Well, good evening, everyone, and welcome to the February 10th City Council meeting for Wednesday.

I'm sorry, Wednesday, February 11th.

Got to get the date right.

And at this time, we will have a moment of silence, but before we do that, again, we lost a pillar of our community in Frank Clips just on Tuesday.

His visitation will be Thursday, I'm sorry, Friday, and the funeral Saturday at 11, I believe, at St.

Paul Lutheran with a luncheon and kind of a memorial to follow at the Putnam Museum.

You know, just my thoughts on this.

Frank had an innate ability to make the person he was engaged with at that time feel like a million dollars every single time.

And it came from a real place of genuineness.

I think that's who Frank was at his core, was someone who wanted to make the person he was talking to, whether it's someone he knew for 30, 40, 50 years or someone he just met, feel like a million bucks, make them feel as good as he possibly could.

He cared deeply for people and for relationships.

And so we as a city are really going to mess Frank.

So as we go into this moment of silence, let's think of the Clitch Clips family as they deal with the loss of uh such a uh a community leader and great father and husband and and grandfather.

So moment of silence, please.

Thank you.

Alder Woman Newton will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Please stand.

To the Republic for which it stands under God with liberty and justice for all.

All right, Brian, would you please call the roll?

R Dunn here.

Vasquez, Holloway.

Here.

Lean in.

Here.

Grip.

Here.

Newton.

Here.

Lung.

Here.

T Dunn?

Here.

Job Jin.

Here.

And Burkwilder.

Here.

Your Honor.

Thank you, Brian.

And good evening, everyone.

Uh, and welcome to tonight's city council meeting.

And and thank you.

Uh those of you who are with us in person or watching at home.

We appreciate uh you being with us and uh participating in your local governments.

Um we value your comments and opinions.

Please remember that when you address the council, you are also sharing your thoughts with fellow Davenport residents and viewers throughout the region.

City council meetings are live streamed and recorded for later viewing on our the city's YouTube channel.

We appreciate your engagement in city government and ask that your participation reflects our shared goal of making Davenport an even better place for everyone.

Thank you for being a part of tonight's meeting.

Before we begin, just a couple of things.

As always, we ask you to silence any of your mobile devices or iPads or whatever you have.

Uh they can't interfere with our sound system.

Uh, if you wish to speak on an item listed on the discussion agenda, you are encouraged to do so during discussion of that item.

And there also will be an opportunity to address the city council during the public with business portion of the meeting later in the evening.

When speaking, please come to the podium, wait to be recognized by the mayor or the committee chair, and address the council as a whole, and not to one in uh one in individual.

And uh your remarks will be limited to five minutes.

And as always, we want to know uh your ward or address in Davenport.

And if you're not from Davenport, we'd love to know where you're from.

So thank you.

Uh will an Alder Person move approval of the city council meeting minutes from January 28th.

All in favor?

Any opposed, same sign?

The uh minutes are approved.

Uh I believe there is a city minute administrator update this evening.

Thank you, Mayor and uh council to the community.

Real quick, uh, it is President's Day on Monday the 16th.

City offices will be closed.

And this is uh first cycle, so we have uh employer recognition.

Uh the first, these are new hires, Diana Dugan to uh public service uh cashier.

Derek Green is a uh Packer Loader uh for uh public works.

Lil uh Lil and Bills is uh information services uh at the library.

And then we have uh promotions uh internally.

Uh Chris Logan was promoted to uh fire lieutenant uh and uh actually is uh leadership for the union.

Have had uh a meeting uh already with him.

And um, you know, it's uh quite impressive.

Uh James Rogers, firefighter engineer, Evan Obert as a uh police sergeant.

Alyssa Hawk uh hired as a civilian crime analyst.

Uh she's a supervisor moving up.

And a Blake Horvath uh civilian digital forensics supervisor.

Two retirements.

Uh we have uh John Maxie, uh Packer uh loader for uh public works, uh and I want to get this right.

