HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-06-04 Transcription Page 1
2. Proclamations
2.a. LGB1?Q+Pride Month
Throgmorton: We have three proclamations to read tonight. I'll begin with the first. (reads
proclamation) Is there anybody here to accept this proclamation? Hey! Come on
up! (applause) (mumbled) one person....can come up. (several talking in
background)
Kelley: Just wanna say thank you....for doin' that and,urn, and hope to see everybody out
on June 15th!
Hawes: And June 10th through the 16th for all of PRIDE week (laughter)
Throgmorton: Very good! Thank you! (applause)
2.b. Masonic Month
Throgmorton: Okay....second proclamation. (reads proclamation) Is there anyone here to
accept? There he is! Come on up! (applause) (several talking and laughing in
background)
2.c.National Gun Violence Awareness Day
Throgmorton: All right, well we have, uh, one last proclamation, which has to do
with....National Gun Violence Awareness Day, and before reading the
proclamation, I want to take a few moments to remember and honor the 12 public
employees who were killed and four others who were critically injured in the
mass shooting that took place in Virginia Beach, Virginia, last Friday. So if
....please go along with me and just spend a moment or two reflecting on them.
(pause) Thank you. So now here comes a little bit of theater. Bear with me!
Course there's more theater in the back of the room because there's a tall building
in orange. I don't know what that's about. (laughter) (applause) All right! I'm
wearin' orange, I wonder why! Let me read this proclamation. (reads
proclamation) So, is there someone here to accept the proclamation? (applause)
Sanger: ....lot of people wearing orange. This is great! So I'm....I'm very pleased to
thank Mayor Throgmorton and the Iowa City Council for their support of'wear
orange' and Moms Demand Action. Over the past few years specifically, we have
received encouragement and support in ways that have allowed us to spread the
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word about who we are and what we're working for. To reduce and ultimately end
gun violence in this country. Last year with the assistance of the Downtown
Association,we were able to engage with over 80 downtown businesses who
either turned their windows orange or placed'wear orange' fliers or placards so
that they could be seen by customers or passers-by. This year our local group is
partnering with the South District neighborhood association, helping out with a
neighborhood clean-up, and also raising money for their mural project by selling
'wear orange't-shirts. I'm really proud to announce that we have raised over
$1,400 for the mural project on GoFundMe and our goal is to continue to
collaborate with the South District neighborhood association as the mural comes
to fruition and beyond. And I just think I speak for all of us when I say how
grateful we are for your support. I know there are cities and towns in Iowa who
refuse to read the proclamation and it means a lot to those of us who are trying to
do this work,um, that we have your support. So thank you.
Throgmorton: Great. Thank you so much. (applause)
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9. Community Comment(items not on the agenda)
Throgmorton: This is a moment when anyone can address us,uh, with regard to any topic that's
not on the formal meeting agenda. I'd only ask ya to come up and state your
name and then take not more than three minutes to express your concerns or
questions or whatever it is that's on your mind. So, who's first? Charlie's up. Hi,
Charlie.
Eastham: Mayor Throgmorton, Council Members, I'm Charlie Eastham, 953 Canton Street
in Iowa City. I wanted to ask the Council to, uh, at your informal session that
you'll enter after this formal session is over with, to relook at the affordable
housing action plan tax exemption recommendations that you just discussed
before this formal session began and ask you if you would ask the Housing and
Community Development Commission to give a, uh, recommendation to the
Council about the,uh, staffs proposal,uh,before proceeding with,uh, asking the
staff to go ahead with it. I, with...out of respect with,uh, Geoff and Simon who
I'm sure did exemplary work in putting this proposal together,think there's a
couple things that struck my mind as I looked at it. The first time I had a chance
to look at this was Thursday,uh, and I think that's true for most of us too. Um,
the....the major thing I think that I would,uh,want to examine is that the proposal
actually, uh, would make,uh....uh, would use property tax funds to reduce the
rents (clears throat) and would allow people who have up to 60%of the area
median income to rent those....those units at a reduced rate. Uh(clears throat)
actually the,uh, 2010 Census data shows that in,uh, Iowa City especially there
are,uh, some 1,000 households who are paying more than half of their income for
their rental housing costs. Um,there are maybe 10 households who have incomes
of 60%of the area median income who are paying more than half of their income
for rental housing costs. So to me there's definitely a,uh, a question about
whether or not it's the best use of our scarce property tax resources to be
subsidizing rents for higher income households when there is a great need for
rental subsidies for lower income households, and that's some of the things that I
think HCDC should have a chance....would help you make a better decision, and
the staff and the City make a better decision, if we had a chance to review,uh, the
proposal before going ahead with it. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Charlie. Good evening, Brandon!
Ross: Brandon Ross. (starts singing) Why are we building....unaffordable housing?
Why are the rich getting more? Why can't we make 50 units of all affordable
housing? I have a friend who left Iowa City after 15 years of living here, where
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he loves to live,because he couldn't afford it. All those 15 years he worked hard,
uh, at jobs that were hard on his feet. But he has to....he had to move out to
Coralville and,uh, access transportation and other things. And though I know this
Council,uh, is an open-minded Council, and it has....it has a progressive feel,
which means that you are considering people. I think this is a strong problem,uh,
that needs to be resolved, and next time somebody wants to put up a glass tower,
like at Chauncey Swan, you should just say, sure,throw it up! All affordable!
Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Brandon. Good evening, Megan.
Alter: Megan Alter, 936 Aspen Court, Iowa City. I'm here,uh, as a Commissioner, along
with Charlie Eastham,to request that the tax abatement project return to...sorry!
Return to HCDC so that we can review it. Um, it's something that we haven't
looked at yet and while...um....there's a lot that seems to be good about it, I think
that,uh, it does warrant the Commission to look....take a look at it and um,be
able to provide some recommendations as well. So that's my request. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Megan. Anyone else? Um, Pastor Smith,it can't be a topic that's on
the formal meeting agenda. (laughter) An...anyone else? Okay, I'm not seeing
anyone, so we're gonna move to Item 10, Planning and Zoning Matters.
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10. Planning and Zoning Matters
10.a.Rezoning South of Interstate 80,West of N.Dubuque Street, and East of
Mackinaw Drive, commonly referred to as Forest View-Ordinance
conditionally rezoning approximately 73.15 acres of property located south of
Interstate-80,west of N. Dubuque Street, and north of Foster Road, from
Interim Development Single-Family Residential(ID-RS),Low Density
Single-Family Residential (RS-5),Low Density Multi-Family Residential
(RM-12), and High Density Single-Family Residential with a Planned
Development Overlay(OPD/RS-12) to OPD/RS-12 for 50.82 acres,Highway
Commercial with a Planned Development Overlay (OPD/CH-1) for 20.45
acres, and Neighborhood Public with a Planned Development Overlay
(OPD/P-1) for 1.88 acres. (REZ18-00013) (Pass and Adopt)
Throgmorton: Could I have a motion please?
Mims: So moved.
Cole: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Cole. Discussion?
Mims: Well, I'll just say it's been a long-time coming and glad to see that we're at the
final vote, and for the few people that are here from Forest View, I think most of
'em have come to so many meetings and we've gone through two positive votes
that they probably(laughs) decided to stay home tonight, and I don't blame them,
um,but I...it's exciting to see this finally get passed and,uh, looking forward to
the development proceeding.
Throgmorton: Yeah. Before anybody else speaks, Susan, thank you,but I forgot to ask if
anybody wants to speak out there. So....I'm sure you'd....you'd say the same
(laughing and both talking) Would anybody like to address this topic, anybody in
the audience? Okay, I'm not seeing anybody so,please, other Council Members,
please go ahead.
Cole: Well this is springtime and this is normally the time when we plant the seeds for
future growth,but I think what this is is a culmination of a harvest of a lot of
incredibly hard work and we get to pass the vote and say'yes,'but this really is
the product and the harvest of three and a half years of collaborative governance
between the City, the developer, and the residents, and if every one of our future
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development projects, uh, could be like this, we....we are on a very good path
forward for,uh, growth with dignity. So I really thank you for all the hard work
that you've done over this time period.
Teague: I think this really speaks to the heart of Iowa City where the community came out
and they expressed their support, as well as concerns,but at the end of the day, we
come together and....and I really feel it's the efforts of a lot of people,um, and the
developers themselves really listening to, um, those that supported it, those that
didn't, but didn't, you know, devalue anything that was said, and....and tried to
negotiate and come to a place where,urn, the Council up here was, you know,
supportin'it, or had so far. We'll see what the final vote is tonight,but I'm very
excited to be a part of this process and,uh, good luck to all of the,urn, people
that's involved and directly affected, and I'm sure we'll hear a little bit more in the
future.
Thomas: Very....very complex project, uh, which took quite a bit of time to try to sort
through and, uh, address all the issues, but....uh, as a matter of perseverance
and....and good faith, and I'm pleased to support the project.
Taylor: Just wanna thank again the developers and the property owners for....for working
with the tenant association, the City, uh, and everyone involved to....to come to a
compromise that works for everyone. Thank you.
Throgmorton: I'm remembering having a meeting on the hillside of the project,um,back in
2016, with Eddie Cole and Margarita and Marcella and many other residents of
the neighborhood, and....just tryin' to get a sense of what was goin' on out there,
what needed to be done. And I think it's taken,uh, a lot of work to try to figure
out how to get to a point where we could act on a particular rezoning that will
transform the area, but also result in really good new housing for the residents of
that neighborhood. I'm also fully aware, as Terry is, that there are other,uh, issues
associated with this, like the....the storm water diversion that could have an
adverse effect on Idyllwild. Uh, and we discussed the storm water diversion
project tonight in our work session. And I know that,uh, Kevin Monson back
there has,um, committed his own time and energy to tryin'to make sure that the
project is a really good one from a design point of view, as has Jimmy for the
development team. So I just wanna praise everybody who's been involved in, uh,
especially...not especially....also note the great work our staff has done. I mean
y'all can....probably don't have any inkling of how much staff time and energy
has gone on, uh, gone into this over the past....what? Two and a half, three
years....three and a half years, I don't know.....kinda lose track(laughs) uh, but
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it's been a great amount of ener...uh, of effort on the part of the staff, so I wanna
praise them for the work they've done, and I'm very pleased to be able to vote for
this project. For the rezoning! So, roll call please. Motion carries 6-0,passed
and adopted. (applause) All right, so I don't know if any of you who are here just
for Forest View want to get up and leave. Please feel free to do that(laughter)
you know you spent two or three years (laughs)
Cole: (mumbled) (laughs)
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11. Hate Crime- Ordinance amending Title 8, entitled "Police Regulations,"
Chapter 5, entitled "Miscellaneous Offenses" to add Hate Crime as a
criminal offense. (First Consideration)
Mims: So moved.
Thomas: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Thomas. Discussion? Eleanor, did you plan to
address this initially?
