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Council Present: Cole, Mims, Salih, Teague, Taylor, Thomas, Throgmorton
Staff Present: Fruin, Monroe, Andrew, Dilkes, Fruehling, Knoche, Havel, Sitzman,
Laverman, Nations, Hightshoe, Ford, Bockenstedt, Weinard
Others Present: Lenkaitis (UISG)
Determine funding source for the $25k Houses into Homes contribution 1IP31:
Throgmorton/ So I'd like to say just a little bit about this before we, uh, continue our discussion.
Seems to me we can't really focus on the sources of funding for Houses into Homes until
we firmly decide whether we want to stick with last meeting's decision. I think, um, well
I'll speak for myself. I've been involved in numerous discussions about the topic over the
past two weeks. Uh, those discussions have influenced my thinking, uh, and I .... I know
that many of you have been involved in other discussions as well. So .... I think the first
thing we need to do is decide whether we wanna stick with the ... our decision from two
weeks ago. Beyond that, let me say just a few things. Uh.... uh, the .... I'm gonna say
somethin' about Houses into Homes and I'm gonna say somethin' about, uh.... uh.....um
....my own decision from two weeks ago, and then .... urn ..... maybe some...say somethin'
else, but anyhow, I greatly admire the good work that Lucy Barker, Salina McCarty, and
other volunteers and Houses into Homes have been doing over the past two years. They
saw an important community need that was not being met adequately, and then created an
organization, which has been responding to that need. Moreover they presented us with a
compelling argument about why we should help them by providing $25,000 in one-time
funding. Why, one might ask, did they not apply for funding through the standard Aid to
Agencies' process. It's my understanding they did not apply for such funding this year
because as a new volunteer organization, they did not even know about it until it was too
late to apply. I wanna honor their voluntary efforts and .... take that into account as I
make my own personal decision about this tonight. And yet in retrospect, I think my own
decision on November the 4th, to provide that funding, was based on insufficient
information and inadequate consultation with other interested parties, especially major
service providers. I meant no disrespect to any of those agencies, all of which are doing
vital work for our community's well-being. Uh.... I deeply respect every single one of
them and the individuals involved in them. And as a result of various conversations I've
been part of, I now have a much better understanding of their perspective toward our
Houses into Homes' funding decision two weeks ago. So, two weeks .... no, not two
weeks ago. Early this morning I was pretty clear about what I was gonna do during this
meeting. I was going to recommend that we temporarily defer action on the requested
funding and direct the staff to invite relevant organizations to participate in an inter-
agency task force, which would explore ways in which the affected organizations could
better coordinate the delivery of furniture to people in need. Uh, but that was early this
morning. I've had some more conversations since then. So I'm not certain what I think. 1
would very much like to hear what the rest of you think and take that into account as I
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come to my own decision. But .... key question: do we wanna stick with our prior
decision? (several responding)
Teague/ I....I think the Mayor, you bring up some, uh, things that I .... I admire you bringin' up
publicly, just to acknowledge that we all, um .... over the past two weeks, myself
specifically, have been able to talk to various people, uh, within our community that had
concerns about our decision, as well as some that supported our .... our decision and so...
um, I have toiled (laughs) with a lot of the things that you've mentioned. Um, one of the
questions is even, you know, do we, uh, form .... a group together, like halt it? Do we
form a group together to kind of say 'what do we do nextT And I think there could be
some valuable things to that, um, but the one .... but there's a couple of things that I, um,
that I just .... that resonate with me. If we halt it, then, you know .... and we're not talk ... I
mean people think, um, the word 'emergency' may not be appropriate. I think .... you
know, the need is there, ultimately. If we halt it, I .... I'm afraid that when it comes back to
us, it's gonna be, um .... potentially rushed in the decision-makin' process, uh, all parties
involved. Um .... I, and I really think it's a bigger .... and it's really because it's a bigger
thing. It's not that it's rushed because they can't come together and create a solution. I
really think that the....the, what we're talkin' about is bigger than Houses into Homes.
We're talkin' about how do Council deal with an emergency request. I think that's what
we're talkin' about. It's bigger than Houses into Homes. And the individuals that I've
been talkin' to that, um, would like to have that discussion, I think they already have
some great ideas on, um, talkin' about collaborating and lookin' at programs versus
agencies and .... and all that stuff, so I think the ideas are there. Um, I think there's ways
to move forward, but I don't know that....you know, the timeframe it needs to be real
intentional, um .... and allowed to really like come together, you know, maybe you'll
wanna take a different avenue, you know, through all the process, when the groups come
together. So that's my challenge is I really believe that this is bigger than a Houses into
Homes, um .... resolution for what the Council is doin' currently, is my understandin', that
we .... we have two process.... well, we have a process, and that's what, you know, the ... a
lot of this is talkin' about the process. And I believe in the process. I....100%. I think
there's value when we're talkin' about equity, um, consistency, how we vet individuals. I
believe that 100%. I think it's .... I think, um, predictable. I think we need to do that.
But there's also the current process of emergency funding, and that comes to Council,
and Council listens and they can determine, based on the emergency fundin' request. I
think right now we .... this is a part of that process. We don't advertise it, uh, for various
reasons (laughs) but it's a part of the process. So for me, I'm going to go ahead and stick
with my original support. Um, I ... what I would ask is that we prioritize and staff I would
ask (laughs) really to prioritize and let us move forward with some emergency, um, plans
for requests like this. We want it to be predictable. We want it to have like a format, um,
and ... and .... and, so that's what I would say and if any Councilors would support that,
then we can direct the staff to really, um, cause I think that's very valuable to us. In the
future we really need to figure out how we will deal with emergency funding. Right now
it is Council's decision to deal with emergency funding.
Salih/ Okay, I .... you know we heard from (mumbled) a lot of organizations who came to oppose
this, uh, like either I heard from them through they meeting me or send me emails or
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(mumbled) but we never heard from the people who profit out of this. Let me tell you
my story. When I came here to Iowa City, I didn't even have bed for my kids. I went, as
somebody.... like a friend of mine, she said, you know what, there's a (unable to
understand). Go there and get some furniture! I went there, they told me that I have to
have a voucher. I said, okay, where do you get that voucher from? She said if I have....
if I go to the Crisis Center, or if I, like the Human Service or whoever people that have
(mumbled) from them, they can give me that. I went to the Crisis Center and they wrote
me a voucher. I took the voucher, went to the Furniture Project, was very happy to see
that I could find bed and mattress for my kids. I bought'em, my kids was very happy.
Even that the way that my house look like has even changed after we had the furniture. It
become look like really nice. I start like also telling people about Furniture Project,
whoever come to you I will just refer them (mumbled) do the same thing that happen to
me. I know a lot of people who benefit out from the Furniture Project. I was very sad
when I heard that they closed. Because a lot people is still not finding furniture. The
people that I've been referring, I ask them, you know, I become a source for a lot of low-
income people in the community. They come to me and ask me where we can find this,
where we can find that, and they (mumbled) also the Center for Worker Justice member,
most of them are low-income and they ask for that. We could not find Furniture Project
no longer there. We don't know how to tell people ... I help people who graduated from
the Shelter House, how do I help them? I reach out to Sally Hartman, bless her heart.
She is from the Unitarian Universalist Society Church. She and I, I hope she was here,
we were really working hard to find the furniture for the people. We going around,
collecting furniture. We ask somebody who have truck. Sometime even advertising in
Facebook, somebody have a truck so we can just move this furniture to some people.
We .... we really help a lot of peoples. Maybe four of them, they graduated from the
Shelter House, through that rehabiting house program. The Shelter House maybe can
give them some, but they cannot give them everything. But, because maybe that's been
the main work for the Shelter House. I appreciate all the organization, all the good work
that the organization does, but the Furniture Project is really important. The people who
met with me they said, how come just those people they can work with those
organization, and they don't have to have stand alone like organization (mumbled) . No,
that's not true. If some people (unable to understand) and some people know Sally, not a
lot people know (unable to understand), not a lot people who need know Sally. So we
can give them help. That's why we need an organization, just like the Furniture Project,
and we need organization who have a person who will be responsible to reach out to
those people. A person who I can refer to. I know that many volunteers said they're
gonna help the ... the House into Home. (unable to understand) yes, you are .... at the end
of the day you are volunteer. Sometime when you have time, sometime you don't have
time. You know the other organization, if they wanna do this, they should of done it
between the time that the Furniture Project closed and the House into Home like
establish. I know they been doing, but maybe they have a limited capacity to cover the
whole community. That's why Sally and I and a lot volunteer (unable to understand) I
don't wanna say names because I will forget some, but I really would like to thank 'em
from here because we been doing this job. That's why I still, I understand, I believe in
the process. I understand that we have to follow like the .... the, you know, the policy of
our ...that we establish as a City Council, but you know (mumbled) emergency could
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happen. If we think this is really something that the community need and it's value a lot
people in this community and this is our value, we have to do it, and I know process is
good, but process are not keeping kids from the floor. Process are making kids sleep on
the floor. That why I think we need to do it and we need to do it not even like ... just
recommendation. I hope if they can fund it immediately so this program can roll,
because I know a lot people waiting there right now and they need to benefit out for this.
As long as we gonna defer this, we are deferring that, we making kids sleep on the floor
more. We making people sleep on the floor don't even have mattress on the floor even.
You know, I .... I just think deferring this kind of human (unable to understand) really bad.
