City Council - Regular Meeting

bring up issues that affect us. Good.

Aaron Steen.

Here.

Bertrand. Rayford.

Here.

Daynor. Scott.

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

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.

Items 2 through 11 seed will constitute the consent agenda. You can consider those items passed unanimously unless a separate roll call vote is asked for by a council member. Anybody wishing to speak on an item on the agenda, 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. I'll move the consent agenda. Second. Two is the reading of the city council July 6th council minutes. I should abstain. I wasn't here, but we don't have a quorum if I do, so we'll just move on. Three is a motion reappointing Michelle Boston-Ellis to the Planning and Zoning Commission and Board of Adjustment for a five-year term. Upon due consideration of the circumstances, the City Council waives a policy that no person should serve more than two consecutive terms. Four is a resolution approving a project concept plan for the Big Sioux River Levee Extension. That item's been asked to be deferred for a week. I'll move that. Second.

Bertrand? Rayford?

Aye.

Scott?

Aye.

Berenstein? Aye.

Six is a resolution awarding a purchase order to Trojan Technologies for 16 Trojan Sigma UVA replacement parts and Sigma sleeve replacement kits. Six are actions relating to grants. A is a resolution authorizing the police department to accept the 2024 Patrick Leahy, Leahy, Leahy, can't even say it, Leahy, Bulletproof Vest Program, funds to purchase body armor. B is a resolution authorizing the police department to accept a 2025 bulletproof vest partnership program funds to purchase body armor. Seven are actions relating to street closures. A is a resolution temporarily closing Cook Street from West 6th to West 7th on October 1st for the Can Do Kids Backpack Giveaway. B is a resolution temporarily closing various streets in the downtown area on July 25th for the historic 4th Street Classic Car Show and Cruise. C is a resolution temporarily closing various streets in the downtown area on July 29th to accommodate the Rivercade Parade and Staging Area. Eight are actions relating to agreements and contracts. A is a resolution approving a services agreement with NEOGOV for benefits administration and human resource information system services for a period of three years with two one-year options to extend. C is a resolution. I'm sorry. B is the resolution.

Mayor, before you move on, can I ask a question on 8 ? Janet, you have this? The question I've got is on the field gov votes, year one is at $48,000, year two is at $41,000, and year three jumps to $82,000. Can you explain the increase?

My name is Janet Fuller. I'm the HR benefits manager. The reason that's changing on year three is we're also adding what's called e-forms. So it's another level to their product offering, and it allows us to capture all of our data electronically so we don't have to print out 100 different forms and get them all completed. So it just allows everything to be done electronically.

Then you note in the financial impact that there's about a $10,000 savings over three years. That's not per year. That's $10,000 over the course of the three-year contract? Correct.

The first two years have $20,000 savings each, and then we implement the e-forms.

So then what's the quote for the two-year extension?

Those are just open for negotiation. We didn't get quotes on those.

So there's really not an option with a price. It's just the option to extend based upon a quote? Okay. Thanks.

B is... Resolution approving amendment number one to the Consulting Services Agreement with JEO Consulting Group in connection with the Big Sioux River Levee Extension Project. In light of deferring the other one, should this not be deferred as well? Would make sense to me, but nothing makes sense to me anymore, so I thought I'd ask the question.

Gordon Ferris, City Engineer. Yeah, it would make sense to also defer this. Thank you. I'll move that. Second.

Rayford.

Aye.

Shaner? Aye. Scott?

Aye.

Berenstein?

Aye.

Bertrand? Aye.

Stay up here, Gordon, because I got one on this one. C is a resolution approving a consulting services agreement with Snyder and Associates for the Morningside Avenue corridor study. We did one of these on the other side of Morningside Avenue, and it kind of fell flat on its face. So what are we going to gain by this traffic? I know Dakin is here anxiously awaiting to get to work on it, but that's not a good enough reason for me. How old are the utilities in this stretch?

In this stretch, they're about 130, 135 years old. The sewer is in the water main. It's a 10-inch water main. We've been very lucky so far. any major breaks in it, but have we had some? We've had some, but not a huge amount, no. Not during this stretch. So is this going to go like Riverside Boulevard, where you're going to try to make it a three-lane? That's a possibility. We're looking at everything on this, not just three-lane. We want to see what the public wants there and see what's best to accommodate our future in the whole area.

Did you bid this work, or because it's quality-based, you're not required to bid it?

We didn't bid it, but we did ask for qualifications, and we reviewed, I think there was two or three, and then we took and we entered negotiations with that first one. They were the highest-ranked one.

Okay.

He has a resolution approving a modification to the Military Construction Cooperative Agreement with the National Guard Bureau to add additional funding for the warm-up holding pad technical appendix in Connectional Runway 1331 and 185th Apron Reconstruction Project at the airport. He has a resolution approving Appendix 3 to the memorandum of agreement with the Iowa Department of Public Defense for the warm-up holding PAD project in connection with runway 1331 and the 185th apron reconstruction project at the airport and rescinding resolution 2026-0612. F is a resolution awarding and approving a contract to Halstein Escavating for the Siouxland Nexus Program Volume 5 tanker warm-up and holding pad project at the airport.

Mayor, can I ask a question? So I know that DE, F, and G all correlate to the same project. I know that this is part of a much bigger project with the 185th. The Holstein contract is about $11 million. It's a little bit more than the engineer's estimate. What I'm curious about is how we're going to continue to manage these projects and phase them I know that the Chamber of Commerce is actively involved in helping lobby and generate additional funds. Well, it doesn't need to necessarily hold up what we're reviewing today. Can we get an update? I know part of that within the presentation that was made 60 days ago, but I think it would just be helpful to get some additional commentary. I know there's been some positive and some negative with regard to where we think we are with generating the additional funds that are necessary. And we're talking 100 to $150 million.

um so if we could get an update on that that'd be great uh yeah so i think right now the defendant's back in session now so we're hoping uh here within the next month and then hopefully if they finalize a bill we'll know something you know by september okay and then could we just get maybe a summary on how we're going to phase the various projects including I THINK THE PHASING WILL DEPEND ON HOW THE FUNDING COMES. THIS ONE WAS SCHEDULED TO BE LAST AND WE'RE DOING IT FIRST.