Dikes: Well I can certainly(both talking)
Throgmorton: ...give us an overview, yeah,please.
Dilkes: Um....so you got my memo of May 30th,urn,that kind of lays out,um,how
this....this progressed. Um, in early April I was contacted by, uh,three law
students who under the supervision of a law professor,um, were working, urn, on
behalf of the Johnson County Interfaith Coalition. Urn, they're a Safe,uh,
Communities Task Force that were looking at ordinance proposals,um, in light of
the increased frequency, urn, recently regarding hate incidents. Um, so over the
course of....of two months, Chief Matherly and I met with JCIC, short for
Johnson County Interfaith Coalition, and their attorneys to discuss the....fairly
numerous issues that are involved in crafting an ordinance like this. Um, and
where we....the, what we came to was the hate crime,um, ordinance that's in
front of you today. Urn,just a couple things to note,uh, crimes are principally a
function of the State code,not the City code. You all know that cities only have
authority over simple misdemeanors and the penalty for simple misdemeanors,
urn, are....um....uh,up to $625 and up to 30 days in jail. Um....the State code
has a hate crimes statute that provides an enhanced penalty for certain crimes. So
for instance if, urn, an assault, a simple assault,which is the lowest level of
assault, is committed because of the race, urn, natural....national origin, sex,
gender identity. Actually gender identity isn't included in the State law. Urn....
because of those protected characteristics, urn, then the....the penalty is bumped
up to the next level. So a....so a....a simple misdemeanor becomes a serious
misdemeanor, serious misdemeanor becomes an aggravated misdemeanor, etc.
Urn, cause the State has authority to....to define and prosecute serious
misdemeanors, all....all types of crimes, where the City only has the simple
misdemeanor. Urn, so harassment,there's been some discussion in the
community about harassment not being an enhanceable penalty under the State
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code. Urn, and I think there's been talk of....of making efforts at the State level to
change that. I know the Johnson County Attorney supports that and I believe
JCIC is going to be looking at that in the future. Urn, so what we ended up here is
with a simple misdemeanor hate crime, urn, for harassment, um, done because of
someone's race or other protected characteristics, or trespass with the intent to
harass. Urn, and specified a jail penalty for that. Um, three to seven days for the
first offense and 30 days for the....for subsequent offenses. That's an unusual
thing for the City to do. Urn, as you may recall, while the City has for years just
specified for some of our simple misdemeanors, and when I say simple
misdemeanors, when you're looking at State sim...or city simple misdemeanors to
date, it's been, um....things like traffic, urn, under-21s, you know, that kind of
thing, very, urn..... We don't....we don't currently specify a jail penalty for most
of those, with the exception of...with very few exceptions. I think one of them is
indes...indecent exposure and one of them is actually the ordinance that has been
on the books for....since the 1970s, I think, about our nuclear-free zone, and as far
as I know has never been prosecuted (laughs) Ur....so in any event, what...what
the....within the confines of what the City can do, um, what this ordinance will do
is it will identify harassment, urn, when done because of protected characteristic
and those categories are those that we have under our Iowa City Human Rights
Ordinance. It will designate that as a'hate crime.' It...it, there's still a harassment,
um, crime under the State code and that can still be prosecuted,but this will be
specifically called a'hate crime,' and it will also specify a particular jail penalty.
So that's really kind of what the essence of the ordinance does. Urn, in crafting
the language of the ordinance, I've attempted to use the language of both the State
harassment statute and the, um....uh, State hate crime's statute because both of
those, urn, statutes have been considered by the Iowa Supreme Court and found to
be constitutional. So essentially what this, urn, prohibits is....a defendant
communicating with a victim, with the intent to intimidate, annoy, threaten, or
alarm, without a legitimate purpose and because of the victim's race or other
protected characteristics. Um, I....I think it's quite defensible, given the earlier
case law of the Supreme Court, and the....the last thing I'd note is, urn, the law
students did talk....did run their proposals by the ACLU. The ACLU had some
proposed language that they like to see included in hate crimes legislation because
as you can imagine, one of the big issues with this is the First Amendment issues
and drawing those lines. Particularly in this case, because we're talking about
communication—pure communication, not....not assault, not criminal mischief—
writing on a building—but communication. Urn, so those lines are difficult to
draw. Urn, I talked to the ACLU, urn, and asked if they could direct me to any
hate crimes legislation that included that language. They directed me to the
federal legislation which, as I noted in my memo, included language,urn, which I
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found....urn.....uh.....to be much better in terms of not interfering with our ability
to prosecute this offense. Urn....and one more note, I think it's really important
to....to make sure that people understand what this ordinance will proh....prohibit
and what it won't prohibit, given....in what it can't prohibit given the....the First
Amendment and we've had conversations, um, during our discussions about those
and I....and I....I feel confident that JCIC understands those distinctions. Urn, but
for example the....the example that I gave in the memo was....assuming the
investigation bears out the charge, um,putting a note, urn, a hate...that expresses
hate, urn....because of race on an African American person's door, for instance,
um, is something that would be prosecuted under this ordinance. Stickers placed
downtown that say, you know, it's okay to be white, urn, or leafleting of a
neighborhood with that kind of speech is not gonna be prosecuted under this
ordinance. Urn, I think we've had discussions during, with JCIC about how, and
the City is....does keep track of hate incidents, not neces....necessarily hate
crimes, and urn,the City has....is, does investigate those....those hate incidents,
but um....not all of them will be hate crimes.
Throgmorton: Great. Thank you, Eleanor. Would anybody in the audience like to address this
proposed ordinance? I thought you might come back up (laughter and several
talking in background)
Smith: Uh, Pastor Anthony Smith, urn, I'll use my church address if that's okay, 2929 E.
Court Street, urn, Iowa City, Iowa. Uh, first of all I just wanna say thank you for,
um, for the, uh, for the collaborative effort that....that I've had with the Council,
uh, the Police Chief, urn, the City Managers, uh, the Black Voices Project, the,
urn....uh, University of Iowa Law School, the, uh,Anti-Defamation League, the
ACLU, and the NAACP. If I've forgotten anybody, I am so sorry(laughs) Uh,
but it was, uh....um....uh, getting this far was a community....it was a community
effort, and uh, and I....I want the Council to make sure that you understand that
this was a community effort. JCIC may have led it, but it was a....it was a total
community effort. Urn, we....we.....we also did surveys. I'm not sure if you
know the results of the surveys, but we found out that....that, urn,that through the
surveys we've seen that...that there was, uh, one in five people have been, have
experienced hate, uh, a hate crime, but have not reported it. One in five, people of
color. And so, uh, it is....so the, what we've seen from the FBI's reports, urn,
doesn't....doesn't tell the whole story. We think, and I'm not discrediting the FBI
by no means, uh, but what I am sayin' is is that there are a lot of....there's a lot of
unreported incidents of hate in our community, and...and now that we have
identified these things, this is a good step forward. I think we can all agree that it
is not the....it is not the...everything that we want. And because of....of protected
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speech, our First Amendment, we understand that we can't get it the way we want
it. But we can do....but I believe that we've put together something that is....that
is a good first step. And, uh, and....and.....and.....and the most important thing
is, is keeping our community safe. And so I....I'm....I am, uh....uh, I'm glad
that...that we were able to collaborate and....and that we continue to collaborate
on making our....our community safe. There are some things that I'm still, that
I...I still have, um, that I....that I would like to see come forth, uh, that may not
come forth out of this ordinance, and number one is training, uh, because...
because this ordinance is a, uh, is, uh, has to do with harassment and...and, as a
hate crime. I believe that there needs to be some training, that, uh, that should be
tailored to it. It doesn't have to happen in the ordinance and I think we've
explained it, but we would like to see that happen. Also, uh, the....the Iowa City,
uh, PD does....does collect data, but we wanna make sure that that data is readily
available,uh,to the public so that we can see and monitor, uh, those....those who
are being charged with a hate crime. Uh, other than that I just wanna thank you,
thank you all for....for all of your participation and, uh, and um....uh....we're
lookin' forward to seein' this,uh, gettin'passed. Thank you!
Throgmorton: Great. Thank you, Pastor Smith. Anyone else? (mumbled) good evening.
Keita: Hello and good evening, everyone! (several responding) (unable to understand)
Like Pastor Smith already said, this ordinance, we put a lot of time in it(unable to
understand, speaking away from mic)We spent a lot of time going over it (unable
to understand) and consultation with other civil right groups, like...Pastor Smith
mentioned. And we did the best we can and as you aware of we worked with the
law students to....take us through the legalities of the ordinance. So we put in a
lot of effort and time and studies to it and we came up with the best we could, and
we thank you all for listenin'to it and lookin' into it, and some of you we met with
individual and we....presented you these ordinance, because you wanted to get
familiar with it and study deeply and understand what our efforts were. We know
and appreciate that in this country, the United States of America, we have freedom
of speech, freedom of expression, yes, we can say whatever we want, as long as
we not hurting the other person! Our freedom of speech, freedom of expression,
and all the freedom we have, as long as we not infringing on the other person's
freedom we're okay. But as long as we cross that line, and infringe on the other
person's freedom, then...our freedom limits there. The limit of our freedom stop
at where...not to hurt the other person, regardless of race, color, national origin,
religion. So we understand that and we consider all these while we were drafting
this ordinance, and again, like Pastor Smith already said, we appreciate that, in
looking into it, considering it, and doing the best you can....to give us, not us as
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JCIC,but the whole Iowa City community, the whole Johnson County
community. Cause we want to make our city like(unable to understand) the best
city in terms of peoples freedom. We want people to come here. I always tell
people, my community(unable to understand) keep growing exponentially
(unable to understand) oh, where do all these people coming from? I say hey I
keep telling you we are growing because people love to come to Iowa City, for
whatever reason. That's a great.....comment for you, great..... commitment that
you are doing to make the city a better city, and we think that this ordinance will
even add to that. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Great. Thank you. Good evening, Chief. I thought I saw you standing over
there.
Matherly: Good evening,uh, Jody Matherly, Police Chief. Uh, I just wanna,uh, show my
appreciation,uh, for Eleanor for all her time she put into crafting this, and really,
uh, JCIC and the School of Law at the University for,um,takin'that grassroots
effort to put this together. We had discussions a year ago about the need for the
State level, the Iowa code,to update to be a little more expansive and inclusive,
and more....or less counter-intuitive(laughs) on these crimes. It's very limited on
charging hate crimes, and it doesn't make sense that someone can do criminal
mischief to your property and be charged,uh, a hate crime, but if they threaten
you by communication,that we couldn't charge that. So the....the harassment
charge,uh,just makes sense, and it needs to be done at the State level, um, to...to
really shed light on the persons that do things simply because somebody looks
different than them or believes something different than them, uh, and this just
doesn't affect the victims. This affects our entire community. So the Police
Department stands behind this. Uh, we're glad that this is going,uh,in our
toolbox so we can use it if and when needed, and uh,we....we take these crimes
serious. We document them well, and we will certainly keep moving forward to
do all we can to...to stamp out hate. So, with that,thank you very much.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Chief. Thanks for your work too. Anyone else? Sam.