I think John had 31 years with the city, and then we have uh fire lieutenant Kelly Johnson.

Uh he had uh 27 years with the fire department, and I was right uh with uh John.

Uh he had 31 years.

Next item.

Um my city administrator update this evening's gonna be a little bit longer, and uh want to uh take the opportunity to talk about uh some of the recent um recent news about uh the relationship between the city uh and the humane society.

You know, this is one that uh you know I I I've talked about this in the three months that I've been here as the interim and uh have talked about telling our story.

Um I've also talked about there are times where you know there's a story that's gonna be more difficult to tell.

Um, but uh, you know, this is one of those moments where this isn't necessarily uh the time and the place that I would like to be spending on a topic, but uh truly think it's appropriate.

I also conduct business, and I know uh council expects this uh of us and staff of me and my staff to uh uh conduct business as such that the high road prevails, and it's bigger than the moment that we're in.

It's bigger than the moment that we're in uh right now.

But this is a moment that we need to share with the public, maintain the high road uh that uh is expected, and talk about what the relationship and the history has been with the Humane Society.

So I'm gonna continue with some of my comments, but then I'm gonna ask uh assistant city administrator Gleason and assistant to the city administrator Tegan Trees to uh come to the podium, and uh they're gonna walk us through a presentation.

But a couple of things that I want to share is uh uh what this really is.

You know, it is not us saying that we can do this service, this critical service to the community for less than some of the numbers that the community has heard.

And in fact, it might cost us more.

This has always at the core been a repeated request of trying to understand what the costs are.

How did we get to the costs?

And three pages have been provided.

So we have the humane society that says we've provided our financials.

I'm going to say it this strongly.

It would be ridiculous for me to accept those three pages, one of which is a pie chart as something that's reasonable when we are stewards of the taxpayer dollars.

We have some uh you know public comment that uh you know want to be very critical and rightfully so uh of our uh financial house, making sure that it's in order at the city.

This would actually be one area where I would be remiss as the CEO of this organization.

So that is at the root of what the issue is, and it's not only give us the accurate information, it's please let us help you.

You know, please let us provide either the assistance, the programs so that we can have that and we can be good stewards of the taxpayer dollar.

There is no question about the mission at all.

And in fact, think that the Humane Society of Scott County, which is not a part of Scott County, it's a uh nonprofit.

I know there's some confusion there, uh, but the mission is critical, and they do a good job.

And if we were going to do something that uh uh you know did something counter to what that mission is, you not only would have public comment, you'd have my own staff coming to public comment.

You might have some of these elected officials coming off the dais and coming up to the podium to speak at public comment.

This is not an option for us to reduce change uh what that core mission is.

This is about us asking for the information and not receiving it.

And this is deja vu all over again.

You know, we were here last year, and uh an agreement that was struck by all parties.

Scott County is a part of this, City of Bettendorf's a part of this.

You know, we made the agreement so that we would not be up against uh a time clock uh with this that by November 1st of 2025, you shall, both parties shall provide uh proposals with a deadline of December 15th, 2025 for us to have agreed upon something.

We're well into February.

I'm well into my budget season.

I've seated five new council members, and that is that's what the attempts last year this time were to avoid, so that we weren't in this position.

June 30th is the current deadline.

We did not get a proposal until Monday of last week.

It's a six-month extension.

We're still negotiating, you know, no different than some of our other partners are.

And in fact, I'm optimistic and not optimistic.

I'm hopeful that we can have something that's reasonable and undoes and you know provides the information that we're asking for and undoes this path that we're uh headed down.

You know, in fact, uh, my council, so with this proposal, you know, I'm not going to arbitrarily make the decision that we're not going to accept this.

It may not rise to an agenda item, but I need to share that six-month proposal uh at 800 plus thousand dollars, you know, with the council to at least consider and and give me direction.

Do we want to see this as a uh as an agenda item in the future?

So, what I'm asking for, and uh, and and this is Tim saying this.

You know, I've got elected officials that are under intense scrutiny, you know, representing this community.

