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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-05-18 TranscriptionPage I Council Present: Bergus, Mims, Salih, Teague, Taylor, Thomas, Weiner Staff Present: Fruin, Monroe, Kilburg, Dulek, Fruehling, Platz, Nagle -Gamin, Bockenstedt, Havel, Seydell Johnson, Hightshoe, Ford Others Present: Miglin (UISG) American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding and associated process 1031: Teague: It is 4:00 PM ... and today is the 18th of May, 2021, and this is the City of Iowa City work session, and welcome everybody. Want to get us started with, um, inviting our City Manager Geoff Fruin to talk about the American Rescue Plan funding and associated process, so welcome, Geoff. Fruin: Good evening or good afternoon, nice to see you also. Uh, on March 4a', uh, we gave you an introduction to the American Rescue Plan. At that time, we did not have the City's final allocation of funds. We also did not have the rules yet from the U.S. Treasury. Since that time, the final allocations for entitlement cities have come out and the rules have also been published as well, the interim rules from the U.S. Treasury. So we've spent the last week or so going through those rules and trying to learn the ins and outs of those. There are still a significant number of questions, but we have a much better idea when it comes to use of the funds and that's really what we wanted to ... to focus on tonight, but before we jump into that, um, I again want to just urge the Council to ... to really focus on thinking about your ..your guiding principles or your values first, and then focusing on process, uh, before you get into the really broad range of uses that you have, uh, that you will have when it comes to determining how to spend these funds, but we did feel it was important for you to have an overview, so you can kind of understand what those... what those boundaries may be. So that's the intent of tonight. Rachel is going to walk you through the updates that we have and an overview of the rules, and then we're going to kind of end back at that process and guiding principle, um, point and allow you to take the ... take the discussion from there, so with that I'll tum it over to Rachel Kilburg for the presentation. Kilburg: Great, thank you, Geoff. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. I'm going to share my screen here. Can I get a thumbs up if we're seeing what you should be seeing, yes? Okay, awesome. All right. So as Geoff mentioned, the U.S. Treasury released their interim final rule on May 9th. I do want to note that it was the interim final rule, so we're still waiting on some clarification in some areas, and they are accepting comments and questions on the interim final rule through the middle of July, so any ...there may be additional changes that will be coming, and we can expect that the final final rule, if you will, by maybe early... early to mid-August, but my goal today is really just to give you a high level overview, um, not get into all the details, but just set you up with a baseline of knowledge of what's in this guidance, um, so you can advance your planning process and set you up to ... to establish those guiding principles that This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 18, 2021. Page 2 Geoff talked about. Sothis is just.. just to review what's in the American Rescue Plan. Sothis is kind of an overview of everything that's in there, all the different types of programs and various relief dollars that will hopefully be trickling down to localities (mumbled) our residents, um, but we're focusing on this, um, this segment, the 17.6% segment today, which is that fiscal relief, those entitlement funds that are going to cities and localities. So with the Treasury releasing their guidance, they also published final allocations, so this is just a summary again to remind you of some of the ... the funding that will be flowing into our area. So the State of Iowa will be receiving $1.4 billion. Johnson County will be receiving 29.3 million. Iowa Cis ... Iowa City's final amount came in at 18.3 million, and then Coralville and North Liberty, uh, have their estimates there around 3 million. Um, they've stayed the same, they're estimated at the same amount that you saw last work session. So then I want to cover kind of the timing and some of the spending deadlines here. So if...the funding if you'll recall is going to be delivered in two (mumbled) and this is very intentional by the Treasury. So we'll expect to receive about 50% hopefully here within May, and then the remaining 50% about a year after that. Like I said, this was very intentional by the Treasury, um, because they want to recognize that there are some immediate needs that are going to need to be plugged, uh, pretty quickly, but they'll also understand that our circumstances are going to change. Uh, what ... what the circumstances are now as to what they were a year ago, six months ago, even a month ago, um, are very different, and they'll continue to change. So recognizing that we may not know what ... what our needs are fully a year from now, and then also the Treasury does expect that recipients of these funds, that local governments, are being very deliberate in our planning, um, and in our planning stage about how we're going to prioritize and how we're going to use these funds. There are some exceptions, but on the whole, um, the guidance is ... is pretty clear that these funds should be used for perspective uses. So pre -pandemic circumstances can be considered when we're talking about how we might want to use these funds, but on a whole they should really be forward-looking uses. And then there's two kind of big deadlines outlined in the guidance. So the first is by the end of 2024, that is when all funds should be allocated. So the federal government's definition of this basically means that at a minimum the project should have a contract or a signed agreement in place for the use of funds. And then the second deadline is the the performance period for a project using these funds would be December 31, 2026. So essentially by 2027, proj... the Treasury expects that that would be enough time for us to wrap up any projects that are using these funds. Okay. And then I just want to kind of go ahead and dive right in, um, to just a high-level overview of what's in the guidance. So they do provide some noninclusive lists of types of uses that would be considered eligible, and I might mention some of those today as we go along, but overall eligible uses would fall into these four primary categories. So responding to the COVID-19 public health emergency, or negative economic impacts caused by the pandemic, or made worse by the pandemic. The second category is premium pay for eligible workers who are performing (mumbled) who were or are performing essential work. The third category is replacing lost governmental revenue or restoring government service levels to what they were pre -pandemic, and then the final category is necessary investments in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure. So I'll go into each of these just...just a little bit further. So that first category here, um, I have two slides to cover it because how I think about this one is really kind of two eligible use pieces. We have negative... addressing negative public health impacts and negative economic impacts. So on this This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 18, 2021. Page 3 slide I will ... I want to cover the public health impacts, uh, use and the U.S. Treasury would consider a public health use eligible, uh, for use of these funds, if they respond to the pandemic or the virus itself, or if they are responding to a harmful public health consequence resulting from or that was made worse by the pandemic. So COVID-19 mitigation and prevention, um, would be eligible uses, and then other areas of public health that could have suffered from the event, such as these examples were provided specifically in the guidance by the Treasury — behavioral health care, mental health, substance misuse, and domestic violence services. And then finally there ... the Treasury does address that there would be kind of some broader latitude to address disparities in public health outcomes that were caused or exacerbated by the pandemic. So especially among disadvantaged or overburdened populations, the eligibility of uses, uh, gets a little broader. They -they really wanted to be very intentional in recognizing that the role of pre-existing social vulnerabilities, um, played a big ... big part in driving disparate outcomes, so they ...they want to be sure that these funds can be used to address those disparities. So some of these broader uses, they could include kind of environmental causes that maybe could have worsened pre-existing conditions or impacted health and well-being, such as living in an environment that has mold or poor ventilation, lead paint, um, or it could ... it could be a use that's kind of as broad as funding public benefit navigators or investing in a community health facility. So, um, really a broad spectrum of the type of usage you could use, uh, when they are prioritizing those ... those populations that have been disproportionately impacted. And in this section, the U.S. Treasury does encourage that we prioritize