I THOUGHT THIS WAS A LATER PROJECT.

IT WAS, BUT THEY APPROVED THE FUNDING FOR THIS PROJECT AND NOT THE OTHERS. SO IT REALLY DEPENDS. WHAT'S THAT?

SWITCHING AROUND.

YOU'RE COMFORTABLE THAT THIS IS significantly more, 10% more than the engineer's estimates. You're okay with this?

It is. And I'm okay with it because the military is okay with it. So we had a phone call with National Guard Bureau and that's the reason for the two modifications because they increased the funding. Thank you.

G is a resident. What's that? I don't know. Do you go, anybody from the guard want to talk or? I appreciate the opportunity to speak.

So first of all, I just want to say thank you. All the projects with Siouxland Nexus are a huge, tremendous future for the White Fifth and the airport in Sioux City. The response we get from the local, the state, and the national levels has been incredible. A couple questions you asked. Why is it higher? The $11.8 is where our final dollar amount is. And the Bureau has provided the full $11.8. We have that in hand locally. The phasing of the projects did change things tremendously. We planned on chewing up the concrete from the runway and using it as some of the fill out there. We had to buy things that we would not have had to buy. That has to do with the phasing. But again, Siouxland Nexus is two things. It's really all the projects. It's the runway. It's the ramp and the extensions and everything we've been talking about. But it's really the people behind it. And I just want to say thank you to the council and everybody else that's made this possible because it's truly buying us a really great future.

Name for the record, please. We need your name for the record. Sure. Colonel Sean Streck, sir. Thank you.

Any questions? No, thank you. Thank you.

I have the resolution approving work order number 2023-20 for RS and HI for the volume 5 warm-up holding pad project tied to the runway 1331 and 185th apron reconstruction project at the airport. I'm going to move to defer at the request of the legal department HI and J for one week. Second.

Boehner. Aye. Scott.

Berenstein aye Bertrand Rayford aye my interactions relating to personnel a is a resolution suspending the requirements of the Iowa code for hiring of employees in the police department for one year Mayor I would like to ask a question on that one.

I Know that last year when the police department came and asked for this item was serving on the civil service. I remember wondering, would we be able to go back and look to see how the vacancies look versus last year versus this year? If you know what they were last year to this year, how are we looking with those current vacancies?

Rex Mule, Police Department. Councilman, right now we're actually hiring less than our vacancies to give our field training program a bit of a rest. So for one thing, obviously we want to hire the best candidates, which is what we always endeavor to do in any process, and this has facilitated that. But I don't have the numbers in front of me, if that's something you're curious about. You've had the benefit that the other council members have of us discussing this in civil service and why the transition. uh... but uh... right now uh... more than anything we're trying to not overtake our program meaning that we have too many people in the training program kind of exhaust our field training officers. So we're getting up there. We're at a good level. We're going to continue with the council's blood test in this manner. And that way, as you're aware, we used to have, you know, a few years ago it would have been a two-year list. And so we were missing people that came out of the two-year colleges or that entered the workforce by One of the positive byproducts of doing this is that as we need a new list, we move to immediately start creating a new group of eligible candidates, and it's worked really well, and a lot of other communities have followed suit. And as you know, the checks and balances that would have, I mean, nepotism, things like that, as you're aware, we have a lot of checks and balances, not only before hiring, but after hiring and through the training process to make sure that candidates are properly screened.

Okay, yeah, and that was where I was going with that. I didn't know if this was going to become the new normal.

I think statewide it will. We're going to come back to you every year if we see a downside. I'll definitely disclose that. But just currently with hiring and the way and the not dynamic way that law enforcement hiring is happening, I just don't see a downside. I think it's been positive for the city and for the department. And again, any concerns of

The new process we're happy to answer to this council and the Civil Service Commission to make sure everybody's comfortable with the way it functions Chief this isn't directed necessarily at the request under 9a probably more to 9b and I don't know if Janelle or Janet want to maybe address this the question I've got is this is the third or fourth time that we've been asked to waive the rules. And I think it needs to be more of the exception than the rule to waive the rules because there's a reason there's a civil service process, right? I have no problem with what we approved prior. I have no problem approving this. And theoretically, I don't think I have a problem with 9B, but in the description of the request to waive the rule, or suspend the rule for 9b it was that you were not able to attract parks and rec applicants and you were losing that opportunity within say three weeks and and i'm not suggesting that we don't need to suspend if you've got to get good candidates you want to get good cans you want to be able to respond but it's not unusual to be applying and applying elsewhere and go through a two or three week process so i'm not opposed to approving 9b under the consent agenda but i want to make sure that we're using this opportunity to spend the rules for the right reasons.

Janelle Bertrand, Human Resources Director. I will probably have Parks and Rec discuss their specific vacancy, but I can speak globally with the reason that the waiver was in place. It is because the list is good for one year, and you're making a hire. Say you certified the list in October, you could be making a hire in May, so the person is confused as to why that's happening. You may not have any people on the list. It's to keep the list current, to get an active applicant pool that departments can move through the hiring list quicker instead of sitting on that same list for a year. My department and I have put safeguards in place such as any department that has a waiver is required to sit through mandatory training on interviewing. I've also required that a human resources staff be a panel member when they sit in on the interview. And departments have to justify to me why they want to post again. They have to show that they have interviewed everybody on the list. You can't just look at the list, interview let's just say three of the five and move on. They have to make an effort to talk to everyone and document why those people are not the appropriate hire.

