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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-02-02 TranscriptionPage 1 2. Proclamations 2.a. Black History Month Teague: (reads proclamation) And to receive this proclamation is Mr. Roger Lusala who is accepting on behalf of the Human Rights Commission. Welcome, Commissioner Lusala. Lusala: Thank you, Mr. Mayor and thank you Council, for this proclamation. I'm humbled today to represent my colleagues from the Iowa City Human Rights Commission and to accept this proclamation on behalf of my many brothers and sisters in Iowa City. I wish we did not need to have this proclamation for the Black History Month. I wish we did not have the proverbial box we as a nation we have to check honoring the impact and contribution of African American in this nation. For a whole 28 days in the month of February, we will see the TV and community and our kids will talk about in their school about Dr. Martin Luther King, George Washington Carver, Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, and many other African American that have paved the way for the history that we have today. Black history is American history, and that's how we should celebrate it and that's how it should be taught to our children. Many black people have paved the way for the success of this country and the only reason they are not in our kids' history book is because of their race. I ... long for the day that we do not celebrate Black History Month, but we celebrate history, including all the accomplishment by African American. And we no longer teach black history as the footnotes to American history. I hope one day celebrating Black History Month will itself be part of history, because we will be celebrating black history as American history. We will stop robbing our children of the knowledge of true American history. Nelson Mandela wants to ... educating the most part... education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. However, I say we have to start with changing education first and start teaching the true history of this country, but until then Black History Month is still needed, and I look forward to the day that we are experiencing Black history and American history in the same way, the same way that we are today living Dr. King's dream by the look of our Iowa City Council and the diversity that we have, but thank you. I'm humbled to accept this proclamation on behalf of the Human Rights Commission. Thank you. Teague: Thank you, and I know that I speak for all of the Councilors when I say we really appreciate your response to this proclamation. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 2 2.b. National Gun Violence Survivors Week Teague: (reads proclamation) And here to accept this proclamation is Trish ... Trisha Zebrowski from Moms Demand Action. Welcome, Trisha. Fruehling: Mayor, I don't see Trisha on, but I believe Temple Hiatt may be here to accept, so I'm going to allow (both talking) speak. Teague: Great! Hiatt: Hi, Mayor Teague, how are you? Teague: Awesome and amazing! Good to ... good you're here with us. Hiatt: Thank you so much for recognizing National Gun Violence Survivor Week. Um, next Tuesday we are going to kick off our advocacy day and we welcome the ... the community to join us in ... in ... in advocating for ...for safer gun legislation. We're going to hear from local electeds, um, Christina Bohannan, Representative Bohannan and Senator Zach Wahls. We'll also hear from Trisha Zebrowski. She is a survivor herself. So we will hear her personal story and her experience at the ... at the mass shooting, um, at ... in Aurora, Colorado, when ... when she was there with some of her students. We'll also hear from community partners, uh, Dream City and DVIP, the domestic violence in ... intervention program. So we welcome the community to join us and... and here our survivors, uh, share their stories and ... and help us continue advocating for safer gun legislation. Teague: Thank you so much, Temple, for being with us today and ... and bringing such an important national concern for guns. Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 3 9. Community Comment (items not on the agenda) Teague: Item number nine is Community Comment and if anyone from the community would like to address Council, please raise your hand and I will call upon you, and if you're on the phone press *9 and I will call upon you. We ask people to keep their comments three to five minutes, and we also ask people to be very conscientious of allowing everyone the opportunity to come and speak what they want and not, um, honestly... let's respect our ...our speakers. So, all right, we're going to welcome David. Thank you. Drustrup: Thank you, Mayor, just like to start and comment on the ORI report that was released, and... and the fact that this is exactly the reason why many of us months ago were telling you that we didn't care whether or not an outside report was going to happen, because we just weren't going to trust it. I mean, why would we trust this random California-based group that Geoff Fruin handpicked. Fruin is an unashamedly pro -police, wealthy white guy, and has been resistant to any structural change. So we have zero reason to trust anything that he handpicks behind closed doors. And ... and that's actually a pattern now with Fruin. He disregards public feedback because he's an unelected official who isn't accountable to anyone, except his buddies with power in the City government, and he condition ... uh, commissioned this report, which made dozens of statements about IFR, but didn't even ask to interview any of us, not one of us. Meanwhile, the opinions of several police officers are valued and uplifted. And so this pattern from Fruin disregarding public feedback like he did through the policing plan and listening posts should be obvious now and really needs to be addressed by City Council. It's also the City Council's decision on whether to take a stand against the obvious bias in several of these reports that are coming out of the City Manager's office, which make no attempt to incorporate the feedback by IFR or anyone else in the city who is critiquing the police department. We've heard a lot how you say how grateful you are to us for bringing these issues to light over the summer. You tell us you're listening to us, but everything that we see that comes out of the City ignores us completely. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. Martha... followed by Raneem. Norbeck: Hi! Teague: Hello. Norbeck: Hi, Mayor Teague. Um, I wanted to bring your attention to a letter in your late packet, your late handout packet, um, that starts on page four, and I was just very quickly reading the response for Geoff Fruin. Thank you, Mr. Fruin, for providing a reply. Um, so I sent in a letter in regards to the bonus height provision in the Riverfront Crossings, and I have been advocating for some time that the, uh, the TIF provision to require LEED-Silver be...be replicated in the bonus height provision component in Riverfront Crossings. And Mr. Fruin's letter indicates that the Prentiss Street project is doing LEED. I was not aware of that. I thought they were committing to LEED-Silver equivalent and not committing to actual certification, so that's my misunderstanding. But I am concerned that this is a one project at a time, that it's a negotiation This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 4 every time, and ... and it's not really a known quantity for developers. I guess if the Council come... turns around and says multiple times you need to do LEED- Silver, I guess eventually developers will get on board and do it, but that's not exactly a policy. It's... it's a little loose. So you will... also in your next packet be getting a letter responding to John Thomas' question in the last meeting regarding the East College project, where Riverside Theater is going in, and that project will be seeking LEED-Gold. I am so excited about that, uh, I can't tell you how happy I am to see that happening, and I think it is (mumbled) you know, the fact that they went beyond the LEED-Silver is a testament to, you know, kind of the influence that that suggestion makes to encourage sustainability. So that will be in your next packet with some more information about what ... what exactly makes a legal project, what distinguishes a legal project. So keep your eyes peeled for that in the next packet. So I wanted to give you a little bit of background on ... on the TIF policy and ... and the bonus height provision policy. So the TIF policy was adopted in 2017, and there were a series of meetings. Um, Wendy Ford kind of spearheaded those meetings, and there was one particular meeting where we were talking in depth about what ... what sustainability criteria should be applied, and Kevin Monson of Neumann Monson Architects was there. There were a number of developers there (mumbled) general contractors there, and I said, you know, we should have at least an energy performance provision, and I will note that it was Kevin Monson who said that's not good enough. He said how are you going to enforce that, how do you make that legitimate, how is that a complement... comprehensive way of addressing sustainability. Kevin Monson pressed for LEED because it's verified by a third - party, rather than City staff trying to negotiate, are you meeting it, yes or no. They're not, you know, the City staff doesn't have time to apply that type of expertise, and they shouldn't have to, especially when you have a third -party verified system. It's well known in the industry and it's comprehensive. It's not just energy. It's water, it's air quality, it's the site and location. So it's comprehensive and it's measurable. You can say we improved water usage by this much, we improved energy usage by this much, we diverted this many tons of trash from the landfill. It is ... it is a way to make a very concrete accounting of your performance. So that's why the TIF policy includes LEED as the requirement, and if you go back a few more years, in 2013 when Riverfront Crossings was adopted. You know, I brought this up because I agree with all the things that Kevin Monson said, but it was kind of the first pass at trying to like how do we (mumbled) this in, and the City was ... was really slow, you know, moving in the direction of climate action, but it...it was just kind of the beginning of that, um and so by the time we did the TIF policy in 2017, we were able to integrate that, and so now you've declared the climate crisis. It's time to circle back and make that happen. You know, the bonus height provision is a public benefit, and it should Karry requirements with that. It's not a right, it is a privilege that is earned by providing a benefit to the public in exchange for the bonus height provision. So I encourage you to revisit this, um and ... and make this policy change something that is on paper than... than ... rather than dealt with one project at a time. Thank you! Teague: Thank you, Martha. Welcome, Rancem, followed by Emilia. Hamad: I first want to acknowledge Black History Month and I also want to note that I really find it ironic that we pay tribute to revolutionary black history, um, leaders via this proclamation today, but actually fail to actually create any (mumbled) positive change for BIPOC people in This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 5 our own community of Iowa City. I also want to talk about the OIR report that was released by the City, and to be quite frank, this report is really just ... has been a way for City officials to just really cover their ass (laughs) over the brutal, you know, violence that the ICPD and UIPD enacted upon peaceful protesters on the night of June 3rd. The ... the reality is that time is up, and the City really has to figure out what accountability really means with respect to the events of June 3rd. Um, and I also think it's really time for us as the community to stand up and demand, you know, a reckoning with our values. Um, on June 3rd the City truly exposed it's white suprema... white supremacy's violent charat... characteristics for the whole world to see as the ICPD and UIPD deployed an onslaught of chemical munitions against peaceful protesters, many of them (garbled). The OR ... the OIR report acknowledges this idea, but also acknowledges that I-80 was closed at the time that the violence occurred. So there's really no justification for the attack, other than the mere fact that protesters were not complying with police orders to go ... tam around and go home. That's the first thing I want to note. The second thing is that, you know, it's very obvious that, you know, Geoff Fruin, you know, has this, you know, very much pro -police perspective that David addressed earlier, and that pro -police orientation is really evident on every single page of this report. Um, what was really shocking is, you know, how ... you know this report describes that police officers attacked protesters with multiple rounds of tear gas from shotgun like monsters, you know, handheld tear gas, and then also stinger grenades, um, and rubber pellets, and then also in the same line says that the first recorded act of physical aggression was when a few protesters threw munitions canisters back in the direction of the police. So it's really ironic that even in the report, the chemical munitions assault on peaceful protesters weren't even registered as, you know, an act of aggression, as the first act of aggression that happened in this report. The report literally contains no accounting of any of the physical and mental trauma that the police (mumbled) inflicted upon protesters that night. Again an erasure of black voices and BIPOC voices that we have been addressing this whole past summer. Like David said, the victims of June 3rd when not included in this discussion at all, and the voices of white men, um, white cis men as police officers were included instead. I personally witnessed protesters who were literally thrown into seizures during the attack. I literally had to help a fellow protester, you know, deal with the seizure during the middle of getting tear gassed, and I ha ... didn't have a choice but to leave ... to leave and had to help them instead. I witnessed other people suffered other physical injury. For many friends and fellow citizens (mumbled) really destroyed the little sense of safety that we had as black residents, um, of Iowa City, in general, and (mumbled) reminded of the violence of the ... that the rapid support forces, you know, inflicted upon Sudanese protesters when I was present in Sudan during the Sudanese revolution in 2018, and to just have that same trauma triggered, um, the same night truly proves to me that, you know, the fight against police brutality is a global fight and will continue regardless of what officials, neoliberal officials such a City Council continue to do with their agenda. It's crazy for me that the OIR report didn't even pretend to become aware of, you know, the victim ... um (mumbled) victims experience in any of their analysis and really shows what the true intentions of this report really were, as I mentioned earlier. (both talking) Teague: Thank you, Raneem. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 6 Hamad: Thank you. Teague: Thank you. Emilia, followed by Nicholas. Roberts: Hi, can you hear me okay? Teague: Yes, welcome. Roberts: Thank you. Um, I'm going to star ...I'm going to once again speak out against the proposed police budget today. Um, I would also like to second everything that David and Raneem just said. Um ... um, it seems to me that the City Manager has commissioned a report from the OIR to craft his ridiculous police budget, and I would like to point out a few of the many flaws in the OIR. Um, starting off with the pattern .... with the pattern we have begun to see from the City Manager, him disregarding public feedback in the ... in the forming of the budget. The OIR completely disregarded the vast majority who were clear ...who were the clear victims of police brutality. Their perspectives should have been center... centered and not silenced. Um, no one from IFR was contacted by the independent investigation to give their perspective, outlook, and suggestions of the events of June 3'a, but numerous anonymous ICPD officers were given a voice and platform to attempt to excuse the inexcusable. Why is this perspective of everyone else present not represented? Why are there no victims being heard? Now I would like to jump to the obvious, which is that the OIR repor...report makes it even more obvious to us than it already was, that there was absolutely no reason to use any type of force on the night of June 3'a. Um, like Raneem said that the interstate had already been blocked off on the night of June 3rd. Um, the police claim the reason they left off the ... they let off less lethal force was to stop us from getting on the interstate. But the fact that we got onto the interstate safely and easily without law enforcement, the very next night on June 4a', proves their claim to be completely false. This proves that the events of June 3rd could have completely been avoided in putting our community in direct harm, in jeopardizing their safety, could have been avoided. Like Raneem said, I mean people were having panic attacks, seizing, crying, screaming... like it was just horrible. There's kids, older people there, like just everyday community members that we all know, that people often all grew up with, like it was just -just completely ridiculous, something that was really, really stunning to see. So yeah ... (mumbled) They tear gassed us simply because they wanted to especially knowing that they wouldn't face any consequences. The night of June 3rd would have stayed safe if law enforcement would have been ... would not have been present and let IFR lead and organize without any presence from law enforcement. The only thing law enforcement did do is put everyone in direct danger and cause emotional and physical pain and trauma. Once again we're asking for this budget to be rejected and that you give IFR complete control over the budget and organization of it. We have time to time again tried working with you all, just to be shot down and that you guys try to silence IFR. Other major cities are defunding the police. We've seen things in Seattle, Denver, etc., etc., other places. And they're reinvesting in their communities. Um, there's quite literally no reason why we can't advance and join them. We need to be funding for schools, housing, food, mental health resources, facilities, rehabs, community organizations, mutual aid groups, and etc., etc. and so many other things. We've got to invest in our community and the people to see This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 7 great things happen in Iowa City, and if you don't let IFR and the community members that are speaking up do that and try to help like our city's literally going to go nowhere. I mean I'm only 19 and I never thought that at 19 this is what I would be doing, and this is what I'd be worried about and, um, so it's just ... it's just really mind boggling that now ...that you guys just all of a sudden don't want to listen to us, when in the beginning in summer, in May, on the very first day that we held a protest, that ... or that IFR leaders held a protest that we thought that maybe we would be represented and be able to make decisions in our community. So yeah, it's just really, really discouraging to see this happening, and I really, really, really, really would like to see IFR completed in every .... um, in every aspect of the police budget being included and making any decision that needs made. Um, yeah and especially in light of Black History Month, I think this would be the perfect time to make these advances in our community. Thank you! Teague: Thank you, Emilia. Welcome, Nicholas, followed by Bob. Theisen: Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Council, for letting me speak. I wanted to just make a couple of quick points. I guess one's a little bit longer than the other. I want to actually go back to the ... the TIF issue from the previous formal meeting because this is the funny thing. It's like I know all of you forgot about this, because actually I forgot about this as well. But if you recall the last major TIF project that "came to completion" was the Sycamore Mall TIF, and if you recall that the