HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-07-06 TranscriptionPage 1
Council Present: Bergus, Mims, Salih (electronically), Teague, Taylor (arrived 4:07 PM),
Thomas, Weiner
Staff Present: Frain, Kilburg, Goers, Fruehling, Bockenstedt, Havel, Knoche, Nagle-
Gamm, Sitzman, Russett, Rackis, Barker
Others Present: Van Heukelom, Miglin (UISG)
Presentation by Project Better Together officials regarding an inclusive regional visioning
process:
Teague: Alright, we are ready to get started with the City of Iowa City work session on July 6,
2021 and I want to welcome everybody back to in person. Happy to see you here today
and um this is the Senior Center and so it's a beautiful historic building. So I wanted to
just give a few housekeeping things, the restrooms are out to my left when you leave here
and there's also a water fountain if one should need that. Going to get started with our
fust item on the agenda, which is the presentation by Project Better Together and we'll
have the officials regarding an inclusive regional visioning process come up. Welcome!
Schamberger: Thank you, Mayor and Council. Uh, my name's Josh Schamberger. I'm the
President of Think Iowa City, which is the Iowa City, Coralville Area Convention and
Visitors Bureau. Joined here by a couple of my colleagues and peers —Nancy Bird,
President of Downtown District and Kate Moreland, who's President of ICAD. Uh, Kim
Casko, President of the Iowa City Area Business Partnership wasn't able to ... to make this
particular meeting. So we're going to fill in for her, but really we're just here to kind of
fill you in on what we're going to be planning next, as .... as this Project Better Together
coalition, um, that has ... that was formed about a year ago. So I know you're very
familiar with that, so I won't go into a lot of great del... detail on Project Better Together,
other than to say, um, it has been in place since late March of, uh, 2020, when our four
organizations quickly aligned our communication and marketing teams, uh, in an effort to
kind of expedite delivery of information that was coming out at a city, state, and national
level related to the CO ... COVID pandemic. Uh, the resources and ... and just that sort of
information that was coming out, we wanted to get that out as quickly as possible and
streamline those efforts and .... and through that time and .... and through this Project
Better Together, uh, effort, uh, which many of you have been a part of. You know, we've
certainly recognized some ... some pretty incredible efficiencies of our four, uh, private
economic and community development organizations here in the Iowa City, Coralville,
Johnson County area. So through that, um, we have some exciting opportunities as to
what Project Better Together, uh, sort of 2.0 looks like and we shared quite a bit of that at
a ... at a meeting about a month ago, kind of a year -ender sort of recap, and so, uh, Kate
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Moreland's going to get into a little bit of that and really we're just here to kind of invite
you into that process and ... and look, uh, move forward with our organizations, uh, our
economic development agencies, uh, to really conceptualize what a shared future looks
like for this entire community, uh, not just city, city, county, university, but the entire
community. So I'm going to have ... ask Nancy Bird to come up next and just share a little
bit about some of the successes we've had and then we'll throw it to Kate to kind of
outline what the next steps are, and to invite you to be part of the process.
Teague: Welcome, Nancy Bird, and I also want to acknowledge that our Mayor Pro Tem, uh,
Salih is on the phone, so if we hear someone chime in, uh, Mayor... Mayor Pro Tem, are
you there?
Salih: (garbled)
Teague: All right, so she may chime in with a question or .... or every now and then, so...
Bird: Wonderful! Well thank you, Mayor; thank you, Council, for allowing us to speak today,
um, and I'll make my remarks very brief, but I think, um, you know, everyone
experienced last year (talking in background) it was a very challenging year, um, but one
of the things that we saw through the process of, um, really getting coordinated, being
more collaborative, and being more organized is that we were able to do things that
we've really never done before in this county. Um, one of the ... the key things is
coordinated information, um, from trusted groups. Um, you know, making sure that this
Project Better Together, uh, a regional committee that was formed really exchanged
information, helped allow for people to test the waters with how they would work with
their employees, the messages they wanted to share with the general public, um, and that
group continues to meet, um, well it was every Friday through... since May of 2020 they
met every week, just to check in. So that ... that in itself was valuable. But we also did a
number ...uh.... uh, significant amount of fundraising to allow for one of the bigger, um,
probably economic impacts of the holding our own, um, Shop Local campaign, which
raised over, you know, essentially it raised funding from banks and ... and other municipal
partners and County partners, but it also invited the private sector in to help support the
retail, restaurant, and hospitality environment at that time, with over $800,000. Um,
those kinds of things are kind of unprecedented and hadn't... hadn't been done in the past.
