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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-12-07 TranscriptionPage 1 Council Present: Bergus, Mims, Salih, Taylor, Teague, Thomas, Weiner Staff Present: Fruin, Kilburg, Goers, Fruehling, Lehmann Others Present: Weipert, Kistler, Velterean (Johnson County Auditor's Office) Review Reprecincting Proposals Teague: And I'm going to call the City of Iowa City meeting to order for December 7th, and I'm going to start with the roll call, please. [overlapping] Great, and welcome to all the Councilors and to those that are in the audience visiting today, and those that are watching virtually. We will, we have one item that we're going to be discussing today, and that is the reprecinc -- reprecincting um, considerations, we have three, and I also wanted to probably just start with our County, um, Auditor's office, just to kind of introduce both of them and seems like we have a third person with them, um, so that we can have a fruitful conversation today. So we do have Travis Weipert, who is the, um, Johnson County Auditor. And we also have Mark Kistler, um, who is the Deputy Johnson County Auditor. And we have a third person who, I don't know. Velterean: Bogdana Velterean, I'm the Deputy Auditor of Elections. Teague: Welcome to you three. I think what I would like to do is probably ask, uh, one of those, uh, from the County to maybe just give us a little, um, background history of, uh, this process. Also, we have three considerations before us. Um, maybe just mention to the Council, um, the parameters of this, my understanding is that these are suggestions and we don't have to, um, you know, take any of these. Also, if there are, I just wanted to make mention to the Council, if there are suggestions that we're wanting, I think at our last meeting, we realized that on the 14th of December, we'll only have that one opportunity per se, to finalize the first, second and the third readings. Um, of course we could always have another special meeting should something arise, but I think this was our opportunity to really speak to the County Auditors, get a clear understanding of what they're suggesting and then that'd better inform us. So I'm going to welcome, uh, someone from the Johnson County Auditor's office. Weipert: Thank you. And good morning, I'm Travis Weipert, Johnson County Auditor. I'll just talk a little bit about the process and then hand it over to Mark. Um, for those of you that don't know, this is a process that happens every 10 years, um, after the Census data arrives. It, uh, determines our legislative districts on down, um. The cities technically, um, have the right to build the maps as they see fit, long as it matches law and certain criteria. It This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 7, 2021. Page 2 just so happens, as I mentioned at the Council meeting, um, working with the City staff and having the resources we do and having drawn plans like this before, we offered up our services and the City accepted. So we've come up with three plans and I'll let Mark talk a little bit about how we, how each one's a little different. Um, we used a couple of different, uh, scenarios creating the maps. Um, we also included the bus line, that was something City staff gave us. So if you go out and play on our digital web or on our website, there's like a digital map where you can see the bus routes and everything lined up. So with that, Mark, you want to speak a little bit more about the size and kind of how we came to each map. Kistler: Uh, certainly. Uh, your legal limit for a precinct is 3,500, um, with the, uh, growth that, uh, Iowa City has had, uh, you had some of the existing precincts that, uh, needed to be, uh, reduced. Um, and certainly the, uh, best way to do that was to add additional precincts, um, in the initial discussions on what the suggestion should be for the number of precincts, um, it was suggested by your staff that, uh, we need to keep it in an increment of three, uh, for the three Council districts. Uh, so that's why we, uh, came up with the number of 27, uh, working with your staff of what would handle the growth in Iowa City and have an even number of precincts in each district. Uh, we have, uh, within our GIS, uh, software an extension that we load the Census data into and, uh, create a database that, uh, we can create copies for individuals in our office and staff in our Elections division and the Real Estate division who, uh, works with the GIS every day. Uh, a number of us worked on different models. And, uh, with that extension, you can move census blocks around, group them and get instant feedback of what the numbers are to, uh, come up with a plan. So we came up with three plans for you to consider, uh, Plan A, uh, the individual doing that really focused on having clean lines, uh, easily understood boundaries, uh, on a precinct map, um, Plan 2, the individual doing that kind of focused on the existing polling places and trying to build precincts, uh, that made sense around the existing polling places. And then a Plan 3, uh, was done to create, uh, as good a balance, population balance as possible, uh, between the precincts. You'll see some variation, um, because we have to keep the precinct boundaries within the House