing in those communities. So that's why I was thinking some type of...of statewide study committee, um, might kind of tee things up for the following legislative year and in ... again, 2022. Teague/ All right. Jacoby/ Yep. Is it possible to share, uh, what cities you do know are working on this too, or is that... not yet, uh, progressed far enough for other cities to get involved? Fruin/ Yeah, right now I just know, uh, Coralville and, uh, Cedar Rapids, and that's just because of what I've, you know, been able to pick up in the ... in the media. Um, I'm not sure where... where other, um, cities stand right now, um, but my guess is you're gonna... you're gonna start to see at...at least a handful of these pop up, especially as more cities do it. As you get Cedar Rapids, as Coralville, U Heights, Iowa City, um, cities become a little bit more comfortable takin' these steps when they see other cities take `em. So I ... I think you're just gonna continue to see that number go up. Kinney/ Geoff, I'm interested to see if Doug or, uh, Jim have had any of these types of conversations, uh, with any of the Republican leadership, uh, because I ... I can see this really going nowhere this year. Carney/ I personally have not had any conversations, um, yet... about... about these issues. Doug, I don't know, have you? Struyk/ (mumbled) ...have had some cursory conversations on ... on, you know, sentencing reform, the... the decriminalization of marijuana, and... and also on ... on the citizen review boards, um, specifically on citizen review boards, if that's your question, Senator. Um, there was a little reluctance to go ... there's reluctance to go too far, um, and ... and basically turn it into a ... a hiring and firing board, but there's interest in ... in looking at it. Uh, can't say that that's definitive on ... on we're going to be ... we're gonna be taking something up, but it is, uh, there ... there is interest in reviewing it. Kinney/ We've had some ... some conversations with ... with the ... the Republican leadership and ours are... also people on the Judiciary Committee about some of these, and I just ... I ... I would like to think that they would talk about them or discuss them, but I ... I just can't see them taking any action on any... Carney/ We have had conversations with Brad Zaun about decriminalizing, you know, small amounts of marijuana. Um, you know, that ... I don't know if you were involved in that, Doug, or not. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of November 23, 2020. Page 8 Struyk/ No, and we're meetin' with him again tomorrow, but he's filed bills in the past to lower the ... lower the penalty. Dorman/ The profiling issue is something I think that they... there's more interest Struyk/ Right and ... Jenny's speaking. She says the profiling (mumbled) profiling aspect is something that there's a lot more interest in. Camey/ We are meeting with Brad tomorrow and we can certainly address these issues and bring `em up again. Bolkcom/ I think the, uh, you know, it's ... it sounds like from Senator Kinney's comments where we're gonna revert to basically normal behavior in the Iowa General Assembly on these issues. I mean, it took the murder of George Floyd for us to pass some very basic kind of restraints on the use of force and in (mumbled) police officers the ... the idea that we shouldn't hire bad apples, uh, that had trouble, you know, officers that were... had... had issues in other places. So, you know, we did that. You know, I'm ... I'm hopeful that the Governor's task force on criminal justice reform, which is gonna snake some recommendations, will be at least a vehicle to talk about, uh, these racial disparities, uh, in the criminal justice system. Uh, racial profiling is one of the issues that they're going to kick out. I don't ... I don't know if it's racial profiling where it's a meaningful racial profiling effort, where we actually collect data on the actions of individual officers, so that the police chief or the sheriff has some management tool, if they have an officer or two on a force that, uh, predominantly, you know, uh, is interested in black Iowans, all right. So I hope we can get that going. On the ... on the issue of decriminalization, in the past I think the bill we passed was we were gonna de ... decriminalize essentially enough marijuana that you would find in a joint. Right, five grams or so. And ... and I think that's an important step. We have some of the most harsh marijuana penalties in the country, uh, and they're really expensive to ... to enforce, they're... we had five ... more than 5,000 marijuana possession convictions last year in Iowa. 5,000 ... that's an enormous waste of money. Um, so I think there will be ... whether Brad, you know, we obviously need to get the chairpeople of these committees. Senator Kinney's the ranking member on Judiciary in the Senate, and has done a good job pushing these issues along, but it would be great to see a ... a decriminalization bill. There will be a bill to end marijuana prohibition put forward and ... and the creation of social equity investments in ... in ... in disenfranchised communities regarding the enforcement of these marijuana laws, and we'd be happy to have any language on police citizen review, uh, in terms of trying to ... trying to use the Governor's energy around this. If there is a bill. I assume there's gonna be something... that we could try and see if there's a way to hook some of these other ideas into it. Teague/ We also want the legislators to be aware of disparities when it comes down to mental health care, um, when we're talkin' about, um, interactions with law enforcement, and so, um, we would like for the State to really consider, uh, lookin' at mental health and intervention programs that will help decrease hospitalization or jailing, um, as well. So that's also a priority This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of November 23, 2020. Page 9 that we want, uh, considered as well. I'm gonna go to the next item, which is