Um, so we are really appreciative of the opportunity there for everyone to come together.
Um, beyond that though there's other opportunities that are still out there, and I think
being organized so we can work together and help seek out that larger public funding,
um, from the federal government and from other governmental levels, we can only do
that if we're more organized. So, um, you know, whether it's getting out signage for
everybody so that we all understand what's happening and that it's coming from the same
source, so the information is similar. There's a lot of ways that we could do this. So, um,
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the success of the last year, I think everyone's, um, that we've talked to, our stakeholder
base and ... and our board is really interested in continuing the momentum, um, of all those
lessons learned and what we can do in the future. So Kate's going to talk a little bit about
that.
Moreland: Thank you for having us today. Um, like Nancy and Josh both said, I think we're
really in a position where we want to turn from this common crisis and look forward to a
common vision of what our future, uh, can be for our entire community, and so we're
really looking... about a month, two months ago, we started thinking about what's next.
We've been focused so much on short-term actions for so long, and you know this better
than anyone as a city council, just responding, responding, reacting, reacting, and so we
want to shift into more of a re -imagination phase, uh, for our community. What could the
future look like, what have we learned over the last year, what have we uncovered, what
do we know to be true, and then really focusing in on the data that we have for our
community, to make sure that we're making really positive, um, good decisions to help
everyone thrive moving forward. And so we reached out to a known futurist who's
worked with a lot of communities, has actually spent some time in the Iowa City area, so
she's familiar with our community. Um, as a source of someone we could, um,
potentially work with, and we saw some of the success she had had in other locations
around the country and we really liked the process that she uses, um, to be able to gather
feedback, which'll be a little bit different than what maybe normally, um, you see. And
so really the objectives of this Better Together 2030 are to develop a clear data -driven
perspective of the region's future. This will include demographic data, economic,
technology, political, and environmental trends that will affect how residents live, work,
and learn. We want to include voices from, um, all our populations — our immigrants, our
BIPOC community, children, and other voices that are often missing at the community
and economic development decision-making table. And then lastly just define priorities
for the region's 2030 future that are clear, that can be shared by public, private, non-
profit, and social sectors stakeholders throughout the region. We hope they will be
ambitious and positively impact all residents. And the pro ... process that she uses is called
the `foresight' process, which is something that NATO uses, Disney uses. It's a very
forward -thinking strategic process, um, that's scenario -based, and so we'll be coming out,
talking to community members. We'll receive feedback in a lot of different ways, um,
but we're going to try to ensure that there's an opportunity for everyone who wants to to
have a voice, uh, in this process. So be looking for opportunities as a community, um, to
be part of, uh, a larger think tank. We'll have a steering committee, as well, um, but
really this is about our residents and the people that live in this county, and envisioning
the future they want to see, so we're excited to partner with all of our communities and
the county as a whole, and a lot of organizations, um, to really look at, uh, what the future
holds and again, just how our community members can all thrive coming out of this
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challenging time. So I'm happy to answer any questions, um, and want to thank you for
entertaining us tonight.
Teague: Great, thanks for coming and talking about Project Better Together. I know that
Councilor Mims was our representative, um, from the Council and, um, Mayor Pro Tem
Salih, she was a representative for CWJ. So I know that they had first-hand involvement
in this, and so I'll open it up to the Councilors just to chime in!
Mims: I would just say thanks to the four groups, um, the three that are represented here, as well
as the Business Partnership, Kate can't ... or Kim can't be here tonight. But ... the work that
they did in coordinating this whole process, from the time we started, and getting input
from people, um, Johnson County Public Health and coordinating with UIHC and Mercy
and the VA Hospital as we were really in the beginning of the pandemic and really
looking at what we could do to get through this, um, in the best way possible, um, was
just impressive. I ... I met more people in those 12 to 15 months that we've been doing
this, that are, you know, right in this community that I didn't know, and so the
coordination was just fantastic, and now to say, okay, we've kind of gotten through this.
We've got a pretty high vaccination rate here. We're hopefully coming out the other side
and to take this cooperation between those organizations, and with the municipalities and
the county, etc., and now move it to the next step, of really envisioning what we want for
a future, and I will tell you from listening to all the people on there and the leaders, there
is a definite commitment on inclusion. Um, you know, as Kate said, you know, from the
BIPOC community, immigrant community, all ages, etc., to what is ... what does that
future look like for all different people in this area. And so I'm really excited to ... to kind
of see how that plays out and how we move forward. So thank you to the three of you, as
well as to Kim.