households, businesses, and nonprofits that were most disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, or any of the effects of the pandemic that ... that worsened, um, its impact. So then the second half of that first category is the economic impact uses. So this is really kind of the same test as ... as ... as it is for public health harms. You have to first identify whether a economic harm exists, and then if you have to identify if that harm was caused by or made worse by the pandemic, and then clearly be able to make that connection between the public harm and how the use of funds are going to address it. So if you've determined that a harm exists, then where that harm exists you can... you have a very broad latitude, again, of what you can use it for. Um, again, the Treasury provides a non-inclusive list of some of these uses. Uh, examples would be assistance to households, maybe things like food assistance, legal aid to prevent evictions, job training for unemployed workers, um, assistance to businesses and nonprofits who maybe are financially struggling from the pandemic and not able to operate at the level of service that they usually do, or assistance to impacted industries. So some of the things ... some of the industries that they specifically call out in their guidance is travel, tourism, and hospitality, and...and you could use the funds to kind of drive attraction or help those... those businesses if they are struggling. So the Treasury does allow us then also to, again, um, assume kind of a broader eligibildy...eligibility when the funds are used, um, for or in (mumbled) in areas of the community and with populations who have been hardest hit. So if they are low-income, minority, or an otherwise disadvantaged population, it's going to be considered more reasonable by us for the... for us by the Treasury to make that connection that ... that between our use of funds and the pandemic's impact on the economic harm. So the encouraged uses by the U.S. Treasury here, um, for households, they ...they specifically call out prioritizing, um, BIPOC women, low-income populations. For businesses, they encourage prioritizing the smallest businesses, maybe those that have difficulty accessing credit, those who have had substantial This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 18, 2021. Page 4 declines in revenue, have been the hardest hit by unemployment, um, and for nonprofits, again, encourage using ... using the funds to prioritize those nonprofits that were serving disadvantaged communities and really had to cut their service levels. Okay, and then the second category is premium pay for eligible workers performing essential work. So the guidance defines what eligible workers and essential work means. So an eligible worker would be a worker who was needed to maintain continuity of operations of essential, critical infrastructure sectors or additional sectors that were deemed critical to protect health and well-being of residents, if its designated by state or local government. And then the definition of essential work is work involving regular in-person interactions or regular physical handling of items that were also handled by others. So these are kind of the two tests to determine if, um, a worker would be eligible for premium pay. So ... so if...if the worker does meet that test, then as the recipient of the funds we could use it in ... bow we understand the rules today is we could use it in two ways. We could, one, provide that direct premium pay to City staff if they're eligible workers, or we can provide grants to other employers or other businesses who have eligible workers. We ... the way we understand the rules now is that we cannot provide direct premium pay to employees of other employers ourselves. It would ... it would have to go through their employer. So how this would work without getting into too many details is basically pay up to $13 an hour on top of their base wages. The Treasury does have some kind of maximums built in just to make sure that, um, that premium pay would be going to really those lowest income and lowest wage earning workers, um, and there's... there's, they provide a couple of examples. I pulled out a few here, health, health care staff, food production, restaurant workers, janitors and sanitation workers, transit, truck drivers, um, those... those type of industry sectors, those type of...that nature of work. Um, and then the Treasury really encourages, again, prior... prioritizing low- income, uh, eligible workers, so those earning low wages, um, and they also encourage that we provide retrospective (mumbled) or if this is a use of fund that premium pay is applied retrospectively, um, for work that has already been completed, they want to recognize that there have been some frontline workers, um, who have ... have been doing work that they have not been adequately compensated for up to this point. So our third category here is one that ... that we're really interested in seeking some kind of additional clarification and guidance on with the final rule. But our current understanding is that we could ... we could use these funds for the provision of government services, to the extent of the reduction in general revenue, relative to the last full fiscal year prior to the pandemic. So that last full fiscal year would essentially be fiscal year 2019 that ... that started on June 30, 2019. That would be considered our last full fiscal year, and the guidance provided some really detailed methodology for how you ... how you would calculate that revenue loss. And ... and then beyond that, we could use it to kind of ..kind of restore service levels or staffing levels back up to ... to what it was pre -pandemic. Specifically an eligible use maybe would be any kind of service or projects, equipment replacement, or a facility improvement that was planned prior to the pandemic, but paused or delayed because of it. So if it ... if it's a use that ... if the government use that wouldn't be eligible under any other categories, such as the economic impact category, then it would remain ineligible unless, um, it was previously planned, essentially. I do want to call out that the guidance does identify a couple of...of areas where use of funds towards government service levels would not be eligible and revenue replacement would not be eligible, so, uh, as the rules are written currently, um, replacing lost revenue for utilities is not included as eligible revenue replacement. So then our This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 18, 2021. Page 5 fourth and final category here is necessary investments in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure. So the infrastructure that the Treasury is really focused on in this legislation and in the guidance is just in ... in these three areas. So necessary investments, um, is ... is what they're defining for these uses, and I have them listed and I'll go through them here for both the water and the broadband. So for our water, storm water, wastewater, sewer projects, those ... they would be eligible under this use if they would provide an adequate minimum level of service that meets applicable health -based standards, taking into account resiliency... resilience or climate change. So this could be capital improvements, um, projects supporting treatment, management, distribution, or projects addressing climate change. So recognizing if...if we have infrastructure that would not be able to provide minimum service levels, uh, in the case of more frequent or more severe weather events, um, those would be projects that would be eligible under ...under this use. So ... in the guidance, the U.S. Treasury encourages that, um, uses under the water infrastructure piece focus on resiliency, um, again, against kind of natural disasters, increased severe weather events, green infrastructure, and they also specifically call out replacing lead service lines. And then the second part of this is broadband. So their definition of a necessary investment in broadband would be one that establishes or improves service to underserved populations, to reach an adequate level for work or school, and would be unlikely to be done privately. So their definition for an underserved population is an area that has ... that does not have a minimum of 25 mega... megabits per second upload speed. And ... I'm sorry, download speed and 3 upload speed, and their definition for an adequate service level is, uh, symmetrical — 100 upload, 100 download speeds. And they ...they encourage that uses under this ... this category would prioritize those last -mile connections, where you kind of see some of that bandwidth, some of those bandwidth issues, um, as well as fiber optic infrastructure where it's feasible, and they also encourage that any of these projects take affordability into consideration. Um, they've also noted that in addition to some of this broadband infrastructure, uh, eligible uses under the economic harm use and economic disparities, um, kind of subcategory, you ... you would be able to do things like provide assistance for internet access to households or businesses, or to provide digital literacy training just...just kind of to show how some of these different uses can overlap. So, uh, that's kind of the four uses, and now what I want to do is just kind of review each of