Massey: Sam Massey,uh,First Presbyterian Church, 2701 Rochester Avenue, I think
(laughter) So I wanna thank all the folks from different organizations and various
faith communities for coming out this evening. That's awesome! Thank you very
much for being here. And then I also want to give my thanks to our City
Attorney, to our folks here sitting on the Council, who showed up, who we elected
to represent us, for their hard work, for our Chief of Police, for all of y'alls input,
uh, what you offer was gold and uh, you sharpened,uh, our work, and we are very
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grateful for that. Uh, you wrestled with us, uh, came alongside of us, when it
came to the words that we wanted to use that would affirm, uh, for one more time
that our city is truly committed to be a safe place for all of our residents. Due to
the contributions of so many, we have been able to set before you an option for
what we believe to be responsible justice. The ordinance that you are looking at
this evening calls forth from our citizens the essential integrity that makes them
worthy of our state seal and our state motto, which you know very well—our
liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain. The reason we live peaceably
in a democracy is because we honor the tension between these core values. We
elect people to help us to live responsibly between these core values, in particular
how we want the free exercise of people's liberties. We also do not want that free
exercise to trample on the rights of other persons, especially those who are the
most vulnerable in our culture. This....ordinance....has a lot of details to it and
I'm glad for those who can keep track of details, but for me it symbolizes an
articulation of our conviction that decent people cannot tolerate actions and
crimes in particular committed against others out of some sort of bigotry.
We....go as far as we can to encourage other types of behavior. In my faith
tradition, what a person feels or a person thinks is not unimportant,but in the end
it is immaterial. What counts are the motivations that we materialize in our deeds.
This ordinance is connected to a variety of faith traditions and sacred books. And
yet I think most importantly for tonight, it emerges from the conviction held
deeply in our republic as to what it means to be a human being, and what it means
to have respect. Again, thank you very much. Appreciate it!
Throgmorton: Thank you, Sam (several talking in background) Anyone else? Good evening.
Patton: My name is Wayne Patton. I live at 1 Oaknoll Court. Um, I moved to Iowa City
going on 60 years ago, come to school here, and thought it was a pretty nice
place. Um....Sunday at church we were shown a list of the hate crimes in Iowa
City in the last few years, and I had no idea that it was this....this bad in Iowa
City. I'm a straight, white Christian, uh, of many generations U.S. citizens. So
I'm....I tend to overlook this stuff. This is really needed and I'm glad you all are
considering it and I hope you will vote it in. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you too. Good evening.
Allgood: My name is Edward Allgood. That's with two Ls. My mother's been gone 10
years, but she always said the second Ls really important (laughter) Uh, this
opportunity, I didn't plan to say anything, fell on my lap. The Police Chief is here;
uh....someone that is very important to me, who's now 49 years old developed a
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mental illness when he was 23 years old,here in Iowa City, and when you think
you've seen awful, you haven't seen awful unless you have a mentally ill son. I
want you all to know, and you, that the Iowa City Police Department sometimes at
my request, sometimes because they found him (mumbled) many a time and took
him to the hospital. The guy I'm talkin' about is 6' 2" and weighs 250. And he
showed up at our house at 2:00 in the morning, in the back of a squad car, not
handcuffed, not restrained in any way. The police knocked on our door to talk to
us and they took him to the hospital. One time when we were....he was in the
hospital and was out on pass and....two police officers walked into whatever
restaurant we were in for a little while and started to talk to him and asked him
how he was doin'! This is....I'm trying to say, I've been trying to figure out how
to tell the Police Department how grateful I have been for this person. (mumbled)
Throgmorton: Understand! Thank you for speaking. Good evening!
Johnson: Good evenin'. Uh, my name's Quinton Johnson. I wanna speak on, uh, the hate
crime and, uh, it's directed towards the Chief and, uh, at the police officers. I've
been down here for six years and every year(mumbled) spend time gettin'
harassed and I done been to jail 10 times for this harassments and stuff. My first
time ever gettin' locked up down here was for like a....a OWI and I don't drink,
you know, and they make me go, uh....uh, take a Breathlyzer test on the scene,
then the police station, then at the hospital—three times! And then if I didn't give
'em my urine, they told me they was gonna suspend my license. Then I gave them
that. They said (mumbled) Then I gave them another test again. Passed that test.
Then gave me a sobriety test twice. Passed that. Still locked me up. I still had a
bond out but I still had to fight that case. Fought it for six months until they
dismissed it, you know what I'm sayin', I been harassed every....every year since
I been down here. They just broke my foot last year. Two years ago they jumped
me on Taylor Street. So....they see....they say I be comin' in the police station
mad, but I'm gettin'harassed, gettin'beat up on, you know. There's only too
much....there's only so much that I'm gonna be able to take, period, as a human
being. I'm not gonna keep (mumbled) put their hands on me at all. You don't
want me to have a gun to protect myself. I'm a victim of bein' shot, you know, I
done been through a lot and....(mumbled) the police officers too,you know I'm
sayin'the hate crime, cause I've been harassed six years straight. That's all I
wanted to speak on.
Throgmorton: Thanks for coming. Anyone else? (laughter)
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Porter: Royceann Porter. Urn, I just think that this is really good because it's just for the
safety of our community. Johnson County, um, has....is a, to me, this community
is tight-knit. Uh, when it come to social justice and racial equity, the community
always come together an pull together. When we see hate crime has been
committed, um, whether it's to a Hispanic person, an African American, a
Sudanese person, whoever, we stand up,but I just want people to know that this
ordinance is for everyone. This ordinance, uh, is....it doesn't matter who you are.
Um, there was a time where we had a young black men goin' to the University of
Iowa who said three white guys jumped him after the bar. The whole town was
all upset and we was like 'oh, this can't be happenin!' We all got together, people
came together, the University brought out the community. Everybody came forth
and then when we found out the black boy had lied on these three white guys. So
it does....there is no color on this. I'm just standing here stating that this
ordinance is for everyone. Everyone needs to know that if you're going to use
harassment and bullying in any kind of way against anybody, any person, this is
for all people, and I'm glad to see it this way. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Royceann. Anyone else? Good evenin'!
Williams: Hi, how are you? Um, my name's Shaun Williams (mumbled)
Throgmorton: Please speak into the mic.
Williams: My name's Shaun Williams. I've been here in Iowa 17 years with my kids. I have
eight kids. And....I'm glad that you all will pass this law because me and my
family have been harassed,um, I had all my neighbors in my neighborhood, they
all have pets and we got a pet a couple of months ago and the pet was out in the
yard, my daughter was out in the yard workin', and so the police came to my
house and said to me that....your dog is, we heard your dog was out in the yard
barking and I'm like, okay, the whole neighborhood got dogs. So how, why would
y'all pick me and my family to say that the dog was barkin' and we would have to
get a ticket or somethin' or keep the dog in the house cause the dog can't be
barkin'. So we had to get rid of our pet. A couple of months ago. So I'm glad that
this law is being passed because we have been harassed.
Throgmorton: Thank you for comin'. Anyone else? Okay, I'm not seeing anyone else. So we
have a motion on the floor. Council discussion?
Mims: I just wanna say thank you to....all the organizations that have, and individuals
who've come together to work on this. I think....when you look at something that
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is this complicated, urn, you know, from getting language from the ACLU and
getting other federal language that maybe works better, that we have a better
chance of defending if somebody were to, uh, try and say this is unconstitutional.
To get all those resources and all the local people together, I think that's when you
can end up with the best solution. It may not be the perfect solution. I agree with
that. But it may be the best solution that we can get at this point in time, and
again it may just be the first step as we move through these things. So I just
wanna express that appreciation to....to all the people who, you know, have taken
a lot of time to work on this and....and craf...help craft this, from staff members to
all the community members. The other comment I would just make is I think it's
really important, and I know when City Attorney Eleanor Dilkes mentioned it that
members of JCIC have the understanding the general public may not....the
difference between a....a hate incident and a hate crime, and so I think it
behooves all of us to try and continue to educate people on, you know, what that
difference is, and just because we pass this ordinance, it's...(laughs) unfortunately,
it's not going to solve all the problems. It's going to give us another tool to use,
urn....and I'm sure there will be times that people will be disappointed because
they feel like appropriate charges are not made under this ordinance, and I think
we're gonna have to understand that and be patient and....and and listen to the
explanations of whether it's our Police Department or, you know, the County
Attorney or City Attorney or whoever's involved, but urn, I just wanna thank
everybody for their involvement and....and hard work on providing this good step
for the community.
Teague: I wanna say thanks to JCIC as well for, um, even thinkin' of bringin'this to
Council and....and leadin'the way with so many organizations and people within
the community. Um, I'm pretty impressed! Um, not only(laughs) do they, um,
although I almost gave an amen to, uh,both the pastors who spoke today, uh,
great orators are you all, uh,but again I think everybody that came and spoke
today, I really appreciate the courage that,um, you mustered up to get in front of
us and to share your personal stories with us. I really appreciate it. I'm gonna
support this ordinance because I do believe that we've seen here recently some
hate crimes that has been made public, um, but we also heard that,uh, through a
survey that was done through J, uh, JCIC, that there was one in five people that,
you know, stated that they experienced, um, a hate crime, and you k now, again,
this is for all people within our community, and so it's not just, you know, um, if
someone is, uh, doin'it against an African American or Sudanese, um, it's, you
know, if...if they're doin' it to someone else, and so I do think that's gonna be, um,
critical and, uh, Councilor Mims just stated to get the education out,um, to the
community so that they do understand what does this mean, you know, this
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ordinance when we're doin' a simple misdemeanor. Urn, I...I think that's gonna be
important. So,uh, Press-Citizen and all the others that wanna, you know, uh,
maybe report somethin', what I would suggest is maybe gettin'out and givin'
some examples to the community of what this means, and I think,um, you know,
I think give some examples of....of what does, what does it mean to, um, for
someone to be,uh, convicted of this, and again, I think training for our police, and
they've done really well, uh,the Police Department has been goin'through lots of
trainin'here recently, urn, and I'm blankin'on the name cause I get my acronyms,
um (several talking) CIT! Yes. So they've been doin' CIT trainin' and I have
been a part of that. And I've even seen a difference,um, within the Police
Department, urn, interactions within the past three years. Urn, since CIT trainin'
has been implemented. Actually this Friday, was it Friday? Saturday? Saturday I
saw an interaction with a police officer downtown and I was just standin' on the
periphery and I just saw all the interactions happening with this police officer and
this guy, urn, and the community, and at the end of that, I went up to that police
officer because the one thing that I saw, he could of....the police officer had a
reason to get, um, loud and maybe even a little,um, authoritative,but he kept it
here in his volume. I couldn't even hear what he was sayin',but after I went up to
him and I said, you know, I don't know what your conversation was,but I can tell
you this,urn, I....you could have went either way with what you did,but I was
very impressed with your demeanor and how you presented yourself, and so I do
believe that our police, even though they're goin'through the CIT trainin' and
there's been huge, um....um,progress towards,urn.....just a change in how the
police address the public, um, I....I do believe that this training just on what this
ordinance means and examples of what it means when they're goin'to attend
somethin',um, they need to be trained in there so they just understand what this
means,because it can be, um, a little confusing, um, and....and a little gray. So
thanks again for everybody that got up and spoke, and Pm,um, will be supportive
of this ordinance.
