City Council - Regular Meeting

I remember when Rayford here got here. Bernstein here. Bertrand here. And for the moment of silent prayer, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance, please. Pledge allegiance to the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Proclamations. And there are no interviews, so we'll go right to the consent agenda, which is items two through 11 F. Consider these items passed unanimously unless a separate roll call. Votes requested by a Council member. Do you want to speak on an item? Please come up as I read that item. If you want to speak on an item not under the agenda, please come up under citizen concerns. Remember to always state your name for the record. I'll move the consent agenda second. Who is the reading of the February 28th, March 4th and March 9th. City Council minutes. Three is a resolution rejecting the bids received for the Police Department storage facility. Project chief, did your architect give any real good reasons why he was so far off? Not really. That would be. We spoke with Stan and, you know, we were off the mark, but we also had improvements into that CIP to the existing building. That, plus the fact that we're dealing with some relatively new issues with the existing structures, makes us think that we probably need to pull back and reconsider an overall site plan and what we're going to do moving forward. But this is this is kind of like building a new garage when your house needs a lot of work. So we need to retool and, and think about what's going to be best or where our money is going to be

best spent to enhance our training facilities. So, chief, what will the process look like if you're pulling back on this project? I understand you want to do a broader scope site plan. What's what's that going to look like in terms of timing and phasing? Well, right now, unfortunately we have training facilities in multiple places. Our simulators are at the Long line center because there was space there and our Hvac on one of the buildings, the training center went out. So we just transferred. That got placed in long lines. We'd certainly like things centralized, but the question is how much work should we put into the training center by the airport if we relocate to somewhere else, if we get access to another city facility where we can do some of these things that would dictate our use of the training center and how much we want to put into it. This was kind of put in the cart before the horse, and as the issues with the existing classroom building kind of emerged, it it and that emerged since we started asking in the CIP, we, we thought we needed to pull back. We need to reverse course here and we need to determine where we're best investing our funds. And that I think a little strategic planning on our part, not to mention checking with other city departments to see if they have facilities and resources that we can maybe piggyback on and use some of their space for the classroom space for, for our training. So a lot depends on what's available. So correct me if I'm wrong, this was a relatively state of the art training facility 25 years ago. Correct? Well, we did receive, if you recall, I'm sure you remember that we received the congressional allocation. That's why it seems like it was Senator Harkin. It was Latham. Oh, it was Latham. Okay. So Tom Latham, we had a congressional allocation to improve that and turn it into a regional training center. When we did

that, that's been between 25 and 30 years ago. But what was done was existing guard buildings or existing base buildings were used. So what's underneath that training center is a very old building. The buildings were reskinned, but in that time we haven't invested anything in that. So it's starting to show its age and that's where we need to. We have some mold issues in one of the classrooms, so we're taking appropriate precautions. Had a air quality study done, but we knew that we have larger issues to deal with in the existing facility. So building a building, a building that would have been dedicated to storage of equipment, evidence holding and then training, if possible, was probably not the best way to move forward. When our we're questionable about our classroom and our other training facilities. So I think we need to do a little strategic planning. I think we need to check with other city departments. I think we need to see what the future is for other city facilities that we could potentially get access to before we move forward. And I think it'd be important to look at to determine whether there are any congressional funds available for any portion of what you're describing. And we are regularly looking out for that. There are a lot of the government funds, including some of the ones that we brought before you. They're very specific about how we can use those, but we're always on the lookout. And if we could find the funds, we would definitely use that. We will. What kind of time frame are you thinking for bringing this back? Well, that depends on how quickly we can determine what our biggest needs are. And again, we don't want to move forward with something and then have to come back to you and request more. And that's that's part of the problem is, is as the costs expand. Also, again, if we're going to put work into something, we'd rather it be something we know we're going to use, we know is going to be

our, our training facility moving forward. But if we learn just through studying that there's another option in town as opposed to down at the airport. And all we have to use the airport for is range facilities. And then that would determine how we would move forward. But there's a lot of question marks for us right now, which is why we thought it was most appropriate to put on the brakes. Not that this wasn't needed, but we saw other things. And and again, I think we I don't think we move forward until we're sure how we're going to use that facility and what options we have as far as places to do training. City has some new facilities, as you guys are aware of, and I don't know, we might have to consider relocating some of our functions if that works. But right now is an unknown. We've we're asking ourselves and I think beyond the strategic planning, we need hard understanding of what resources we have available. Like I said, other city resources that might be able to be used for classrooms, etc. so many square feet of storage down there for. Are you storing evidence in that or. Yeah, there's so evidence that you might, might find down there is the larger evidence vehicles involved in fatality accidents, homicides. There is there's outside and inside storage, but there's, I don't know if you've probably been down to the training center, that building to the rear, and that's in questionable shape too. So, you know, we've discussed the idea of do you reskin that? Do you try to rehab that existing one? But it's questionable the infrastructure that we have because you're just building on top of old structures. And that's what the old training centers might look decent from the outside, but it's just one of those base buildings that was reskinned in the early 90s. So. Right. Well, I do appreciate you coming back to the drawing board and not just

coming in and asking for more. So I appreciate that. Thanks, chief. Is the motion of actions relating to boards, commissions and committees. A as a motion reappointing Sam Avery to the Parking and Skywalk System Board of Trustees. Upon due consideration of the circumstances, the City Council waives the policy that no person shall serve more than two consecutive terms. B is a motion appointing Dean Branham to the Wastewater Treatment Plant Reconstruction and Design Advisory Committee. C is a motion appointing Jose Montes to the Wastewater Treatment Plant Reconstruction and Design Advisory Committee. D is a motion appointing Andrew Pritchard to the wastewater Treatment Plant Reconstruction and Design Advisory Committee is a motion appointing Ike Raker to the wastewater Treatment Plant Reconstruction and Design Advisory Committee. Five are actions relating to civil penalties and suspensions. A is a resolution scheduling a hearing on the proposed civil penalty of $300 against chasing Clouds vape collective for violation of the Iowa cigarette laws. B is a resolution scheduling a hearing on a proposed civil penalty of $300 against Sky smoke Shop and Vape two for violation of the Iowa cigarette laws six or actions relating to agreements and contracts as a resolution approving change order number two to the Service Provider agreement with Midwest Constructors for the Marina Gangplank Repair project. Can I ask Matt question? So this seems like a. Should this work have been identified when the contract was originally approved? It seems like it change order that should have been. They should have been aware of or we should have been aware. Matt Salvatore Parks and