That's why, please, I will hope we can find four more people today to approve this, and
after that we can like make sure to talk about how we can fund it, and I will be flexible,
because I always say that don't take anything from the affordable housing, but I will be
really flexible, and uh, because I wanna keep kids from sleeping on the floor and waiting
long time.
Throgmorton/ Okay, what do the rest of you think?
Thomas/ Well I've been processing the process, I guess you might say, uh, like I think all of us
have, and um .... you know, this has been an interesting experience for me, you know,
learning, as I think I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, that, uh, there was even such a
need as home furnishings, this .... this was a real need in the community and how do we
....how do we address it, and in.....in meeting Lucy and Salina, you know, as Jim likes to
say, there... there's such a thing as persuasive storytelling, and this was, I think, a pretty
good example of persuasive storytelling .... in terms of explaining what their organization
is and how it .... how it has operated and .... and filled clearly what was a gap in the, um...
in the social services that we provide to our community and those most in need. Uh....
nevertheless, you know, we .... we've certainly heard from many people in the community
that there is a concern about the process that was taken here. So, uh, this morning I was
....I was sort of trying to articulate what I considered to be die ... what is the goal that I'm
trying to achieve here, and it would be a .... advancing the work of Houses to Homes,
while ensuring that it is integrated into the social services' network that we have. I do
think that's important. Uh, I don't know, my sense is that there needs to be more
conversation in that .... in that particular area. So .... so in terms of implementing that goal,
what .... what I would like to propose is that there .... that there be a discussion, uh, among
the service providers, to achieve that goal of making sure that it's better integrated into
the existing system. And one condition I would like to have on that process would be that
it would result in what we approved last time, which was one-time funding in the short-
term for a paid Houses to Homes staff person. Um, in terms of the timeline, what I
would like to suggest for that discussion would be that it would include, you know, what I
understand to be some of the major players, uh, in the service provider realm, Houses, uh,
DVIP, Shelter House, Inside Out, Houses to Home, uh, that those conversations take
place over the next few weeks. Um, and I was looking at the calendar, uh, we have a .... a
work session and a formal session on December 17th. Uh, we're going to be hearing
from the State DNR and .... on December 5th. So that .... that's kinda, in terms of the
timeline, in terms of this thing moving forward, that's....I.....I'm expecting to be a critical
variable — will the State provide funding? Uh, you know, it's hard to even decide how
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we're going to fund this .... this, uh, staff person for Houses to Homes without having a ... a
full understanding of what the funding sources will be and at what amount. So that
would be my suggestion, that we defer .... I .... I"m still committed to the .... to the staff
person. Uh, but I would like to .... in a sense formalize that .... that, um, decision, uh, on
December 17th. I think the .... the, what might happen at, uh, during that conversation
could influence the .... the outcome, um, not .... not in any meaningful way in terms of I
think what our intent was, or this question of the funding of the staff person for Houses to
Homes. But I (both talking)
Salih/ (both talking) ...you say exactly what you mean by, uh.... like this conversation between
who? I ... I really miss that. What....
Thomas/ So a conversation among some of the critical players that, with respect to the home
furnishings piece of, uh, providing services.
Salih/ What that means also.
Thomas/ So ... so that .... the home furnishings (both talking)
Salih/ No! I mean like (both talking)
Cole/ Organizations (both talking)
Thomas/ ...organizations. So Shelter House (both talking
Salih/ The organization who do the same thing, that what you saying?
Thomas/ Well there .... my understanding is there's a certain amount of overlap (both talking)
Salih/ Can you tell me like can you really be obvious with organization that provide furniture?
Thomas/ Well I just mentioned them, so Shelter House, DVIP (both talking)
Salih/ The Shelter House, I don't warm interrupt you really but I just, you know, if you hear
from people, also hear from people who really was working (both talking)
Thomas/ Right!
Salih/ ...with people through the Shelter House.
Thomas/ Well this is, I'm proposing who I would suggest, if ...if there is a better group of
agencies, so be it. But that .... those who .... whose mission is not central to providing the
home furnishings, but ancillary to providing those home furnishings, parsit... participate in
a conversation with Houses to Homes, over the next few weeks....
Salih/ Uh huh.
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Thomas/ ....uh, with .... with the goal of trying to make sure that there is integration of the .... of
the services of Houses to Homes into the system, larger network of services that are
offered. And again with the condition that .... that I'm .... I'm still in support of funding the
position. But I would like there to be more conversation among the agencies that are,
again, ancillary, have .... have served an ancillary role with respect to (both talking)
Salih/ Of course, yeah!
Cole/ So, John, if I could just clarify your position then. So yes, 25,000; yes, Houses into
Homes; you do want a conversation. If the conversation is, goes well, that's great. If it
doesn't go well, let's say there's disagreement, you would still support (both talking)
Thomas/ Yeah, I ... I (both talking)
Cole/ .....still support 25,000. Your only point of disagreement with Bruce and Maz is they seem
to want to do it now, and you want that yes decision to be December 17th.
Thomas/ Correct, and .... and one last thing I would want to say is .... that the....the December
17th date, which is roughly a month away......
Salih/ Uh huh.
Thomas/ .....uh, provides an opportunity, uh, to .... to in a sense, I would hope, take advantage of
the fact that one .... one aspect of this coming to Council rather than through the normal
channels is it has really shown a light on this issue. Um .... you know, it .... when it goes
through the normal channels, it's .... it goes through kind of a bureaucratic process and it's
not as visible. Uh, this has become highly visible (laughs) uh, so .... so what I would hope
could.... could take place in the month between now and December 17th is that there be
an effort to .... to try to leverage that spotlight and see to what degree the community, um,
can help support Houses to Homes, and other service agencies, but certainly Houses to
Homes is .... has been a focus of this, uh, in .... in their goal of raising funds to house ... or to
provide a paid staff person as a part of their operation.
Cole/ So (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Let me inject one thing, Rockne, that .... not to disagree or support. When I had
mentioned the possibility of inter -agency task force, that's pretty much what I had in
mind. You're just putting it in less formal kind of language, and the entities that I had in
mind, I think they're the same ones you were thinking of— DVIP, Shelter House, Houses
into Homes, Inside Out Re-entry, and Habitat for Humanity. I understand they all
somehow, in one way or another for some populations, are involved in delivery of
furniture. So, yeah, I think we really do wanna get some kind of much better
coordination. (both talking)
Salih/ Of course, yeah!
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Throgmorton/ Yeah.
Cole/ So, at least in terms of expressing my own views, the only point that I'd wanna clarify
between the Mayor and John is you seem to be referring to a meeting. When I think of a
task force, at least how I process it, I see an ongoing series of meetings, over the course
of several months, and I certainly don't have any objection. I think that may be a salutary
development of this, that there is some sort of task force moving forward, but I don't want
a condition receipt of funding on the task force. I would join you in encouraging them to
get together, um, and talk, but I'm not conditioning my support for it on talking, although
I think it would be a good idea. Um, my own view on this is I think that, um, really it's
....it's, we're an imperfect Council trying to address a very difficult issue that's facing our
community, which not only is homelessness, but the related issues to homelessness. It is
a very complicated question and there are no simple answers to this. To Bruce's point, I
think in terms of this imperfect process, yes it is less than ideal that we're, um, not going
through the traditional process, and I think we could. Hopefully one of the things the
next Council will look at is how can we improve, um, the process, is if there are requests
that come in throughout the year, do we say no, wait until next year? One concern I do
have with the.... the...... the existing funding mechanism for the non -profits is I
understand that's a very highly technical, um, scoring process, set for by, uh, set forth by
HUD is my understanding, correct? There's a very ...in terns of what's emergency, what's
intermediate, what's not so important, and (both talking)
Mims/ That's not by HUD, that's by our own (both talking)
Cole/ Okay, by our own staff (both talking) Okay, we .... we've had our .... our factors that we've
used, but I think in terms of that particular process, I think that leaves some good non-
profits that are left out of that, uh, process. So, um, I think in this particular context, it is
something that is a need. I think it's something we need to address. I'm supporting it, and
I think in terms of what I really wanna encourage, at least in terms of my own term on
Council, is how do we encourage new voices, new non -profits to enter the field without
duplication, and I think that's the issue. Um, we all have different approaches in terms of
effect of different views of leadership. Some of us prefer more vertical structures, in
terms of having the traditional structures and everything funneled through that. My own
preference is I prefer more horizontal structures, um, in terms of more of a collaborative
(mumbled). I know there's been some concerns that some of the people that have spoken
out on behalf of Houses into Hou .... Homes are not the executives, um, but are some of
the staff members that are not executives. At least for me that doesn't matter. Um, I don't
care if it's a part-time employee. I think their voices are just as important as the
executive, in terms of what their views are. Obviously they can't speak on behalf of the
organization and each entity has to have their own process in terms of how they do that,
um, but I think this is a real critical issue, and my only concern in terms of the traditional
funding mechanism is I .... my concern is is that if we have a dynamic non-profit like this,
what if they can't get through that first year, um, and how do we ensure that they .... that
they have adequate funding, when they've established a proven track record to address
this critical need. I think our legacy organizations have done a great job, um, but they do
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have a huge advantage in terms of the year-to-year, how to know, um, in terms of the
funding process, um, so I .... I think for this particular case, I do wanna support this. I am
supporting it without condition, um, so .... certainly, uh, might be a little bit different
there, but I encourage the voluntary discussion as far as that goes. In terms of precedent
too, I would bring up that we did last spring give 10,000 to, um, Shelter House and there
was no controversy surrounding that, so I think that was a good thing! I love Shelter
House, but .... it did not generate the .... the emotional response that this particular one has,
and why that is, I guess people'll probably come up and explain that to us, um, during our
public comment. So I'm saying yes to immediate funding, without stipulation.