Moreland: Thank you!
Thomas: It was a short presentation but I ... I certainly echo what Susan said. I was impressed
with, uh, inclusion, um, the ... the degree to which inclusion is going to be emphasized
is ... is really inspiring. Uh, I had a ... one question is, who ... who is the futurist that you
referred to (both talking)
Moreland: I'm sorry, I should have named her. Rebecca Ryan, who's a nationally -known
futurist.
Thomas: Rebecca...
Moreland: Ryan!
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Thomas: Ryan, okay, thanks.
Teague: So I attended the celebration, uh, for Project Better Together, which was kind of just
a ... and I'm not exactly sure what the term was, but it was ... talking about the 2030 future
for the community, and there's much more to the presentation than we saw today, I'll tell
ya! Um, but the hope was very inspiring because it really does, um, reach across the
aisles to serve a lot of people, to serve all people in our community, um, and I think that's
a key part that, uh, Councilor Mims just mentioned is that we want to make sure that
everybody is represen... represented, and ... and you said something that really stuck to me
as, um, by the lessons learned. Um, so we have learned a lot of lessons through the
COVID-19 crisis and I think, uh, learning from that, to really engage people in, uh,
opportunity to ... how do we want our community to look? I think that's a really key
questions that we'll continue to ask. It'll be redefined often, um, and I really am hopeful
that what comes out of Project Better Together really is community, uh, driven, and that's
what I'm very hopeful for, and thanks to all of you for being our leaders. I know Mark,
um, was also, uh, at the, you know, at the front end of this, really trying to move the
meetings along, um, and to everyone that sat at the table, I really appreciate all of the
work that you all did. So thanks to, uh, Councilor Mims and Mayor Pro Tem, who was
here. Because I know it was a lot of work. It wasn't easy. Uh, some of the answers
weren't easy, um, and even moving forward, what that looks like, I think still we'll be
determined, um, and I know that me personally as a, you know, being here on City
Council, want to make sure that I can do what I can to ensure its success. So thanks to all
of you.
Moreland: Thank you, Mayor.
Mims: I would just quickly add not only a lot of the elected officials on there, but there were a lot
of staff members across the area, and so Geoff Fruin, our City Manager, was on most of
the meetings, as was Ryan Heiar from North Liberty, and Kelly Hayworth, um, from
Coralville, and typically, um, Royceann Porter was there most of the time I think from the
County as well. So there were, um .... obviously Royceann's elected, but we had, uh, staff
there, and I think .... I think Geoff and Kelly and Ryan were really important, especially as
we fust got started, in trying to figure out how the municipalities were responding and
helping coordinate some stuff as well.
Moreland: I would totally agree with that. They were, uh, rock solid during that process and...
and I think we all learned from each other, um, and things we were trying one place, we
shared and tried other places and it was just, um, the communication and collaboration, I
think, between the cities, I think Geoff would agree, was ... really helpful.
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Weiner: So with the pressure off some, with ... at least temporarily (laughs) at least the pande... the
pandemic easing, how do you all keep the pressure on to make sure that ... that you
move .... that we move forward and we don't just fall back into our silos?
Moreland: Yeah. We've maintained those meetings to be monthly now, so we're still bringing
that group together once a month. So we'll keep that ... that group apprised of this
visioning work. Some of them will also be (mumbled) also be part of, you know, either
that steering committee or the ... the larger think tank group. Um, so we ... we think that
leadership group is really still important to ... to have that opportunity to connect once a
month and so for as long as they're willing to come, and I can tell you that's one thing
that really impressed me is people really did show up every Friday. Um ... uh, which was
a big time commitment, so I think there was ... they saw value in that and those
relationships have formed and ... so, yes! We will keep that going, Janice, just so that
there's continuity.
Bergus: Is there a particular place where we can look to see updates and kind of track what's
going on?
Moreland: We will continue to update the project Better Together, uh, website. Uh, I think it's
wereallinthistogether, um (several talking) Yeah... icareatogether, thank you, Josh. He's
more of a marketer than me. Um, and so, uh, you can check that. We're just now
finalizing, um, kind of the plan of work, and so once we have that schedule we'll post
that there and we'll certainly push it out through all of our channels, communication
channels as well, so people know what to expect. We plan to hopefully have a vision by
January. So it's about a five-month process.
Teague: All right! Thanks to all of you for being here today.
