This meeting of the Cedar Rapids City Council will come to order.

Welcome to the Cedar Rapids City Council meeting for Tuesday, September 23rd, 2025.

Absent from today's uh meeting, our council members David Meyer, um Marty Hager, as well as Ann Poe.

I'd like to welcome our city manager, our city clerk, and our city attorney, and thank you as always to our city staff for being here and willing to answer questions and hear from constituents after the meeting.

A reminder to please turn off any cell phones or electronic devices that might distract us from our proceedings today.

And note that all city council meeting agendas, minutes, and videos are available on our city's website.

And regular sessions are also available to watch live and on replay through Facebook Live.

We'll begin now with an invocation by public safety chaplain Jim Coyle, immediately followed by our pledge of allegiance.

Thank you, Mayor.

God, we thank you for another opportunity to come together as leaders uh to discuss and move forward with incredible opportunities that you have for our city.

I pray that you would lead and guide all the words that are being shared today, and that we would work together as a team, committing to the faithfulness of this community.

And I pray these things in the powerful name of our Lord and 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 to invite uh those who are here for National Week Without Driving to join me up here at the Daisy.

Hi, how are you?

Good, how are you?

Um I am speaking.

Thank you for figuring that out.

We don't make it too easy, huh?

Do we?

Good, accessible, okay.

Proud to read this on behalf of the entire city council.

Whereas access to mobility is a fundamental part of health and community connection, allowing Cedar Rapidians to reach education and employment opportunities, medical services, shopping, recreation, and visits from friends and family.

And whereas many people cannot afford the cost of a car, and nearly a third of the people residing in the U.S.

do not have a driver's license, either because of their age or a condition that does not allow them to drive.

And whereas National Week Without Driving is a way to understand the challenges and opportunities within Cedar Rapids transportation ecosystem.

Now, therefore, I, Tiffany O'Donnell, Mayor of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on behalf of our city council, do hereby recognize September 29th through October 5th, 2025 as National Week Without Driving, and encourage residents to join me in this special observance.

Thank you.

Thank you all.

Thank you, Mayor Tipsy Dodal.

And thank you, City Council.

Thank you for everyone that's joining us here today.

Very truly an honor to be here.

I'm uh lifelong Cedar Puddhi.

It's also a lifelong disability advocate.

Advocate for all.

And I just want to emphasize you all.

If you could buy a different form of transportation to work, whether it's uh carpooling, walking, riding your bike, any other form of transportation.

It would mean a lot to us.

Many of us do that.

Either have the transportation or access to transportation.

So just think about it next week, the days and the weeks after that as well, because we are really um about all people.

It's all different.

So things that are going on in our world in our city and our state.

So thank you.

Thank you, Garrett.

Thank you, Garrett.

You want to say anything?

Yes, I do.

Um, thank you all for having me here, and thank you, uh, Mayor Tiffany O'Donnell and City Council for having me here.

Um I'm very grateful to be here to represent the ADA advisory committee board.

As you probably all know, I have I'm a blind individual, and I really rely on the bus to get me to the grocery store to see my doctor, go shopping, uh, go see family and friends, um, go do activities, you know, like maybe go to the farmers market, which I really enjoy.

Um, so I find it very important, and I'm very happy to be part of Cedar Rapids and have an awesome busing system.

And I can tell you, it's a lot better than Des Moines.

Okay, that's about it.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

I'll go ahead and give you this.

You want to take the proclamation?

I'll give that to you to take with you.

Okay, thank you.

Pardon me.

Oh, it's a lot of work.

This work right here.

All right, thank you.

Next up, did I give oh, I took I gave you the wrong one.

Hold on.

He's got it.

He's got it.

I only did one.

We can we can print out another one for you if you need, okay?

All right.

Next up, we need our friends from Hope CDA to join me and Councilmember Dale Todd at the Dais.

It's a big group.

Come on up.

I wondered who all the green shirts were today.

Color coordinated.

You think you're out working.

Welcome on up.

On behalf of the council, here's our proclamation for you.

Whereas Hobe Community Development Association has made significant contributions to Cedar Rapids and surrounding communities, including helping dozens of men turn their lives away from drug and haul alcohol addiction, providing them with a second chance to write a new story.

And whereas participants in Hope CDA's life transformation program receive a wide array of support services, paid employment, job training, daily meals, housing, counseling, community resources, financial training, mentorship, and spiritual development rooted in Christian principles.

And whereas Hope CDA has modeled, remodeled, and restored nearly three dozen homes in the Wellington Heights area, offering low-income families the opportunity to realize their dreams of home ownership and revitalizing a neighborhood.

And whereas the fifth annual Hope Community Development Association Gala event will be held on Thursday, October 2nd, 2025, to celebrate a remarkable 15-year history of service and dedication.

And whereas this year's Gala theme, writing a new story, highlights the organization's ongoing mission to inspire hope, resilience, and new beginnings for individuals, families, and our community.

Now, therefore, I, Tiffany O'Donnell, on behalf of the City Council, do proclaim and honor Hope Community Development Association for its enduring service and unwavering commitment to creating second chances, restoring neighborhoods, and uplifting lives in Cedar Rapids and beyond.

It's with great pride, and I encourage all community members to join this celebration on October on October 2nd, as we recognize the countless lives transformed and the inspiring stories yet to be written.

Thank you.

So thank you, Mayor O'Donnell.

Thank you, Councilman, uh, for having us here, and for all the city council for inviting us on behalf of Hope CDA.

I just want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve this community and to be a difference here.

And I want to especially recognize Ron Ziegler who helped to get this organization going and uh has made this a place where we are doing some things to help transform the community and helping to write a new story here in Cedar Rapids.

So thank you very much.

Thank you.

Ron, did you want to say anything?

Okay, thank you.

Quick picture.

Okay, great.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

It's now time for a public hearings, so I'll remind everybody who's here to speak today, whether during a public hearing or during the public comment or public input periods of a few matters we need to have to ensure an orderly meeting.

A reminder to stay at the lectern.

If you have any documents you want to share with council, please give them to the officer on your right.

The officer will get them to us directly.

Second comments are limited to five minutes per speaker.

So when the light on the console in front of you turns yellow, that indicates one more minute left.

And when it turns red, we invite you to take your seat once again.

And third, please be aware that all comments must be directed to the matter of the public hearing and that abusive, loud or threatening, irrelevant and irrelevant comments will not be allowed.

And finally, we need to hold an orderly hearing, so there should be no applause, cheering, booing, or other noise or disruptive conduct from anyone in the audience.

So we thank you in advance.

Does the clerk have any written comments or objections in regard to our public hearings today?

Your Honor, there are no written comments or objections filed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um item number one is a public hearing to consider comments regarding the consolidated annual performance evaluation report for the community development block grant and home investment partnership programs.

Um this is for the period of July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025.

Uh Laura Shaw and Crystal Cole are here.