Salih/ Uh huh.
Throgmorton/ But you would also be willing to do what John is suggesting.
Cole/ To encourage, voluntary. I think that is a very good idea, that I would like to see them
doing, but I'm not conditioning receipt of funding on that.
Salih/ Uh huh.
Throgmorton/ Okay, what about the rest of you?
Taylor/ I've been really torn on this, uh, since our last meeting. I .... I think, um, as I think back
on it, I think that, uh, our votes that time, uh, were kind of an emotional response to, uh,
very compelling story, given by Houses into Homes, with their mission and what they've
accomplished and what they're doing and what their needs are. Um, and we certainly
with that vote didn't mean any disrespect to other agencies, uh, we've said all along we've
always mentioned that Iowa City's blessed with some very great non-profit organizations
that do some very wonderful work, um .... and ..... and we need to continue that, uh, sort of
effort, uh, in the community. Um .... Maz, you mentioned the other organization maybe
have limited capacity to .... to help out the entire community, and from what I've heard,
but now I'm not sure exactly, uh, how many organizations actually are providing furniture
or when they have or what their process is, uh, and I .... I think that if there are others then
it would be an excellent idea to share the resources, say the storage of ...of the furniture
and those kinds of things, since that would mean, um, having these groups get together
and .... and work together, and cooperation and collaboration can go a long ways and I ... so
I think that would be very important, so I .... I do agree with John that, uh, perhaps delay it
till the December 17th meeting, which would give, uh, DNR vote time to come through,
cause if indeed they can get $10,000 from the DNR for the mattress, uh, recycling, uh,
that certainly is a big step in the right direction and .... and would cut the amounts down,
so I think giving them also the opportunity to seek other funds. That would be my
decision.
Throgmorton/ Okay. Susan?
Mims/ There's been a number of ...I guess interesting phrases that .... that have been used, and,
um, my position hasn't changed since our last meeting. Urn.... persuasive storytelling,
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emotional response, um, process, emergency requests, and when I think about all those,
um, it....it doesn't add up .... to ..... to going outside of our established process. Um, one of
the memos, letters we got, and I don't remember who it's from and I'm not gonna look,
talked about .... the, urn .... the extensive evaluation that happens through the Aid to
Agencies' process. Uh, whether it's emerging agencies or legacy agencies. And I think
that's really .... I think that's really important. I think that's important so that it's fair to
everybody who's applying. They're evaluated the same way, um, against the same
criteria. There's conversations that go on throughout the year, um, so that everybody is...
is operating under the same set of rules. Um, I have a .... and I didn't start and I should of,
and I do applaud Houses into Homes for the work they're doing. I ... I do not in any way
mean to dismiss that. I think it's important, um, it's critical work, and .... and again we do
have other agencies doing some of it, maybe not as much as they are, but ... when we,
when we get outside of that process, I think we end up making emotional decisions, as
Pauline talked about. It's an emotional response. Um, we .... we end up being, urn .... we
end up responding to, um, the persuasive storytelling, which is persuasive. It is a strong
story. It is a great need. It is incredibly important. But the point I would reiterate that I
made last time is I believe that we have a lot of other agencies in this community, if they
so chose, could come up and make just as strong a plea of persuasive storytelling for their
particular, uh, provision of services within this community. And if we allow that kind of
out.... one...... one-off thing to happen, then we have no process at all, no process at all.
I .... I mentioned as I started some of the terminology and one of them was emergency
funding. I do not perceive hiring a full-time executive director as emergency funding.
Um, if. ... if they had come and said we don't have gasoline for vehicles, we don't have
rental space, I would be much more inclined to say, okay, let's .... lefs take a look at how
we can do that one-time help. But when you're taking something from volunteer to now
paid staff, to me that's not an emergency. It's a whole change in shift of the way an
organization, um, is being run, and I .... I go back to what I said two weeks ago. I think
out of fairness, uh, transparency to all the agencies in this community that are doing
incredibly good and important work that this .... this is not the direction that we should go.
Um .... I think we have a lot of people here in the audience tonight that are prepared to
speak to this, probably at the formal meeting, and if nothing else I would encourage us to
delay any action on this till we actually hear from all of them, but as it stands now I can't
....I can't support this.
Salih/ Can I just .... I just wanna ask John question. Your position now as Rockne repeated many
times, you are not objection.... you don't have any objection for the hiring the staff and
you agree to the 25. The only thing is you wanna see like .... the organization that do like
some kind of...even like some of the organization that you mention, like ... I don't know
how much they are doing on this. There are a few of them, I can say the Shelter House
because I been seeing them doing some kind of this, but for the Habitat, the Restore, I
guess they sell the stuff, maybe they give the, you know, they used to give the Furniture
Project some mattresses and they give the same thing now to the Houses into Home. You
know some of those organization, uh, I .... I feel like they don't provide a lot, but they do
(mumbled) like from now and then it's okay, but if you are really, and ... and Rockne also
asked you question. No matter what the outcome, from that meeting, if they disagree or
if they agree, we still gonna like .... you saying this. Then .... my really proposal is I really
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would like all those people who are doing something to work together, even when I tell
you, you know, Sally is doing something from her church, she can also come and work
with us so we can have more like cooperate. I don't mind that, and I will encourage even
after they been funded, I really encourage them to work with another organization in the
community who doing the same thing, but if that the case, why we don't since you are our
fourth vote, why we don't just approve it and ask them to meet and work with those
organization.
Thomas/ Well as I said I .... I think .... I'd, and perhaps I didn't mention this .... this aspect of the,
this month period as well. Uh, so it would provide an opportunity for there to be
conversations, a discussion among those groups who have a .... some interest in .... in this
issue. Uh, we ... it would give time to, for the information regarding our .... our funding
sources to become clearer. Uh, it would also provide an opportunity to leverage this
moment and see if we can't fundraise from it, uh, which could affect the amount that
we're talking about. And then lastly I would say, it .... you know a lot has happened
(laughs) just in the last two weeks, and ... and I haven't heard back from Houses to Homes
in terms of. ... you know, their proposal. Are they .... have they given any second
consideration to .... that amount that they're requesting? Maybe they have and they're still
fixed on 25,000. I .... I just don't know. But I.....I think it gives Houses to Home an
opportunity to .... to really critically evaluate their proposal. In .... in terms of not only the
proposal itself, but how all these other factors might come into play.
Salih/ I thinks I don't warm (mumbled) House into Home, but I think they did not reach out to
us because last time we agree and we even give a City Manager, you know, saying that,
yeah, you can just go ahead and do it. That's why maybe they think that's a done -deal.
They never thought that we gonna change our mind later, even as organization just come
up and say, you know, you cannot do that. And that's why I guess they didn't reach out to
us, but now maybe after you said this, I don't know what's gonna happen but I just feel
like if you are gonna do it anyway, you said it doesn't matter what the outcome. That's
why I was encouraging you to do it now, and ask'em to go and meet with those
organization and work with them.
Thomas/ Yeah, I .... I do feel that a month of time to .... to sort of look at all the variables and
aspects of this, um, would be really helpful for all concerned. Uh, and I .... I think, you
know (laughs) I .... I'm sort of remembering to some (laughs) in some ways the .... the ped
mall benches was sort of another example of where there was.... the..... the Council got
pulled in to the process and, um, you know, it was .... it was a sausage -making exercise
(laughs) It was, you know, had some real problems with it. But I think for me the
outcome, I really felt the outcome was beneficial.
Salih/ (mumbled)
Thomas/ .... sol ....I just would like to see a little bit more process associated with this thing.
Throgmorton/ So I warm mention a couple things. Uh, first, I had a conversation with Lucy
Barker earlier today on the phone. I think Lucy's in the room, I'm not sure, urn .... Lucy?
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Yeah. And... and is that Serena? No, just you? Both of you. So if we wanted to, we
could invite Lucy and .... and/or Serena to .... respond to any questions we might have.
Uh, I....
Mims/ My only response to that, Jim, is I think we have a lot of people here who would want to
have input as well, and I think if you're gonna ask them to, then I think anybody else
should have an opportunity to speak and that's not the way we're set up for the work
session. So I would discourage that.
Throgmorton/ Well I .... I understand the point, uh, so I'm not pushing it. I was aware that Lucy
and Serena were out there. Uh, another thing I'm wondering about is .... if with regard to
a possible meeting or meeting or two after, um, we approve the funding, if in fact that's
what happens tonight, I would suggest that we ask the staff to convene that meeting,
rather than .... rely upon some one person in any one of five agencies to convene it. Does
that, would that be a reasonable thing.
Frain/ (both talking) ...certainly convene the meeting. I ... I want some clarity from you on what
exactly you want our role to be. Are we facilitating, are we mediating, or are we just
calling the meeting and observing and reporting back to you?
Throgmorton/ Yeah. Okay. Fair enough. Uh, so, uh, well I have definitely heard, correct me if
I'm wrong, I've heard support for continuing the 25,000 in funding. Susan has raised a
reasonable objection that it might be better to hear from other people before we've
confirmed that decision, but .... I don't think, tell me if I'm wrong. I don't sense that you
would like to do that.