those, um, and outline the U.S. Treasury's encour...how they encouraging use and how they recommend you assess whether your, um, intended use would be eligible. So first for public health and economic impacts, um, really the first step is you have to identify if there has been a harmful effect caused by or exacerbated by the pandemic, and then you need to demonstrate how, make that direct connection, how will this use of funds address that harmful effect. In addition to that you should also be assessing if there's a disproportionate impact of that effect on any certain population or sector, um, and how your service project or program could address those disproportionate effects or any... any kind of compounding effects that ... that made any systemic barriers or systemic disparities worse. So on the second category for premium pay, their test is to first identify does the worker meet that essential work and eligible worker definition? If they do, then they encourage... the Treasury encourages that, um, recipients are prioritizing this use towards the lowest income and the low-wage workers, those frontline workers, um, and that you consider applying retrospective pay where it would be feasible, in addition to any kind of present or...or future pay. The third category for government services and revenue loss, like I This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 18, 2021. Page 6 mentioned, um, the guidance pretty clearly lays out what that calculation is to do that, um, and that's how you would determine what ... what revenue loss, um, you could ... you could collect for, and then compe... you would also need to be sure to compare any kind of service project or staff reductions to pre -pandemic levels. So, again, was this planned for prior to the pandemic, and we didn't go forward with it because of...we took fiscal austerity measures, or for another reason. And then finally, um, for that water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure category, for broadband you need to determine if the project meets that 25/3, uh, kind of underserved, um, definition, and you need to be able to demonstrate that the investment would provide adequate minimum service levels and, um, also be unlikely to meet ... be made by a private source, and then for water, uh, storm, and sewer projects, you would need to determine if the project is necessary to maintain minimum health based standards and in making that assessment, you can consider resiliency or climate change. So in addition to those four categories, another use we can ... we can do with these funds is transfer them to another local government, to a special purpose unit of government, um, a private nonprofit, and in the guidance they also clarify that you could also transfer to a private entity, um, as long as it's helping you to fulfill an eligible use. So the ... the transfers still must abide by all the Treasury guidance, they still must be used for qualifying eligible use. Um, we would still be responsible regardless of whether we transfer it or not. The responsibility is still on us to, um, be transparent about posting what the uses, to be reporting on it, to be continually assessing the use, and finally, you cannot transfer the use to another entity to make the funds become an eligible use. So if...if there's a use of funds that wouldn't be eligible here, but it would be in say Coralville, we couldn't transfer it to them, um, just to make it an eligible use because it wouldn't be for the direct recipient, which is Iowa City. And then finally, um, that was kind of an overview of...of what we could use the funds for and the guidance also outlines, um, explicitly some uses that would not be considered eligible, so ineligible uses. So those would include federal matching requirements, so we could not use these funds as federal match for a grant or another project. The premium pay cannot be used under those definitions. Telework would not qualify as being eligible for premium pay. You cannot use these to contribute to a pension fund. We cannot use these funds for any infrastructure that's not directly addressed, so of course they call out those kind of three categories — water, sewer, and broadband. Um, it's possible that there's a case made for other infrastructure if it's directly tied to mitigating the pandemic or to responding to an economic or public health impact caused by the pandemic, but otherwise these funds are really not infrastructure funds. These funds should not be used for any contributions to reserve funds, rainy day funds, not for debt payments or issuance of new debt, and again just ... just calling out that, uh, when thinking about replacing last governmental revenue, utilities is not ... is excluded from that so that would not be an eligible use. So then I just want to kind of remind you of the process that was discussed last time. This was our recommended process and we still think this is a good path forward. Um, hopeful that we can kick off this first stage of establishing guiding principles tonight so that, um, that helps us navigate through these ... these second phases of coordinating with other local governments and starting to provide opportunities for public input. So in light of that, I just wanted to bring up again those draft guiding principles that we shared with you last time. In looking at these and comparing them to the guidance that the Treasury released, they are... they're actually very much in alignment with the guidance and the language that they're using. So that's positive, um, but we'd really be interested in hearing kind of just in This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 18, 2021. Page 7 general Council discussion on each each of these principles, again, just to help shape that path forward as ... as we move along in this process. So with that, I ... I guess I can go ahead and turn it back to the Mayor. Teague: Thank you, Rachel, for leading us through that pro ... through your presentation. Lots of information there, great information. We've been waiting for the rules and we got thein. We know that it may not be the final rules that have come out, but this is a great starting point, from where we were. So I'll just open it up to Council just to chime in, and if you have questions for Rachel, please feel free to ask them now. Salih: Rachel, I just want to ask you when you say a low income, did they said like certain percentage of area median income or just they just said low income? Kilburg: Yeah, they ...they didn't, um, they didn't provide any specific percentage of income. They... they really just clarified low income and the lowest income in some cases. Taylor: Thank you, Rachel, for your presentation, because initially when I looked at some of the basic rules that were sent to us the other day, and they were kind of ..to be honest, clear as mud to me. I wasn't quite sure how it could be applied or (garbled) process would be, but you even said that there are still some significant questions, which I think there are, but I think as the process goes along, um, your presentation will be helpful and talking as a group will be helpful to clarify those. (garbled) Kilburg: I can bring those principles back up for you, if you'd like. (female): That'd be helpful, thank you. Fruin: So if I may jump in while ... while these are being brought back up, what I think's important for this ... this discussion here on the principles. Um, I don't necessarily think you need to wordsmith these, but if you can just kind of talk through them and make sure that ... that as staff we have a good understanding on, um, you know, where you stand on each of these, and of course if we're missing something that ... that's really important to you or you want something stressed in a little bit different way, um, this is a good time to kind of talk through those. So I ... I caution you against getting too focused on the individual words. We can ... we can polish this up and re -present it to you for kind of final adoption. But we really just want to know if we're on the right track in presenting these to you, and again, if we're ... we're missing anything. These are principles that ... that we would continually hold up to the public as we make our funding decisions, as we have public input opportunities. So, again, just a general discussion and any ...any insight would be, uh, appreciated here. Weiner: I think that it's ... that it's going to be really important once the County is at a point where they're ready that we be able to cooperate and coordinate with the County, because they have... the... the City and the County together have an enormous amount of money. Um, and I think, as you... as you may have mentioned last time, Geoff, it would be useful to be able to go This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 18, 2021. Page 8 out and get public input together, avoid duplication, leverage funds. I mean...at least avoid duplication among these... these two funds, if we can't completely avoid duplication with what's going to be funded by the State, which is another question. What ... when will we know what will be funded by the State, but I just think locally in terms of looking at Johnson County and Iowa City that that ought to be a priority. Salih: I really (both talking) Go ahead! Taylor: No, Maz, I was just going to on that note, uh, Janice mentioned the