district lines. So what happened is you have four House districts that come into Iowa City. Um, there's, uh, one precinct, uh, 22 in, um, uh, the north that is in House District 85. Uh, so that really could not change, uh, because you can't move, uh, any of those boundaries, uh, across that House district line. Uh, Precinct 4 has, uh, the west part of the, um, City, were all put in House District 86, so 4 was separated from those. So it was pretty well set by the House district lines. Uh, we had two precincts, uh, originally in the west part of town. Uh, so that's where we added one precinct, and then the two largest House districts, uh, 90 in the northeast and 89 in the southeast, each got an additional precinct. And, uh, so in each of the plans, um, uh, the new boundaries were This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 7, 2021. Page 3 drawn. Uh, in C, um, the idea was to keep them all under, uh, 3000, but you had a different, uh, uh, mean, uh, number to use as your target to, to try to hit as close to as you could, uh, based on the population of that particular House district. So they're not truly balanced because in some cases, uh, you have smaller numbers because, um, you don't have, uh, as much of an area to distribute the population on. Weipert: And we looked at, I mean, obviously we use all kinds of software, but at the end of the day, it also came down to us getting together and meeting with city staffs, uh, Tiffin, others. And we also looked at where the future growth was just on our own and tried to incorporate that, then, you know, if you're building a precinct and it was already close to 3000, and we know you're, you know, that area is looking to have a hundred homes put in, well, we're already at capacity. So we made some changes based off where we see your growth happening too. Kistler: For the, uh, Council districts, we got some feedback from, uh, City staff regarding, uh, creating Council districts for a plan, uh, based on trying to get it fairly similar to the existing Council districts. And so we went ahead and, uh, tried to use that general format for all three of them, so they all have somewhat similar, um, parameters for how the Council districts were put together. Of course, since the precinct boundaries are a little different on each, they, they do have some variation between them. Teague: And thanks to both of you for, uh, just kind of leading us through that. Fm going to open it up to Councilors now, just to chime in, ask any questions for clarification. Mims: There was some comments in the memos we had about polling places. So how did that factor in as you were looking at new precincts or changing some of the boundaries in terms of, you know, what's available, um, and also accessibility for polling places? Kistler: You want to talk about that one? Velterean: Um, we, well, we are, um, continuously looking for polling places and, um, I mean, depending on what map you are, um, going to choose, we're going to try and find something that's, um, within the precinct, if not very close to it. Kistler: We -- we are going to need three additional polling places, and certainly, uh, we will need help finding locations. Um, we have to find, uh, ADA -compliant, uh, generally public buildings. Mims: Right. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 7, 2021. Page 4 Kistler: Uh, there are a couple precincts in all the plans where, uh, there just aren't a lot of, uh, facilities available in that particular area. Um, so we will probably end up with, uh, two or three precincts outside the precincts because there's Mims: So does that mean that you would find a location for them at another that's outside their precinct -- Kistler: As close as possible. Mims: As close as possible, but would not share the voting with another precinct? Kistler: Well, we, we've, we've done that in North Liberty, uh, sharing a location. Um, their community center has the space to have two polling places in the same building. So that could be a solution. Mims: But you're setting up essentially two different lines to -- okay. Weipert: Yeah, correct. We have to have, you'll still have two separate precincts. They won't be one when you walk in. Mims: Thinking about the confusion for people. Weipert: Absolutely. And it's confusing for our poll workers if -- Mims: Sure. Weipert: -- one precinct has something different than another precinct, Velterean: We currently do that at Mercer Park. We have two precincts that are in the same location. Mims: Okay. Thank you. That's helpful. Weiner: Yeah, Susan, I actually was a poll worker up in North Liberty, this last election. And we had to post someone, um, at the, at the sort of the intersection and look at, look at maps to try and make sure they went to the right place and we still didn't get it right all the time. So, so it's a process. Um, I have a question, uh, sort of a follow-up question on that. I'm, I'm working on the assumption, among other things, that, um, that it's quite possible that the legislature will continue, may continue down the road of making it harder, um, to vote. Um, and perhaps one of the ways they would make it harder to vote is say, just taking away the ability altogether to have satellite locations, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 7, 