City Council - Regular Meeting

Berenstain? Here. Bertrand?

Here.

Rayford?

Here.

Shaner? Here. Scott?

Here. Please stand for a moment of silent prayer, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Interviews for Library Board of Trustees. Terrence Beam, sir.

Can you hear me?

We can. State your name and tell us why you want to continue to serve.

So I'm Terrence Feenstra. Call me Terry, please. I'm currently completing a three-year term on the Board of Trustees, and I'm applying for, hopefully, your approval to serve another three years. Let me give you a tight two minutes on why the library matters to me. My father was career Air Force. As a result of that, I've lived on three continents, By the time I graduated from high school in Sgt. Bluff, I'd been to 11 different schools and probably a lot more libraries. There were base libraries, there were city libraries, there were small town libraries that were open on Saturdays from 9 to 3. I went to each and every one of them. The nice thing about the Air Force is they don't pay you very well and they add to it by providing minimally standard housing. Cockroaches and rats were not uncommon.

They didn't charge you for those, though.

They did not, actually. All the rats you could trap. Reflecting on things, every school I went to, every library I entered, was free, free public library, free public education. Now, I know that there's no such thing as a free lunch, that we pay taxes in order to support those organizations. But what it also means is there is not a barrier to entry. I didn't have to pay to go to school. I didn't have to pay to go to the library. And wherever my hunger for knowledge and reading came from, I got it in school and I got it at the libraries. As far as paying taxes, in 2010, my youngest daughter graduated from North. My wife's medical practice was based out at the Dunes. The easiest thing in the world that we could have done is say adios to Sioux City, move to the Dunes, avoid some Iowa state taxes. Heaven knows what the other tax differentials are. But I said, we're not doing that. We've raised a family here. and for 16 years we've continued to pay city, state, county, school taxes because it's important and it matters and there's my tight minute and 30.

So Terry, quick question. You've been on the board. You understand that the council had some nice dialogue with the library board and its representatives during the winter, during our budget cycle. The main question that we asked is what do you as a library board have a vision for with regard to the short and long-term library success? What's your thoughts?

My plan is, first of all, we need to recruit a new director. Second thing is I really want to focus on even more outreach for the library. The thing that I can't take any pride in it, although we all can as citizens, is how the library works actively to engage young people in reading. And I think that's absolutely critical. That's what made it for me as a person. Whatever modest success I've had is due to my reading. Long term, I don't know. There was an AI model put forth. I think it had some bad data in it. But be that as it may, I'm more than happy to explore those kinds of opportunities. We have three physical facilities. I don't know that we need more than that. I'm not sure that we need all of them. I don't want any reporter asking me what I mean by that. But, you know, some places are used much more than others.

That's helpful. I appreciate your comments.

Thanks, Terry.

You bet.

Thank you, Terry. We'll get back to you and let you know.

Thank you very much. All right.

Thank you. We're going to go to items 3 through 12C. They constitute a consent agenda. Items pass unanimously unless a separate roll call vote is requested by a council member. If you want to speak on any of these items, please come up as I read that item. If you want to speak on an item not on the agenda, please come up under Citizen Concerns. Remember to always state your name for the record and then provide your statement. I'll move the consent agenda. Second. We are the reading of the City Council Minutes of June 8. Four is a motion authorizing negotiations with NEOGOV to serve as a benefit administration and human resources information system provider. Five is a resolution adopting plans and specs for the Longline's family rec center cold room infill project. Six is a resolution awarding a purchase order to Southern Computer for Microsoft licenses for one year. I'd like to amend that to Award to Net Systems under the local preference buying. They are within the tolerance of awarding locally. So I would move to amend. Second.

Bertrand? Aye. Rayford?

Aye.

Shaner? Aye. Scott?

Aye.

Berenstein?

This is on just the amendment? Yes. Aye. And then six is under the consent. Okay. Okay. Seven are actions relating to agreements and contracts. A is a resolution awarding service provider agreement to Siouxland Utility Contract for vacuum truck services at the wastewater treatment plant and lift stations. B is a resolution awarding and approving a contract as subservient for the Nebraska Street water main replacement project. I need to abstain conflict of interest. C is a resolution approving a renewal option two to the consulting services agreement with SCS engineers for the 28th Street landfill post closure monitoring and regulatory assistance. D is a resolution approving a settlement statement with 3M in connection with the PFAS class action litigation.

I was going to have a quick question on this. I know that the terms of the settlement and the class that we're part of is relatively straightforward, but the use of the funds in the common benefit assessment are for what purpose?

It's just part of what's declared by the court, the costs that are shared amongst the plan.

So those are for common costs?

Yeah.

They talk about common benefit assessment.

Would you, I can have outside counsel provide more detailed information. That'd be great.

Thank you. He is a resolution approving a settlement. I was the same same thing.

Sure, it's based on a percentage and all of the settlement statements we have approved have contained.

I know they've been in the prior and I yeah, thank you.

Yes, I will provide that to the Council this week.

He is a resolution approving a settlement agreement released. F is a resolution proving a service provider agreement.

Just a really quick comment on 7E. Mr. Phillips passed away recently, so when you go to get the settlement document signed, you'll have to reach out to Lori and determine whether his estate is open, Marv's estate.

The settlement document has already been executed.

Okay. Okay. Very good.