It's helpful with that explanation, Janelle, because you're giving the guardrails around the rule and the suspension of the rule, so that helps.

Right. And we as an organization chose to bring them up department-wide or department-specific. Instead of doing a blanket request, we chose to do it by department.

Thank you. Yep. Appreciate that by department, too.

Visa resolution spending the requirements of the Iowa Code, the hiring of employees in the Parks and Rec Department for one year. 10 are applications for alcohol license. 11 are boards commission and committee minutes. This is the end of the consent agenda. We'll vote when we're ready. Asset 5012 is a hearing resolution approving plans and specs for the Hamilton Boulevard resurfacing project. I'll move that.

Is there a second?

Second. The public hearing is now open. Is there anyone to be heard? Seeing none, the hearing is closed. Passes 5-0-13 to hearing resolution accepting a proposal of Siouxland Youth Hockey Association for lease of land in the Donner Park Urban Renewal Area, the property located at 3808 Stadium Drive for the IBP Ice Center Shooting Shed. Staff recommends a deferral until July 27th. I'll move that.

Second.

from the staff or from them guys?

Huh?

That can speak to it. I think that's what this ain't slowing them down, is it?

Matt Salvatore, Parks and Recreation director. We're just waiting on a certificate of insurance from USA Hockey. I don't. There's some hold up with that. As soon as we get it, they'll be able to move forward. Good project.

5-0-14's building permits update. Let's go, guys.

Harold Bullock, Inspection Services Manager. You can see the report has come out again for residential and commercial. If you have any questions specifically, please ask away. One of the things that we've noticed recently, there's been an uptick in the commercial side of it, requesting sit-downs, which I think is great, projects before the applications are even sent in, permits are even sent in, to be able to go through and make sure they're complete as can be done. So it's a good move.

Go ahead.

Marty Doherty, Economic Community Development Director. Just an update real quick. We've been hard at it in the software implementation effort. As I said before, there's two sides to it. There's planning and engineering, which relates to the site plan review, basically. And the other part is the permitting, building permitting part, which, of course, Daryl is involved in. So we have these two tracks going on. We've been spending many hours... in discovering probably a lot of things that we could have been doing different with the software we had and then implementing that, improving the process and going forward. It's going to take a lot of work yet to get everything adjusted and changed over to the new software and then everyone trained on it. So we're right in the middle of that right now. That's the best I can tell you.

So what do you think the time frame is, Marty?

Well, longer than we thought, in all honesty. And we had a meeting this morning with the consultant to talk about that. How can we do to speed that up? And Mike, your thoughts on it. But we're hopeful that we're going to have another meeting tomorrow morning. And on the planning side of it and identified the staff people who are the most critical to be part of that and not have too many people involved in it until we get to the training part of it.

Marty, what are some of the things that you're running into as far as issues or problems learning?

I don't know if it's problems so much as maybe we haven't in the past taken full advantage of the capacity that the software has. in terms of things that we do it this way manually or we could have been doing it more efficiently in terms of the capabilities of software. Things have changed over the years. People have changed. The people that first implemented that are not here anymore. And we're learning a lot about that. And honestly, it's a little painstaking going through the process of item by item. Why do you take so many days to do this? Or why do you notify? people in that manner? Is there a way that we can? This is where I struggle here. The codes that go into making up the software are tied to the data that we have and You want to take a shot at that?

Sure, I'd be happy to. It's complicated. Our predecessors activated as much as they needed to on the programs to make them function for what they needed at that time. Unfortunately, a lot of the communications and a lot of the parts that needed to be in place so that one thing would read off of another, read off of another. It's one of the frustrations we've had over the years of not being able to get reports printed out quickly and see, you know, measure our are efficiencies and deficiencies, quite frankly, both. And all those things are going to take a lot of time. One of the things that have been frustrating for me, and I'll just give an example, it's going to take a long time to get it fixed. But once it gets fixed, it's going to save us an incredible amount of wage dollars down the road. rental permits for instance rental permits every single year we have to manually go in and change every single permit and we're talking thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of properties and it takes about three to four screens to go through manually on each and every one of those so the amount of staff time to do that is is is huge it should have never been under the permit side it should have been under the business license side We're finding those things out, all those little things. Contractor files, being able to have those information in there for the permitting process. There's a lot of things that will tie together that will make it much more efficient. Unfortunately, it's going to delay our time in getting it set up and running. We want to do it right. We don't want to force it this time just to make some reports quick. Ultimately, we started this thing to be able to do online permits, let's face it. That was the biggest thing we wanted to do was be able to make payments online and submit permits online. blowing into this much larger project, unfortunately, that will take us more time. But I think in the long run, it's well worth the investment of time to get it right.

Do you think that this will be the right product that we have versus getting down the road and saying this may not even be what?

You know, if you'd asked me that question a month ago, I'd have probably had a completely different answer than I have today. I think today I'm drinking the Kool-Aid. He wants more training. I'm like, what? Well, I don't want to fall in that same trap that we fell into decades ago. And I don't want to see us fall into that trap. We've got a lot of financial investment into this. We're going to have a lot of wage dollars invested in this. And I want it to be a good product for many, many years to come. And I think we're there with the right product. We just have to get the right information in the right places to be able to do that.

Do we have our IT department working in conjunction with? Oh, absolutely.

