The Cedar Rapids City Council met on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, with Councilmember Marty Hager absent. The meeting began with proclamations recognizing Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and Hispanic Heritage Month, followed by a presentation on the city's homeless services systems initiative. The council held multiple public hearings and approved several development agreements, infrastructure projects, and policy items. Public comment periods included statements on police chief retirement, surveillance cameras, neighborhood disputes, data centers, and a proposed power plant.
This meeting of the Cedar Rapids City Council will come to order. Welcome everybody to the Cedar Rapids City Council meeting for Tuesday, September 8th, 2026. I'd like to note one absence, Councilmember Marty Hager is absent from today's meeting. I want to welcome our city manager, our city clerk, and our city attorney. And as always, thank you to city staff for being here and available to hear from those in the gallery. A reminder to turn off any cell phones or electronic devices that might distract from our proceedings today. As a reminder, we need to hold an orderly meeting and just review the rules of conduct that are presented there for everyone who's in the room today. Those rules are available when you come in and they're also projected onto the screens during the public comment. Please note that all oh disruptions, I should say to council proceedings will not be tolerated. Please note that city council meeting agendas, minutes, and videos are available on our city's website. Regular sessions are also available to watch live and on replay via Facebook live. We'll now begin with an invocation by public safety chaplain Josh Kent, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. You stand. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we do thank you for the opportunity again, Lord, as we come to this meeting. Lord, as our leaders have called this meeting, Lord, I pray that you would give them wisdom, give them guidance, give them understanding. Lord, I pray for our area. Lord, I pray that you would be with each council member and Lord, our mayor, Lord, as they move forward with the business to conduct for today. Thank you for all that you've done. We ask all these things in your name. Amen. We'll fled. I pledge allegiance to the flag in the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice. All right, we'll begin with proclamations. Our very first one is uh start a conversation changing the narrative about suicide, and that will be followed then by Hispanic Heritage Month. So if I could have those for our first proclamation, join Councilmember Poe at the dais, please. Hello, welcome. Thank you for being here. This is uh proclamation is extremely personal to me. Um, my husband's um nephew committed suicide at 21. And so that happens throughout all families, and so this narrative is extremely important to have. So please, um, a proclamation on the behalf on behalf of the city of Cedar Rapids. Whereas suicide is significant public health issue that impacts individuals, families, workplaces, schools, and communities across the nation. And every life lost to suicide represents a profound loss of hope, connection, and potential. And whereas starting conversations about mental health and suicide can help reduce the stigma, challenge, harmful misconceptions, and remind people that asking for help is a sign of strength, an important step toward healing. And whereas changing the narrative about suicide means moving from silence and stigma toward openness, hope, and understanding, while recognizing that prevention is possible and that support is available for people experiencing crisis, those who have lost someone to suicide, and all members of our community. And whereas during suicide prevention awareness awareness month, we will recognize the importance of fostering compassion, connection, and suicide safer communities where all people know that they matter and have access to the sport when life gets tough. Now I, Ann Poe, on behalf of Mayor Tiffany O'Donnell and the entire Cedar Rapids City Council hereby recognize September 2026 as start a conversation changing the narrative about suicide and encourage residents to start a conversation changing the narrative about suicide by promoting hope, connection, awareness, and support throughout our community. Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm mayor and city council for um doing this. We see the impacts every day. Obviously, we do this work every day of the year, but during this month, it's just an opportunity to uplift it and bring it to that public eye. On Thursday, we're going to be having a late and night memorial down at our headquarters building just a couple blocks downtown. And we have 250 names this year that local residents have submitted as their loved ones who have died by suicide that they would like to honor. So that number just keeps increasing. I mean, we are now over 100,000 contacts as an agency. We just broke, it's 101,483, I think, for the last fiscal year. So remarkable and twofold. We definitely hold that space that that is a lot of hurt in our communities, but we're glad that we're able to be there.