Moreland: Thank you very much.
Clarification of Agenda Items:
Teague: Great! All right, well we are .... through our agenda item. Wanted to move on to
clarification of agenda items. So nothing on the formal agenda. We'll move on to June
17'...info packet. Did have a question, sorry, this is just going back to Project Better
Together. Um ... are you still our representative or did we ... okay. Great!
Mims: Yep!
Teague: I know we had mentioned something about staff maybe attending. Oh, that wasn't for
this. It was for the Access Center.
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Mims: Right.
Teague: Yes! All right, great. So info packet June 17'h
Information Packet Discussion (June 17. June
Mims: Just like to thank staff, IP3, um, update on the one-year progress report on our resolution
from last June regarding the Black Lives Matter movement. I think it's really good for
us, and the public, to kind of see in one kind of concise place, um, the progress that we
have made. I think there are some in the public who don't think we've made any
progress, and I think that really does outline, uh, what we've done in roughly 12 -months
time, uh, and certainly we have a lot more to do, but I think it's a good, concise place of
all that we've done so far.
Teague: Uh huh. Yeah, I ... I do find it very valuable to have everything in one place to kind of
figure out, um, the 17 items that we started and where we are today. Um, I ... I know that
we still have some work to do, and we'll be having some of this on future, uh, work
session agenda so that we can certainly, um, you know, spend some time on a few items
that are still lingering.
Weiner: Um, Mr. Mayor, we ... are we going to come back at some point to what the ... the MRAP
issue?
Teague: Yes, so ... we certainly can. We know that the County has had a discussion here recently.
Um, and so .... my assumption is, um, maybe we can .... maybe get a .... hear from them
again, uh, some official statement as to what they're doing. Um, I don't know if
they're ... I know that Brad, um, the ... the (talking in background) um ... the Sheriff had a
discussion, um, and I think many of us read or even had conversations re ... regarding that.
Um, I do think that we can certainly, um, figure out where they are, tun ... with that ... with
the MRAP.
Weiner: And sort of figure out where... where we are and where we want to be, because, I mean,
when we sent .... when we sent, or when you sent the letter last year it was requesting
then -Sheriff Pulkrabek to ... um, to dispose of essentially the ... the MRAP. And he
declined. And that's sort of where we left it at that point. Um, and I just think that it's
probably useful at this point — new sheriff, new, um, and... the... and things.... and we're
still here, just to come back and take a look at that again, and whether... what we ... what
we want to do as a council about that.
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Taylor: I agree with, uh, Councilor Weiner on that, cause I ... I did watch the discussion of the
Supervisor meeting and they kind of left it to the Sheriff to decide if maybe he wanted to
do some type of other armored vehicle and if it's something that's not so .... ostentatious
and big and army looking, we may want to still share with that (mumbled) thought it was
kind of the consensus of the group that we really didn't want any part of utilizing the
MRAP, so it kind of came as a surprise that ... that we had.
Mims: I mean I ... yeah, I think we should discuss it again, because there's certainly... discussion in
public about what we said and did, versus action that has happened since then, and my
recollection is that we have been apprised, um, of when the Iowa City Police Department
had a significant safety issues, where they felt it was necessary to use that for the safety
of the officers, as well as the surrounding, um, houses and residents, um, but maybe we
need to have a more public discussion to really clarify where we are at on that as a
council. Um, I think that would be helpful.
Teague: I think (mumbled) I think from the discussion there was, urn ... opportunity to look at
different vehicles, and I think, um, you know, because there is still a safety concern, that I
think won't go away in certain situations, and so, um, I ... you know, if Council wants to
think about ... you know, the safety part of it, maybe we can have some type of, um,
opportunity, maybe ... it was very clear that there was a vehicle that was a little smaller. I
forget what they call them, um (several talking) 200... Bear .... (several talking) BearCat.
Fruin: It's a civilian armored vehicle.
Teague: And I believe it was like 200,000 to 250,000, um, and so, you know, if, urn ... that would
be purchased, the MRAP was free, and so I believe that there has to be some financial
contributions. Um, my assumption is that Iowa City, we're ... we're big here, um, and so
we can imagine that we could be asked to pay about 50%, potentially. And so that's
something that we just have to, you know, think about when we're having the discussion
about a replacement vehicle. But if it is okay with Council, um, maybe we could at least
touch base and get some type of a, urn ... maybe we can, you know, touch base with the
Sheriff and just see what ... you know, considerations from that conversation have, you
know, are being made at this point, uh, to give Council some type of a .... a ..... a baseline
to work with.