Oh, absolutely, yeah. We have several meetings, mostly at least once or twice a week. We have three- to four-hour meetings with them, getting our business plan in place on how this is going to function, how all these things tie together, so that when you're reading this, it pulls information from everywhere. This is not just going to span just the building department and the engineering department and the planning and zoning departments. We're going to include fire in this. We're going to include a lot of other areas where all that information comes into one place. Plus, it's going to allow the public to be able to view their case online as well so they can see where the progress is. It might just be a building permit. It might be the nuisance case, for instance. They can go in there and see what it was and what the inspector's notes have got. on the case as well. So it's going to be a lot more open to the public. So we don't want errors. We want it right so when the public's looking at it, they're not going to get frustrated and just walk away.

This is going to sound crazy to you, but actually the process we're going through, step by step, item by item, they're asking, why do you do it this way? Well, maybe we don't have a great reason. Maybe there's a different way we could do it and we should have been doing it. But it's painstaking because you're going through every single code, every single line of the way in which the software is written. And customizing it to us doesn't seem to me like there should have to be that much customizing because you would think approval of a building permit or whatever is a pretty standard practice. But given the city, the history of it, and all the data that's in there, and The processes that we've followed in the past, it's becoming clear to us that what we need to do, it's just taking a long time. And you can't take away, we don't have big staffs, can't take them away from their everyday job at the same time. And that's the only concern that I would have is that we keep doing this while we're doing everything else we're doing, as you can see on those weekly reports. about how many permits or how many approvals take place or are pending at any given time. We don't want to stop that at the same time.

Marty, with the complexity and the length that you're seeing, do you have a concern? I don't want to put an idea in anybody's mind, but identified a consultant and advisors that are working on a project with you. Any fear that you're going to come forward with this change order?

That's not the plan.

That's the right answer.

Yeah, I don't think so.

Honestly, I'm not a big consultant fan in the first place. I think you've got experts in place that need to do their job, and give us the opportunity to do it, and we'll do it.

So briefly, real quick, Darrell, first of all, compliment you personally. You are a big chunk of grease that is keeping the wheel moving right now when it comes to the field, the bridge between the field and the permitting. But are you getting tired of the phone calls, of having to be the grease? So my question to you is, and this is respectfully to the people that are there, I feel the residential side of it, that individual is making more decisions and pushing the stuff through. I'm still a little concerned on the commercial side of it that we're having to go in there and say, you know, why do I have to take the phone call? Why do you got to take the phone call? Is it a fear of I'm not of, you know where I'm going? Is this fear of I'm not doing my job right? Or at some point it's like, is that department, is that employee being retrained to a point to say, open your mind up and

get it to the field yeah we're getting we're getting back you're pushing it but yeah that's exhausting and i'm not sure that a council member and a department head needs to be involved in yeah you know what i mean it's a lot of work for you yeah i don't think we're 100 there yet i mean i'm being very honest yeah i don't think we're 100 there yet even obviously but i think we're we're making strides and there's a lot more because you're getting done well i mean there's a lot more communication too that's happening from from that from that end as well coming to me and getting to the direction of which direction. And we are making strides. We're not there yet, obviously, but we are making progress.

Thank you. But, I mean, you know where I'm going. Absolutely. Yeah. At some point, it's like, hey, man, get into the field. Okay.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. My name is Milton Carter. I'd like to ask him some questions. Okay, like... Name, please. My name is Milton Carter. I'm from Sioux City. Okay, every time I come to this meeting, y'all always making, what, y'all about 5% now, maybe 10? Because, you know, something, what y'all talking about now, y'all should have been had it done. Okay? Why don't you get some little ITAC students come in there and hook up your computers so you can be back where everybody else is at. Because what y'all doing now, y'all milking the kitty. Okay. See, this stuff, what you're talking about now, from last year to now, it should have been done. See? But every time y'all come in, y'all making fries. But the fries ain't making nothing. Y'all ain't telling nobody nothing, how the fries been made, or what's going on with the fries, but nothing. Y'all just making fries. In your mind, you're doing good. But out here, y'all doing bad. See? Because nobody know what you're doing. People want to know what you're doing. Doing that, we making fries. And we learn to understand the computer like this and that and other. Get some people in there who understand the computer for you. So you can do what you got to do. Because what y'all doing now, y'all milking the kitty.

I mean, I'll say, I think Marty and Daryl, they're very transparent about this process. We've talked about the permitting and the inspection and the oversight and the direction of this council has been that we want to see modification and process. I think Marty and Daryl and their teams have been very candid, very forthright about progress that they're making. It may be a little bit delayed, and I think that's to both of their frustration and their team's frustration as well. But I think they've been very candid, and I think we're working towards a good solution.

But still, when they come in, at least put something on the table so everybody can understand that we didn't have naked fries. See? Because what they're doing now don't make no sense to me, probably nobody out here. It don't make no sense to me.

Well, if you haven't ever taken out a building permit, it probably doesn't make sense, but it's not a process that happens overnight.

I know building permits, all that, take time. It's a process. I know all this.

Well, it takes time to computerize stuff that hasn't been computerized. I don't think anybody's sitting here. Let me finish now. I'd like to talk.

Go ahead. My fault. Okay.

I don't think anybody sitting here thought this was going to happen in two or three months. They're making progress, especially in the home area. That's a big step. I'm not involved with it. Rick's involved more than I am, but I don't think there's a disappointment on their part of how it's happening. At the end of the day, what we're trying to do is become more user-friendly. You may not like that they don't speak in terms that everybody understands, But unless you had to take out a building permit, you're not going to understand it.

And I appreciate what you're saying, sir. The time that we're trying to improve the process, at the same time, we're also working with builders and developers and issuing permits every day and doing what we've always done and trying to ensure safety for the public and for the homeowner or the property owner. And we're still doing all that. At the same time, we're trying to improve the process and take a long-term view that Sioux City will be an easy place to develop and get a permit, but at the same time we're protecting the public safety and ensuring that the rules are followed. So I wish we could go faster, we're trying as fast as we can. And I appreciate your point of view, I do. I've seen you at a lot of the meetings, I know you've been listening to this. But we are at the same time every day doing our job of people who are reviewing building plans and site plans and all that. We didn't stop doing that because of this. Does that make sense? Okay, okay.