Recreation Director so this has to do with the the fuels number two has to do with the fuel system. So that is kind of been a moving target. We know what we need to do now. But at the time we didn't know that. We didn't have a clear scope of work on that. Okay. That's good. Thank you. You're welcome. B is a resolution approving renewal option one to the service provider agreement with BW s for the Floyd Cemetery mowing season. I have a question on this. It's a truly a nit. Is there somebody here on this? Kelly, is this yours? Only question I've got is on B and C. Part of this is being done because the gentleman created an LLC. Right. And it's a new contract. Is that right. Can answer. The only question I've got is the agreement that you've got is still being signed by him in his personal name. Don't you need to change it to his LLC? Yeah, his previously was under Brian Wilder. They changed his name to BW s LLC. So he did sign it under Brian Wilder. But if you look, he signed it in his personal name, not his LLC. Don't you need him to sign it in his LLC? The above, his signature line should be the LLC name. He did sign it and the capacity as owner of the LLC, but it could be reflected more clearly. It. And it's the same on B and C for both his relationship same company just it's a nit if it's if it doesn't need to be done, but I just don't see the LLC referenced in the agreement. If it's a single member, LLC, he could sign it as owner because he's the only owner can sign it as owner, but it should still be with LLC, shouldn't it? Are you referring to? I want to make sure I'm looking at the

correct document. I'm looking at page 44 on our materials, and it's his name signed in his name. He has his title as owner, which to Bob's point, probably should either be as a member or the manager. And it's just not with LLC. This is the renewal option number one for 2026 mowing season expiring December 31st. And it's still just in his individual name. It should be. I agree his individual name should be updated to LLC. And it's the same with the with C6C as well. LLC. Yeah, the insurance certificate is correct. It's in the name of the LLC. Okay. You guys can get that changed. Yes. Because the resolution is correct. Okay. Yep. The resolution is correct. Okay. B is a resolution approving renewal option one to the service provider agreement with BW s for weed abatement program D is resolution approving amendment number one to the service provider agreement with Utility Equipment Company, expanding the scope of services from four valves to five valves is a resolution approving renewal option one to the Service Provider agreement with quality striping for the airfield painting and water blasting project at the airport. I just had one question on that one. That was a bidding contract, right? We previously did that. This is the last option on that contract and we'll need it again next season then. F is a resolution granting a permit to Metro Fibernet to maintain underground fiber in the Riverside Boulevard corridor. G is a resolution approving an

agreement for services with Siouxland Interstate Metropolitan Planning Organization for the South Lakeport Corridor Study. Phase two, project H is a resolution approving Supplemental Agreement number two to the Professional Services Agreement with Stanley Consultants for the Wastewater Treatment Plant Investigation and Litigation Assistance I as a resolution approving a contract with Serco for the Pulaski Park Drainage Improvement Project, I need to abstain. Conflict of interest. Seven or actions authorizing payments 8RA is a resolution authorizing payment to HCI construction Company for the fourth Street and Jackson Street skywalk upgrades project. B is a resolution approving fund transfers. C is a motion approved. Mayor, can you go back on B the expense is the Teton Ridge. Marty, is this would this be you, Marty the. Why are we authorizing that as an expense? Isn't that incurred over the course of the consulting, or are we just approving the total amount? Teresa Finance Director at this time, we do an encumbrance, so we have to move the budget in order for there to be budget available so that we encumber the funds and then we pay them as they utilize. So even though it's noted as an expense in this list, it's not being paid now. It will be paid over. It's in the transfers. Right. And B, this is yes. So we're transferring funds. We have to move funds from one fund to another fund. So it's not actual expense yet. We're just moving the budget there. Okay. It's available. Okay. The next the next C is the total expenses. Those are the actual expenses incurred. Okay. C is a motion approving total expenses for February 8th or actions relating to property A is a resolution proposing to lease property to Imon communications for the right to maintain fiber

optic cables in exchange for installation. Service by Imon communications B is a resolution scheduling a public hearing on a proposed, amended and restated urban renewal plan for the Teton Urban Renewal Project. Area C is a resolution scheduling a public hearing on a proposed amendment restated Urban Renewal plan for the combined Central Sioux City CBD Urban Renewal Project. Area D is a resolution scheduling a public hearing on a proposed, amended and restated urban renewal plan for the amended Donner Park Urban Renewal Area, and he is a resolution scheduling a public hearing on a proposed, amended and restated urban renewal plan for the combined Floyd River Urban Renewal Project. Area nine R purchasing as a resolution awarding a purchase order to Copeland Industries for one gas compressor B is a resolution awarding a purchase order to Hawkins for sodium hypochlorite solution for the wastewater treatment plant C is a resolution awarding a order to Gillig for three diesel. Low floor busses for the transit system D is a resolution awarding a purchase order to the Titan machinery for one case. Cab tractor tender applications for alcohol license 11 R Beer Commission and committee minutes. Anyone to be heard on any of those items. Can I have one comment? I don't know who does the FTP minutes, but there were minutes on page 217 from the January 15th meeting, and I know Rick and I were attended that meeting and we weren't noted. So I think we need to note the

January 15th minutes. You can do that. Thank you. Voting electronically today. Passes four zero hearings. 12 is a hearing and resolution approving plans and specs for the Big Sioux River erosion Repair project. I'll move that second. Public hearings now open. Anyone to be heard. Seeing none, the hearing is closed. Council member trend you can vote electronically. Passes four zero 13 A hearing and resolution approving the proposal of MidAmerican energy company for granting of a signed easement. Certain land in the combined Floyd River Urban Renewal Area. The project. The property adjacent 5,528th Street. I'll move that second. What is this? Hearings now open. Anyone to be heard? Seeing none, the hearing is closed. Passes four zero. Citizen concerns any citizen would want to be heard