I'll recognize you.

Um I wanted to speak.

Is there a way to do that?

That's coming up.

We haven't gotten to that point yet.

Okay.

Item number one, Laura and Crystal.

Well, Madam Mayor, Council members, Laura Shaw, Community Development.

Crystal Cole Community Development.

The consolidated annual performance evaluation report is what we're here to discuss today.

We call it the CAPER.

So it's the annual year-end report that's due to HUD every year.

It discusses progress for community development block grant and the home investment partnership program funds.

So the funding expended between July 1st, 2024 and July 30th of 2025.

It goes into the report.

So in this time, the CDBG program expended just under 1.1 million dollars, which is 95% of the grant award.

The home investment program expended just uh just under 367,000, which is 106% of the grant award expended.

Um so this includes some prior year grant funds that we had.

This is a collaborative effort, so it's through the CDBG and home funding, and the city partners with 13 separate agencies to provide housing and services to low and moderate income residents.

So we're uh the city is continually recognized for our commitment to strengthen our community through all of the CPD programs.

Uh some of the accomplishments over that last fiscal year were more than 4200 people were served with free or uh free healthcare services, 64 youth through youth programs.

Just over 1,100 were served through Horizons, I will legal aid and Central Furniture Rescue.

Over 2100 individuals were helped with shelter and case management services for those that are homeless or nearly homeless, and then 22 different homes were either rehabbed or constructed, and this is through programs through aging services, uh Habitat for Humanity, Matthew 25, Hope Community Development Association, and also our city's own owner-occupied housing rehabilitation program.

And then we also assisted seven households with direct home buyer assistance, and that serves up uh up to 14,999 assistance.

So the public comment period began on September 13th and it runs through the 29th.

Today is our public hearing uh to provide opportunity for comments, and then September 30th, the CAPER is due to be submitted to HUD.

And with that, I will turn it over to council.

All right, thank you, Laura and Crystal.

This is a time and a place for a public hearing on this matter.

Does anyone here wish to address council?

Okay, I'll ask you to come to the diet, please.

State your name and where you live.

Hello, my name is Dorothy DeSolzigettis, and I live in Oak Hill, Jackson.

Um, I'm a resident second-time resident, a homeowner, a voter, and um no longer tied to any organization, so I can say whatever I want.

So as far as the grants and programs and the CDGBD money, I always say that wrong.

Um, it's hard to comment at a public comment or uh uh in a public hearing when the final documentation isn't available for us to look at online.

Um I served on this committee twice and applied for a third time to support Oakill Jackson neighborhood and um representation by the core neighborhoods that are mentioned in the documentation is important.

Um also um spending from these groups is important.

So Hope CDA serves Wellington Heights neighborhood association, and Matthew 25 only serves Taylor slash Northwest neighborhood.

That leaves a lot of the city out of the money when those two organizations continue to take a huge chunk of the funding.

Um just the concern for me if we could get more bang for our buck and uh serving more people who are homeless rather than building um affordable housing for um low-income families.

That um I looked at the numbers.

Um that's not really if you can go up to 80% AMI, that's pretty good money.

Um I would just like there to be some consideration for making sure that the funds are spread throughout the poor neighborhoods or the low to moderate income neighborhoods, and that it's not, and this is from my experience and from the experience of others.

This is who we funded last year, this is who we're gonna fund the coming year.

And I think that probably discourages other organizations that could serve other neighborhoods from applying.

Um, and then that's really sad to me because there's a lot of need, particularly when it comes to older homes that need to be rehabbed, so they don't end up being torn down and given to Hope CDA and then rehabbed or whatever.

Um, so um I think there's a lot of opportunity to do um some better communication about what type of programs would be eligible and not to fund the same old, same old every single year.

Um, and um not to discourage uh people who challenge the status quo in these committees, um, and to make sure the committee representation um includes the core neighborhoods.

So that's just um my two cents worth.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Does anyone else here wish to address counsel on this matter?

All right, let the record indicate a public hearing has been held.

Um, Dorothy, is that an objection or just a feedback?

Um it's it's kind of an objective to the process.

Okay.

Let the record indicate a public hearing on this matter has been held with one objection for the record.

That brings us to council comments for consideration.

Anyone?

All right.

Thank you.

We have no resolution on this, so we'll move on to item number two.

Um, public hearing item number two, by the way, has been canceled at the request of the city manager's office.

So no staff presentation or vote on this.

However, is anyone here who wishes to address counsel on this item that was published.

And okay, none.

All right.

Um, next up, then we will move into our public comment period.

Here in the city of Cedar Rapids, we have two public comment periods.

The first is a chance for the public to address the city council on any subject pertaining to council action that's scheduled for today.

A second input period will come at the end of the meeting for residents to speak on issues that are germane to the city, but not necessarily on the agenda today.

Council members and city staff make themselves available before and after the meetings.

Um, at this time during public comment, we are here as a council to listen.

Remember that all the matters I addressed prior to the first public hearing today apply to these public comment periods as well.

A reminder to stay at the lectern.

If you have any documents you wish to share, um please hand them to the officer, he'll get them to us.

Uh comments are limited to five minutes, and they must be directed to the matters you wish to address.

No abusive, personal, irrelevant comments allowed, and we ask for no participation or disruption from the audience as well.

If you sign up to speak, please approach the microphone when called upon.

Today we have two people signed up, and I will just call you in the order.

Kim Donahue here to speak on it number 23C.

Good afternoon, council members and esteemed members of the officials here today at this meeting.

My name is Kim Dunnehu, and I am the owner of Cedar Cleaners LLC, a top-rated company here in your city by popular vote.

I have brought my business to your city, my commerce to your city, three Airbnbs to your city, a residential property that brings you uh tax dollars every year to fund your operations.

That doesn't include all of the revenue that my guests bring in as well.

I am here to address number 23 item number C regarding spending for the Cedar Rapids Police Department under the Burn Jag grant funding program in the state of Iowa.

This program gives 1.8 million dollars to law enforcement agencies across the state.

And the whole point of the program, according to the Burn Jag website, is to improve law enforcement operations, whether that's new brakes on their cars, updates to computer systems, community education programs, things that are supposed to make the prosecution of real criminals in this city and in other departments' jurisdictions more effective and safe for all involved.

But here lies the problem, good people.

Our city remains an unsafe place when our police department wants to spend over $28,000 on red dot pistol sites.

Now, why would they want to do that?

The majority of pew pew to person conduct in these situations are up close and personal, at which point the data tells us that it is the steel site on your pistol that is more accurate at close range.

Not only that, but these red dot pistol sites do have a failure rate, people.

They have a maintenance cost, and at what cost do we have when these pistol sites are inaccurate and strikes an unintended target?

And why are we spending our money to pew pew people here in our city?

Don't we already have a problem with violence?

I would definitely say so.