Yeah. F is a resolution approving a service provider agreement with NCP management as the primary vendor for cable services. G is a resolution approving a service provider agreement with Thompson Solutions as a secondary vendor for cabling service. I need to abstain conflict of interest. I'm not sure that requires a bond, but it's easier to abstain. H is a resolution awarding and approving a contract to L&L Builders for the Martin Luther King Jr. Transportation Center Elevator Modernization Project. I is a resolution approving a modification to the Military Construction Cooperative Agreement with the National Guard Bureau in connection with the Runway 1331 and the 185th Apron Reconstruction Project at the airport.

I have a comment on that, Mayor. This agreement is between the city and the National Guard Bureau. There will be another agreement coming next Monday that's an agreement between the city and the state that basically they funnel the money through the state, and that's how we get reimbursed. So there's two separate agreements coming. I just wanted to clarify that.

Eight are actions relating to personnel. Items 8A1 and 2 are resolutions amending the position classification manual. By adopting updated job descriptions for the job classes covered by Ask Me, Local 2796, PATS, EMS, and Ask Me Local 212 as recommended by Baker Tilly, U.S. What's that?

Oh.

Janelle Bertrand, Human Resources Director. I have a lot of items on this agenda and one of the Council members asked me if I would just come and discuss at a high level what all of these items mean.

Janelle and I had a chance to visit before Council today and I just thought it would be a healthy dialogue for her to present on the items. Not looking for a great deal of detail, but I think just a little bit of background would be helpful to put everything in perspective.

So I'll try to cover all of it unless you prefer to do it by resolution. But the first two, as you know, we entered into a salary study, class and compensation study a couple years ago. This resolution has to do with the final two AFSCME groups who have not yet moved to the recommended pay scale. So there's a couple items on here that are getting those groups moved over to the salary study and then just updating the job descriptions because all of the pay grades are listed on the job description. So that's what one of these documents is. The other one we have 11 contracts and manuals that expired. I believe all of them except the fire union expired. So we did wage adjustments on All of them. We had two wage reopeners and three collective bargaining agreements that needed to be completely renegotiated. So there's items on here that pertain to the collective bargaining agreements and manuals. Those collective bargaining agreements were negotiated in good faith between union representatives and management here. By and large, there were some house, minor housekeeping items that needed cleanup, but overall it was just cost of living adjustments. And I believe most of them came out at a 2.5% cost of living, I believe.

both the Baker Tilly adjustments and the wage adjustments in the contracts were all taken into account during the budget cycle to take effect July 1st.

That's right. Let's see, what else do I have for you? Back in 2017, there were changes to Chapter 20 of the Iowa Code, which eliminated the ability for non-public safety unions to collectively bargain certain items. So towards the bottom of my resolutions you will see benefits and compensation guides. What those documents do is it allows the city to offer benefits and other fringe benefits, deferred compensation, uniform reimbursement, other things that we can no longer collectively bargain. This gives the city the authority and the ability to provide those types of items to employees.

Anything else? Thank you. Thanks, Juneau. Items 8B, 1 to 4, a resolution is adopting approving personnel manual and salary schedule for fire supervisory employees, police supervisory employees, PASP employees, and library non-bargained employees. Items 8C, 1 to 3, a resolution is adopting and approving the Collecting Bargaining Agreements and Salary Schedule with the Communication Workers of America, Ask Me 2796, PATS EMS, and Ask Me Local 212. Items 8D1 and 2 are resolutions approving a wage re-opener for the Sioux City Police Officers Association for year three of the Collecting Bargaining Agreement and Salary Schedule with the Amalgamated Transit Union for year four of the Collecting Bargaining Agreement and Salary Schedule. 8E1 are resolutions approving employee benefits and other compensation guide for employees covered by the personnel manual for PATS. 8E2 are resolutions approving an employee benefits and other compensation guide for the employees covered by the collective bargaining agreement for Ask Me Local 212. 8E3 are resolutions approving employee benefits and other compensation guides for employees covered by the collective bargaining agreement for Ask Me Local, 2796 Patch Union EMS. 8E4 are resolutions approving an employee benefit and other compensation guide for employees covered by the personal manual for library non-bargain employees. 8E5 are resolutions approving an employee benefits and other compensation guide for employees covered by the collective bargaining agreement for the communications workers local 7103 library bargain employees. Let's make sure the next time we do these, we do them all at once too. It makes it a lot easier to do. Appreciate you getting it out of the way and being done with it. Nine are actions authorizing payments. A is a resolution authorizing payment to Triple D for the demolition of 1031 Morningside Avenue. B is a resolution approving change under one and authorizing payment to the Sioux City Engineering for the 2829 Home Street Emergency Storm Sewer Repair Project.

C is a resolution. Mayor, quick question. On the finding a necessity to do those emergency bids, can we not do that work as an annual bid as opposed to...

bidding each project as a whole, get someone that comes in similar to other contracts that- I think you'd have trouble determining scope as the quantity-based contracts are just that. Maybe Gordon or Tom can speak to that.

But in the emergency sidewalk repair and other projects with a broad scope, those are done on an annual basis, correct?

We have two contracts. Gordon Ferris, city engineer. Sorry. We don't typically have emergency sidewalk repair ones, but usually when our emergencies come, we're utility-based, either storm, sewer, or water. And it all depends on deaths and the concept, the whole scope of the project. Each one's different.

But Gordon, we do have our two contracts with our pour back. Yes, for pour back. The sub has been done. The substructure has been.