Fruin: Mayor, if it'd be helpful, I can work with the Police Chief to kind of frame the issue up in
a memo for you and include, um, that, uh, the latest from the County. We can touch base
with Sheriff Kunkel and understand what options he's considering, and then I'm happy to
outline, um, how the Iowa City Police Department currently uses the vehicle, under what
circumstances, and what alternatives to not using the vehicle look like, if that would be
helpful, and you can ... we can schedule a work session, um, to ... to run through that.
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Teague: I'm seeing...
Mims: Yeah.
Teague: .... shaking of heads, yes! Please. Thank you.
Fruin: Happy to pull that together.
Teague: Okay. Any other items from ... June 17'9 Moving on to June 24"
Weiner: I just ... I wanted to reference IP2, which is the ... Tracy Hightshoe's memo on ... from
Neighborhood and Development Services on eviction, on the eviction diversion program,
the various things that... that, urn ... that we're doing together with other entities, uh, in the
County and the ... and the State and the extent to which the Iowa Finance Authority is ... is
paying out and what we've done with Shelter House and CWJ and so forth. Um, I did
touch base today also with, um, with Sara Barron to see where things stand in terms of
Johnson County and people at risk, um, and the numbers, I mean, she said that what the
decisions that we made at the last work session were incredibly helpful, um, in terms of
preventing bad outcomes for people, since obviously nobody... nobody benefits from
people losing their housing and being evicted. So she said there were, um, as of Friday
there were 800 cases in Johnson County that were ready to review, um, that, um, 115 had
been denied, most because they wanted more information, and people hadn't necessarily
provided it and so they're working with a lot of -in a lot of different ways to try and
make sure that that information is provided. Uh, and, uh, a whole variety of initiatives,
and 160 applications have been paid. So ... I mean because the federal, the CDC's
moratorium has been extended until the end of this month, but ... (mumbled) I mean I
think that our ...I just want to also make the point that make sure everybody also listening
to us is clear that the ... the various efforts that we have made together with the State and a
variety of other funds and working through nonprofits here, um, and with nonprofits
has ... is really still making a difference, and will continue to make a difference.
Teague: Tracy Hightshoe's memo noted that by using local dollars, tenants will have enough
time to access up to 12 times the local investment amount for federal assistance, and I
think that's a positive that our local funds, and local funds, just not ours, are being
extended, so ... yeah, thanks for that update. Any other item from June 209 Hearing
none... September, I'm sorry! (laughs) Jumping ahead! July 1', 2021.
Bergus: Mayor, I was just hoping to ... uh, discuss maybe adding an item to our upcoming or
pending work session topics, um, which is IP3 in this packet. Um ... I've talked with a few
of you about this and just wanted to ... sort of vet it with the whole group. As far as low
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intensity, commercial uses in residential zones. So this issue arose based on, um, a
fundraiser for a nonprofit that had a suggested donation, um, and it was deemed to be a
commercial use because it was occurring in a residential zone, and I, uh, understand that
the City's policy is to enforce, and that's prohibited activity under our code and so the
City's policy is to enforce on a complaint basis, um, which I think leaves individuals who
may be ... participating in those kinds of events or nonprofits who may be benefiting from
those events and not really knowing, um, if it would be allowed, because if enforcement
only occurs on the basis of complaints. Um, and I think it'd be great to have a little bit
broader conversation as well, talking about low intensity uses, um, that .... that could be
deemed commercial. I mean, things like, you know, lemonade stand, Girl Scout cookies
being sold door-to-door, um, you know, wholly indoor activities that may occur in
someone's home on a very infrequent basis. So I'd talked with the City Attorney and the
City Manager briefly about just the possibility of having some kind of, um, exclusions by
right for certain types of low intensity commercial "uses" or exempting those or better
defining what could be commercial, to allow for that kind of activity.
Teague: So the, uh, the question is, um, to have low intensity commercial uses on a future work
session.
Bergus: That'd be my request, if people agree.
Teague: Um, I'm seeing some shaking of heads, so yes, we'll put it on a future work session.
Bergus: Thank you!
Teague: And, Mayor Pro Tem, you just have to chime in! (laughs)
Salih: Yeah (garbled)
Teague: All right, great! So we'll have that on a future work session. Um, we do have a little
time, so maybe we can look at our calendar for the rest of the year. Um ... because I
believe it's on this one ... so ... and, Kellie, maybe you can, uh, talk about the ... the holiday
dates, around Thanksgiving and December.