can come forward. State your name, please. Just the citizens concerned section. My name is Dylan Northrop, Sioux City taxpayer and owner of DK insurance. Two weeks ago, I stood here and outlined a proposal that could structurally reduce what the city spends on their employee health insurance. The city's own budget calls rising insurance costs challenge number one. For the fifth consecutive year, the employee benefits levy that funds it has increased 147% since fiscal year 22, and the Champ plans FICA savings alone would have fully offset this year's 337,000 health insurance increase, with 150,000 left over. That's just one piece. The composite projected economic impact of the FICA savings across the health care cost reduction, the direct increase of employee take home approaches 4 million annually. The structural solution built against the city's employee population was offered, and then nothing happened. After that meeting, I followed up in writing, asking the legal authority behind the city's position. It was never answered. Once the city had a written opinion from an independent ERISA attorney, the city's attorney professional response was to suggest that I consult a tax attorney and that an online search yields many results, suggesting she never even reviewed the letter and her due diligence was to Google it. That is the documented record from City Legal on a $22.3 million budget line item at the last meeting, pending litigation was cited for a reason of hesitation, I requested the case number, the court, the docket number. In writing, city's legal response was, I do not have a case to provide you. It is my belief that the reference involved a completely different company. I want that on the record. What the city has done so far. HR requested a proposal, declined to meet to review it. Finance

forwarded a broker memo memo from the incumbent vendor and called it an evaluation and legal suggested an internet search. No independent analysis, no meeting. Despite written offers to bring an outsider attorney to the table at no cost to the city. Gentlemen, can I ask a favor? Yeah. Go ahead. Could you just talk a little slower? Because I want to make sure I'm understanding. Exactly. I was trying to keep it under the title. We'll give you as much. Yeah. Every department has been asked to justify every dollar. And these were asked to make, you know, look at a proposal and they couldn't find the time. At the last meeting. Julie said the council relies on its department heads to advise and the council decides so. Is this the advice you expect? A memo from the current broker that has nothing to do with the plan, a lawsuit that no one can name in a Google search in response to an ERISA attorney's written opinion on the actual plan. This is what your department heads produced on your largest budget line item. Rick, you asked why no other Iowa municipality had adopted this plan, because this is what the process looks like in the public sector. A small business owner invests months of work, provides legal opinion, offers to bring an attorney to the table and get shut down before anyone even looks at the numbers. That's not a reflection of the plan. That's a reflection of what happens when the departments are more comfortable with the status quo than the work it takes to improve it. So my question to you is why does why does Sioux City have a. Why does Sioux City have to wait for another city to go first? Why can't Sioux City be the model for the rest of Iowa? Mayor Scott, you said you had no idea what I was talking about and passed it off to staff with respect. Section 125 payroll tax deduction and a $4 million projected savings. That's literally your professional domain. The most qualified person in the room. Time out, time out. I get to talk. Now. You've taken a shot at me. I know what a 2125 plan is as well as anybody else. But the hybrid of that, it's not it is not a hybrid. It's not what

we have. The 125 plan. There's many 125 plans. You can run multiple. Yours is not so. So why wouldn't the other section 125 be a hybrid? Why is mine a hybrid? That doesn't make any sense. The most qualified and the person in the room to evaluate chose to give it to his staff who googled it. I want to be clear, I'm not questioning anyone's intentions. I believe everyone in this room, including HR, finance and legal, wants what's best for the city and its employees. But intentions and outcomes are two different things. It is my sincere question to you does this process reflect what was followed here on a $22 million budget? Does that reflect the standard you'd want applied to every major decision in this city? Because if it doesn't, I'd welcome the chance to do this right. I have a binder for each of you. Inside you'll find the full record, every document submitted, every response received, the legal analysis, the fiscal breakdown, a full 20 page technical analysis, and seven questions that I've been asked and no one will answer. Earlier today, I filed public records request under Iowa Code Chapter 22, requesting all internal communications related to this proposal, its evaluation, and the basis for its rejection with anyone that was involved. I am also requesting the broker's compensation agreement with the city. That information belongs to the public, and I intend to make it available in a budget environment where every department has been asked to justify every dollar. The public deserves to know whether this was handled properly, and I hope that when the next small business owner in this city comes forward with something that could genuinely help, they're met with a process and not the door. Everybody's asking for money and I'm the guy that can provide it, and I can't even get through the

front door. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Any other citizen to be heard? Will go to building permits. Good afternoon, mayor and council. We've continued to provide you with reports on the status of the current building permits, commercial and residential. And I would start off just by asking if you have any questions about those. Paid a lot of attention to it lately and and try to stay on top of the, of the applications as they come in. And I think that's reflected in the report. I said before, I think we can probably improve the, the way the report looks, but, but I think it's pretty thorough in terms of the current, the current building permit applications and the, the pending the pending ones. And I, Darryl particular can answer any questions about any specific projects you might have residential plans. Examiner was on vacation this last week, so we tried to make sure that we were able to stay on top and get them out as quickly as we can. So I think we had 14 since the last report, I believe we had 14 new single family dwellings picking up, as it usually does this time, that we're not without challenges at time to time, but we're still swinging for the fences. So you

have 14 new permits last week? Yes, sir. For new single family dwellings. Not bad for pretty good. No, I was going to say so. Daryl, I do want to compliment you. The feedback that I've gotten. I think I got four text messages this week again from people excited about the process. Customer service side of it. It really is. They're, they're, they're, they like the idea and they're going in there. They're not being turned away. They feel like that we're turning a corner, which is great question for you. So when somebody turns the permits in to to Brian and to Henry, who has do you do you do the final issuance? Who actually does the final issuance of the permits? Brian will do that for residential and Henry will do that for commercial. Does that go through your hands at some point? Because it seems like it is. I mean, we have discussions every week now. We've started that not that long ago we started doing that and we'll have either once or twice a week, we'll discuss any open permits and what might still be needed to be submitted, or if there's any hang ups or hassles. You know, we've got a couple that we've put on hold because contractor just wasn't really ready. They just submitted early and just we're going to get back to us when they got ready to start building. So we've got a few of them that are on hold like that right now. Or maybe they just weren't prepared to get their bond or contractor registration. We've had some new ones just come in recently that have not built in. I mean, they've done remodeling and those kind of things, landlord kind of stuff. And now they're coming in looking at doing some some building in Sioux City and they're not familiar with the process. So, you know, we'll be meeting with them to move those kind of things forward, those conversations. So when they're ready to submit, we can move forward quickly. Let me ask, let me kind of redirect it because I agree with Rick, and we're all getting contacts where the public, the professionals are starting to see that the process is working easier, better, more consumer friendly. Are you seeing the