That is correct.

Yeah, we have them. We have contracts already set into place and they come in and hurry up and get it filled up.

Yes, for any of the work that our crews do to make repairs to water main or sanitary, they will... the pour back crews just go back and pour back the concrete or driveways or whatever's there.

So then they don't have a, uh, cause I kind of think I know where Craig is going. You know, when we see the change orders coming in, you know, how do we know, or why do, why do we not know, you know, what the, the, the total cost is gonna be for that project?

Uh, a lot of times we don't even know what the problem is until we dig it up. So then it's not bidded on until that we take, uh, uh, our best guess.

Engineer estimate.

Yeah, and an estimate on what it's going to be like it's got to be five feet of pipe repair but ends up being ten feet. We don't know until we dig it up out of the ground.

I still don't know why You know the general nature of that kind of work. We know when a finding necessity is gonna otherwise be required. There's something's gone wrong in the street, whether it's water line, sewer line, or otherwise. I'm still not convinced. I'm not trying to second guess you, but I'm not convinced that we can't do that as annual work and get a sense from contractors that would be interested in having the opportunity to do that work that they can't pre bid that so that we at least have a sense of where where the contract will. The problem is you don't know.

How are we going to know the emergency? We don't.

We don't. We absolutely don't know what the emergencies are going to be. I get that we have to do a finding of necessity, but the finding of necessity is so that it can go immediately to Mike and approve as opposed to the council. having a sense of what that work might be.

Under the code for Chapter 26 bidding, the parameters are fairly narrow for what we can do in emergency situations to not go through the public bidding process.

So would it be fair to say under the code we can't pre-bid that? Right.

It has to be in the immediate sense. And this one that they did a finding of necessity on, it was actually under the threshold by the state, so we wouldn't have to necessarily do that. But for consistency purposes, they generally do in all emergencies because sometimes we don't know if it could exceed the threshold that's set every year.

The fact that it's not permitted in the code makes more sense than that it can't because we know what the nature of the work is going to be. We don't know the scope, but we know the nature of what is going to be done. They can bid that work just like they bid other annual projects, but if it can't be done under the code, then I get it. Okay. Thanks, Gordon.

C is resolution authorizing payment to CIT Sewer Solutions for the Big Zoo Levee Storm Sewer Cleaning and Televising Project. D are resolutions approving May fund transfers. E are motion approving May 1st of claims, total expenses, and receipts. 10 are applications for cigarette, tobacco, nicotine vapor product permits. 11 are applications for alcohol licenses. 12 are boards and commission and committee minutes.

That concludes the agenda. Matt, maybe this is on the Parks and Rec minutes. There was some dialogue at the meeting talking about a potential vacation and a hotel site in that vacation. Any dialogue on that?

Matt Salvatore, Parks and Recreation Director, the one over by Cone Park. Yes. Yeah, the board vacated that area, so it's up for development now, and they just want to see the site plan. They just want to review the site plan. Okay. But it's been vacated. Okay, great.

Yep. Thank you. Thank you. Spiro, I see you here on the Sports Commission. If you could just spell my name right, I'd appreciate it. You missed an N. Thank you. And another question, why are we not getting the Wastewater Treatment Facility Committee minutes sooner than, I think some of them in our packet today were December and January. Tom Pingel, Public Works Director. We don't have a quorum every time. But the minutes are done. Yeah, but we can't approve them without a quorum. Okay. Okay. You could get him to us just subject to approval. Approval.

Draft minutes.

Yeah, draft minutes subject to approval. Yeah, that's no problem. That'd be easier to get through them. Yep, yep. Thank you. Okay.

Call the roll, please.

Rayford.

Aye.

Shaner. Aye. Scott.

Aye.

Berenstein.

Aye.

Bertrand. Aye.

Building permits. Aye.

Hi, Darrell.

Hello. Darrell Bullock, building inspections manager. Got the report there we send out on Fridays. We seem to be fairly consistent. We do have the electronic submissions seem to be working well for us. The ones that we're having more hiccups on are the hand-drawn ones still that come in and get laid on our desks, and we've got a few questions we've got to deal with there. But other than that, electronic submissions are working well for us. Any questions? Otherwise, I'll go. already talked about the program.

Mario Dori, Economic and Community Development Director. Just an update, test servers installed. And just to describe what we're doing here again, there's really two parts to this overall process. First is planning and engineering, and the other is the building permits. And we tend to talk about the building permits, but the other two pieces of it are part of it as well. And then for each of those two, there's three steps. There's initially the business process review, and then the actual configuration of what it's going to look like, and then the training. So what we've completed so far on the planning and engineering is we've been through the business process review, several very long meetings, and we have a document now from Central Square with different recommendations and information on that. And then we are now into the permit part of it. We have another meeting scheduled in each of those areas for this Thursday and next Thursday.

Question, Marty. On the program, is there going to be a place for, like, real-time redlining, Daryl?