And I personally feel that the police department should instead spend their 28,000 on something like sensitivity training for their officers, trauma-informed sensitivity training, advocacy, more money to our citizens oversight board, which by the way doesn't need to be ripped away from us.

We need external quality control.

We need to create an environment that is safe for all people and enabling our police force that's already out of control to shoot more people more accurately from a further distance is not it.

And honestly, I am not in a position to where I would want to encourage other businesses to come here to this city as long as this type of collective mentality stands.

You want real change, you want to create a city that is somewhere that people want to come where they don't talk badly about the administration or their experiences.

You start by listening to the voices of the people, not ignoring your constituents, not hanging up on them, which would be why I'm here today.

You can't hang up on me when I'm standing in front of you, can I?

And I promised I'd be down here and look, I'm a woman of my word.

Now there's a lot of people in this city that want to make me out to be a bad person, but let one of them present an overwhelming preponderance of material articulable evidence that I've done anything wrong, but to speak up and serve justice for the people who aren't being hurt.

No more I say.

We don't want this to be the way our money is spent.

I understand it's a grant, but at the end of the day, this isn't a partisan issue.

It doesn't matter how you voted, it doesn't matter where you're from, it doesn't matter how you identify.

We are unsafe when our already out of control police department that is unregulated is given more power to harm people.

No more.

And I land my plane.

Thank you.

Dorothy Dorothy D'Souza Geddis here to speak on core and CDBG.

Is this different than your last comment?

Yeah, it's this um I'm gonna speak uh address consent agenda item eight and 23A.

So on consent agenda um number eight, it's establishing an all-way stop control at the intersections of 6th Street, Southeast and Fourth Avenue Southeast, and the intersection of 6th Street and Fifth Avenue Southeast.

I'm all for this.

This is wonderful.

Problem is the times that we've asked for four-way stops in O'Kill Jackson.

Um one of my favorite comments from city staff has been people wouldn't be used to the stop sign, so they wouldn't stop anyway.

So why have any stop signs?

Also, this particular these intersections that are mentioned here have clear sight lines.

Right?

The intersections where we requested um stop sign, like at 7th Street Southeast and 10th Avenue Southeast, doesn't that, we're entering my favorite season of the year, semi-truck season, where they zoom through there as fast as they can, even though there are cars parked on both sides of the street, people walking to and from the um Link County Public Health Building, and from one of our favorite restaurants, the Sacred Cow.

Um I just don't understand why uh traffic control um decides that that busy intersection, I live on that block, I can tell you it's busy.

Um doesn't deserve a four-way stop.

But these other intersections with clear sight lines, not in a busy residential neighborhood, certainly not in a busy uh business district.

Um, why that's a priority.

Something to think about, right?

Um so the second thing I want to address is 23i and the agenda.

Um, and I didn't do my homework on this, and I apologize, but it's the fall 2025 tree planting for 227,920.

I love trees, I'm glad this is happening, right?

Um, I uh walked here, even though it's not walk to the walk without your car or whatever it is we I we're a one-car family.

Um, and it's hot without trees, right?

But if this is the same organization that was hired to plant the trees early in this year, that's a problem.

Actually, on that same stretch of road where I just mentioned those two intersections that will get um stops.

Um I was there on that street um a hot 90-some degree afternoon Friday, um, and saw trees lying just in the hot sun, on tipped on their sides for hours, and then I saw how they were planted.

Now, if you know anything about tree planting, I've done my homework because we planted six trees in our yard.

Um, but you're supposed to dig a bigger hole than the bucket.

But what I was seeing was they take the tree out of the pot, take off a lot of the roots because they didn't dig a very deep hole, and then they didn't water anything.

So I think I counted nine dead trees along a two-block stretch.

So if this is the same organization that was in charge of that fiasco, and those are only two blocks.

There's many more dead trees out there.

Um, I would say maybe reconsider spending that money.

So um more trees, yes.

Dead trees, no.

Thank you.

And that will close our our close out our first public comment period.

City Manager Pomrance, do you have any changes to the agenda?

Do any council members need to recuse themselves on any agenda items or make any changes?

Council Member Van Orney.

Yes, thanks, Mayor.

Um, I'd like to poll 22A um for presentation from the consent agenda.

22A from consent.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

All righty then.

That makes this brings us to a motion to approve the agenda as amended.

The approval of the agenda has been moved by councilmember Scott Olson, seconded by council member Todd.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say no.

And this motion carries.

Thank you, Council.

Uh brings us to the consent agenda.

The approval of the consent agenda has been moved by council member Todd, seconded by Councilmember Van Orney.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say no.

And this motion carries.

Thank you, Council.

I will begin our um regular agenda here.

Um by talking about item number 22a.

I'll invite staff to join us here at the dais.

Bill Michael, Seth Gunnerson.

I will recognize you both.

Thank you, Mayor and Council.

I'm gonna hand over uh the reins to uh to Seth Gunnarson uh zoning administrator.

Uh thank you.

Um as noted or we have here is just a quick uh presentation on this agenda uh 22A is uh resolution approving the final plat for the American Prairie Fifth Edition.

Um in the background here is the approved overall preliminary plat for the American Prairie Development.

Um I apologize, I realize I didn't we didn't put in a um larger map showing the location.

This is Wright Brothers Boulevard on the north side of the overall site.

Uh Highway Interstate 380 would be a little bit off screen to the west of the image.

So this is um southeast of the intersection of Wright Brothers and uh I-380.

Um the uh colored areas on this map show the previous editions, which have been approved for the development.

Uh the first edition in yellow, the second edition in light blue, the third edition in green, uh, the fourth edition and uh pink here, and then this red outlined area here is the fifth edition.

Uh so the developer is working off bits and pieces of the overall approved preliminary plat for the entire development.

Um also of note uh in the black outline here in the north part of the site is a planned unit development overlay, which was approved a couple years ago by city council.

That was a rezoning action, which allowed for this area will be predominantly um attached single family homes or town homes, uh, four six unit town home buildings.

Um there's uh commercial or mixed use zoning, anticipated commercial uses in the northeast corner of the development, and uh this portion of the development is permissive to allow either residential or commercial development.

Uh what we're dealing with today is a fifth edition.

This is a 50 lot subdivision of about 12.6 acres at the south end of the site.

Um there's uh 50 single family uh lots being built, and um one parcel uh lettered out lot A, which is intended for the right-away of the public streets, the intended land use for this area's single family home development.

Um for the preliminary plat, the public improvements were designed according to city standards.

Um the streets and lots are for the uh final plat are consistent with the approved preliminary plat.

Um at this point, they're extending the public streets and grading for home sites.

Uh we will also note that on the west side of Brighton Way Southwest, there's a trail segment which um goes through the development and links up to Kirkwood Boulevard as it comes into the site here in the northern portion of the site.

The trail will kind of snake through the development to be potentially extended in the future.

Uh we also received questions about lighting for the development.