same thing when you look on the opposite side of the desk, that the relationship that you're developing with developers, with contractors, those that are literally using your, your desk for their activities, are you seeing that positive engagement as well? Because yeah, I think we are seeing that. Well, I'm glad to hear that you are, because I mean, that's kind of the point of this right now is to make sure that we are looking towards changing that opinion, our requirements, and we're still doing the requirements. But I think we're spending spending more time explaining our needs, because I think sometimes what I've been finding out is that people go away with the list of things that they need to submit, and they're making it harder than it really needs to be. They're not asking that question, hey, what do you really need here? Well, all I really need is this instead of making a big production out of it, you know, and then so that open communication is something that we're working desperately to make sure that we expand more and more constantly. Because I had one just the other day that had a list of 5 or 6 items, and it was more a matter of just a conversation, say, hey, where are we going to do on this? Well, we're going to do this. Well, okay, that's all I needed. What are you going to do this? So we were able to just walk right through it and then issue the permit after that. If you'll notice, there's several of them on there. I've done in that say issued by DRB. And that was in Bryan's absence. He did a lot of work on the last day before he took off for his vacation. Getting things prepared, I was able to have conversations with those people and get those answers that we needed over the phone, actually, and we were able to move forward with issuance at that point. So yeah, I think in light of the progress that we're seeing, I know that one of the things that the council had asked you to consider was whether it might make sense to do some kind of a not a public hearing like we would do when we're reviewing plans for, for instance, the roundabout. But whether it might make sense to do just a public event where you and your team invite developers, but it sounds to me like maybe we're making enough progress and have enough oversight that maybe that isn't

necessary. But I might even look to Rick to say, well, I think that might be helpful. Yeah, but I think it's like we take two steps forward and one back and we say like this week, you know, we had a couple call outs to some job sites where it was like sometimes where the process, I think we're improving the process, but sometimes we're still holding on to a little bit of archaic interpretations of the code. It's more creative thinking. Yeah. And Daryl, you're the guy that's showing the creative thinking and the question I have, I asked you before on who who actually issues the final permitting. I was looking at some other communities. Would you could you see a scenario where the, the guys reviewing the permit? So it'd be in this case, Brian and Henry, did you see a scenario where you as the oversight would come in and do the be the guy issuing the permit? Do you see a scenario like that? And there's a reason for. I was asking that question in other communities. Go ahead. I mean, typically what it is, is the building official will delegate the authority to issue, just like, for instance, placard structure. You know, I empower the the staff, the inspectors to be able to make that decision and make that call in the field instead of having to have myself go out on every single case. Same kind of scenario here when they do that, quite frankly. I mean, my time is my time. I'm sure many of you know what time I come in in the morning and what time I leave at night. And it's not an 8 to 5. And adding that extra level of burden to do that, I think would be not saying impossible, but I think it would be a lot to get to, and I think we can achieve that by the meetings that we're having on a weekly basis, saying, how do we get you past this threshold? What are we going to do next to get us through this process? One of the things that keeps coming up quite frequently is we have fire department has their own building code or fire code, I should say. Let's call it what it is. It's a fire code. Engineering has their rules and regulations that they have to follow. Zoning has theirs all for the. All three of those

have to sign off on every building permit. As it is. They have to meet those requirements. Some of the items on fire code are in the building code as well, so we can review those on those plans. But sprinkler systems, designs and specifications, they fall back to the fire department. They're going to have to review that. So sometimes issues with fire, whether it be egress or fire suppression or anything like that, we fall back to that fire department. We might get delayed from that process. And then it's a phone call that after our conversations reviewing, if it's one of those snags, we'll make the phone call. We'll say, hey, engineering, what's going on with this? Why can't we get this moved forward? Or fire department? What are you waiting for on your requirement to get this moved forward? Zoning. We usually know because we're right across the hall from each other. We can have that communication constantly, but sometimes those other ones take a little bit more time and we try to make sure the communication is open so we can get past that. I think we're getting better at that. I mean, the beauty of it too is like I said, you're watching. You're seeing what's happening on the back side. You know, Mike and I met with engineering. That's another big piece of the puzzle. We met with them and Tom, Tom's still in here if he is or not. We met with engineering and kind of same thing is we're doing better. But understanding that you're part of the solution, you know, not part of the problem, understanding the flexibility there. So there's small incremental changes there. And we're meeting, I think Friday, we're bringing in a key developer that's coming in and wants to show some of the things that they're doing in South Dakota and stuff. He's going to provide us some some roadmaps there too, that. So we're working on the backside knowing it's not just you guys in the permitting, but it's a it's a bigger piece that happens when we all get together and design review and that, that fun environment. I think what's really interesting is we get some of these large, large projects. I mean, you take Seaboard Triumph, for instance, you know, collectively all the buildings out there close to 1,000,000ft of structures. And when we did that process, the spec book that came in was probably eight inches thick. You know, back then it wasn't all electronic stuff. It was paper stuff and going through all those kind of things. But these companies that do these design works that

are doing buildings all over the country, they deal with codes everywhere. So it's a it's amazing how much information is piled into those plans, stuff we don't even need, but it's in there because they've had to do it somewhere else. So getting that information, we're waiting on one. Just recently, all that was holding up was a sidewall spec. It's just where you're buying the material. Just send me the spec sheet. That's all I need just to make sure that it meets the wind load code for shear strength and and the flame spread for insulated foam that's inside the panel. That's all we need just to make sure we've got it and document on file. And that's it. So I, again, I think those conversations that we have on a weekly basis are helping a lot. And I think you're seeing the fruits of that well and you can feel it. It's get it to the field, get it to the field, get it to the field. Get it to the field inspectors, get it out the door. And, and I'll give you a real time compliment. Example is I brought in a set of plans and was under the assumption that the property had been vacated and from the owner and everything. And then we turn it in and we get the call and it's like it's not vacated. Two years ago, three years ago, I would have had to look at you for three weeks or four weeks until we get the paper sorted out. Instead, get it to the field, get in the ground, get going. And so that's a, that's a that's a real flexibility. I think that the developers are seeing. And I can tell you there's more conversations about guys punching cul de sacs in for affordable housing than I've seen in the last 7 or 8 years. So we're starting to see this, this positive momentum. Let's just keep it going. And I think once the, you know, Marty's brought up several times about the new software programs that are coming into play. And you know, we're going to it's going to take. Let's go wrong. It's going to take time for the for the builders, the developers to get used to submitting online. I mean, a lot of the architect firms are already used to that because they'll submit in other jurisdictions that already have that in place. So those kind of things. But the residential guys, they're not necessarily going to be used to that and sending that in electronically at this point. So we got to get through that. But we also have to learn the system ourselves as well. I think that'll help expedite some of that as well. Getting to move forward quickly, especially when the builder might be doing the exact same building multiple times. We already have that electronic