Thank you. Thank you, guys.

Thanks, guys.

Council members, you should have week 32 and 33 would have been the most recent information pulled from the HART team. They continue to do a good job. One of the things I have encouraged them to do, though, is identify frustrations. They've got barriers, but I want them to let me know where they run into barriers so that we can help them remove those barriers. And so they have a meeting tomorrow. They have a weekly meeting. And if there's anything that you want me to pass on to the HART team, the HART group, tomorrow's meeting, please let me know. Otherwise, hopefully those discussions will occur. I want them to be effective, and as they address barriers, they seek guidance or assistance from us so that they can overcome those barriers. But still remains relevant. Obviously, we know that, and we predicted this, we talked about this, The change in weather would have a change in issues, and we have seen things change a little bit. Cook Park has become a bit more of a problem with activity, and so we've seen some movement, and the HART team has appropriately identified that, and they're working to address that. Obviously, one of the bigger frustrations with cleanups becomes private property, so that's still an issue is trying to work with private property owners to help with encampment.

I have one and it's not your fault from what I understand from talking to Daryl. It's the legal department's fault, but as long as it's even sitting here. I think I know what you're saying. There's a car been on Market Street now for at least a month and a half. It is so full of garbage. It's garbage over the top, big bags of cans. If that were in my front yard, you would tag my house. But because it's on a car, our legal department says we can't do anything. If that's the case, an ordinance needs to be written. Drive by it, guys. It's embarrassing for this city.

I've seen it.

We've addressed the occupants. We've tried to deal with it because obviously if it's a vehicle that doesn't move, we can address it that way. Officers have been in contact. They have subsequently moved the vehicles. But you're right, Mayor. It's not acceptable. No, ma'am.

You wouldn't let me have that in my front yard. That car is sitting in my front yard. You would be there telling me to, but because he parks it on a public street, it makes no sense to me.

Somehow he's moving it every 24 hours.

I don't care. I don't get it.

We're aware of it. I know you are.

That's why I'm bringing it up to Stephen so he can figure out how to take care of situations like that. Neighbors should not have to live with that in their front yard. So anything else for Hart?

Chief, since you're here, I was going to bring this up during council concerns, but since you're up, Mike, can I get an update? I sent a memo, an email to you and about seven other people, including the chief on visiting about a campus concept to address the homeless and transient population issues, many of which Rick has raised as well. Can I get an update? That doesn't need to be tonight. Can I get an update on the discussions? Jill, I know is part of that. Marty and Renee were part of that. Can we just get an update? Thank you. No, chief, you're going to give us data too on the...

Yep, just got it today.

I think I copied everybody. I'm going to get the radius data again around Nebraska Street and all that up in there. Just to get an update on what kind of activities. It's getting better. We'll acknowledge it if it isn't.

One of the things, though, I'll caution you, depending on how we run the data, we might not have comparative data. So I haven't had a chance to look at that, but I'll send it to you in its rare form. If crime analysis has any comments for me, I'll provide those to you so you can at least know where they're coming from. We're sometimes limited by what we can draw from our systems as far as reports. But as always, they're going to work their tail off for you to get your information. Thank you.

All right, citizen concerns.

Hello, I'm Lilian Rodriguez, and I'm here today with Carlos Hurtado and Olga Guevara. And we wanted just to inform you about Mexico en el Corazon. It's a folklorical group that we brought last year, and these dancers are from my hometown Guadalajara in Mexico. And they are about 80 dancers, and it was a great success. So I'm going to have Carlos to talk a little bit about it, and then Olga is going to finish the details. Thank you.

Hi, as Lilian mentioned, my name is Carlos Hurtado. So Mexico en el Corazon is coming back for the second year. It's their 12th year on an international tour. They've performed on over 40 cities across the U.S. and Canada. They've performed at Mount Rushmore, performed at Millennium Park in Chicago, Times Square in New York. So we're delighted to have them come back this year. Hopefully we can see all of you there on August 30th at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. It would be a free event at the Orphan Theater.

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Olga Guevara, and I am the executive director for Unity in Action. We are the host organization for this magnificent event, and I'm just going to read our press release here. Unity in Action is proud to welcome the internationally acclaimed Mexico en el Corazon 2026 to Sioux City for a free cultural performance at the Historic Orpheum Theater Sunday, August 30th at 3 p.m. As one of the premier cultural exchange initiatives between Mexico and United States, Mexico in the heart, Mexico en el Corazon, will travel to communities across the country throughout August and September. The 2026 tour brings world-class performers and vibrant celebrations of Mexico, Mexico's rich artistic and cultural heritage to the Siouxland community. Audiences will experience an unforgettable afternoon featuring timeless music of legendary Mexican composer, José Alfredo Jiménez. The production will showcase colorful dances and cultural traditions from the states of Durango and Jalisco. And this highlights the regional heritage of Mexico. In addition to the musical and dance performances, attendees will witness a remarkable demonstration of the Mayan ball game, one of the oldest and most significant cultural traditions of Mesoamerica. This ancestral exhibition offers a unique opportunity to learn about the history, symbolism, and enduring legacy of indigenous civilizations. The event is free and open to the public, and community members of all ages and backgrounds are encouraged to attend. Once again, Sunday, August 30th, 3 p.m., Orphan Theater, and it's, of course, free. So you all have an invitation. I'm also here to pass our impact report from 2025, just kind of gives you some stats of what occurred last year with this event. So Bob, Mayor Scott, thank you for attending last year, and we hope to see you again this year.