Um the development will have street lights, um, the red circles here showing where those will be placed.

This is consistent with our uh standards for road improvements.

Um in terms of uh lighting for individual homes that'll be done by the homeowners, but will be subject to uh general zoning standards, so you can have like bright spa lights shining on your neighbor's property, stuff like that.

Um overall staff recommends approval of the resolution, which approves the final plat.

With that, I turn it back to council for any questions.

Thank you, gentlemen.

Council, Councilman Ben Orney.

Yeah, thank you.

Um, can you go back to the the overview?

Yeah, um, so I know the reason that I I pulled this off is because we had had a lot of really good conversations as this being one of the largest developments um in Cedar Rapids history, and I know that we had a lot of conversations back when we last looked at it.

Um in you know, I think it was 19 and 20 and 21.

Um, just to make sure that we're keeping an eye on this because there it is so large, we want to just to be mindful of that.

Um, so with this fifth edition, how how much of this is actually already built out, knowing that this is coming into the fifth edition now.

Um generally the highlighted areas have been built out and homes are being constructed.

It's been a little while since I've been out there.

I know that there are a decent number of single family homes going up on these streets, and um I believe some of the multi-unit homes have been constructed or are under construction.

Are our residents living in any of these yet?

Um they know there's a lot of things going on between Wright Brothers, and then there's the roundabout that's coming and just a lot of and the bridge widening and I believe some of the homes might be occupied.

I'm not 100% sure of that.

We'll have to check on that.

I think the other thing too, we were talking about um, and and I know councilmember Todd has spoken about the the intentionality with such a large development, too, of having some park space um that was hopefully going to be maintained by this development.

Where would that be in this?

Um there's uh this uh parcel here um kind of to the east of the first edition is intended to be um dedicated or basically be an open park area.

Um there's also shown down here is the wetland, which is um remaining on the site.

We've uh so yeah, there'll be open space at that location.

Okay, and then I think uh just a last couple of things.

The the fifth edition is going to be what immediately abuts some agriculture land there.

So I think it's of particular importance that we're just uh when we have this done that we're notifying those neighbors.

Um I know they've got quite a few other things happening.

Uh there were some things with the Crick and stuff that were there that um have come up in the last couple of meetings or the last six months.

So this specifically will be probably the biggest thing of interest to them, um, particularly with regard to um light pollution.

I know that they were very mindful of like where street lights and things, how they were casting light, because uh it is going to be the biggest change from them, having previously abutted quite a large uh uh single family farm.

Um, so just so we're mindful with that too, because uh with that wetland, um there I mean there's a significant amount of um flooding that regularly happens with that, correct.

Um that's why you have both of those gray areas on either side that needed to be retained there.

So I just want to make sure as this is happening and we're digging up some of that space that we are just uh making sure that any of the uh the neighbors around are very aware of who their points of contacts are and that we're being mindful of of how that's retaining water.

Okay, thanks.

Anyone else?

All right, if so, I can take a motion to approve the resolution.

Motion to approve.

Okay, second.

Second.

Thank you.

All in favor say aye.

Aye opposed.

All right.

We'll go ahead and move on to our ordinances.

Item number 24 is an ordinance vacating portions of B Street, 17th Avenue, 19th Avenue, and 20th Avenue, and associated alleys, generally bounded by A Street and C Street between 18th Avenue and 21st Street Avenue Southwest.

The approval of this ordinance on its second reading has been moved by Overland, seconded by Council Member Tyler Olson.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye, those opposed say no.

And this motion carries thank you, Council.

Item number 25 is an ordinance renaming 16th Avenue Southeast from 5th Street Southeast, um, 16th Avenue Southeast Roundabout to 10th Street Southeast to 5th Street Southeast.

The approval of this ordinance on a second reading has been moved by Councilmember Tyler Olson, uh, seconded by Councilmember Overland.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say no.

And this motion carries thank you, council.

Item number 26 is an ordinance renaming a private portion of XL Drive Northeast, which runs east and west between Fountains Drive and North South public portion of XL Drive to Reserveway Northeast, as requested by the Fountains LLC.

The approval of this ordinance on its second reading has been moved by Van Orney, seconded by Todd.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say no.

And this motion carries thank you, council.

Um item number 27 is a first reading.

This is an ordinance amending chapter five of the municipal code, city officials, and chapter six, city administration to permit the use of a digital city seal on official documents.

The approval of this ordinance on its first reading has been moved by council member Dale Todd, seconded by council member Scott Olsen.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye, aye.

Those opposed say no.

And this motion carries.

Thank you, Council.

And that'll close out our formal business today and brings us to our final public input period.

This is a chance for the public to address the city council on any subject pertaining to council business.

As with the earlier public comment period, at this time, we are here as a council to listen.

And I'll remind everybody to remain at the lectern.

Comments are limited to five minutes, and we ask for no abusive, loud, threatening, or personal comments.

If you've signed up to speak, we'll invite you to approach the microphone when called upon.

And our first person to speak today is Tom Pape here to speak on a fire lane and no parking.

I gotta learn to watch this clock.

Good afternoon.

Um again, my name's Tom Pape.

I live on 1624 O Avenue Northwest, and I'm here to talk about the enforcement of a city fire code.

I'll try to be brief.

We had a meeting last Friday, or it was last Friday with uh uh Jeff Pomerance and uh the fire chief and fire marshal.

Um I'm sorry, I know Jeff was extremely busy because he had a missed part of the meeting, but I'm gonna share some of the information that was discussed.

Uh I'm gonna make the following points.

The fire code has not been fairly enforced.

Examples, spacing of the signs.

I just passed around that.

The code says 50 foot.

If you look at the the three houses on the west side of that path, there's there's six, eight signs in 138 foot.

Eight signs and 138 foot.

That's like if for people who need a visual, like this room here should at least have four signs.

Okay, that's getting to the extreme.

Two of the residents' home fall within the requirements of the code.

The backs of their houses are well within 150 feet, not of the access road, but of O Avenue.

There should be no signs on them two homes.

Okay.

The fire chief stated, well, there's uh a wall and a fence.

But there's a 60 foot opening in the center for the homes in front of my house.

There's a 41 foot opening next to my neighbor Corey's house.

And the city, when they when they redid O Avenue, they built the wall.

There was no wall there before, and they put the fence in.

Is there some liability on the city to get us in this predicament?

Um a big thing, and I I think even Jeff would agree with me.

There was no prior communication for no chance for the neighbors to get together and talk.

It just boom, stick signs in your yard.

That's that's totally wrong.

Six years ago, Jeff, we had a meeting with Jeff.

We haven't had a problem since.

I want to compliment the police department, um, because you know, six years ago, when I'm gonna just say RJ called the police.

I think he didn't like the way people were putting their garbage cans down next to O Avenue.

A police officer came out, had a talk with us, and said, Hey, let me give you some tips on how to get along, how to improve this relationship.