file. We already we could pull that over, set it over there, and all you got to do is send in the plot plan and we're good to go. So I think that'll help expedite things. And if you look at the sheets, most of our plan reviews were done within a day or two when we were just waiting for other departments to file their stuff in so we could issue the permit. So yeah, I would say I'm learning a lot about the intricate, the interrelationship between the different departments, you know, the fire department or the, or the engineering department, how it relates, because I was just initially just thinking of it as site plan review, building permit, but it's more more complex than that. But back to Craig's question earlier, maybe a good time when we do get that software up and running, that may be a good time to invite developers in. And that's a great talk about it. I like that idea. Yeah, I was going to touch base on that. One of the things that we do do every year is we do the home show for the Home Builders Association every year and everybody, you know, people come up, well, what do you got? What are you doing here? What are you at? Well, we're answering questions for you, you know, and every year it's something different. You know, back in 2020, we got in just before the shutdown of everything for Covid. And it was unbelievable. Everybody had a set of plans with them. I shouldn't say everybody. A good portion of it. The topic of the year was new single family dwellings. And you look back in 2020, how many single family dwellings we built, which was a big year for us. This year it was it was sheds and garages. For some reason, everybody wanted to talk about sheds and garages. So we were able to talk to them about the process and how to do those kind of things, but also code enforcement things and any other departments questions we can answer. So we, we do try to put ourselves out there in the public and do that. I'm also, like I said, I'm very active in the home builders, not only on the state, but I'm also or the local. But I said on the state board and I also sit on the National Board of Home Builders Association as well. Just Friday, we worked through a almost an entire day of legislative issues that are coming through at the state level. Some of them are good. Some of them could hurt us over here on this side, even though they benefit the east side of Iowa, where the building officials are making it more restrictive than what the state is asking for. We're making it even less than what the state is asking for, because I'm able to take it out in the IRC and the IBC. One of the legislative

issues is going through right now is to adopt a state building code. Well, that all of a sudden makes it mandatory, like the electrical code, the plumbing code, the mechanical code, the energy code state mandatory codes. You municipality, you have a building department, you have to enforce those with the IRC and the IBC, we can make it less and I do. I make it less restrictive than what the state has. If that legislation goes through, it'll help the eastern side of Iowa, who have building officials that make it more restrictive than the state. But it'll hurt us because we'll lose our home rule, and we don't ever want to lose that home rule, because that helps us make our city more competitive in the marketplace on this side of the state. And I don't take things out that are going to be life safety issues. I take things out that are regulatory issues that add to the cost of doing a building. One of the things that's out there right now that they're pushing through and it's been it's been put on a on hold at the federal level was the adoption of there was a bill passed that anything that had went through any kind of HUD finances or any mortgages that were backed by HUD or government funding of any kind, they had to go under the 2021 Energy Code. So, you know, if you were building a new house and you didn't have that kind of funding that was backed by it, but Craig, you were building one that had that you'd be in a completely different energy code than what it would be. Kansas City found that out. They lost 90% of their building to the other side of the river. When they adopted that 2021 energy code. And we're doing everything we can as a state to get that out of there and not keep it coming in. Last comment, Mr. Mayor, you're going to like it is one of the biggest issues, as you know, in development is retention ponds. And I've had quite a few discussions, good discussions around that. And ironically, our engineer has some solutions that that probably going to require some council action in the next few weeks that are going to be on the positive side of the retention ponds. So I look forward to presenting that. That would help a lot of development big time. So we're all smiling because it's always

been staring at us in the face. Yeah. Implement it. So okay. Thanks guys. Appreciate it. Thanks. Thank you. Thanks, guys. Housing task force. I'll preface their presentation. We had a really good meeting last Thursday night. A town hall meeting at the museum had some really good turnout. I think a lot of people in the audience with agencies were there that night as well. So I think we're just trying to get the information out any way we can. And obviously these presentations are part of that. But we had good participation last week as well. Yeah. Yes, sir. Chris Groves, uniformed services captain. So this will be this will be my last report out and kind of my last little pitch for the for the homeless task force, I guess. And as, as Mike said, one of the things that I noted that we really hadn't done was really met with downtown partners to kind of really discuss a lot of what we did was kind of behind behind the scenes, trying to run a pilot program to see if it would work, and we knew that we needed to reach out and kind of explain what the homeless task force is. Or as some of you may have heard, we've it's been renamed as Heart Homeless Assistance Response Team, but kind of explain what it is and what it's not and hopefully to answer some of those questions. So it was I thought it was a good correspondent or good exchange of information back and forth. I didn't see really a lot of business owners. There were some residents, and there were some other folks there that had some questions, and I think we were able to work through those. All I really have to share with you at this time or this week is, you know,

a couple weeks ago, Julie thanked me for the concept. And. What I want to do is pass along. I we meet on a bi weekly basis as a team with the core group of the homeless task force. And, you know, we usually do that on the Tuesday following following a council meeting to kind of discuss what we talked about here and things that we need to work on. And at the last Tuesday meeting going back two weeks ago, I asked a few of them to come. And there are some of them that are here, and they're the ones that deserve the credit. They're the ones that are the ones that are doing the work. They're the ones that are bringing suggestions and the things that as a department, we try to, to, to get for them or work through. So I want, I wanted them to be recognized. And I know that we've got people from not only our own internal departments here, but outside partners, the actual heart group, if you will, or that task force is mainly is mainly made up with just internal department heads or department members, whether that's the police department, neighborhood services, inspections, plays a part in that. Parks and rec, they all play a an important part for this to work, and I know that going into it, you guys are going into budget wrap up. You have some important decisions to make. And I think that in order for this to be successful, the importance of that and those decisions, every department is going to be asking for the same things. But I can tell you, and with confidence. One of the questions asked in that town hall meeting was, what are you using for metrics to measure success? And that's a hard thing to do because there's not necessarily a numerical number we can put at something to show what is it, what works and what doesn't work. But what I can