completion of that TIF was a complete disaster. I mean Lucky's Market didn't even make it three years into their increment, and the City will still be on the hook for that until 2024. So whenever, you know, whenever Wendy comes on and gives these projections about how like, oh, it's going to increase the tax base and there's going to be all this money available, that's based on the assumption that those businesses and those projects last well beyond the increment, and yet the most recent example (laughs) of this that we see is one in which it didn't even last a full three years. So I just... honestly sometimes I want y'all to remember the things that have happened. Like I'm not even necessarily asking you to adopt my politics. I mean I would love it if you built, you know, thousands of units of public housing. That would be great, and I would cheer you on. I know you're not going to do it, but you ... can you at least just remember what happened... when you're making your decisions, please, and then secondly, I'll try to keep this short. I want to second everything that Raneem said, that Emi said, that David said. Basically (laughs) So the one thing that I want to highlight in the OIR report, I think they did a fantastic job of, you know, pointing out all of like sort of the big issues, but literally (laughs) in the report itself, there was an interchange between the OIR researchers and a representative from ICPD, and the ICPD representative tried to make the argument that, well, isn't it better that we tear gassed them, that we used rubber bullets, that we used stingers, that we used all of these "less lethal munitions," because the alternative was we would have had to have been even more violent. That's literally the dichotomy... that's literally what ICPD officers are thinking when they go into these situations. It's like how can I be violent or more violent, not how I can use no violence, not how I can de-escalate things. They're choosing between layers of violence. That's how they think, and that is why they need to be defunded, that is why we need to get rid of them, that is why we need to buil ... build something else, because you can't reform that. You can't reform an entire body of individuals whose assumption This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 8 whenever they come into a difficult situation is how they're going to beat it up, how they're going to gas it, how they're going to terrify it. That is how they think, that is why you have to get rid of them. Thank you. Teague: Thank you, and welcome, Bob. Franklin: Hello, thanks, Mayor Teague and Council. For those who don't know, my name is Bob Franklin. I'm the owner of Elray's Live & Dive, a live music venue that opened in July downtown on Iowa Avenue, used to be the Blue Moose. And I got a couple sort of points and appeals I'd like to draw to your attention. Uh, potentially I'm not the only one in this type of a situation so ... um, the Blue Moose closed in September of 2019, pre -pandemic. I then negotiated and signed the lease through that winter, with a planned opening in April. Now of course the ... (laughs) as everyone knows the pandemic hits and, you know, it's been a horrible crisis for healthcare workers, for everyone that's been impacted, and ... and for the economy in general. So I halted construction, you know, obviously I didn't want to keep going at that point and open up a live music venue without knowing what the situation was there in March. But I was unfortunately unable to halt construction forever. Number one, the bills don't stop. You know, you still have to pay your landlord, you still have to pay your insurance company, you still have to pay your property taxes, and also, uh, the way the restrictions work for the City on liquor licenses, you have to use it within a year or you lose it, which put me on a time limit to open before September. Had I let that liquor license lapse, I would put myself in legal jeopardy with the property owner, cause it would have harmed the value of his building. So I waited as long as I could, and then I restarted construction and opened in July; and the reason that time limit's important is because I .... started my business pre -pandemic and committed myself to these obligations, but opened post -pandemic, we've been ruled ineligible to participate in any of the federal CARES Act funds and the most recent Iowa restaurant and hospitality grant and the save our act stage, uh, stage grant. So again, I know I'm not the only business. I spoke to the SBA before they passed and ... and ruled against our eligibility. I spoke or I tried to reach out to our two senators in Congress, uh, representatives, to draw their attention to this. They acknowledged it but, again, it all still went through and passed and... and so I know I'm not the only one in this loophole. And again, you know, I've invested quite a bit of money. We made the place ADA -compliant. We added new electrical, on and on and on. I think we'll be a great asset to the community long-term, but I have two appeals that can help us get there. One is property tax relief. I have $22,000 due this month and that's only half a year's property tax. I paid 22 in September. So potentially helping out businesses that have been excluded from federal CARES Act that still have faced restrictions and pay their real estate taxes, either as an owner of the property or as a tenant that gets passed through. And secondly, I have a beautiful sidewalk in front of me that I am in- eligible to participate in as a sidewalk cafe license because I don't have a kitchen. We do offer food from our neighbors at Players. There are, you know, currently I believe 40 public sidewalk cafes downtown and 11 private. We think there should be one more that's included. You know, my only way to get that currently is to build a kitchen, which would require, you know, more investment into the property and also would ... would mean that I'd have to lose a stage. And I think we need, you know, live music in the city of arts, in addition to more restaurants. And so I would appeal to you to reconsider an exception This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 9 for ...for a business like mine to utilize that. The CDC wants to see outdoor seating, the public wants to see outdoor seating, and I'm asking for appeal and for help on those two things, you know, cause if I don't get any help and eventually I run out of savings and run out of money to keep the business afloat, um, that just reverts back to the building owner. All my investments. He'll sit on the property for a while and release it to someone else post -pandemic, you know. And so I'd like to avoid that. I'd like to be part of the community for a while, and so I make those two appeals that can help us get there, and again, an appeal on behalf of other businesses like mine that I know are in that same situation. Teague: Thank you, Bob. Welcome, Bailey. Baker: Hi, can you hear me? Teague: Yes, we can. Baker: Hi, so I'm also going to, um, second everything that Raneem, Emilia, Nicholas, and David had said tonight. Um, this OIR report, I think frankly, is, um, blatantly biased. I was looking through the report itself in a couple of news articles by local outlets, and I couldn't help but be shocked that, um, just that Geoff Fruin and the City Council and everyone who went ... who was involved in putting this report out or commissioning it, um, believes that two protester voices versus multiple, um, two protester voices that were not cited directly in the report at all was sufficient, um, considering that you gave multiple ... or this report gave multiple, um, IC police ... IC ... Iowa City police officers, um, many chances to speak. Um, I don't even understand how this number is acceptable. I don't understand how, um, that the City Council and Geoff Fruin, um, still refuse to acknowledge that they disregarded IFR this summer. Their attempts to communicate with the Council and their demands that they put out this summer about the Iowa City Police Department and the School Board, um, I just don't even see how you guys could believe that this report would be complete without that, and even with this report that I believe is extremely biased, um, the 01 ... this is a quote from the OIR report itself. It speaks to how, um, let me find the exact part, it's kind of long. Um, in ... in retrospect, the decisions to draw a line in the sand on Dubuque Street that night to move to the ultimatum phase, aka tear gas, pepper spray, etc., with little attempt at negotiation or de-escalation, which also has to go along with the ride-alongs that you guys are going to be talking about later, if these police (laughs) have already proven they can't do that, why would we put them into more vulnerable situations in this community. It doesn't ensure safety at all, obviously. Um, to consider the crowd members to be collectively on notice after an acoustically limited effort at warning them. A lot of the protesters couldn't even hear those reports our ...the police telling people to get back, and even if they did, um, that's a moot point, but, um, I just think that that's ridiculous that they're trying to act like put this bad reputation on the protesters when they themselves can't even defend their actions that night, and then to use flash bangs and tear gas in effectuating the dispersal order, um, yeah I .... there's a lot of things wrong with this report. Um, according to it the ICPD and the UIPD provided and deployed most of the flash bangs. Um, I think it's worth noting that the Iowa State Patrol was there that night too and refused to just share comment at all. And that the ICPD and the UIPD would only send in information in writing, although the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 10 report states that they would have gotten much more information from a conversation. I just think that's suspicious and another reason why this report is extremely biased, um, but yeah, ICPD and UIPD provided and deployed most of the flash bangs, tear gas, and pepper balls. Um, ICPD was given the opportunity to contribute more information than anyone else was in this city about their own actions, which is a... there's a blatant bias to this report, and I don't think that Geoff Fruin or the City Council did anything to prevent this. And ... which is why I also believe that this plan that he has proposed proves that police officers will not be held accountable for their violent action in the future. And I just do not trust it at all. I think that it is obvious what your community member is tel... community members are telling you. IFR gathered a crowd of over 3,000 people the next day. So I think for you it's ... for this not to be a major deal to you all is, I mean, I don't even have words for it, um, but yeah, I think the last thing I would like to say is that 87.5% of the police budget is paid by property taxes, so, um, yeah, thanks. Teague: Thank you. Would anyone else like to address .... uh, public comment at this time? Seeing no one, we're going to move to Item number 10, which is Planning and Zoning matters. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page I1 10. Planning and Zoning Matters 10.a. Rezoning — South of Kennedy Pkwy & West of Camp Cardinal Blvd — Ordinance conditionally rezoning property located south of Kennedy Parkway and west of Camp Cardinal Blvd from Interim Development -Research Park (ID -RP) zone to Rural Residential (RR -1), High Density Single -Family (RS -12), Low Density Multi -Family (RM - 12), and Medium Density Multi -Family (RM -20) for approximately 27.19 acres of land. (REZ20-0013) 1. Public Hearing Teague: I'm going to open the public hearing... and welcome, staff. Sitzman: Good evening, Mayor, Council. Danielle Sitzman, Neighborhood and Development Services. This is a application for a rezoning of the areas described in the title and outlined here in the white boundary. It's an application for rezoning from an interim zoning district that was established prior to the establishment of some of our other research parks elsewhere in the region, and has slowly been redeveloping and rezoning into more of a mixed-use residential neighborhood. Um, this shows, again, the property outlined in white and that purple area being the existing zoning. Um, there will be a ... a case on a following agenda for you dealing with the actual platting of the lots for this development. Because platting is a process that only takes one reading, it's being held to catch up for the ... three readings (mumbled) rezoning application will take. So I'll give you a presentation later on in more depth about the plat itself. I'll mention it kind of briefly as this relates to the rezoning tonight. That plat would be for additional residential development. So a little bit of background about this property. It's been in the city boundaries for some time. It's had this zone ... interim zoning, research park designation since the 80s. As I mentioned, we've seen research parks kind of come to fruition elsewhere in the region and in our city itself. It's subject to the Clear Creek master plan, which was developed in 2002, um, and there's been, uh, subsequent development of earlier phases of what is called Camp Cardinal Pointe West. So the first phase of Cardinal Pointe West in the upper left hand side of the screen here and some photos of that existing development. Then Cardinal Pointe lI, the next phase of that development here with townhomes (mumbled) multi -family on the interior of the loop street system with single-family home lots developed on the exterior of that. Some photos of that development as well, which brings us to eventually what you'll be hearing about ... to be developed in this parcel here, which would be Cardinal Pointe West, kind of the continuation of that development style with a loop street system, townhome-style multi -family on the interior, single-family residential lots surrounding that. This is their rezoning exhibit that puts those requested zoning districts into colors for you, so you can see their outline. Here's the first phase, as I mentioned; seco... second phase, and the eventual third phase, showing the zoning districts (mumbled) coinciding with those types of development. Down here in green would be a slightly more dense parcel reserved for future medium density multi -family, and then these blue areas are being rezoned for rural residential, which is really the areas that contain steep slopes and wooded areas or would be conserved without development on them. Simply designating them as rural residential as an additional way to truly limit their This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 12 development potential, so that those sensitive areas can be preserved. As with our rezoning applications, we look at two criteria — the comprehensive plan and existing neighborhoods. And this place, as I mentioned, the controlling comprehensive plan is the Clear Creek master plan, since it doesn't have a specific district plan and that is the most specific and recent, um, commentary, as far as comprehensive planning in this area. It does show the area as suitable for residential, commercial, and office development, really trying to emphasize conservation -type development where development is clustered and kept out of sensitive areas, to the extent as possible. Um, the requested rezoning and subdivision design conforms with that kind ... type of conservation design envisioned in the Clear Creek master plan, as well as the policies for housing and land use laid out in the City's comprehensive plan. One of the conditions included in the zoning tonight is the construction of a sidewalk in the vicinity. Um, that will connect the neighborhood as well to within itself and without ... to the neighborhoods surrounding it. Speaking of the compatibility with the neighborhood, as I mentioned, this is again a continuation of the existing development pa ... pattern, which already contains a mix of large lot single- family homes, anywhere from a third acre to just under a half acre, and then the townhouse multi -style, multi -family buildings. The planning of this would actually allow for, and they have planned for, some duplex development as well. Staff does have two additional conditions that I'll go over at the end relating to that multi -family style townhome development, which is inside the loop street network, having to do with the eventual, uh, landscape plan ... plan that would be reviewed at the time that that is developed through the site plan process. And also tying the eventual platting to a concept that they've shown with this rezoning, uh, really expressing that multi-townhome style, multi -family development. So just to kind of preview what's ahead, here's the full preliminary plat where you can see the loop stre... street system. Um, north is to your left in this exhibit and where the road network would connect to Camp Cardinal Boulevard. Um, because we're aware that the plat is coming and zoning is the best opportunity to address any potential impacts of development, there are some conditions I'll go over, as I said, at the end here. Looking ahead to the potential impacts having to do with traffic and transportation, we do anticipate that there will be a need for traffic calming. The topography of this land prohibits connections to Camp Cardinal Boulevard in more than the places that they've indicated, because with the steep slopes that would have to be traversed. That results in a blo... block network that's a little bit longer than we'd prefer, so we've included conditions having to do with traffic calming. And as I mentioned, there are steep slopes and wooded areas. This is a sensitive area site plan that you'll see with the preliminary plat. There's a lot of hash marks on here, but essentially is intended to portray that there are steep slopes and wooded areas, and so a sensitive areas development plan will also be included with that preliminary plat and the required amounts of preservation will be discussed at that time. Just to touch on the development steps, shown here in the dark black is the step that we are at. Um, as I said, this land has already been annexed and zoned for a while in the city. This is changing that zoning to the variety of zoning districts indicated. Um, there will be, as I said, a preliminary plat and preliminary sensitive areas plan to follow at a future agenda, and eventually a final plat and some administrative steps handled by staff, like the site plan reviews for any multi -family and building permit issuance. So the Planning and Zoning Commission is recommending approval of this. Uh, staff did review this and based on our review of relevant criteria recommended four conditions. At their January 7th meeting, the Planning and Zoning This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 13 Commission concurred, but they also did add one additional condition. I'll go over this condition shortly here. Um, the first two have to do with that multi ... the townhome-style multi- family lot, lot number 54 inside the loop street network, having to do with the concept plan as expressed and requiring a review of the landscaping plan to ensure both usable outdoor space and screening of garages from public streets. A third condition having to do with incorporation of the traffic calming, as I mentioned. A fourth condition having to do with installation of a five-foot sidewalk on the west side of Camp Cardinal Boulevard. And the fifth condition, which was placed by the Planning and Zoning Commission, indicating that the outlots that were not for future multi -family but were those rural residential areas that I indicated to be accompanied by a woodland management plan, uh, to be approved by staff prior to the issuance of any building permits. As I mentioned, just a reminder, we will be at that preliminary plat and preliminary sensitive areas development plan that accompanies the platting of this, um, and finally, just due to concerns about COVID, a good neighbor meeting was not held, but an additional mailing was sent out by the applicant to the surrounding property owners. And that concludes staff report. I'm happy to answer questions. Teague: No questions for you, but stick around, you never know! All right, we're going to open it up to the public, so would anyone like to address this topic from the public? If so, please raise your hand and we ask that you keep your comments three to five minutes. Welcome, Martha, followed by Josh. Norbeck: Thank you, um, well I ... I have to say, of course, I am ... if I wasn't in support of this diversity of housing types, I would be a hypocrite. So I'm..I am pleased to see the different sizes of housing lots in this location. I know the public isn't supposed to ask staff question, but maybe Danielle can answer, or maybe you can send me an email later. I understand that the topography here does not allow for vehicle... vehicular cut-throughs. Um, where is the City in terms of providing pedestrians/bike cut- throughs to make those block lengths a little shorter to accommodate bic... cyclists and pedestrians, particularly in a site like this where it really wouldn't work to add vehicular pass-throughs, but maybe it might be feasible to add a ... a sidewalk or even ... even stairs. And that's the end of my comments. Thank you. Teague: Thank you, and then we'll have Danielle reach out to you. Welcome, Josh. Entler: Thank you, Mayor Teague, uh... Mayor Pro Tem, Councilors, et al, and thank you, Danielle, for that well, uh, well -worded presentation. In the interest of time, I will keep my comments short ... to just what's been new since the Planning and Zoning discussion, as well as the packets of information that were distributed. Uh, and a slight comment and ... and adjustment to the presentation that Dan ... Danielle provided. So we do have, uh, phase two is duplexes on the west side, townhomes in the middle, and then single-family home on the east side. So we have kind of a three-phase model. That same model will be extended into ... into phase three, so that we do have, you know, three specific areas that we have a variety of housing types. So we have agreed and ... and delivered the conditional zoning agreement to staff at this time, and that outlines the five conditions that were ... that were described earlier. So we have agreed to that, delivered that to staff, and then on the condition number five, the timber (mumbled) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 14 management plan, we ... we are working with Sustainable Landscape Solution, a professional firm (mumbled) of town. So we do have a draft in hand. We're excited to ... to start working with staff and really now that we have it defined, start to refine what that could look like and what the ... the future potential would be for that stand of timber. So thank you, Mr Mayor. Teague: Thank you. Would anyone else like to address this topic? Seeing no one ... I'm going to close the public hearing. Council (laughs) probably should have did ... did this before I closed it, but are you inclined to vote with the Commission? I'm seeing yes. All right, great. Could I get a motion to give first consideration, please? 