to ensure (both talking) Mascher/ Bruce ... Bruce, before we leave that, um, you might wanna mention our new access center and what that's going to contribute too, because that's been a lot of work at the local level, both with our City Council and our County Supervisors and all of those law enforcement entities who have worked on that for the last ... boy do I wanna say at least five years, I know, if maybe not longer, but that's an effort. And I think right now there's no State funding that goes to those entities, and that's something that we should also be looking at, because those kinds of jail diversion programs are going to make a big difference in terms of who actually goes into the prison system and what we can do to keep people out of that. So you might wanna mention that. Yeah (both talking) Teague/ Yeah, thanks for mentionin' that and I know that Councilor Mims has been, uh, the City Council representative with the access center. So I might just offer opportunity for Councilor Mims. Mims/ Thanks. Yeah, um, and I certainly haven't been involved in it from the very beginning. Um, it started out with a lot of our providers of services, um, and people from the County, I think, that really got things started. When Jessica Peckover was with the County, she was in the jail diversion program, and that really kind of kicked things off with a visit to San Antonio and what they were doing down there, and it's kind of, you know, gone from there, but in a nutshell what it will be is a pla... it'll be for services for adults only, not children. Um, so 18 or over, and either the police can drop people off, a person can walk in themselves, a family member can bring somebody in, and it's for, uh, somebody who is ... is not in need of, um, emergency medical care ... so much as like physical, major physical injuries, um, and who is not needing to go to jail. In other words, they are compliant, um, are not seen to be a danger to other people, but having kind of an immediate, um, mental health crisis. So they have, um, observation. They have .... and I don't remember all the terms. I'm not in the medical profession (laughs) Um, so they... anything from sobering to less than 24 hour stay, to up to I think it's 72 hour, maybe it's five days, um, and so we've got Abby Mental Health is involved. We have a lot of the local providers. Um, and I'm (mumbled) Mecca comes to mind and they changed their name years ago (laughs) So, you know, so we've got a lot of local providers, and the goal here is to keep so many of these people that are ending up in the emergency room or in the jail out of there, and getting them the immediate help they need for that mental health crisis, but then a key part of that is what the providers call, um, a warm hand-off, making sure that we do everything we can to get them connected to the services in the community, uh, for ongoing help and assistance. So really excited to get that opened up in January. Um, you know, Iowa City and the County and the other municipalities have chipped in for the capital costs, but the real concern is the ongoing funding. So, as you mentioned, Mary, you know, getting some additional funding from the State., um, or from the various regions that provide that sort of funding is gonna be really important. We just...we just don't know yet, um, how much reimbursement there's going to be from the various insurance companies, um, or from Medicaid. So, that is ... is a definite concern. The one other piece that I would add is that the ... the facility was built large enough that our low This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of November 23, 2020. Page 10 barrier winter shelter will have space in there as well. So really excited to see that get going. If you're down on the south side, it's on Southgate Avenue, um, on the north side of Southgate Avenue. You can't miss it: big, long building, and, uh, they're getting things wrapped up ready to open hopefully in January. Teague /Great. Bohannan/ (both talking) If I could, I just wanted to add a couple things on that. That's great, Susan. I've been hearing a little bit about that but I hadn't heard the full thing. So that's... that's wonderful to hear. Um, so just a couple things on racial criminal justice I ... that I have been working on. I have to think about whether, uh, you know, any of these makes sense now with, uh, you know, that we're not gonna be in the majority, but, um, just a couple things. One is, um, reducing or eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for some offenses. Uh, you know, that's... that's really a problem, uh, for ...for a lot of people. You know, we end up with a lot of people in jail who really don't need to be in jail or for longer than they need to be, um, and again, with those, uh, racial disparities, that ... that's a ... that's a huge issue. Um, the other thing is is a compassionate release, uh, statute for, uh, people to get out of prison when they're, uh, essentially terminally ill. Iowa's the only state in the country that does not have one. Even the federal government has adopted, uh, that now, and so that's something that I've been looking at. And then the other thing is, um, potentially, and I think this is the hardest one, um, is a lifer review, uh, bill. So I've been talkin' to some activist groups about, um, about a bill that would provide review for people who have been sentenced to life, uh, provide review at 25 years for people who have had really good behavior, um, and are no longer a threat to anyone, and to have a, you know, to have a meaningful chance for review at the 25 -year, uh, mark. So, um, I think that, you know, in the age of COVID, with so many people in jail, and now, uh, getting, um, seems huge numbers of people now who were getting COVID while in jail, and this was not part of their sentence. Uh, they ..they did something. They... they're in jail. They're... they're serving their sentence, but ... but, uh, potential for dying from COVID was not ... was not part of their sentence. Um, and ... and so, you know, I'm hopeful that, you know, we'll start to rethink a little bit about, uh, about who's in jail and how long they need to be there and ... and so on, um, after ...after all of this. So those are just a few things that I've been working on. Again, I don't ... I have to think a little more now. Um, I was hopeful that we would be the majority and there might be a little more opportunity to do some of these kinds of things, but ... but those are just some thoughts as well. Teague/ Great. All right. When we're talkin' about public infrastructure facilities and fiscal reserves, um, I'm gonna actually have our staff kind of lead us through this one, but this will be, uh, we want to ensure continue fundin' of commercial and industrial property tax replacement payments, and I'll probably have Geoff take us through that and you can also take us through REAP, as well. Fruin/ Okay. Thank you, Mayor. Well, um, conversation on the backfill probably isn't, uh, isn't a surprise to ... to our delegation. I just wanna remind you all that the, uh, 2013 property tax reform is still being implemented. Um, and actually the ... the toughest year, uh, is still ahead of This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of November 23, 2020. Page I I us and that's in fiscal year 24, when we're going to see that multi -residential rate match up with the residential rate, and we could, uh, we could see a pretty significant challenge in that year, depending on where that residential rate rests. Um, so what's happened is every few year, uh, every year, that multi -residential rate has dropped 3 to 4%, and so that's another 500,000, $600,000 off of our ...off of our tax, uh, income every year, but that last year, the reform, we could see that instead of a 3 to 4% drop, it's ... it's possible that we could see a 6 to 7 to 8% drop, which would be really challenging to ... to budget for in that year. So that, um, that backfill remains ever so critical, uh... urn, and, uh, for us, uh, just to put some ... some comparative metrics around it, it's ... it's the equivalent of station ... of, um, operating one fire station. Uh, when you look at the number of firefighters it takes to offer a 24/7 station and then the supplies and... and equipment that they need to do their job, without that backfill it would be the equivalent of us just taking one of those fire stations off our books. Um, we operate four fire stations now. Um, we would like to get to five in the next decade. We've been buying some property to be able to do that, um, but that staffing challenge is real. So, um, we ... we certainly urge you to keep that backfill in the forefront of your mind and ... and make sure that, uh... um, that remains, um, in the queue to be provided to cities. And then on the ... on the REAP side of things, I think all of you are familiar with the REAP program. The City has benefited tremendously from the REAP program in recent years. Uh, Hickory Hill Park, Terry Trueblood Recreation Area, and just this year, uh, we received a REAP grant for Whispering Meadows, um, which is a wetland area on the southeast side of Iowa City. Um, as we kind of amp up our climate action efforts, this, uh, this program has really proven to be, um, a ... a great benefit for ...for us and I know other cities feel the same way. So this is just one example of...of where the State can show leadership in climate action, because that's exactly what REAP delivers on is, uh, localized climate action progress. So, uh, we'd ask, uh, that ... that you, uh, keep that important program, um, in mind as you're... as you're involved in ... in budget allocation decisions. Jacoby/ Well, thank you for that information and, uh, how it affects Iowa City, especially with the apartments, the, uh, residential, non-residential, and the 2013 tax bill, uh, and thank you to the setup for negotiating the backfill piece. Uh, it's still in my recollection maybe the worst tax bill in the history of Iowa and the setup was successful in getting the backfill portion on there to help protect cities and counties. Uh, it's gonna depend a little bit on, uh, REC, revenue estimating conference, meeting here, I believe, on December 11th to see where our numbers are right now, as far as the funding streams for the State of Iowa. I think, and it's my belief, there'll be another run at eliminating the backfill this year. I think it's gonna be an annual event and it'll be on ... eliminating the backfill as a whole,but second, also maybe eliminating backfill for what is perceived by some rural Iowans, uh, as over -helping some of our successful urban areas. So I think we're gonna have to keep an eye on that. Again, I think the REC revenue esti ... (garbled) coming up will be very important. It's been painted as a rosy picture with our budget so far. Frankly, I don't see how it can be in the time of the pandemic. Uh, the State budget is dependent heavily on two items: state income tax and sales tax, and corporate income tax is a distant third, and I ... I know that we're remaining (clears throat) excuse me, keeping doors open for businesses, but I cannot believe that our funding streams are going to be that strong for the next two years. So it'll be helpful to have Iowa City keep us up to date, and also, you've got This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of November 23, 2020. Page 12 three good people in Des Moines who are on the Zoom today that stay on top of this to make sure that that backfill does happen. Bolkcom/ Yeah, just ... just to add on to Representative Jacoby and... and for people on the call. Some of us have been around a while. Representative Mascher and Jacoby and I all voted no on the 2013 historic property tax bill, um, a bill that just keeps on giving, unfortunately. Um, I think we need to be vigilant on the backfill, you know, we ... it's obviously every session we worry that it's gonna go away. Uh, and we need to be vigilant. Uh, I think the ... the big ... the big tax policy question I think this ... this session