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Council Present: Bergus, Mims, Salih, Teague, Taylor, Thomas, Weiner
Staff Present: Fruin, Monroe, Kilburg, Dilkes, Fruehling, Grier, Platz, Bockenstedt, Liston,
Nagle -Gamin, Sovers, Hightshoe
Others Present: Longenecker, Van Heukelom (UISG)
Discussion of the OIR report:
Teague/ Well hello and welcome to the City of Iowa City work session for February 16, 2021. Sorry
we're a little tardy getting started, but we had ... some Zoom issues that we were trying to, uh,
navigate, and now we're good to go! So welcome, Councilors, and ... um, I believe we have
Ryan here from the U ... UISG, so welcome! We wanna start out our discussion on the OIR
report. Um, this was in the packet this time and it was also in the packet last time. I believe it
was the 4a . No, it was the February 11' packet. Um, and so .... want to just dive into that
conversation. This is the report that... really stemmed from the June, uh, event, and so we've
had a little time to, um, review this. There are 39 recommendations, um, here in this report. So
wanted to just open it up for Councilors to start the .... the conversation.
Taylor: Well I'll start then. I appreciated the report and I appreciated the extra time to ... to really go
through it and digest it is, cause as you'd said the 39 recommendations, and I think it was 76
pages long. That's... that's a lot to go through, but I felt it was necessary and important to ... to
read through as much as that, uh, as I could to get through it. Um, OIR stated that they hoped,
uh, that the report would identify issues, uh, and promote concrete, positive changes, as well as
help to rebuild trust in the community. Uh, they sought to describe what happened and tried to
explain why it did, why it happened. Uh, one issue that became very apparent as it was brought
up several times in the report was that, uh, ineffective communication, um, during the
confrontation. Uh, in fact, uh, at one time they described it as "acoustically limited" and, uh,
only with, uh... the warnings, not only with the warnings that were given, which, uh, they also
stated that the extent to which the protester group, as a whole, had heard and understood the
warnings was unclear, but also in the, um, comm... communication among the officers and with
the command post, uh, and even the dispatch of emergency vehicles, which was very
concerning. Uh, and this is something that definitely, I think, warrants, uh, further thought and
planning, uh, and looking into. Uh, I was disappointed to hear that the Iowa State Patrol didn't
cooperate or participate in ... in the report, especially since it was evident that they were
ultimately responsible for making, uh, key decisions. Uh, however, OIR states that, uh, they as
OIR, uh, were commissioned actually by the City of Iowa City, so their primary focus was
indeed on actions by our police department. Uh, we had heard from some individuals that OIR
had not spoken to any, uh, anyone other than the Iowa City Police Department, uh, members,
but reading this report reveals that this .... this isn't true. Uh, they reached out to five
individuals, they said who had, uh, submitted correspondence and complaints to the CPRB, uh,
relating to this, uh, and, uh, five people, only five responded to them, uh, which they talked to at
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length they said. Um, they said this contributed significantly to their report, which is a good
point to make. Another point of concern that they raised was that there was little attempt to
negotiate, and this is another item that needs to be considered, I think, in the near future, uh, and
that is, uh, the availability of a team that is especially trained in negotiations, uh, even more so
than just the crisis, uh, intervention training, uh, to help de-escalate any, uh, further incidents
such as this. Um, but as I've said before, I admire our police force and respect their duty to
serve and protect our community, and I will continue to stand by them and support them.
Teague: Not everybody at once (laughs)
Weiner: Okay, I will go. I thought that one of the things that I ... that I wanted to do was go back and
look at the original scope that .... that was ... the scope of services that was laid out in the
agreement that we signed off on last September. Um, in part because of some comments from
the public, and in part just to refresh my memory, uh, and from going through that today,
it's ... it's clear to me that the ... that report that ... that OIR did was in line with the scope of
services. Um, there were... about nine different things that they were supposed to do, uh, and
they did them all, as far as I could tell. So ... the ... they did say that they wished they could have
been here and reached out to various members of the community, which is normally what they
would do as part of their procedure, but the ... the limitations put on by COVID prevented that.
