City Council - Regular Meeting

Meeting for May 18, 2026, please take the roll. [ roll call] We have a quorum. Next item is item 2. Approving. the agenda as presented annealed and amended. Move. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Please vote. 7 yes.

Motion carries. Number three is approving City of Des Moines municipal housing agency housing counseling grant application to the U.S. Department of Housing and urban development. Is there a motion? Move approval. Second. Any discussion. Please vote. 7 yes. Motion carries. Is there a motion to adjourn? Move approval item number 4.

It's been moved and seconded. Please vote. All in favor. A ye. This meeting is adjourned. We will reconvene in a couple of minutes for our regular meeting at 5:00.

Des Moines city council m eeting for May 18, 2026, please take the roll. [ roll call] We have a quorum.

Next item is item 2. Approvalling the agenda as presented and amended. Tonight, 4G has been withdrawn, inspection incomplete. 4S has been withdrawn, application withdrawn. 5MM withdrawn, application withdrawn. 5NNN withdrawn W application withdrawn. The regular agenda 39 is updated speaker list. Move approval. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Please vote. 7 yes.

Motion carries. Next item is approving the consent agenda. These are items 3-34. These are routine items. It will be e nacted one roll call vote without separate discussion. Tonight, we have item number 5, Voss vetoes no. Item 6, Voss votes no. 29 Mandelbaum wants to speak. We have a speaker. If Carol Maher like to come up. Again, we have three minutes to speak for total of 15 minutes.

I'm Carol Maher. I live in downtown Des Moines in ward three. Speaking on consent item number 21, which is hiring eight outside counsel at three different firms for a project that isn't in the wheel house of our in-house attorneys. I was honored to be part of the engaged DSM cohort. We have counsel fisher speak to us about the law department which was great. He was very bullish on the in-house counsel. In-house attorneys that provide counsel to the city and how that's much more effective and efficient than hiring outside counsel all the time. We rarely do it, it's often under the cloak of d arkness, can't really say why it is. This one appears to be something that may be beneficial to residents with the big payout at the end. I'm wondering if maybe next time we do something like this that we hire attorneys at three law firms we are more up front about why we're doing that and what the impact will b e. What the deal was cut with these law firms because it appears we're not going to pay anything, presumably no court costs unless we win. It would have been great to include that if possible. Do you want me to speak to 24?

You have the right. You have the right to speak to it.

My name is Carol Maher. I like to mention the court avenue Hyvee that as downtown resident I got to a lot. What is really great they have consistent hours from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and easy to remember. This sort of life changing in times of daylight saving time is kind of not really desirable. If I could have a vote, which I d on't, I'm just one downtown resident, it will be really great if we can keep it consistent 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Since they reopened the ADA entrance off fifth avenue, it's been a much chiller vibe down there. It's not like a police state where they had off duty cops and security where congregating around the entrance. We appreciate that that it's more friendly. I will take one take detour. I want to say good-bye to one of the best employees the city has. He was kind and great help to me during my short time PNC. He's the kind of employee you want on the team and the city will suffer after he leaves. Good luck to Nick. Thank you.

Thank you. That's been moved and seconded. Please vote. 7 yes.

Motion carries. Consent i tem. Next item is item 35. [agenda item read] I will move item 35. It's been moved and seconded. Please vote.

7 yes. Motion carries. Item 36. [agenda item read] Mayor, just a quick comment and question for Scott. Do we have charge them $400? Can that be waived? It seem like we're trading money back-and-forth here. Our franchise dollars are going towards them. We're p aying -- why are we charging them $400 for this? No, that's up to the counsel.

I like to make a motion to waive that. If possible. It's only for two at this point. That's because of the new route. Right, I like to waive their cost of $400 for those new shelters. Just these two? These are two that need to be moved. Just these two. We'll consider the other ones going forward. These two on our agenda. It's $400. That seem excessive for just moving these. I like to waive that fee as part of this motion. I will move 36 and 36A unless somebody else has some other comments.

Second. I'll pursuant to rule 42A, I will waive second and third r eading. It's been moved and seconded. Any other comments? I think councilmember Gatto makes a great point. I wasn't mind memorializing that in the people? Right now let's take the v ote. We'll talk about it if more come up. This comes in front of us, we can make decisions going f orward. This one here, the two of these I think it's silly to be charging $400.