2. Consider an Ordinance (First Consideration) Salih: Move first consideration, Mazahir. Mims: Second, Mims. Teague: All right, Council discussion? We can't hear you, Councilor Taylor. Taylor: ... push the wrong button! (laughs) there we go! Dam technical stuff. I ... I was just saying that I ... I like this project, and I think originally there were good intentions for this area to be zoned, uh... uh, development research park, but obviously that didn't come to being, so I think rezoning this is an excellent idea. I'm especially pleased to see plans for the variety of housing types, the four -unit townhomes, single-family, and duplexes. That's, uh, a major need in this community rather than some more 300, $400,000 single-family homes. So I think a lot of thought went into the ... into the plans. Uh, thank you Josh that just presented, and I'm ... I'm in favor of this rezoning. Thomas: I wanted ... I wanted to mention the, um, one ... one thing that I think is new with this particular project is the woodland management plan. So I'm really happy to see that, uh, that's been incorporated as one of the conditions, and... and then also there is in looking at the plan, there is a, uh, open space, uh, that's (mumbled) kind of a park -like dimension. I think it's something a little bit over two acres in size, which is pretty significant amount of area that could be developed as kind of a park -like setting within... within the residential area. So I think that ... that has potential moving forward as well, along with the woodland management. Weiner: Just happy to see various different sizes and townhouses built on this side of town. Or the potential for it. Teague: Any other comments? I do enjoy the diversity in the housing types, most certainly, and I was happy to hear about the sustainable landscape (laughs) company that is going to be partaking in this. So that'll be interesting just to see how all that plays out. If there are no more comments... roll call please. Motion passes 7-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 15 10.b. Rezoning — 700, 710, 720, and 730 S. Dubuque Street and 220 Lafayette Street — Ordinance conditionally rezoning approximately 1.9 acres of land located at 700, 710, 720, 730 S. Dubuque Street & 220 Lafayette Street from Community Commercial (CC -2) and Intensive Commercial (CI -1) to Riverfront Crossing — Central Crossings (RFC -CI) zone. (REZ20-0011) (Second Consideration) Teague: I do understand, Councilor Bergus, you wanted to say something? Bergus: Yes, yeah, Mayor. Thank you. I'm going to just recuse myself from this item, due to a conflict of interest. So I'm going to hop off the Zoom and if Kellie or Geoff can text me when you're done, that'd be great. Teague: Great. Bergus: Thank you. Teague: All right. The applicant has requested expedited action, um, on this item. Mims: I move that the rule requiring that ordinances must be considered and voted on for passage at two Council meetings prior to the meeting at which it is to be finally passed be suspended, that the second consideration and vote be waived, and that the ordinance be voted on for final passage at this time. Salih: Second. Teague: All right, and would anyone from the public like to address this topic? If so, please raise your hand and I'll call upon you. Seeing no one, Council discussion? Roll call please. Motion passes 6-1, recusal by Councilor Bergus. Um, motion... could I get a motion to pass and adopt please? Mims: (several responding) Second, Mims. Teague: All right, so moved by Weiner, seconded by Mims. And would anyone from the public like to address this topic? If so, please raise your hand. Council discussion? Roll call please. Motion passes 6-1, recusal and could I get a motion to accept correspondence please? Salih: Move (mumbled) correspondence. Taylor: Second, Taylor. Teague: And all in favor say aye. Any opposed? We have one abstention. So motion passes 6-1 abstention. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 16 11. Appeal of Historic Preservation Commission Decision — Deciding the appeal to the City Council of the decision of the Historic Preservation Commission denying a Certificate of Appropriateness to replace the original siding at 1133 E. Court Street in the Longfellow Historic District. 1. Public Hearing Teague: I'm going to open the public hearing. All right and welcome, staff. Dilkes: Mayor, this is Eleanor Dilkes, City Attorney. I'm going to start you off just by reviewing the... the kind of rules that govern your consideration of this appeal. There is a memo in the packet, but just briefly, again, this is a, what ... what you would call a narrow standard of review. Um, if you ... it's not enough that you just disagree with the ... the Commission. You have to find that they either did not follow the rules that are set forth in the City code about how they decide these things, or that they acted arbitrarily and capriciously. Another way to say that is you can't substitute your judgment for the Commission. You may not reverse the Commission simply because you disagree with them. If you find that they followed the guidelines set forth in the code and they did not act arbitrarily and capriciously, you must affirm the Commission's decision. On the other hand, if you find that they did not follow the guidelines set forth in the code or acted arbitrarily and capriciously, uh, then you may reverse or modify, wholly or partly, the decision of the Commission to deny, uh, the application. Um, at that point you stand in the shoes of the Commission, and you can make whatever decision they might have made, had they followed the rules or not acted arbitrarily and capriciously. You are required to make a decision within a reasonable time. If you feel like you need additional information... tonight, then you should continue the public hearing and specify what that information is so it can be provided to you at the next meeting. If you ... if you think that you do have the information you need, then you close the public hearing and make a motion. Obviously, at this point we don't know what that motion will be, but it will be a motion to affirm, uh, to reverse wholly or partly, or modify the decision of the Historic Preservation Commission, and remember to clearly articulate the reasons for your decision. That's it for me! Teague: Thank you. Okay. I do understand we have a ... we actually have the homeowners here. Fruehling: Mayor, we do have Kevin Boyd from the Historic Preservation Commission too. I ... I think staff had told me that he was going to present. Teague: Okay. Dilkes: Mayor, I think it's important that you hear what the decision was, um, before you then hear why the (garbled) decision is wrong, so... Teague: Well then, uh, Kevin Boyd, I ... oh there he is! Welcome. Boyd: Hello, welcome! Are you ready for me? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 17 Teague: Yes. Boyd: All right, so thank you for your time tonight. I plan on just kind of running through a few things, kind of a quick review of the guidelines relevant to the appeal, how those are kind of practically applied in the ... in the real world, kind of what the Commission decided on this particular application, and then what we did approve, which I think is a process to kind of move forward. So our guidelines are based on the Secretary of Interior standards, um, that kind of guides historic preservation rehabilitation in the United States, and those guidelines, um, our general recommendation of preservation is to preserve original materials, if possible. And so when we look at the Iowa City guidelines related to the siding section and the wood section, which are the two pieces we're, um, are relevant to th... to the appeal. When it comes to siding, our guidelines recognize that wood siding and trim details combine to make some of the most important defining characteristics of historic districts and therefore siding is protected by the design guidelines. Removing historic trim, covering historic trim, and installing synthetic... synthetic siding are actually disallowed, according to the guidelines. Related to wood, our guidelines recommend repair, including potentially wood substitutes, um, that retain the appearance and function of wood. Several sections include actions, again, that are disallowed, which include covering original wood siding, soffits, trim details, urn ... with other materials, such as vinyl or aluminum. It disallows the removal of historic wood elements, such as trim, cornices, and decorative elements. So following our guidelines, kind of based on these broad principles of historic preservation, means that if the existing siding exists, existing wood siding exists, then it should be repaired rather than replaced, and it should not be covered. But these ... the guidelines acknowledge that sometimes historic siding can't be repaired, and it might be missing, um, and those guidelines indicate that replacement should match existing materials, and that match doesn't have to be an exact match. It just needs to kind of mimic the look and feel of the original materials. We approve other things often. But evidence of unrepairable conditions would need to ... would be needed for the Commission to approve replacement of the original wood siding, according to the guidelines. Now the guidelines also acknowledge a need for exceptions and they outline those. Documented exceptions are related to some areas of the ... of the guidelines, but not related to wood or siding on historic homes, uncommon situations where the guidelines don't quite make sense for a particular property. Usually it's related to the size of the lot or the placement of a building on a lot. Um,or where the guide ... the guidelines are silent or unclear, kind of rela... sometimes situations come up which we haven't encountered before. So here's what that means practically and how we kind of...how the guidelines are applied in ... in the real world. When aluminum siding is covering a house, it doesn't have to be removed entirely to investigate the condition of what's underneath. A small portion or portions can be pulled back, removed, the conditions underneath can be assessed and documented, and then the aluminum siding can be put back on. Or there are places where there's part of the siding that can be removed entirely where there's less ... less exposure to the elements if that's a concern, perhaps under a front porch or more protected side of the house, and we know synthetic siding traps moisture into kind of old wood. So if we're worried about moisture, perhaps we take a portion of the siding off, let it dry for a day or two, kind of air out and test with the moisture meter, if the, you know, if we can't kind of physically see any This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 18 deterioration. All of this evidence gathering and documentation can be done relatively easy ...easily, but it's a critical step in how to move forward and the challenge in this particular case. Removal of aluminum siding and repair of original siding is one of the most common improvements homeowners in Iowa City in historic districts undertake. If there's original material under that synthetic siding that they're removing and it's in good condition or can be repaired, the Commission is unlikely to approve replacement of it. The guidelines are clear. It is disallowed. If the siding condition is unrepairable or there's simply no siding at all, replacement would be considered by the Commission and likely in ... in favor of it, but what we ... what we need is documented evidence of the condition in order to consider removal of the original materials. The lack of documentation is what's holding this project up. We don't have documented evidence of the condition of the aluminum siding. The applicant hasn't permitted staff to inspect the condition and didn't provide before or at our meeting any documented evidence of the ... of the existing conditions, under the ... under the existing aluminum siding. The application was to cover existing original siding or remove original materials, which is specifically disallowed in the guidelines. And they asked us to prove without... approve without documentation documented evidence ... uh, of the original material, which is where the problem was created. And ultimately that's what the Commission found. There was not enough documented evidence to permit replacement or covering of an original material, um, or evidence to provide an exception to the guidelines. If a Commissioner thought that there was evidence to grant exception, that Commissioner would have had to make a motion to say what that exception was and move to approve the application as presented by the homeowners. No Commissioner did this and the application as proposed was not approved because ... not approved, because it is disallowed under the guidelines and none of the exceptions are relevant here. This isn't ... this is the opposite of an uncommon situation. In fact it's very common. The guidelines aren't vague; in fact they're quite clear. Alternatively, the Commission did approve a Certificate of Appropriateness that meets the guidelines and allows for the removal of the aluminum siding and are a repair of the original siding and trim, or replacement and deterioration ... or I'm sorry, replacement of deteriorated siding and trim, following review of the documentation by stuff and Chair. Again, the Commission needed documented evidence and saw none presented, but we mapped out an alternative, um, that meets the guidelines and what we did approve. Once we have some documented evidence, we can move forward. If you agree that the Commission did not act in an arbitrary or capricious way, that we follow the guidelines, then we'll work with the applicant to gather the documented evidence needed and ... of the condition underneath, and map out a path forward. Thank you. Teague: Thank you, Kevin. All right. So we heard from Commissioner Boyd. Now we're going to ask for the homeowners to come forth. Welcome ... Gosia... and you're on mute. Clore: Hello. Teague: Hello. Clore: Hello, Mayor Teague and hello, Council Members. Um, we're here to appeal the HPC's denial of the application to replace the (mumbled) damage and the (mumbled) siding on our home. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 19 My husband Adam will give you details about our application, but we also asked GT Karr, who is a construction expert, to be here to answer any technical questions you might have. Just to let you know both GT and I have been Commissioners on the HPC. We are very familiar with the rules that need to be followed, as well as the decisions that have been made by staff and the Commission, and ... and we will present, you know, what ... what our truth is (laughs) uh, and Adam will be the one presenting. I don't know how we can share our presentation. I think maybe Kellie has access to the file, because I don't think I can share my screen. Fruehling: You should be able to, but if you can't I sure do have your email with the file. Clore: Okay, um, let me pull this up. Fruehling: And there's a share... share screen button down at the bottom... middle. Clore: Sorry, I know everybody's probably ready to be done with the meetings (laughs) Teague: (mumbled) we can see it. Clore: Okay, great. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Council. I'll just go ahead and jump right into it here. The current status of our house, uh, it was originally built as a ... an American foursquare, sort of originally looked like the drawing in the corner here. In the 80s, metal siding was applied to the outside of the house. Um, in the late 90s then the back of the house was also extended and .... and is now about a third larger than it originally was, and because that was done in the late 90s, that contains no, you know, historical features or trim. In addition, holes have been drilled into our house prior to the addition of siding. These holes were drilled into the house to put insulation in ... in the walls of the house. Unfortunately, when that was done there's no moisture barrier that was put in and as a result of that, and as a result of the holes, we have water that can enter our house, and also pests, including bats, mice, and insects, that can enter our house. There was also major damage to our house during the derecho, and that includes damage to the roof that required complete replacement of the roof, and also damage to the siding. Now, as mentioned by Kevin, it ... we don't know the exact condition of what may remain of. ... of wood siding, if any does remain, but we know that it does not exist on ... on at least a third of the house. We know that there's holes that are drilled in any remaining siding because of the insulation that was put in, and we have good reason to suspect with lack of a ... a water barrier that there is also moisture damage in there. This is an exa... or this is a picture of what the front of the house looks like. You can see just beyond the triple windows, um, down the bottom here, uh, where the addition was put on the house. Looking at the back of the house, you can see where the original porches were closed in and turned into rooms, and where a larger edition was put on ... on the house as well. Finally on the ... sorry, on the left side of the house, you can see probably most clearly where the non -historic addition is put on the house. There's a large chunk of it that is ... that is non -historic here. This is a close up of the damage caused by the derecho. You can see some chipping of the paint here. What you might not be able to see is some of the dents and scratches that also occurred, um, with derecho. So there's quite a bit of damage on the west side. You can also see here some of the damage that was done when the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 20 metal siding was installed. Normally the historic trim and windows would extend out beyond, um, the ... the vertical portion of the window a little bit. That was cut off to allow for an easy application of the metal siding and that was put on in the 80s. Underneath the siding, you know, Kevin's right here. We don't know exactly what there is under it, but we do know that there are these holes where the insulation was put in. This is an example of what, uh, the damage looks like when you blow in insulation, um, and based on the lack of a vapor barrier and based on a little bit of water damage we've seen, we believe, you know, that there is moisture damage, and this is just an example of what a house of our construction and our age typically looks like with moisture damage in there. The remedy for most old houses when you blow in insulation is to remove the cladding and to blow in the insulation through the holes, um, and then properly flash and integrate a water-resistant barrier to the outside of the house. That keeps water from getting in and keeps this damage from happening, and it allows any siding that you put on the outside of the house to be separated from any moisture, um, that can build up or come from inside the house and damage the wood, and this is something that we would like to see installed so that we can have a lasting solution on ... for the siding on our house. This isn't something you just do for older houses either. The current building code in Iowa will requires a water-resistant barrier to be between your house and your siding, and this is something, again, that is done to protect the house and to keep, uh, to keep a ... a barrier against the elements in place there, something that is best practices and something we'd like to incorporate it in any type of, um, repair that we do of our house, so that it's a lasting repair. Our proposal then is to repair the damaged siding, to add a vapor barrier seal so that pests can't get in, and to replace the siding and trim with HPC, uh, recommended materials, such as cement fiberboard with a smooth finish. As I'll show in my presentation here, this conforms to the Iowa City Historic Preservation plan requirements. It also meets the historic, uh, I'm sorry, the Iowa City building codes, and the best practices that are set forth by the Climate Action Plan. I want to start with the denial itself and the description of it. Um, in their description of our proposal here, it states the prosal.... proposal consists of the removal of aluminum siding. Excuse me here ... the removal of aluminum siding, either in its ... uh... and either the installation of...of new aluminum siding or cement board siding, over any existing historical siding, or the removal of existing siding in its entirety, regardless of its condition, and replacement of cement -board siding, in a configuration to be determined by the applicant. The same is said then for the trim. Um, and I want to address this before we get into any of the reasons for the denial, because I think these... these last two sentences are quite misleading. The ... the first part of this, regardless of the condition, is misleading because we have discussed with both staff and with HPC during the meeting that there is large sections of our siding that is completely non-existent. There are in ... in the sections if siding that are existent, we know that those are damaged by the holes that have been drilled, and we know that there's a good chance that there's also damage due to water infiltration in there. Secondly, stating that this configuration will be determined by the applicant is also not accurate. At no point did we indicate that we wanted to determine the cinal... the final configuration without HPC input. We've worked and emailed for more than two years with staff discussing this project, and during the meeting, uh, my wife welcomed discussion from one of the Council Members ... or the Commission members rather, who indicated that they may have historic information about our home from a personal contact. So, again, we want to work with the Commission. We want to restore something that is historically This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 21 accurate, but we want to do it in a way that conforms with regulations and is sustainable, um, and something that will last. So I want to jump into the reasons now. The first reason for the proposal being denied refers to Sections 3.2, 4.11, and 4.14 in the ... in the guide, and it states that it would be denied because we would be removing historic siding and trim that was not deteriorated and replace it with material that does not match the existing, uh, the existing siding. What we want to do is..is..and before I get on to that, the Commission also mentions that they cannot find exceptions to these guidelines. We are not asking for exceptions to these guidelines here. We want to follow the guidelines themselves and per the historic handbook, um, we were proposing to use the recommended material that was previously approved by HPC for other projects in the area. Section 3.2 actually states that the guidelines lead to the discretion of the coun... of the Commission. The particular calculus lose ... used in determining the appropriateness for various projects. So there was leeway built into these guidelines, as ... as Kevin mentioned, you know, for determining what ... what can be approved and what can be not approved. Further, in sections 4.11 and 4.14, both state that what's, uh, substitution of wood siding is allowed if the substitute material retains the appearance and function of the original wood, and they specifically call out the material we would like to use, which is the fiber cement board with a smooth finish on it. As I mentioned there's examples of projects like this that have been approved by the Commission, and I want to discuss three of those examples. The first one is the ... the house at 1117 Seymour Avenue. This is a couple blocks away from our house. It's a contributing house in the Longfellow Historic District, and this house looks like it did on the left, prior to the project. Prior to the renovation starting and the finished product looks, uh, the current house looks like what's pictured on the right here. For this project, staff recommended that new cement board, um, shingle siding be used to capture the original intent of the house, and also recommended changing the windows and the trim on the house, again to capture the original intent. If we look at the minutes that were used during this discussion, it is stated by staff that no one knows what is underneath the existing synthetic siding, and that if the asbestos siding, the original siding, is in good condition that they may keep it. She noted that nothing would require them to remove it; however, if it was removed, staff recommends that cement board siding, shingle siding, could be used to capture the original intent. So they're stating here that they don't know what's under the siding, but they allow the person to remove what's under the siding, uh, regardless of knowing the condition. This is exactly what we are asking to do, and the reason, again, that we are asking to do this is so that we can put a vapor barrier, uh, or rather a moisture barrier underneath the siding so we can prevent fu ... future damage to the house, and then replace that with a historically -approved cement board siding. And we want to do that in a way that captures the original intent and original aesthetic of the house, something that was exactly done here. This is what the house looked like prior to the renovation. This is what the house looked like after the res ... after the renovation. You can see there is an addition on the back of the house as well. The nes ... next example is a house on 725 Summit Street. This is a house that had asbestos siding on it. The siding was intact and staff recommended, and this was approved to be removed, and again, replaced with cement board siding. We weren't able to (mumbled) for sure, but we assume they used best practices here and also installed the vapor barrier that we'd like to install in between the siding. This has been installed years ago. It still looks great, and this is the exact, uh, type of project that we would like to do in our ...in our house. Finally, the last house is at 427 Clark Street. This is a house built around the turn of the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 22 century. This is a house that had wood siding on it and, like our house, the exterior walls were later insulated, um, and because of this there were moisture buildup and moisture problems, and when the homeowner attempted to paint the ... the wooden siding that existed on the house, the paint failed and needed to be removed within just a couple of years. Again, that siding was ... was removed. A vapor barrier was put under it, and cement board siding was added on to it. This is, again, exactly what we would like to do. These are three examples of it being approved in exactly the manner that we would like to do, and with an outcome that ... that I think everyone agrees looks reasonable and contributes to the historic accuracy of the neighborhood. This is just some of the notes from that, indicating that there was insulation in the house and that it was possible to see that this siding's failing and could no longer hold paint, which was the reason for allowing them to remove that siding. This is one of the reasons that we are worried if...if we are forced to, uh... uh, repair or replace the partial wood siding that's there, without putting a moisture barrier under it, that this could be problematic. It's one of the reasons we want to take that off and fix the underlying problem, rather than do a half measure that would be very costly and may fail within a couple of years. Finally, moving on to reasons two and three. These are reasons that, uh, kind of play together, so I'll talk to them on one slide here. Reason number two is that the wood trim and details combine to make some of the most important defining characteristics in historic districts. Reason number three is that this proposal con... contradicts, uh, the standards of the Secretary of Interior that Kevin mentioned earlier, stating that the historical character of a property shall be retained and preserved, and that removal of historic materials and alteration of features and spaces that characterize the property shall be avoided, and we agree with this. However, given our house and given the examples here, given that the ... our house lacks the original trim on a least a third of the house, if not more, and that in the places that there may be original trim, um, there's... there's a known presence of holes and damage due to the insulation, due to the fact that we know that, um, the trim around the windows has been ... has been cut off and damaged in the installation of the metal siding, um, and due the ... due to the underlying problem of having a lack of a vapor barrier there that would cause failure or would be very likely to cause failure, as was shown in the last slide, we would like to fix those problems and, again, use a approved material to put on siding that would... that would restore the historical character of the house. Further, in addition to this, if we look at the Secretary of Interior standards for preservation, they also state that using the same kind of material is not always technically feasible or economically feasible, and when that's the case, using compatible substitute material can be considered. The cement board siding is that substitute. So it is in the standards that we can use this. Further, staff has used considerations like this, not just to approve things that are historically accurate, but also to approve things that are just based on the whim of a homeowner, and I'd like to talk about one example of that and that is at ... sorry, at 314 Summit Street. This is a house that originally looked like the picture on the left, and after the remodel looked like the picture on the right. This is currently what it looks like. As you can see, the structural elements of the porch were changed and the railing of the porch was also changed, and this was not done for historical context. This was done because the homeowner wanted to increase the amount of light that entered the .... the front of the house. Looking at the the meeting notes here, staff indicated that the homeowner wanted to increase the amount of light that comes through the front, um, and also showed photographs of the porch, which showed to be fairly dark. Um, there was This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 23 discussion in the Commission. There is indication that they thought it was strange that staff would recommend to hold on to certain elements, while allowing removal of other... other elements and this discussion also mentioned that this exception was based not on the integrity of the materials. These materials were not decaying. They were not falling apart, but were based on the whim of the owner. Regardless, this was recommended by staff and approved by the Historic Preservation Commission. We're not asking to do this. We're not asking to change things for our own whims. We're asking to change things on our house so that we can seal our house up so that bugs can't get in and bats can't get in. We have three daughters that live here and we want a safe place for them to live, and we also want the money that we put into the siding to be a lasting change to our house and it's a change that makes the neighborhood look better and makes our house a better place to live. We want to follow the historic guidelines. We believe we are following the historic guidelines. There's approvals like this that are given to much... given much greater leeway than we're asking for here. We just want a chance to fix our house. Finally, the ... the last reason that was given for this is that the aluminum siding... um, the aluminum siding that is covering the house impacts the historical character of the house, but it is a reversible condition. It's a reversible problem that exists and removing, you know, any of the material under there would create an irreversible change to the house and that is true. It will create a ... an irreversible change, but given the fact that it is already missing over a third of the house, that it has holes drilled in it, and then it likely has water damage to it, and that it has no vapor barrier under it, um, is ... is reason to believe that ... that we can do something better with this. What Kevin and what staff ha ... have recommended was first as ... as Kevin said, to do ... to have a partial removal of the existing siding, but later insisted, and I'm quoting from staff's email to us, that seeing one area or one side of the house is not enough for staff to approve a wholesale removal. What they have told us is that we need to completely remove the aluminum siding. In addition, we have asked staff, and they have refused, to provide a criteria that would be used to decide if there is any wooden siding present, what would be needed, uh, to be kept. So is it a single board, is it 10%, is a 20%? We don't know. They've also refused to provide an estimate of time, so once we have completely exposed our house to the elements, we don't have a timeline to get this fixed, and finally they've indicated that if we remove the metal siding, we will not be allowed to put the metal siding back on, if...if the decision is something that we cannot agree upon. So we were forced into a decision by doing this. This is what staff and HPC have told us. Doing this is going to be costly. It is ... it'll make it impossible for us to purchase materials ahead of time. It'll make it impossible for us to receive bids ahead of time or hire contractors to start the work. So we leave our house completely exposed by doing what they have told us at the last meeting, and most importantly, if we have to repair this ... the wooden siding, we don't ... we won't have the ability to fix the underlying problem, the holes and the lack of a moisture barrier under our house. This decision is inconsistent with the ... the examples that I've shown you before, specifically the first example that I've shown you, uh, of 1117 Seymour Avenue, where siding was approved for removal without seeing what was underneath it, without knowing anything about the state of degradation, and cement board siding was allowed to be placed. We are simply asking for the same amount of consideration that was given and approved to other homeowners. So in summary ...I ... I .... in summary, our project is an attempt to preserve the structure of our historic home, to replace materials that are known to be damaged or absent in the home, and to return the home to its original character and This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 24 do so with HPC recommended materials that are commonly used on historic houses in Iowa City and have been approved before. Staff and HPC have denied our application without regard for the leeway that's been afforded to other, uh, other houses and in the examples that I've shown in the Commission, and several of these examples have greater changes and changes that are based on homeowners' whims, rather than on historical accuracy. Staff and HPC have made this denial without any evidence of seeing the wood, and it's ... and insist on removing all of the current siding. What was said was not what Kevin ha brought up earlier. They .... they insisted that we remove all of the siding and that this is done ... and this is done without the consideration to our health, to the instruc... the structural integrity of our house, to timing, and to basic feasibility of construction. I mean doing... doing this type of work could go into the ... into six digits, as far as the cost with this. And if we have to stick with the wooden siding, it can fail, and there's examples of that under nearly identical circumstances where that wooden siding has failed. All we are asking for here is the same opportunity to maintain our house and improve it, as the homeowners in Summit, Clark, and Seymour houses were given. We just want to fix our house. We want to do it in a way that's lasting, in a way that seals it up so that my girls don't have to have bats in their rooms. Based on these facts, we respectively request the City Council and ... and Members of the Council reconsider the HPC's decision and approve our application. Thank you, and I'll take any questions if anyone has any. Teague: Councilors, any questions? Weiner: I'd like to to clear up the one issue that seems... that seems to be ... one issue that seems to be in question, which is were ... the applicants asked to remove a portion, a small portion of the siding to see ... the current aluminum siding, to see what's underneath and see the condition of the original wooden siding or are they asked to remove all of it? Clore: I believe you could refer to the minutes from the meeting. They were I think included in your packet, but we were asked to remove all of the siding, and we were told that once the metal siding is removed, we cannot put it back on. Half...half of the house is ... doesn't have any original siding underneath it, so we will be exposed to elements, to the weather, to the pests. We can for... forward the emails (both talking) Weiner: Right, but I ... I was hoping that Kevin Boyd was on here as well, because we're ... we, I think ... I mean, am I wrong, Mr. Mayor, that we ought to be able to talk, ask questions of everybody who's talked? Teague: Yeah ... yes, and we also have our staff here as well. Dilkes: (mumbled) is there another witness who is ... is going to present testimony? It might make sense to get that—done (both talking) Clore: GT Karr is the person that we've consulted with. He has been on the Commission. He is an expert in construction, and he ... he does a lot of siding around, um, Iowa City. He ... I think This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 25 wasn't able to get on Zoom, but I can give you the phone number, if you can unmute him and ask him questions. Teague: Oh, so he's on the phone. Yep. All right, we're gonna... Dilkes: (both talking, garbled) ...that we ask him questions. I'm just ... if he ... if (both talking, garbled) present