They had enormous.... almost endless hours of body -worn camera, uh... footage, as well as in -
car footage that was unedited as, uh, news footage, local media reports, as well as the ... people
they talked to within the ICPD, and ... then by email only apparently with UIPD and the Johnson
County Sheriff's Office. Uh, I ... the ... it did strike me that a large number of the
recommendations were communications -based, one way or the other. Either ...the need for
much more robust and, um, and detailed written policy, um, the ability to communicate much
better on a scene, whether that ... whether that had to do with having a ... a command post there or
a, uh, an on-site command post, talking directly to other officers, or in fact trying to get the
word out to the public as to what ... what was happening. Um, and ... I mean communication is
always a challenge. It's something that .... that I know a couple of us have been talking about in
some detail, but I mean I would step back and say that ... there was ... a lot of constructive and
useful critique in this report. From ... from my perspective, when ... if I review something or I
have someone review me, I want people to tell me what I did wrong, what I could of done
better, and how I could make it better in the future. And it really struck me that, um, that this
report endeavored to do that. Um, again I recognize there's been a lot of public critique of this
report in advance of us having a chance to talk to it. I wanted to address that specifically, both
that it falls within the parameters of the, um, of the scope of services, uh, and ... that it gave
really very specific... critiques and... suggestions for how things can be improved and how
the ... the police department can ... can function better, both on its own, um, and in combination
with other law enforcement agencies, and they recognize the complexity of the situation here
with a number of law enforcement agencies operating in a .... in a quite small area. So, I'll stop
with that right now.
Mims: I'll go. I think the other thing that struck me also and ... and appreciate both Councilor Taylor
and Councilor Weiner's comments, was the context that OIR put this in that I think is really
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important as we look at this. When you really think about ... the time frame and the history, how
long it had really been since we have had demonstrations, urn, of this nature and this size in the
community. I think some of the officers, you know, indicated there, you know, really hadn't
been in their time in law enforcement. And so ... when you look at what was happening
nationally, um, even when you look at what was happening locally. I think there was an
incredible amount of uncertainty from law enforcement as to really what the nature of the
protests were and were going to develop into. Um, as I recall from reading the report, just two
or three days maybe prior to that, a couple of officers I believe in Davenport had been, um,
attacked. So ... and I don't say that to make excuses, but I think it's always important to put
things into context, and I think we had a lot of people who were working on this, who never
worked on something like this before. Um ... I think another thing that they talked about was the
issue of trying to get communication with the leaders of protest groups. So you can kind of
have some of that dialogue, not to shut them down, not to stop anything, but to have a little bit
better understand of what their intent is, where they're going, and we found that that was very,
very difficult in the early going. I think the Mayor, I think the Mayor Pro Tem, um, I believe
Supervisor Porter and others had tried to reach out and in those early days were not having a lot
of success. I think another critical piece in this protest... that complicated it was the protest was
directly against law enforcement. So there was no ... there did not appear to be any interest on
the part of the protesters to cooperate in any way, uh, for example, by actually filling out
completely, um, a protest or a march application so that we could shut down streets and keep
them safe and keep vehicles safe, etc. So I think when you look at the context, I make those
comments not to place blame on either side. That's not what I'm trying to do. I'm just trying
to .... I think when you look at the whole context, those were some of the things going on. From
that, I think .... uh, I'm pleased that we ended up having the report done, and not just saying, oh,
all we need to know is who made the call. No, we need to learn from this incident what
happened, why it happened, how it happened, and how can we do better and do it differently in
the future. And I think these 39 recommendations while in some cases as I read them seem
somewhat repetitive, um, there are nuances to each of them, I think, in terms of a lot of the
communication. I think they start us on a path to a much improved situation for our law
enforcement and for our law enforcement's, uh, cooperative (mumbled) with other agencies. So
I look forward to ... to a fuller discussion on our part of each of the recommendations, and also a
response from our staff, um, as to how they perceive these, um, in terms of what we did this
summer, what our current policies and standards are, and um ... yeah, and what they think these
can do for us.
Weiner: I wanted to add just real quickly two things. One ... and then I will be quiet (laughs) and let
others speak. One is the ... the focus on First Amendment rights, that it's absolutely necessary
that ... that the police allow people to exercise, protesters to exercise, their First Amendment
rights. That means that ... that people are yelling in their faces, so be it. Those are First
Amendment rights, and I also ... I just wanted to say that none of this ... um, diminishes.... the
harm and the trauma done to any of the protesters. The focus here is on the actions of the
police, but it does not diminish what happened to the protesters.