Throgmorton: Anyone else?
Taylor: I'm also very supportive of this ordinance. Uh, our strategic plan talks about,uh,
fostering an inclusive community and I think this is going to be a major part of
that and thank you to those who, Royceann in particular mentioned that it's for
people of all color, all races, all identities, uh, and also,uh, stress we talked about
a....a development project earlier that was a collaborative effort. This has been
truly an example of collaborative effort. People from all different realms of the
community working together that you wouldn't have thought worked together
before, even knew existed, and...and that's...that's great to see that. I....I think, uh,
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it will be, uh, a great way for even our Police Department to more effectively
investigate these kinds of incidents and evoke appropriate punishment. So I think
it's a great thing!
Cole: So I think a lot of times when we talk about our Home Rule authorities, we
always talk about what our limitations are,but I think it's easy to forget that
although our powers are limited, our ability to express our values is unlimited,
and we have the full ability to be able to do that, and I think that's really what this
ordinance does, and in particular one of our most cherished values is the right to
be secure in our homes. You have a right to, in your dwellings, to not be
subjected to unwanted, targeted speech directed at your race, your national origin,
your gender identify. That's what this is about. Will it solve every problem?
Probably won't,but we will never give up. We will always work, and you know I
think of Royceann's gonna be going down to the Freedom Trail here, um, shortly
and, you know, Dr. Martin Luther King talks about the promissory note that has
never been cashed, and I think we all feel that it's more than a promissory note.
It's like a mortgage that we can never pay off,but that doesn't mean that we won't
do everything we possibly can, urn, to target hate where it emerges. It has
emerged in this community, in a very visible way, and that this expresses that that
will not be tolerated. And finally, as Pauline had talked about, collaborative
democracy. Um, this represents collaboration between your elected leaders and
the residents. Um, that is the best way to get things done, and in particular to
work with leaders, our staff, and the product of that is hopefully an ordinance that
we're hopeful that not only will we adopt,but every city in the state of Iowa will
adopt, and that would be the goal as well, that they would imitate this and utilize
us as a resource so as a state we indicate that this sort of conduct will never be
tolerated.
Thomas: I know when....a couple of months ago when I met with the Johnson County
Interfaith Coalition and, uh, was asked, you know, what my personal experience
was with this notion of safety in the community, which really is foundational to...
the sense of belonging within a community, and uh....they went on to explain
how, you know, one in five....in their data collection, uh, had experienced hate
crimes. I was shocked....that,uh, that....that this was being experienced by
residents in....in my hometown. So it was very....I think for all of us very
educational experience in that sense. Urn, that this needs to be known,uh, I
certainly support the ordinance, uh, as a necessary step, which in a sense that data
had revealed that this is the....the scope of the issue that we're dealing with. Uh,
and I also think the...the response to that was Iowa City at its best. You know, this
coalition of....of interests and skills that came together to craft the ordinance. Uh,
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so I too just really wanna thank everyone involved. Uh, I do....I do believe while
we, I think it's clear there is a need for this ordinance. I really feel that
fundamentally this is a question of common culture, you know, that, uh, perhaps
what might be called 'common law,' that we need to be more mindful of how we
relate to one another, more respectful. Yes, we need the ordinance, but
fundamentally I think what's critical is that we be more mindful in our....in our,
uh, relationships with one another. But, uh, I'm very supportive of the ordinance.
Thanks for everyone's work.
Throgmorton: Uh, so it's hard for me to add anything to what's already been said,but I will
contribute a few words. Uh, like John did, you met with members of JCIC couple
months ago. So back on March 28th, New Creations Church, I met with Pastor
Anthony Smith, (mumbled), Sam Massey, Charlie Eastham, two law students, and
others affiliated with JCIC. And...basic question I heard, I'll condense it, was,
'Will you support a hate crimes ordinance?' That was a question to me, and at the
time, uh, I can recall saying basically, well, the first question is, is it consistent
with my values? And with the values that I think our Council holds. The answer
to that is yes. I said it then. Is it legal? I don't know, ya gotta talk to the City
Attorney. Is it enforceable? I don't know, ya gotta talk to the Police Chief. And
so on, and they did! So you've really pulled things together brilliantly and I have
nothing but praise for all of your efforts to do that, and uh, as a result I'm really
very, very pleased to be able to support this ordinance. Okay, so anybody else
need to say anything? Hearing nothin', roll call please. Motion carries 6-0. And
just to remind everybody, that's first consideration. We gotta do two more.
(applause) (continued talking in background as people leave)
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12. Support for Developing Local Food Hub- Resolution authorizing the City
Manager to sign an agreement with Field to Family for payment of up to
$45,000 towards the development of a local food hub.
Throgmorton: Could I have a motion to approve please?
Thomas: So moved.
Teague: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Thomas, seconded by Teague. Would anybody like to address this
topic, like maybe Ashley?
Monroe: I'm going to start. Um....I'll just give a quick summary and then we'll hear from,
uh, a presentation from Field to Family about the proposed food hub. So the
City's Sustainability Coordinator identified local agencies that are actively
supporting our local foods economy and,uh,this is in connection to the City
Council's strategic plan goal,uh, growing the local food economy. So staff ended
up contacting six agencies, asking them to write a letter of interest, with a
proposed project, and the amount of funding that would be required to enact those
projects. So two agencies,uh, either didn't respond or did not have the....the time
this year. They felt it wasn't appropriate to respond,but four provided proposals.
Uh, and the request from Field to Family was determined by a group of staff to
have the most promise to,uh,provide the greatest impact for our residents. It was
a project that was, uh.....that was proposed as ready to go. Uh, it had just
received substantive financial support from Johnson County, and it would get to
this initial supply and access of local foods through organizations, through
massing the....the amount of food, um, collected from local farmers, and it's an
opportunity to serve many people. So it was...it's an exciting opportunity to
continue to work and talk with Field to Family about what this,uh, could turn
into. So the amount, that$45,000, uh, was determined based upon some of the
hard costs that would help them,uh, start operations. So by looking at things like
a refrigeration truck, allowing them to access additional cold storage, which they
don't necessarily have access to without additional funding,um, support of a
digital platform to allow people to know how to get connected to this effort, as
well as what...what the operations are for....for this organization and what it's
doing for our local community. So,um, I'll touch just briefly on the other projects
that were submitted. I'm sure there's interest in what those might have been. Urn,
they....were asked to also apply for the climate action grants. A couple of them
were smaller dollar amount or projects that you would find,uh, fit in very well
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with the climate plan's objectives to support local foods as well, and so several of
them applied and....and were received, uh, received well by the evaluation
committee and awarded funding. So, uh, you should be getting information about
the climate action grants awarded within the next info packet or...or the following.
So, um....I can explain a little bit more or we can let Field to Family explain
exactly what the food hub is, urn, what the...the need for a local food hub, and....
and how they propose to serve our area. So, I loaded it up for you and Michelle
Kenyon is able to (both talking)
Throgmorton: Hi, Michelle. How ya doin'?
Kenyon: Hi! Thank you so much for having us! Again my name is Michelle Kenyon. I'm
Director of Field to Family. This is Giselle Bruskewitz, our food hub manager.
Um, I just wanna say that,urn, this whole process has been amazing. We have
been around for a while, Field to Family, working to create a more, urn,
community-based food system in our area. We understand that a community-
based food system has many benefits to a community, um, we're talking about
enhancing our environment, our health, and our economy, and so when Brenda
and Ashley and Geoff came and approached us, asking, 'Hey, will you write a
letter about how you, your work will help build our local food economy,' we were
completely thrilled. We've been working with the Johnson County Board of
Supervisors for a couple years now to really research the market efficiencies and
ability for....for, and the need in the market place for this. Urn, and ultimately,
um, as an organization that's been working on education and collaboration, this
was a new frontier for us, but when it came back to us that the market research
and all the different, um, groups that were working in collaboration on this came
back and said a wholesale local food hub is what we need, we were ready to fill
that gap. Again, um, our work really is primarily about building a community-
based food system. When we talk about climate change, it's...we're....we're right
there working to mitigate that, urn, increase our environmental health and
conserve natural resources. There's many reasons why we support local food
based systems, and the way we've done that in the past few years is to help reduce
food security through providing healt...uh, recently harvested fresh foods at all the
different stops of the mobile food pantry throughout Johnson County. So there's
13 stops per month that we're out, June through October, where we provide fresh
harvested foods, a little bit of information on how to prepare those foods, and also
some food samples and youth food system education, as well, in those stops. Um,
we purchase from farmers and we also get some donations, and then we, um,
really work to promote, urn, local foods and farmers, where you can find your
food, where you can get it more locally, and so we, urn, have a program that we've
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worked to develop with a lot of different collabo....collaborators to boost
promotion and magnify locally-grown foods at the place where you purchase
foods and where you get your foods and increase the amount of seasonally-grown
local foods on menus. So we're about to debut an online, searchable, intuitive
database that even I can handle. You just type in a...one word of what you're
looking for and it will come up of which farmers in this region are handling that
and where you can find it. We're really excited. That will come out later this
month. Urn,but in general, we,um....it's not moving forward. Oh(mumbled)
skipped something. But we also have a Farm to School program, which the
slide's missing on that, I think...uh, but generally our Farm to School program is
to educate youth in schools about where their food comes from. We support
school gardens. We support in-school education, where we bring the farm to the
school through fanner fairs, and we've done about 15 of those in the last....since
we began. Um, we've also sourced locally-grown foods for the school lunch
menu, and that's the slide I'm missing,but it's about 73,000 pounds of locally-
grown foods that we've been able to source for the School District, and it took us
a few years to figure it out. Um,the School District feeds...when we first started
about 6,000 children. Now they're feeding about 8,400. They have six different
production kitchens, and each production kitchen has a specific order and they all
need to come from one source. So....we have struggled to meet the demand for
local....locally-grown foods, to meet that order because they're so high. So a food
hub ultimately works to aggregate locally-grown foods so that we can meet that
higher demand and I know I'm moving around a bit here, but....um....just to tell
you a little bit about what a food hub is. If you know one food hub, you know
one food hub, and this one, urn, really focuses on wholesale aggregation
distribution of...and promotion of locally-grown foods. USDA defines it as a
central....centrally located facility,um,with a structure that....procures from
numerous sources to meet the wholesale order. There's many ways to meet those
demands, and different ways to meet customer orders. Urn,but ultimately, after
many planning and work with....as a collaboration,this whole project is a work in
progress with many community members, including the Johnson County Board of
Supervisors, the Food Policy Council,um, Iowa City Area Development Group
has been a great partner, Table to Table, um, but ultimately this....we found,
through the research, urn, and through looking at our own values as an
organization that the only way we can succeed is through a collaborative effort, a
non-profit mission vision,urn,model that recognizes the need for education. Urn,
and promotion of course of local food and farmers,but ultimately supports a
shared vision,um,to support a community-based food system that enhances our
economic, environmental, and community health. Um, and of course there's
many benefits that a community-based food system can foster. Ur....ultimately,
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like I said, I mean I am....been, uh, active citizen in many ways,personally. Urn,
I've....paid a little bit of attention to the work that you're doing and I just admire
the way that you're taking complex problems and working to find creative
solutions through collaborative processes, and this....this is really something that
I think you can add to your mantle of successes,urn, again I was so thrilled to get
the invitation to write this letter,because ultimately where our food comes from,
who grows it, how it's....how it supports our economy and our environment really
is a collaborative and community benefit, or not, and you're choosing to make it a
benefit and we really appreciate that,but we're adding, urn, like I said we have a
lot of support. We have some USDA funding, a local food promotion program,
that allows us to work with other food hubs in the state, and to also con....