that's gonna impact a lot of things is potentially the Governor's Invest in Iowa tax shift plan. Essentially it...it raises a whole bunch of money, uh, by raising the sales tax 1 %, but it also cuts income tax by amount greater than the amount of money that's gonna be raised by the sales tax. So it's essentially this ... this big tax shift. In Iowa, our income tax is moderately progressive ,in that people that make more pay more for State services. This is going to shift it to a very regressive tax scheme where it's gonna impact, uh, you know, working people more who are gonna dig deeper to pay for basic, uh, basic things they buy, and so when you think about if...if there's gonna be no new State revenue coming in as a result of this tax shift, we're gonna assume about $180 million worth of spending for environmental programs, and one thing that's in it. We just talked about mental health. It also reduces local levies by about $80 million, very stable money that has been used to fund our mental health system would be supplanted by State revenues. Well, if the State is giving up more revenue than it's taking in through this tax shift, it's gonna be really, really hard for the State to assume $80 million worth of ongoing mental health funding. So, it...I... I encourage folks to pay attention to this. It's... as it's written now it's ... it's gonna really undermine our mental health system, and it's gonna put a strain on just about everything we do, if we assume basically $260 million worth of new spending with the IWILL, or the environmental spending, plus mental health, uh, with essentially no new State revenue. Struyk/ Mayor, this is Doug Struyk. A couple... couple things to add to what Senator Bolkcom and Representative Jacoby stated. Um, yes, definitely backfill will be on the burners to consider this year, uh, whether it's phased out. Uh, three or four years ago they had a proposal that would have treated us ... cities that were growing faster than cities that were ... other cities, uh, would actually have taken more of a hit. We're ... we're gonna be on the lookout for those obviously and ... and there'll be a lot of pressure on it because of the budget, depending on where the REC comes in. A couple things we wanted to make sure our legislators know about and... and Geoff and his team definitely know about `em. Last year the Department of Revenue's omnibus bill, which ... which parts of it were incorporated into the omnibus tax bill, but not all of it. There were two provisions in there, uh, that we want to refresh your rec... recollection on here. Um, the first one dealt with the business property tax credit, which was also part of the property tax bill in 2013. Uh, Department of Revenue, um, wants to streamline the paperwork that's part of that application process. In fact they want to do away with the application process and simply apply that, uh, apply that level across the board to all commercial and industrial property. Uh, the issue that comes up, uh, why we would be concerned with that is the mechanism that they use, uh, basically creates a second backfill, and if the State chooses not to fund that anymore, I ... it adds another $132 million, uh, to funding This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of November 23, 2020. Page 13 that's in jeopardy, depending on how the State chooses to fund it. So it would basically double the backfill. Revenue has said that was simply a placeholder, uh, provision that they want to come up with a better way of doing it; uh, however, that language was in there and it gave us concern. Uh, an idea on a better way to address that would be akin to the homestead tax credit, where if the State doesn't fund it fully, then the credit is reduced, not the amount of money that goes to local governments. The second piece, and this is a follow up to what Geoff said on multi -family residential, uh, there's some difficulty with multi -family residential properties in ... in rural counties being able to do proper equalization orders. The language in the bill last year, again, that was not passed, uh, but from the Department of Revenue, would have immediately rolled all multi -family residential property into the residential classification, and it would have done that, uh, one, that would have immediately taken it down to the residential level. So it would have taken it for paying on 72% valuation down to 56% valuation. That would have been, for Iowa City ...I don't know, Geoff, 5, $6 million get, uh, by flipping a switch. Um, we ... we agree that you gotta have a proper equalization order, but, uh, phasing that in immediately, uh, did not work. So we anticipate those two issues coming up again and, uh, look forward to workin' with you to make sure that we actually have a mechanism that doesn't... doesn't, uh, doesn't take a huge hit out of our budgets. Teague/ Thank you. So, uh, the next one that, um, we're... we're... a part of our legislative priorities is protecting Home Rule authority for local governments. Of course, this is something that, um, we've been fighting (mumbled) been mentioned already here, um, throughout this call, um, and this ... this local control does include flexibility in local buildin' codes, revenue options, and land use decisions, and the preservation of cities authority to restrict housing discrimination based on source of income. And so it's, at least for Iowa City, we believe that, um, we know what our residents want and having that local control will just really help, um, in doin' some of the aggressive things that we need to do here locally. The next one we have is support for University of Iowa Student Government, um, and ... and their proposal was a rental property move -in checklist, and this was actually introduced in Senate File 2216, um, and Iowa City did support this, uh, proposal, and this will require landlords to provide and use an inventory checklist at the start and end of a tenancy and include a process for implementation. So one of the concerns with ... with, um, some