State, and now we have a lot of State employees and, Rachel, maybe you could answer this. Would help from them to like there ...there (garbled) that work at the Hospital, the nursing assistants, those that are lower paid would be considered (garbled) Would that assistance need to come from the State then? Kilburg: Again, so with the ... with the ineligible use for premium pay, we ... we would, our only course for using those funds would be for City employees who meet the definitions of eligible worker or (mumbled) in essential work. We ... we could transfer funds to another employer, so if those employees are not already receiving premium pay through their employer, through the State, then that would become an eligible use. Salih: Rachel, can you bring the slide that say essential worker again? I mean like, for example, essential worker, of course, the frontline (garbled) essential worker, but mostly those worker are not low-income. How you going to do that, like are you ... if they have to meet all ... check all the boxes, essential worker and low income, or BIPOC community and low-income, or just like ... because the one that (garbled) the beginning stages like, you know, people (mumbled) I don't know if you have it like (garbled) community and after that, or, uh, you know, or low- income, or yeah ... I don't know. They have to check all the boxes to be eligible or how this work? Kilburg: Yeah, so based on our current understanding of the rules, and ... and there's more guidance and explanation, information, questions coming out every day on them. Um, that ... that's kind of our understanding right now is that they would need to meet these two definitions. We know that the Treasury values prioritizing the hardest hit populations. But really the purpose today was just to provide you an introduction, because we know there will be additional clarification coming, we know that there could be some changes to the final rule. We really just wanted to kind of provide you this overview so that it'd set you up with at least a baseline of knowledge to ... to discuss, um, four guiding principles you would want to maybe prioritize and figure out down the road when ... when the guidance is more clear, um, how you'd want to use these funds and ... and who would be eligible, and what would be eligible. Fruin: I think the bottom line is that you're going to have some... you're probably going to have some flexibility to determine eligibility yourself, if you want to explore this use. So you're going to have to meet those definitions and I, you know, we can ... we can sort through that. There's good examples at the bottom of this slide that'll give you a sense of what they're thinking, but my assumption will be that the Council could say, `We're going to extend premium pay only to This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 18, 2021. Page 9 those workers that were making less than $15 an hour,' or less than whatever dollar per hour that you assign, and then you're going to provide some level of of premium pay. I think we're going to have that flexibility to kind of set how much premium pay and ... and what makes you eligible. Where we're not going to have flexibility is determining what types of jobs may qualify for this, and again I think those examples on this slide will give us a pretty good ... a pretty good sense of the type of work, you know, someone that was working at City Hall when we were closed to the public is not going to meet this definition. Whereas as you can see a transit driver that was regularly interacting with the public would meet that. So there's going to be those nuances but I think you'll have that flexibility in determining what wage levels would be eligible for this, should you go down that path. Salih: Yeah, but I mean like, for example, if somebody work like, for example, a driver. A driver, he is definitely essential worker. He interact and see everybody every day with the public. But, for example, if you get $20 an hour, but that is still make him low-income if you add his family (mumbled) you know, is that means he's not eligible? If we decide, for example, I know that the $15 you give it as example, but it still ... I'm just saying, uh, if that's going to make him ineligible, even though $20 for him as a family of five (garbled) still he is a low income, uh, worker. Fruin: Yeah, I think you're probably going to be thinking about this in two different kind of categories of uses. The premium pay is just going to be based likely on the wage that they are ... that they are making at their job. irrespective of their income levels at...at home. But you can through, you know, the ... the first, um, rule that Rachel presented, provide direct assistance to households that are low- income, you know, that's more of the, uh, the ... the direct stimulus. If you wanted to give $1,000 to families that ... that are under a certain threshold, much like the federal government did with ... with this bill, you would be able to do that, but that's kind of through a different section of the rules that we'd have to work through, if you want to base direct assistance just on household income. Salih: No, I was just talking about the premium pay for the essential worker. I'm talking about this person, he have his family and his insurance and everything, how that going to be (garbled) Fruin: Those are ... those are the sticky details that are yet to come. Mims: For me, Rachel, if you can go back to the ... the first slide of kind of the values. When I look at what was presented to us last time and ... and you've got up there tonight, uh, when we get back to that. As I look through these, I'm really impressed with what staff has put together and ... and in ... and I'm in agreement, um, with what is here to guide us as we make our decisions. I think it's, you know, always we ... we try to leverage outside funding if we can. I mean if we can put in $10,000 and get 60,000 from somebody else, that helps the people in our community that much more if we can leverage our money. And because we know there's never enough money, I think it's really important that we try to avoid duplication with other relief programs, and I think it's still really unclear how some of that other money is going to be distributed, and so I think it's important that we don't race to make final decisions on how we're going to allocate this money This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 18, 2021. Page 10 till we have a better idea of how the rest of that pie is going to get distributed and under what rules. Um, you've all heard me say repeatedly over the years, maintaining the financial stability of the City is absolutely important. We won't ... if we don't do that, we won't be able to give people the services they need going forward. I think the next two or three just really go together so well, I mean, I think we want flexibility. We don't know what all the needs in the community are going to be as we continue to go forward. Some ... some individual, some segments of the economy may come back faster than others. Some that we think are going to come back may not, and may need more assistance later. And in the next one, that social infrastructure and addressing and mitigating racial inequalities, I think all of those have to be really front and center in our minds as we think about how we're going to use that, and I'm really pleased to see that the Treasury really talking about, um, trying to mitigate those disparities as we prioritize how we spend our money. And, you know, the last three I think are important and especially, you know, not starting up programs that we don't have sustainable funding for. We ... we really need to be looking at the... at how we spend this on one-time expenses, because this is one-time money. So I'm really comfortable, I'm really pleased with the time and effort that staff has put into develop these, and I think they're a great framework for us as we start working through more of the details of how we allocate this money. Thomas: I think the ... the, um, guiding principles were pretty well... it's... it's a little bit different than what I was finding in doing searches for guiding principles. They're... they're not really focused on specific demographics within a community, but one can read into how one might be able to apply that, uh, you know, that ... that kind of approach with these principles to get at those particular groups. For example, youth. I think that's an important, um, particular demographic moving forward that ... that I'm interested in at least, and I've seen on guiding principles in some of these...the documents I ran across. It does seem ... what, one ... one thing that's kind of interesting about the program is that it is in kind of two different parts. So we have the immediate tranche, which, um, what ... I forget the dates on it, but, you know, it is fairly immediate, um, and so it does seem that ... the way I began to see that would be that that tranche would probably go toward the direct relief part, most lo ... you know, most logically, uh, without wanting to get ahead of ourselves, but it does seem that ... that that's where that percentage of the funding would ... would be emphasized. But there is a second tranche and a fairly long period in which all of this could be implemented, so, you know, some of the other guiding