continue to do (mumbled)to build our resources. Urn,but ultimately we're just
adding you to our list. We're so very thankful and ultimately,uh, this...it's the
beginning of a partnership. We're just getting started, and like I said, we hired
Giselle Bruskewitz about a year ago and I just wanted her to share a little bit
about what she's been doing to make our dreams and plans and research and
strategies a reality. Giselle!
Bruskewitz: Thank you! So, um, yeah so I joined, I rejoined the University of Iowa and Iowa
City communities. I went to undergraduate school here. I spent some time in
Pella as assisting ability coordinator and got to do a lot of local food work there,
and one thing that I saw was that the college there was made a real investment in
local food, and so when I started there, they were sourcing about .02%local food
and then at two years later they were sourcing 17%local food, and they had a
fearless leader in their, as the head of their dining staff and brought farmers in and
had them engage with students there, and it really inspired me to see what
institutions could do in purchasing local food if they have a commitment to it.
And so that inspired me to join Field to Family, this non-profit mission that,you
know, I believe deeply, and if you're passionate about food and you can see people
doing good work in the community,um, through Farm to School,through these
farm stand programs and then really excitedly kind of watching this food hub,to
be able to bring those programs together,um, and pair this infrastructural piece
for local food with all of the good education and outreach work that was already
happening,um, through Field to Family and community partners here in Iowa
City and Johnson County, and really the whole south central region,but we're
talking about Iowa City tonight (laughs) so um.....so we all eat food, we get it a
number of different ways. People who find local food find it, you know,
sometimes in the grocery store, sometimes in restaurants. You can go to the
Farmers Market. You can buy a CSA box,um, and some of those more direct-to-
consumer models. Our food hub is directly modeled around institutional sales.
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So, whereas one farmer might have a relationship with our family and we can
meet them at farmers market or we might be able to invest in a CSA to support
their small business, urn, they might not have the capacity to, for instance, what
we learned through the Farm to School program, supply, um, enough sweet
potatoes to feed 8,000 students, or enough cherry tomatoes to feed an entire
district of kids. That same reality exists for lots of institutions in our community.
These places that are really the great equalizer in our food system, because they
provide thousands of meals to people every single day, whether that's in K
through 12 schools, whether that's in colleges and universities, retirement
communities, hospitals, places where people who may not be as fortunate as me
to love and shop at their co-op (laughs) every day, um...uh, will still be able to
have access to fresh, nutrient rich food that is grown by people who are taking
care of our community. So....um, in order to do that, we, uh....started a food hub
last year. We called it a'soft launch,' so with our Table to Table partners we
shared warehouse space with them. They've been gracious enough to allow us to
use their refrigerated fleet. Urn, we purchased a small refrigerated, uh, trailer that
we use as our cold storage infrastructure currently. Urn, it's a cool bot, so it's kind
of a retrofitted A/C unit. You can fit two pallets of food in there, but really not
enough in order to meet the demand that we have identified and that we've been
able to see through institutional customers in our region. So we need to grow our
infrastructure, um, along with having refrigerated cold storage, which is really
important for people in terms of food safety. We've been other to streamline other
processes as well. We have consistent invoicing and labeling. We have
developed an online order management system in order to make sure we can
aggregate product from 20 different farmers in order to bring it in, store it, and
then transport it....to our customers. So like I said,we've developed this
infrastructure. We're still working on these educational pieces. Um, and kind of
helping both ends of people who are working so hard through this cold, rainy
growing season to grow food for our community and then connect them to the
people who wanna buy it and skillfully prepare that in their cafeterias and
kitchens for people who eat every day. And so integrity is super important to us.
There's a lot of green washin' out there, lot of people who say they're doing local
but we've visited and have relationships with every single farmer that we source
from. It truly is certified local. We have the selfies to prove it. Um, so uh, we
wanna continue to support the folks that are working really hard, uh, to grow food
for our community, and we wanna grow thoughtfully so we know we're not gonna
do a million dollars in sales next year, uh,but there was a food hub in Iowa that
was doing that, so we know that it's feasible, urn, and we wanna continue to grow.
Right now we have that soft launch and we see that there's the capacity from local
growers to meet the demand, we hear the demand from our customers, if only we
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could reduce some of the barriers for them to get it. Um, so....any support that,
um, the City of Iowa City can provide to help us reach that goal, we know it's
possible, and we're gonna continue to grow really thoughtfully. We're really
excited. Sent out our first price list of the season this week. So we are getting
into that full launch stage and uh, yeah, we're ready to build it out. So....we
believe everybody deserves access to local food. We think the food hub can really
help provide that. Think it can help our farmers get more access into new markets
in our community and it can help more people in our community get access to
local food.
Kenyon: So again, we want to thank you for considering this. Like again we....like Giselle
said we're growing intentionally. We're using what's already in place,partnerships
and collaborations that are in place, to grow intentionally. We're providing a
service, and at the end of that with our other programs, we're able to provide extra
education of the value of eating more fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately Iowa
citizens aren't on the top of the scale when it comes to the amount of fruits and
vegetables they get every day. We're hoping to improve that....that statistic, urn,
but ultimately, urn, the demand is out there. We have farmers that are growing
great food and they're really good at it. Urn, here we are providing this other
service to ensure that that food is more available to more people. Do you have
any questions (both talking)
Throgmorton: Great. Thank you, Michelle, Giselle. So does anybody have any questions?
Mims: I have a couple, and I'd asked in the work session—this has been a great
presentation because in reading the thing, or memo and stuff, I didn't really have a
full concept of what you're doing. So this has been very helpful. You talked
about institutions and schools, how....how does that work for you when you look
at Iowa and you look at our weather and you look, for example, at our school
schedule? Um, you know, the school's are just getting out. Urn, through certain
programs there's some summer, urn, meal plans and stuff that are available, but
basically our K through 12 are out. At the time....and the University doesn't have
as many students here during the summer, at the exact time our farmers are
producing the most fresh food. So how are....where you....where are your
customers, I guess? When those big institutions don't have that demand, which
maybe is fine for you as you're getting started as well.
Kenyon: Well we have a lot of experience with Farm to School. So we have a lot of
experience sourcing for the school lunch menu. Luckily, I mean they're in session
the last week of August through September, through on, and that's really the best
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time, the biggest bounty we have, um, so....and it can go on. In the past it's gone
on past December. We've been able to source in January. Yes! Growing season is
an issue. Choose local while in season is one of our mottoes and it's true! There's
a lot of locally grown, um, food that's available during the season. Outside of the
season we're looking at diversifying, urn, we're focusing a little bit more on dairy,
local meat as well. But right now we do have a lot of local grown foods available
through, like I said early January, and then we also have innovative farmers that
we're working with, who are utilizing season extensions and hoop houses and all
that, but I will say that harvest dinners start in September and that is really....a
time to celebrate our bounty. So....while we do have those challenges....to us it's
an opportunity,because when it is in season, that's the best time. That is the best
time to taste it, right?
Mims: Thank you.
Kenyon: Thank you!
Taylor: That's a good question and you mentioned the hot houses, so uh, you would
consider some of the fanners that maybe would have greenhouses or...or do, uh,
hydroponic, uh, gardening kinds of things, growing?
Bruskewitz: Yeah I mean I was just thinking of....to that question, um, an example of a farmer
who's growing tomatoes for the District,has for several years, and he's like, well,
I put....I put these, they do succession planting and they utilize both outdoor and
under greenhouse storage to extend the growing season, as Michelle said,but it's
like well I put these in for you guys, you k now, I put these in late for you guys,
and so....a lot of it just gets into....and I don't wanna get into the weeds too much.
That's one weed (laughs) of many weeds, but it's just planning, and trying to do
that collaboratively with people, as Michelle's been doing for 10 years now with
the school districts and getting them to put the right things on the menu when it's
possible.
Taylor: Thanks!
Throgmorton: Other comments from anybody?
Thomas: So who are your....institutional customers again?
Kenyon: Well, like I said earlier we were...I've been a member and we've worked very
collaboratively with the Johnson County Food Policy Council, and they have a,
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uh, commission that really works to research and provide recommendations to the
County. Urn, they have attracted a lot of very interesting players in the
community who are interested in food. Urn, one of those players happens to be
very involved in the dining, um, and catering department at the University of
Iowa and they, ever since we reconnected with them, they've been at the table as
part of our advisory board. So for instance, that's one of them. Also there's
several nursing homes that work with farmers or that want to expand their....their
sourcing for local,urn, and so we're working with them. Um, in general we're
looking at the region. We work with a lot of different farmers that are in Johnson
County, and right on the edge. Most of the farmers we work with do come to
Iowa City, urn, either at the Farmers Market or they have customers here in Iowa
City, and so we've been able to work with them to really talk about what markets
aren't you able to meet, where's the demand, you know, they....they grow good
crops. They don't necessarily grow enough to meet the demand, and so they've
been also very helpful. So we're, like I said, this is a collaborative process
working with the growers, as well as the institutions who are interested in
growing with us.
Cole: Briefly, you're also working with some low income food providers too, aren't you,
I mean....you're doing some direct....
Kenyon: We are with our farm stand program and we're trying to bridge the gap as well to
let them know of this new service that's available, but again, we're new! We're
gonna reach out to a lot of different types of peop....institutions that serve lots of
people, so this is.....we're not, like Giselle said,we're not gonna explode
overnight, you know. We're not gonna have....locally grown tomatoes available
when in season, everywhere you go,but more so, and that's the point. We wanna
expand the access. Does that help, John?