of the tenants is there's unfair withholding of their rental deposits, and so this is somethin' that we are promoting as well. The next one we're promoting is support for legislation protecting the rights of manufactured housing residents, and I know that many people on this call have been a part of this. Um, I know, um, Representative Mascher specifically has been very vocal about this and this one is really related to, um, rent protections, including a statewide cap on frequency and percentage of increases, and lengthen notice periods of proposed increases. (coughs) Sorry about that! Um, uniform good -cause eviction statewide standards, fare -free, um, regulations, including standardized time frames for assessin' late fees, and fair lease provisions, and effective enforcement mechanisms, to combat illegal provisions. Um, this, um, we also want, um, whenever a manufactured housin' is put up for sale, that residents have the right to first refusal, um, to purchase the property, um, and be protected from premature eviction, durin' pursuit of local ownership. Um, so those are a few of the things that we are, uh, talking about on this item. I know that, um, this has been introduced and it's in House File 2351, um, and it address many of these that I mentioned already. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of November 23, 2020. Page 14 Mascher/ Bruce, I was just gonna mention that the whole delegation has really been on the front line on this, and obviously all of us have mobile home parks in our areas, and this has been an agen... agenda item that Zach Wahls really and truly had been working on, um, a year ago, not last session but the year before, and we thought we'd had a compromise and then that got blown up at the very end, but, um, this is somethin' Joe and Dave and, um, I know that, uh, Vicki and Zach and Amy have all been working on. So I just wanted to make sure and Kevin too, because Kevin's got areas over in the rural area that are affected by this, especially in the Clear Creek, um, area, but I ... I just want ya to know that we will continue to push on this. There's, um, a very strong lobby and ... and Doug's still on the call. He can vouch for this as well, with the mobile home industry and those folks that own those mobile homes, um, contribute a great deal to make sure that they're protected at the expense of the citizens, and that's what we've been up against is trying to get some reasonable, uh, provisions in the law to protect those folks who live there, because right now they're being exploited and taken advantage of, and the increases are absolutely atrocious. And it just seems that there has been no reg ... (garbled) at all and it's something that we definitely need to get a handle on, but, um, we ... we have people in all parts of the state who are affected by it and yet we haven't been able to get something through. I know with the shortened session last year, it really clamped down on anything that we could get in terms of moving forward, but it is certainly a high agenda item for many of us, and will continue to be so. So thanks. Teague/ Uh huh. Mascher/ Joe, Dave, I don't know if you wanna mention or say anything. Kevin. Bolkcom/ Well ... well with the new session, um, you know, the bills have been introduced (coughs) that we've had some ... some interest in. (mumbled) have to be reintroduced in January. We need to ... we need to figure out which ... which vehicle there ... there is available to us and ... and get that introduced in both the House and Senate, so we can get ... get some attention to it. Kinney/ I spoke with Zach about this ... issue the other day, and I was telling him we need to break it down further. We need to just go after smaller parts of it, um, through amendments and ... and so forth. Uh, kind of look at it as a different strategy, and I think and ... because, uh, two years ago I thought we had an agreement, uh, and it, uh, like Mary said, it blew up and, uh, it was kind of funny last year when we were workin' with the different groups. It seemed like Joe Kelly had, uh, a lot of influence about what was going on. Teague/ Well, we'll appreciate any type ... oh, go right ahead! Bohannan/ Oh, sorry. I was just gonna say since I haven't, uh, had the opportunity to work on these things before, I know everybody else has. But I just wanted to say I'm ... I'm very, very supportive of this. Um, I've actually lived in a ... in a trailer park like this, uh, where, you know, I owned ... my parent ... my family bought me a trailer when I was in college and I lived on somebody else's lot and you know, the ... the rent could just be increased, uh, by a lot, uh, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of November 23, 2020. Page 15 with ... with hardly any notice, and it puts people in a very bad, uh, very bad position, and so, um, so I ... I'm fully supportive of this and ... and I really hope that we can bring it up, but you know it's... Kevin, um, his ... his suggestion about breaking it up, I think, is intriguing. I think maybe we could see if we can make some progress that way. But, um, yeah, I'd love to ... love to work on this. Kinney/ You know, this has been going on for years. Um, I first got involved with this at the Sheriffs Office down with the Iowa City Regency Trailer Court and, uh, how they were coming in and fore- closing and... and so forth on trailers, and, uh, we're ... we're dealing with same ... some of the same issues we were from, oh, eight, nine years ago when we were ... when we were having problems at the Regency, uh, and, uh, there again it's an out of state company from Colorado that owns that and, uh, they do some very... practices that are not ... to me not ethical. Teague/ Well, I know that the residents and, uh, definitely this Council appreciates any work that you do on this. It is definitely, uh, become a challenge within our community and we need some help, um, from our legislators to make some changes here. All right, um, the next thing that we are, um, one of our