principles, such as, you know, lasting change in the physical and social infrastructure, those sorts of things, would I think, um, which would require more time, um, can ... there is the time to do that and to get more into kind of long-term planning. The other thing that I found interesting and challenging about this is, you know, this ... the rescue plan is one of three federal funding programs. You know, we have, uh, in addition to the rescue plan, we have the American Jobs Plan, which hasn't been approved yet, but it's out there. And then the American Families Plan, which, you know, the estimates are that that would be $1 million, with 800 million, or I'm sorry, $1 trillion and 800 billion in tax credits. So you add all these up where, you know, you're talking about close to $6 trillion, and there seems to be potentially, uh, or certainly these programs to overlap to some degree, so how we ... how we integrate and plan that is challenging because they are in different time frames. The American Jobs Plan is a eight-year infrastructure plan. So ... but nevertheless, I think we need to try to keep in mind that the fact that there ... there This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 18, 2021. Page 11 most likely will be additional large funding sources becoming available, and to try to anticipate them as we move forward sort of speaks to the ... the avoiding duplication or things of that sort, so that we ... we have the best understanding of what funding is best applied when and with ... with what, um, sources. But, yeah, I think as a starting point this all seems like a good starting point, and it was certainly useful to see what detailed information we have now in terns of what will be eligible, what won't be eligible, and so forth. Teague: For me, I think the guiding principles are, you know, just something good for us to kind of have as a baseline. There's a few that resonate with me and a few that don't. As far as like what would be my, you know, priority here and, John, just mentioned that there are three types of programs out there that'll be forthcoming, and so a part of the challenge is not knowing exactly how those funds will be recommended for use, um, when we're talking about not duplicating, you know, other relief programs. That's number one. We don't know, uh, ho ... some of the other relief programs and how that's going to, um, impact our local community, and so that ... that becomes a little bit of a challenge, and I don't know the projections of when those rules will come out and when those files will be available, but nevertheless I do believe that leveraging outside funding and avoiding duplication with other relief programs is critical, um, although I do believe that there are some programs already out there that do have barriers for certain people within our community, and I think learning what those barriers are to try to figure out how can our ...the funds that we have help overcome some of those barriers. So, um, I ... I don't ... I'm in full agreement about potentially not duplicating some of the ... some of the relief efforts. Um, now if there's a relief effort that is only giving, for example, $100 a, you know, for ...towards some type of a relief, um, COVID relief program, that may not be sufficient, you know, for that, uh, for the ... for the recipients. It could be all the funds that's available through that entity, and so that's something that we also have to keep in mind, that some programs ... they are helping people, but it may not be sufficient funds available to really meet the needs of the people. So number one is great, but I think there's a little more things that we need to think about, uh, retin... retaining flexibility to address evolving emergent community needs. I think we're going to continue to see needs that are rising in our community. There is a lot of nonprofits that work really hand-in-hand with some of our most, um, neediest residents, and I think listening to some of those concerns that we may not even anticipate would be valuable for us to just keep those lines of communication open, so that we can maybe have some conversations to really meet some of those needs as well. Ensuring funding decisions to help mitigate racial inequalities, I think we all know that there are some barriers and some inequalities that has happened throughout this pandemic, and I think just making sure that we hear some of those, make sure that we respond to those, is going to be critical and then certainly that'll be, um, hearing from our communities as to how we can help with that. Um, limited operation, limited... limit operational investments without identified sustainable funding sources. So I do believe that we should, you know, ensure that whatever is sustainable, um, but here I do wonder ...um, a little bit of what this totally mean. I guess, I was a little confused by this one here when it it ... and maybe you can explain that to me. Fruin: Yeah, so ... so really recognizing that this is a one-time influx of funds. So if you want to expand some type of service, and the easiest example may be a service that requires an employee or This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 18, 2021. Page 12 multiple employees to carry that out. We may be able to fund an employee's salary for two years or three years with these funds, but there will become a time in which these grant funds aren't available, and we ... we may or may not at that time be able to retain those employees to carry out that service or keep paying the nonprofit to keep those employees paid, uh, so that they can continue that service. It's not to say that we can't and there may be some strategic opportunities to ... to do this, but if we put too much in the operational side of things, I'm afraid that four or five years from now, um, a lot of those gains will be erased by an inability to keep the necessary funding behind those efforts. Teague: Okay. Now I understand. Thank you so much, and I would certainly agree that, at least for these funds, absent all other funds, uh, for operational investments, I believe that the funds that we give should be limited. I'm not saying that we wouldn't consider, you know, other things, but it really should be limited to the these funds usage and so, um, that would be at least my perspective at...at this time. The other thing that I might mention, um, I would agree that our city financial stability is super important. It's... it's ... I mean it's vital for us to survive. In absence of knowing all of the other opportunities that we have, $18.3 million is a lot of money. It is (laughs) a lot of money, very grateful for the funds that we're being given and ... and ... by the federal government and asked to shepherd over, but I also know the needs in our community are greater than $18.3 million, and ... and that's where I think it's a huge number. I ... you know, will tread lightly on really looking at some of the operations of our government. Um, I ... I do know that we have needs, exactly we can use some of these funds, but I think once we start to look at what are all the needs in our community, what are all the funds that we have through other programs. Um, I believe we're going to find a great need that, again, it won't be enough money, no matter which programs we're utilizing. I'll be very interested in how the State utilize their funds because we haven't, you know, we don't know what they're going to do, um, and how they're going to support and who they're going to support. I just believe that ensuring that individuals and households are a priority. We do have businesses that absolutely need support, as well. I think we have to look at our entire community, certainly looking... hearing from our community to hear what their needs are is going to be vitally important, so these funds are something that I certainly want to have some of those listening opportunities, some of those public hearings, to hear what the public has to say about the funds, and partnering with others within our community and even listening to what the State is going to do, so that we can partner in ... in ... in giving out these funds. I think that'd be crucially important. Salih: I really I haven't gone through each one of those. I was just asking question in general, but I really must agree with what the Mayor said. I need additional, uh, really this time I hope you guys conduct the community, you know, we need to listen from the community and... and... and find out what the needs is, and not only that, you have to keep in mind what work for certain group doesn't work for other group, so those kind of things, uh, to make ... we have money and we need to make it (mumbled) the people like easy to access the fund that we will provide. I ... I feel like the City, when you come up with rules (mumbled) the Council on those rules or seeking opportunity from the people, from certain community to see what worked for them best, what doesn't. Those two things (mumbled) since this is from the City and we are the one who This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 18, 2021. Page 13 setting up the rules, as long as we following the guidelines, I thinks we can make it very easy for our community to access it. Weiner: So, further to what the Mayor and the Mayor Pro Tem said, I have a question about eligibility, and that ... and that is, you