Throgmorton: Any other comments from anybody?
Kenyon: Just another point, we're kind of open, you know, if anybody's interested and who
serves lots of people, we would love to work with you.
Bruskewitz: And, Pauline, I didn't mean to skip over your question. There are some
hydroponic, mostly micro-greens in the region right now. We had to go an hour
and a half to get some lettuces that were hydroponic and, um, if you know
anybody, let us know (laughs)
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Throgmorton: Okay, thanks. Excellent presentation! (several talking in background) All right,
I'm not hearing any other discussion from Council Members. Okay, so uh, roll
call please. Motion carries 6-0.
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13. Approval of the FY20 CDBG/HOME budget- Resolution adopting Iowa
City's FY20 Annual Action Plan which is a subpart of Iowa City's 2016-2020
Consolidated Plan (City Steps).
Throgmorton: So I have in front of me a note from staff. I'm gonna read it. It says the appendix
attached to the resolution is the fiscal year 20 annual action plan activities as
approved by the Housing and Community Development Commission. Council at
the May 21 work session indicated that the Home set aside, for homeowner
rehabilitation, should also include rehabilitation of rental single-family and duplex
properties in targeted neighborhoods for the homeowner rehab program. So
there's an amended resolution in the....June 4th late handouts. So, I need a
motion to approve the amended resolution to provide that Home homeowner
rehab funds can be used for single-family and duplex rentals in targeted
neighborhoods.
Mims: So moved.
Cole: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Cole. Discussion? Are you addressing this?
Okay, go ahead!
Kubly: Hi, Pm Erica Kubly with Neighborhood Services. So the annual action plan is a
HUD required document that outlines how the City will spend CDBG and Home
entitlement funds throughout the upcoming fiscal year. Um, the action plan is
also a sub-part of City STEPS, which is the five-year consolidated plan. Much of
the action plan reviews the goals and priorities set in the consolidated plan, and
describes how the funding for this year will address those goals and priorities.
Um, this is actually the fifth year of our consolidated plan, so we're working with
a consultant right now and through the next several months to come up with our
new plan for FY21 through FY25. Um, up on the screen I have the FY20 HUD
allocations for CDBG and Home. Um.....funds have remained level from FY19
for CDBG but we had a 17% decrease from,um, in Home funds from FY19. So,
um....this chart shows the CDBG and Home funding for Iowa City from 1995
through 2020. Um, CDBG is shown in the blue. Our peak funding came in 1996
with over a million dollars just in CDBG funding, and our lowest funding level
was in 2018, with 567,000. Home is shown in the orange, above the CDBG. Um,
our Home funding peaked in 2004, with about 716,000, and our lowest funding
level was in 2016, with 321,000. And you can also see in that gray line on the
bottom,that's our admin levels. And this is the same information, adjusted for
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inflation, so you can really see the downward trend in federal funding in this one.
And this table outlines the project allocations for FY20. Urn, we....we can use up
to 15% of our CDBG funds for public services, so that's Aid to Agencies and then
we, uh,pair that with local funds, so the first few projects are, urn, were allocated
through Aid to Agencies. Urn, next is public facility projects, which include
DVIP and Old Brick. Urn, neighborhood improvements is the$75,000 set aside,
where we work with Parks and Rec, urn, to identify a project in a low income area
of the community. This year I believe we're working on a project, urn, that'll be in
Wetherby and possibly one in Fairmeadows as well. Urn, the next set aside is for,
urn, housing rehab. Um, as you mentioned before, this has historically been
owner occ...occupied rehab, but at the May 21st Council work session, urn,
Council directed staff to allow rental rehab for single-family and duplex
properties, with the home rehab funds. So staff is recommending with the
adoption of the action plan that we include this, so we can begin implementing it,
urn, in FY20. And then moving on to other housing activities, they include rental
new construction, rehab and acquisition, home buyer assistance, as well as our
(mumbled) funds to the Housing Fellowship. Urn, we have $50,000 in an
economic development set-aside, which we use for small business assistance.
And then we have our admin and planning costs, which are limited to 20% of the
CDBG and 10% of the Horne funds. And you'll notice that the totals are a little
big higher than our annual allocation, and that's due to programming(mumbled)
unallocated funds we've had from previous years. And so...our next steps for this,
urn, the action plan is due to HUD on June 11th and then we'll complete our
(mumbled) and execute agreements and start the projects.
Throgmorton: Great. Thanks, Erica! Any questions for Erica? Uh, I don't hear any questions.
Thank you. We have a motion on the floor. Council discussion? Hearing(both
talking)
Mims: ....somebody else does all this detailed work(laughter)
Thomas: Thank you for your....your(both talking)
Mims: Glad you understand it, Erica! (laughter) Lot of details there!
Throgmorton: Okay, that's enough discussion! (laughter) Only kidding! If anybody else wants
to speak, please do. Roll call please. Motion carries 6-0.
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14. FY20 Emerging Aid to Agencies- Resolution allocating human services
Emerging Aid to Agencies funding for the Fiscal Year 2020,July 1, 2019—
June 30,2020.
Throgmorton: Could I have a motion to approve please?
Teague: So moved.
Thomas: So moved.
Throgmorton: Moved by Teague, seconded by Thomas. Discussion? Is anybody gonna address
this or....are we just gonna....oh! Erica! Go ahead!
Kubly: Urn, so last summer HCDC reviewed the Aid to Agency allocation process and set
aside about 5% of the funding allocation for what we named emerging agencies.
Um, this was defined as agencies that have not existed as a legal entity for at least
two years or have not received Aid to Agen...Aid to Agency funding in the past
five years. So any....organization that doesn't qualify for the regular legacy pool
of Aid to Agencies would fall into this category as well. Um, the minimum
funding amount was $5,000. We received six applications, for a total request of
$78,970 and had set aside 19,000 for this, um, for the emerg... emerging funds.
HCDC selected Center for Worker Justice, Grow Johnson County, and Successful
Living as the emerging agency recipients this year.
Throgmorton: Okay, any questions for Erica?
Mims: I'll just...mention not spec...it relates to the emerging and relates to the legacy as
well,but I think it's really important that as a Council we have, urn, a work
session item to really discuss this whole Aid to Agencies and the difference
between the emerging and the legacy. I'd like, if we have staff memos, urn, that
go back to the origination of this, what the....what the Council discussion was at
that point in time, and the intent. This is something that Councilor Botchway, um,
kind of initiated and we talked about it, um, I....I'd like to kind of review what
that was, and then I think we need to have another discussion. I think there's, um,
I think there's issues in terms of how much money is going to the legacy versus
the emerging and I think even looking at the minutes of HCDC, there's questions
and concerns about how we're defining the emerging and before HCDC discusses
that and tries to make that decision, I think we need to have that conversation at
the Council level, based on how this whole thing was initiated. So, I mean I will
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support this, but I would put forth I think....I think we need to have a more
detailed discussion.
Throgmorton: What do the rest of you think about that?
Taylor: I would agree and if we need the three or four to add it as a work session topic I
would agree with that.
Thomas: Sure.
Teague: Same here. Yes.
Throgmorton: Okay, so you wanna, uh, work session(several talking) Yeah. Okay. Got that
over there?
Fruin: Yes.
Throgmorton: (laughs) All right, so now to the topic at hand, you know, good points.
Cole: The only comment I would make is (clears throat) is the HCDC recommendation,
obviously we, urn, defer greatly to that. One....one, uh, non-profit that I just
wanna highlight is the Johnson Clean Energy District. Urn, I do think that as we
look at ramping up our climate action action, it's gonna be extremely important
moving into the future that we identify robust non-profits that can assist our
community in reaching our goals. So we're not here to, you know, quibble with
individual funding allocations,but I would want to highlight that, and that is
based upon a very successful non-profit model in Winneshiek County that has
been essential to making them a leader. So,just wanted to highlight that, um, as
something we need to think about moving forward, urn, but for now I think we
need to defer to the HCDC recommendations.
Throgmorton: Rockne, on that point I think there is considerable potential with regard to
the...the, yeah, what's the....(both talking) uh, but I note that there...I think it's
$5,000 in the climate action grant program for(both talking)
Monroe: Yes, they did receive a climate action grant for(both talking) It's not the same
project that they proposed to HCDC, but....along those same lines (mumbled)
Throgmorton: Yeah,but I think there's considerable potential there, so we'll have to revisit that
(mumbled) in the future.
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Cole: Not tonight.
Throgmorton: Yeah. Okay, any other, uh, discussion about this topic? Uh, I'm hearing none.
Roll call please. Motion carries 6-0.
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15. FY20 Legacy Aid to Agencies -Resolution allocating human services Legacy
Aid to Agencies funding for the Fiscal Year 2020,July 1, 2019—June 30,
2020.
Throgmorton: Could I have a motion to approve please?
Teague: So moved.
Cole: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Teague, seconded by Cole. Discussion?
Mims: I'm not gonna (both talking)
Throgmorton: Hold on, uh, I just noticed(mumbled)
Kubly: Really quickly, urn, so just again the legacy agencies are defined as agencies that
have existed as a legal entity for at least two years and have also received Aid to
Agency funding in the any of the last five years. Urn, HCDC recommended full
funding for all applicants. Urn, this is a one-time increase in budgeted funds,
rather than the two-year cycle that we, urn, proposed last year. Um, and HCDC
also they are reviewing the Aid to Agency process and this was a new thing we
did this fiscal year and um,we're planning to conduct another funding round in
FY20.
Throgmorton: Thank you. Any questions for Erica? Okay. Council discussion? Susan?
Mims: Yeah, I'm not gonna support this and this goes back to that February meeting, um,
that unfortunately I couldn't be here,but I had talked to three other Councilors,
um, you know,basically as I was sitting at O'Hare. I talked about this request for
this big jump in the budget for the one time, and I.....I just don't feel that that
was....was an appropriate way to do it. Urn, I think as we look at the way we do
our budgeting, urn, and I know it was done for a one-year basis,but I'll tell ya,
I've talked to a number of the....the people involved in those agencies and they
were just absolutely shocked that....that (mumbled) however much thousand was
added, urn, you know, to that budget,they certainly did not expect that. What
they want and I....and I agree with this and with that work session request, what I
would say is I think we need to talk in detail about all of our Aid to Agency
process,both for the, urn, emerging and for the legacy and how do we...you know,
how do we build in those incremental increases,but how do those also work with
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any bigger one-time dollars that we do, and if you'll recall we had a memo from
Geoff, I think, around that time that talked about some of the other funding
outside of Aid to Agencies that we were doing to those non-profits and going back
to things like the 1105 project, where I think we....I think the City did $100,000
match grant, and some other things, you know, like that that we've done outside of
this, and so on the one hand I totally agree we need to find a way to increase, urn,
these dollars on kind of a systematic basis so these....agencies can continue to do
the work. Obviously their costs go up every year just like ours do at the City, and
certainly don't want any of these to miss out on federal funding, you know, grant
opportunities and things like that. But I really think we need to have that whole
discussion as part of that work session,but I just...I cannot agree with that one-
time,uh....I don't think it was necessary and I don't think procedurally it made
sense. So I will not be supporting this.