legislative priorities is really to suggest to the State to look at promoting equitable access and affordability of high speed broadband internet, includin' sustainable investments in cities critical technology infrastructure. So one of the things that, um, our city, um, has kind of looked at internet access as bein' a basic need. Um, as we know, everybody, uh, we're on internet now, right? Um, the schools during COVID-19, um, whether a hybrid and now locally the Johnson County schools aren't in school session anymore. So they're relyin' on internet, uh, services and so, uh, we really want the State to take some measures which will expand that high speed affordability broadband, um, and ci... and cities specifically low and moderate -income Iowans in urban neighborhoods. Also, we would like for the State to consider some incentives for public/private partnerships and ensure reasonable local flexibility in communities, work towards cost-effective universal broad... broadband access. So, um, just wanted to bring it up because I'm not sure how many people are thinking about this, but, um, internet and access is, um, it...it really is a way of life now. Jacoby/ Well I think we're all thinkin' about that, Mayor, especially with the pandemic. Uh, I think on a good note, everyone agrees that we need broadband expansion. Where it really comes apart is who pays for it. And I'm so glad that you brought it up. It's not only our rural areas. We have some broadband, uh, areas that are ... areas that need broadband within cities, in Des Moines and locally too. It's about affordability, and I don't know about you, I just looked at the bill we paid last month. Whoowel You know, it's not cheap, It does cut into the family budget, and if there's anything the pandemic has shown us is how valuable broadband is for education, how valuable broadband is for small business, and, uh, we ... we're ... and also how valuable our public schools are, how valuable it is to have kids in school and have that broadband access for all students. So I think it's gonna be one of the top three things that we're lookin' at this session. And thank you and the Council so much for bringing it up. Frankly, a lot of things that you and the Council have done, uh, I will plagiarize this session for bill drafting and also a reminder too. One of the ... one of the newly elected representatives in the House, workin' on some of these This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of November 23, 2020. Page 16 issues happen to be a former Iowa City Mayor, and so he's very helpful with a lot of the things that we've talked about today. Teague/ Great. Bolkcom/ Yeah, the ... the broadband conversation is typically been around, you know, getting... getting service to people, but as Representative Ja... Jacoby notes, uh, you can have service, but not be able to afford it. It's gotten extremely expensive for just basic intemet for folks, and maybe it's time we start thinking about, uh, the ... the, you know, the importance of (mumbled) universal access right and that we ... we start thinking about cable service and intemet service, like a regulated monopoly. You know, we ... we have electricity, uh, regulated in Iowa as a monopoly. Um, we ... of course you need ... you need electricity basically to live in Iowa, you need water, you need sewer, these kind of services that everybody needs, but maybe it's time to think about municipalization of...of intemet or...or regulating it as a monopoly that it is, and ... and thinking more about affordability as much as we think about just having a line run to your house. Teague/ Mm hmm. Great. All right, the next item, uh, that we're ... have for our priorities is the support for the continued, uh, excellence of the State's primary, secondary, and higher education institutions, and advocate for additional educational funding. So Iowa City does encourage the State to expand access affordability and quality of early childhood education and care. Um, specifically, the City supports increase reimbursement rates for childcare assistance providers to ensure families with parents who wish to enter the workforce can find and afford quality childcare. Um, and the other thing that the City encourages the State to do in relationship to higher education is to carefully consider and support the legislative and financial priorities of the University of Iowa and Kirkwood Community College. Mascher/ Bruce, I can start with, um, just saying that obviously early childhood has been a passion of mine for a long time and it's something that I feel we have been really negligent on as a state in addressing some of the critical needs there. Um, we have had proposals to deal with the (mumbled) which has affected a lot of our low-income families, whose parents actually tum down raises or don't take promotions because they'll lose their childcare. And again, we know that that is just wrong. Um, we have had, uh, legislation and proposals for a number of years to address that. Last year it was in the pipeline. We had passed legislation in the House. Um, because of the shortened session it got shut down and we didn't take it up in the Senate, and, uh, they didn't have the opportunity to vote on that. But there were many proposals in terms of working with businesses, to be able to support those who would have childcare facilities within their businesses, and how to, again, make sure that we, um, allow that workforce to exist. Obviously, if we keep women out of the workforce because of childcare, that creates a problem in terms of who's available to work. And we know there's a worker shortage in Iowa in so many areas. And during this pandemic, women have been disproportionately affected. More women have stayed home and gotten out of the workforce as a result of this pandemic, and again that affects them overall in terms of their ability to earn money and ... for the family, and, um, we've got to address that as well. But in terms of, you know, I've been a big proponent of the local option sales tax