Fruehling: Sure, um, so tentatively I put out there the typical fust and third, um, except for in
November, where on Election Day we've typically moved it to Monday. So I went ahead
and did that. Uh, in December it's the fust and third on the tentative schedule, but in
November there are, um, three Tuesdays that are spaced two weeks apart, so ... if you guys
were looking to ... sometimes we'll drop like the ... the late December meeting. If you
wanted to keep that ... that two week ... meeting separation, you could do ... November V
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the 16", the 30" and then December 14'. And then have that two week, uh, break over
the holidays. And come back January 4�h
Teague: I'll just note that, um, Thanksgiving is Thursday the 25', and so it'll be the following
Tuesday that we would have the meeting. And then it would be the second Tuesday in
December. Any conflicts or...thoughts?
Weiner: My only potential conflict is the fust meeting in September, but that's just my issue.
Because it ends up falling on Rosh Hashanah, but ... it'll just be my own personal decision.
Teague: Uh huh.
Mims: In terms of the rest of it, I guess I would suggest we stay with that first and third, I mean it
keeps us away from the week of Thanksgiving in November, and ... then as we get closer,
just make a decision on whether we keep that December 21' or if we feel like we can
forego that meeting and come back on the fust Tuesday of January. Be my suggestion.
Thomas: Yeah, I'm ... I, I think I would prefer having, uh, that second November meeting be
the ... be the end of it, not to have the 11:30 meeting, cause we would be after
Thanksgiving and (mumbled) um, and then I guess we can just play it by ear in
December in terms of -whether we need that second meeting.
Teague: Is it possible that we can potentially... and I would agree, you know, third meeting in
November, urn ... so we would have the December 7" meeting and then .... if it is okay, can
we plan not to have the 2159 That's the, you know, a holiday week as well. Would
people be okay with that, and then we can ... maybe potentially plan a special meeting,
should we need one?
Mims: I guess to me with it being like five months out, let's just leave it on the calendar for now
and as we get into September, October, we'll have a little bit better idea of what our
calendar looks like or what items are pressing to decide if we either could just give it up
or if we would need to move it to a different date. People might know their calendars a
little bit better by then too.
Teague: (mumbled) look like there's head nodding. All right (both talking)
Salih: (garbled) No?
Teague: Yes, we can hear you!
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Salih: I would really ask you to ... have (garbled) December 3`d. And then (garbled) like (garbled)
I don't know. But like to have the second (garbled)
Teague: So I'm having a little trouble understanding. I'm not sure if anyone else (laughs) yep,
you were breaking up a little bit.
Salih: (garbled) us the second meeting, two meeting (garbled) and even fust one, but the second
one definitely.
Teague: So you're thinking the second in December, you're thinking we need two meetings?
Salih: Yes.
Teague: Okay. And it sounds like we're going to have that discussion around September.
Salih: (garbled)
Teague: Based on what ... what all items we have. All right! All right ... any more items from July
1 SO
Salih: (garbled) two meeting and you seem like want to end it early.
Teague: Um, so ... if you're talking about the meetings, right now nothing has changed. They'll
all be, uh, fust and third Tuesdays, both in November and December, and then in
September we'll be able to determine the meetings moving forward, you know, for those
two months. And ... and for those that don't know, Mayor Pro Tem is, um, not with us. Of
course she's virtual, and so sometimes ... we know that there's lag in wi-fi and all those
things, so ... all right! Any other item for July V9 Okay, so ... 4 ... IP4, um, we have a joint
meeting, um, on July 19' and typically ...I don't know who the host is for that meeting.
Weiner: The School District is the host this time.
Teague: Okay. Um, any items that we want to put on that agenda?
Thomas: Well, one that I would ... throw out there would be, uh, the question of -fireworks. I
certainly have been hearing a fair amount of concern about their impacts, at least ... in the
parts of Iowa City that I have, you know, I'm hearing from. Um ... so I, it seems to me,
um, it might ... that might be a useful venue to try to see if we can't, as a metro area, come
up with a unified plan for how we ... or at least talk about is the possibility of a unified
plan, uh, to address ... you know, the question of the fireworks and what if any changes we
may want to make to our current policies.
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Teague: Do we know how many, um, companies sold fireworks this year, cause a part of the
issue is that ... people can come and sell fireworks in the community...
Thomas: Uh huh.
Teague: ... but what they're selling isn't always allowable.
Thomas: Right.