And I think some of the comments on social media, they have been extremely unfair.

If you knew these people and and the history and the passion that they've got and the pressure that they're placing on me to do this right, you wouldn't say not you, but some of those comments on social media, they wouldn't be said uh because it's just not possible to even think that of this body.

It definitely is not possible to think that of some of the people that are running point on this ongoing relationship and negotiation that we've had with Humane Society of Scott County.

Again, not a part of the Scott uh Scott County government.

Our partners at Scott County and the City of Bettendorf, we're in lockstep.

You know, we've uh been uh sort of appointed to uh run the lead on this.

We have uh an elected liaison and alder woman uh Jade Burkholder that has had a front seat uh you know view from my uh you know role in all of this the past year.

We're looking to get beyond this, but please allow me probably another 10-15 minutes that we're going to walk through a presentation, provide the facts, and let's get beyond this.

Um assistant city administrator Gleason and assistant to the city administrator uh Teg and Trees.

Uh, please are you coming here?

I'm not gonna let you come here.

I'm not moving.

That's good.

All right, I just wanted the remote.

Yes.

All right.

Thank you.

This is gonna be a little bit longer tonight, but please bear with us.

And thank you, everyone, for uh showing up uh on this important.

So um a couple, if anything, um administrator leaking already said I'll just kind of move through it, but really wanted to get to the root of what what is the issue and how did we get here?

So we have been working collaboratively for several years now, um, and basically on a monthly basis.

Tegan's been involved in a lot more of those meetings than I have, but not just about the negotiation, but how can we be more efficient as individual agencies?

How can we be more efficient together?

Uh the latest proposal was uh request of 1.1 million in operating expenses, which would come from our city's general fund.

I'm gonna interrupt real quick, and I apologize for that.

Can everybody hear that's what I thought?

So I am gonna move out of my seat, and I'm going to let uh let you sit there.

Because I want to okay.

So um, and then uh so 1.1 million, which would come from our general fund, and then 300,000 of a can't capital contribution.

And additionally, they asked for year over year 5% annual increases.

And as you all know, part of the issue with that is many of our union contracts are negotiated closer to the two to three percent, so five percent to an outside agency is is significant.

Um, we did request detailed data, and what I mean by detailed data is we really were looking to understand what's the cost of animal control specifically.

So the officers that are they're traveling out um to to collect animals or assist with um different ordinances, and the cost to shelter animals um within the shelter.

Additionally, we said we really want to understand if you could collect 30 days of data specifically where the animal um, you know, where the animal control agents are going, how much time are they spending on each case, how many miles are they traveling, really putting together that full cost model is is what we had requested.

So, what is animal control as a function of government is really the dogs that are running at large, dogs that are biting, um, quarantine enforcement, animal welfare, pet licensing, mistreatment, neglect, cruelty investigations, nuisances um such as animal feces, uh excessive number of animals.

So we do have ordinances that limit the number of animals people can have, and then police assistance.

The kind of where the nonprofit steps in is really the extraordinary life saving measures that maybe would be beyond our city code, long-term sheltering needs beyond our city code, and really when we're we were looking at the days of animals in care, really looking to control these the animals in care for these hundreds of days, um, trying to really draw the distinction of the city portion of animal control and the humane society nonprofit mission of animal control.

So as it was said, uh it is not an agency of Scott County, it is a private nonprofit, and they do receive revenue from Davenport, Betendorf, Scott County, and other communities in the area.

So going back into kind of how did we get here?

So in FY 2023, we had an agreement that was supposed to be good until June 30th of 2025.

This agreement was for 391,000 with 3% automatic increases.

The City of Davenport would provide a vehicle, the maintenance for the vehicle and fuel for all humane society vehicles, not just the vehicle provided for the city of Davenport.

A $50,000 capital contribution and radios.

So on August 31st of 2021, just a short time into the contract, we did receive a notice of cancellation.

