City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, it is 6 p.m. on September 1st, 2026. I want to welcome everyone in Council Chambers to your City Hall and to those that are joining us virtually, welcome as well. I'm going to call this meeting to order. Roll call, please.

All right, we are going to jump right into our agenda with item number two, proclamations 2A is library card sign up month. Where is the City of Iowa City Public Library? is a center of community life that connects people of all ages with information, engages them with the world of ideas and with one another, and enriches the community by supporting learning, promoting literacy, and encouraging creativity. And whereas a library card provides free access to resources that strengthen our community, including books and digital media, technology, research, and business resources, workforce and car

All right. Thank you. Anyone from the public like to address this topic? If you're online, please raise your virtual hand. Seeing no one online or in person, I'm going to close the public hearing. Can I get a motion to approve, please?

All right. Council discussion. Roll call, please. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Resolution approving project manual and estimate of cost for the construction of the annual 88 curb ramps 2026. Project establish an amount of the security to accompany each bid direct the city clerk to post notice to bidders and fixing time and place for a seat to be as I'm going to open up the public hearing and welcome.

Thank you. All right anyone from the public like to address this topic please come forth. If you're online, please raise your virtual hand. You know when in person or online. When to close the public hearing that I get a motion to approve please.

The move to alter second Bergus Council discussion.

Motion passes 7-0. Can I get a motion to accept correspondence? Second move. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes seven to zero. 10C. Colibarium Construction Expansion Project, Resolution of Proven Project Manual and Estimate of Cost for the Construction of the Colibarium Construction Expansion Project, Establish an Amount of Bid, Security to Accompany Each Bid, Direct City Clerk to Pose Notice to Bidders in Fixing Time and Place for the Receipt of the Bids. I'm going to open the public hearing and welcome.

No questions. Thank you. Anyone from the public like to address this topic? If so, please come forth if you're in council chambers. If you're online, please raise your hand. Seeing no one, I'm going to close the public hearing. Can I get a motion to approve, please? So moved. Mo. Council discussion. I think it's great I think more opportunities for those that want to have a cremation and it from the pictures to look great so. Good job staff.

Item 10 D tobacco civil penalty and 30 days suspension. Essentials Vape and Smoke Shop. This is a resolution assessing $1,500 in a civil penalty and 30-day retail cigarette permit suspension against Essentials Vape and Smoke Shop. And I am going to turn it over to Sergeant Tice. Welcome.

And I don't know if the permittee is here right now, but have they been notified of the meeting today? Our office took care of that. Great. Thanks.

If we chose to enforce against a related entity, or I'm sorry, if we determine that those owning the new entity are related to the prior owner, is there like a standard way in which you would make that determination or certain types of relationships that are definitely close enough or not?

I have a question about that. You said... Just explain that again because you're giving the minimal amount or something.

So it's not related to really the going rate. Correct.

And to put a finer point on it, that right of first refusal persists. It's not like, does it expire when the loan is repaid?

There was a question that was raised at one of the prior conversations we had about this project that when we get the loan repayments, will those still be restricted to the Riverfront Crossings District for their future use?

I'm also just really grateful to see the personal guarantees that are in with this. I understand that we'll be subordinate to a larger loan, but that helps provide some additional security.

And just to be clear, we have the authority to do that because this is a contract with a specific entity for which we're bargaining other things. So we can add that requirement back in, right?

All right, if no more questions, then anyone from the public like to address this topic? If you're online, please raise your virtual hand. Seeing no one in person or online, council discussion. I was just going to say thanks to the staff for putting together a somewhat complicated deal that I think achieves a whole lot of goals and seems like a big win, 183 affordable units.

Anyway, that's my position. So I was not at the work session when we had this discussion, but I did look at the work session. And while I agree with a lot of what you just said, sitting back just looking at how are we going to get more units in our community, all types of units. high-end, low-end, and I don't want to use the word low-end, but affordable. Affordable. Yes, affordable. All of the things. We need it all. And of course, this can be one of the tools that we use. My biggest challenge, and yes, I agree that we can look at the unit size, all of that, and you know, kind of navigate that

Oh, yeah, yeah, but at minimum, you know. So that's where I get a little, you know, yes, if we're wanting to make this deal, you know, you know, possible, at least for me, I would have entertained more of a 2%, a 3%. Still small, but 1% doesn't even seem like it's... I would just say 1% seems low to me. And so that was my... I mean, that was the biggest, I think...