tell you is people feel better about it. People downtown, they feel they see the officers. They they see neighborhood services. There's a better feeling of security. We're getting on the cleanups quicker. We're trying to get rid of the trash going into the summer months. It's going to grow. I know it's going to grow. It's not only going to be concentrated into a downtown area, it's going to go into every park. And how do we respond to that? And part of what I know that we put together with the help of Chief Mueller, as we put together kind of a proposal, what really is needed to fund this and really for it to work, every department is, in my opinion, every department is working with the bare bones. And in order for it to work, we got to look at funding it properly to get the employee, get them the employees, they need to truly get out and make a difference in in cleaning up this stuff, I made a very a very big point and I'll say it in a council meeting here, we are never going to end homelessness and that is never the intent. We will always have a population of homelessness. Our job is to hopefully manage that so that we can better manage it, so that we don't have the associated crime that goes with it. And so it doesn't affect the quality of life of the people that do visit downtown or live in those neighborhoods where this homelessness occurs. That's the only goal. Because we see homeless people, we're not taking them off the street. We're not going to get rid of it. We're not going to change that. But hopefully we change the image a little bit so that it doesn't affect everybody's quality of life. So that's my last pitch, my last spiel for the homeless task force. We do have a couple officers. If there's anything you guys want to add. Nick Eaton from Mcat Mental Health. Hi, thank you for having us here today. I am

a mental health center and we oversee our mobile crisis assessment team, which has been a huge part of this process. First of all, I want to thank everybody that's in here that's present. I see a lot of faces that have been part of this task force, whether it's directly or indirectly, and they have put a lot of time and a lot of effort into this. And thank you, especially to Captain Groves, who really kind of headed in, spearheaded this and got this moving on on behalf of the city. With that being said, I want to just mirror a few of the things that Captain Groves said internally. Yes, there's several individuals that are working from the city itself more directly on the task force. Outside of that, we are the only organization that has committed to a daily presence on this team, going out with law enforcement and the. Sorry, the neighborhood services that are boots on the ground, really, truly trying to connect with these individuals that are out in our community and try to provide those resources and be available to them. And so with that being said, that that's a huge piece of us to devote that resource on a daily basis without really much. Other than that, we're providing resources and trying to make those connections and be available. And so, yes, like Captain Groves said, that that's a big commitment on our part. And even those that, you know, throughout the city that are working from other organizations to try to connect with resources and, and ensure these individuals have what they need to be successful. So, you know, we're willing to commit to that and continue to do that. If we see that commitment is also served on behalf of the city members as well, that, you know, they're

getting the support that they need from you to continue this task force we ourselves are willing to commit and continue to do that on our end as well. So I just wanted to bring that to your attention. You know, that ultimately, you know, there's a lot of stuff being done behind the scenes that maybe you haven't heard of formally. I appreciate that they had this recent meeting. I know initially when we started this in November as a trial, we had said, you know, that ultimately we wouldn't do a lot of media or pushing of this, you know, out publicly. I really feel like now is the time. We're kind of at that trial period ending and determining whether we want to continue this. And if we are going to continue, I'd really like to see something from the city, you know, really expressing kind of similar to what Captain Groves said, what we can do and what we won't do, what it truly means for heart. Again, it's not to solve homelessness in the city. But you know, that's not our goal. With this commitment, our focus is really to help connect individuals with services, resources, support, not to eliminate the complex issue, but to hopefully provide, you know, what we can to support those individuals in our community and to alleviate some of the concerns that come along with that. So I just wanted a moment to share that with you and to thank all of you for having an open mind regarding this project, and hopefully we can continue to do something throughout to help manage. So may I have your name for the record, please? Nicole Eaton question. Nicole. Yes. Real quick. So in the mental health side of it, so you this is through this initial phase of making our way through downtown and identifying individuals, habitual individuals, repeat

offenders, those type of things. Do you feel like that for this first wave? You've identified the people that want help. I think we've identified before this first wave. We've known for a very long time individuals that truly want support and truly those that don't. There's unfortunately, you know, when it comes to those with mental illness, there's only so much that we can do to help manage that in the homeless system. You know, our hands are bound by laws just as they are through law enforcement or other entities, the court. And that, you know, and so truly, we've already been participating in reaching out to many of the homeless individuals with a mental illness, like 3 to 4 years ago when we started another program with the court to really follow those that are on committals, that are non-compliant, and that has been really successful. We've actually had a great turnaround with those individuals to ensure that they're maintaining and keeping up with their treatment. And so through that, we've met a lot of folks that have the mental illness, have mental illness in relationship to their homelessness and, you know, connecting them with those resources. But this is just one more layer added to it that has helped us stay on top of that and stay committed with them. So that's on the homeless side of it, I guess. We keep using the word homeless. And I know that's that's a good buzzword that a lot of communities are using. But at what point are they not homeless in their vagrants or what point are they a nuisance? What point are they don't want help? I mean, back in the 80s, we called them bums. You know, I get that. But I'm talking about people. I'm talking about people on the street here that are creating issues. So I'm asking what

point? How do what do you do with the next step? Because I think we're on the right chair, which is helping the people that want help. But there's people that choose. They just don't want help. What do you do? And those individuals don't necessarily have a mental illness either, right? Some may, some may not. And I can't answer that question. That's not for me to decide. Any suggestions as to how to manage those individuals? You know, I imagine that they're it's part of the law and the process that you all have to decide what that looks like in our city. But that's not for me to determine. I'm sorry. Well, thank you for what you're doing. Absolutely. I'm sure it's so much a daily challenge. Nicole, thanks for your comments. And also to Chris. Thank you for what you've done and best of luck to you. Rex and I have talked about these issues and and certainly I think it's something that the whole council has had an opportunity to consider. And how do we get our arms around it short term and long term? We know that there are numerous stakeholders. We know that there are numerous issues, whether they're mental health issues or otherwise. And I think the one thing I, I sense with this council and certainly working with city staff, in addition to the police department, and I see Randy sitting in the back and I know how this is a passion in terms of trying to to make sure that we're managing it. Because. Chris, the most salient thing you said is we're not going to eliminate homelessness, right? We're not going to eliminate transient populations. I know during the campaign we were hearing, why is this happening in Sioux City? How can we not get our arms around this? We need to manage this. And the reality is it's in every community. And while we may be able to mirror what other communities do, we're not other communities. And I the commitment I'm comfortable making, I don't know what the