Yeah, I mean, actually, you can do that right now through the electronic ones, and we are working with that. And some of the plans will come through, and you'll have a design professional that is the ones that are answering those questions for us. And they're the ones that are at the computers all day. I mean, the guys that are out in the field. They're not checking their emails constantly. I mean, we understand that. But it works really, really well when you have somebody else that's monitoring their inbox constantly, and you can get those answers immediately. We're kind of working on the same systems with the red lines. Red line right on the page, send it over as an email. We get it right back. And if there's any additional questions, we can fire back again. Otherwise, it can move forward and be done. That's great. The interaction even with beyond this, beyond our department as far as user friendliness, one of the things we got a request from today was some of the folks out of the utilities department. When they went to pull a permit for water sewer disconnects or additions, tap lines, those kind of things, they always end up coming through the building inspections department in a completely different building for payment. didn't make a lot of sense. This new program will allow them to take payments there. So we're working through our procedures manuals to be able to give them that information so they're able to get their system up and running as well. So make that whole thing a little easier even for other departments.

Well, it's been three weeks since I've got a call, a complaint call, the process. So that's a really I know, mark it down. Seriously, it's fantastic, guys. I mean, I don't want us to lose our momentum. Yeah. But obviously, as we implement, you know, the system, it's getting better and better. But just Henry and Brian, tell them thank you. Absolutely. And it sounds like the customer service side of it, guys, you've done a great job of a step. They're faster, they're... more friendliness. I mean some of these guys have been bringing permits in for a long time or saying it's there's a new attitude and that I want to just want to make sure that I always say thank you.

I appreciate that. It's another eye opening is when one of the guys goes on vacation and it falls on my desk then it's like okay let's get on to this. So it's kind of interesting to see all the stuff that goes behind the scenes on that. So appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thanks guys.

Rex Mueller Police Department. I have Captain Bertrand with me. Last few weeks of heart reports you guys should have received. As you can see, some of the updates is we mentioned in the last month or so how things would change with the weather and that is what we are seeing. We're seeing a lot more activity in parks, so heart is focusing some of their efforts on responding. specifically to some of the parks around town. Stepping away from HART, not necessarily addressing HART. One thing I've seen is that the uniform patrol watches are doing a very good job addressing some of those issues surrounding the median ordinances. I think they've made a definitive impact with enforcement efforts around medians. Obviously, we're just moving the problem at times, but I have to say that I personally witnessed An alleviation of those issues that occur around medians on the vets bridge places like that So it's I think when you've got dedicated personnel that are addressing the issue specifically I think they can modify behavior and they appear to be doing so I don't know if captain Bertrand has any comments, but we're certainly open any questions about the last few weeks activity Encampments you feel pretty Yeah, I mean, that is another one of those, we're always moving the issue. But I think with the responses, definitely since HEART was created, I think the response is much quicker. I think we're getting on top of those. And as we move those issues, they usually develop somewhere else. And I've noticed that the encampment activity does seem to migrate a bit. And when they become aware, of a new location, the HART unit does put it on their to-do list and they do address it at those locations. So they're always kind of chasing the rabbit in that respect. But I think the fact that we've partnered all the right city agencies together, I think we're able to get on this much quicker than we were in the past prior to the establishment of HART. Getting on top of it, sometimes we're not aware of it. When we become aware of it, it's added to the list. It's very quickly delegated to the HART team, and they address it very quickly. I've never found them to be anything but responsive when we kick an issue their way.

Thank you for your work. Thank you. No problem. Happy to do so.

Let me see that card real quick. Bill Van Eldig.

Hi, Bill Van Eldig. I own a property on the corner of 14th and Court. There's an alley in the back that is, I've been told, a non-maintained alleyway. I called the streets department. They sent me to engineering. They sent me to The guy in charge of real estate, I don't think he's a realtor, I cannot remember his name, but anyway, the only way to get this alley fixed and clean is for me to purchase it, and none of the other people that are adjacent to this alley care. So I would like to see this stay as an alley, and a usable alley. The people that use this alley as a driveway now are starting to drive through yards in order to get through it. I don't know what it takes to make it a maintained alley, but I would like to see something changed back there.

Well, that's got to go to the engineering committee because...

I'll have it put on our agenda. What's the address of the alley again, sir?

The address I own is 1310 Court Street. It's the alley straight south of it.

Gotcha. I'll have it put on our next agenda. I'm one of the team leaders.

Okay.

Okay?

Thank you. Thank you. Citizen concerns. Anyone else be heard?

One moment, one moment. Can you give Mike your name and your telephone number so that we can reach back to you? Oh, you have a card. Okay, got you, got you. All righty, thank you. Now you can start. Thanks for waiting.

Yes, my name is Melvin Carter. I want to appreciate what Chip John did put in the park. I think Matt had to leave in a pretty hurry, but You know, I do appreciate what y'all did do. I expect there to be more uniform in there than a high spot and a low. And, you know, like I can't really complain because I really don't know if they're done yet.

No, they're not done. They used their equipment today, and they'll go back in with hand rakes either tomorrow, for sure tomorrow.

And another thing is I heard that – The park is going to be closed after next year. And I checked the parking rack for parks and I see they don't tuck it off the list for some reason. So I want to know what's really going on with this park.

Who told you it was going to be closed in a year?

One of the park workers said also today. No, that's not true. That's why I say I seen Matt leave pretty early because Did you ask Matt when you were sitting there by him? No, I didn't know that was who he was until he got up in the spirit.

Oh, okay. No, that's not true. It was taken off of the list.

Yeah, the park is taken off the park list also.

No, it's taken off of the closed list.

Okay.

And they will be smoothing that out some more, but today they wanted to get all of the wood chips in in one day, so they busted their butts to get it all in with the equipment, and then they'll come back with the rakes and smooth it out tomorrow.

Like I said, I do appreciate what y'all did in there.

Good.