know, we ... we talked about nonprofits, um, that ... in that community there's a portion of the nonprofit community on which a lot of people actually depend and certain people in the BIPOC community particularly depend on some of the churches. It seems that, you know, we're... there... there's also, of course, separation between church and state, but I'm aware that ... that there ... there are many in the BIPOC community really have leaned on the churches, on their churches. Some of their churches have closed because since there's less money, since there's less... there's less funds to ... to go around, less funds to ... to give, the ... some of those institutions are no longer there, those support institutions, and that's where people go. So I guess my question is ... within this framework, in general, and within the framework of talking about discussing transferring funds, is our ... our ...is it possible, um, in ... at least in certain... certain circumstances, because as Mayor Pro Tem said, different communities go to different institutions and approach things differently. Is it possible to include some of the ... some of the churches in this or is that a non-starter? Kilburg: I can give that a shot. Um, so churches weren't explicitly mentioned, but our ...our transfer of funds, um, I see it as ... to the guidance could happen two ways. It's either, one, to provide assistance to another entity that is providing a service that we deem is critical to addressing an economic or public health impact. Um, or what I think you're getting to ... to is more of transferring the funds over to administer some sort of service or program that would address an eligible economic or public health use, and I think that the Treasury was pretty intentional in trying to ... to make that transfer ability pretty broad, and I believe that that would be an eligible use. Weiner: Thank you. Taylor: I think another thing that we have to keep in mind are when we're looking at...at groups of individuals is, uh, those folks, such as the immigrants and refugees that perhaps hadn't (garbled) because they weren't receiving unemployment or those kinds of things from federal government assistance. And ... and they still do need some assistance as most of them possibly were disproportionately impacted by COVID, and I think this is one thing that we need to look at as far as a guideline for ...for who to assist and looking at the nonprofit's to help us find those groups of folks. Bergus: Just to jump off what Pauline was just saying, I think ... and also the Mayor mentioned, kind of finding the gaps, and so as we're looking at avoiding duplication, I think being cognizant of what other programs, what the availability of other programs and types of relief have occurred up until this point, and ... and making sure that we're.. just like we did with some of the individual relief funding that we did earlier in the pandemic, like trying to ... to target those members in our community, and even organizations and entities in our community, who kind of got left out in different ways, I think, is an important guiding principle. Because with ... as the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 18, 2021. Page 14 Mayor said, there will be more need than there are funds available. At the same time, I think everyone is ... it's going to be a difficult process to kind of get to that ... how do we ... how do we allocate and spend this money, I mean I know ... I'm sure nonprofits are having a similar kind of I guess struggle as ... as we may find ourselves having in, you know, this is... being just such a one-time thing, some of it is hard to ... to even imagine what the distribution might look like. So I just think looking for gaps is important and, as I see the... the... this list of principles, all of them resonate with me as well. I think the racial inequity and climate action are the two that kind of stand out as more sort of subject matter oriented and I almost see them as, you know, everything else is as we're doing, you know, the whatever we're doing, we're trying to ... to achieve or meet or be led by those principles and then, you know, also just making sure that it's kind of like ... I don't know, in my mind I'm just sort of seeing layers of umbrellas of (laughs) all these principles as well. So, um, just prioritizing I think those two with ... in accord with like lasting change due to the one-time nature of (mumbled) think those are most important to me. Teague: All right, well, I think we have had a good discussion about these funds (garbled) It's good to know that we finally got the ... some rules to go with it, um, because not having the rules as (laughs) We were kind of, you know, in the dark about what it could be used for, so it's helpful that we're at this point now. Any other questions for Rachel or any other comments? Fruin: Mayor, if I may, just in terms of next steps, we'll continue to reach out to the County, to the other cities, and ... and gauge their temperature for collaborating, at least initially, on some public input, and then we'll see if that evolves into larger collaborations with ... with the funds. In the meantime, I ... I feel like we have enough out here to ... to at least open up the opportunity for folks to formally provide comment to the City. Clearly you're getting some of that now, which is good, and informal contact is always encouraged, but I'd like staff to begin to put together some basic education materials for the public, maybe short videos, uh, summaries of Treasury guidance, and then... and then a portal or a forum, uh, survey of some type for them to submit their thoughts. I don't want to get ahead of the County collaboration, if indeed that is in the cards, but we have enough to begin that process and with your go-ahead, I think staff can ... can work on that in the next week. Salih: How you thinking about the people who have feedback to the City? Fruin: I ... I think it's going to be multi -faceted to start, or...or through this whole process. To start, I think we just need to get basic information on our ...on our website and provide a basic survey or input opportunity, and then we'll have to become a little bit more nuanced with in-person engagement activities, perhaps in different locations. Those are the types of things I'm hoping that we can really do with the County, uh, so that individuals that want to provide that feedback don't have to go to two or three different meetings to share that with their local elected officials. So what I'm suggesting now is not a comprehensive public input strategy. It's ... it's more of a start to get... get the information out there, um, more than just what was presented at...at a City Council meeting, with the understanding that probably where you're going with your comments, Mayor Pro Tem, is we're going to have to do more work to meet people in their locations at their times, uh, in ways in which they feel comfortable providing that input. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 18, 2021. Page 15 Salih: Yeah, that's exactly what I want to say, thank you. Uh, I don't know, but I think reaching out, people just go like do a listening post somewhere here and there, uh, speak out speak, uh, event or something like that. Anyway, we as a Council need to reach out to people in their place (garbled) Now everybody has been vaccinated, uh, probably I'm going to have mine on Friday maybe, so we will, you know (garbled) Weiner: I think along that line it's also going to be important, um, to ... as we produce this information to push it out in particular to the whole NGO or nonprofit community, so that they also have that information when they come in contact with their various, different clientele. Salih: Yes, that's great. Taylor: And, Mayor Pro Tem, you (garbled) the language barrier and translation hopefully we'll be able to provide that where necessary. Salih: Sure, that's good. Clarification of Agenda Items: Teague: All right, well great! Sound like we will be moving forward with that. We are on to the next item, which is clarific... clarification of agenda items. I did want ... I did have one item I wanted to bring up and that is our community comments. We ... we've typically... one, we value the public comment. I think it really does provide an opportunity for us to hear from the public, get a sense of their perspective individually as individuals come to address us, and so we've had on ... like the public comment, we typically have like three to five minutes listed, and I wanted to ... you know, point out that oftentimes I as the Mayon.. and... and, um, will look at how many hands are raised or how many people want to speak, and then I have to adjust it to ensure that we allow everybody... within our power, an opportunity to speak, and so I've gone as low as two minutes for individuals to speak. What I would like to propose is that we actually, you know, set it at three minutes... the... the public comment, and then if I need to, you know, adjust the time, then I won't go lower than two minutes, because sometimes we do have a lot of people that want to give their, um ... um, their thoughts to Council in a ... in a public meeting, and so we certainly want to hear from them, you know, the people. So I just wanted to get a sense of Council thoughts on changing the community comment to three minutes. Now