Now, I don't who Roger, he said Roger RJ was a nuisance, you know, but I don't think they've had a complaint since then.

When the when he complains to the fire department, we there's no indication.

We had new new neighbors that moved here, never even knew anything anything about this.

Um we just get a letter saying, You well put four signs in your front yard on private property, and we're not gonna negotiate, we're not gonna talk.

We we're not gonna listen to any because we agreed, yeah, we we could put some signs up coming in, we could put signs on the south side of our road, but in our front yard, that's not even open for negotiation.

Um you know, there's so many things the city should be proud of.

I spent some time today at the library, and it's the people down there are just fantastic.

Uh trying to get a copy of the city fire code.

I was told that I need to get um the fire code uh 31-14.

I have the code.

I it's I can't find anything on that represents what I being told in the letter from Stephen Mask, and um uh I I need some help understanding that.

I'm trying I've been trying to call Stephen Mass saying, 'Can you put me a copy?' But I need to keep moving here.

So, in closing, I just oh, a couple other things.

I should with one of the neighbors.

We had a neighborhood meeting Sunday.

One of the neighbors uh asked Stephen Mask, what should if someone pulls up my drive and parks, what should I do?

Should I or if what if a neighbor calls the the fire department?

He goes, Oh, they're not supposed to call the fire department, supposed to call the police department 911, and then tell them they need to leave before the police get there.

Stephen Mask also said we will not drive a heavy fire truck up them roads to fight a fire, which makes sense.

Okay, why are you putting signs up?

And I'm just asking as a council members.

When I come up here, I don't want to keep pestering you every council meeting.

When I come up here and talk to you guys get together and say, you know, isn't it the right thing to do is just have the neighbors solve their problem, have them get together and talk it out, or do you just you just enforce codes?

Thanks, Tom.

Your time.

No, you're you're over eight seconds.

Oh, I'm over it.

Yeah, Corey Martin here to speak on the same issue.

All right, thank you.

Um, like Tom said, um, I've never been to one of these meetings before.

It's nice to finally meet all of you, put faces to names.

Um, but I'm in agreement with Tom.

This isn't a city issue.

This is a private lane uh in front of our private residential homes.

Uh I'm sure you at your private residence would not want to look at 12.

No parking signs.

The first thing you see when you look out your windows.

Nobody wants to see that.

And one of the main reasons why I never came to any of these meetings before was because I Tom's pretty well spoken.

He knows most of you.

He's done a lot of the legwork, and I'm not nearly as prepared as Tom is.

But uh one thing I common sense needs to be put into this.

Like this is one person.

There's four houses that live on this lane.

One of the residents decided that we needed signs.

Three of the other homes don't want them.

So why are the signs being pushed on all of us?

Because of a code.

Aren't you guys allowed to change codes?

Right?

Not I know that not all of the codes are being enforced everywhere because there's not enough resources.

I know that.

So why push so hard on this private drive that we are the only ones that use?

I don't I don't want the city to say what I can and cannot do on my own property.

I don't want a city sign in my front yard taking up real estate that I paid for.

And if you put yourselves in our position, I doubt you would either.

And I I really don't know how else to say it.

It's just there's four houses, three out of the four do not want them.

So can anyone explain to me why it's being forced that all four houses need to have signs in front of them?

That does not make sense to me.

That does not seem fair to me.

You know, I I pay my taxes just like the the other gentleman that wanted the signs.

He put up his signs already.

I implore you to come look.

Please.

You can park in front of my house, 16180 Avenue.

Please come and look.

These signs look ridiculous.

Ridiculous.

They're seven foot tall.

And it just I please.

I know you guys are all busy, but I do not want them in front of my house.

And the fact is that we're not even, we're not even given any other opportunity to kind of say, hey, can we maybe not have them on the one side of the road, just on the side that looks towards our houses so it doesn't look so bad from the street, or put them on the fence instead of having you know seven foot signs that people aren't gonna walk into a fence.

And if they do, then they've got bigger problems than not knowing where to park.

See, and it's it's easy to make jokes about it, but it's also easy to use common sense in the process.

This is kind of getting out of hand, and it just it doesn't make any sense to me.

And I'd appreciate it if you guys could.

I know there's way more important things to worry about, but in our little world in our little drive, this is pretty important to us.

And we would appreciate you guys taking into consideration of either saying, hey, you guys pay your own property taxes, you guys bought your own homes, you guys take care of your own little problem.

I don't need the fire chief, I don't need the police chief, I don't need the mayor, I don't need anybody to come and tell me where and I can't park.

If there's a fire in one of our houses, pretty sure I'll be sure to move the car that's in the way.

If not, they can run it over.

So and again, my name is Corey Martin.

I live at 1618 O Avenue, right next door to Tom Pape.

Um, yeah, if we could just get this thing dropped and allow us to, in a word, govern ourselves so you guys can govern what really needs to be governed.

And with that, I thank you.

Thank you.

Emilia Wingo here to speak on human trafficking.

Um I'm an ADA protected federal material witness for Iowa Rico.

I moved to Cedar Rapids in July 2009 to escape abuse and be closer to my family.

I thought moving to the city would bring more opportunities and a better life than the abuse and systemic targeting I've experienced since birth.

It did not.

Instead, it brought me gatekeeping and even more extensive and intense systemic targeting, mental, emotional, physical, sexual, and financial abuse by members of this community, city officials, city leaders, uh, business owners, rental companies, real estate agencies, and their families, and the hedonistic cult members you've allowed to be a face for this city and an influence for its youth.

People like Steve Schreiber, Megan Costello, Sarah Driscoll, Amanda Steynis, Kenyon Thorpe, Chad Pelley, Elizabeth Von Presley, and you, Tiffany O'Donnell, to name a few, as well as board members of Jones County directly related to one of my rapists and human traffickers, Nathan Zirkelbach.

Over the course of the past 16 years, I have been drugged repeatedly.

I have been surveilled unlawfully, gang raped, stalked, harassed.

I have been labor trafficked, sex trafficked, poisoned.

I've had my eggs harvested for my ovaries.

I've been assigned handlers, hit men and hit women.

My family and my children have been targeted, groomed, abused, both physically and sexually, as well as mentally.

My brother was murdered in the city covered it up.

A legal pornography was made of me and my son and distributed at my job.

There have been several murder attempts on my life as well as smear campaigns, humiliation attempts, and colluded efforts to intentionally drive me to suicide.

I've had my identity stolen, and my intellectual property has been and continues to be stolen repeatedly while others profit from it.

But I am black, but I am blacklisted and prevented from earning even a decent living wage.

I have been gaslit, intimidated, colluded, and retaliated against, trying to report every step of the way.

I have been extorted sexually and financially.

My civil, constitutional, and basic human rights have been repeatedly violated and denied, all the while being blatantly allowed and encouraged, while my abusers and their crime partners, including Tiffany O'Donnell, have continued to rub the abuse in my face in both disgusting and pathetic attempts to keep me traumatized and re-traumatized me relentlessly.