Thanks.

Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Looks great. It does look good.

Gotta come to the... Good evening, Mayor, City Council members, and members of the community. My name is Christopher Prosh. I want to introduce myself to those of you who don't know me. I'm running for Iowa State Senate District 1. Thank you for allowing me a few moments to speak tonight. You know, all too often, when politicians stand behind a microphone, they immediately begin talking about politics. Republicans, Democrats, the next election, the next controversy. Frankly, I think the people of Sioux City are tired of that. Tonight, I'd rather talk about Sioux City because that's why I'm running, not because of politics, because of this community. Five years ago, I moved to Sioux City because I married a Sioux City girl. Funny how life works that way. My wife's family has deep roots here. Her father served in this community for 20 years as a cardiologist. Her brother is a dentist. Her other brother works in social services. And my wife has proudly worked for the Sioux City public school systems for over seven years at Loess Hills and Liberty. Today, we're raising our children here who will be third generation Sioux Citians. And the more time I've spent in Siouxland, the more convinced I have become that this community is incredible and has incredible potential. I don't bring up our challenges to complain. I bring them up because what I see Sioux City can become is more important. When I look at Siouxland, I see hardworking people, entrepreneurs, manufacturers, healthcare leaders, educators, civic organizations. I see one of the most strategically located regions in the Midwest that is often overlooked. I see a community that should be one of Iowa's strongest economic engines across the state. But I also see the challenges that deserve our attention. I see infrastructure needs, water quality, questions surrounding future energy capacities, workforce shortages, housing challenges, homelessness. I see businesses struggling to find workers. And I see too many young people leaving Omaha, leaving Sioux City for Omaha and Sioux Falls because they believe opportunity exists elsewhere. And that's what concerns me the most. Not because Siouxland lacks opportunity, but because we haven't fully unlocked it. One of the major themes of my campaign is simple, bringing Siouxland back into the room. Because when major decisions are being made in Des Moines about infrastructure, transportation, workforce development, economic growth, water quality, public safety, and energy policies, Siouxland deserves a strong voice at that table. Not because we're asking for special treatment, because we're asking for fair representation. I want to be a bridge between Siouxland and Des Moines. A bridge between local concerns and state solutions. A bridge between community leaders and state leadership. Because if we're not in the room, somebody else is making those decisions for us. And that needs to change. I also believe Sioux City has an opportunity to think much bigger about growth. Communities do not grow accidentally. Growth happens because leaders prepare for it. That means preparing industrial sites before employers arrive. That means expanding infrastructure before capacity becomes a problem. That means investing in workforce development. That means supporting housing growth. And it means solving energy challenges before they prevent investment. I've heard concerns from county officials that we've lost economic opportunities because of energy issues. I've heard city leaders point to transmission challenges and utility territory disputes. Whatever the cause, the result is the same. Businesses want certainty, and we're not giving it. And communities that can provide certainty attract investment. Sioux City should be one of those communities. Another issue I care deeply about is Iowa's cancer rates. Almost every family in this community has been touched by cancer in some way. Just last year, I lost one of my best friends to cancer from finding out he was dead within three months. I believe Iowa families deserve answers, not politics, not assumptions, answers. And I believe state leaders have the responsibility to work with researchers, universities, healthcare providers, and public health experts to better understand why Iowa continues to face such troubling trends. Most importantly, I believe we need more optimism. It's easy to criticize. It's easy to focus on what's wrong. Leadership requires seeing what could be. And when I look at Siouxland, I see enormous potential. I see a community that can attract investment, retain talent, solve problems, and can grow. And that's why I'm running, not because of what Siouxland is, because of what Siouxland has become. I look forward to continuing to work with city leaders, county leaders, business leaders, and citizens throughout this campaign and beyond, because regardless of politics, we all want the same thing, a stronger Sioux City, a stronger Siouxland, and a stronger future for our children and the next generations. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it.

Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else?

Hi, my name is Walter Campbell. I'm from Chicago, Illinois. I have an incident with the warming shelter. His name is Robert Newman. They was all here the last time. Robert Newman was a bully towards Bobby until I stepped in. Then to fast forward down, he stopped, he got the job, and one incident one night happened to where someone stole my food and I was arguing with the person. When he addressed the situation, he cuts off the light. He comes back there and he tells me I have to go. I told him I'm not going nowhere, call the police. He calls the police. He proceeds to push me three times and then steals on me. Hits me in my ass, rolls my eye up and walks away.

Then, as I'm trying to go get him and I turn to go towards the front, somebody else jumps behind me and chokes me.