There's a motion on the t able. Any other comments? please vote. 7 yes.

Motion carries. The next item is 37. [agenda item read] Anyone wishing to speak to this?

Seeing none. I will move approval of 37A and 37B. Second. Moved and seconded. Please vote. 7 yes. Motion carries. That's end of the hearings. 5:09. Next item. Item 24. [agenda item read] I believe councilmember Mandelbaum wish to speak to t his.

I wanted to thank staff for their good work on this. These operating hours gotten a lot of attention over the years. This amendment represents m emorializing more consistent hours. We're add a couple of hours back in the agreement. The piece that I really want to emphasize is that there are more customers on the way. We've got a couple of really big developments just a couple of blocks away that will be really egreat for this grocery store. There will be good customers. It will also improve the quality of life of those folks who have a short a couple of block walk to this store. My hope is that with additional customers when we revisit this again in a couple of years, maybe we can expand hours. Things have gone well. Hyvee hazy done a good job reaching out to those new downtown residents. We're s eeing the benefits of the downtown grocery store. Both to the residents and Hyvee itself. With that, I will move item 24 but thankful for the approach that staff took here.

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Please vote. I want to thank Hyvee too for their commitment to downtown. 7 yes. Motion carries. Next item is number 29. [agenda item read]

Thank you, mayor. I wanted to talk about this particular item. If you've been with me in a neighborhood association m eeting or other places in the last month or so, I've been talking about how I think it's time for are the city council to adopt a cancer agenda. One of the things that is bases for that, environmental council Harken Institute released a really important report on environmental risk factors and cancers in the state. I think it will be great that we have a presentation that we invite them in for a work session. Doesn't need to be a normal work s ession. We can schedule it and whoever have it in this room and whoever from the council can make it. I think it will be great for all of us to learn about those various risk f actors. One of the key risk factors identified in the report highlights is radon exposure in that the state. Radon exposure is one of the leading causes of lung cancer. It's naturally occurring in Iowa at high a mounts. It is a real and significant risk. We have seen a lot of action about radon in recent times. In fact, one of the things that -- there are few things I would highlight from the legislative session that I think are positive. But they have a radon mitigation legislation that requires p assive radon mitigation systems for all new constructed homes. New constructed homes have protections from radon. When you go to sell your home, it's pretty standard now during

the inspection process that you ask for a radon mitigation test. If there are high radon levels you require the seller to install radon mitigation or you negotiate about it. You go into a home that you newly purchased with eyes wide open about radon mitigation and risks. The gap is in rental properties. One of the things that we can do as a city council to protect folks is to add radon mitigation testing as a requirement for our rental certificate. This is dealing with our rental inspection and rental certificate. I'm not asking that we do that here today. But my hope is as a council that we can ask staff for their recommendation of how they would turn a radon mitigation testing and requirement into a condition of receiving a rental certificate and we can discuss that a work session or if there's support for it, bring it back to council to act on that going forward. I'm happy to move item 29 and I like to add to that that we ask staff to come back with the recommendation for how to incorporate a radon mitigation testing requirement and if the test comes back high, requirement for installation of radon mitigation as a condition of rental certificates going forward to be discussed at a future council meeting.

I want to comment. First of all, we've already started that process. Staff is looking into it based on if anybody heard that the report from the c ounties. than is being worked on right now. I don't think it's a problem to bring it forward. It's being worked on and to go back to the report you would wanted a work session. I believe the report that they gave needs to be broader than that. We are having a meeting I believe it is this week or going of next week with a group that did a study that we will have a conversation as to what dates they can come to Des Moines to put presentation on again. I believe when they had, it was packed. We want to make sure this isn't just us hearing it. That we have an opportunity for more people. We're working on that and we'll get back to council and members on dates that work for the people that did the presentation.

We're working on the stuff he asked for radon? I'll second the motion. Any other comments? Please vote. 7 yes.