there are some things that we have to always allow, urn, that we have the public, you know, the open public hearing. We have to ensure that the public come and speak on that. That itself would also be three minutes. So I wanted to make ... or anything on the agenda will be set at three minutes, and I would adjust to two minutes as necessary. And another thing to consider is when there is a ... when there is a developer or, you know, if someone's item on there, they may be granted more time. So I just (both talking) Salih: (both talking) problem, Mayor. I really respect what you said, but the problem is we have to (garbled) more time to some people. And I guess public comment is the only time the public This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 18, 2021. Page 16 can interact with us. Sometime even we saw people needed more than five minute. But I ... I hope if we can just leave it as it is, adjust it as needed, for example, leave it at five minute. As it is it's been forever like this, notlung has been changed, and you know that sometimes we don't even have public comment. (mumbled) one person or two. If we can leave as that, but we have to put a policy if there is a lot of people on the room, you need to adjust it to three minute, go ahead and adjust it for three minutes. You know, but I really believe that some time we have a lot people, sometime we don't, and if we can give the developer five minutes to present themselves, I thinks our ...our residents and public need that too. Just let us make (mumbled) That's my..my own idea. I really encourage you to leave it at five minute, but with the clear language that the Mayor have the right to adjust the, you know, the time, if it needed when a lot of people will be there. When this was happening in Des Moines, people was very mad about it. We don't want to make our people mad too, you know. This is only time we listen to people. They waited two week and, you know, so we can ... they can talk to us, and they ..I just like when there is a really hot issue people like to come in person and speak about it. They also they send emails and everything, but they like to come so everybody can see them, uh, bringing this issue. Teague: I think one of the questions that I would have is, you know, we have the community, we have the community comment, and when we do have, you know, we ... we'll have an item on the agenda. Is there a certain amount of time that we would allot or think that we would hear from the community on a ... on an agenda item, um, should, you know, is that 30 minutes, is that... cause I think that's what it comes down to (both talking, garbled) Salih: For public comment you mean? (both talking) For public hearing? Teague: Um, I think it could be for any... any agenda item, like what is a, you know, I think we need to have some type of a time frame that... cause I look at the hands and I kind of figure out where we are throughout the, you know, throughout the process. Certainly we want to ensure that people are heard, when that ... when that agenda item comes up, but that is something, you know, that is something that we have to consider as well. Salih: I'm song, I really don't get you. Do you mean public comment after that consent agenda, or are you talking about public comment during an item on the agenda? Teague: I'm ... I'm mixing up the two. We do know that we have, um, for the public comment time only no agenda item. It ends at 7:00 PM, and then we can come back to it after. Yeah, so I guess this would really be related to the... something that's on the agenda. Mims: If I can give you some perspective of 11, almost 11 and a half years on Council. My recollection is historically we did not allow five minutes. I think it was typically three minutes. I think if it's set at three minutes and people know it is three minutes, I think that is ample time for somebody to come in front of Council and give us their views on a particular item. They are still more than welcome to call, to email, um, to get more information to us, but I think if people know ahead of time. Three minutes is a fairly decent amount of time to, I believe, talk to us and express their views and also make sure that we can hear from as many people as possible, and This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 18, 2021. Page 17 that way they know how much time they have. Historically we, I believe, we have used that same three minutes in the community comment at the beginning of the meeting, which used to go to 8:00 when we started at 7:00, but now goes till 7:00 because we start at 6:00 and we use that same three minutes typically for each agenda item. If people wanted to speak on the agenda item, mayor's in the past would shorten that potentially to two minutes if we had a lot of people, and I don't know that we ever set a specific time limit on how long we took public comment. I know as a Council we always tried to let everyone speak. But I think there were times where probably after an hour, hour and 30 minutes maybe if it was a really, really hot topic, that the mayor would finally, you know, close it down, but when it's really a hot, contentious topic like that, it has always been the Council's purview to ... or I shouldn't say that. It's always been the Council's intent to try and listen and hear from as many members of the public as wanted to, and to do that, like I say, lots of times it has gone say from the three minutes down to the two. I'm very comfortable with that. I think if...if the public has noticed that's what we're doing, we are not in any way diminishing their opportunity to communicate with us. Thomas: Yeah, I think it's, um, on ... on agenda items something where I ... I ... in my experience, I don't think we want to limit the actual time frame where those comments could be heard. The three- minute rule certainly makes sense, I think, for the community comment period. I think, you know, I've seen comment on agenda items where it can be extended beyond that, where if someone has something to say that goes beyond three minutes, um, and it didn't seem out of place. I think one of the issues that comes up often with, um, when you have many people coming to speak is that there will be, uh, most likely repeat people will begin repeating one another in some ways, and so I think, Mayor, you could... you could say something to the effect of, you know, if...if you're ... what you had planned to say has already been said, perhaps you could just reference the fact that it had been said, rather than repeating it, so that we don't get that kind of duplication. You know, that's one way of trying to keep the pace of the meeting going at the right pace. But, yeah, community comment, it seems three minutes is reasonable. And it's potentially reasonable on agenda items, but I think it really depends on the item and, um, you know, what people have to say. Bergus: I think the question of three versus five minutes is almost less important than just making clear what we're doing, um, you know, and so ... so that people know what to expect when they're heading into a meeting. I think it's very reasonable to say, you know, in the Mayor's discretion if there's a whole lot of people, particularly for the public, um, community comment for items not on the agenda, you know, to try and, you know, ratchet that down like to the two minutes, just for the sake of...of time and people know that they can reach out to us. If it's an item that's not on the agenda, there's not a risk of us, you know, taking some action that evening because we didn't hear, you know, a couple of minutes more of a particular comment. They can always reach out to us by email or...or individually or come back at the next meeting. So I'm comfortable with that, as long as we communicate it and, you know, just try and be consistent with it. I do think for public hearings, it should be more open. I think, and I don't know if Sue would want to weigh in, I don't know if we have an obligation to ... to a certain, uh, minimum, so to speak, on a public hearing. I think it is a different issue if it's for items that aren't on the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 18, 2021. Page 18 agenda, and I think we ... we choose to allow comment on all items, even if it's not a public hearing, but I think if we're, again, being consistent and sort of governing the manner in which we do that. Dulek: I would not go less than two minutes... on a public hearing. I think two minutes would be okay, and the only other thing I want to just follow up a little bit on what the Mayor said. Historically... let's take a typical example of, um, a zoning matter where you've got a developer, and then maybe 10 neighbors in opposition let's say. So if (mumbled) neighbors get all five minutes, and they have 50 minutes, the idea is that the developer probably shouldn't be limited to five minutes. That developer would get a little bit more. That's kind of the idea on when it's somebody's item, so to speak, to give them a little bit more time cause there tends to be more time taken up in the "opposition." That's just the reason historically that, um, the typical example being a developer getting a little bit more time, uh, because of that, just so the time adds up a little more even. We certainly could limit the developer to two or three minutes too, but just from a