I do have a question, and that's for the, because is the applicant here? No. Okay. The applicant is not here.

Sure. So my, I mean, that's the, my biggest thing is the percentage at this point.

And that's at the end of the 30-year, correct?

Motion passes 5-2. All right. We are moving on to item number 10F. Amending budget positions in the police department. Resolution amending the budgeted positions in the police department by adding two full-time police officer positions and one full-time police sergeant position. Could I get a motion to approve, please? So moved. Mo? All right. And we'll turn it over to our city manager, Jeff Rohn.

Any questions at this time Council will be able to deliberate later after the public comments.

Here are no questions. Anyone from the public like to address this topic if you're present please raise your hand. All right yep and if you're online we'll have you raise your virtual hand. Just wanted to mention that there are stickers in the back for people to pre-fill out and drop it in the basket. You'll be allowed three minutes. And just remember that council cannot engage in conversation while you're here. But if we choose to address later, we could. Thank you.

Welcome. Please state your name and city you're from. You'll be given three minutes.

Thank you. Welcome. Please state your name and city you're from.

Welcome. Please state your name and city you're from.

Welcome. Please state your name and city you're from.

Thank you. Seeing no one else in person or online, we're going to close the comment period and switch over to our city council. We can start discussions at this time, council.

i'll jump in i just want to reflect on the last item that was on our agenda because it was really helpful to have city staff you know say we've talked about this issue multiple times we've had the opportunity to have uh input i know in you know one-on-one meetings as well as in public meetings and when there were some concerns raised jeff you did a great job of saying there are other options there are other alternatives um I think as we've heard this evening and as we know from our own experiences in being stewards of funding of public safety in this community, there are many things that we're

I'll move to defer until after our strategic planning work session. I second.

Moved by Burgess, seconded by Sala. And then we'll go roll call. Any discussion on that? I guess what I will say is my earlier comments during our work session about... Although there were some suggestions for what next budget season looked like for staff to bring back to council, I think at least a couple people made some thoughts. I made one, and it was pertaining to TIF and other opportunities. Because there could be a broader, not project, discussion is why I made that halt. I'll, you know, go through this, you know, I'm going to go through this vote. And a lot of what you mentioned as far

We have a deferment on the floor, and no, it was my fault for not calling the vote. I also went off the topic of the deferment.

The last thing I would say about the deferment is at the last meeting, I requested that we have the opportunity to review the data that we have been collecting but have not seen for several years relating to racial disparities in our traffic stops. I do think that is incredibly important just to know where we stand. We can make the same decision. Just like if April 19th hadn't happened, I really object to tying this decision to that incident. I think that is not... I think that's not accurate as far as why we would want to do this. And I think, you know, as far as like the timing of this and t

So this is for the deferment if you want to defer and I'm assuming we didn't give a date. Maybe we should at it.

Burgess yes. Motion passes to defer four to three. All right. So we're going to defer that vote. All right. Could I get a motion to accept correspondence, please? So moved. Moved by Alter. Seconded by Saleh. All in favor say aye. Any opposed? Motion passes seven to zero. We're at number 11, Council Appointments 11A, Human Rights Commission. One vacancy to fill an unexpired term upon appointment through December 31st, 2027. Council discussion.

Will you state those names again, Councilor Moe?

I would as well. She's on my short list.

All right. So we had one vacancy. So can I get a motion to appoint Estella Rory Johnson to the Human Rights Commission? So moved, Mo.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Seven to zero. All right. We are on to... Item number 12, announcement of vacancies previous. Airport zone and Board of Adjustment, one vacancy to fill a five-year term. Airport zone and Board of Adjustment, one vacancy to fill a five-year term. Board of Appeals, one vacancy for a licensed electrician to fill a five-year term. Board of Appeals, one vacancy for HVAC professional to fill an unexpired term. Historic Preservation Commission one vacancy for Brown Street representative to fill a three-year term. Historic Preservation Commission

Moved by Solis, seconded by Alter. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes 7-0. We're adjourned. Have a nice night.