Teague: And so that is problematic as well.
Mims: The State law is what's really restricting us. I mean they require us, as I recall, they
require us to allow them to sell them, even though we can (mumbled) them. The City
Attorney's ready to jump in.
Goers: Right, that's right (mumbled) couple years ago or so the State preempted local
municipalities from preventing the sale, um, of fireworks, uh, but we can, uh, ban, and
do, ban the use within City limits, and so I understand what you're saying, Mayor. It can
be a confusing message for those who are coming within City limits to buy fireworks and
have them understand that you can't fire them here. You need to go elsewhere to fire
them, and ... yeah, enforcement's been difficult.
Taylor: I think it was helpful when we as a city, uh, determined that, uh, it would help if we
banned where they could be sold. Cause they were popping up in every Walmart and
every Hy -Vee and ... and, uh, we limited it to industrial, they had to be in an industrial
area, and I think that helped, and we maybe could discuss that, cause I don't know what
the other communities — North Liberty and Coralville — did. If they have that sort of a
regulation too, but I think that was somewhat helpful, but do ... do we have an idea of how
many calls we might have gotten this year compared to last year?
Fruin: I ... I, um, I just had a brief report. I think the ... urn ... the 24-hour period around the 4" of
July we had over .... 100 calls for service, which of course we can't keep up with, urn ... uh,
with our staffing levels. So it...it is one of those, um, conundrums when we can't really
do anything about it, and even when we do respond to calls, it's often a concerned
neighbor, uh, that ... that is hearing loud noise, but they can't point us in the direction
necessarily of where those fireworks are being shot off at. They could be anywhere
within a few hundred feet radius of the caller and it's ... it's rare that we can actually track
down, uh, the people that are lighting the fireworks, but um, Councilman Taylor's, uh,
right that, uh... um, zoning out the sale to industrial, uh, property has helped quite a bit.
We don't see nearly as many sales in Iowa City as we did that fust year, and I don't know
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if we had any this year. We may have had a couple, but certainly, um ... it's ... it's not hard
for people to access fireworks, you know, even ... even if you had to leave Johnson County
and go to one of our neighboring counties, it's not that difficult.
Thomas: One ... one of the things that I was hearing from folks is that it's, uh, you know, what
we're seeing are, you know, I guess depending on the location, but 70% smaller grade
fireworks, and then 30% of the type where, you know, they're... they're being shot well up
into the air, and uh, you know, they're... they're being shot well up into the air from a
particular location for an extended period of time. Um, for example in my neighborhood,
North Market Square and Happy Hollow were a mess the morning afterwards because
there was so much ... so many fireworks being... fired in that ... in those locations. So it's...
it's not small stuff and urn ... you know, there are particular locations, I think, in Iowa City,
and I suspect the ... the bigger fireworks require a certain amount of area, you know,
you're not going to see those in a ... in a limited, confined space. They ... they do need
some space in which to fire those, so it...it would tend to be, it seems from what I was
hearing, neighborhood parks were often the locations, um, so I don't know. I was doing a
quick search, you know, this morning and seeing that, um, and I don't know what the
outcome of this, but you know, the ... urn ... the Quad cities, you know, I think they allow
the use of fireworks for a certain limited time frame, but they were having a zero
tolerance policy beyond that time frame. Um ... cause that's one of the other issues that...
that I was seeing was the .... the use of them was extending well into the night, you know,
midnight, 1:00, uh, they weren't coming to a close at 10:00 or 11:00. Um ... so part of the
problem seemed to be just this... it would seem unending, you know, it was just not
something where it was winding down. Um ... so anyway, it seemed to me, um ... I, it just
piqued my interest in terms of what can we do about this, because there were, uh, a
number of people quite upset about it.
Teague: As far as medical and fire, do we know ... um, any numbers about that?
Weiner: There was, um, I mean in terms of injuries, there's a ... there was an article, I think, in the
Gazette today about URIC talking about the number of...I don't have, know it off -hand,
but talking about the number of fireworks -related injuries that they saw over the last few
days. Um, which of course, you know, is not ... it's a .... it is a conundrum. It's probably
worth discussing. Um (laughs) I went out, I mean, you know, there's sort of all
(mumbled) individuals. I went out like last night sometime after 10:00. The entire
neighborhood was dark, but there was someone a house behind a neighbor, um, was
shooting stuff off and during a break I actually yelled at them and they quit, to my
astonishment! (laughter)
Teague: I wonder if we couldn't just ... was it the University? That...