historical standpoint, just FYI. Mims: Yeah, we've usually let the developers, you know, if they have a presentation, we've usually allowed them to give their presentation and typically they have been within reason because usually we have staff doing a presentation first and then the developers will follow up with any additional points, but in 11 -plus years I don't recall too many times that we have felt that the developers were unreasonable in terms of going excessively long, but as Council we wanted to make sure we had all the information we needed about the project, and so we've allowed them and, as Sue said, you know, we... depending on the project, we may have had as much or a lot more time in opposition potentially. Weiner: It's not just (mumbled) in addition to developers there are other ...there are other people as well. We had the issue with Rochester Avenue in the complete streets and a group that came ... a group of residents that came in and did a PowerPoint presentation, and I don't recall how long it lasted, but I'm sure it lasted more than three minutes, and it was very well put together and very informative. So ... I guess I ... I would be comfortable with, um, that the ... that the three minutes for community comment and then what ... what turns out to be necessary for agenda items, particularly.. particularly when there are public hearings, because then the ... those are specifically.. items that are specifically on the agenda for that evening in which we need to get full information. Teague: I would add one more thing. Oftentimes when we've had comments by people in the public. If they're aware that it's, you know, going to be three minutes or even in the past when it was five minutes, what would happen is the public would coordinate individuals to come, you know, simultaneously to give parts of the presentation, and so the Council would have the full presentation. It would just be given by three people. So I know that there'll still be ways for the public to give a holistic type of a presentation, um, if they wanted to do it, you know, at the meeting. Also as Councilor Bergus mentioned, certainly people can reach out to us individually as a Council, come back to another meeting. It ... it does sound like even ... and correct me if I'm This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session May 18, 2021. Page 19 wrong, Mayor Pro Tem, that the three minutes for the public comment, everybody agreed upon that. Is that correct? Salih: I'm not, but they are. I just want to keep in mind that ... also I want to tell you that sometime, uh, we don't have enough time for those people. Sometime you ... you read a lot of proclamation there. It take a lot of time from the public, and we have only 15 or 20 minutes left and we divide that into three minute. It's okay for me, but it still ... we have to keep in mind if we use the most time of the public comment for reading some proclamation, or we have something in the beginning, we have to keep in mind that we are not going to end at 7:00 PM sometime. (both talking) not because ... how long we have ... we give the public from our time, how long? Is it (mumbled) 30 minute, 45 minute? You have to be clear on that too. Teague: Yeah I ... I hear what you're saying and so, um, so when we have the ... the public comment, we go to 7:00 PM, but if it doesn't ... if the public comment, for whatever reason, doesn't start till 7:45, let's say. I ... I guess I would propose that we, you know, we have (mumbled) until 7:00 PM but, you know, 30 minutes, minimum of 30 minutes. So I can adjust it, you know, to 7:15, if need be, because we've had a lot of, you know, things on the front end of the agenda, and we had just experienced... we had just experienced that not long ago. Salih: Yeah, and I don't thinks people should wait for us until we end our meeting so they can come and speak and, you know, they have a lot of things to do. 'They ...they don't have obligation to stay until the end of the agenda. Teague: It's a rare occurrence where we don't have 30 minutes minimum. But would Council be in agreement that I can, you know, maybe we'll have it so that it's very clear — until 7:00 PM — but minimum of 30 minutes. I'm seeing some head shaking. Okay. So we'll go with that, and then I think it would be, because we want to be clear, I think it would be two to three minutes for the public comments, so that people know what to expect. Mims: I just thunk say three minutes, you have a maximum of three minutes. Teague: Max of three minutes, okay, that makes ... yeah, maximum of three minutes, and then there's no ... we don't have listed on agenda items, um, you know, anything related to, you know, the public comment time, so again, that'd be at the Mayor's discretion, as it has been in the past, where it will be adjusted. So I'm comfortable with the ... with a two to three minutes there. Of course if. Um, if, you know, if there's a developer or someone who has that agenda item, oftentimes we know when they're going to be present to speak, as well, and so we can have, um, conversation with them beforehand, especially if they have a presentation, or they need, you know, to present a PowerPoint. All right, any other thing on this item? Frain: Mayor, I think with your permission, um, we can add some language to the agenda. Right now the agenda doesn't provide any details on the community comment portion. It just... it's... it's lacking of those details. So with your permission, we'll just take what you discussed here and put that actually into the written agenda for every meeting going forward. Is that okay? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 18, 2021. Page 20 Teague: Yes, please and I'm, yep, seeing some nodding of the heads. Thank you (both talking) Taylor: (both talking) ...idea, Geoff, and ... and also I think, uh, maybe once we get to in-person meetings, that's going to happen sometime soon I hope, where there'll be a better idea of how many speakers, cause right now, uh, I think you maybe are the only one, and maybe Kellie, to see the number of hands that are up. So if people know that there's still 20 people out there in the room, like former Mayor when we were in-person, you see the people lining up, you know there's 20 people, so, uh, you know that it's going to be probably three minutes or maybe even the two minutes, so I think that ... that could change, uh, change the picture a little bit, but ... but I'm okay with the three minutes max. Teague: And ... and the reason I've been just, um, stating how many hands are raised so that, you know, people all know how many hands are raised. Um, I'm happy that I actually found that there's a number at the top, and I was going down counting (laughs) so now I know that I could just look at the number and ... and quickly say how many people, uh, have their hand raised, and I kind of wait and pause until I have all the hands raised and kind of make, um, a statement that I, you know, see these many hands at this point. So I think that'll help for, um, better, one, just better articulating how many people want to speak during that time and where I am making the decision to, you know, allow two to three minutes. Salih: It doesn't matter now because I think also some people would raise their hand after the fact, so I know that maybe after you go 30 minutes, and ... or after 7:00 and you make sure you do the (mumbled) as long as some people inside that time frame, they can still even if they raise their hand late, they can still speak, because we still on that time frame. Teague: Absolutely! Salih: (mumbled) but I really want to see, and also as Pauline mentioned, if we went back to in-person, later, ah, you know, I really want to be able to remind you if we can ... if...and (mumbled) is really working on, uh, bringing like a timer, just like the School District, they had in their meaning. That's really clear, that's really good, so the person will know it become red, uh, when it's like few second and they know they have to stop. And, you know, this way we don't have to count. We can just listen (mumbled) Teague: Sure, and I will work with staff and we may, um, you know, institute what we can, even quickly virtually. Salih: Yeah (mumbled) too, yeah. We can have a timer (mumbled) I saw it somewhere. Council updates on assigned boards, commissions, and committees: This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 18, 2021. Page 21 Teague: Yep! So, um, I'll work with Kellie on that. All right, any other item from the formal agenda? Okay, we're gonna move on to info packet from May 6th. Info packet from May 13th. All right, Council updates on assigned boards, commissions, and committee. Weiner: Um, CPRB had its ... had its forum last evening, lasted about an hour and a half, fielded a lot of questions from the public, and ... and Chief Liston also personally fielded a lot of questions. I just ... I thought it was a very productive, um, and helpful forum to have. Bergus: Just from the UNESCO City of Literature. It is actually in our info packet of May 13'h, IP5 is the annual report, which I hope everyone will take a look at. Teague: Great. All right, well if nothing more, we will be back at 6:00 PM and we want to wish Mayor Pro Tem a happy birthday (laughs) and we will see everybody back at 6:00 PM. Great! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 18, 2021.