Chokes me from Depart from right here, all the way until where their ramp is. He's choking me for a while. He choked me so long to the point to where I gave up and it was like, I guess this is fate. It is what it is. So I guess the police came, that's why he let me go. Long story short, they accommodated them and said that I hit them first. And... Yeah, that I hit them first and I'm trying to figure out why would they say I hit them first? So I wasn't a suicidian at the time. I let it go to the point to where as I knew that I had no win, so I had to become a resident and I had to wait until it's time for me to present this. I didn't even know you guys had a platform like this I would have been presented this a long time ago. So right now, I happen to go get the paperwork and the paperwork states that it was a disturbance. Now, this is not a disturbance. They covered this up. I have medical records stating the fact that I was hit in my eye. and everything. So I'm trying to figure out what can I do to get this man arrested because everybody covered it up and they also kicked me out. We did in December, kicked me out. So I have no way of fighting because I don't have no place to sleep, no place to go. So I had to, like I said, establish residency and it took me all the way to like November of 2024. Time is running out. When I look at my paperwork, it says a disturbance and it was an assault and a tip murder slash manslaughter depends on how the courts handle it. So they covered this up. So now I'm trying to get justice because everybody covered it up. We have about five officers, responding officers in the office. Yes, five responding officers and arresting officers. Smith B, I don't know which one's the arresting officer, but one of the officers didn't have his camera on. There was a video, they watched the video and they decided that I hit them first. So I went and got medical attention. So now I'm here trying to figure out what can I do to put this matter back in court because I want this man arrested. Because this man's supposed to be arrested. And all of them covered up a crime. from uh from shayla on down everybody who worked there in 2023 shayla uh lewis is the one that opened up the uh door for them for them to uh watch the camera um travis b and uh robert was the people who uh actually started then we got uh um who else Who else knew? The regular Travis, because I asked him, did he see the video? He said, yeah. Like, everybody, staff, what's her name, Ruth, all of them, they knew what happened, and they covered it up and didn't say nothing.

We're not going to solve your problem today.

Sir, I'm Captain Bertrand.

How you doing?

There's my card.

All right.

Do you want to wait around for me afterwards?

Sure. It's going to have to be a police matter. We don't. Thank you. We leave that to the police. All right.

But, yes, to speak on a warming shelter, these people are cruel and inhumane. They kick people out in the cold. They talk to people like they're children. Like, I don't understand why they have a tear issue.

I'm giving you about five minutes. Five minutes? Which is already, you're way over our three. So it's a police matter, and you're going to have to deal with the police. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else?

Good evening, my name is Zayden Raffet and I'm here to speak again against the continued expansion of flock cameras in Sioux City. Today I have brought a list of automated license plate readers being used for stalking in romantic cases. These cases go back all the way to 2021.

Are these local cases or national?

FLOCs use nationwide, so it should be nationwide that we're talking about. Because if it can happen anywhere else using the same system, why can't it happen here? What's stopping it from happening here? It's the same thing. So I want to start off by talking about Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. In 2021, Officer Michael McSherry pleaded guilty to stalking charges after using readers to track his estranged wife and other family members. In Kansas, I can't remember the town, it's K-E-C-H-I, don't know how to pronounce that, but the Lieutenant Victor Herrard pleaded guilty to computer crimes and stalking after using flight cameras to track his estranged wife. In Sedgwick, Kansas in 2023, Police Chief Lee Nehrard resigned after using flock cameras to track his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend over 200 times over several months. In Costa Mesa, California in 2023, Officer Robert Just used flock camera systems to track his mistress and her other romantic interests and pleaded guilty to multiple criminal charges in April of 2026. Riverside County, California in 2024, after being arrested for kidnapping his ex-fiance, Deputy Alexander Vanni allegedly used department's flock system to track one of her friends. In 2025, December, he was convicted of multiple charges in a jury trial. In Orange County, Florida, 2024, Officer Jamarius Brown allegedly used the automated license plate readers to stalk his girlfriend and her family more than 100 times over seven months. Brown was arrested and charged in 2025. Shelby County, Tennessee, Deputy Titus Gordon was relieved of duty after using an automated license plate reader database to track his ex-girlfriend's location more than 100 times. And in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 2025, Officer Jose Ayala allegedly used the department's network of flock cameras to track a woman he had been dating and her ex-partner for nearly 180 times over a two-month period. I know some of these might seem far removed, but it's the same system. And most of the same safeguards. An audit is not going to find things before they happen. What we can stop these crimes from happening is by removing the cameras entirely. So privacy is something we should not give away simply because Flock, a technology system, promises to use our data responsibly. So again, I urge the city to put the rights of residents first and reject further expansion of Flock cameras in Sioux City.

Thank you. Thank you for your comments, sir. If I could just make a couple comments and I guess rebuttal to what you said. There is a lot of. Cases cited, which most of them appear to be the misapplication of a tool to which, like if somebody were speeding in a car, we want to eliminate cars because there exists the opportunity to speed without safeguard. Now, certainly people can misapply a tool and use something beyond the rules or beyond the scope. Again, I just want to reiterate back again to the license plate readers as the Sioux City Police Department has interaction with them. They are in accordance with state and federal law. We adhere to all the Fourth Amendment requirements. We do not do real-time monitoring. We do not use facial recognition. We have robust department policies that speak to system use, oversight, and accountability measures. remind you that every single query that is put into the system is tracked. Penalties for misuse of the system are up to and including termination, which is the most serious penalty that we can have. The oversight for law enforcement agencies on data management, not only with license plate reader information, but all criminal justice information represents an unprecedented accountability, especially in comparison to what private businesses are allowed to do with your data. I can appreciate the recent concern about mass surveillance, especially with social media, but I would caution somebody who wants to truly escape a mass surveillance state you would need to get rid of your smartphone, cease to drive a modern vehicle, probably something after 2008, which are subject to telemetrics, and cease airline travel, which are now requiring identification and facial recognition. My agree to disagree moment with you, sir, is when we weigh out the what ifs, a possible abuse, mights and maybes, if you will, I weigh them against dozens of successful lawful use cases that highlight the effectiveness of the technology, including violent crime, including murder, child abuse, child sex abuse cases, and felony level property crimes. We have... a responsible use of this technology in this area, in this department, and it's proven to be successful. And I believe our citizens are demanding that law enforcement utilize these kind of things to more effectively investigate crime and bring dangerous people to account. Thank you.