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Thomas: I, you know, I thought it certainly was, you know, I appreciate everyone's comments, like
Janice sort of revisiting the, um, the scope of...of the study I think was ... was valuable to hear,
and you know, I think it's ... it fulfilled its ... the mission of this particular report. You know, it was
interesting reading it. It's been what, almost eight months since, um, June 3`d, and it .... and it
sort of brought back memories of all the uncertainty and confusion about, you know, what was
actually taking place, what ... what could potentially happen with the demonstrations, which, you
know, were taking place over an extended period of time and went well beyond June P. I
mean I was (laughs) looking at when ... when our, my house up here on Brown Street was visited
by the demonstrators. That was June 13"i so it extended well beyond, um, you know, the ... the
incident on ... on Dubuque Street. So it was over a very extended period of time that we were
living in that ... that sort of uncertainty. Uh, I was struck ... by the, you know, one of the items,
one of the headings was, uh, regarding the decision to deny access and block Dubuque Street,
and how ...um, that was a decision made by the Iowa Patrol, State Patrol. Uh, unlike so many of
the decisions that were made by the Iowa City Police Department, the decision to deny access
to the interstate really put the ... the tone and, um, structure of the demonstration into kind of a
militaristic format. You had the, um, skirmish line which, you know, I was recalling a song
from the 60s, "For What It's Worth," which talked about battle lines being drawn. In a sense,
that was the battle line that was established, and ... once that battle line was established, and
granted there were other issues, uh, associated with that event, um, such as, you know, the order
to disperse in watching the videos were .... were impossible to hear, uh, the ... I don't .... the
demonstrators had no idea, at least most of them, had no idea what was coming. But in terms of
setting, establishing that battle line, when in fact, um, there was another way one could have
responded to the... the... the desire of the demonstrators to ... to occupy the interstate. Uh, and in
fact .... that's in fact ... that's what was followed after June 3`d. It .... it just struck me that our, you
know, our police officers had shown really, uh, consistent flexibility and discretion up to that
point, in terms of how, um, law enforcement was conducted in terms of some of the ... the
tagging and ... and behaviors that might other ...in other circumstances have been enforced were
not in this case, and yet the ... the key decision of denying access to the interstate, which came
from the State, uh, the ... the Iowa City Police Department was in fact, and this ... this I was not
aware of, uh, responsible for, um, for the most part in the use of the munitions, and so we ended
up ... being part of that decision made by another entity. Uh, when in fact, you know, if a more
kind of yielding approach had been taken, uh, the use of the munitions most likely would not
have happened, and... and it was really I think, it was the munitions — the tear gas and all the rest
of it — that is what's the indelible image and memory of this entire event. Um, so I, you know,
certainly I think understanding that and, um, adapting, as the report noted, after that event had
taken place, I think, was critical, but um, in looking back, seeing how that one decision, uh,
resulted in, you know, the complicity of our police officers in the ... the firing of the munitions
and the, you k now, the distress and the trauma that that resulted in, urn ... could have been
avoided and it was avoided after June 3`d. But, uh, I ... I do think there's a lot to be learned from
this. I'm ... I'm pleased that the ... the, um, the study did go back in time, um, before June 3 a, sort
of all the events that kind of led up to June 3' and as Susan mentioned, provided some context
to it. Um...so... yeah, I think it was a useful exercise. I'm glad we did it, and urn ... you know,
continue to move forward in terms of making sure that it doesn't happen again.
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Bergus: Yeah, I would just echo what, um, Councilor Thomas said. I appreciate, John, very much how
you articulated that and the position, um, I think that Iowa City found itself in after having
approached the demonstration so differently the few days before then. Um, I ... I agree with
Councilor Weiner that the .... the report... does what we asked it to do, and that certainly does not
satisfy all the questions and it in fact highlights some significant holes, urn... particularly relating
to the participation of other entities who were there. Um, I hope that ... that we can kind of find a
structure for addressing the recommendations that were provided by OIR in the ... in the broader
context that we've been looking at, and we have, um, for our consideration the 36
recommendations from the preliminary plan to restructure the police that we continue to engage
the public and ... and seek input on. We have the 39 recommendations in this report here. We
have the 22 recommendations that we'll be considering from the ... the CPRB, and so I ... I just
hope that we can ... make a plan for kind of a framework to organize all of that in some coherent
way, to take that comprehensive look, um, because I see commonalities in some of these and I
see divergences in some of these, and I think it would be helpful for us to figure out a way
to ... parse that out together. So, that's... um, in a forward looking way, that's what I'm hoping
for.