on behalf of the applicants, he's certainly free to do that, and then I think it'd be appropriate for questions. Teague: Okay (both talking) Karr: This is GT I'm on. Dilkes:Okay! Great. Karr: Apologies. Uh, four kids kicked me off the internet as soon as you were ready for me, so I do apologize. Um, my name is GT Karr. Um, I did serve on the Commission with Gosia and, um, and I have been, uh, in remodeling and siding for about, uh, little over 25 years. Um, and Gosia did consult with me on this. Um, I have a ... I had a little interaction with some staff on this, but I think ... just looking at this, it's difficult for me when I had my contractor hat on to see why the examples that they've presented were allowed and why we were asked to take all the siding off. I don't quite understand that. Um, and then I have a difficult time just .... we (mumbled) and what they can do and can't do in historic preservation, uh, probably at least monthly if not weekly after the derecho, and I will admit that after serving on the Commission for multiple years and quarter century of experience, I still don't understand the rules. Um, so ... I think it's a little.... confusing to ... to look at the, believe it was the Seymour example which had vinyl siding on it. They let them replace the windows. It's extremely easy to take vinyl siding off, look underneath. I could do it with my bare hands in about three minutes and put it back on. Taking metal siding off is a little bit more difficult. It is doable. Um, when I was asked to look at this, my understanding was we were to remove everything, um, which then you have a vulnerable, uh, pretty expansive area that we've got to deal with, and then the other issue here that I think, uh, I might have gotten dropped on the call, but they have holes in the siding, there's insulation in the walls. So we have some issues with how we're going to control moisture, and I don't know as a contractor how I'm supposed to make sure that we're not allowing moisture to get into the wall assembly, if I can't get rotten sheathing out, and on at least three sides of that house, that could be a potential, if I don't take the wood siding underneath the aluminum (mumbled) There's no way for me to fix that. So ... again, with my contractor hat, that's a very difficult thing to even bid or give them ideas on numbers and we don't have a (mumbled) and I don't think it's at all unrealistic (mumbled) 50K (mumbled) six figures looking at this, and to ask a homeowner to take all the siding off, open it up, and then be told what you can do when you have two or three examples, but we're clearly were allowed recently. I remember the projects when I was on the Commission for some of these. It just doesn't make sense to me. Um, and then my final point would just be ... I would ask Council, and I know staff is working on this and I appreciate that. I know it's not an easy thing to do, but this is an example of one of This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 26 the original reasons why I asked to be on the Commission, and some of you Council Members actually, uh, endorsed me for that and I appreciate that, but it was (mumbled) simplify the project, and if I can't ... not claiming to be the smartest person in the world, but if I can't answer this question with the experience I have, I don't know how you're going to expect a homeowner to navigate this, and this is two previous Commissioners and somebody in remodeling. I do this for a living full time. I think we need to look at a way to streamline this for everybody and make it more consistent across the board. So ... um, I just wanted to hit those and just kind of figure out a way that we can value historic preservation, valuable... value affordable housing, and then also I think Adam mentioned earlier, we ... we've got a huge goal with our climate action plan to increase energy efficiency and health and homes and this is a pretty good example of homeowners that want to invest (garbled) are having difficult doing it. So, that's all I have. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. Are there any questions for any of the, uh, presenters, uh, right now from Councilors: Salih: I have a question for Kevin. Kevin, I just want to ask you, where you on the Council, uh, the Commission, like a Commissioner, when they ...as ... as an example has been approved and, if so, why you think this is different. Boyd: Yeah, uh, thank you for asking. So for all of the presenta... the other houses that were referenced, we ... we had pieces of information. So for the Seymour Avenue house, we knew that there was the original historic siding, had asbestos shingles. Those have long been removed, and layers of kind of the non -historic siding rotted. That's kind of what you saw in the before picture. And so when the applicant removed ... you know, they ...they removed some of the non -historic siding and confirmed there was evidence of those shingles on the house. (mumbled) shingle was used to match the original material. The key piece on Seymour Avenue that we don't have here is we have evidence of what the original material was. On the Summit Street house, the 725 Summit Street. This was before my time on the Commission, but I looked it up and, again, there was a portion of the non -historic siding that was taken off so that we could identify that there was not any siding underneath at all in that particular case, and then we approved the repla... replacement siding in that case. The Clark Street house, I think the... the one with the moisture that came up was actually the one next door to the one that was in the photo, um, 425. And that had a ... a moisture issue and we could see both visual evidence of that, and there was a moisture meter that to ... that told us that those were failing, and that Summit Street house actually asked us about removing all of their original siding and ... and replacing it with something else, and when they learned that that was not allowed in the guidelines, they ...they repaired, rather than replace. In each of these cases the Commission had something that it does not have from this applicant — some kind of documented evidence of the condi ... of the condition under the non -historic siding. That's the issue here. Thomas: Kevin, could you speak to that other issue, which is to what degree does the current siding need to be removed for you to be able to make that assessment? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 27 Boyd: Yeah ... you know, I ... I have not been to their ...to the house, but you know what the ... the Commission did approve was replacement of deteriorated siding or trim, after a review of documentation of staff or Chair. So that's what the Commission did approve. And ... and I don't know that it does not, in my mind as one of the ... as someone who is approving the proposal be expedited, so it doesn't have to go back to the Commission. We can kind of work on it more rapidly. You know, it just needs to be enough so that we know what the condition is. If it's not ... if the third of the house isn't there, then that'll be pretty quickly identified. You know, if the condition of the existing wood is ... and trim are gone, and you don't have to have a lot of area to figure out what the original condition is. And if that's, you know, I'm saying what the Commission passed was either the repair of what is there or the replacement if..once we know kind of what the condition is, and that's... that's kind of, to me, the issue, um, the issue here is that, you know, in the other cases, and the ... and ... we had some evidence of what the condition is. Here we ... here we don't. Teague: Any other questions by Councilors? Bergus: Yeah, I just want to follow up on, Kevin, um, what you were just saying in terms of...if I was following the presentation, and thank you to the applicants for ...for having that so organized, really appreciate that... that... that if the, um, under the certificate that was approved by the Commission and understanding that you need to assess the condition of what's underneath the siding, would the exception for what isn't technically or economically feasible fall with ... within what was approved, or would that have to go back to the Commission? So let's say based on the condition of what was there, it could be repaired, but it's just not feasible, is that... Boyd: Yeah, I think ... I think that ... I don't think that we have ... we have not approved an exception, but... but ... what we did approve was I think a lot of leeway for, you know, a replacement if...if there's other stuff, but we did not approve an exception with the ... with the ... with what we did approve, with the ... the current... the existing Certificate of Appropriateness. Bergus: Okay, but if it is missing on the third of the house, has holes, you know, that compromise the integrity where the insulation was installed and is water damaged. If that's the case (both talking) once you assess it, then it can be replaced with the materials that the applicant would like to use. Is that right? Boyd: That's correct. That's correct. Bergus: So it's really an issue of the ability to assess it. Boyd: Right, because the ... the challenge is if we ... if we don't, then ... then the other people who we've been asked to .... like we're trying to treat people equally, and if we ask for the condition underneath for some, we need to ask for it for ...for all. Weiner: I mean this ... this also comes back to the question I was ... I was asking before GT Karr had the opportunity to speak, which is how much of it .... do you need to see? Where... we've heard both This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 28 that the ... that you need to see sort of a small par ...portion of it, and they ...you need all of it off. I mean clearly there isn't any original siding on a third of the house ... to begin with. (both talking, garbled) That part confused me, why ...I mean and I appreciate again also as Councilor Bergus said, the thorough presentations. What... what... but to me there... there's, we're seeing a ... a ... two different standards here and I'm trying to understand which one is the cor.... Boyd: Yeah, I don't ... there isn't... there's no kind of set rule of like (mumbled) take it all off or not take it all off. We just kind of need to know what the condition is, so if...in my mind, right, I'm one of the people that the Commission approved to, you know, make this assessment. And, you know, in my mind, we just need to know what the condition is, and if that can be, you know, I think if...if there's... there's probably a couple of different issues here, right? If there's no siding under one, we just need to document that evidence, so that we can tell, you know, future applicants, this is what we know. If we... if there are moisture issues, we might want to let it take a small piece off and let it air out for a day or two to really figure out what the moisture issue is ... would be. (mumbled) and you know, and I ... it would need to be enough to kind of know if there is original trim or not, right? That's I think really the, you know, the standard, but I don't think it is ... in my mind what the Commission approved gave a lot of leeway to myself and to, um, and to staff to be able to kind of work with the property owners to figure out what ... what the ... once we know what the condition is, we're ready to go, but I don't, you know, I'm not a ... I haven't had to do this before, right, so I ... but I imagine it's not, right, it's enough to be able to kind of see what the condition is and not much more. Weiner: (mumbled) if I understood, I'm sorry, just as quick follow up, and to see what the original siding was or what it ... what it ... what it actually looked like, is that a piece of it as well? Boyd: Yep, that's part of it. Yep, because (mumbled) because the replacement should try to look like that, if...once we know what ... if we know what it looks like. If we don't know, like the project on Summit Street, we didn't know, right, cause there was no historic siding at all had been removed. Um, then that's where the Commission has some leeway to kind of just to ... to decide, and they put in that... that particular applicant put in that application and the Commission approved what they, urn, what they ...what they asked for. Teague: To get a little clarity. (both talking) Clore: Oh, sorry. I ... I guess just hearing this, this is very different than the last email and the quote from the last email that we have from staff, um, you know, saying, and I quote, "Seeing one area or one side is not enough for staff to approve removal." You know, that ... that was what we were told. So this...this is a very different conversation today than what we had previously. Boyd: Well, I can tell you what the ... what the Commission approved, right, which is that ... uh, the removal of aluminum siding, repair the original siding and trim, or replacement (mumbled) deterioration of siding and trim, following review and documentation by staff and chair. And I'm one of those two people. (mumbled) Yeah. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 29 Teague: So I guess this is more of a question for, um, whomever want to take a stab at it. So the Certificate of Appropriateness, essentially there is still opportunity to show evidence of the lack of trim of one third of the house. Um, one third of the house not having wood, as well as maybe the... addressing the water barrier. There's still opportunity to shi... to ... to show this evidence, is that correct? Boyd: That's correct, right. We didn't ... we didn't have that at the Commission meeting or prior to the Commission meeting, right? We had ... people had said things, but we had no kind of evidence of what the condition was, and that's what ... that's what the Commission was looking for. And so we ... we denied the original application, but passed one that allowed us to get that assessment of the ... of the original condition, and then we can make a path forward. Teague: And ... and my assumption is for the homeowners that they're really wanting to know a little bit up front before they go through a lot of removal, um, what options they would have. One ... one question I might propose honestly is we ma ... we not close the public hearing and we allow the homeowners and the Commissioners further discussion. Because I think that there's, at least in my mind, if we need to ... if we're going to be very specific about what our request would be, it would be to really answer the question. Well, deal with the question about the evidence, of being presented by the homeowners to the City staff and to the Commissioners, and from there, it comes back to Council, but that ... that would be my assumption. Otherwise, um, evidence hasn't been shown, you know ... well, I think that's the question, you know, has the evidence been shown. Clore: So ... so, I'm sorry for interrupting, can I ... can I speak? I'm sorry. Teague: Yes! Clore: I, you know, we were trying to do that. That was part of the (mumbled) discussing before the HPC meeting. We were trying to figure out how much siding needs to be taken off, what do they need for evidence? They weren't... they did not allow us to show them the evidence. They told us that seeing one area or...or side is not enough. So I don't understand... why we're hearing something different today, I guess, and... and... and there are no clear rules to follow, you know, and .... and I ... I just ... I'm trying to protect the home that I love, you know. We ... we've been trying to take really good care of a home that, you know, we had a bathroom leaking into our kitchen. It's an old home. We're trying to protect it for the next hundred years, and I can't imagine how we can do that without protecting it from the water coming in through the holes. I mean it's essentially, you know, the moisture has been trapped between the metal siding and the wood, and it just keeps going in through the holes that have been drilled that, you know, when we opened up the walls here we can see through to the metal siding. So we know the holes are there, and so I don't know if showing the Commission or the staff pictures of that is enough, or if GT removes a portion of the siding and shows pictures of that or measures the moisture, is that enough? From what we heard during the meeting was that we had to expose the whole house, and once the whole house is exposed, we're not allowed to put that metal siding back on, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 30 and we're essentially have no other options. We have to use wood, and ... and I ... I'm sorry. I'll probably get emotional about, you know, because it is a place where we raising our children. Teague: Yep. One ... one thing I might suggest to kind of move us a little forward here, um, we don't want to close ... well, we're going to allow the public to talk on this topic in one second. So, Councilors, what I might sug... what I might personally suggest is we ... it sounds like the homeowners have some evidence that they can present... to staff and to the Commission. Um, and I would propose that we not close the public hearing..um, and then we bring this back ... uh, next week ... or our next meeting. Salih: (several talking, garbled) ...need to continue the public hearing and I will (mumbled) now or later can just tell the owner exactly what they need to do in order to show him what, you know, what the evidence. So ... and made it clear to them so next time will come with more information. I think (mumbled) but maybe there is misunderstanding there and I thinks for the Mayor to continue the public hearing, that's like a smart idea so we can hope on this. Yeah. Weiner: I would suggest that staff coordinate as well with ... with this so that every ... so that people are speaking... at the same, um, the same definition. Taylor: I ... I agree, because I ... I'm as confused as I think the homeowners are, uh, as far as how much siding they really do need to remove to ... to prove that the moisture is there. So I think some questions need to be answered, cause when I first read through it, it made almost made it sound as though they weren't willing to remove any at all, but I ... sounds as though they are. They just need to know how much, and I can't understand that they would need to do the whole house, but some of those kinds of questions need to be answered, I think. So I would agree with continuing. Teague: All right. So we ... we will have to, um, at least allow the public to weigh in on this topic, and then I won't close the public hearing. Am I hearing from the majority of Council that we want to direct the staff ..and really direct the staff, um, to work with the homeowner and the Commission, um, and... related to evidence specifically and then come back at our next meeting. So that's what we're going to direct the staff to do. Okay. I'm going to open up the public... well the public hearing is (laughs) already open. I'm going to ask if anyone from the public would like to address this topic. Please do so now. And I ... GT Karr, you can speak if you would like to ... and you're on mute. Karr: Thank you. I ... I want to just echo what every Council Member that spoke up said. I think that's a fantastic idea and I think it was clear that we've got some misunderstandings and reiterate that we have two former Commission... Commissioners who served on the Historic Preservation Commission that are not understanding what the guidelines are. I think that's an important takeaway, and the second is if we could just get staff to tell us exactly how much they need off and then at least allow us to reinstall the metal siding that we take off, so they at least have something covering their house, and they're not in a vulnerable position, I think would be This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 31 another clarifying point that I would request to someone who is having to do the work. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. Would anyone else like to address this topic? Seeing no one .... so (both talking) Salih: Mayor ...if you don't mind, can I just say something? Teague: Yes! Salih: I guess, you know, the Commissioner, I thinks you ... you have guideline, you have city, like City code that you follow, and you are doing what you supposed to do, but I really would like the ... the Commissioner to look up the code, the existing code, and... that's just an idea, because I believe there is many thing that is happening now is not really consistent with old house, is that... and the derecho that we have, and all of those damage is start happening and affecting old houses, and it's still we have the same code that we are following, regardless of what happening now. Maybe in the future, or the near future, if you can review the code and just try to figure out what kind of little change you need to make so will, you know, give those homeowner who decide to have this historic preservations, uh, you know, like their home to be historic, if they have this kind of damage what should they do. Teague: Point well taken. Thank you so much. All right. So could I get a motion to defer? Dilkes: (garbled) need the public hearing, please. Teague: Oh, sorry! Yes, would anyone else from the public like to address this topic? Please raise your hand. Seeing no one ... could I get a motion to defer? Mims: I'll move to continue the public hearing. Teague: Yes, all right, great. Dilkes: (mumbled) to the 16"'? Teague: Yes, to the 16'b. And we'll do a roll call ... please. Motion passes 7-0. Thank you all for coming. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 32 12. American Legion Road Improvements — Resolution approving project manual and estimate of cost for the construction of the American Legion Road Improvements Project (STP -U-3715(666)--70-52), establishing amount of bid security to accompany each bid, directing City Clerk to post notice to bidders, and fixing time and place for receipt of bids. 1. Public Hearing Teague: I'm going to open the public hearing. Welcome! Sovers: Good evening, Mayor and Council, Scott Sovers, Assistant City Engineer. Just have a brief presentation here for you today. Starting off, this project generally includes reconstruction of American Legion Road from a rural to an urban roadway with on -street bike facilities and sidewalks. (mumbled) of the project as shown on this first slide are from Scott Boulevard to Taft Avenue. Also included in the project is the construction of a single -lane roundabout at the American Legion Road and Scott Boulevard intersection, a pedestrian underpass near Hoover School, and all new public utilities, which includes storm sewer, sanitary sewer, water main, IT facilities. The proposed typical section for American Legion Road is a 34 -foot wide payment measuring from back of curb to back of curb. This includes two 10 -foot travel lanes, one in either direction, and seven -foot, on -street buffered bike lanes. Outside of the roadway there will be a I0 -foot sidewalk on the north side and a si... a six-foot sidewalk on the south side. Right-of-way is 100 -foot, which is consistent with our City code requirements. Lastly, the ... the roadway geom... geometry for American Legion Road was established using a 25 -mile- an -hour design speed. This project design speed and the posted speed will be the same at 25 -mile -an - hour. As mentioned earlier, the project includes a single -lane roundabout at the Scott Boulevard, American Legion Road intersection. For frame of reference, this roundabout will be approximately the same size as the two that were constructed on Sycamore Street near Alexander School in 2015. Because of the amount of truck traffic that utilizes the Scott Boulevard corridor, the roundabout was sized to be able to handle large vehicles, including semis. If these larger vehicles have difficulty negotiating the required movements at the intersection, a truck (mumbled) is included to allow for off tracking... into the interior portion of the roundabout. To ensure pedestrian (mumbled) and bicycles are to be able to safely utilize the intersection at night, lighting will also be installed. The pedestrian underpass that will be located approximately 300 foot west of the American Legion Road (mumbled) intersection will be a 12 -foot wide by nine -foot high reinforced concrete tunnel. (mumbled) pedestrian safety, the tunnel will be lit at night and the ends of the tunnel will include railings, similar to what is shown in the photo in the upper left corner of the slide. We've also incorporated pedestrian refuge for the western crossing... crossing of American Legion Road and the (mumbled) Road intersection. The intent of this refuge is to allow for pedestrians to safely stop in the center of the street if they cannot make it entirely across the approach when traffic volumes are high on American Legion Road. The estimated construction costs for the project is $7,850,000. In regards to schedule, we are hosting the public hearing tonight, which is February 2°d Because this project has federal funding, it will be let through the Iowa DOT on March 16th of this year. We will then bring this project back to you for award at the April 6 Council meeting. Construct This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 33 (mumbled) to start in late April this year and will finish up in the fall of 2022. That concludes my presentation. I'd be happy to answer any questions that any of you may have. Teague: Any questions for Scott? Hearing none. Thank you, Scott. Sovers: You're welcome! Teague: Would anyone from the public like to address this topic? If so, please raise your hand and I'll call upon you. Seeing no one, I'm going to close the public hearing. All right, could I get a motion to approve? (garbled) Moved (garbled), seconded by Mims. Council discussion? 2. Consider a Resolution Mims: It's nice to see this project going forward, especially with the new Hoover Elementary School out there, making it safer for kids to get across that road and the tunnel underneath to help them as well, and the sidewalks that will go along with that. So glad to see this moving forward. Teague: Roll call please. Motion passes 7-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 34 13. Law Enforcement Liaison Partnership Agreement — Resolution approving and authorizing the Mayor to sign and the City Clerk to attest an Agreement with CommUnity and Foundation 2, Inc. for Law Enforcement Liaison Support. Teague: Could I get a motion to approve? Mims: So moved, Mims. Bergus: Seconded, Bergus. Teague: All right, staff presentation. Fruin: All right, uh, thank you, Mayor. This is Geoff Fruin, City Manager. I'm going to provide some introductory remarks here, and then we have representatives from both Foundation 2 and CommUnity that are here tonight to give you a little bit more background. But this agreement formalizes the partnership between the City of Iowa City and Foundation 2 and CommUnity Crisis Services for a law enforcement liaison position. The position will not be employed by the City, but will be employed by CommUnity as part of their 24/7, 365 mobile crisis service that exists today, and I'm sure Becci Reedus, who will address you shortly, could ... uh... uh, she could tell you more about that mobile crisis service. If you have questions about... about that. I want to stress one thing. This is clearly rooted in the preliminary plan that I presented to you in December, and I'd like to just remind you of the objectives of that plan as it relates to crisis calls for service that come into the police department. Our priority is going to continue to be to prevent those calls from service and to divert all calls that are possible to an outside agency. So when law enforcement is not needed to respond, our goal is to divert those to the mobile crisis team. That's going to take a lot of work. That ... that team is not, uh, although they're... they're working around the clock, again, 24/7, all days of the year, they are not equipped to handle all of the calls that come in, and we currently don't have an integrated dispatch system with them. So it's going to take some work to bolster that team and to incorporate them into dispatch to where they can take all those calls and ... and respond to them in a timely manner in the community, but that's our goal. We want to continue to work towards preventing those calls and then if ones that do come in, again, pushing those to a non -law enforcement response. But the plan also recognizes and... and our calls for service data recognizes as well that not all calls can ... can be safely responded to by a civilian team, and that we are going to have crisis calls that require a law enforcement presence, and... and it's that sliver of calls that we're really aiming at with ... with this ... this partnership here. So this partnership would ... would have a ... a new employee of CommUnity's mobile crisis team embedded in the police department, uh, that would be available to co -respond with our officers on crisis calls, and in those situations, the officer's primary responsibility is going to be to secure the scene, make sure it's safe, and allow that mobile crisis professional to use their professional training to de-escalate the situation and connect the person in crisis with the needed services that we have available in the community. The ... some other benefits to this, and Sarah Nelson's here and ... with Foundation 2 and can speak to some of the experiences they've had in Linn County with this type of position. But we shouldn't look at this as a, uh, that the sole benefit is the assistance on those calls made. We This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 35 fully expect that the presence of this position will help us increase our referrals to mobile crisis by helping us train and educate our officers, and... and just getting them more familiar with the types of calls that mobile crisis can ... can safely intervene on, and I think one thing I've learned in ... in talking through this with Sarah and others is ... is that there's ... we should expect a positive impact on officer discretion too, so ... and ... and that's not just on those calls with that mobile crisis person presence, but just through observation and learning from this individual and that greater integration with mobile crisis. Those officers day-to-day decision makings are going to be influenced over time in a positive manner. So this opportunity came to us back in the fall of last year. The mental health disability services of the East Central Region, oftentimes just referred to as our mental health region here, um, provided a grant opportunity for law enforcement liaison positions. We applied for that position and ultimately were awarded that funding, and that position will provide 100% of the salary costs in year one, and then every year it'll go down 25%, until it hits 25% and that'll be their contribution, uh, for this position in perpetuity. So the City is going to be responsible for picking up the balance of that cost. So we will be working with CommUnity to fill the gap when whatever the East Central Region doesn't fund in future years. That'll be from the police department budget. With ... with that, Mayor, I'd be happy to answer questions, but I suggest before you jump into questions that you have the partners on this agreement, again, Foundation 2 in Linn County and CommUnity Crisis Services here in Johnson County, uh, talk a little bit about the partnership from their perspective. Teague: Sure, why don't we have Becci Reedus from CommUnity Crisis Services. Reedus: Okay, um, good evening, everybody. Um, here to talk a ... a little bit about this program. Thanks, Geoff. That was a really great overview about, you know, what we're doing and where we're going. I think we're ... one of the things I want emphasis is that for mobile crisis to the co - responding model, which is what we're discussing tonight, to the crisis team models is ... these are different responses. They're important, um, with these different response models about responding to incidents that we ... we use the appropriate response, or the least res... restrictive response. As Geoff mentioned, this funding opportunity came to us in the fall, and so we decided to apply for it, and it gives us a really great opportunity to develop this co -responding model where we use a police officer, a law enforcement presence, in addition to a mental health counselor in responding to a particular call, where this particular call would not be one where we would spend ... send only a team of mental health counselors out to it. What Geoff also alluded to though is that this is just a ... a piece of what we're working on. We're also respond, um, working on developing crisis teams or an expansion of our mobile crisis program that's been very successful here in Johnson County since 2015, so that we can have counselors responding to calls also. The other thing that we discussed with Geoff was doing some training with local dispatch, with ... with the Johnson County Emergency Communication Center to train dispatchers in ... in recognition of certain types of calls also. We ... in ... in applying for this grant one of the things I discussed with the East Central Region for mental health services was that Foundation 2 has had a model o£ -program for the past sev...several years. I think, um, think it's, uh, funded through the Department of Justice, and so the ... they really wanted us to have Foundation 2 be in that role of supporting us, of training us, um, which we're really fortunate to This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 36 have that, because they have this experience and they can help us, I think, get this program from, you know, the boardroom to success a whole lot quicker than if we were to do it without any kind of training. So I think we're lucky to have that. I've met with Sarah Nelson, who is standing by to also add a little bit of her experience with the program in Cedar Rapids. She's standing by to talk to you about that, and we ... I've really learned quite a bit thus far and they'll be assisting us from the hiring process to developing the ... the strategic group of individuals that will be meeting on a regular basis to ensure the success of the program. I see that it's got a lot of elements for success, and I'm really excited about it. So I ... I think probably it would be best if we were ... if we heard from Sarah a little bit and then, you know, we can entertain some questions after that. Teague: Thank you, Becci, and welcome Sarah from Foundation 2. Nelson: Hello. So I just want to share a little bit about the program design. So we started the project initially with the Cedar Rapids Police Department in January of 2017, as we began to ... began to apply for the Department of Justice funding, and we were funded March 2018 and that's when we lured our first liaison to be embedded within that department. So we've been doing it for several years at this point, and we've had the technical assistance of the Department of Justice to help design and craft the program and the model as we have gone along, um, and the ... the primary goal, and others have emphasized this, but I think it's ... it's important is that we ... the goal of this program is to divert people from the criminal justice system. It is to divert people from arrest and to make sure that they are being connected to the community resources that they need, the treatment resources they need, instead of getting a criminal charge or perhaps going to jail. So that's the ultimate goal of the program. Um, the... having access to the mental health counselor on a regular basis builds that relationship between the community-based provider, such as CommUnity and the police department, to create a co -learning environment, which is really important to figure out how they can best work together and learn from each other, and as Geoff alluded to, it also expands those opportunities for law enforcement seeing where mobile crisis can be utilized and where we can have the most least restrictive intervention with somebody that's either having a mental health crisis or has a co-occurring disorder with substance use, um, a youth in crisis, etc. So ... with that diversion, you know, it provides a response that is designed to de-escalate and reduce that likelihood of escalation, and we know that, you know, sometimes law enforcement presence and uniforms and things of that nature can provide that escalation and so this team provides something different to the community, um, in that way. The, um, some of the data and the outcomes on the program, to give you an example, in ... in 2020, calendar year 2020, we had 429 contacts in the Cedar Rapids Police Department alone. And 89% of those contacts were diverted from any charges or arrest, and the other 11 %, although there may have been an arrest sometimes that LE liaison is called out to help after an arrest when there wasn't able to be officer discretion and the arrest had to take place to help that individual and still connect with them so that they can connect with them, um, post -arrest, which is something that the LE liaisons do as well. So, um, that, you know, that's... that's a lot of impact for one individual, um, and we have been able to expand that program to the Marion Police Department, to the Linn County Sheriffs Office, to adding another LE liaison with the Cedar Rapids Police Department, so it's been very successful in having that impact where law This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 37 enforcement are really happy to have the LE liaison on the team and have somebody that has that expertise in mental health and can assist on those calls. Geoff talked a little bit about part of the program and the model being around officer discretion. One of the things that, uh, in the strategic planning with the Cedar Rapids Police Department that we really focused on was learning about what charges do officers have discretion on in the field, in terms of, you know, trespassing, public intox, disorderly conduct. What are those discretionary charges that could be explored in terms of if we know this is a mental health crisis, you know, the officer has the discretion to not charge that individual and instead seek the appropriate resources. So that is where that impact on the community is ... is fairly significant is through those conversations and that co -learning, and that ... that collaboration together to figuring out how we can best meet those needs. (mumbled) the primary concern, uh, 60 to 70% of the people served in 2020 was adult mental health, followed most closely by youth mental health, and then adult substance use, just to give you an idea of some of the primary presenting issues. And I think that is ... that ... that's pretty much the basics of the short version of...of what the program looks like. Teague: Thank you, Sarah. All right, we ... uh, any Coun... uh, questions ... by the Councilors? Bergus: I just want ... I had a question for Becci. I just wanted to clarify, I think I heard you say that this particular position is for response for calls when mobile crisis wouldn't be going on their own, is that... did I understand that correctly? Reedus: Uh.... yes, correct. So one of the ... Geoff, um ... um, talked about expansion of the mobile crisis team that right now the way the team is funded through emerg... primarily through ECR. Um, we also get some victim assistance money for that. Um, it is ... we do not have full-time counselors 24/7. So in order to utilize crisis teams, which is, um, you know, a team without any law enforcement presence, where we are going to need to look at expanding that, and that is something that I'm working on right now. Met with Geoff initially... it's been a couple of months ago, had some things on my calendar so I'm, uh, clearing my calendar off to start to deal with some of the support and funding issues in ... in Johnson County to get that program off of the drawing board into reality. So that's what we're doing right now is taking a look at expanding mobile crisis, um, to develop crisis teams. We talk about CAHOOTS a lot and CAHOOTS is a crisis team model. It's a brand of a crisis team model, um, that deals with a wide range of mental health related crises, and that's what we're going to look at also expanding. So this is a little bit different in that it use a co -responding team of law enforcement and a ment... mental health liaison together. Um, different responses from the different two teams. Bergus: Thank you, Becci. Reedus: Yep. Teague: Any other questions by Councilors? All right. (both talking) Oh, please, go right ahead. Weiner: (mumbled) just trying to figure out how... how... how to phrase this. I wanted to ask Sarah Nelson if the ... the experience that you've had in Cedar Rapids to date, or...or