So they said that that the cost we were paying, they they were having to pay too much out of their own nonprofit funds to perform our services, and they were just going to cancel the contract unless we increase that amount from 391,000 to nearly 1.4 million.

So that was really kind of step one that brought us where we are today.

So through the negotiation process, that contract that was mid-cycle had an additional 250,000 added to it, and then more negotiations began.

And then moving on, we were able to get to a one-year $800,000 agreement and provide $50,000 towards a fundraising consultant.

And we also set up a multi-agency task force.

The purpose of that task force was really to look at the ordinances across all of the Iowa Quad cities that had a stake in this to see what we could do to reduce operational costs and increase revenue as it relates to the actual animal control.

We were working together in good faith and really reviewing those ordinances with the large group and also with a smaller working group group with Tegan here.

So our progress to date is as you may have seen over the course of the last two years, I believe we've been in front of you at least three, if not four times with ordinance changes specifically related to animal control, going towards these goals of reducing costs.

So by reducing the impoundment period, they've Humane Society stated they've reduced 150,000 in costs.

We've allowed the Humane Society to double claim fees.

Any claim fees do stay directly with the humane society, requiring micro trips chips so that if an animal comes in and then it's running at large again, it can be returned home as opposed to being returned to the shelter.

So that would also reduce cost.

And then we also expanded licensing sales online, and we've seen more than a 200% increase in revenue.

And for the benefit of the public, all of those fees do stay directly with the humane society that are collected through licensing.

So other ordinances we related related to this, we're updating our dangerous animal code to reduce administrative work.

We updated our mistreatment of animals, and we did instill a trap neuter ordinance just recently.

And I think one of the great news stories about this and why the 5% year-over-year cost increases are such a concern, is that when a community starts a trap neuter release program, they expect to see a 50% reduction in cat intakes over three to five years.

So on average, if we take a cat into the humane society, it'll cost us around $1,000.

But if we were to do TNR, we could reduce that cost to around $76.

So a great example of this is Kansas City recently did this, and they've been so successful that they are asking other humane societies for cats to refill their shelter for cats to be adoptable.

So our Humane Society recently took quite a few cats to Kansas City.

And then the other great benefit of TNR is reducing the kitten population.

So if if a humane society gets a litter of, say, five kittens from you know a ditch somewhere, those cats are going to be in care for at least six to eight weeks until they are able to be spayed or neutered and be adopted out.

So that is also a very significant cost driver.

The fundraising study that the city of Davenport funded did result in a restructuring of two staff roles to help improve their donor relations.

And what they reported to us is they've seen a 34% increase in revenue due to that.

And they've also increased local event presence, online engagement and awareness campaigns.

So we fast forward here to our FY2027 negotiation.

So our starting point was a three-year agreement with a 1.1 million ask in the 5%.

So this is the number just showed you recently.

The City of Davenport had offered a three-year agreement with an 840,000 base, annual increases of 3%, which is more in line with other agreements, 25,000 in capital, and then 75,000 directly related to that TNR program to start seeing that reduction in the cat and kitten population.

Again, um offering to maintain the one vehicle and preventative maintenance and fuel for all of their vehicles, not just the Davenport related business, but their nonprofit business and the other agencies.

Again, a three-year agreement, lowering it to just uh below a million, again with the 5% annual increases, $300,000 in capital and $75,000 in TNR.

And an important thing to note on this one is that the Humane Society did just recently acquire an additional building, and part of our negotiation last year, we did inquire with them if they would prefer the city to purchase the building so they could preserve capital, and that was not preferred by them.

So in the world of city accounting, if we were able to procure the building, we could have paid for the building with debt service, but when just giving the money to them, we can't pay for it that way.

So it limits our flexibility and funding.

Once we receive this proposal, we did ask for a one-year option from the Humane Society.

So we were talking about the financials and kind of a disagreement over what was provided by them versus what we were asking to see.

So I did already explain what we were asking to see, but but this is at a nutshell what was provided.