I've collected a significant amount of evidence and victim testimony indicating Cedar Rapids, the state of Iowa, and many of its residents and officials are conspiring in trafficking Enrico that operates beyond city and state limits, all the way overseas.

I've collected plenty that indicates this criminal enterprise ties directly to the British monarchy, the Maxwell Foundation, and Jeffrey Epstein.

Just last week, a survivor I'm in communication with in the UK was attacked by eight officers of Thayer Village Police who placed a bag over her head, beat her, and strapped her down in front of her young daughter, who they then stole from her and attempt to sell her like they've already sold her son.

This was an intentional and planned kidnapping.

They then trashed her house and blamed her, stole her passport, and killed her cat.

I no longer believe in coincidence.

I believe in patterns, and this instance is only one of many I have already documented.

I know there are several more survivors in the city and state who have yet to come forward.

Several have tried, several have faced the same retaliation, and all have been silenced.

It's time to come forward and hold these people accountable.

Thank you.

Okay, up next, Kim Donahue.

Abuse and misconduct.

Ladies and gentlemen of the city council and members of the community and esteemed officials, I want to start by encouraging her to continue to share her story.

Because guess what?

I'm a human trafficking survivor too, and I see the corruption inclusion.

So let's go ahead and get right to it.

Thanks for allowing me this opportunity to speak today.

I stand here not just as a resident of Cedar Rapids, but as a representative of the countless individuals who have been failed by the very system that is supposed to protect us.

Today, I want to shed light on the appalling and shocking lack of service from the Cedar Rapids Police Department, which has left me and many others feeling very unsafe and unheard.

For too long I've endured relentless, a relentless campaign of harassment, victimization, and I've experienced coordinated, experienced coordinated cyber stalking, in-person harassment, stalking, assault, vandalism of my vehicle, criminal mischief at my home.

And just last Friday, I was on 380 at 9.01 a.m.

when a woman who's been harassing me, who's already assaulted me, which I tried to report to the police, but they didn't want to take a police report, and then wanted to threaten to arrest me under false arrest under their abuse under power of law, which I have on a recorded line.

I've got receipts for all this folks.

I got all the proof to back this all up.

Anyway, I was being uh this woman was attempting to ram me off the interstate with her car by rearrenting me.

And I've made numerous repeated attempts to make a police report to protect me from this very woman so I can go to the county attorney and get a restraining order, and they have denied me.

And so I say that.

One moment.

Due to this, I have been targeted.

I've faced personal assaults, and this has shattered my sense of safety.

Most recently, during this situation, when they wouldn't take my call for help, they showed me that they don't serve me.

And despite my lack of any criminal convictions or psychiatric holds, during my entire residency here.

This is unacceptable.

The Cedar Rapids Police Department has allowed this individual to continue her harassment and thus enabled a culture of fear rather than security that every citizen deserves, regardless of how you feel about them.

I'm here today to demand an urgent and decisive action for this council and from our police department.

Establish a continued oversight with the independent oversight committee and take that 28K and give it to them.

That makes our city safer.

This will establish accountability and trust and hopefully restore your relationship with the public, if that's even possible.

I want you to implement comprehensive training.

These officers must receive ongoing training in victim advocacy, because we know they've been secondarily victimizing the victims by threatening to falsely arrest them when they're trying to make a police report.

And every report must be documented, especially 911 calls.

And treated with the same seriousness that it actually deserves.

And I want outreach initiatives that are essential, essential to rebuild trust between the police and the community, because this ain't about mistreatment of a defendant.

I was a victim and you mistreated me.

You deprived me of my civil rights in this state and federally under your color of law, which is a federal offense, and I can pursue your bond for it.

And if you're not careful, I will.

Anyway, demand tr I'm demanding transparency.

The community deserves to know what's going on.

The community deserves to be heard, and we are done having this city be a much unsafer place with a police force that does not serve its victims.

And I close.

Kristen Mitchell.

My name is Kristen Mitchell, and I am the Iowa team leader for the soon-to-be-presented Family Justice and Accountability Act of 2025.

This is a federal bill authored by Francesca Amato, national expert and forensic ADA advocate, and supported by families from all 50 states.

The bill was drafted because families across America and right here in Cedar Rapids are suffering under a broken family court and child protective system that routinely ignores civil rights, due process, and the protections guaranteed under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Family Justice and Accountability Act does three vital things.

First, it restores constitutional rights to parents and children denied by these systems.

Second, it creates true independent oversight so court and agencies can finally be held accountable for their actions.

And third, it ensures children are returned to safe, loving homes quickly rather than trapped in harmful institution and foster placements.

This bill is not just another complaint.

It's a manual for Congress to fix what's broken.

It demands accountability, mandates transparency, and specifically protects families from discrimination and retaliatory retaliation targeted by officials who misuse their power.

On October 20th, families and experts from across the country will gather together in Washington, D.C.

to formally present this historic bill for before Congress.

This is at its core a people's movement to ensure that the voices of families, especially children, are no longer ignored.

We believe this legislation is a pathway to justice, accountability, and true protection for every family in America.

Today you have a spokesperson, myself, and soon to be federal testimony witness of punished for protecting, here to speak directly on the systematic corruption happening in this city and in Ling County.

My presence today is not only to inform you about the bill, but to put the Cedar Rapids Council and all affiliated city agencies on public notice.

Let me be clear.

Violations of citizens' constitutional rights are unlawful in any entity, organization, or individual receiving city funds or taxpayer money who engages in actions that violate these rights will be held personally accountable.

Your duty to Cedar Rapids City Services and Police Department is to protect and serve this community, not to be enable or cover up harm through collusion with county departments, judicial and officers of the court.

That duty in my direct experience has been abandoned.

My specific situation should alarm every single member of this council.

Sibling rights in my own family are being violated.

The state of Iowa is allocating public funds to pay for a foster care placement for my child, rather than respecting that two of his biological siblings reside safely with me, their biological mother, in a stable, thoroughly vetted home.

Instead of promoting unification and keeping children together as the law and public policy intend, those funds are used to perpetuate separation and harm.

Meanwhile, my eldest child removes remains in the abusive home from which my other child was removed.

The two youngest children live happily with me in a healthy, stable, faith-filled home.

This is not only a failure of the child protection system, it is a violation of their fundamental rights and public trust.

This council needs to understand that your actions and inactions have sadly created an environment where those children where those who harm children are protected, while those who speak out parents, advocates, and community members are punished and targeted by every mean available.

This is not simply a moral failure.

It is unlawful.

I will continue raising these issues on a national stage, alongside with the other local advocates, demanding systematic change.

Nevertheless, you have a choice today.

Will you stand with the children and families of Cedar Rapids or with the officials and agencies who constantly exploit them?

My story is not unique in Lynn County.