2021. Page 5 for example. So one of the ways that, that we try and push the student population to vote, often, is at satellite locations. And, like, one of the differences I noticed between Map A and Map C is that Map A, like, tries to group the dorms together so that the students basically have one polling place, so they're not confused. Whereas the Map C, I think, is either split across the river or I couldn't quite, I couldn't quite figure it out. So, um, so one of the, so I'm trying to figure out what populations would be maybe the most heavily impacted by not being able to, to have some of these like, like satellites, like, like we're used to it, and which map would be the best suited in the event that, that things are made even harder. If that makes any sense. Kistler: You make a good point, the person who did Map A, uh, uh, did want to, uh, create less confusion for students, uh, so that is why Precinct 3 is larger and Precinct 5 is larger because the, uh, dorms are, uh, put together. And, um, the, uh, population, uh, for 3 is 3353 and 5 is 3388. But the advantage with that plan is the, the, the dorms are together. So Plan, uh, C uh, to get population balance the, with the boundary, the House boundary around Precinct 3, uh, having a House district boundary that goes almost completely around it. The only way to draw population out of the old Precinct 3, to create, uh, a new Precinct 3 with, with uh, a more balanced number was to draw the population, um, south of Melrose into the precinct across the river, uh, that currently votes, uh, at the, uh, University Rec Center. But that would include part of the dorm, uh, population on the east side. So the, uh, the dorm population on the east side of the river would be split between 5 and 20. Um, all of the people in the dorms on the west side would be in 3. Um, so it basically splits, uh, that campus area into three precincts on C for balance, uh, and on A, into two, to, to keep the dorms together. Weiner: And, and sort of following up on that and based, and as well, as on what Councilor Mims asked about accessibility, are there any, are there any similar, um, differences between the maps for other precincts that would make maybe one map would be, would make it easier for people to get to their polling place and, and another map would make it harder? Or is it sort of all a wash? Weipert: I would say it's probably a wash. I mean, you know, where you might have an issue with one precinct, um, with one of these new maps, it may solve a problem with a precinct that was an issue before. So, I mean, just looking for facilities, it's always going to be a battle. So really I don't, I mean.... Kistler: And there's, and there's, trade-offs on accessibility. So putting all of, if, if we switched to a dorm, uh, polling place, it, technically, the dorms technically don't meet the state requirements for parking for accessibility, uh, because the parking would have to be on the street, which is not acceptable. So we This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 7, 2021. Page 6 would have to have a waiver for the ADA parking compliance if we went to a dorm location, but if the population lives there, it certainly would be much more convenient for the voters. Um, so, you know, accommodations would have to be made, um, uh, for ADA compliance, but, um, that there would be a trade-off there. Teague: There are parking lots there, correct? At, at the dorms? Weipert: Uh, I'm thinking like Burge, I don't believe so. I mean, there's the on -street parking, which doesn't meet the requirements. Kistler: I don't think they're near enough to the entrances. Teague: Okay. Weiner: I think there's some parking right in back of Peterson that may meet it, but I'm not sure about the others. Kistler: We would look into that if, if we went to a dorm location. Teague: Sure. Thomas: Do you, do you have a sense of the, um, the way in which the alternatives, uh, alter polling, at least the existing, where we have existing polling places that we expect well be using them again? How many, which, which of the, how does that play out in terms of the three alternatives where you end up seeing more shifts of population away from where they currently go for their polling place? Kistler: Um, most, all the plans, really, most of the, um, most of the polling places are still going to be, uh, in good proximity. Um.... Thomas: But are they the same, in the same location, I guess is the, my, my question. Weipert: Yeah. I mean, between the three plans, I would expect the majority of the polling sites to stay the same. Kistler: We should be able to use the same polling places. Thomas: Good. Weipert: I don't, I don't foresee a lot of people having to go to a different polling site. I mean, that's kind of our hope. If anything, we've listened to quite a few citizens over the past couple of years, um, their complaints, the Peninsula This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 7, 2021. Page 7 area, um, just trying to make it easier for Iowa City residents, hearing their complaints about where they have to go. So we looked at that when developing these maps. Kistler: And, unfortunately in some situations where, like the Peninsula situation, where it would be nice to have a more convenient location, we were hemmed