Cole: The only thing I would say is is that, as we talked about before, I think they just
made the case. I mean they made a very persuasive case that funding had
remained flat for several years while population had gone up, as well as needs
have gone up, so....we did indicate this was a one-time course correction, urn, but
that said,um, I....I think in some respects I viewed it as....sort of resetting the
deck a little bit in terms of the....the previous flat funding that had been for a
number of different years. I think Susan's right though,budgeting does involve
tough choices, um, but I think under these particular circumstances, they made a
very compelling fact-based case. So that's why....it would have been nice, I mean
I know you were gone,but it was a very persuasive data-driven presentation, um,
that I found compelling to warrant this.
Throgmorton: Other comments?
Thomas: (mumbled)just basically agree with Rockne. I think, urn, I went into that
discussion really with an open mind in terms of, you know, we had the staff
report,had not heard directly from the Commission, and uh, the Commission
made a very compelling, thoughtful, data-driven recommendation for support for
their decision, and urn.....I voted accordingly. Knowing again that this was a one
....one-time allocation.
Throgmorton: Anyone else?
Fruin: Mayor, before ya take a vote, if....if you're about to, if I could just get some
clarification, uh, so we can communicate to staff and the HCDC Commission.
Uh, as Erica alluded to, HCDC has expressed an interest to revisit the Aid to
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Agency program themselves. Do you want us to....press pause on that process
and allow Council to schedule a work session, uh, and...so that you can give them
some....some direction or....are you okay with those processes (both talking)
Throgmorton: That's kind of a broad statement to revisit HCDC's......or the Aid to Agencies
process or...you know....can you be more specific about what their desire is?
Kubly: Sure, so at the past couple meetings they've been kinda just reviewing, um, what's
working what....what didn't work, urn, with the past, urn, funding round and, urn,
possibly coming up with proposed changes. I know they're also interested in
discussing the funding amounts as well.
Mims: As I read the minutes,my sense was a lot of that, and help me if I'm wrong, Erica,
but is related to that difference between the legacy and the emerging, and also
how the emerging are defined.
Kubly: Yep! Yep, that's (mumbled)
Mims: Okay. I....I think that discussion needs to start at Council. I think this whole
process of emerging versus legacy started here. Um, I think....I think we need to
have a discussion first at the Council level. Um, and then certainly either give
them direction and let them flush out more details, and/or if we decide we wanted
to, uh, we can either just give them direction or we can....give them our ideas and
let them review it, and/or we could even have a joint meeting,but I think the
discussion needs to start at the Council level.
Throgmorton: I agree. I think our job is to set policy. And so.....so......that's what I would say.
We should have the discussion here first.
Cole: I don't have a problem with working in....in parallel. I think that it would be a
conversation to have both bodies, um, exchange ideas. Obviously we would have
the final say, but....I don't have any problem with it working in parallel at the
same time.
Thomas: Yeah, I understand the idea that we set policy, but as we....even as we've, many of
us have commented in reviewing their recommendations.....I feel HCDC is more
familiar with kind of the rigor and the detailed aspects of this,uh,that might help
inform....how we.....consider policy. So I certainly would be interested in....in
their thoughts, um, and maybe, you know, in parallel is the way to go, I...I don't
know.
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Mims: I guess I would just question if in parallel is....is potentially a waste of their time,
since we do set policy. Um, and....and to me where this all started was with this
setting aside a certain amount of money for emerging agencies. I think one of the
first things that we need to talk about as a council is how do we define an emerg
....an emerging agency? Um, because my sense is.....that it didn't get defined the
way I....I recall, and my recollection may be wrong, that I recall our Council
discussion. Urn, in terms of looking at the minutes of the HCDC. So to me, that's
one of the core things that we need to decide how we think it should be dec...
should be defined. I'm not at all opposed to going through that discussion, giving
it to HCDC, and then having them look at it, and if they wanted to come back and
say this is how you defined it, but we think you've missed something. We think
there's some other options that you ought to look at, I'm more than open to....to
having that kind of input from them. When it comes down to the detail at the
individual agencies and who they allocate to, I'm still glad to (laughs) (both
talking)
Thomas: I mean one thought I'm just having is you know how we have often staff provided
before we deliberate staff provides....a memo....um, to help inform that
conversation. Perhaps a memo from HCDC to help....as a contributing, to
contribute to the conversation?
Throgmorton: Well it sort of depends on what....what the conversation is gonna focus on. Like
if the conversation is do we wanna have money go to legacy agencies versus, uh,
emerging agencies, and if so, what do we mean by an emerging agency? If that's
the question, that's somethin'we should deal with. If the question is how should
the money be allocated? I want advice from HCDC. I don't wanna be goin'
through all those agencies and tryin' to figure out how to allocate the funds. And
if there's some other way to frame the question, I'm open to hearin'what that other
way is, but....
Cole: So I guess we just need to get the votes on it,because my sense is that by getting
that information from them, we'll have a richer discussion at our table. So that's
why I'm supporting the parallel. So I think I have two. So now we need to see
what the other two think. (several talking)
Throgmorton: ...about what specifically?
Cole: Emerging versus legacy. They've been applying this for the last several years.
(several talking)
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Throgmorton: This is the first year that(both talking)
Cole: First year, okay, well they've applied it for this year, and so we need to get their
feedback, in terms of how that first year went. And in terms of on the ground how
that went. I...I don't see that that's a problem. I mean it's not a crisis if we decide
to go first,but....my recollection is that we're counting noses to determine which
way we wanna go.
Taylor: I'm kind of in agreement with Susan. I think perhaps they didn't get adequate
guidance from the Council to begin with on the definition or what we really meant
by...emerging versus the legacy. So I....
Throgmorton: (both talking)All right we have a topic we need to discuss more thoroughly.
What we have before us though is a motion, and it's about allocating the funds,
and so far we know that one person is, you know, uh, Susan has said that she's not
gonna vote in favor,but do we need any more discussion about the allocation,the
funds....about the motion before us? All right, I'm hearing none. Roll call please.
Motion carries 6-0.
Mims: 5-1!
Throgmorton: (several talking) Oh, I'm sorry! (laughter) My bad!
Mims: Kellie probably has it right,but just for public record(laughing)
Throgmorton: Um....yeah, so we do need to have a follow up discussion about this particular
question about whether we want to act on our own with regard to emerging versus
legacy and so on, or whether we want to seek the advice of HCDC.
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16. Council Appointments
16.a.Airport Commission—One vacancy to fill an unexpired term, effective
upon appointment—June 30, 2022
Throgmorton: We have three applicants for one unexpired term with a female balance
requirement for the Airport Commission. And the applications are from Scott
Clair, Minnetta Gardinier, and Judy Pfohl. Uh....Scott is a man, so....uh, there's a
problem. Uh.....I would recommend Judy Pfohl. Not without meaning anything
derogatory toward Mar....uh, Minnetta Gardinier. She's clearly served well for
two consecutive terms and has great background. So, are there any objections to
appointing Judy Pfohl?
Cole: Nope!
Taylor: I agree.
Throgmorton: Okay, urn, without objection, or we need a motion. Could I have a motion to
appoint(both talking)
Teague: So moved.
Cole: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Teague, seconded by Cole. All in favor say aye. Opposed. Motion
carries. Thank you.
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20. City Council Information
Throgmorton: Uh, could we start with....who was I gonna start with? Start with Pauline and
move to the right, and....we could condense the other stuff that we usually do,
uh.....into this, conflate them,put them together. So if you have other notes for
the work session stuff about the agencies or boards or commissions that you're
serving on, please do it.
Taylor: I was gonna ask if we could do that. Uh, cause I just had a couple, um, meetings
that I'd gone to, uh, last Wednesday several of us also attended the MPO meeting,
uh, which is always a great thing to hear about,uh,updates on projects and, uh,
the trail projects, and uh, the rail, ride the rails, which I know at a previous
meeting, some of you reported that you'd....you'd had the opportunity to ride the
rail and they're still interested in that project, talking that it could be another year
or so yet before we might see anything with that. Uh, they also talked about the
trail projects and handed out the new trails map, which is...it's exciting cause the
cover girl on the front is, uh, a community,uh, young lady that's part of the, um,
women bike group, uh, that bikes to school. This one in particular apparently
from Weber Elementary to school. So that's exciting. So we'll be seeing these
new maps (mumbled) uh, then on, uh,Thursday I went to the, uh, Chief Elected
Officials/Regional Workforce Development meeting in Cedar Rapids. Uh, that's a
regional,uh,with 10, or seven counties represented—Linn, Jones, Johnson, Iowa,
Washington, and Cedar—so it's a large group,but that's,uh, like the MPO it's
great, uh, also to see people from other counties and....and having some of the
similar things that, uh, we're going through. Uh, under member announcements,
uh, on the agenda, representatives from all of the areas talked about their concern
with the condition of the roads with the rough winter and, uh, the availability of
the materials to repair the roads, cause we'd heard that also, that that was a
challenge and....and that the price went up on most materials. So other
communities are suffering that, uh, that same, uh....problem. Uh,they announced
that this week, part of it is the Workforce Development of course, and uh, they
announced a new web site,uh, it's going to be a new system for the Iowa Jobs, uh,
Work section, uh, and they showed a preview of that, uh, for job seekers,
employers, and the provider agencies. IowaWorks.gov and, uh,people can do
more without having to rely on a human. They just go in, people like me that are
technically challenged might have an issue, but particularly the younger folks, uh,
that's....that'll be a great opportunity for them to do that. And as far as, uh,
community activities, uh, this Saturday is the Longfellow Front Porch Festival,
somewhere in the Longfellow neighborhood, uh,but that's something that
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happens throughout the summer in the different neighborhoods, so that'll be a fun
thing, uh, which that's also remember (both talking)
Throgmorton: Terrific event!
Taylor: ....presented, yeah it's always a fun event,uh, wear orange day, don't forget to
wear orange, uh, for the Iowa Moms Demand Action, and then just reminder to
folks that with, uh, summer gearing up the farmers markets, the Friday Night
Concerts, Parties in the Park, Pride Fest, the Juneteenth Celebration—many, many
things going on. So...keep an eye out for those things!
Throgmorton: Great, thanks. Bruce?