Teague/ What I was sayin' is I have spoken to many of the organizations, um, at length. So, um,
I ... it may be a little bit of a, um, at least for me personally, it's not ringin' true that I've not
had in-depth conversation with them, even some of the change in ideas, change in
thoughts and all that other stuff, so .... I guess for me, I have had lots of conversations
from people that support and don't support the .... my decision.
Throgmorton/ I too have had two long conversations with a .... a person I respect enormously,
who is very well connected to each of the agencies. We have been discussing the
agencies' reactions to what we did two weeks ago. That's had a big influence on me! Uh,
and we processed that pretty thoroughly. I'm hoping that that person had a chance to
speak to the .... the heads of Houses into Homes earlier this afternoon. I don't know for
sure that that happened, but I was trying to make sure it happened. Uh, so .... I .... I think
I .... we gotta go with what .... what I've been hearing. So, uh....
Mims/ I would just make one last comment. Just ... this follows up on other people. In terms of
talking about doing things outside the Aid to Agencies that we should make ... be able to
make (mumbled) decisions on emergency requests. I think it behooves us to try, at some
point, to define what really is an emergency. (both talking)
Cole/ I'd agree with that 100%.
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Mims/ I don't think hiring a brand new staff member is an emergency, personally. So I think we
need to define what, or try .... at least try to narrow down what really is an emergency that
we would consider outside the Aid to Agencies funding, and secondly, I would just note
that today I went on the website, and just to give you an idea, and .... and there may be
some duplicates in this. I didn't have a chance to really reign in on it, but .... on the IRS
website, there are 735 non -profits with tax I.D. numbers registered in Iowa City. 735
non -profits on the IRS website with tax I.D. numbers. They're not all doing social work
type stuff, but still. Some of'em are the Greek system, etc., but still. That's.... that's a lot
of non -profits. I also think, and I don't know what our policy is in terms of giving money
to orga.... organizations that are not established non -profits in terms of a tax I.D. number,
approval by IRS, etc., and I think that is something that should be a discussion at some
point as well.
Throgmorton/ Maybe that's somethin' we could count on Geoff and staff following up on. Uh, so
..... tryin' to keep things straight in my head here. One recommendation came from Bruce
havin' to do with looking ahead and trying to get recommendations from the staff about,
uh, how we should respond, we as a Council should respond, when we believe there's an
emergency requiring a response (laughs) you know, so .... and .... and then, uh, Susan, I
guess you just made a comment related to that, havin' to do with defining what an
emergency is. Uh, so .... and I just raised this point with you, Geoff, about the meeting
that could be set up. So with regard to the recommendation about looking ahead, with
regard to emergencies, I think we would ask you and staff to recommend how, um, we
might respond to situations when we believe there's an emergency requiring a response
from the Council, that kinda falls outside of normal procedures. I don't know if that's
possible for you to do, frankly, but .... but, uh, I .... try to take a shot at it? I think that's
what we're asking you to do. (several talking in background)
Fruin/ Understood!
Throgmorton/ Yeah. Uh, and with regard to the meeting, my sense is that the key thing is to
invite.... representatives of five agencies that I .... I mentioned earlier, invite them to come
together and talk about .... what each of them is doing with regard to delivering furniture
and what .... what constraints they face, what target audience, um, populations they have
in mind with regard to delivering furniture, and .... tryin' to hear themselves say ...identify
where the gaps are and .... hence where, uh, Houses into Homes could play the most
effective role within that network of five agencies. That's what I'm hearing. All right?
So .... if, uh, staff could convene a meeting of that type, I think it would be very helpful.
Fruin/ Yes, we can do that.
Throgmorton/ Uh, so ... I .... I guess by saying that, I'm aligning myself with John's
recommendation about saying, yeah, I'm on board with 25,000, but let's wait to the
December 17th before ... uh, affirming that, cause we wanna learn about the DNR's
decision and we'd like to have that meeting occur, or at least one meeting, maybe a
couple meetings occur.
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Cole/ Do we have four for that?
Throgmorton/ Well, uh, one, two, three.
Cole/ Okay.
Throgmorton/ Four. For the .... for the, agreeing to 25,000, but we wanna defer a formal decision
to the 17th.
Salih/ Yeah, if we don't have four for doing it now, we will go with you for like... yeah, agreeing,
but .... defer it to the next meeting, yeah.
Throgmorton/ Okay! Uh.... is there anything else on this topic? Yes, there is something else we
need to discuss. The main topic (laughs) uh, which has to do with the sources of funding.
Uh, Geoff, you presented us with a memo identifying I think six different possible
sources of funding, maybe it was five, maybe it was seven, I don't know.
Teague/ Could I make one recommendation?
Throgmorton/ Yep!
Teague/ That we not identify that tonight and we wait till the 17th.
Salih/ (mumbled)
Cole/ That's fine with me.
Throgmorton/Yeah, okay. Good deal. (several talking) All right. Guess we'll defer that part
(mumbled) Okay! I think that means we can move on to our next topic.
f.`,11107MI030" lil
Review the City Manager's Office 100 Day Report, "Accelerating Iowa City's Climate
Actions" 1IP41•
Throgmorton/ And our next topic is.....to review the City Manager's office 100 -day report,
accelerating Iowa City's climate actions. Ashley, are you gonna do this or is Geoff or...
Fruin/ I'm actually gonna do it, and then, uh, rely heavily on Ashley and Brenda to answer all
questions that (laughs) you.... that.... that you, uh, have for us. Um, so, uh, we didn't
create a .... a PowerPoint, uh.... uh, for ya tonight. We have the report on the screen and
what I thought I would do is just at a very high level just walk you through the .... the
various content. Um, ultimately there's 64 actions in here. We're not gonna go through
all 64 tonight. Um, but uh, I'll try to give you high level, uh, overview of how the report
was structured and .... and some of the themes and the recommendations. So on August
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6th the Council declared a climate crisis and, uh, also updated our carbon emission
reduction targets to 40% by 2030 and net zero by 2050. Uh, these targets match the
recommendations from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, and as
part of that August 6th declaration, you asked staff to produce this report — the 100 -day
report as it's been termed, uh, to effectively outline how .... how we can respond and
accelerate action to achieve those new targets. Just like to thank, uh, a number of folks
on staff helped, um, create the content that's in this report, but two really did the heavy
lifting and that is Ashley and .... and Brenda Nations. Uh, so really wanna thank them
for ... for their efforts. So when walking through the, uh, report, um, we start with just
a .... a, uh, again high level overview of our greenhouse gas emissions. It's important to
understand your, where your emissions are coming from, uh, when you're crafting those
strategies. So I'll give ya, uh, just a couple of...of points on this. Um .... uh.... one thing I
warm, we get .... we've gotten a lot of questions on whether we factor in population
growth when we do, uh, our emission reductions, and the answer is yes we do. In this
report, uh, we note that, um, our emissions per capita has dropped from 20.3 metric tons
to 13.4 metric tons since 2010. So we're .... we're making, uh, good progress, despite, um,
as ... as what .... as you all know, a growing population here in Iowa City. So this report,
and I realize these charts are hard to see. If you .... if you have your .pdf open, you can,
uh, see'em a little easier. Um, but we'll .... we'll look at our emissions fust by sector. So
who's using, uh, the, um.....uh...... uh, the energy. And 27% comes from our industrial
sector, uh, compared to 22 in residential and 20 in the commercial setting. So an
important take -away, and this will be reflected in our actions, we obviously have a small
number of industrial users and industrial properties in Iowa City, compared to our
residential, but it's important to note that those industrial properties, while smaller in
number, have actually more, uh, create more emissions, and so we have some actions
specifically targeted toward that industrial sector. Uh, the uh, UI power plant and the, uh,
transportation sector combine for about 30% or 29%, and then the waste sector combines
...or is about 2% of those emissions. We can also look at our emissions by source. So,
um, this would be electricity, natural gas, coal, um, and by far and away, the most
emissions are created by electricity, which is 46%. Uh, natural gas follows at 29%, and
coal is about 7%, um, from that mix. Again, important to .... to think about that when
crafting actions. We know that MidAmerican is investing heavily in converting their
electric, uh, supply to renewable. Uh, thus we need to take that into account when
crafting, uh, crafting our actions. Key stakeholder initiatives, we just, in a page .... page
and a half, tried to summarize, um, what, uh, some of our key stakeholders are doing. I
think the importance of this section is acknowledging that the Iowa City government can't
achieve our targets alone. Uh, this is not like a parks' plan or a bike plan where we can
develop a checklist and fund it every year and start checkin' em off. Uh, we really, uh,
have to have strong partnerships with these key stakeholders, but also the entire
community. So we have to attack, our actions have to be a little bit different. We're
much more focused on community education, incentives, uh, than we might be with some
of the .... the typical plans that you're used to seein' from.....from your City government.
We summarized the climate action and adaptation plan here in just this one chart. Um, I
think what's, uh, important to note here is this 100 -day report is not a new plan. Uh, it's
simply.... it simply tries to, uh, put some more detailed actions behind the framework that
the plan created. Uh, we still feel very strongly that we have a good plan that will serve
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us well, uh, but hopefully this report provides some of those detailed steps that, uh, some
feel were missing from that .... from that plan. There are five categories in our climate
action and adaptation plan. You can see those up there — building, transportation, waste,
adaptation, and sustainable lifestyle. Ub, this report is organized in the same fashion. So
all those actions will fall under those five categories. And that's when we get into, uh,
kind of the meat of the report here. Uh, we go through each of those five categories and
outline, uh, a number of actions within each. Uh, the actions are all color -coded. The
colors simply give you some sense of when we think we can initiate them. So any action
you see in green, we feel like it's either already started or there's a good chance we could
get started on that initiative, not necessarily complete it, but get started, uh, in this next
calendar year, and then blue and orange signify a longer period of time before those
actions can be carried out. So we'll start in the buildings category, and with each.... each
of those main five categories, there's also some .... some sub -topic areas. Uh, so the first
one here is education. Now, uh, buildings is, uh.... uh, buildings is critically important.