in by House district lines. So those folks still will have to continue to vote, the Peninsula population and the Manville Heights population will have to continue to vote in the same location that, there's no choice because they're surrounded by a House district line. Weipert: And those are things where we had hoped to clean up, but we just can't because our hands are tied by the district, legislative district. Thomas: Thank you. By the way, this is, this is a very complicated process. So many variables. Weiner: I really appreciate that you're doing this and did it for us, and we don't have to try, the City doesn't have to try and do it itself. Teague: There's a -- um, I had a question about, um, between the three plans, we're talking about growth areas, and of course this is a 10 year, we're setting it up for, for 10 years. How did each of the three plans consider the growth areas? And is there one, uh, more favorable, um, with the population growth than, than another? Kistler: I would say Plan A left more room for growth around the fringes, uh, because the more centrally located, uh, precincts, uh, have, uh, more of a population, uh, C being more balanced, uh, will take population wherever it occurs. So if it's out on the fringes, or if you have a large residential, uh, development in the core, um, you, you won't have to necessarily predict where that will happen. Uh, but, uh, both A and B do give you more, uh, space in the more outlying precincts. Bergus: Just following up on the growth question for the requirement that every precinct be below 3,500: that's for now, right. So 10 years from now, some of them will exceed it just like, that's what we're facing. That's why you added precincts. Is that correct? Weipert: Correct, yes. Bergus: Okay. So then that's why you're kind of anticipating where the growth areas might, might be. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 7, 2021. Page 8 Weipert: Yeah. And that, and for us, that anticipation is the last thing we want is all sudden, in no time, a precinct has 4,000 people. And now we have lines 30, 40 minutes long at that voting site. That's the last thing we want to have happen. Weiner: That's in your interest also. Weipert: (laughing) Absolutely. Bergus: Following up on, um, some of Councilor Weiner's comments. I was looking at the memo from our City Attorney, kind of laid out like the statutory factors that we're considering, um, and I don't think, and maybe this is a question for Eric. I don't think we have, like, there's not like one factor that trumps all the other ones, right? Like these are all things that we shall consider, is that -- Goers: Yeah. Excuse me. And they're all things that we shall consider, when you say there's one that's trumps, like the 3,500. I mean, there are statutory -- Bergus: There are some hard rules. Okay. So my question is, like, if I wanted to put voter convenience and, uh, promoting election efficiency as the top priorities, is there one map that you feel like does that better than the others? Weipert: I really don't. I think all three are just as, you know, just as good as the other, you know, the next plan. Um, I think it just basically comes down to what the Council wants, so -- you know, we could draw another three maps and be sitting here with six and you'd be asking us the same question and I'd be giving you the same answer. So, no, I mean, again, this is your decision. We just, we have the resources to help and do this on a daily basis. So. Bergus: You mentioned the bus lines. Is there one that favors transit access? Kistler: Uh, it's, it's um, it's still to be determined on several, uh, precincts where we will end up with a polling place. So that's certainly at the existing polling places, I think your, your transit access is good. Um, it's where we add, uh, polling places, um, that, um, we'll definitely have to take that into consideration. Uh, there are a couple of schools that, uh, might not have, uh, good transit access that are out on the edge of town, um, that, um, maybe they do now, but at, at an earlier point when we were looking at them, they didn't. Uh, so, um, that's certainly something we, I think with the existing ones we're good, but where we add, uh, polling places, we're really gonna have to look that over. Teague: Uh, I think the transportation question is a good one. What we've done in the past is the, uh, we have had special transit on that day for, for certain This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 7, 2021. Page 9 sites. And I think, uh, the Transportation Department can look at that again. I think that's a good question for them, for the staff to hear, and, uh, for consideration, I did have one question with trying to begin with the end in mind, and this is really for City Attorney, and then maybe our City Manager and as well as Council, uh, we know that in, um, 2024, we'll be coming up on our charter. I have heard from people in the community from time to time, um, that we need more districts. Now, personally, I don't have a, uh, uh, an opinion if the three districts, A, B and C are enough, or if we should reconsider the districts, but I at least wanted to have the conversation or, um, bring it up that there has been talks about that. And then 2024, um, of course we can't determine