So they basically just take the total cost of business and break it down by what they see as Davenport's um Davenport's cost, their nonprofit cost, and then the cost of all other cities.

In doing that, we then they then showed us what they thought each of those things cost, and that Davenport was around $350,000 short, and that the other cities were around a half a million short, and that they're basically nonprofit was paying for that shortfall, which is why they were coming to Davenport for those additional funds.

When we made the initial offer in October that I showed you for the $840,000, we did proactively reach out to Scott County and Betendorf and ask if we could add them on to our proposal with an increased offer from each of them, and they did allow us to do that.

So when we brought our increased offer, we did actually also bring an increased offer from Betendorf and Scott County.

And then another thing that's referenced in the proposal is kind of best practices in charging per capita for animal control services.

And as you can see with what Davenport was currently paying, um, we were basically around eight dollars per capita, while the other contributions were closer to $2 per capita.

So the other ask was to make sure that it was equitable.

Well, we know Davenport has a great deal more animals and a great deal more complicated cases.

We didn't feel that this difference was reflective.

So again, these are really the areas of disagreement, is really we needed to understand those costs.

We owe it to you all, we owe it to the taxpayers.

Um and we need to know the difference between the taxpayer and nonprofit responsibility.

So as I said, we did request a one year extension when we did hear back last Monday that a one year extension was not offered, a six-month extension was offered.

And this is a quote directly from that offer that they value the progress made together to improve animal welfare, and we maintain committed that our mission by providing vital community resources and contract services for other municipalities within Scott County, while Davenport transitions to operating its own animal control and animal sheltering services.

So at this point, we we saw this as they had reached a point of impasse with kind of the back and forth offering that had been going on.

So right now, the agreement we have it ends June 30th.

Uh as we had said, we really were hoping to have this answer by December 15th to allow the city time to react and budget appropriately.

The current extension on the table is six months, and because any opportunity we currently have is outside of the presently approved budget, this is where we need council direction.

Um the budget, because we were back and forth, was actually in our FY27 budget, I believe, at the 840,000 dollars.

Therefore, the current offer on the table and any changes to the service delivery model are not currently within our budget.

So that's what I have.

I just wanted to run through the full history.

All right.

Thank you, Nicole.

Appreciate that update, Tim and Nicole.

Um moving on, uh, well, an all-person move approval of the report on the committee of the whole for February 4, 2026.

Second.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, same sign?

All right, that is approved.

Tonight we have four appointments and one proclamation.

I'll read the appointments.

Uh, they are all reappointments, um, and then ask for approval of those.

So the first is uh Carla Anderson is uh being reappointed to the design review board.

Uh the second are two reappointments to the affirmative action advisory commission, and that's Vera Kelly and Tyla Sherwin Cole.

Again, both reappointments, and then uh a new appointment to the Riverfront Improvement Commission is former Alderman Paul Reinhardts.

Uh I'd entertain a motion to approve those appointments.

So moved.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, same sign.

Okay, those appointments are approved.

And then uh moving on to our proclamation, it is Black History Month.

Um, and so I have a proclamation to read tonight, and I believe Frank Holly is here.

Um, yes, there's Frank.

So I will read this, Frank, and I'll meet you at the podium, and then we'll you're free to say a few words if you if you would like to.

So the proclamation reads as follows.

Whereas Black History Month is an annual celebration of the achievements and significant contributions of black Americans, and a time to honor the legacies of those who have helped shape our nation, and whereas in 1915, Dr.

Carter Godwin Woodson, a Harvard educated black scholar and the son of formerly enslaved parents, founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, now known as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.

And whereas Dr.

Carter Godwin Woodson initiated Black History Week in February 1926, which was expanded to Black History Month in 1976 during the nation's bicentennial when President Gerald Ford issued the first presidential proclamation recognizing the month of February as Black History Month in the United States.

And whereas Black History Month provides an opportunity for all members of our community to learn from the past, engage in meaningful dialogue, and work toward a more inclusive and equitable future.