They, uh, buildings produce about 82% of our carbon emissions. So, uh, it's not
surprising that 23 of the 64 actions we've identified fall under the buildings' category.
We're gonna have to be very focused, uh, on how we're, uh, working with our property
owners and our .... and our building owners in the community. Um .... I'm not gonna go
through all of the 23 activities, but a few take-aways. There's no way that we can
regulate our way to the, um .... uh, to the targets that you've set. Uh, we don't have, as you
know, we've gone through extensively this year, we don't have local control over our
energy codes. So we can't regulate our way there. There's some things we can do, but
we're gonna have to rely more on education and incentives, and those types of things, uh,
than maybe some other communities do that you read about across the country. Uh, we
do have opportunities though when we have things such as tax increment financing.
When we have height bonuses. When we have those other, um, kind of incentives
embedded into our zoning code or into some other City policies. We need to be askin'
ourselves if we're leveraging those well enough and .... and certainly our report indicates
that we should revisit TIF policies and height bonus policies and....and strengthen those,
uh, with respect to, uh, climate action. Uh, a number of incentives, this page lists all the
incentives, and then there's actually three more on the following page. So there's 10
different incentive programs that we've outlined here. Again, not all, uh, to start from day
one. Um, but we feel like this is going to be a critically important part of the strategy,
and frankly an expensive part of our strategy, but we have to work with buildings, and
again we can't regulate, uh, our way to the.... the.... the levels that we need to. Uh, so
included in .... in this would be things like an industrial sector TIF, uh, which we plan to
launch next year, with .... with your blessing of course of this report. Um, and really work
with those heavy industrial users to try to cut their energy consumption down and convert
as much of their energy to, um, electric as .... as possible. Uh, we also outline some plans
in the future, some hopes, uh, for some net zero rehabs and construction programs, um,
building permit rebates, and electrification incentives as well. A final project that we'd
like to highlight here, um, is, uh.... um, the, uh, proposed partnership with MidAmerican
that, uh, we're working on. There's a text amendment that the Planning and Zoning
Commission recently, uh, considered to allow, uh, private, uh... um, utilities in a public
zone. You're going to be considering that as well. Um, that's really, uh, the first step in
exploring this partnership with MidAm where they, uh, could build a large utility scale
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solar development at our, uh, Water Prairie Park, um, property. Uh, that will come to you
if indeed, uh, it does work for both the City and MidAmerican. We would come forward
with ya, but that's an encouraging project that could produce enough, uh, solar energy
to .... to power, provide electrical power for about 500 homes, uh, annually, which is really
exciting. Um, moving on I'm gonna skip through to the transportation sector. Uh,
this .... this one, uh, is really all about getting people out of those, out of vehicles and onto
public transit, onto bicycles, walking, uh, so it's very heavy on, uh, executing our public
transit study, which is under way. Of course we don't know what recommendations will
come, but we know the goal that you set, which was to double ridership by 2028, so we
know that there's gonna be some, um .... pretty powerful recommendations, uh, in order
to .... to help us get there, and it's gonna be ... there's gonna be some tough decisions for the
City Council to make when it comes to funding those service enhancements with transit,
but that's.... that's a large piece of it. Clearly you all have, um.....uh, stepped up your
work to provide better bike infrastructure in the community. You can see that, uh,
on .... in all parts of our community, and that's gonna have to continue, to again pull
people out of those single-family ...or out of those single -occupancy cars, uh, in .... in to
different modes of transportation. And the last piece, uh, that we'll highlight on this is,
uh, our electric vehicle infrastructure and our own municipal feet ... fleet. We know that
people are still going to be reliant on their vehicles, so how can we make those trips as
efficient as possible when it comes to energy consumption. And we certainly feel like we
need to, uh, do some more work, uh, preparing the community for electric vehicles and
getting our own fleet, uh, converted at a quicker rate than we have. As we move on to the
waste sector, uh, there are seven sections.... seven actions in this section. Uh, now waste
as .... as I mentioned before, only accounts for about 2% of the emissions, but nonetheless
it's important. And, uh... uh, because of the efforts of, um, folks on staff, like Jen Jordan
and Patricia Fossum, Jane Wilch at our landfill and uh, refuse operations, we actually
expect our trash tonnage at the landfill to go down, uh, this year in 2019, which is pretty
amazing given the community growth that we've had, uh, but that speaks to the success of
the changes that they've implemented with our curbside recycling program and our
curbside composting program and yard waste programs. We're seein' just great, uh,
numbers that have exceeded our expectations, um, in the number of recyclables and yard
waste and compost, and now we're seein' the impact on the trash side as well with less
trash coming in to the landfill. Cause we (both talking)
Cole/ Could you just quantify that, I hate to interrupt, could you just quantify it, cause that's just
like great news (both talking)
Fruin/ Um, I don't have the numbers in front of me, but we can (both talking) certainly put those
out in information packet and let you know where we're going.
Cole/ That's very good news!
Fruin/ Yeah, it's.... it's, uh, it's really kudos to them for, urn .... executing, uh, on those program
enhancements, but we'll get you .... we'll get ya those numbers. Uh, so we need to
continue on that. We need to continue to .... to emphasize that to the community, and
that's why you'll see a couple of education, urn .... uh, items here. So we still find that,
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even though these .... these programs have been out for a little while, we still have a lot of
people that aren't composting and .... and using that yard waste service. The more we can
encourage people to do that, ultimately, um, the .... the more emissions that we can reduce.
And on the City side, 50% of the ... of the emissions that we have direct control over, as a
city government organization, come from the methane that's released at the landfill and at
our waste water plant. 50% of our total organization's emissions. So that's a really
critical piece for us to solve, and I'd say within the next probably 30 to 60 days you'll
have a consultant contract that we'll ask you to consider. That'll be the first step of
figuring out that .... that piece of the puzzle for us. How can we better utilize that methane
as opposed to the flaring it, um, which we currently do. On the adaptation side, there's 13
actions in this section, uh, with the majority falling in the education, uh, section here.
Um, but this is where we really highlight the importance of trees, and it's somethin' that
this Council has talked about quite a bit. Um, but there are, uh, programs in here, uh, to,
urn .... uh, incentivize more tree planting on private property, for the City to plant more
trees, and then there's also some regulation here. This is one area where we do have
some regulatory authority, uh, through our landscaping standards, our parking lot, um....
uh, standards, we can actually require, um, more trees. So those are all things that we
identified that .... that we need to look at going forward. The last section is sustainable
lifestyle. There's nine sections in this .... in this one. Uh, again very heavy on educational
events like, uh, an example would be the climate forum that we're gonna have this
Thursday, uh, at, uh, at Big Grove in the evening. More of those types of events to .... to
bring awareness, uh, to, uh, really individuals and businesses on how they can contribute,
uh, to the, urn .... uh, to the City's efforts here and how .... and how can we bring them in
and support their efforts to do what they do, um, in their places of residence or...or
businesses. That's again a really quick kinda run-through, just broadly those .... those 64
actions. Um, we .... we wanna remind folks that equity is a huge part of this. There was a
lot of, uh, talk about equity during the planning, uh, phase of the climate action plan. The
Climate Action Commission is .... is really focused on equity, and as we move forward
implementation on these 64 items, just know that that's a .... a major part of our focus as
well. The last couple things I'll talk about and that are mentioned in the report are, um,
the roles and responsibilities. Um, it goes without sayin' it's going to take continued
leadership from .... from the City Council, uh, you're.... you're gonna have to champion
this at every ...every chance you get to.....to meet these targets, uh, but I really warm
focus on what our staffing recommendations are, uh, with .... in this report. Um, and
you've probably heard me say this before, an effort like this, uh, is .... is, requires kind of a
culture shift for an organization. We have to have all of our operating departments
thinking climate action. Uh, with every purchase that they're making, with every project
that they're designing, every new initiative they're rolling out, they need to be thinking
about that, and that's.... that's occurring. That's happening. I think, uh, we're successfully
going down the right path on that, but it's gonna take some time to get ... get that at the...