financial component is, but as I shared with the chief a number of times, and Chris, as I've shared with you a number of times, I believe that we have to make sure that we're properly identifying all of the necessary stakeholders. I think we've done a great job of doing that, but personally, I believe that getting all of the stakeholders in the right room, the Siouxland coalition, does a phenomenal job. And I know that Ike and I had a chance to go to maybe it was the February meeting to to discuss the issues and the passion, the commitment, the compassion, not just the passion that exists in this community to deal with this issue is really heartwarming. And I think it's great that you've used the moniker of H a r t to to identify what the task force is about, but you've got my commitment to get a better get more clarity on what we think the next step is. And Rex, as I've shared with you, I personally don't believe that the police department should be managing this effort. I think you need to play a critical role, but I would like to see us now move forward in. What does the coalition need to look like? What does Hart need to look like as we move forward to identify these issues and properly manage them? Because until we do so as a council, we're not going to have a very good sense of what funds need to be committed. And I think once we've done that, then I think you'll get a better sense from this where we are financially, how we support it. And I just want to add. The group and you know, there's there's a lot of people here. Nicky just got up and spoke about what mental health does and the shelters are represented. The the city, no matter what department it is, whether it's the police department, parks, neighborhood services, they can't solve this alone. And they got to have these partnerships. And I said

at our last Tuesday meeting two weeks ago, when you're sitting in there and we invite somebody knew somebody that heard about it for whatever reason, got invited, came in, came into the meeting, and then they start talking about what resources they have or maybe what connections they have. And then everyone in the room kind of looks at them with the light bulb goes on like you're, we need you because we need this in. We need that. We need this. That's really what this task force was. It was bringing everybody together. And what having it formed as a, as a group. The reason it works better, you know, yes, we have 132 officers allotted to us, but when you have 132 officers, you lose that personal connection because not everybody works together closely. And what this group is doing is they're working closely together. So if Dannette or Heather have a concern, they have a problem. They know exactly who to call to get over that problem. And it's just a close knit group that are that are finding solutions to the problems. Same thing with, you know, parks with cleanups. It just wasn't working. Doing it once a week if we're doing it every day. And so that with that becomes a staffing issue. And that's what we got to, we got to look at and address. However that looks. I think Heather did provide some good testimonials last week too, about what their impact is on things that are just a piece of this up at the shelter. I think they're able to go in there now and not a call for service, but a relationship building mode with the individuals. And I think the stats then prove out that calls to service have went down. So there's some of those intrinsic things that are happening as part of this as well. You know, I think that it's very, very important as we finish up this trial, you know,

with change comes feet follow up and follow through. And so as we know that the weather is changing and first and most again, I want to say thank you. Thank you for, for, for all that you guys do in this and taking on this task. And I would like to see, you know, Mike, I don't know if this would come through you or what, but I would like to see, you know, what's those next steps as we you know, we know the weather is changing. And so we know that the likelihood, you know, there's going to probably be some residual and, and, and some of those things. And so what do we look at? And what does that look like? You know, as, as, as Craig said, until we get something in front of us, you know, we don't know how to fund or, or what that looks like, but we know that that, you know, this is the most important step at this point, because we know that some things are going to jump off. So I would definitely like to see whatever we need to do to I'm in support of making sure that we we. Council members, Rex Mueller, Police Department just one thing. Last week or last two weeks ago, you had Jill speak to you. We have personnel here. And if you have questions, I'd encourage you. We can have them step up. They realize that's their role here, whether it's frustration, successes, Captain Groves and I captain groves is much closer in managing this. We have the information that they give us, but they're the boots on the ground, so to speak. So I encourage you if you have questions or thoughts, please use them while they're here. They know that they can be honest with you about what they've dealt with and, and talk about what they're seeing and how they're being effective and what's not effective. So if there's any thoughts right now, they're prepared to speak to the council. Well, you know, I think Rick had something, you know, hard is is, is because,

you know, of course, we don't ever want to make homelessness a crime or, you know, criminal act. But but what do you know as officers, what do you see as you see repeat offenders, you see people that you're consistently or, you know, having to deal with. What does that look like for you? So I've worked the downtown district for the past four years, which I've worked with the homeless for about the last seven, seven years, but kind of what I've seen with us coming together as a group and having our crime analysis and all the different agencies partaking. Now we're taking more of a close look at the problems, the problems that are being reported by the businesses, by the people that live downtown and things like that. And with working with our crime analysis, we're able we were able to identify the top problems and then the top offenders, the top people that are just the ones that are repeatedly causing the majority of the issues. And through working with those, we were finding again, that we would make an arrest for something like a trespass or public intox things along those lines, that it was just a revolving door. They would they would be released right out of jail, back doing the same exact thing, sometimes less than 12 hours. And so thankfully, our captain has worked really hard at meeting with all the people to try to improve that. And we're already seeing some of that. Some of our repeat people, they are the judges are actually putting higher bonds on them and keeping them incarcerated longer, which in turn also for the ones that are suffering from mental health issues, we're able then to get some services into them where when we approach them on the street and they're not committing a crime and they don't want services, maybe because they are still actively using things like that. But once they're incarcerated, they have a chance to to sober up some, then the mental health services