and looking at how we can utilize that in our areas, not only for childcare, but This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of November 23, 2020. Page 17 also for food security, for housing security, all of those issues that disproportionately affect our minority communities. I don't like regressive taxes either, but if we utilize it and put it towards the community groups that need it the most, I think it can benefit everyone. And that's where I'd like to hear some kind of an update on where we are with the local option sales tax. It's a source of income for us in terms of a steady source of income. I know there are lots of needs out there and we need to discuss those. Obviously, we need the support of the Supervisors and our City Councils in getting that on, and I know you've had that on your work sessions as a priority item for some time. But I'm just curious if you can update us on where we are with that, and then I just wanted to comment about community colleges, K-12 funding, um, universities. All of that has been a priority for our legislative delegation and we have gone to the wall to try to make sure that we get the best funding possible. That has not always happened, and we have taken hits, especially for higher ed for quite some time. And, uh, those are the kind of things that are on our agenda and I just, uh, wanted you to know that we won't stop. That's too important and we know what a ... what a priority it is for our community. Teague/ I wonder if Geoff or, uh, Councilor Mims can kind of talk about, um, what Representative Mascher just mentioned about, um, just get an update. (both talking) Fruin/ Yeah, local option sales tax is, uh, on the Council's pending work session topic list. It was somethin' identified in the City Council strategic plan as a ... as a needed point of conversation. Uh, certainly no...no decisions have been made and ... and my guess in terms of time frame would be that, uh, as we get into our budget deliberations in January and February, and we look at all the needs and ... and the resources that the Council will hone in on that, uh, on that conversation. Um, locally outside of the ... outside of the City Council, there's... there's growing conversations within the ... the non-profit, um, world and within the ... kind of the economic development world. And we're seein' those two groups kind of come together, um, at the same table to talk about how best to utilize local option sales tax, because those... those initiatives are blurring. What is good for social service now is really good for economic development. That hasn't always been a realization, um, but childcare is economic development, um, and ... and food security is economic development, and so we're seein' kind of a coalescing there. And in ... in ... in my view, that's a real positive thing that can ... that can kind of, uh, make ... make policy decisions easier at the ... at the City Council level. So, Mary, a ... a crystal ball would be, you know, some real discussions in the late winter, early spring, um, about LOST. And if there's a decision to move forward, uh, it would be fall at the ... at the earliest before something could be put before the voters. Um, just a reminder for everybody that a couple years ago, the ... the State Code, um, covering local option sales tax was amended and now 50% of the proceeds need to be dedicated to property tax relief. Um, that was something done when there were some ... some changes made for the Des Moines metro area, that those same changes would apply to us. So, you know, depending on ... on what other communities around us adopt, we could be looking at a local option sales tax revenue stream of anywhere from probably 5 to 10 million. It really can fluctuate that much, depending on who's in and who's out, um, and then you gotta take half of that essentially off the board for ...for property tax relief. So that gives you an idea of the ... the type of revenue stream we're lookin' at. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of November 23, 2020. Page 18 Teague/ All right. Thank you. Kinney/ One of the ... one of the things that Mary was talking about, even outside of Iowa City, because I had, uh (mumbled) rural town hall meetings and kind of the theme of that that I had gotten out of that from Sigourney or Washington, uh, County was the economy and there's not enough early childhood daycares. There's not enough housing. So the problems you're having in Iowa City that is something I see that maybe the the rural and urban, uh, communities could work on together. Uh, because it's ... it's one of the first things that they mentioned in those meetings that I had with the, uh, the people from those communities also. Teague/ All right! The next thing that we want to bring before you all is the, um, this is really related to COVID-19, the pandemic, and, um, we really do encourage the State to continue investin' available CARES Act dollars and other federal funding into local municipalities to support our residents and businesses during this recovery period of COVID-19 pandemic, but we also want to emphasize, um, that cities should have the flexibility and the funding. Um, so directin'...have that flexibility for cities to decide how they utilize the funding. Um, because we could address some of those, um, inequitables that happen locally here, where we see the needs, and so, um, that is somethin' that we're also asking for our delegates to be supportive of. And then lastly is the support for the legislative efforts of the Iowa League of Cities and the Metro Coalition. So we're a part of that organization, or these organizations, and so the priorities that they put forth, we ask that you all, uh, consider supporting them as well. Other than that, that is all of our priorities that we wanted to bring before you today, and if there is any further thoughts or topics, please feel free. Mascher/ Um, I just wanted to give a shout out. Geoff knows ... I've bugged him for I don't know how many years about McCollister