My children and I are victims, trapped by a system that profits on the suffering and separation.

Federal and state grants like Title IVE and Title IV are intended to strengthen families and protect children's best interests.

When local agencies misuse these funds to keep children in abusive situations, silent advocates and weaponize the legal process against parents.

They betray the public trust and misuse taxpayer money.

The bottom line is Cedar Rapids must decide whether it will be remembered for enabling the exploitation of vulnerable families or for taking a stand for justice, protection, and peer accountability.

The time for complacency is over.

The time to protect our children, respect sibling bonds, and hold these corrupt systems accountable is now.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Melissa Duffield.

Cedar Rapids City Council and Administration, members of the press and fellow citizens.

On August 26th of this year, I formally served written notice upon the city of Cedar Rapids that it is liable for stripping its own people of their constitutional rights.

That notice delivered in compliance with Iowa Code sections 224 and 225 remain part of the public record that the denial of our rights is a breach of the social contract, and the legal process is already moving to hold this government accountable, including you individuals.

Every elected or appointed official in this city is bound by Iowa Code Chapter 63.

Before taking office, you swore an oath, and let me read yours, Mayor, quote.

I, Tiffany O'Donnell, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Iowa, and I will faithfully and impartially, to the best of my ability, discharge all of the duties of the office of mayor to the city of Cedar Rapids.

That oath administered by the city clerk doesn't mean that you only protect those people that you choose to and deny the rights of others.

Instead of listening to citizens, please, you look away.

Instead of protecting our people, you scroll through your phones while neighbors, including victims, beg for their safety.

You dismiss legitimate claims as political theater, and you trespass people for instead of giving them transparency.

You apply a code on leak unequally in the city while quietly intimidating those who dare to speak unconstitutional rights and criminal ways that you go after them.

And this is well documented.

You have authorized both an omission and commission acts that place Cedar Rapids residents at risk with reckless intimidation using city-owned vehicles and services and failure to take reports and failure to protect children from illegal acts proliferating under your watch.

Each of these actions is a direct violation of the oath you swore to uphold.

It is not about the lawful enforcement of the oath you swore to uphold to serve.

It is about all citizens, rich to homeless, young to old, of all walks of life, beliefs, and colors.

In the light of this record, I am calling for your immediate resignation, Tiffany O'Donnell for your civil rights violations.

I am also calling for our chief of police SOSO's resignation for misappropriation of public funds and public property, racketeering and collusion, color of law violations, including unlawful surveillance and crimes against parents, children, victims, and advocates, and so much more.

The legal precedent is clear.

Willful neglect and corruption are significant grounds for removal.

The same standard applies here.

As you know, I speak not only as a citizen, but a civil rights advocate that has been targeted.

In fact, on September 12th, Cedar Rapids police raided my neighbor's house that is attached to mine, pointing guns at the front door of my neighbor, and they they ram through the door.

Shooting a bullet would have come directly through my residence.

I was not notified.

Nobody contacted my landlord, no one gave a crap.

But that seems a little suspicious, and that seems like a retaliatory act, and I do have that on camera.

Citizens from every walk of life are speaking today and will continue to grow.

Democrats and Republicans, rich and poor, veterans and students, we all stand together.

Pursuant to Iowa Open Records Act Section 22.1 through 2210, I hereby serve notice to all of you in all departments.

All recordings, photographs, audio, and digital media captured by anyone, city council members, mayors, city employees, or law enforcement officers, all services, all businesses that are connected doing business with the city of Cedar Rapids, you officially are requested to preserve and disclose, and you are not allowed to delete, alter, or failure to comply with a violate violation of Section 222.

And subject to the city is a civil sanction and damages.

This is a proper record preservation request for all forthcoming investigations and lawsuits that are going and going to be coming.

Cedar Rapids, the time for empty promises has passed.

If you persist in intimidation, we will only magnify the exposure of your deeds.

The legal process is underway, and the cameras are rolling, and people all over are bringing in evidence of the violations that are happening in all walks of life.

We demand your resignation, we demand accountability, and above all, we demand the restitution and the restoration of our constitutional rights.

We will not be silenced, we will not be intimidated.

And I just want to say freedom.

You're no longer gonna retaliate against me and women and children and anybody else that comes for him from here on out that speaks, it will be called out publicly and often.

No more of these five-minute conversations.

We are going to continue to go viral, national news stories, podcasts, doing interviews, and Christ is king.

Thank you.

Dorothy DeSouzakedis.

Hi, my name is Dorothy DeSouza Guedis, and I'm a resident of Cedar Rapids, getting my bang for my buck by coming here and speaking three times today.

However, I am not thrilled with CRPD's handling of neighbor disputes and harassment complaints.

The standard uh line that I've heard is we find that when we get involved, things get worse.

Not true.

Because the one time you did get involved, it did end something that had been going on for a long time, and nothing has happened since in three and a half years.

When I reported harassment, um the officer couldn't have been less interested.

Uh she never followed up with me and didn't even follow up with the it the individual I reported in person.

Has the harassment stopped?

Well, as one person put it, um shattered my sense of safety too.

I just don't go out, so I don't know.

Um I would like to see better response to neighborhood complaints.

Um take them as seriously as you do a domestic, because it can be brutal.

Okay, one quick thing.

Why is the street in front of the Montessori school designated as no parking 24-7?

We've got a parking issue downtown, which you've done expensive surveys about.

So for evenings and large events, that would be a great place to park.

I actually parked there during the uh uh downtown uh farmer's market on Saturday because I figured who's gonna turn me in, right?

Um that if that school is only open limited hours, that parking, that whole block should people should be allowed to park on that uh on the other hours.

Okay, so um let's get to the gaps in program committee.

I had already spoken a little bit on that, and you might think, oh, this is just one of many boards and commissions, not that big of a deal.

But it's a lot of money, and it affects a lot of people.

One of the things that um has really troubled me recently is um the lack of neighborhood representation and the representation on the current um committee of realtors, landlords, um, mortgage lenders.

Where's average chain?

Where's average Joe?

I don't know.

Um, and so um I had applied in um April to fill the vacancy.

I had served previously two years.

Um, and um I was not a rubber stamp for everything, so maybe that's the problem.

But um filled out the paperwork on time as the president of a neighborhood association.

Um per the guidelines in the city documentation for um inclusion on that committee.

I never heard anything back until um July 9th.

I think you have that email when um I got the nice little form letter.

I'm sure you didn't personally type that yourself, Tiffany, but um, that said that there was a lot of applications, and so sorry you're not needed.

Um there's still a vacancy.

And I don't see anybody on this list that represents my neighborhood.

Oh, Kill Jackson neighborhood.

You'd like to tout it as a low-income neighborhood when you can bring in federal funding, but you don't let us have a voice.

That's a problem.

Um so grounds for rejection of candy, which none were described to me, may include failure by a candidate to attend meetings, which was not a problem with me previously, failure to conduct him or herself in accordance with any of the rules of conduct for city board and commission.