the forethought of every decision that we're making. That said, we do .... I believe, need a
staff team that can work on climate action across all departments and just make sure that
we continue to ... to push that. So I'm recommending the creation of a climate action and
outreach division in the City Manager's office. Uh, we have several divisions in the City
Manager's office already from Human Rights to Human Resources, Communications,
Economic Development. So this would be another division and I'm proposing that we
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staff it with three, uh, positions, uh, two existing positions. Uh, one would be Brenda
Nations' position. She's currently our Sustainability Corn... Coordinator in Neighborhood
and Development Services. Um, we also would take a Public Works' position and, uh,
bring that into the fold, and then, uh, we'd .... we have, as ... as you know, an unfunded
position in Facilities Management that was going to be kind of an energy analyst, uh,
assistant facil... facilities director. I'd like to retool that and repurpose that as a, more of
an outreach, uh, and engagement person in the .... in the, uh, City Manager's office, uh,
here. So we would have, um, and these are, you know, high ... there's some high level
bullet points on what the responsibilities of each of these positions would do. Um, we'll
obviously have to develop full job descriptions and more fully, uh, kind of detail this out
before we move forward, but we're looking at climate action coordinator, which is, you
know, what Brenda's doing now, uh, with a little bit different, uh, different focus,
certainly focused on .... on ..... on this report and the climate action plan, engaging with the
Commission. Uh, but we've also have a .... a climate action engagement specialist. So
this is that external person that's really looking at building those relationships, hosting
community events, making sure the conversation continues in the community in various
circles. And then we'd have, uh, some type of climate action analyst that's gonna be more
data focused, uh, gonna help run incentive programs, gonna be looking at the equity
piece, uh, gonna do a lot of the data collection, uh, that currently is done, uh, by Brenda
and a team of ...of intems, uh.... uh, and then, you know, everybody's gonna be pitchin' in
on the outreach piece. So .... this three-person staff team, we really think can ... can
elevate, uh, the, not only the amount of work that they're doin', but ..... that we're doin' as a
City, but the quality of work that we're doing, and will also be a great resource for other
departments to tap into, as they're thinking about how climate action impacts their, uh,
daily operations. Public funding, uh, we .... you know that this, you know, this isn't going
to be a inexpensive endeavor. So we've outlined some options for public funding, for
everything from a local option sales tax, utility tax, bonding, uh, prop... emergency, uh,
levy on the property tax. Um, what we're recommending, and this will come to the .... to
the Council during the budget session, is that, uh, we use the emergency tax levy to ... to
fund the operations. The emergency tax levy is something that we have not used in the
past as a city, but that, uh, you all have the authority to .... to enact, and uh, we would
recommend that we use that to generate about a million dollars worth of operating
revenues for this effort. Our staff positions would not, uh, would ... would not be funded
with this million dollars. They'll be funded with the general fund because they're already
in, uh, largely the general fund, but this is gonna fund incentive programs. It's gonna
fund the education, you know, all the, kind of the advertisements, the outreach, um, all
those things need a .... need a funding source, additional tree plantings, um, we .... we need
to build a new funding source for that. So we're recommending that. Um .... all those
things that .... that will be funded by the emergency levy are gonna be scalable, and
that's .... thatwill be by design. So meaning in the future if we decide we need to add
more revenue to .... to dial those up, Council can do that through another funding source.
Um, likewise if there is another pressing use for that emergency fund, you know, who
knows what .... what might come up, and a future Council may say we need that
emergency levy for something else. You could scale those programs back because, again,
they're outreach. They're additional tree planting. There's.... there's nothing in there
that .... that, um, is .... is going to be, um, tied to long-term operations like a staff position.
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In addition to the emergency, uh, levy, uh, we'll have some different funding sources, uh,
that, um, we'll use as well. So we outline a couple in here. So for example, uh, we'll use
tax increment financing, and the example we mentioned in the report is that industrial
sector building incentive program. Uh, we think that there's a good use for tax increment
financing there. Uh, we would like to suggest shifting our neighborhood set-aside from
the community development block grant, uh, to a neighborhood -based climate action. So
currently we have a $75,000 set-aside in our, uh, CDBG program and we tend to do some
park improvements with that in ... in low-income neighborhoods. Just suggesting that we
shift the focus of those funds. We'll still focus them on low-income neighborhoods,
but .... but look at more of the climate action, uh.... um .... uh, activities. So it could be
street tree planting or something else, uh, on public property that would, uh, be more
closely tied to your climate action plan. So just a couple of examples. We're not .... we
just don't want ya to think it's.... it's.... it's just the, um, emergency levy that will fund
these operations. We'll pull from other sources as .... as we ..... as we can, uh, but the
emergency levy will certainly be the, kind of the backbone funding, uh, for .... for the
operation. Again, assuming your approval. One of the appeals of the emergency levy, in
addition to it being scalable, is that, uh, we think we can offset that, uh, with a .... with a
drop in the debt service levy. So our total community tax rate, um, we think we can keep
the same, or maybe even decrease slightly, uh, because of a drop, a projected drop in the
debt service levy, uh, so, uh, I think that's a .... that's an appealing factor, as opposed to
adding a utility tax or, uh, using some other .... some other source. We wrap up the report,
uh, just by trying to show you and the community that through these actions we really
believe that we can get to that 2030 target, and that's really what this report focuses on.
Though we have the 2050 goal we kinda felt ... we gotta get to 2030 first, and by the time
we get to 2030, you might have two or three more versions of this report anyway. So this
table, at a very high level, just outlines how we feel like these actions can get us to, um,
that, um, emissions' target that we have for .... for 2030. We did not take into account the
continued investment in renewables from MidAmerican Energy. We don't wanna simply
rely on their investments to get us there. It's great, you know, they're doin' what they're
doin' and we .... we support that wholeheartedly, but we wanted to show the community
that we can take steps too, to get us to that number. So ideally these steps do get us to
this number, and MidAmerican and the University and those other key stakeholders that
are mentioned, simply put us in a better position to get to that 2050 goal, um .... uh,
perhaps even more quickly than, uh.... than we currently have set up here. So with that,
um, if you want a summary of the actions, uh, you can go to the last few pages of the, uh,
of the report and you can see a summary of the 64 actions there, but I think I will stop
talkin' and just let you ask questions and, uh, we'll do our best to answer those.
Throgmorton/ I'll bet you folks have lots of comments or questions you wanna bring up. Go
ahead!
Mims/ I would just say, I think this is an excellent report and I think breaking it down into these
various steps, under these different categories makes it a whole lot understandable, by
everybody and, um, the feeling of, okay, this is where I can either focus my time and
energy or this is .... and certainly as we do the education, this is how I can contribute to
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this. So kudos to the format, um, content obviously, but the format I think is very, very
helpful.
Taylor/ On .... on those lines, I think that the color coding too, as far as when we first talked about
this and I said that's a really lofty goal and you think, oh my goodness, how can we do all
this by 2050, and it's kinda like when you clean your house. You just do one little corner
at a time. So, you know, looking at it, the color coding, okay this is by this date, this is
by that date. So it's not so overwhelming, so kudos on that.
Teague/ The thing that's (both talking) really impressive is, um, you're definitely going through
here but you're also considering how can this become, um, impactful and .... and in the
forefront of the minds of staff, in what the City does, um, and .... you know, like Susan
just mentioned about the educational opportunities for those within our community,
because I think that's gonna be key in order to make this successful. And I'm also happy
to hear, uh, about the staff, you know, within this proposal, because .... I'm a firm believer
that if we're going to really make an impact, we're gonna have to have dedicated staff that
is on this. This is a lofty goal and we wanna reach it, and so in order for us to reach it,
we're gonna have to make some hard investment decisions as a Council, and I'm .... I'm
happy to know that this is here. Uh, the structure is here. There's a lot of content in here,
and so (laughs) urn ..... one thing that I would recommend is certainly before, um,
Council, um, you know, kind of vote on this is that it does go, uh, to the new commission
that we just, urn .... appointed.
Throgmorton/ And that is the expectation, that it will (several talking) to the, uh, new
commission (both talking)
Fruin/ I think they're probably anxious to review it and weigh in as well (several talking)
Wu/ I was wondering, uh, at the moment is there any plans to mandate composting in multi-
family residential buildings as well as expanding the level of recycling that's required?
Fruin/ No, that's not contained in the report.
Salih/ Yeah, I guess definitely is very (unable to understand) report. It's very long (laughs)
Yeah, but it have a lot of good stuff there and I guess, uh, since we already declare the
emergency of climate here and we need to keep our climate .... in order to keep our
climate action plan we need this (unable to understand) that we .... to follow up and just to
start doing it and I thinks.... yeah. I don't have any objection for this. Just .... uh, we
gonna talk about the .... the funding for emergency later or you want us to do that now
or....
Fruin/ Well the .... the, it'll be part of our budget proposal.
SaW Sure!
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Fruin/ Uh, certainly if there's an uncomfortableness with the emergency levy, it would be good to
know now, so it gives us more time to retool as staff, because, uh, we're ... pretty close to
being done with the operation budget, in terms of decision making. Urn .... so, yes, I think
if there's an uncomfortableness with the emergency levy, let us know now. We can at
least make a plan B, should the .... should the next Council, you know, wanna make a
shift, but uh (both talking)
Salih/ I just have a question like, uh, do you have now, do you know how much will be increase
in taxes?
Fruin/ So the .... the emergency levy, we're probably looking at about, um, a quarter. We don't
have the exact numbers. It's probably about a 25 -cent increase, um, in the, um, in that
emergency levy. Um, due to some of the other priorities that the Council has articulated
in the past year, we're also likely to .... to bring the, um, employee benefits' levy back up a
dime. If you remember we reduced that a dime a year ago or so, maybe two years ago
(both talking)
Salih/ Yes!
Fruin/ Um, so we'll have to bring that back up, and that'll help us, um, with some of the other
initiatives that you've set forward, and then on the debt service side, you know, we have
to ... our goal is to make up that 35 -cents, uh, whatever we can stretch that to 40 -cents or
45,1 .... I don't know yet, but, um, ideally I'd like to .... I'd like to continue to drop that tax
rate, but we might be doing good just to cover that 35 -cents.
Salih/ You think now you are ... you might propose decreasing of the debt service levy?