Teague: So I ... I was one of the ones that thought, you know, the ... the, what we were hearing was who
made the call. That's what people wanted to know. Who made the call, and so to, you know, to
ask OIR to ... give all of this content. At ... at first I thought, you know, if...if the question is who
made the call, then do we really need to go through this exercise, and ... and so I did vote for it to
go through, but I was also thinking it wasn't totally necessary, um, but I also knew that it could
be beneficial, and so when I read the report,um, I do find it beneficial, especially how it's laid
out, um, with each topic and then recommendations under. I think it actually separates and
give, um, some insight on each element that we need to consider. When it's talking about
jurisdiction, mutual aid, and responsibility for decision making, or even when we talk about the,
um, the flash bangs, tear gas, and other, uh, ammunition, and, um, and then crowd control. I
think it lays out these segments that ... of course in my mind it was all there, but it actually
separates it, uh, to give it some ... for us to give it consideration and thought in categories. I have
to agree with Councilor Bergus that we have all these recommendations, um, that we need to go
through, and how do we really... navigate them. Um, my first thought when I was reading this,
um, this really went into a lot of, you know, some of the 36 recommendations for reimagining
the police. Um, where we can, you know, talk about some of these things there. Um, but then
some may not actually... aren't a part of that document, at this present time. But I think it could
be! Um, and then you mentioned the CPRB and the 22 recommendations there, and so ... urn,
certainly I think if Councilors have ideas on that, I ... I think we can, um, talk about that. My
initial thought is to... is two, two thoughts. Um, one we can, um, kind of throw this ... in ... in the
mix with reimagining the police and have those conversations. Urn ... my other thought is that
we can have staff respond to some of these, because I think that, urn ... they could come back and
respond to the majority of these, um, especially when we're ... when we have some
recommendations, uh, that have come forth, and so ... I would just be interested to see what
Council wants to do or some ideas on how we move forward, um, in ... in doing these
recommendations.
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Salih: Okay. Uh, while I really agree with some recommendations of the report, uh, I really have some
concern ... I don't want to just like go over them, all of them, right now here. Uh, but since, um,
I'm the only one (laughs) bringing concern, is not gonna move forward, so ... I'm not gonna talk
about this concern, but what I want to say regardless what the like ... what we ... decision about
this report and what we, uh, get ... the point that we'll get to, I will say and continue to believe
what happening June Yd was wrong and I would continue believe we need to do better. I would
continue believe we need to look at all t his and what happened during 2020 with Black Life
Matter, put that in front of us while we are restructuring ... restructure the police department.
That's all I want to say!
Teague: And... and I guess I will just mention that, um, the recommendations, at least in my mind, are
just ... um, opinions. Um ... some .... some, you know, I can readily agree with as Mayor Pro Tem
may have, you know, talked about, and then there's some where ... you know (laughs) it's not
fully in agreement or not in agreement, and so I believe that these are recommendations that we
just consider, and we ... um, take it ... um, as we wish, and we make them our own.
Weiner: I guess I would propose that we consider having... perhaps something like a separate work
session on all these various recommendations, so that we can... discuss them and figure out how
to categorize them, figure out as a ... as a group at this point, even as we're still getting input,
which ones we think are doable, which ones, um, we want to discard, I mean I don't know
exactly what the categories would be, but I think that it would be helpful for us to set ourselves
some goals and timelines to really look at ... which of these from ... from the OIR report, um,
that ... that we want to fold in which of the 36 other recommendations that we want, which ones
we don't want, what things that are not in any of those that we think should be added to it, and I
think we need to ... to do it in a separate session.
Salih: I ... I really believe that we will ... I mean, we need to hear recommendation from our own
community members. They are the one who live in this community, they are the one who
being... going to be affected by the practice of the police department, and I hope we receive, uh,
some like recommendation from our own people who live in Iowa City ...to recommend what we
do. Rather than depend on recommendation has been done by third party.
Teague: You know, as I was thinking about recommendations of, you know, how do we ... how do we
move forward. You know, my...when I'm reading this, I don't have the expert knowledge, you
know, I don't have the expert knowledge on a lot of these items, um, I ... I think certainly the
community is welcome to weigh in. I also believe that we should task our Chief of Police to
weigh in on this and to get, um, to hear from our Chief on this, and ... see what the
recommendations are from him.
Salih: Yes, and also like hopefully we will receive some feedback from the community after we
translate the, you know, the (mumbled) recommendations, and I hope we receive something
from the community that will help us move forward in this recommendation.