Nobody ever said anything to me about that either.

So I'm just wondering why there is a vacancy and why there isn't somebody from Oak Hill Jackson on that.

Because as I said previously, a lot of the money goes to other neighborhoods, not so much Oakill Jackson.

Okay.

So there's that.

Um that's really the biggest thing that I had to talk about.

So if you want community involvement, and make the best decisions as a government and a community, you have to have diverse opinions, diverse personalities, the easy to get along with people aren't necessarily gonna change your world.

Thank you.

Robert Hogue.

I'm gonna ask for no disruptions from the gallery, or we will ask you to leave.

Thank you.

Uh good evening, Council.

Uh Rob Hogue, 2750 Otis Road Southeast.

And because there's some people here who probably don't know the history, uh, the city owned a 27-acre prairie pollinator zone in the 2008 floodplain.

Uh rezoned it from residential to industrial and sold it for $3,000 an acre to Cargill.

And uh here we are, our neighborhood that we live in, the Cedar Valley Rompot neighborhood continues to be hurt by the destruction of the prairie, invasive species, ongoing ecological harm from the rail yard, increased flood risk, graffiti, air pollution, and noise pollution.

And what I would like to do today is play a couple clips of noise pollution.

This is from 24th Avenue Southeast and historic um Rompot.

Um this will be from Otis Road.

I'm out uh doing some uh farm work.

Uh this one is uh from the front porch of my house where you can't see the rail yard.

And this was after I'd been uh in my living room, heard it, and finally was told by a family member I should go record it.

July twenty sixth.

Um as I've previously told you, uh, we would have never bought our house or our property in the neighborhood if we'd known that the publicly owned land that was zoned residential could be turned into this use.

Continue to ask the city, having taken away our ability to control that, continue to ask the city to do something about this noise and the other problems.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Dustin.

I can't read the last name.

It does have an address of Wolford.

Um this is public comment for Cedar Rapids residents and business owners.

Are you a resident of Cedar Rapids?

This is public comment period for Cedar Rapids residents and business owners in Cedar Rapids.

Oh, hello, mayor and city council.

Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to me today.

I'm here to talk to you.

Dustin, are you a resident of Cedar Apis?

I'm here to talk to you about Chad Pelley and taxpayer dollars.

So I'm just gonna let the records.

Um, can you please stop interrupting me?

This is when I speak and you listen.

Are you I asked you a question?

This is where you listen and I speak.

I'm here to call us the city attorney.

Taxpayer dollars, please stop interrupting me.

Appropriate to allow five minutes starts when you're quiet.

My first amendment of the United States Constitution and my ability to address my government will not be censored.

This is the second time I've had to ask you to be quiet.

I'm gonna ask you to leave.

Thank you.

Please stop censoring my speech.

Sir, the rules are we have rules that everyone has to abide.

I'm gonna take a quick take a quick reset.

I'm here to address my rights.

All right, we'll take a quick recession.

Why are you gonna stop talking and let me speak a motion people to take a break?

Thank you.

So you're censoring my first amendment rights on the United States Constitution.

We'll take a recess.

Thank you.

Whether we're all right, we can go ahead and make a motion to reconvene.

Okay, do I have a second?

Okay, we'll go ahead and convene and we'll invite our uh video team to go ahead and begin the begin the feed as well.

I'm gonna ask um once again for the folks that were disruptive um against the rules that were laid out very clearly at the beginning of the meeting.

I'll ask you to leave.

That's okay, LCO for activity.

Okay.

All right.

Anyone else?

Okay.

Thank you.

I'm gonna call this meeting back into order, and I'm gonna ask our officers to kindly remove those people who are taking time away from city business as well as speakers we have.

Well, my assurance is 10 million per occurring.

So is there a Milton here that still wishes to speak?

Violating our rights.

Is there a Milton here?

No, okay.

How about Joshua?

Not her.

Is there a Joshua here?

Willing to speak?

Okay.

Joshua, you are up next.

Textile creditors.

Thank you.

I apologize for the disruption.

Joshua, you will get your five minutes.

Members of the council, I'm glad that I'm able to speak.

First off, I want to express my support of the First Amendment and anyone having anything to say with regards to political speech, and that some of what I've seen here today is a little bit troubling to say the least.

However, that is not why I rise to speak.

Um the city bus system has become uh a central part of our lives.

And I've noticed quite a bit that there are members of this of this city who are disabled or whatever that work late hours, work Sundays, work Saturdays late, you know, and the bus system is very convenient because if you have the disabilities and the correct pass requirements, you can get a ride pretty much anywhere in the city for free.

Great.

What I rise today for is not to dis to dissuade people from using the bus, but rather to encourage it.

Um the buses as they currently run run from nine o'clock in the well, run from 5 15 in the morning till 7 15 at night on weekdays on Saturday, they run from 9 o'clock till 4 15.

And on Sundays, they don't run at all.

Okay, I can understand the Sundays not running at all.

That's whatever.

I mean, but people still need to get bus some transportation on Sundays.

What I'm proposing to you guys and also in extension, the city bus department, is to increase hours.

So make Saturdays, 6 a.m.

to 6 p.m.

Make the weekdays go on till 10 p.m.

You know, give the give it so that people who ride the bus to get to work or get to whatever they need to do, have the ability to then get on that same bus to return to their home.

Because let's just be honest, many of the people here have mentioned that we do have a crime problem in this city, and we do.

And there are days that I don't feel comfortable walking around in my own neighborhood.

I live on Oakland Road.

And what's bothers me the most is that the city bus gives you the freedom to do that, walk around and get where you need to go without as much fear for your safety.

I mean, I've been riding the city buses since I was one year old, and I'm 40 years old now, so do the math there.

And I've seen the buses extend hours, I've seen them go completely free, which would be another thing that they could do.

Iowa City does it, we could do it.

But having more bus access for those that cannot afford to use services such as Uber, such as the taxis, such as uh NTS, because even though, yeah, we do have the NTS system, we have a problem with that.

You have to figure out in advance that you need to go to these, use an NTS bus.

You need to call Horizons to get that bus requested, and then your ride is not one dollar per ride, it's two or three dollars per ride, and that can be a financial burden that people cannot afford.

I'm I rise to encourage the increase of bus skit bus access because I truly believe that the in the infamous words of the movie uh field of dreams, if you build it, they will come.

If you put more buses on the streets, they will get used.

Thank you very much, counsel, and I hope you have a lovely rest of your day.

Thank you, Joshua.

And it looks like that will close out our second public input period.

City Manager Pomerance, do you have any communications for us today?

Nothing for your honor.

All right.

If there's no other further business to come before the council, council member Tyler Olsen moves to adjourn, seconded by councilmember Overland.

All those in favor say aye.

Those opposed say no.

And this motion carries.

Thank you, Council.