Teague: All right, so um, I was able to attend the MPOJC,um, meetin'that was held, uh,
last Wednesday. And that was held at the North Liberty City Hall. Urn, after that
John and I attended a listening post, which I'll defer that to you, to kinda give
updates (laughing)um....about. Um, and then after that, I actually went to
'houses and to homes.' They had a fundraiser at Hudson's, urn, later that night
and that was a great event and it was well attended. Um, on Saturday I got the
opportunity....well this weekend we experienced, urn, Summer of the Arts, um,
event down, uh, downtown with the Arts Fest,um, and that was a collaboration
with, uh, various entities, of course, City of Iowa City. Urn, that was a fabulous
event, lots and lots of people attended. It was super crowded (laughs) so that was
a good....that was a good thing. Um, I was able to attend on this past Thursday.
It was,urn, Faith Academy, um, they're affiliated with Parkview Church and The
Spot. Um, they have grades,um, I believe it might be K through sixth,but I know
there's six grades, so maybe it's first through sixth grade, where, um, they started
the school and they developed, urn, each grade, each year, and so this was the first
graduating class, and there were some people that had, urn, some scholars that
have started, they were a part of the first class ever. So that was great to see. Um,
other than that, urn, lots of things goin' on in our great city. I encourage people to
get out, urn, as Pauline said because, um, this month, June, is Pride Month.
There's a lot of events happening. Um, a hunger banquet is gonna go on next, urn,
with the community. Um, they have a huger...hunger banquet that's gonna go on
the 13th of...June as well as Juneteenth has a couple of events that are gonna
....gonna be happening. So I do encourage people to get out and....and just enjoy
the summer. It is approaching, as well as all these great events.
Throgmorton: Great! Rockne?
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Cole: Jim,just to clarify, you're not wanting to go over any packet material or anything
like that now. You said you're condensing a few things (both talking) Okay. So
several different things, urn, first off I don't know if any of the community has
been able to be downtown and see all the wonderful landscaping that we have,
both in front of City Hall as well as our city ped mall. I mean it is spectacular,
and so if all you out there listening, if you have not been downtown to see the
landscaping at the ped mall, I think it's just phenomenal. These sort of beautiful,
exotic plants. I....I had no idea such plants could even grow in this sort of st...
um, city, and even a friend of mine when I posted something on Facebook thought
it looked like a truffula tree from Dr. Seuss. It was that good! Uh, so major
kudos to our landscaping, you know, everyone that we've worked with. I think it's
just incredible, um, what you guys have accomplished. Urn....one of the things
that, uh.....Jim and I and....and.....and Susan had done a day or two ago was our
Economic Development Committee, uh, meeting. We had a very good discussion
on our use of the, um....property tax, uh, abatement, and I think that is gonna be a
really key tool moving forward as we look at how we're gonna incentive
potentially renewable infrastructure. lib, we do have a lot of limitations in terms
of what we can require, um,but as we look forward in terms of our property tax
abatement, using it for potentially affordable housing, using it potentially for
renewable energy infrastructure. One idea that even was at least bandied about
was this concept of childcare, you know, finding additional incentives for those
sorts of infrastructures. Complicated issue, urn, but I think certainly as our
community moves forward, uh, we need to have a lot of continuing conversations
about using the tools that we do have. Urn, it was the end of the school year and I
just wanna thank the Iowa City School District for another wonderful year of
fantastic administration and all these new projects corning online. It was great to
see a school year come to an end and the summer beginning, and finally, um, we
meet with the City of Literature and we're in the process of reviewing what's on
schedule for next year. So it was a real productive meeting and we're in the
process of sort of identifying what's in store! So that's pretty much it for now!
Thomas: Well I'll mention, uh....related to the MPO, uh, you know their board of super...
the Johnson County Board of Supervisors is represented on the board, and uh, at
our last meeting, you know I expressed, uh, you know concerns about the, uh,
fatality, the bicycle fatality down near,uh, the Johnson County Fairgrounds. I
actually on the tour, uh,that....of the Crandic line had kind of preliminarily
discussed it with a couple of board members, and urn, you know they were
interested and as it turns out, and I learned this at the MPO meeting, you know, I
had already prepared a draft, you know, letter that, you know, we talked about
sending to the board, that they'd already had a budget item, um, plan, which
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would be to, urn,build a shoulder on those portions of Old 218 that didn't have a
shoulder. So that....that's their response to the situation, you know, the
contributed most likely to the, uh....you know, so the problems, the lack of safety
along that....that section of the corridor. So that....that issue is closed, uh, for
now. Um....and then, uh, after that, as Bruce said, we had our listening post
(laughs) It was a busy night, uh, that day. And, uh, you know it was at Lenune
Elementary. So I always think these listening posts, we distribute them around
town to try to get a sense of what's....what's going on in different parts of Iowa
City. Well in this case, the....most of the attendees were from the 100 Grannies
(laughs) so we (laughing) it was,that was....that was the focus. Uh, it was very
.....lively conversation and, uh, we suggested that they send material, which I
think we've all received, which I think is useful, because often, especially on an
issue such as climate action,that's a very, very broad topic. So it's....it's useful in
my mind in....in suggesting that they submit some materials that they might find,
that we might find useful, that we get an idea of where they're coming from on
climate action. Urn, so I hope you had a....you have a chance to review those.
Um, and I'll leave it at that for now.
Mims: Um, with the Access Center, we're continue...continuing to move forward and
have a two-hour session looking at some of the branding ideas, urn, from Meld,
and urn, trying to move forward with getting a name and a brand and, you know,
all those kinds of things. So looking forward to some progress on that, and would
just like to add, you know, Pauline kinda made the comment, you know, school's
out, we're into the summer and certainly take advantage. The rain has quit, for a
day or two at least, urn, but just....I just hope people take advantage of all the
great activities we have in Iowa City and Johnson County over the summer. Uh,
whether it's the various festivals, you know, the Parties in the Park, get out on
your bike, go down to Terry Trueblood, whatever it might be, um, summer in
Iowa is short, so get out and enjoy it, and be safe!
Throgmorton: Great! Well I have a few things to mention, uh.....Simon, uh, a couple police
officers, and I participated in the Partnership for Alcohol Safety's meeting on May
the 23rd, and there's a little bit of restructuring going on. So in the future, Melissa
Shivers and I are going to act primarily...or the mayor and the....person in
Melissa's position, are gonna act primarily as sponsors, and attend periodically or
regularly if either of us wants to,but.....the....the people who will be chairing the
meetings will be Tanya Villhauer from the University and Nancy Bird from the
Downtown District. So, and....and the overall organization's gonna meet
quarterly, which is pretty much what it does now,but it's also subdivided into four
committees, and that's the key thing, cause there's some work being done at
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committee level. So one is education and training, a second is regulatory
environments, a third is marketing, and the fourth is place management. So I
think some good work taking place, uh, at a deeper level now in the Partnership
for Alcohol Safety than had been the case before. Likewise, not likewise, also the
Metro Coalition is gonna be holding it's post-legislative session meeting on June
the 18th. Uh, or....that's correct about the date, isn't it, Geoff? That's what I have
written down (both talking)
Fruin: Yes, that's correct.
Throgmorton: Yeah and,uh, I don't know, you and I haven't talked about it,but I'm hoping that
both of us can go up to it. All right so there's that and then, uh, I have a few
things I wanna mention about, urn, other stuff goin' on. So....(mumbled) kinda
quickly. Uh....was it yesterday? Yeah,just yesterday, Geoff,Ashley, and I met
with 'student climate strikers.' Uh, and that was a pretty interesting conversation.
Uh, they're clearly quite passionate and....committed and motivated for very good
and clear reasons, uh, and we had a very fruitful conversation with them in the
spirit of dialogue, you know, uh, but I would say it's....it seemed pretty clear to
me that they and a couple adults....allies that came with them did not know some
basic facts about the situation we face. For example, that 53% of our carbon
emissions are generated by Mid American and its electricity generation,uh,
process and the University of Iowa's power plant. So (laughs) we have no control
over what those two organizations do. Uh, and likewise they did not know that
the State has preempted our power to....have stricter energy efficiency standards
than what the State Code currently calls for. So when....when people say we
should be requiring net-zero new, uh, new construction to meet net-zero carbon
emission requirements, we can't! So I....I think we got that,those kinds of points
across to them pretty well, uh,but....they're also driven by their passionate desire
to make change happen very quickly, and I think it was a good meeting. I'm
happy we did it and we'll see what comes of it. Let me mention just a couple
other things. I guess U of I Flood Center is celebrating its 10th anniversary on
Thursday. It's gonna be an all-day celebration over in the, uh,the power....not the
power plant. The hydrological building across the river. Be a good thing for any
of you to go to if you can. And let's see (both talking)
Thomas: ....that's the 13th, Jim, is (both talking)
Throgmorton: What'd I say?
Thomas: You said Thursday.
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Throgmorton: Uh....
Thomas: It's a week from Thursday.
Throgmorton: Is it a week from Thursday? I thought it was on the 6th.
Thomas: I have the 13th.
Throgmorton: Well I make mistakes like that all the time (several talking and laughing)
Thomas: (several talking) ...need to check.
Throgmorton: Yeah, double-check the date. Sorry. Yeah. Uh.....let's see.....I wanna mention
two other things of the fairly long list I have. I want you to know that I have been
contacted by....members of Mayor de Blasio's campaign staff about his interest in
possibly doing a walking tour of downtown and I've said to them I'd be happy to
do that with you, so long as it's understood that I would make a similar offer to
any other candidate for President, regardless of party. Or anybody, I mean a
governor or anybody else who had a similar kind of interest. So it could well be
that there will be, um, such a walking tour Sunday afternoon,probably around
6:00. It's not been confirmed yet. So I don't know for certain, but I don't wanna
catch you by surprise if in fact that happens. The other thing I guess I will
mention is I wanna ask you whether any of you intend....plan to attend the
Mayor's Innovation Project on August 1 through 3, in Columbia, South Carolina?
I'm seeing a no. I'm (several talking) seeing a no. Seeing a no. I mean (several
talking)
Teague: Yeah, I responded personally. (both talking)
Throgmorton: Okay.
Cole: Unless they wanted to move the conference for me(both talking)
Throgmorton: Yeah. Well maybe we could have'em come here (both talking) I'm serious about
that! It'd be a good thing to do.
Thomas: It's August 1 through 3, did you say?
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Throgmorton: Yes! If no Council Member could go, I think it would be great if one staff
member went. And course that's your call there, Geoff, but....okay, so, uh, I have
other things I could mention,but I won't.
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21. Report on Items from City Staff
a. City Manager
Throgmorton: Geoff?
Fruin: Nothing.
Throgmorton: Ashley?
Monroe: We put out the chicken survey on social media last Friday. So, urn, strategic
priorities of our residents can provide feedback based on your existing strategic
plan initiatives, and urn, keep watching for it. We'll be pushing out more over the
course of the summer and appearing at, urn, the Farmers Market and Party....
Party in the Park, uh, nearing the fiscal year kickoff on July 1st. So....um,watch
for more information. That's it!
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council
regular formal meeting of June 4,2019.