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Mims: I would agree with both the Mayor and the Mayor Pro Tem on this. I mean I think it's really
important that we get feedback from the community at large. But I agree also with Mayor in
terms of we don't ... I don't, he said he doesn't ... we don't have that, um, expertise in terms of how
law enforcement operates, and when you talk about some of these communication issues,
setting some of the standards or, um ... templates I think they even called it for different kinds of
protests and how they would respond, etc. So I think it's really important to hear from law
enforcement in terms of how they can incorporate, because what we need ... to me, what we need
to send is that overarching message of how do we want our law enforcement to interact with our
community and our public. How do we want people to be treated? With the same .... at the
same token, that we want to make sure that everybody is safe, including law enforcement
(mumbled) they can be effective in what they're doing while treating people in a manner that
meets our values in this community, and so I think when it comes to the real nitty-gritty of that,
we really have to have input from law enforcement on how they can do these, how they look at
these recommendations, how they can fold them into their general orders and their operations
with the overarching message of this is how we expect you to interact with our public... while
keeping everybody safe.
Teague: So it sounds like we ... I don't know if, um, I just saw like a couple of nodding heads, but what
do we want to task, um, specifically our Chief and the City Manager's office to respond
to ... to ... to respond to this.
Mims: I would be very interested in hearing their reaction and recommendations, whether it's ... whether
it's point by point or more general, but I think getting some of that information from them might
help guide us in our discussion. Again, if we're keeping ... if...if we think about what we should
be doing as a Council, we should be looking at things from a policy level, not necessarily from
the detailed nuances of how law enforcement ... um .... sets their general orders or sets every
single, um, metric of how they do things, but if we communicate that overarching goal, of we
expect you to keep the public safe, we expect you to do it respectfully, we expect you to do it in
a way that you keep yourselves safe. I think we want to do it with a minimal... to minimize
conflict, to maximize communication. Um, obviously a lot of those can be contradictory at
times, but if we set those overarching values and goals, and say, okay, go through all these
recommendations and tell us how would you ... how would you take these recommendations and
utilize those in ... your operations procedures, knowing what our goal as a Council is. Um, in
terms of how you interact with the public and see what they come back with. I just .... I think
that could be constructive for us as ... rather than us sitting down and trying to go through 39
separate... recommendations.
Salih: I guess for me personally, I'm not talking about (mumbled) but for me personally (unable to
understand) guide me is the community recommendation, rather than the police
recommendations. So I went to hear the community. I wanted to hear them ... what do they
think about this recommendations and that's will guide me to make a decision not
like... because ... I'm ... I'm a public servant. I serve the community, and I want to do something
that help them out. So if we are thinking about restructuring the police, and we want them to
like treat the community certain way and like do everything like in... in a way that care for
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everyone who live in this community. I want to hear it from the people who have been affected
by the issue. Rather than just for someone is not ... even if they is an expert, but they are not
affected by the issue, you know. This is not going to guide me at all.
Teague: One of the things, at least for me when I, you know, look at what happens in the future if there
is a, you know, if there is a need to protect the community, that there is a safety issue. Um,
certainly I was out there June 4th where there was white supremacist out and my heart sunk
(laughs) Um, you know, what happens if our community is ... you know ...is in a situation where
there's someone, or a group of people coming to do, um ... horrible things, and that goes against
our ...beliefs. That's where I believe, um, and the community can certainly weigh in. We have
people that have knowledge in the community, um, about how ...how can you keep the ... the
community safe. Um, what tools in your toolbox do you want to have? Um, and ... and that's
where I believe, certainly the community can weigh in, but I ... I want our ...um, police
department to weigh in as well. I want them to search and find out what do other communities
do. I ... do I believe that we ... I've learned a long time ago in Iowa City there ware some very
knowledgeable people (laughs) on I don't care what you're talkin' about. I learned that through
the deer population and, um, when ... when people started talking about trees and all this other
stuff. There's some really knowledgeable people that, you know, get into the nitty-gritty, but
then there is also, um, I think a need where the ... where our staff need to also get in the nitty-
gritty and learn what options are out there, speak to other people. So it sound like we have
a ... a ... both, you know, the community, um, weighing in, as well as our staff, and so we're going
to task, urn ... are we okay with having our City Manager office, as well as our Chief of Police,
or...or we'll just say law enforcement, weigh in on this? Yes! I'm seeing the majority. So...
there you have it, City Manager, and, um, I don't know if you need anything else from us.