Thank you. Thanks for your presentation. Just a couple of things. Let us know what we can do to help. I know you had a chance to visit with Reagan. before the meeting started. And I think we'd all encourage you to visit with Stacey Anderson and her team at Explore Siouxland. I think they'll be a really nice resource for you to do some co-marketing, some co-branding of the city and the event itself. And I look forward to seeing the t-shirt that says New York City Times Square and Chicago Millennium Park and Sioux City Orpheum Theater.

Absolutely. We'll be reaching out to her. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you. Good luck. And I would add that it's a great show, having worked with it last year. Phenomenal opportunity for Sioux City, and it's exciting to have it back again.

Yes, thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Robin Shiro. I live at 311 East Washington Street in Elk Point. Today I'm here because I'm the secretary of the Sioux City Lions Club, and I'm asking for your help. I contacted your environmental specialist to ask if we could go ahead and have a cleanup street in Sioux City. Because most of our members are over 65, on the average and not able to do hills and things like that, we wanted to see if we could have a street that maybe was more level and also that's safe because a lot of them are 65 years old. Some of them are even walkers and probably will help us in that case. I want to give you some information.

People have wanted to do that for six months. No kidding.

Six months.

Get over it.

Thank you.

So I've been trying to work with your environmental specialist on this issue because, like I stated, we need specific requirements. We had asked if the Cheyenne Boulevard might be an issue. We went out and looked in your community and saw that there was no sign on that area. And it seemed like it was a safe area for us and maybe flatter for those of us that need it. But in working with your environmental specialist, she stated that somebody already had that area. And so we're looking to find an area if it is taken. It didn't have a sign on it. And she said maybe it's a church. Usually churches do have signs. So I guess I'm just looking for your help to find an area that might be a safe area. and flat area for the Lions Club to help.

That might be the easiest request we have all day.

Is it?

Absolutely.

Well, that's why I knocked your sign over, sorry.

I am familiar with your request for the Cheyenne Boulevard. Okay. And if there's just another area. It is taken, and I believe it was taken by someone who doesn't care to have a sign up to have it made public. And I can't say that it's a church, but And we can appreciate that.

It's just that she's not excited to work with us to find another area.

Oh, she very much is. She expressed to me she'll be more than happy to help.

Well, when I left my message with her, that's not what I heard back. So I guess, you know, I'm looking for your help to encourage her to help us find one.

I'll follow up with her as well.

That's a flat one.

I've already thought of something for you. Good.

And then I just wanted to, I know the last time I was here I mentioned about the Pierce Mansion and volunteering for that. And I just want to let you know that there's been two issues with the Pierce Mansion since then. One of them is we went ahead and worked with, I'm a master gardener and I worked with the wild ones to do their, what they consider to be volunteer hours required by the University to keep your continuing education hours for Master Gardener was to have the wild ones do the landscaping there and pruning of trees and shrubs. And I know that they're what they consider to be. They do things different. We do things in certain forms to keep them so that they grow and they have more light and different things. And so I scheduled it with, I talked to everybody that's our volunteers there, and I scheduled it with the Wild Ones, and then somebody at the Pierce Mansion canceled it. So since I was here, I worried that maybe it's because I made a comment and wanted your help that maybe they We're now discouraging things like that. I no longer receive the emails as a volunteer since I spoke here. So I'm wondering, is this like a whistleblower thing that when somebody comes forward to your city council that then they are taken off the volunteer list because they wanted your help? I mean, that's what it feels like to me in both of those areas. So if you could check into those, that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time. Again, since I was a county commissioner, I appreciate all that you do. Thank you.

Thanks, Robin. Anyone else?

Good evening, Council, Mayor.

My name is Jeremy Harrison. I serve as president of the New Sioux City Community Development Initiative. And over the past several days, I have been speaking directly with residents uh, throughout our community on the North side, West side, uh, Morningside area. And I've been asking them a simple question. Um, I've been asking them as the city moves forward with the process of selecting the new police chief, uh, do you believe that the citizens should have an opportunity to provide input before that decision is finalized? And the responses that I received from those conversations that I had, or what I would like to share with you this evening. So the first thing that I found that was surprising to me is I had asked people whether they would like to have a more aggressive police force here. And with that question, this city is actually genuinely split. 38% of the people said yes, and 40% of the people said no. And 22% said only in specific areas or specific situations. You know, there's no clear preference for one approach over the other. You know, the city is divided, and divided almost exactly down the middle. So if residents themselves aren't unified on tactics, that raises the obvious question, who should decide? And that's where the third question I ask becomes the whole point of standing here today. I ask the citizens, Would you support a public engagement process before the next chief is actually hired for Sioux City? And 98% of those citizens that I spoke to said yes. 98% of the people who took the time to listen to what I had to say and actually sign on to my petition are telling this council the same thing in one voice. That we don't need you to guess what we want, just ask us. When I asked residents what they actually cared about, violent crime came up the most, followed by homelessness, community relations was next, and then mental health in that order. It was not one issue, but a cluster of issues that point to a chief who can hold enforcement and social services together at the same time, not one or the other. So here's my request. Before the council and city manager finalize a decision on the next chief of police, I respectfully request that the council conduct a formal public engagement process. It could be a citywide survey, open forum, whatever format that you guys choose, so that the direction of this department reflects the priorities of the people it serves. It's not a request to tie the council's hands on who gets hired. It's just a request to make sure that whoever gets hired, it's hired with the community's voice already in the room. THE PETITION HAS SHOWN THAT THERE IS ACTUALLY REAL CITIZEN INTEREST IN HAVING THEIR INPUT CONSIDERED. AND IF THIS COUNCIL COMMITS TO THAT PROCESS, I BELIEVE HUNDREDS MORE ACROSS THE CITY WILL SAY THE SAME THING. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU.