Fruin/ Yes, I think we're .... I think we're in a position, you know, remember the debt service levy
is, you collect as much as you need to pay down your .... your debts (both talking)
Salih/ I know!
Fruin/ ...and so, uh, I think we are in a position to reduce that. Otherwise we're gonna be pulling
in more money than we need to repay those debts.
Salih/ Sure.
Cole/ So my thought would be, I think there's sort of two pieces as I see it. There's one it's sort
of under the hood, sort of the operational plan, um, to implement these reductions, but I
think the second part, which I think is just as important, is the visible manifestation of
infrastructure that demonstrates our commitment to this plan. Um, so for example, one of
the things I'm hoping that the next Council really takes a look at is solar infrastructure on
municipal buildings. Um, as many people in the audience know, certainly the Council,
um, our staff conducted a .... or hired a consultant to do a comprehensive review and
assessment of every municipal building in the City of Iowa City, um, and so that .... that
heavy lifting is done in terms of projected reductions and those sorts of things. So I
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would really like to see that visible infrastructure, and I'm hoping as you guys think
next .... next term, that you really evaluate that. The second thing in terms of the funding,
I'm glad to see we're talking about the emergency level. You know I know that we
struggled with whether we were declaring a climate emergency or a climate crisis. But
this really does fit, because if you look at what we adopted from the UN, they're talking
about 12 years, which is....you know, before we have irreparable, irreversible climate
catastrophe, which we're already seeing. Um, I have a good friend whose father lives in
western Iowa. Her dad lived 15 miles from the Missouri River and was flooded out. So
we're seeing, I mean that's almost biblical flooding in terms of climate impact. So it is an
emergency and I think we can with a straight face talk to the community and say, yes, this
absolutely is justified. I'm hoping also LOST is looked at as a critical component of
funding, because I would like to see, um, you know, it'll be expensive, but electric buses,
which are extremely expensive, right? A fully electric fleet of City municipal buld... uh,
vehicles. That would obviously have a high ticket. So we have to make that case to the
community that we are willing to put our money where its mouth ... mouth is, even if it
means maybe raising some taxes, and the final piece of it is, is I did not have the
opportunity to see Greta Thunberg. I wish I could of seen her, but what was so powerful
observing her from afar is that Greta had no regulatory authority at all. Yet she arguably
has had more influence and impact than anyone in the last hundred years, in terms of this
particular issue. So are any of us gonna be Greta Thunberg? No (laughs) We'll sort of
exist in her shadow, um, but I do think ... I think of Martha Norbeck who had said that
there's a community in Sweden, through social marketing, reduced climate gases and
emissions by 20%. So if it comes down to hiring a professional marketing firm, um, in
terms of little things that people can do, I think we should do that, and .... and look at
those voluntary actions, cause I think ultimately I think maybe even Geoff or Bruce had
said this, it is ....... and Susan said it, a cultural shift is going to have to take place, where
people are gonna have to voluntarily change their day-to-day habits. So I was very
impressed. I think anyone that looks at this report that does not think we're taking it
seriously isn't reading the report, although will still and continue those dissenting voices
to make sure that they're keeping to push us, and help us to do better, um, but I'm really
excited about it and I think we're definitely on the right track, both in terms of funding
and the infrastructure.
Throgmorton/ Geoff, with regard to, uh, Rockne's first point, concerning solar installations on
municipal buildings, where do we stand on the installations on the Public Works' facility
and then next to Trueblood Park? Trueblood Lodge. Hi, Ron!
Knoche/ Uh, Ron Knoche, Public Works Director. Uh, we are in the process of working with
Neumann Monson, um, in developing the plan, uh, for the purchasing. We'll be looking
at a, um, a .... a purchase agreement on those solar panels, uh, since we don't have the
expertise on maintaining them. Um, the .... what, right now it looks like we'll split that
purchase, the .... the process, Public Works, um, is a little more straightforward cause
the .... the panels will be mounted on the roof. Um, the Terry Trueblood installation is a
little bit more complicated. Um, just .... of trying to fit the .... the location with those
panels, with that .... with the lodge piece.
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Throgmorton/ Great! Thanks.
Fruin/ They're both.... they're both fully funded and, you know, expect 'em to, um, to move
forward in the early part of 2020. So it's .... it's in process. As Ron was sayin', the ... Terry
Trueblood's a little more difficult. We're a little more concerned with the aesthetics there,
and you're.... we're gonna have some ground mounted, um, solar as well. So we're tryin'
to think about how that can kind of be an artistic piece in that park and .... and not, if you
remember when we did the feasibility study, it was focused on kind of carports over the
parking lot, and we just thought if we can generate that in a little bit more artistic way
that would blend in with the facility it would probably be better, uh, so that one's takin' a
little bit more thought.
Wu/ And I think just a, one more add along to, uh, Cole's first statement about physical
infrastructure, I would like to see more emphasis on adapting larger apartment buildings
and other multi -family residential buildings, uh, especially in regards to recycling and
composting. Uh, I know there's a lot of UI students that want to do those, but they live in
these apartment buildings (mumbled) like the first 10 blocks away from the Pentacrest
and they don't have that option. That, um, there's... the most recent renter's guide, I think
still... at least a third of respondents said that no recycling was offered at their apartment,
in violation of City code. Um, composting isn't an option for most people, and if they
don't have a car, then they just have to throw away all their food waste or, um, do some...
like they have to tag along with a friend or go out of the way to, um, take ... take care of
their composting. So, um, I would like to see those become available to people who live
in those apartment buildings, as, uh, most students do.
Throgmorton/ Any other comments from Council Members?
Thomas/ I'll just add a few thoughts. Um, you know we are responding to the climate crisis, so
that's kind of the driver in this thing, and it is, urn .... you know, it is truly we're trying to
avoid a catastrophe, I mean it's .... that's why we declared the crisis. On the more positive
side, the way I ... I like to view this is is essentially an acceleration of our strategic plan.
It's ... in many respects just putting a much stronger emphasis on achieving the goals of our
strategic plan, in terms of equity and, uh, sustainability. And, you know, Rockne,
building on your .... your notion of this being, how do we make this program more
visible? You know in my .... another way I've been looking at it as ... this as is it's .... it
should, as we, you know, achieve these.... these goals, the experience of being in Iowa
City should feel very different. It .... the air will be cleaner. (laughs) The land will be
cleaner. It should be quieter (laughs) you know, those electric buses, uh, you know, going
from .... you know, single -occupancy automobiles to walking, bicycling, and transit,
especially on electric buses, that will change the feel of this place dramatically. Uh, it
will make it a more convivial place. So .... you know, I'm .... I'm, it's .... I find this a very
strange experience in that, you know, the catastrophic threat is truly, uh, you know, scary
to really, to try to understand that. On the other hand, the .... the benefits of doing this are
transformative. So it's .... sort of like mobilizing for avoiding the catastrophe, but the
transformational aspects of it are .... are truly extraordinary.
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Throgmorton/ No one else? I'll just say a few words. Bravo to the staff for bustin' their asses,
sorry, public (laughter) past hundred days to do exactly what we asked you to do. You've
come up with a really impressive report that goes into.... actually substantial detail about
how we can accomplish our goals, not just in terms of sort of the technolo ... or technical
and regulatory and economic incentives part, but also staffing and funding and .... and the
like. And the equity component, which is really crucial as well. So I'm really impressed
with that, and uh, so, um, a huge kudos have to go to Ashley and to Brenda and all the
other staff that work with you, cause I don't know who exactly did what, but I .... I know it
was not easy and you've done great! Yeah, so bravo to you! Anybody else need to say
anything? All right! Yipee! So we can move on! And I think that means we're gonna
move to clarification of agenda items.
Clarification of Agenda Items:
Taylor/ On the consent calendar, I'd like to see Item 7.c. pulled out for discussion. It's the
personnel policies update.
Throgmorton/ Item 7.c.
Salih/ I really second that.
Throgmorton/ Okay, it doesn't need to be seconded but... so you wanna pull Item 7.c. out (both
talking)
Taylor/ Right.
Dilkes/ I've got one comment on 7.c. as well. Um .... we're recommending that you, when you
move adoption of that, that you remove Section 7.8, which is entitled "Employee
Response to Firearms." Um, on reflection I think that's a safety policy. It doesn't really
belong in the personnel policies. It shouldn't be tied to discipline. Um, and in addition
the landscape of what kind of regulatory authority we have over firearms is changing all
the time in terms .... and we expect additional legislation at the State level. So I think we
can just take it out of the personnel policy.
Throgmorton/ Eleanor, will you please repeat the .... the Item number. I know it's 7.c. but (both
talking)
Dilkes/ It's 7.c., the same one that Pauline was talking about, and the removal of Section 7.8.
Throgmorton/ Section 7.8.
Dilkes/ Yep!
Throgmorton/ Okay.
Dilkes/ Thanks!
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Throgmorton/ Any other agenda items?
Taylor/ Um, in correspondence, Item 9.k. I just had a question about that, whether there was
anyone on staff that you know of, Geoff, that's currently, uh, working together with
maybe the Harm Reduction group or would be interested in ... in doing something like
that, because I've gone to some of their meetings and would certainly be interested in
helping with that.
Fruin/ Yeah. So we .... we've funded that organization through out, uh, social justice and racial
equity grants. So we are familiar. Um, the Police Chief, uh, has also, is also very
familiar with that organization, and .... and, uh, Chief Matherly has reached out to Sarah,
uh, to have more discussion on what a municipal drug strategy or plan would be, and I
think until we really understand what it is they're advocating for, it's hard for us to kind of
come back to you with... recommendation on whether to pursue that or not. So those
(both talking)
Taylor/ That's good to know.