Fruin: The one thing I would say, it's ... it's going to take some time to work through the different sets of
recommendations that you have before you, whether it's the CPRB, the preliminary plan, or this
report. Um ... we're going to have to prioritize which discussions come first, and one of the first
things I believe that we need to do is have the discussion on protest, um, interactions and
control. It may be the most difficult conversation ahead of us, frankly, but it needs to happen,
um, sooner rather than later, because we have to give guidance to our staff on ... on how they're
to move forward. And one of the most difficult aspects of this is ... is that, you know, your First
Amendment rights, your First Amendment rights and the ... our police are not going to be arbiters
of the message, um, from .... from the protesters. In other words, whether you're protesting
topic A or topic B, we have to have a ... a very similar approach to protecting First Amendment,
um, rights. And that can be a ... that can be a challenging thing. So we need to really kind of
guide you. I think that's our job as staff to guide you through our policies and talk about the
changes that are needed, and just make sure that the expectations are clear to our staff, that
they're clear to the community. And again, those are going to be, I think, some challenging
discussions to have, but ... but they're critical. And so ... I ... 1 do like the idea of, you know,
working through all these recommendations systematically, um, and ... and, uh, I think one of the
things that Chief Liston and I can do is we come back to you on this OIR report, is ... is try to
front -load or...or frame up for you some of those discussions that we need to have on ... on
protest management.
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Teague: All right. Anything else on this?
Bergus: I just ... I want to make sure we don't lose track of the possibility of a timeline. I think it's really
important that we give care and careful consideration, and get the input that we're looking for
from, you know, the community absolutely, um, but are there, I mean, what ... what can we do to
help make sure that we keep moving this forward, and ... and don't lose track of it?
Fruin: Well, I think, Chief Liston and I can be pretty ...pretty responsive in turning... turning this around.
What ... what I envision coming back to you is simply focus for now on the OIR report. Looking
at those 39 recommendations, maybe just a short narrative blurb that kind of indicates at least
how we see... here's... here's what falls in the staff bucket, here's what falls in the policy/Council
bucket, and... and just kind of walk you through there. We might find that...you know, neither
staff or Council are interested in some of these recommendations, and as, um, one of you said
earlier, I forget who, there's a lot of overlap. So while 39 may seem kind of daunting, um, a lot
of these get tied together and I ... and I don't, you know, I think as you work through it it
becomes a little bit more manageable. So I think we do go point by point. We provide just a
short narrative and ... and describe, you know, again, whether we think we can move forward as
staff, um, and... and, you know, give you that opportunity to say time out, no, we need to talk
about that or just kind of give us the green light to start working on that, and then those that
really deserve the Council, uh, deliberation, discussion, urn ... uh, kind of expectation setting.
Weiner: (garbled) where do we ... where do we stand on or where do you stand on getting the 36 rec...
the other set of recommendations, the 36 recommendations, translated into the several
languages so that we can begin outreach on that.
Fruin: Yeah, those, uh, those translations were finished Friday of last week, um, so you can find those
on the website with the other preliminary plan information. And I'm currently talking with a
few different members of the community about a public engagement contract, essentially as we
talked about before working with some.... some organizations and individuals in the ... in the
community that could do some of that public engagement for us, and bring that back kind of
unfiltered to the City. So we're ... we're making good progress, but you ... you can find those
translated, urn ... uh, documents on our website. So if you, um, want to send them out to folks
that you know, um, or organizations that you think would be interested, please do that. And
they can use the feedback mechanisms that are already set up on the website.
Salih: And, Geoff, if you can remind me, do we have a deadline for that, for this whole thing or why we
are, you know ... okay, just that's my question, do you have deadline?
Fruin: No, there's... there's really no...no deadline. Um, we moved forward on two of the
recommendations right out of the gate because there were some grant funds associated with
those that we needed to act on. Your budget that you're going to be considering over the next
couple of meetings has funds for some of the recommendations, not all of them. For example,
the half-time outreach position, um, and there's a civilian, uh, supervisory position, the City
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Manager's office, Communications position. Those are built into the budget, um, but we don't
necessarily have to act on those until you all have had that chance to weigh in. So, you know,
worst case scenario is we budget for say that Communications position. Ultimately the Council,
you decide you want to go a different route, uh, and pursue a different strategy. We just don't
fill that position. So I think ... we can ... take our time, um, with that, as much time as ... as you
need. Uh, I ... you know, for the groups that I'm talking to about going out and getting public
comment and bringing it back. You're probably looking at a couple months. Uh, we have to
take the time to bring those individuals and organizations up to speed. Um, some of them
probably haven't even read the plan. Um, they may have questions, uh, about the intent and the
reason behind them, and then ... and then they would go out and ... and probably take a, you know,
a month or so to ... to do the engagement as they see fit. So you're... you're probably looking at
another couple of months.