CAN I ASK HOW MANY PEOPLE YOU SURVEYED?

I GOT UP TO, I THINK IT WAS 53. IT WAS A SHORT PROCESS. I HAD LIKE FOUR DAYS. I WANTED TO TRY TO GET IT DONE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

I THINK A PUBLIC SURVEY IS NOT A BAD IDEA. WE CAN DISCUSS IT IN I think we may have time to be able to put something like that together that people can easily just do it from their home because a lot of times they can't get here or they don't have time or they're working or whatever and a lot of times just being able to answer a survey questionnaire on your phone or from your tablet will work a lot better.

That's perfect. Jeremy, I've got a quick question or comment and a question. Mike, isn't there a community input aspect to the hiring phases? There is.

We're intending to have individuals on a community panel that represent different demographics and populations of the community that have been community leaders that we know we will go to as part of the process as well.

Okay, awesome. And my question is, can you give me a little bit of background? Who or what is the new Sioux City Development Initiative?

Yes, of course. So the organization just focuses on research and advocacy, community issues, economic development, just trying to look for ways and opportunities that we can help Sioux City grow and just taking advantage of opportunities that we have to make Sioux City better.

Thank you. Yep.

Jeremy, is it safe to say that what you've seen here in the last few months, though, this isn't a reflection of any other council, that this council, all five of us, are extremely transparent in this process. The conversations that we're having, sometimes painful, sometimes not. And even the beginning of this process, we've started to talk through the hiring of the chief. I think it's been extremely transparent and inviting feedback from the public. And I know that the feedback just... walking through Walmart and Menards and everything else has been extremely positive, I think, to all of us that they appreciate that we're asking for feedback.

Yes, 100%, 100%.

And when you get the feedback, sometimes you've got to be careful what you, the answer you get. But maybe it's just I'm a magnet for it, but the feedback I get, it's that people are ready, they want, they want to feel safe, like you said. They want to feel safe in the community. They want to do commerce in this community freely and safely, so. It's just a great conversation. Thanks for what you're doing.

There's people that agree with that, and there's people on the other side. It's just throughout me having conversations with people, I've just seen that the city is kind of really split on that. There's people on both sides. So that was just interesting information that I was able to gather, and I just felt like I should share it with the council. Sure.

Thank you. Yep.

Cindy Hanson. I WASN'T REALLY PLANNING TO SPEAK TODAY, BUT IN REGARDS TO THE LAST SPEAKER, I ALSO THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE A GOOD TIME TO REMIND FOLKS THAT THERE ARE LOTS OF OPPORTUNITIES FOR CITY ENGAGEMENT FOR CITIZENS SUCH AS THE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION, WHICH HAS TWO POSITIONS CURRENTLY OPEN. SO YOU MAY WANT TO ENCOURAGE SOME OF YOUR FOLKS TO APPLY FOR THOSE. AND THEN OTHER CITY COMMISSIONS THAT ARE GREAT AVENUES FOR CITIZENS TO PROVIDE INPUT INTO WHAT'S HAPPENING AT THE CITY. The other thing that I wanted to mention, as I drove down from Briarcliff today, I encountered several areas of road construction. And I could complain about that, but I looked at it and I said, I am thankful that you've made the decision to invest in our infrastructure. So I know those are expensive projects. They make a difference. Thank you for the decisions you're making.

I always tell people, you complain when we tear streets up and you complain when we fix it much sooner you complain because we're fixing a street than one. Thank you. Thanks, Cindy. All right, Rick.

Quickly. Nice meeting. First, Patrick, you still in here? Good job with your communication up on Fremar. I think in the long run it's going to save us some money with all the issues we're having up there. I know I haven't found all the issues yet, but let's stay on that. And don't drop the bombs on the property owners that might have to do some stuff on their own properties. Maybe go up and knock on their door or let them know versus just send them a note. That might buffer a little bit of that to get a little more compliance, but let's stay on that. I think you guys are responding, and I very appreciate it, but homeowners and the contractors. So good job. Second, on Jill, I know Jill's not here. She's going to give us an update, I think, next week on... I requested that she give us the dollar amount that's been collected year to date on those foolish signs that were put up to don't give it to panhandlers but send it to a fund. I'd like to have the balance on that fund and how much money is given annually or monthly or weekly and what dollars are left in there. If not, we have the polls. We already paid to put the polls in, and I have a concept for another sign we could put on it kind of that reflects the bus program that we put in place before. So she's going to give us an update there next week on that, which is great. Third, on the sheriff, you said you're going to give us the update on the sheriff. Where are you at with that? Candidates start tomorrow? Police chief starts tomorrow? Yes.

I'm meeting with the panel tonight after this meeting, and then assessments are Tuesday, Wednesday, and then we'll have a list next week.

And then on the bus route thing, I requested that Sheriff Sheehan, that's where I said Sheriff Sheehan, Give us, don't just come up here and tell us you need a route. Tell us what you specifically need. I don't know if you saw that email that I sent over. He actually put together a bus schedule. I said, you know, don't just bark at us. Give us a schedule. And to his credit, he did. He put a schedule, what he thinks that we would need for that loop through there. So thank you to Sheriff Sheehan for that. And we will evaluate that and see if it works. And then... On the railroad, I don't know if we have any contact with the railroad, but is it just me, or we're really demanding a lot of our citizens to get the grass off the curbs and all these things, and I think our citizens are stepping up and doing it. And the railroad right now looks like the Wild West with the weeds and stuff. And I know they're the all-powerful railroad, but if we're not afraid to send letters to everybody else, let's kick the railroad a little bit and say they need to clean their act up a little bit along those roads. It's time.