how the reaction of This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 38 the community has been to a law enforcement officer accompanying a mental health professional, and how ...and how that dynamic has worked with the community. Nelson: So in terms of -just for a little clarification, are you talking about in terms of how the community member receives that team, or how the community has responded to the program? Weiner: Other community member, the person in crisis or the... the... receives that team, does ... does (coughing) having law enforcement present tend to ... tend to amp up the situation or is the law enforcement... is law enforcement co -responder able to help alleviate the... whatever the threat or perceived threat is so that the mental health professional can operate. Nelson: So that's an important question and it's an important part of the discussions as we all work together to design this because, you know, the calls for, as Becci talked about, you know, this differentiates between mobile crisis and the LE liaison in that, you know, these are calls that are coming in through dispatch that otherwise would just have police responding, whereas now this is giving the community the opportunity to have a mental health person respond with the officer, who can make sure the scene is secure and then can totally step back and say, you know, we'll let you take it from here to work with this individual on this crisis, and that's something that our LE liaison with CRPD does quite frequently is she'll go out with the officer and... and once the situation is safe, that officer can remove themself from being physically present, and ... and she'll go and work with that client. There was a client known to her, for example, that she knew was escalated by police presence and so she said, you know, I'm comfortable working with this client, if you don't mind waiting in the car. I've worked with them many times, and that allowed them to ... to work together in a way that didn't escalate the situation. So it's providing an opportunity where there wasn't one before, because these weren't calls that were coming in on the mobile crisis dispatch for CommUnity, but coming in on ... on 9-1-1 for a mental health professional to respond versus police alone. So the response is ... definitely provides an environment where it's not going to escalate, um, if that's something that's triggering to that individual, and then as these teams work together, they start to know, you know, a lot of the individuals that they're responding to and sometimes the LE liaison will go out on their own without law enforcement to meet with that individual because they're well known to them, they're not concerned about safety, you know, and those are the kind of conversations that take place between the community-based organization, community staff mobile crisis, and law enforcement is sometimes, you know, mobile crisis goes out on ... on thousands of calls that are very much similar individuals, and you know, for .... for Foundation 2, for example, we've been doing mobile crisis since 2003. We go out on many of the exact same clients that police get calls on, and we've never had a safety issue, and so some of it is just working through some of the, you know, the concerns that law enforcement have for wanting to keep everybody safe, which we value very much and knowing that there are a lot of mental health responses that ... that don't require law enforcement, and so this allows for that kind of co - learning and everybody starting to talk about what that can look like in the community. Did that answer your question? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 39 Weiner: Um, it did, and you actually expanded on, I mean, it sounds almost like it's aimed at being ultimately a bridge to a ... a newer form of...a different form of response than we've been accustomed to. Nelson: I think it definitely creates opportunity for that and that partnership. It's why ...central to this model is that the mental health LE liaison is never an employee of the police department, and that individual or individuals, as the program expands, is always based in that community crisis services agency because it provides that co -learning, it provides that supervision from a community-based organization, and... and it creates ... if it was just another staff member of the police department, there wouldn't be anything different about it, right? So that's what makes it so unique and creates that opportunity for impact is that we're really partnering and learning together about how to best serve each other and increase the impact and ... and the positive outcomes for the community. Reedus: I don't know, can I add ... oh, I can add (laughs) without raising my hand. Um, one of the things I also wanted to say in listening to Sarah, um, the couple of months that I've spent with her, um ... um, understanding the program is ... and again mentioned earlier tonight, is mobile crisis calls go in through a, um, a separate dispatch. They don't go in through 9-1-1, and this mental health liaison, the learning opportunities that will take place with the police department, um, that this individual may be able to identify also some calls that might go in through 9-1 dispatch that are more appropriately handled by mobile crisis response. So I believe it's ... it's going to be the start, um, we're going to start to see really how impactful expanding mobile crisis or developing that crisis team for non -police responses is also going to be ... that's going to be another outcome of this. Teague: Great, thanks (both talking) Taylor: That kind of answers my question. I wasn't certain how this position or title would correspond with on..or affect your ..your current mobile community crisis response team, uh, that's utilized now and also kind of along with that, how it coincides with the GuideLink Center and their mission, because the mission statement kind of sounds the same as far as providing increased access to mental health resources, diversion from hospitalization and jail, and other treatment services. So I ... are they going to work very closely with them? Reedus: Well I ... yeah, I imagine there is going to be a lot of learning as ... as we ... as GuideLink begins to roll up, remembering that access centers in Iowa are a completely different service. But there are a lot of calls when we have an emergency, we're ... we're just ... we're programmed to call 9-1- 1. We're not always programmed to, you know, call a crisis team or reach out to a crisis center. So I think that as we move forward with the implementation of the the co -responding program and GuideLink, and building up the crisis team model, so that we can respond more efficiently, and what we're really talking about is really developing a 24/7 of staffing for that crisis team model. Um, that's what we'll begin to see hopefully, and ... and the re-education of 9-1-1 dispatch, we'll... we'll start to be able to see that ... that, you know, people have different options in the community, um, that they know they can call a crisis (mumbled) team, or even if they do This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 40 call 9-1-I dispatch they, you know, that they can get a co- responder team out, rather than just, you know, than a police team, if that's not what they need. Teague: Any other questions fon.. for... for (both talking) Yeah, go right ahead! Taylor: All right. Yeah, thank you, Becci, but I think along with that I was going to mention this as a concern or question I had, and perhaps you can answer it or not. Item four in the agreement states that the hours would be what best serves the needs of the community. So I was a little confused what exactly is this position. It says it's full-time, uh, but is this more of a coordinator kind of position and there would be actual crisis workers then who would go out on the calls? Reedus: Nope, this is for the, um, so we're... what we're hiring under this grant is a 40 hour a week mental health liaison who will be working directly with a team of police officers, and the coordination of the program, supervision of the program is going to happen through mobile crisis and, ub, and then also we will have supervision and consultation with Foundation 2 to implement an ongoing development of the program down the road. Frain: Councilor Taylor, if I could add on to that. I think, um, assuming Council approval tonight, if...if you do approve this, one of the next steps is for the three organizations to really start to dive into the data and look at calls for service and what those trends are. We don't know if this is a Monday through Friday, 8:00 to 5:00 position, or if it needs to be an evening position, or a weekend position, and we want to ... we want to be making that decision with the benefit of the data that everybody could look at and say here's where we think this person can respond to the most calls or where there's the greatest need, and then we would ... we would hire that person presumably to cover as much of those hours as possible. Taylor: Thank you, Geoff. Teague: Great. Any other questions? All right, we're going to open this up to the public. If you would like to address this topic, please raise your hand, and we ask that you keep your comments three to five minutes. Welcome, Rancem, followed by David. Hamad: Hi. So this is the exact co -responder model that IFR and like literally all of Iowa City public like rejected during the listening posts of the summer, if any of the Councilors were actually paying attention. There's, you know, it's very obvious ... the hypocrisy is very obvious here in that the City looked at, you know, CIT for training directives for the police department, yet when it comes to actual CIT directives that are literally international, um, which state that municipalities should not use co -responder models, the City turns a blind eye, i.e. (mumbled) It doesn't matter that this is a piece of what you're working on as a group. It's not necessary and it's simply an extension of the police industrial complex in our own community and, um, which, you know, uses those... uses solutions... uses police us solutions for social problems. We don't need a bridge, as Council Weiner has stated. The time is now. You can best serve your BIPOC community by actually listening to their needs and responding to them. The most frustrating thing here is that every Member of City Council and the City Manager have exclusively ignored This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 41 these facts and haven't even attempted to publicly discuss the feedback or why they feel comfortable ignoring the hypocrisy of a specific proposal. We've been bringing this to you for month after month, and we see it ... we sent you links for information so you can't say that you're not educated about this and you still haven't even acknowledged it. Finally, CommUnity was also present at the listening posts and they gave a lot of feedback and they never once said that they wanted the co-respo ... co -responder model. Tonight was the first time that we've heard Becci or anyone from CommUnity talk positively about a co -responding model. So this is very, very interesting and hypocritical in and of itself, compared to discussions that we've had at our listening posts. I think this is just another example of how Geoff Fruin has, you know, a plan for just consistently moving Iowa City backwards instead of forward, even as his own constituents have consistently pushed for the opposite. Leave CommUnity alone and instead empower them to the job that they're already doing, with additional funding, instead of adding more funding into a police adjacent position. If you are truly interested in diverting people from the legal system, you wouldn't... you wouldn't insert a (mumbled) position into CommUnity. For one, said officers need to be trained more. Are we not tired of hearing this fallacy that is ... that literally has no basis? I'm personally tired of our City officials not listening to our ...to their constituents. The City does not need to pick up the balance at any cost, as Geoff said, as we don't need the position. Let's make it clear for everyone, this is just another method to which the police budget will be increased. This is exactly what Iowa City does: create idealistic reforms without... without the actual inclusion of BIPOC interests or voices. The police do not need to learn more. They have shown us what they know. June 3rd has proven to us what police ... that police do not know how to step back, as Sarah Nelson has implied earlier. If we really want to provide something different to the community, as Nelson said earlier, you would listen to what the community actually wants, what your actual Iowa City constituents actually want and have showed you (garbled). Thank you. Teague: Thank you, Raneem. Welcome, David, followed by Nicholas. Drustrup: Thank you, Mayor. Um, there's not much I can add that Raneem didn't already say better. Um, the really frustrating thing about this is ... this ... this is another example of how Council is just unwilling to even address the fact that very significant parts of public feedback are just not being listened to, completely ignored. Like we get if you're going to do something else. That's very clear, and you're going to do it this time too, but at least discuss why you're rejecting such a large portion of public feedback. At least discuss publicly why you're going to go through with the hypocrisy that Raneem pointed out, that ... that CIT International, the group that you all go to for police training has explicitly said not to do co -responder models. At least discuss that, talk about why you're going over that and ignoring that. The fact that this isn't publicly talked about, and it just makes us feel like so many things are happening behind closed doors and our input just simply doesn't mean anything. And this language you're using, like ... like you're looking to ... to deflect people from being involved in the legal system. Like these are just symbolic phrases you're using that have no meaning. If you really wanted to do that, like Raneem said, you would simply fund and empower community in the way ...the other ways that Becci just talked about. She gave you several other examples of the things that they would like to do, things that the rest of the community feedback was very aligned with, the rest of the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 42 feedback at those listening posts was very aligned with. So I don't know, this is just another series in a really long frustrating string of performative reformist solutions that aren't going to bring us any real... any real change. Teague: (mumbled) David. Welcome, Nicholas, followed by Em ... Emilia. Theisen: Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Council, once again for allowing me to speak. I don't even really know where to begin. So I'd like to actually talk about the somewhat twisted logic of how you... you apparently need an officer present in order to divert people away from the thing that the officer is actually there primarily to do, cause ... cause here's the thing. We all tend to (mumbled) like I ... I don't understand who these cops that you all think you have in your heads are. I mean I have actually been subjected to police violence, personally. I have had a police dog sicced on me. I have the scar on my thigh to prove it, if you want to see it. So this notion that somehow... and... and it's really interesting to me how when specifically asked by Councilor Weiner what the opinions of the people who receive these services are about having an officer present, there was pure deflection, because the thing is y'all and they don't actually bother to go to them and ask for their opinions on these questions. And that's really telling because those are the peoples whose opinion should be centered, not the people who provide the services, not law enforcement, not the City Manager, and let's actually talk about Mr. Fruin for a second. So he mentioned at the beginning of his presentation that this was part of the preliminary plan that he presented to you back in ... in December. Last time I checked that plan has not been approved. That plan has not even been formally submitted for public comment. So why are we already implementing the things in it? Why are we implementing the things that y'all haven't actually discussed and approved so far? Why are we doing it on this ad hoc basis? Why don't we have broader public comments on these things? It makes me wonder if you're actually trying to slip it in under the radar. In fact I think (mumbled) probably what you are doing, and to be perfectly frank, given this system that you have set up where you have, you know, 9-1-1 dispatch and a separate mobile crisis dis ... dispatch, both of which can possibly result in law enforcement showing up on the scene, regardless of whether or not the people who called want them there. Then really what is the difference? I mean (laughs) previous commenter mentioned, sorry I can't remember who it was. If it was Miss Nelson or if it was somebody else, but actually said, like well okay, now people have, you know, a range of options to choose from. What are the actual options if they all can result in the same thing? I don't know, I mean personally... so I've, you know, as a teacher I've had to deal with a number of students with disabilities, with special needs of various kinds. I would not feel comfortable calling this mobile crisis line, knowing that there is a real possibility that a law enforcement officer is going to show up and, frankly, possibly use violent force against someone I care about and who ... whose personal health, whose education, whose mental well-being is my responsibility. I would not call this line. I would not call 9-1-1. I would not call mobile crisis dispatch. I would actually probably take this up on my own, precisely because ... I just feel like I can't trust you. It's ... it's as simple as that. This completely obliterates all sense and all feelings of trust, and I don't know what else to say. Thank you. Teague: Welcome, Emilia. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 43 Roberts: Thank you, Mayor. I would just like to back everything that David, Raneem said, um, and Nicholas, um, especially Raneem in the part she brought up about how someone said that law enforcement would make sure the scene is secure than take a step back. Like we said, all ... the whole meeting today. On June 3rd we saw how much restraint Iowa City Police Department has, and it's not that much considering they tear gassed us and used less lethal force, whatever that means, for literally absolutely no reason against the community members. Um, so I just don't think they're ... they have any restraint. I mean it's ... there's factual evidence that they don't, um, and also just the fact that they're all rooted in white supremacy, in fascism, and there's no way to reform that, like we've said that every single meeting. Another thing I would like to bring up that I think Nicholas said is the, yeah, the deflection about the community response and how the community took what you guys were implementing or the, um, the services. I would love to know what the responses were, and I think the deflection really says a lot about how people probably really felt about it, and then like I brought up in two meetings ago, Denver implicated a strategy to defund the police that worked really well. Um, that's something that IFR, I believe, would be interested in looking at and using as a strategy, as in ... as am I myself. So I don't understand why we're acting so clueless like we don't have things to look at and base our strategies off of and learn off of, like this is something that (mumbled) major cities are implementing like all over the country right now, like we can look at these things and learn from it and bring that to our community. So like I don't understand the whole cluelessness and I don't know, trying new things, like we're seeing these things work in other communities on much larger scales. There's absolutely no reason why they wouldn't work here without any law enforcement. So yeah, I would just like to really back everything that they said, especially Raneem. I think in everyone's best interest, it would be for you guys to listen to IFR and just help (laughs) help us help you basically. Um, help us help our community. Like this is something that we all are really passionate about. Obviously we come here ... we've been coming here for almost every, well not every meeting, but the last few meetings that we've been informed about, um, and just really putting in our time and efforts into this, um, as people have for their whole lifes, and I just think it's really important that you listen to us, especially considering these things you ... I mean you've already had community input, um, and I think you should listen to that, so thank you! Teague: Thank you. Would anyone else like to address this topic? If so, please raise your hand. Seeing no one, um, we'll move to Council discussion. And I ... I have a lot, I mean, I have a lot to say. So, first off, I want to thank CommUnity and Foundation 2 for being present today and sharing this information about this opportunity that we have. So I do know both CommUnity and Foundation 2 from a personal work, uh, professional relationship. So Caring Hands and More, my business, we had the crisis stabilization beds, and so essentially mobile .... uh, Foundation 2 and CommUnity have worked together in the past, so this is an ... this ... even though this is a new venture, they're working together isn't .... um, new. When we talk about mental health professionals, these entities have that. They have great mental health professionals. In our crisis stabilization bed, we had three beds and it was essentially, um, with in ... individuals that had cris... was ... was in the middle of a crises, and so I'm ... I'm happy for the partnership between these two individuals, um, in this venture. When ... because 9-1-1 calls This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 44 continue to happen within our community, there is no, as of now, Johnson County Emergency Communications Center that will divert any type of mental health call or have any questions, as to should this be diverted to a mental health professional or should this, you know, go to the police department. Essentially, if it comes in, it's going to the police department. So this is an option that we have and an opportunity where the call goes to 9-1-1 and the police department, and the opportunity... the opportunity now is that the police officer don't go by themselves. They actually go with a mental health professional, when that person's available and deemed, uh, and it's deemed appropriate. So this is an opportunity that I do support. I've heard a lot of things about, you know, the ... the community not supporting, um, a lot of things that Council ha ... is doing or have done, but I'm black... and I talk to people in our community, and I know that 9-1-1 is a call that people make. They make that call when ... when they ...they don't under ...a lot of people don't know about the mental health, um, the crisis stabilization or the ... the crisis line. There's a lot of education to do, but when it comes down to the people of this community, the people of this community are speaking, and there's a lot of voices. It's not just one voice ... that says they want one thing. There's a lot of people, and my personal opinion is this is a part of the process to get us to where we need to be. You may disagree with me, and that is fine, but I am supporting of this. The one thing that I do know is that when someone is in a mental crises, they need the help. They need the help of a mental health professional, and so calls are coming to 9-1-1 and this is a way right now, Councilors, that we can assist in making that possible. So I will be supporting this. Taylor: As a health care professional, similar to you, Mayor, I believe in the principle of this and... and believe there is a need to focus on what several of our community members, as we heard earlier, told us over and over during the listening posts that they expressed the need for an alternative to police intervention, uh, in particular in those cases that involve persons in a mental health crisis. So there... there is a need for that. Uh, and with this proposal, we seem to be on the right track and moving in a good direction. But I have one little thing to say. I don't know what people think of this, but I'm not comfortable with the words `law enforcement' being in the title, uh, for calls that clearly aren't criminal in nature. Uh, perhaps something like `crisis assistant patrol liaison' or something of that nature. As you don't want to imply that any laws are being broken, uh, this person is just in a mental health crisis. So I ... I think that's kind of important and how the public might see it too and what it's called, and I don't mean this to be a criticism of...of CommUnity or Foundation 2. Quite the contrary. I believe, partnership with them is ... is crucial to this concept and ... and for its success, and I have faith that they will be a major asset to a program like this. And I guess in closing I would just say that I ... I see this as somewhat of a pilot program, just an idea, and as such there... there will be a lot of room for updating, tweaking, more public input, and ... and fine tuning as we go along. Thomas: I'll ... I'll chime in at this point. I'm certainly pleased to hear from both Foundation 2 and CommUnity this evening. You know, I ... I would have preferred, I think, with this ... this particular issue, since it is an important piece of our effort to, you know, divert mental health related calls to, you know, another... toward another remedy, uh, that there had been a little bit more ... perhaps a work session with Council where we would have had further discussion, as we did tonight, uh, regarding„ you know, the nature of the program, how Foundation 2 and This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 45 CommUnity would be approaching it and so forth. You know, I am pleased to hear what I heard tonight. I think there are ... I think these are two organizations that really would logically be the foundation for developing crisis team response that we heard about tonight. Uh, one ... one suggestion I would make, and you know, I've done this in the past, uh, where I feel that there is an organization or an individual who could bring a special expertise to the conversation. Examples of this in the past would be Opticos, uh, on planning related issues. And Jeff Speck, with respect to transportation issues. You know, this whole conversation that we've been having about how to develop mental health response teams has introduced me to the the organization in Eugene, CAHOOTS, which I've been very impressed with, not only in the way that thein.. their organization has worked in Eugene, but the fact that since this issue has become nationalized, they've been serving in a consulting manner with cities all over the country, you know, the size of New York City down to smaller communities, and what ... what I would suggest, what I would ... what I would like to see introduced into this process would be the opportunity for CAHOOTS, a representative of CAHOOTS, to participate in the conversation of this program that we're launching in effect, uh, with this agreement. I think they would... from what I've seen again that, uh, it's not ... it's not one model. It's ... it's taking a set of values and an approach which can then be adapted to different circumstances, depending upon what ... what the organizations in a given location or locality consist of that are making up the ... the beginnings of the response team. I do think that having CAHOOTS, a representative of that organization, to be part of the conversation, particularly in those first couple of months where in the service delivery there will be discussions of what the operating procedures might be, as well as what Becci was describing as the future expansion of the crisis teams. I ... I do think that CAHOOTS would perhaps be able to help with that, given their experience, not only in Eugene, but how they've been able to apply that elsewhere. So, you know, my feeling would be we ... to move forward with the added condition that we ... we do have a consultant contract with CAHOOTS to help with the development of this plan. Bergus: John, thanks for bringing that up because it reminded me of a work session we had months ago, where we were talking about, you know, what would be the steps to implement something like that, and I remember, um, the ... us talking about how in ... in talking with the folks from Eugene, they said 9-1-1 integration is absolutely necessary. And so I'm hearing Becci, who's our local expert in crisis response, saying this is how we get 9-1-1 dispatchers to start to understand what would happen. We know here in ... in Johnson County what it took, the ... the kinds of concerted and organized effort it took to ... to just get our, you know, 9-1-1 and emergency communications kind of on the same page, and so we know that it's ... it's not insignificant to be able to have that 9-1-1 and dispatching integrated into this system. So our police department receives tens of thousands of calls for service every year, and we know that some of those shouldn't be going to law enforcement at all, but they do. And this is an opportunity for when police are dispatched, they're responding to those calls because right now there isn't that integration with mobile crisis. They're responding to those calls with a trained mental health professional. This is not someone who calls mobile crisis and a cop ends up showing up. It is not that program. This is for calls from dispatch where an officer would go and they have the benefit of a trained mental health professional who works for our trusted community service organization, who is not a police department employee. So I appreciate and This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 46 I hear and I understand the concerns about the co -responder model. We have been listening. We have been hearing that. I was at the the listening posts, and I remember people saying that a co -responder might be okay. We'd have to count up every single response to say how many of those, but I think it's ... it's a ... was not my recollection anyway that those comments didn't exist, and we know that this is in ... this is ... this is in our spectrum, right? Number one, we need to prevent calls for service. As the mayor said so well, that will require a lot of education in our community. Number two, we divert calls for service away from law enforcement to the agency that is best suited, right? And this is an instance where that can't take place because someone has already activated the police. They've already called 9-1-1 and an officer is going to respond. I know people are not okay with what they see as incremental change. I know that ... that... that individuals are frustrated that we disagree with the approach that we're being asked to take, although, again, I'm not entirely sure on what the exact policies we're being asked to implement are. I think this is a really important piece of the puzzle on the spectrum, so that we can make the change that we committed to make this summer, because we have been listening to those in our community, who I believe are most impacted by changes that we're going to make relating to our police department. Mims: Laura, thank you. I think you said that really well and captured a lot of the thoughts that have been going through my mind, as well. I find it, you know, I guess disappointing and sometimes frustrating to ... to hear people say that we aren't listening and we don't care and we're being hypocritical. And I don't feel that way. I feel we ... we kind of laid this out as ... as the City Manager did is a spectrum from the beginning, and we're working our way through it. And what's... what's in place with CAHOOTS, which has been there for like 30 years, we don't necessarily have all the structural pieces to just drop that in place here. And as you just said so well, you know, one of the big things that we don't have is the 9-1-1 dispatch prepared to parse out those calls and determine whether they should go to mobile crisis or whether they should go to 9-1-1, to the police. Those are two totally separate phone numbers and two totally separate dispatching processes right now. Um, if I recall correctly, that's one thing that is in the preliminary plan for police reform is that we do start working with the Joint Emergency Communication Center and find ways to work with them and adjust their questionnaire process, so they know how to dispatch differently than they do today, so that we can parse these out, send police when we need police, send co -responder maybe when we need co- responder, and maybe it ends up that mobile crisis is ... is dispatched that same way. So I ... while some people say that they ...they believe we're not making any real change, I disagree. I think we're making significant change. As Councilor Bergus said, maybe not as fast as some people would like, maybe some of the decisions aren't exactly what they would like. But I do think we are going to see real change and real improvement as we continue to work our way through many, many steps over the next few months and years. So hopefully more sooner than later, but a lot of these take time and effort, and I think we'll make a lot of progress. So I will support this. Weiner: (garbled) also along with Councilor Mims, uh, is a representative to the ... to the JECC, the ... the Coun... this is a countywide dispatch system, and in order to effect change there, we ... we're going to need to work with the County and with all the other municipalities that ... that are ... that make up the JECC, in order to have people train... trained and change, and I am ... I am personally This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 47 committed to that. It is not going to happen tomorrow, however. What is going to happen almost tomorrow is that the GuideLink Center's going to open, and we're going to have that additional resource and training and... and an opportunity for everyone in the community, both law enforcement who ... who deal with these cases, because that's the way it has been, as well as ... as well as mental health professionals, and ... and health professionals are going to have a new opportunity to deal with a new model. We have new things coming online. It is going to be a steep learning curve. So ... and we also have the fact, as we heard from ... from Becci Reedus that the current mobile crisis does not operate 24/7. That's something else that... that... that... that needs to be ... that needs to be expanded that will also take time. Councilor Bergus referred to people not liking things that are incremental. They -almost everything that we're doing right now is essentially a one-year trial basis. The ... because we're... we're cutting contracts that are for a year for ...for one thing that we did recently with Shelter House. Basically this is an initial year with this. I expect that we will be ... that we will be reevaluating as we see what happens and how programs go. Um, there is ... I am ... I'm personally someone who's not interested in having the perfect be the enemy of the possible and I see this right now as the possible and I will support it. Teague: Any other comments? Okay, roll call please. Motion passes 6-1. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 48 14. Purchase of 930 611 Avenue — Resolution approving a purchase agreement for a property located at 9316" Avenue for flood mitigation. Teague: Could I get a motion to approve? Mims: So moved, Mims. Bergus: Second, Bergus. Teague: All right, staff presentation on this. Fruin: Mayor, I'm going to take this one tonight and I'll be pretty ... pretty brief, but you know that since the 2008 flood, the City has periodically bought properties that are in the floodplain, at high risk of flooding, and converted those spaces to green space. Removing those structures is obviously the best mitigation strategy you can have . It eliminates the possibility for future property or...or personal damage. In most of the cases, and I think we bought a ... a little over 100 homes since that 2008 flood. In most of those cases we have had the benefit of some federal or state disaster funds; however in a few cases we've used all local funds to acquire property. We typically do so when there's a low cost of acquisition and a .... a, kind of a time disconnect in which the property is available, uh, during a period where we don't have access to federal funds and we don't feel like we can wait, uh, for that opportunity, um, or if we did, we ... we felt the property would probably likely go back into someone else's hands, and we ... and it just wouldn't be on the market for a voluntarily, uh, voluntary removal. So this is the case that we have with a property at 931 6a' Avenue. This is located around the Ralston Creek, near Creekside Park, um, an area that has experienced some flooding in the past. The City has bought several properties around Creekside Park in recent years, um, adjacent to the creek. This is one where the owner approached us, or the estate approached us, and offered to sell well below assessed value for the property. It is located not only within the hundred year flood plain, but essentially right on top of Ralston Creek, as you can see from the location map there. So we're looking at an acquisition expense of 60...$60,000. I'm sorry, $65,000, and then we'll have probably 15,000 or so approximately for the demolition and restoration of the ... of that property, and we would care for it in a similar manner to ... to a lot of the flood buyout properties that you've seen in this area, or in the Normandy neighborhood as well, likely either prairie or some additional tree planting along this corridor. We are able to use our emergency fund for this purpose, as it's for disaster mitigation. So the roughly $90,000 would come from that $5.2 million dollar emergency fund that we currently have. Happy to answer any questions you may have about our flood buyout program or this particular property. Teague: Hearing nothing! Thank you, Geoff. Would anyone from the public like to address this topic? If so, please raise your hand. Seeing no one, Council discussion? Taylor: I wasn't quick enough on the draw here to ask Geoff, uh, as previously, uh, properties that we've purchased, it just turned over and became green space, and would that be the plans for ...for this space as well? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 49 Fruin: Yes, it would. Any time we use federal dollars, we are bound to ... to keep that as green space forever. With the use of local dollars, the Council, uh, a future Council could revisit that, but our intention here is to convert it to green space and leave it in that condition. It's almost a ... kind of a ... an extension of Creekside Park that we're building along the ... along the Ralston Creek, um, in this neighborhood. Teague: Okay, any other comments? All right, roll call please. Motion passes 7-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 50 17. Community Comment Teague: We are at item number 17, and hello, Ryan, from UISG. Longenecker: Good evening, Council. The only main thing that I have tonight is just to announce that the Reimagining Campus Safety Committee at UIowa is holding two student town halls to gain student perspectives about their plans to reform the Department of Public Safety at Iowa. Um, the first one's tomorrow at three o'clock, registration is currently full. So hopefully you already registered. But you have a second chance, which will be next Thursday, February l la', at 5:00 P.M. and registration is open. So please feel free to join if you're a student or a member at Iowa and give your comments. That's all for me tonight, Council. Thank you. Teague: Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021. Page 51 18. City Council Information Teague: All right, any City Council updates? Weiner: I just wanted to thank all our ...the Public Works employees who've been working so hard to keep our streets plowed, as well as everybody who's been ... who's been shoveling their ...their sidewalks. It's a ... it's a ... we're getting a lot of snow, we're going to get more, appreciate everybody's hard work. Taylor: I'm (garbled) forward to touring the new GuideLink Center tomorrow morning. I'm very anxious for it to be up and running, and wish it great success. Teague: All right. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular formal meeting of February 2, 2021.