Clarification of Agenda Items:
Teague: All right, anything else? All right, we're going to go to clarification of agenda items. So, for
the formal meeting.
Salih: I don't know what happened.
Teague: (mumbled)
Salih: I don't know what happen. Suddenly I just... everybody disappear.
Teague: Oh, we can see you! (laughs)
Salih: Yeah, I cannot see any picture, any like any video. I just see myself.
Teague: Oh, I wonder if it ... well that's kind of weird, but in the top right (both talking, garbled)
Salih: I now see (both talking) I see you now.
Teague: Yeah it might be (both talking) It may be on speaker view and not gallery view. That's the top
right.
Salih: Uh huh.
Teague: It says view, so maybe you can change that.
Salih: It is gallery view.
Teague: Yes.
Salih: Yeah, I just see your picture and John Thomas.
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Teague: Well hopefully it'll get fixed (laughs) sometimes... yeah. All right. Clarification of agenda
items for the formal meeting. The work session, I'm sorry, the Info Packet for .. February 401.
Information Packet Discussion (February 4. February 11):
Taylor: I ... IP2 on February 4th, I just wanted to commend our department heads and ... and thank them
for the financial information and for doing what they can during these very troubling times to
keep our heads above the water, so to speak, financially. Good job! (mumbled) look good.
There's some troubling numbers, but there's some good numbers and it's balancing out, and it
looks ... thank them for doing that. IP4, urn ... the pandemic kind of on the lines of financial
again. The pandemic relief, urn... grants, uh, to 27 Iowa City small businesses. Uh, over $300 -
something thousand dollars. I was happy to see this, uh, cause of course we'd like to see those
and other businesses, um, continue to, urn ... thrive in our community. So that was good to see!
Teague: I like that one of the qualifications was for minority or women business entre... entrepreneurs
or...or enterprise, I guess. Um, so that was really good to have that a part of that. Any others
from February 4 info packet? Info packet February I I`l'?
Taylor: Well we've been talking a lot about the work session topics and IP4 is the list of pending work
session topics and there's quite a few on there, and some of them have been on there for quite a
while, and I realized we've had some pretty important issues that have come up that we've
talked about in work sessions. Urn ... but (mumbled) some of these topics and we're adding
some more are important, and I just kind of wondered when and how and where we were going
to plug them in to start talking about some of them.
Teague: Sure! Um, I ... I guess it might be helpful if we ... kind of go through and just make sure that
everything that is on there we want to ... we want to keep on there. Um ... as a Council. The only
one that ... well, I guess we can just go through all of them just to state, um, if we're comfortable
keeping them on there. Then if there's some guidance or some thoughts on ... if we need to
accelerate some or what we need to do. That would be ... kind of a good discussion to have as
well. I do know number three is something that ... um, I'm ... I'm interested in
having... discussions on, uh, probably before the summer (laughs) Uh, potentially. Especially
since COVID is still, and will be, in our community. Um, now (both talking, garbled) Yeah!
Yeah. And I think just as a reminder, recommendations if I remember correctly for having
alcohol usage policies in City parks was really at the shelters. Um, so ... it would be at...at some
of the shelters. When they're reserved. That's my understanding at least. But I think it would
be, um, worth having that conversation, um ... within .... within the next month or two.
Fruin: I think one thing I just encourage you to consider, um, I think Councilor Weiner mentioned this
before, but um ... we're ... with all the recommendations related to the police department, it's
going to be really hard to ... to work through those, which we need to do with some level of
urgency, and... and get through... get to all these items. Urn ... these items are pretty well suited
for 15, 20, 30 -minute discussions. You can knock out one or two in your ...in your hour and a
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half that we ... we typically have on these Tuesdays. Um, processing several dozen
recommendations doesn't always fit well into an hour and a half box. We might just need to
find a good two to three hour work session, um ,to work through some of those more complex
items, and ... and that could free up some time in meetings like this to ... to address that. I know
that's... difficult and that's another ask in your busy schedules, but um, from a process
standpoint it could help us move a little quicker than we have been this past year.
Salih: I think that's a good idea ... if we can do that, so we can free some of those items.