Motion carries. The next item is item 38. [agenda item read]

Mayor. So, item A is one that we previously tabled and is now coming back to us. Based on what I have heard and just rationale that I've seen, I would like to permanently table A1, which is the -- maybe not permanently. Indefinitely table unless there's better consensus with the neighbors and digging into this. This came from -- was initiated from a 2022 request and ongoing but I've not heard a lot from -- I know there's some interests and yes, it might improve things some. There's not a lot of urgency from the school or the parents as far as I can tell. The impact on the neighbors would be pretty significant. Until we can figure out something little bit better, I like to wait on that. I think from my read of the packet, because A2 is new but that looks like correcting just to meet existing conditions in the field and making code consistent with that. I'm okay moving forward with that. I'm good with items B and C. I'm happy to make a motion to table 38A1 and then to move forward 38A2, 38B and 38C1, 2 and 3.

Second. It's been moved and seconded. You want to wait? Can I waive second and third reading for B and C but not for A2 just in case there is c oncern. I'll second that. Tom, can you follow all that? I think we got it. Everybody got that? Please vote. 7 yes.

Motion carries. Item 39 is the request to speak. We provide speakers under the public speaking portion the opportunity to address the council for up to three minutes each for up to 20 speakers for a total of one hour agenda. Speakers will be called forward individually and we ask everyone to please state your name and address or ward prior to p roviding comments. Please keep comments germane and avoid references to personalities or character attacks as those types of comments do not contribute to the purpose for which this public forum exist. As a r eminder to the council and public, this public speaking time is to hear your comments. If there is a need to follow-up, we will get to to the appropriate staff or council to follow-up after a time after this meeting. I want to thank everyone for your support of Des Moines. The first speaker is Jason Zilk.

Good evening, mayor, council and engaged residents. My name is Jason Zilk. For over 30 years and up until recently, I lived, worked and played in the City of Des Moines. I stand before you today as a cautionary tale in February I moved to Johnston, not because I wanted to leave the city I love but because a growing trend of a nti-community action that made it clear the city's priorities were shifting. I see that same spirit being directed to the 515 club. For those who don't know the story, I'll tell you about one of the organizers. Anthony, a professional photographer, who understands our city's culture better than most, he turned a personal injury into a mission to help people stay healthy and connected. When we talk about making Des Moines a best place to live, we're talking about exactly this. Young, diverse leadership taking the initiative to build third spaces for our residents. When the city responded with that initiative with threats of lease intervention and $4300 in fees for the free informal group, it sends a chilling message. It tells young people and people of color that our parks are only for those who can afford them. It tells them that their presence is a cost to be managed rather than an asset to be celebrated. I see the reports the city is concerned about fairness to others, paying g roups and trail congestion. Let's be honest. When 150 people show up to gray's lake and pick up trash as the 5015 club did, they are providing a service to the city -- fairness isn't just about applying a fee schedule blindly. It's about

recognizing the difference between a commercial race and community gathering. As someone who been a quarter of century contributing to the city, I'm asking to you look at the o ptics. Penalize a free minority-led wellness group with fees, you're telling the residents that their contributions aren't valued. Please don't make the people who invest their time, energy, passions and money into Des Moines community feel like they have to look outside the city limits to see a return on their investment. We should be a city that protects and partners with our community builders not one that builds them for privilege of making our city a better place. Thank you.

Loulou Dickey.

Good evening, mayor, councilmembers. I'm here tonight as a resident of the Riverbend neighborhood. In ward one. People worried about our libraries and other vital services neighbors like mine rely on. I want to be honest. The property tax bill that came out of the state house this session has put cities in the corner. It caps what we can raise and it leave us us holding the bag. The people who created this problem are not the people sitting in front of me tonight. The hard decisions ahead are going to need input from residents. I hope we can find way to give it. I came tonight because I wanted to spend a few minutes naming things that are going right. Most of what I will mention is on the north side where live. They are s maller stories than a library closing. They are real and I think they matter. After decades of planning, the park is moving in construction. It's going to be a place where f amilies can connect with n ature, kids can play safely and where generations can spend time together outdoor. The northside has needed that for a long time and seeing it being built s ignals that our part of town is worth investing in. The center opened last month. I've been in there a few times now. What stands out to me most is how it reflects what neighbors ask for during all the input sessions. City leader listened and it s hows. Neighborhoods like mine where homes are well over 100 years old, we need these skill ed trades people. This program will keep homes liveable for the families and give people a career path in the trades that can support them in the long-term. I want to step outside my own neighborhood for