I got a question. You said that I'm not trying to be argumentative. I've lost the argument. But you said our citizens are demanding that. You know, I got to tell you, I've never had a call from a citizen, and I think I get more than you do, saying, God, I wish we had more flock cameras. I've never had that call. So how is it that you know that our citizens want that and I don't? How is that?

Well, Mayor, that would assume that you've had the same conversations, you've been privy to all the conversations I've had. I've talked to dozens and dozens of people. in the industry, professionals that are working in a law enforcement role, and people outside that like the technology, want the technology.

They may not be here. Law enforcement, I'm sure you want it.

We have had people come to council and ask for it.

We've had people come to council.

Yes, our construction young man that keeps getting his vehicles and his equipment stole. I can't think of his last name.

That wasn't, well, okay.

Hogan, yeah. Okay. Right, and he actually said he would contribute financially, you know, to it, and he had friends in the business.

He had one guy, but anyway, you've had just as many people come and say they don't want him. So, I mean, I don't know. It's still a tough one for me because you can tell me all the controls you have, But sometimes those controls fail, and I hope they don't here, because if they do, it's going to be a real black eye for your department, I can tell you that. Citizens are not going to accept these unless they're used for policing only. That is the intent. I think it's I understand that's the intent, but I have to ask you can't tell me that there isn't a potential for what this gentleman just cited in our own department.

Yes, there is a mayor.

I think the word potential gets kind of it is tricky. I mean potential is interesting because it were we talking 99% potential or 1% potential and then again all those potentialities I'm weighing against them against successes and positive impact.

That's not the same. Not for me. If one person is stalked because of this in our department, that's one too many.

I agree.

Well, it is. You can't argue. You're saying you've got all these controls. You can't argue that because if you're a victim of stalking, especially by a police officer, That shakes the confidence of citizens in your department.

We've had medical agencies that have had breaches where they've lost sensitive health information. You've had some incidents.

I still trust... You've had some incidents, too. I still trust the medical... You have some. I'm not going to bring them up here today, but you've had some, too.

I still trust the medical agencies with my health care information. Well, I don't much. I still interact with banks, even though banks have been hacked and defrauded. Okay.

And we've had... You can make all that up, but you've had some... We'll talk about it later. You should have had controls on some of the things that have happened in your department and it didn't happen. I just want to make sure it does here.

Are there current restrictions on need to know or need to use basis of those that have access to the system?

Every query and use of the system is articulated for a purpose. It has to be purpose. If anyone were ever caught Randomly stalking a girlfriend or something inappropriate, they would be dealt with immediately. We recognize it's an important tool. We understand public trust. We understand we can't do our job without it. It's critical. It's key. But we would also be, I think, foolish and derelict to not apply and use new technology to better do our jobs and try to do it in a manner that's cost efficient to the city and citizens.

I pulled a query while I was sitting here. and asked how many cases have been reported out of the, um, there's 18,000 state and local law enforcement agencies who utilize it. Uh, the LPR technology license plate reader, not necessarily with the brand flock. Um, there've been 18 cases and he mentioned some of them that have been found by the agencies, and this is as reported by an investigation from the Institute of Justice. So does it happen? Yes. People are bad. They find ways to infiltrate systems. They sneak somewhere where they perhaps shouldn't be. It happens in every occupation there is, and some not even in occupations. I understand that. I take that very seriously for whoever's listening. But for me, the cases where lives have been saved and children have been taken out of trafficking situations of which we've had here locally, the LPR system brought a child back that was taken from South Sioux who was being sex trafficked by a parent. I'm sorry, but the safety of a child or a senior citizen or any citizen outweighs the risk of someone possibly, maybe, might, perhaps could use that data.

I'm sorry.

That's where my conviction for the system comes into play. One little child that they got her to Georgia and she was able to be brought back home. So that's how strongly I feel about it.

Captain, you know, you know, we've had in-depth conversations on this situation and we've been using these for how long now?

We're coming over, I think, two years plus now.

Two years. And so I think, you know, and I do appreciate, you know, citizen concerns and those things. I really do. we've had those conversations. But I think at this point, you know, we're just trying to, you know, stay on top of it. You know, the Sheriff's Department is also using them. So, you know, it's not like it's a new thing for Sioux City, but it's a thing that we're just enhancing and updating. And so I would lean to what Julia shared, you know, when we know that we can solve some of those issues and problems that, you know, that come before us, that's where I would have to lean to. I trust what you've put in place to safeguard those things. And I've said, I'll be the first one to say, hey, we gotta do something about this if we see that those things don't go the way we want them to go.

And we do appreciate the questions asked. Those measures keep everybody accountable. We keep things going in the right direction. So that type of oversight or challenge is welcomed.