Teague: So I wonder if...if..I see a lot of nodding... nodding of heads, so maybe during, um, Mayor Pro
Time... Mayor Pro Tem and the City Manager's weekly meetings, maybe we can talk about this
and, uh, try to figure out a plan forward, if...if Council's okay with that. All right! Sounds
great! Any other items from February 11th?
Taylor: IP5, the City Attorney retirement letter. Eleanor, happy for you and wish you well, but you will
be missed.
Dilkes: Thank you.
Teague: Yes. (several talking) Thank you for many, many years (laughs) of service. Really appreciate
my time here with you, so ... um, I ... I had an opportunity to share some thoughts with her
directly, so... um, really appreciate all you've done.
Dilkes: I've talked to all of you, so I feel pretty good about that. (several talking)
Salih: Thank you for reaching out, that's was great. Thank you.
Mims: Definitely will be missed!
Teague: Yes.
Salih: (mumbled) yeah.
Teague: Yes, and I know I'm ... I'm responsible for at least two of those gray hairs up there (laughs,
several talking)
Dilkes: There's been a lot of them this past year! (laughs)
Teague: Yeah, so congrats (several talking)
Salih: I hope we never have year like that 2020 (laughs)
Teague: Yes, congratulations! That's exciting.
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Dilkes: Thank you. Thank you all!
Weiner: Congratulations and it starts another process that ... that we as Council will need to deal with.
Teague: Yes! Yep.
Dilkes: Yeah, I don't know ii..if, I mean I assume Geoff and maybe the Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem will
talk about kind of how to structure that and what you want to do with that, um, so ... yeah.
Fruin: Yeah, I think, um, I'll just share a preliminary thought, and ... and you know, April will be here
before we know it, so this ... this'll move really fast and recruitments don't always move really
fast, um, so, uh, what I would encourage, um ... uh, I think ... what I think would be helpful is if
we had a couple, um, two, three Council Members that wanted to work with, uh, me and our
Human Resources team to just develop a recruitment plan, uh, look at the job description,
and ... and kind of take care of some of those planning items. Um, you ... you, we could update
Council at a upcoming meeting, make sure everybody's comfortable, um, with ... with whatever
direction is ... is decided, and then, uh, and then move from there, but uh... you know, whether
you want to decide that tonight, whether you want to take that approach, um, or if you want to
dedicate some time at your next meeting to talk through that, I think it ... probably need to get the
conversation going sooner rather than later.
Salih: I think, uh, since we have some time, why we don't appoint three people right now to work with
you on that.
Mims: I would be very much interested in doing it, given the 11 -plus years I've had on Council and
been involved in hiring two city managers and two city clerk's. Um, I think there's some ... some
background there that I think would be valuable and I'd be interested in being a part of that.
Bergus: I'd also be interested in that, unless you all think it's a really bad idea to have the lawyer on the
(laughs) subcommittee but...
Mims: No, I think that's a good idea actually (laughs)
Taylor: I think it's good ... for Laura.
Teague: Yep! I ... I ... I or Mayor Pro Tem, I would like either one of us to be a part, um, and I don't know
if Mayor Pro Tem, if I can...
Salih: Yes, of course, Mayor! Go for it!
Teague: Okay, um ... I'll go for it if you don't want to, or if you don't (both talking)
Salih: Go for it! We always talk, so yeah (both talking)
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Teague: All right, I'll go for it! Thank you. Great. All right, so we have that. All right. Uh, any other
items from information packet 2/11?
Bergus: I just wanted to highlight the training that's happening on Thursday, which I think was IP7 in
the February 11 th info packet, um, on micro -aggressions. I don't know if there's still seats open
in that, but another one in a series of, uh, trainings that we're offering free to the public, um, I
think, to help people build their skills in anti -racism. (several talking)
Teague: Great. Anything else? All right, so Council updates on assigned boards, commissions, and
committees.
Council updates on assigned boards, commissions, and committees:
Salih: Nothing for me.
Taylor: Nothing for me.
Teague: All right, sounding like no updates from committees at this time. Well, I think we will adjourn
until 7:00 P.M. I wanted to remind the public that the first meeting in April, we'll be
swi... transitioning to our 4:00 P.M. work sessions and to our 6:00 P.M., um, formal meetings.
So just keep that in mind. Uh, we have another month going at 5:00 P.M. and then we'll switch
one hour earlier. We will see you.(several talking) Yeah, we'll see you all soon!
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of
February 16, 2021.