can come in. And sometimes we see some change in their receptive of the services. Could I ask a favor? I don't know whether the others are interested, but can I do a walk along or drive along with you? Absolutely. To see what the day is like, just let me know. I would really like to be able to. I know the issues I'm not, but I would really like to observe. Excuse me and watch your interaction and how you manage. I think it'll be helpful. That would be that would be great. Thank you. Maybe just coordinate with me because I'm guessing actually it's just an opening invitation. They do it every day. So they start off at police station, right. We'll start off with MLK, MLK, walk the skyways, and we check MLK. So then how do you differentiate, you know, as we deal with, you know, what we think is homelessness versus loitering? You know, how do you differentiate between that, you know, or are you waiting for a call or, you know, a complaint for something? The ones that are downtown that we know, we already know that they're homeless. That's part of the homeless population. If the business asks us to move them along, we do. We can't just sit in front of a business if we want you to. Piggyback on what Heather said, getting the mental health help when they're in jail, the ones that don't require mental health help are just hoping that if they get the longer sentence or they keep getting arrested for the behavior, that behavior will either change or they will find someplace else that they would rather live than Sioux City because they're going to get. Handled. Handled. We're just kind of taking a zero tolerance on, you know, the the criminal behavior that's dirty in the city and ruining businesses, property, things like that. The I believe that a lot of the word is on the street, that there is pretty much zero

tolerance for this. So. The cool part moving forward is there is a way forward that you're starting to see is I think with, first of all, I think you guys together do an amazing job and this council is going to have an opportunity to validate you on Wednesday, because that's where the dollars are going to be. That's what's going to we're going to hit the road and I support it. The dollar dollar is well spent. I also think that Reagan, with the plan of an ambassador program that's coming out through downtown Partners, which is another presence that's going to support you guys activities, kind of like they do in the East Village, in, in, in Des Moines, those type of things. Having a street ambassador there, throwing dollars at it, not us, might be something we could consider to help. I think it's only going to enhance the presence that we have downtown to move along. Presence. The simple things like the signs. I don't know if you saw Jill's new sign that was down in the transit area that is highlighting our an opportunity if you're stuck in Sioux City, if you need a ride, you know, if you saw that big sign down in the transportation center that when that went up, what they posted last week, last week, and she's going to do the same thing instead of the signs that say donate, they're going to have signs that say outside of the key areas, warming, shelter, those type of things that say, are you stuck in Sioux City? Do you want to go home? I think that we've we've thrown we're gonna throw some dollars behind that. So that's part of the plan moving forward. Also, I know when you met with the judges, I spoke with several of the judges and they just flat out said they said they want to be part of the solution. I'm sure they gave you the same feedback. All they asked was that the more detailed you get on the report, the more they can enforce what's on the report. So I know that you guys have talked about that and I appreciate that, chief, but that was feedback directly from the judges is be more specific. Give us the tools and we'll we'll start letting them feel the consequences of their actions. And again, I think some of these people that are, have under the influence and have intoxication or drug issues, they don't want to be incarcerated at 72 hours because you know what starts happening at that point, they're going to not like it or

move on. That's what happens in other communities. So again, I think there is solutions. I do think the police is part of the solution. I'd love to say that you're not. I'd love to buy into that. I can't because you're really the tool, the arm that goes out there and your badge means something. So again, thanks for all you do and I'm looking forward to the discussion on Wednesday with the budget part of it. And a great job. Very good work. Thank you. May I have your name, please? Heather Albrecht. Donna Sassman. Got it. Chief. Is that it? Well, Mr. Mayor, if you have any, we have other people in the audience. Other participants. It just depends on your questions. If you have a specific question about one of our partners in this, that they can step up and answer. Otherwise, we're just here to answer any questions. Thank you. Okay. We'll move to council concerns. Mr. Bertrand, you know, it was a good week. It was a good week. Developers are starting to move around. All that good stuff we already talked about. Is Daryl here. What's the update on tearing down that that those. Those homes next to the warming shelter and tagged. We get an update on that yet timeline anybody. I think it's on the placard hearing for April. April I think it is April 16th. Okay. On the date, just slightly. Those are just getting nastier by the day. So sooner the better. On that end of it, we talked about the homeless side's probably need as a council to. I know we did a six month referendum on billboards. I don't know if driven by any billboards after the win. Mid-American reached out to me today. The new ones that are going up, those great big ones, they don't have backs on them. And so they're blowing off and they're blowing into power lines. So it's something I think we're going to have to address. Casey over at Mid-American reached out. And if they're going to put these billboards up, which I'm not against it, but if you're going to do it, you can't do the GPS. And that's the second time they've had issues with them

blowing the power lines. So I thought I would bring that up. Also want to encourage the council in the next day or two is to look at the concrete infill project that's going to come up on Wednesday. That's addressing some of the Infills had a great meeting with Gordon on the cost effectiveness. Starting to piece some of this concrete together. I look forward to that being presented on Wednesday, as well as a sidewalk plan. What else do we talk about? You know, also we put a memo in on the L a c had some reaching out from not just the the trailer park itself up there off of 28th Street, but their attorneys are reaching out over there. And we put a memo in to see about throwing a few dollars at a, an Uber or a ride along program. The only reason, the only reason we might want to entertain that as a council, I think, is because in the US prison system, if a if a jail is kind of stuck out in the middle of no man's land, they do provide a ride back to the bus station. And we did, you know, whoever made a decision to kind of stick that out on 28th Street? I know people were like, well, they're on their own. It's a walk of shame. But at some point it might be worth 15 bucks to take them down to the transit center. Just from a human perspective, it's, you know, give them a ride. I mean, they're walking up and down 23, they're wandering into the trailer court. So I think we ought to entertain it. Throwing a a pilot program at that on an Uber system. And I think we all looked at the morning college, Morningside College memo and we're all excited about that. And I'm sure we'll talk more about that. Other than that, let's have a great week and look forward to Wednesday. Great discussions. Greg, just want to reiterate on the wrap up, looking forward to Wednesday morning to to go throughll a of the final items on both the capital andhe t operating side. Good information. Mike, you and Teresa have done a really nice job of getting us ready for Wednesdayor mning, so I appreciate that. This week is the start ofhe t Naia, so I encourage everybody to go to those events. It's a wonderful event and I'm looking forward to to watching the team's activities thatak Oview is able

to put together for the week and look forward toha tt. And I did get anpd uate last week from John Stevens on some legislative items, and I think I sent that to Nicole and Teresa. So if I could just get your input on updates toha tt, that would be great.ep Y. Ike. Yeah, just I always say it, but I want to reiterate how much I appreciate staff and everybody, the job that they do. I appreciate you who areut o here come out tonight citizens toe b engaged. We can't do this without you andou yr input. So thank you for your engagement andth oerwise. You know, I just see a lot of good things happeningnd a, and taking place. And so let's just keephe t momentum going forward. We adjournec sond, second.co Stt