It's time. They mow. Burlington Northern doesn't mow.

City to spray is what they need to do. Them big old tumbleweeds are just right on the curbs up 75 and if you go down there.

We can't get the Burlington but the UP's been responsive. They don't mow as often as you mow your yard but they at least will mow.

It's pretty shady down in our neck of the woods. So that's all I would ask is we give a friendly tap to the railroad on that end of it. And then lastly I know that next week We're going to get the update from Tingle on the wastewater treatment. Julie alluded to that last week. I sat in a meeting with that. We left abruptly, and I think we're going to turn a loss into a win in the next few weeks when it comes to that joke of a response that they gave us from Kiewit. So I look forward to that conversation, and let's have a great week.

I've got a number of items, but I'll try and go quickly, Mayor. First item is the Hamilton Boulevard and medians. Is there a CIP to either repair or replace? The medians look very poor.

There is. It's part of the reconstruction. For what year?

This year? Part of that one you approved today. Okay. That's 15th to 20th, right? That's not all of it. But these medians will be picked up in a CIP? Very good. I know we've asked before for the 2026 legislative update. I know that staff is still waiting to get some direction. Encouraged to get that was going to ask about the wastewater treatment plant. I know Julie brought it up last week. Rick Rick's update is good. Can I encourage Matt and his team to continue to work on developing activities on the riverfront? I think we need to be much more aggressive. It's such a unique opportunity and I think it looks great. I think that I think there's been some good recent cleanup. but I'd encourage additional use. I already mentioned the issue of the campus concept for the homeless and transient issues. Julie and I had a really healthy meeting last week with Dustin Cooper and Corey Westra on the new arena and some opportunities there. Mike, I shared those with you, and I look forward to continuing that dialogue. I did want to mention a couple weeks ago, we didn't have a meeting on a Monday, and so the synagogue actually did some volunteer work at the warming shelter, had an opportunity to visit with Shayla. And it was a really nice evening for us to provide some input, but to also engage with some of their residents and their citizens. And that was very productive. I know we're supposed to be getting the entertainment district update shortly. So I just encourage you to continue to work with Marty and Renee and find out when Steve Watson's gonna get that. Rick, thanks for bringing up the route, the bus route issue. I did have a chance to talk to Mike about that last week. Hopefully we'll see something soon. Mike and I have a meeting tomorrow on some health care items. I've had a chance over the last two weeks to be visiting with a number of the library board members, and I'm encouraged by their input, their engagement, and their communication. And then I've also had a number of people that have asked me about my, I had requested a couple months ago to talk about a new branding or marketing campaign. I know Ann had mentioned she just didn't have the time when we visited earlier. Can we find out where that stands now, please? And that's it, thank you.

Absolutely. As always, again, I just want to thank those that are out there, you know, for our citizens, for your engagement and showing up. This is how it happens and what needs to happen. I also, you know, have a few thank yous. I want to thank, you know, Mike and Patrick for cleaning the bag that was hanging on the skywalk up and also getting those wires tucked in. I appreciate that. Thank you. I feel like I'm becoming the weed guy. And when I say weeds, grass weed. I'm getting contacted for those things. And so obviously, Mike, I sent you an email about that, looking at some of those things. I think there are some areas that we need to really make sure that we stay on top of. A couple of things here. I had a young lady come into the coffee shop today and She had moved here from Arizona about six or seven months ago, and she chose Sioux City, and she says she absolutely loves Sioux City. And that was music to my ears, and she just thought that this was a phenomenal place and great place to live. Her and her husband, they're empty nesters now, and they absolutely love it. So, you know, we're doing something right, and I just want to, you know, let city staff and city administration know that we're doing something right, and let's keep doing it right. because that's the growth that we need, right, and we're looking at. Which, to that point, I know Craig and Julie were both there. It was nice to welcome the team USA Handball Committee to town, and I love the fact that they're partnering with my alma mater, Briarcliff University, and those things. And, man, I didn't realize that handball was what it was, right?

Not handball like used to.

Right, exactly.

Team handball.

Man, it is unreal, right? So I'm happy and excited that we are continuing to get those things into Sioux City.

Mike, Julie and I nominated you to play golf.

Yeah, you know. I'll decline, respectfully, right? I just love the fact that we're seeing movement. We're moving. This is what we were elected to do and keep Sioux City moving forward. And with that, so I'm excited about those things.

Well, everybody took everything I was going to say, so you guys lucked out today. Watch for Adopt-A-Street. I'm starting a little campaign. I'm going to put it on social media, and we need lots of families, businesses, churches, civic groups, whomever you are, to adopt our streets just to do a little extra litter pickup and just to make this city very clean, and we want everyone who lives here and who passes through to be proud. That's all I have.

I got a letter from a lady that was here in 1976 telling me how nice the city is. I'll forward it to all of you guys. I wasn't here last week, and I gotta tell you, I didn't miss you one bit. It was a great vacation, but I do wanna congratulate Mitchell Bettsworth, who once again did everything he had to do and got four gold medals in the Special Olympics, unbelievable.

Hometown hero.

Hometown hero, wanna congratulate Caleb LeFevre for being drafted in the number 10th round, 304, I think it was. I almost hope he goes to Iowa, even though I'm an Iowa State fan. But whatever he chooses, God bless him. I hope he does well. And we want to wish Helan softball, baseball, and east baseball. I think they're the only ones left, but wish them luck.

The men are playing tonight in Sergeant Bluff.

They've got a big week tonight.

Women are playing Fort Dodge tomorrow.

Yep. Move, we adjourn. Second.

Scott?

Aye. Bernstein? Aye. Bertrand? Aye.

Rayford?

Aye.

Boehner? Aye. And East is playing here at home.