opening up and it's open now and I can't tell you how excited... Laura's smiling. I can see her over ...um, it's been long awaited and it is really and truly a well designed road, and if you haven't been on it yet it's worth your trip to even just go and check it out. I've got twin grandsons who are now driving with permits and they absolutely love it. They said, `Grandma, this is the best road in Iowa City.' (laughs) And I said, `I'll make sure and pass it on to the Council at our, uh, City because they'll appreciate hearing that, and it's just so nice, Geoff, that you'll finally be getting Christmas cards from Langenberg Avenue (laughs) They've been taking it out on Geoff for the last, I don't know how many years, Geoff. Ever since they opened up Langenberg, but, um, it's good to have it done and I just wanted to thank everybody. We're so proud of what you have done locally with the Black Lives Matter movement, with all our ...of our environmental issues. Um, you have been leaders and I just want to make sure everybody on this call knows that we appreciate that. We pay attention. I went to a lot of the speak -ups and got a chance to hear from community members. I know, Laura, you've been involved in that. Susan, your work with early childhood and all of the mental health issues. Um, I know Janice has been involved in those things as well. Pauline. I just want to make sure everybody knows that we are paying attention and we do appreciate all the work that you do. Um, I'm excited about our new police chief. Uh, there's so many things that are happening in town right now and within our communities that we should all be really This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of November 23, 2020. Page 19 proud of So I just wanted to give a shout -out to all of you and let you know how much I appreciate you. Thanks! Bohannan/ I, if I could, I just want to reiterate, to just echo what ... what Mary said. You know, I think that, um, especially as sometimes we don't have the leadership in Des Moines that we ... that we want to see with the Governor, with the pandemic response, um, even around, you know, racial policing issues, those kinds of things. Um, you all have really, really stepped up. I mean, it's been incredible how the City Council and the Johnson County Board of Supervisors both, uh, have ... have led during really difficult times and ... and it really has not been easy. I mean, I've ... I ... I saw a lot of it. I witnessed it, um, and you guys have been amazing. And so, uh, hats off to you. Um, and ... and I'm really lookin' forward to workin' with you. This is very exciting for me. Um, I appreciate your ...your recommendations. They ...they resonate so much with my own priorities and I know the priorities of everybody else here as well, and so, uh, thank you so much, and, um, really lookin' forward to workin' with you. Mims/ I would just like to say, Mary and Christine, right back at all of you, because I just wish we could of, you know, gotten you a majority, uh, so you could be a little more successful in trying to get some of the work done that you want to do, and I can only imagine how frustrating it has been for the last few years, um, sitting there in the minority and just feeling like things are stonewalled, and so thank you for your efforts, um, as you continue to support us and all the people of the state in Des Moines. So we really appreciate all your efforts too. Weiner/ So I just wanted to add that I don't know how COVID is gonna play in the ... in the legislature Us year since there are various, apparently various views on it, but, um, one thing that ... that we've been lo ... that we've been able to look at, and I'm hoping will work at a state level too is looking at where the intersection between helping folks because of COVID and some of the other issues come into play, whether that's childcare, whether it's the situation in the prisons with, um, disproportionate number of people of color in prison, and the huge outbreaks in the prison, or funding of cities, because it's not just our city or...that ... that needs ... that needs the (mumbled) other funding. It's virtually every municipality in the state right now in order to keep going. And so I'm hoping that intersection can ... can at least help move the dialogue forward. Bolkcom/ Let me ... let me echo the congratulations and ... and support for the City Council in all the work they've done this summer on Black Lives Matter and ... and certainly the pandemic, and also your staff, Geoff and his team, have just been amazing. Um, I don't know what inning we're in with the pandemic. If we're in the fifth inning yet, but obviously it's gonna ... we still have a lot of work to do in terms of looking ahead at the ... at the coming year with ... with fast vaccine distribution and... and the like, but couldn't be prouder of the work of the City Council this year and looking forward to working together next. Taylor/ Thank you, Senator Bolkcom. I ... I wanna echo everybody else's, uh, comments about appreciating what you all have done too, um, there in Des Moines, and I ... I think I can speak for This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of November 23, 2020. Page 20 others that knowing that we have ... you have our backs and you're supporting us, uh, helps us to do what we can in the city too. Teague/ Well thanks, everybody, for bein' a part today and our ...to our legislative delegates. We really appreciate you being here. We know that January 11 th will be here before we know it. And so we really, um, do wish you all of the energy to work together, not only within our, um, across the aisle and to really figure out how to make... everything work for Iowans, and so thanks to you and thanks to our, uh, lobbyists that have joined us today. We really appreciate the opportunity to engage with you all as well. Other than that, we wish you an awesome and amazin' Monday and we will see you later. Bye. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of November 23, 2020.