a moment because central Iowa community land trust just added new homes. This city helped build the land trust from the ground up alongside other partners. The land trust is a new pathway to permanently affordable homeownership. This model is going to make a huge difference in families lives for decades to come. None of this would have been possible without this council support. Recently, postcards went out to homeowners in local historic districts. Reminding them about the requirements and pointing them to resources. These are something.a lot of us wanted for years. We never the capacity doing it ourselves. Thank you for doing it. Our councilmember show up. They come to our neighborhood meetings. They come to our events. That consistency builds trust with residence and it's something we noticed. I know none of this fixes the budget, and cuts ahead are going to be painful no matter how carefully they get made. The work that this city does even the small pieces of it matters. The way through what our state has done to us and all of us going in the same direction.

Jeff Freude.

Hello. I live at 116, 56th Street in Des Moines. That's Josh's ward. My wife and I have lived there for almost 39 years now. We know the neighborhood well. We know 56th Street well. You do have to kind of learn how 56th Street behaves. It lives. There are things that go on. It gets sick and you have to get antibiotics or something for the street occasionally. Anyway, I do want to comment. I appreciate what Josh has done in this meeting regarding the 56th Street work and last meeting as well. It reminded me last meeting, I thought we as the neighbors or the residence were promised an opportunity to have a conversation with staff about what would work, what wouldn't work and then proceed from t here. We never heard from anybody. Again, I appreciate, Josh. You tabling this for an indefinite time period. It's not just parking or congestion that is the problem. There are multiple problems. Congestion, yes, at certain times of the day and also speeding and running the stop sign at 56th and Robertson. I remember several years ago we had a neighborhood party watching the police pull people over as they set up a sting operation at the stop s ign. I'm sure if you do that again you can close the gap on your funding from the new tax

bill. I encourage you to encourage staff to reach out to the neighbors. We know how 56th Street operates. We can be of great assistance. Thank you very much. Thank you. Laurie Wolf.

Good evening, I'm Laurie W olf. I live on 56th Street. I spoke to all the the M ay 20th meeting in regards to the issues on the 56th Street and parking. I would like to thank Josh for listening to us. Both last meeting as well as responding to e-mails that I had sent and tabling this issue so that we can discuss it more. I would like to thank John Davis, the city traffic engineer who responded to my e-mails and responded to a number of questions that I had. He n otified me that this would be on the agenda today. He had also indicated that they had come up with an idea how to resolve the issue. He stated that they weren't quite certain if it would address the issue. At last meeting, I had presented five possibilities of how to resolve congestion traffic, speeding and running the stop signs. I was in hopes that woe would have a meeting with city officials as well as the school officials. What I'm asking this evening is that we please schedule a meeting with neighborhood representatives, the principal of the school and any safety people connected with the school that would be of interest as well as city officials to really sit down and talk about what are the issues on this street and come to some resolutions that address the school as well as address our neighborhood. Thank you.

Thank you. Veola Perry.

Good evening. Mayor, city manager, councilmembers. I'm Veola Perry. Ward one. It f eels like deja vu because many years ago, I spoken in front of the council about the library because it was in jeopardy of losing hours, operation, all kinds of things. Luckily, it worked out. Now, today, I speak again on my beloved library in remembrance, the library was a small building located on 13th and University. Which is now Mariana's restaurant. You see, it was passion and perseverance of the community and many others to help build the library. It was led by the late Ellen K. Davis and Mrs. Dorothy Campbell who was in the work session this morning. I have a great sense of pride going to the library because I played a small part like so many others by p urchasing a brick, which is a fundraiser to have our names placed on the brick. There's so many things that happened at the Forest avenue library. Someone mentioned like the soul fool

fest. Councilman Mandelbaum attended one of those. Perhaps, councilman Barron might have made to our dynamic women event. I apologize for the late invite. Also looking at this knowing that Mayor Boesen served on the library budget. It comes down to the budget. It will be devastating to a community to close a building, which is the heartbeat of the community. I hope things will work out this time. I really do. I've been told many times that God always has -- [indiscernible]

Thank you. Amy Mackrell. Okay. Sage Love. I make a motion to receive and file 39A-G. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Please vote. 7 yes. With that, Motion to adjourn. Second.

All in favor. Aye. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you for coming.