what would be decided, um, but is there any things that we should be thinking about, uh, given that in 2024, there will be a charter review and could there could be some significant changes? Goers: Well, if, if the changes you're envisioning may include, let's say an increase in the number of districts or, or some cities call them wards, um, I don't know that anything you do, uh, this year will have much effect to that in the sense that we're already breaking it up into, uh, 27, um, precincts are what're proposed in all three of these maps, you know, obviously, you know, as Mark mentioned, ideally, we were thinking an even number of precincts for each ward, and, and, you know, especially if we have an, a similar amount of population in each precinct, um, so that makes it easier, but there's nothing to say that we couldn't have, you know, a non -identical number of precincts. But I guess my point is there's already kind of small chunks in the precincts. And so if in 2024, the decision is made to increase the four or five districts or wards, um, that's fine. We would just probably identify which precinct goes into each new district. And I think that would be easy enough to do. Teague: So this won't preclude any future changes. Goers: I can't think right now of anything that would get in the way. Teague: Okay. Thank you. Any other questions for County Auditors? Weipert: I do think whichever plan you choose once we roll it out, you'll be excited to see some of the new voting locations. Um, we even tried to incorporate -- what's the church by us that we're going to use now as a voting site. Velterean: By us? Weipert: Yeah. The kingdom... Velterean: Kingdom Center. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 7, 2021. Page 10 Weipert: Yeah. Which will allow that neighborhood to finally have a precinct where a lot of folks can walk to because that's an area we identified that a lot of people walked. Weiner: That's great, yeah. Weipert: So there's a lot of that we incorporated here that you just aren't seeing yet. Teague: And that's in all three plans. Weipert: Yes. Teague: Just a new site. Weipert: Yep. Teague: Great. Weipert: Well, we looked at those factors on, you know, everything from where do people walk the most to who's driving the most, you know. Weiner: Thank you. That's those are, those are really important considerations. Teague: So if, and of course we can continue our conversation as Council and, uh, any, uh, questions or clarifications can take place. Of course, on the 14th of December, we'll be, um, making a vote on which plan we like. So far I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong, there has been resolutions written for, is it Plan C? Goers: Uh, yes. Plan C was what we put before the Council last meeting. Teague: Correct. So what I was, um, what I would encourage the Council to do is to determine if that is the plan that we are thinking that we want as a consensus. Now we have to be a little careful because, um, you can always change your vote, you know, uh, and your vote, in my opinion should be reserved, um, as, um, if possible for the 14th. But if there is a different plan that one or any of the other, uh, one or more of the Councilors are thinking, then I think it might be wise for us to have City staff to draw, draw up a, another resolution. Um, there's been a lot of talk about Plan A and Plan C today. Um, and so it, it, it, at least for me, it seems like both of those plans would have resolutions drawn up. If there are any additions to, or are any additions or takeaways from these plans, I think now might be the time to discuss it because once we get to the 14th, our time is going to be a little This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 7, 2021. Page 11 limited. Now, again, we can have another special meeting, but I think the purpose of this was to kind of get ahead of that. Goers: And if I can interject, Mayor, I want to foot stomp one of the things you said, which is of course, keeping an open mind, the public hearing will take place on the 14th, and of course, Council will need to keep an open mind to gather public comment. And at that point, after you've received that public comment on the 14th, then you'll be ready. Hopefully. Mims: Thank you. And Eric, is there a problem in terms of, you know, as the Mayor said, having multiple resolutions with different, different plans, or can we simply amend if, if there's one resolution on the floor, can we simply, if the majority of the Council looked like they wanted to go with a different plan, can we simply amend the name of which plan, on the floor? Is it better -- Goers: I think so long as the, the plans or the maps that you are considering are ones that the County has provided and thus the County has already given the approval for, because statutorily, they need seven to 10 days and so forth to offer those comments and so forth. And as long as those are plans or maps that we, you know, already have in hand and thus can have in Kellie's office so that the, you know, public can review them and so forth. And I -- I think that's probably fine. Mims: Okay. Thank you. Salih: Can we still do like maybe, choose different plan and do some modification to that plan, or -- Goers: To -- to which plan? Salih: Or, if we choose, we have to choose as it is. Goers: Well. So here -- that's kind of the point I was making. So again, because of the statutory requirement that the County gets seven to 10 days to review each plan, if the Council wants to make some changes to any of these plans, that's fine, Council can do it, but we would then need to give the County seven to 10 days to offer their comments, and then come back to you. Kistler: If, if there are any modifications that you see now that you would like, if there's something you're thinking of, that would be interesting to look at and would like us to make that modification and give you, uh, a revised version of a particular plan. We, we would be happy to do that. Salih: Is still there is time to do that. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 7, 2021. Page 12 Kistler: Um, well that's a good question. Yeah, it would have to probably happen fairly quickly. Salih: Okay. Taylor: I guess clarify again, what, what your deadline is for the state to have this in place. Salih: January third? [crosstalk: people saying January third] Goers: Right. And the other complication is that it's part of the ordinance after the Council, you know, decides which plan we would need to write up, you know, the legal descriptions and so forth for each of the plans. We have not yet done that, um, because, you know, Council indicated they were as yet undecided as to which one, or had not yet formed a consensus about which plan they'd like. So, um, you can do that, uh, we might need some special meetings, um, at a time that might be difficult to schedule special meetings, uh, just around holiday season, but we can do it, uh, if that's what, uh, Council desire is, it -- that is if Council wishes to, uh, kind of make changes to any of the three plans, A, B and C that are presently, uh, before it, Kistler: We have a fairly, uh, compressed timeline this time around because the Census data came out so late this time. Salih: Yeah. Because this is really, it doesn't have any time to look at, and.... Teague: Chain reactions. At least for me, if there are changes, um, maybe I'll just put it into perspective. So Thursday typically is when we give our, uh, release our info packets through the City. Um, and that's when, at least somewhat of the plans would, well, the revisions would be there for the public to kind of see. Um, so I don't think that that's going to be fully possible, um, because today is Tuesday and, and we would have to, it depends on what the request change is. Um, but I think is important for the public to have that before them. Um, so if there are changes, I would encourage any Councilor to make mention of what your thoughts are right now, and we can discuss them. And I think my point is if there are changes, I think that December 14th meeting, we may, if, if the Council agrees to the majority of those changes or the majority of Council agree to those changes, then we would probably not have this item on the December 14th meeting. We will be looking at a special meeting. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 7, 2021. Page 13 Goers: Right now I'm just trying to think about the public notice or public hearing requirements. It might be that we have to open the public hearing and then defer it to a later meeting in order, so that we don't have to reopen or re - notice up the public hearing. Teague: Okay. Thomas: Would it be possible to get a, I'm concerned with the, how the different plans, um, vary from the existing precinct shapes? And so it would be helpful for me to have that as sort of a baseline that, if it were at the same scale where I could kind of just overlay, uh, the alternatives to see where each alternative varies from the existing, Kistler: We can provide that. Yeah, I can, uh, I can overlay, you know, like, uh, uh, different color line with existing precinct boundaries on it and send you copies. Thomas: I'm most familiar with District 21. That's where I live. So I'm seeing they, you know, there's variation among the alternatives, but I'm not clear what the existing lines are to understand how much variation has occurred. Weiner: So sort of it's, this is a, um, a general notion, when -- not having been through reprecincting before, what is your experience at the Auditor's office? Like the first set of elections afterwards? Is there, do you end up with a lot of people in the wrong place and having to redirect them? Is that an end up sort of being a, um, for, for say the primary and the, and the general in 2022 that, um, I presume that would sort of maybe be a feature of that? Kistler: Um, I, I don't think it been a huge issue that certainly there might be some people who are confused, but we'll send out new voter ID cards to everyone, correct? Velterean: Yes. We will send the new voter ID card that will tell them the new location, if, if it is a new one or old one, whatever it is, they'll, each voter will get a new voter registration card. Weiner: Great. Thank you. Bergus: I guess for myself, I'm not, I'm trying to avoid, like, micro -managing the, some of the specifics of the, the shapes and that kind of thing. And just trying to think of the factors. So like compactness as a factor and the population as a factor. Um, but a couple of things that I heard that, um, want, that I would