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Weiner: Yeah, they ...they had a ... they talked to someone at UIHC about what they saw in the ER
and so forth.
Fruin: Historically staff has provided you a memo, usually mid to late July, with a recap on all
our calls for service. We provide, uh, geographic kind of pin -point, uh, so you can see
where those calls are being generated from and then we provide, um, information from
Johnson County Ambulance too. So we ... we intend to pull that together. I think the, um,
sale period maybe ends today, or it extends a few days beyond the 4" of July, so we
usually wait for a few days for the sale period to end, people to probably use the
inventory they bought, and then we'll report to you, and you can take that up at one of
our meetings, but if you want to put on the joint meeting, you certainly could too.
Teague: I think it'd be beneficial for the joint meeting. I don't know what other people think.
(several responding) Is that something you can have prepared, at least for us to
reference? In a ... in maybe an info packet that we can just reference (both talking)
Fruin: Yeah, we can do that.
Teague: Okay. Great! All right! And then...
Weiner: I think the School District may itself be putting on the topic of LOST, the local option
sales tax. Um, because they're starting to talk seriously with people about, um, using it
potentially, if...if it were to be approved, using it to, um, to fund early childhood
education. (mumbled) that's going to be theirs to put on, but I'm pretty sure it will be on.
Bergus: I think it would be good to get updates at least from us and the County on the public
input process for the American Rescue Plan Act funds, cause I think we'll have.... that'll
be underway, and just to be able to make sure all the communities and entities know
about it, if we can do that.
Weiner: Yeah, cause I asked, I mean, I asked Geoff about it today, just sort of find out where we
stand with our schedule for... for American Rescue Plan, public forum and so forth.
Teague: So maybe ask, and I don't know if it needs to be, I mean, we'll suggest it, but maybe...
ask for reports from all entities. Well, there could be a lot of entities. (laughs)
(mumbled)
Bergus: I think as far as we know we in the county are the only ones, maybe doing that, but it'd
be helpful to maybe exert some peer pressure for ...the others who are there (both talking)
Teague: Okay. All right! Any other items suggested for the Joint Entities meeting?
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Council updates on assigned boards, commissions, and committees:
Teague: Moving on to Council updates on assigned boards, commissions, and committees.
Weiner: Well there was, um, the ... the JECC's committee met. They delayed their meeting, so
Susan couldn't come. It was actually a pretty full meeting. They, um, reported on, um, a
couple things of interest, in general interest, one is the ... new 9-1-1 contract with the State
of Iowa shared services interface and the ... the interesting thing about that is that, um, it
will save ... the quality will not change, and it will save, um, almost $300,000 in budgeted
funds over the next three years... over the next five years, um, and the ... the 9-1-1, uh,
surcharge will completely fund it. So that, urn ... and they also approved a regional back-
up system, um, which is basically three steps down. If someone... it's very rarely used,
but if someone, if one county or one organization can't respond, uh, as well as a
maintenance services' agreement. So there.... actually a lot of, uh, a lot of work
culminated in decisions made at this meeting. Um ... and I also wanted to ... thank Parks
and Rec for, uh, for allowing the local amateur radio operators to do field day on the 26'
and 27�h, um, of...of June at the ... the north side of Hickory Hill Park. It's, um, I don't
know if any ...most people know what it was. I grew up in an amateur radio family, so my
dad was very active in it, so I'm aware. Basically what they do is ... is gin up a complete
emergency communications, not connected to electricity. They use generators, they ...they
hang, they put up their own antennae. They contact people all over the state, and actually
over the country and around the world and they ...they have the capacity, which has
actually been used semi -regularly in cases of natural disaster to take that package
different places and gin up communications. I remember my dad going after the big
Charles City tornado. They went and set up emergency communications because despite
cell phones and everything, it doesn't... things don't always... things don't always operate
and you don't have ... you don't otherwise have the capacity. So they can, and they're
hooked into a lot of different, um, networks now that they didn't used to be. Um, I would
just sort of add on a personal note that the ... the interesting thing about it for me was that
it was on my dad .... what would have been my dad's 100" birthday. So it was great to go
out and see them, and see some people I knew from way back ... way back when, but
they're still functioning and they really do perform a service for the community.
Teague: Thanks! Any other updates? All right... hearing none, we will adjourn until 5...6:00 PM,
um, for our formal meeting, and we'll be meeting back here in this room, and so ... we
have a little time! And good seeing everybody in person again!
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of July 6, 2021.