Fruin/ (both talking) ...conversations are taking place.
Taylor/ Okay!
Information Packet Discussion (November 7, November 141:
Throgmorton/ Anything else? Okay, let's move on to the info packet discussion, November the
7th. IP3, I see people are still drinking beer (laughs) Never mind, it's a bar check report.
(laughter) We can move on.
Thomas/ IP2, I did find interesting, um, a quote I'd like to read was when adults make decisions,
they should think about how their decisions affect children. Uh, it's kind of a, I think, a
useful perspective of, you know, if the children of our community are doing well, the
community will probably be doing well.
Throgmorton/ So more broadly, John, Andre Cohen, on behalf of the Iowa Chapter of the United
Nations Association asked us to make certain commitments, and I don't know if y'all had
a chance to read that. I don't know what you think, whether you .... you want to make
certain commitments to promote, protect, and realize the rights of the child in celebration
of the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. So, I don't know if
we have to discuss that tonight, but .... (mumbled) we're being asked to do that (laughs)
Mims/ Yeah, I thought it was, um .... I'm happy to move forward with doing something. I don't
....I don't think that we can do it in this venue, in this immediate time. I mean her what,
why, how, when, who I think would really take some time to kind of think about and how
it .... how is the best way to relate that to City policy, City action, etc.
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Throgmorton/ I agree. So what ... what do you suggest we do?
Fruin/ Our Human Rights office is already looking into it. I think you could probably count on
them to come up with something, unless you, you know, unless you wanna come up with
your own ideas. Uh, Stefanie and Kristin and crew will handle it.
Teague/ I think it's awesome. (laughs)
Cole/ Surprise! (laughs)
Teague/ Yes!
Throgmorton/ Can we move to the November 14th packet?
Salih/ Yes!
Teague/ Uh huh.
Salih/ IP6, Johnson County Mobile Home Task Force. Pauline and I and Rockne on that task
force and I guess all of us (mumbled) but I .... I just warm know like when .... when they
give us this report, what are next step as a Council?
Cole/ I was gonna bring that up! So I was very much hoping that (mumbled) got one month left,
if it's possible, um, to do at least a work session on this. One of the things that was really
wonderful about this task force is we had City of North Liberty, we had Coralville, we
had Johnson County. Obviously the City of Iowa City, and we completely fully
acknowledged that, um, it's a regional issue, but at the same time, um, each individual
entity has their own needs, their own experience with mobile homes, and so one of the
things I think we had really hoping we're doing is we have this very substantive report,
just to have some time, and it probably won't just take one work session, but maybe a
couple or even more than that, that we would sort of update where we are as a
community, in terms of policies and .... how we can be proactive, in terms of our mobile
home policy, whether there's anything prospectively into the future we can do. Um, one
of the things that generated this was of course people know that we've seen a lot of
outside entities bidding upwards of two times the assessed market value of these
properties. So, and it's happening very frequently. Um, and so, uh, I'm really hoping we
can get support for a work session, have a more extended conversation on that, and uh, if
possible I'd like to do it in the month of December, if possible, but certainly it's
something that Council should, I think, evaluate.
Taylor/ I .... I would echo, uh, what they've said, uh, I hope you had a chance to actually read
through the recommendations and also especially right in the beginning, to see the list of
members that were on the task force. It's a nice mix of individuals, uh, with an interest in
the well-being of-uh, folks, uh, residents of mobile homes. Um, especially pleased that
Senator Zach Walz has been a part of our ongoing discussions, uh, because he's been
seeking legislation for the last couple years, uh, it's.... it's depressing to know that, uh,
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Iowa's one of just a few states that ... that have very marginal protections for .... for mobile
home residents, very (laughs) very depressing to see that data, and he's been seeking
legislation on that state level to provide better protection for these individuals, uh, as far
as like eviction notice and rent .... rent increase, uh, notices, uh, so that's.... that's very
important. Uh, I would add to Rockne, of course we can talk about it in a .... in a work
session, but, urn .... other municipalities, as you can see from the, uh, members, were
included — North Liberty and Coralville and so I would suggest that it be placed on the
Joint Entities meeting, so that we can discuss it in whole, uh, as well as we should also
encourage our lobbyists to, uh, keep their ear to the ground and .... and know that it's a
priority of ours and the community, uh, to watch for this and to, um, encourage it to be
passed.
Throgmorton/ So is there support for, uh, putting this topic on one of our last two work sessions
of the year?
Salih/ Yes.
Throgmorton/ I'm not sure what's (several talking)
Fruin/ Yeah, we don't have anything scheduled for either, except your earlier discussion about
Houses into Homes on December 17th. So we could put it on the 3rd, is that the first
meeting? (several responding) The 3rd?
Throgmorton/ Well, without objection, let's do that.
Salih/ Sure!
Throgmorton/ Great.
Fruin/ Um .... who do you .... do you want us to ask anybody to present or are you gonna, Rockne,
Mazahir, Pauline, are you gonna....
Cole/ Well .... yeah, I think all three of us can work on, you know, discussing that.
Fruin/ Okay.
Cole/ So....
Fruin/ Perfect!
Cole/ Yep!
Taylor/ And we have Sara Barron's here (several talking) who's led our task force and has been
very helpful (both talking) putting it all together, so hopefully she'll be able to be, uh,
present at that.
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Salih/ To come and present.
Throgmorton/ Okay, any other .... I'm sorry, any other items on the .... that particular .... uh,
information packet?
Thomas/ One thing I'd like to .... discuss, and I guess it would fall under pending work session
topics, and .... and we have an item on our formal agenda that's, uh, you know, our....
response to the .... the loss of our rental caps. And, uh.....so.....I would .... I would like to
ask for your support to have a work session to .... discuss where that issue is, so that, um
.... urn ..... we as a Council will have an understanding of what exactly is in place, you
know, there .... as you .... as you see in the formal agenda, there .... there were a number of
things done a couple of years ago. Uh, I don't know if, I mean I'd like a refresher as to
kind of where we are with all of that.
Throgmorton/ All the code amendments (both talking)
Thomas/ All the code changes, um.....but.....the bottom line is I feel .... I'm concerned that, um,
what .... what may happen if we just simply approve this .... this change that's.... that's on
our agenda and that's basically our response. Uh, so I .... I'd like to have a work session
where we ... we sort of consider this whole issue and .... uh, you know, one .... one thought
I'm having in terms of what might come out of that work session might be, uh, scheduling
a meeting in the community, kind of a good neighbor meeting where, uh, that
information .... it could be here, doesn't have to be in .... in an actual neighborhood venue,
but .... to.....to hear back from the residents, because they too, I think, are in the dark on
this. There .... there is not any clear understanding of what's happening, and
um .... (laughs) what (several talking and laughing)
Teague/ I do wonder, um, will there be some staff, um....
Fruin/ So during tonight's presentation the .... the NDS staff will .... will give you just some bullet
point overviews on .... on what we have done leading up to this point, because as....as you
know, this has been an ongoing kind of chess game, for lack of a better term, uh, since the
State took away the familial status, okay? They did that. We put in the rental caps and
did a number of things, and now, you know, they took away the rental caps and.... and
we're back at it so we can give you that synopsis tonight very kind of, again, bullet
points, and then, you know, you can decide if you wanna.... if you wanna do more. The
thing I would say is we don't have a whole lot of other options. We feel good about what
we've done and time will tell, you know, how the market responds to that, but, um....
make no mistake about it, the State has taken away a lot of our local control on this issue.
Throgmorton/ Uh, so there's a suggestion that we put this on the pending work session list. Is
there any objection to that?
Teague/ I do have a question. Is it to, um, update Council? Is it more for the community, to
really be ... either engaged in the conversation or .... because (both talking)
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Thomas/ (both talking) ...a work session as we typically, as it's typically structured doesn't
provide an opportunity for community comment and I think that's important. So, you
know, I .... I would like to have the opportunity for the community to .... to ask questions,
to .... to give their thoughts in terms of what's being proposed and whether that strategy is
adequate.
Mims/ I .... I guess I'd like to maybe come back to this after we go through this in the formal
meeting and kind of see what comes out of that, and then decide what is the best way to
move forward with something.
Throgmorton/ Yeah. Okay. That sounds reasonable to me. (several responding) So as we get to
that, please remember to bring it up. Okay.
Mims/ If I don't I'm sure John (laughter)
Throgmorton/ Okay, we have like one minute and then we're gonna stop our work session. So
with regard to the updates on assigned boards, commissions, and committees, we can do
that at the end of the formal meeting when we're goin' through that kind of stuff. So are
there any other items on this infor.... in this information packet you wanna mention? I'll
mention IP #9, the Citizens Police Academy. So there's an opportunity to enroll in that
academy. Uh, you have to apply not later than Monday, January the 20th, for the 2020
academy. It's a great opportunity to learn about the Iowa City Police Department, what
they do, the challenges they face, and that kinda thing. So....
Salih/ Very nice. I went to that one. I encourage everyone to go! (laughs) Yeah, is nice!
Throgmorton/ Anything else?
Salih/ That's it!
Throgmorton/ Okay! I don't hear anything else so we're gonna put an end to this particular work
session and reconvene at 7:00 for the formal meeting.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council
session of November 19, 2019.