ask that we look closer at Map A was the easily understood boundaries. It was that one of the, kind of the drawing criteria, if I heard Mark correctly. Um, the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 7, 2021. Page 14 dorms being together and then allowing for more growth on the fringes of the community. Cause I think that's likely to be what we're going to see. So I guess that's, uh, kind of my pitch, not that I have changes, but that I like I'd like us to consider that one. Weiner: Yeah. Those are, um, that, that mirrors exact, basically exactly what I was sort of thinking as well on that, because we also, as, as they grow over the next 10 years, we don't, that, that could help avoid various polling places from being overwhelmed. Um, and which is really only, probably during a presidential year, but, um, it's still an important factor. Salih: I was thinking the same thing really, uh, especially like with the dorm together, not confusing the students, and the growth factor in consideration. Yeah. Um, and polling places was like, no, I don't like the idea of sharing polling because, uh, especially for minority people, just will confuse them. So, uh, I don't like that. Teague: So at least it appears to me that, uh, there is sufficient enough support, uh, to have two proposed, uh, resolutions prepared at least, um, from the, from your office just because it could be, um, uh, A or C is what I'm, what I think I hear. Goers: Sure. We will prepare each and have them ready for your consideration on the 14th. Thank you. Mims: Can I clarify again, on Map A, does District 5, or Precinct 5, does that include all of the dorms on the east side? Kistler: It does. Mims: And District 3 would include all of the dorms on the west side. Kistler: It does, uh, C would, C would include, uh, all the dorms on the west side too, but, uh, uh, on C it does split the dorms -- Mims: -- on the east side into Districts 5 and 20? Kistler: Yeah. Mims: Okay. Thank you. Teague: Okay. Any other questions for County Auditors? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 7, 2021. Page 15 Weiner: Well, just really appreciate your taking the time to come here and work through this with us. Mims: And glad you have the software to do it. (laughter) (general thanks) Teague: Yeah. Also, thanks to the City staff that worked alongside with them. I know that this has, uh, all the things that they're doing really appreciate, uh, this, uh, taking place. Any other comments for the good of the cause today? Weipert: We did have one other thing election -related. Velterean: Um, so, um, the County has not done the reprecincting yet. We are working on that. Uh, however we do expect some, uh, smaller precincts, or, around Iowa City that we might possibly want to combine with an existing Iowa City precinct. So, um, we will probably return for some agreements with the City for that to happen with that. We currently have such agreements for, uh, the current Iowa City 10 precinct, and, uh, the current Iowa City 12 precincts, which are combined with, uh, parts of East Lucas Township. Kistler: And then in the, uh, in this past 10 -year cycle, uh, East Lucas North was combined with Penn Township, uh, but now we would be able to combine, uh, the Linder Road neighborhood with Precinct 22, which is a smaller population because of the House district line. Uh, if we could combine East Lucas North with, uh, Iowa City 22, that would be more convenient for those people on Linder Road to vote in Iowa City, rather than going to North Liberty. Teague: Can you speak a little -- Velterean: Just to clarify, um, the, the people from East Lucas Township do come and vote in Iowa City. It's not vice versa. Teague: And I wondered if you can just speak a little bit to how it's been taking place so far when it comes down to voter confusion or, or even the polling staff. Velterean: Uh, I am not aware of, uh, voter confusion at this point. Um, they are used to voting together. It is just one precinct. So, um, one set of machines for everyone, um, one set of poll workers, one location. So nothing is separated for, for those voters. Teague: Okay. Mims: But they're living outside the city, they're not using the same ballot, correct. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 7, 2021. Page 16 Kistler: Right. There would be separate ballots for them. And it's like with the, with the school ballots where there's a school boundary that goes through a precinct, there are separate ballots for the two school districts. Mims: Okay. Velterean: But in terms of facility and, like, people that are working there, there's no other difference except the different ballot styles. Mims: Okay. Thank you. Teague: And just for, um -- Weiner: And poll workers are used to dealing with different ballot styles, when you, when you sign in, it will tell you, you know, which ballot you should pull for them. Weipert: In the precinct -- well, I live in Tiffin, but there's a case where we bring in the Clear Creek Township and they vote at the same site I do, and you'd never know. It's just one set of poll workers and.... Teague: Do they enter addresses into a computer? And then it determines.... Weiner: Yeah. So when you, when you, uh, when you, when you put the, they can tell you, but I'm just saying as someone