There are very few absolutes in any decision that you make, that we make, and it invariably culminates in having to weigh the advantages and the disadvantages, the concerns and otherwise. And when it was presented to us earlier this year, We weighed those consequences. And to Julie's point, when you look at the real-life situations that have been resolved as a result of this technology and other, it becomes very real, very important. And we don't take your comments lightly. We really don't. I think we all recognize that situation can occur. We have to weigh the advantages and the disadvantages and ultimately make a decision.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Anyone else? Rick.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Real quick. My to-do list. Can we get an update on the demo list? We talked about that with Teresa before. Let's just see where we're at with the demo list and where we get left for funds. And we talked about maybe scraping up a few extra bucks. Right now we've got a little momentum. Great. We've got a little momentum going on to clean up right now and I think citizens are appreciating that we're for moving swiftly when it comes to some of these properties. Number two, also we talked about Mike, maybe July 1st, let's do an update, get us a list of criminal and civil penalty fee structure. I'd like to see when last time those were updated, where we kind of sit from a mean perspective with other surrounding communities or bigger communities. I think it's time to up the penalties. If you're doing bad things, it's time to hit the wallet a little harder. as a deterrent, please. Third, and we talked about this the other day, is the timing of this is really great, is we've got a consultant on board now with the new recruitment of the chief process. If you would present next week or the following week on where you're at in the process, I know you're gonna be the final decision, if you could give the public an update on what that process looks like. And again, this is an opportunity for the five of us to sit and to really put into the public arena what they are looking for with the new police chief. This is a once in 19 year opportunity. What direction we want to go as a community from a policing and what that next chief and candidates want to look like. So I'd really like a nice update there from you, Mike, would be fantastic. We also talked about the food truck and it's not going to affect this year, but I would like to see us put that an ordinance together on a fee structure on the food trucks that match the Omaha and the We talked about before we're good there and then I know Tom was in here earlier. I know we're getting closer to GMP with the wastewater treatment plant. It's I think it's very positive that some of the companies that were. that kind of got that lost out to Kiewit are starting to circle back around based upon some of Kiewit's performance in other communities so they're kind of making themselves available that they're willing to talk as this grow as this max price comes in and gives us some options as a council on what we want to do moving forward with dollars. Other than that, again, I want to applaud the police department. I think we're starting to feel a lot more presence in the communities. They're more visible. The response has been great, cleaning up some of the petty lawlessness, but I think the citizens are seeing and feeling a presence in the community, and I want to thank the guys for that and thank the field guys for that. Other than that, let's have a great week. I've got a second cut in the hay down in my Just had my graduation party with my daughter. That's done, so my wife is no longer a lunatic, and we're good. We're good.

Craig. Very quickly, I want to recognize the Art Center. They had a very nice reception over the weekend. Todd, Christopher, Summer, and Shannon did a great job. Nice turnout to recognize their new exhibit with the corn mural. So I want to recognize them, congratulate them. Next, a week from Tuesday, we'll be traveling to Omaha and Lincoln to look at some innovation centers. So we look forward to bringing back some data and some information. I know we've had questions as a council about what our innovation center will ultimately look like. And at our request, we've suggested that we tour some other facilities. So we're going to do that a week from Thursday. Also, a week from Thursday is the Downtown Partners annual meeting, so I would encourage anybody that's interested, if they're available, to attend that. They had a really nice employee recognition luncheon late last weekend, or last week. I want to recognize the team that put that. Jessica did a really nice job with her team and congratulate those employees of five years, 10 years, and beyond that were recognized for their contribution. Very nice event. Question, when are we gonna get the T-Town Ridge presentation and update? Mike, can you and I find some time this week to discuss the dialogue that we've been having regarding the Court Street property and the campus concept for our social services? So if you've got some time this week, and then I know you and I are gonna visit on some potential for some development on Kings Highway as well. That's it, thank you.

Absolutely. Thank you, Mayor. As always, I'm always appreciative of those that show up and engage with us as citizens. It's always appreciative. I want to... Craig mentioned the Arts Center exhibit. I just wanted to recognize the Arts Center for the great job that they did. And the fact that we did have people from outside the area visiting that, and that's just always good when we have things going on in Sioux City and we get those visitors from other states. You know, it had come up earlier, but I know that Mike, we kind of talked about it, we're gonna find out about those street lines next to Home Depot and that whole thing. I just want to say thank you to the guys, you know, they were cleaning the alley today over off of 4th and right there between Pearson and Nebraska. Just wanted to say thank you to them. They really did a good job and I know they don't always get the thank yous and so please pass that on to them.

Julie.

I think I said what I wanted to say today and it was about the license plate reading camera system. We need to do this. We need to support our citizens and our community. We need to make it as safe as we can possibly make it. This is a modern tool. It's not zeroing in on you, driving your car. We don't know what color your eyes are, your hair is. It's reading license plates at the flick of a camera. I just really want everybody to understand that. Checking what's in your car. It doesn't have the ability to do those kinds of things. I would like to see Sioux City get to the level of what's called a safe city. Communities around us are doing this. Sergeant Bluff is joining in. The county's joining in. Sheldon is already to that level. And what that does is it helps the city become safer by having these tools that we can track people's vehicles who come to our community, break our laws, and maybe they flee and we can enter their license plate into this and when they're seen in other cities or states, they're picked up. And when these criminals know that they're entering into a safe city because you can darn well believe we will advertise that we'll shout out to the rooftop if we get to that level that Sioux City is considered a safe city, they stay away from you because they know they have a higher probability of being caught. So I just really want to say that I support that. And I think I've stated my reason why. I'm sorry I got a little choked up, but I shouldn't apologize for that because I feel so strongly about it. Thank you.

I can't touch that. I'll move. We adjourn. Second.

Shainer? Aye. Scott?

Aye.

Berenstein? Aye. Bertrand? Aye. Rayford? Aye.