who's worked the polls, when you, when they, um when you enter in their information into the software, um, it pops up with both exactly which ballot they should use in the end. Kistler: And you'll have City and Township ballots in Oxford and Lone Tree and Hills. Uh, so it's very common that they're trained -- Teague: Right. Thanks for the heads -up. Weipert: Yeah. And that's the case too, where you look at those communities or those towns, most of the people, even out in the townships, drive at some point during the day. So they don't mind, you know, the outlying areas are going to come into town at some point during the day. So it works out for them to vote there. Teague: Okay, great. Thomas: I'll just mention one last thing, um, and that is on the, the graphics. Um, I'm partially colorblind. I know that, I think there's a fairly large percentage of men who have some degree of colorblindness. I don't know if there's anyone This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 7, 2021. Page 17 in the Auditor's office who shares that disability, but, um, I think it would be useful when, when using color to distinguish zones, uh, to have it reviewed by someone who has that disability just to, you know, make sure the, the impacts of, of the choices in color are minimized. There may be other ways of augmenting the color, texture, lines, things of that sort, but it's, in some cases I have a little bit of difficulty reading juxtaposed districts because the colors are not distinct enough for me to see them. Weipert: Yeah. We'll take that into account. Thomas: Thank you. Taylor: We've talked a lot about the polling places or lack of polling places. Uh, do you have an idea on the different plans, very, uh, which ones are lacking polling places or where you might have to double up, which, which plan has more versus the other? Kistler: Uh, well, um, starting on the east end, uh, we basically, uh, split the, um, precinct that is farthest east into two. So, uh, currently we're, uh, using St Patrick's Church, but we have the Hoover School out there. So that would be a very convenient, uh, precinct there. But, uh, in at least a couple of the plans, there's also Robert Lucas for the same precinct, uh, if, if the plan, uh, stretches basically between those two schools. Uh, we're going to have trouble, uh, with all three plans with, like, the southeast corner of town, um, cause there's been enough population there that, um, um, we'll need to find another location in the far southeast part of town. Um, then we're adding one in the west and, um, that, um, could be handled by doubling up at West High. Um, uh, but there's also the, uh, elementary school that's on the border with Coralville -- Weiner: That's Borlaug. Kistler: Yeah. Um, but West High has the space to, to have distinct, separate polling places, if that's the better option. Um, The, in each of the plans we end up basically with, uh, the need for an extra polling place in the east central part, the area just east of downtown. Um, we're, we're going to have to find someplace either, um, downtown at the fringe of, of, uh, like, uh, 25 on Plan A or, uh,17 on Plan C, um, finding a precinct for that, that -- a polling place for that precinct, uh, is going to be a challenge. Velterean: So, um, if you look at Plan A, which is the one I have randomly in my hand right now, I think my biggest concerns in terms of polling places are, as Mark mentioned, the D25, which is in the middle almost, D15 and 13. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 7, 2021. Page 18 Kistler: Yeah. Velterean: Those are the three locations that I'm, I'm, we're having, we're struggling. Kistler: 13 on A or C is, is a challenge. Um, uh, that's an area that, you know, years ago we used Roosevelt School and after that, we had to kinda, uh, shuttle around private locations and there isn't a public building that we have out there that we can rely on. Velterean: So if you have any suggestions, we are more than happy to look at options that are out there. Goers: I'm aware that the airport's in D 13, I don't know if it would be inappropriate facility or not. Velterean: Um, um, I proposed actually looking at the University, um, uh, garage or whatever it is for the helicopters. It seems to have an, um, some, like, uh, good enough parking. And I mean, yeah, the, the airport might be an option too. Depends on. Yeah. Kistler: And that would be a better option on Plan A versus C, uh, C has a rather compact Precinct 13, um, that does not extend down to the airport. Velterean: I mean, it would be kind of cool to say that you go to the airport. (laughter) Kistler: Yes. Teague: I'm sure a lot of people haven't been in that building either. So that would be a great, great opportunity for some. Weipert: Better than saying you vote at the jail. (laughter) Teague: Any comments? Any further comments, okay, Taylor: Thank you for that information. Teague: All right. Any other items from Council, staff, Auditors? Weipert: Oh, thanks to the City staff for all your help. Kistler: Yes. Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 7, 2021. Page 19 Teague: All right. Well, if there is nothing else, I will just bring us to a close, and enjoy the rest of your morning. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 7, 2021.