And whereas the City of Davenport proudly celebrates Black History Month and recognizes the invaluable contributions of Black leaders, educators, entrepreneurs, artists, and residents whose accomplishments continue to inspire progress and strengthen our community.

And now, therefore, we Jason Gordon Mayor and the City Council of Davenport, Iowa, do hereby proclaim February 2026 as Black History Month in Davenport and encourage all citizens to celebrate the contributions of Black Americans and honor the lasting and continued impact they have on the success and vitality of our city.

Dated this 11th day of February 2026.

And I need to move the proclamation.

I uh accept this on behalf of the uh like populist here in the court cities, and I would hope that uh this proclamation would be a pledge for the city of David Board to continue to strive for the uh political, social and the economic equality for uh not only the blacks but all those who are being uh racially discriminated and uh bias and those things that tend to subdue a particular uh racial gender, but uh I would accept this and I would thank you appreciate it.

God bless you.

Thank you very much.

Thanks again, Frank, for coming down and doing that.

Uh next is petitions and communications from council.

All right, Alderman Vesquez.

Yes, thank you.

I'd like to announce my first third board meeting here.

It will be February 23rd at 6 30 at this location.

Um, I'm planning it to be a lot of introductions.

Everybody's welcome to come.

I would like to hear what what your proposals, plans, goals are for the third ward and the city of Davenport.

Uh and start a larger mailing list and talk to anybody who wants to talk and get ideas.

I'm inviting everybody to come and uh and from that point on we'll figure out what we want to do.

Thank you.

Thank you, Alderman Vasquez.

Alder Woman Newton.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh start off by thanking staff for providing that information.

Um, I think it's helpful to see it in in that form of presentation.

Unfortunately, I still don't think that is enough.

And the reason for it is that the information that's been provided by the city is not it's contradicted by what the humane society of Scott County has indicated publicly via social media and or to even our local media like the Quad City Times.

I think transparency is key.

So what I want is two things to happen.

First, I want a meeting set with the Humane Society of Scott County and the entire council, and I want it to be public.

And unless I hear any objections from my colleagues, I want that to be set.

Secondly, prior to that meeting, I want information.

I understand that a lot of information was presented.

I appreciate that, but I want the corresponding documentation for such information.

I want the negotiations, the offers, the demands, the contracts, the communications, emails from 2023 to present as it relates to this issue, so that I can personally review everything.

I know staff sent out a little bit of information last week, including like a three-page uh financial that they had received from uh the humane society of Scott County, but I want all the communications and everything that has taken place so that I can actually review it myself personally and be prepared to ask questions of both the city and the humane society of Scott County at a public meeting in front of the public so that it's all out there.

I think facts matter.

So we can't I want to make a few things clear to the public.

First, the city is not ending a contract.

Ending a contract makes it appear like we are taking a position of we're stopping something that is in place.

That is not taking place.

A contract has a start and an end date.

The end date, as we saw, is June, and what's taking place appears to be an inability to find a path forward together.

Now, whether there's a possibility of moving forward is something that is yet to be determined because that takes me to point two.

A decision has not been made.

I've had constituents reach out saying you made decisions behind closed doors.

There has been no decision, and no decisions will be made that are not made here publicly in front of all of you and live stream for our constituents to be aware of, whether that decision is to accept an ex uh an extension of a contract, a completely new contract, or a completely new direction, because obviously, if we're unable to reach an agreement with a humane society of Scott County, we need to figure out something because that leads me to point three.

Animal services aren't going away.

Like we are going to follow our code at all times, and we're gonna ensure that animals are taken care of and that those that are dangerous are also dealt with the way they should be, and services will continue in the city of Davenport, at least so long as I'm sitting up here, that's not going to change.

And then last but not least, I I've hammered this from my first day in office and till I sit here and in my last day in office, it'll be the same thing.

Transparency matters, accountability matters.

The city is telling me that there's information requested that has not been received.

I would want that information from the humane society of Scott County.

I personally would want to know how we went from 391,000 in 2023 to 1.1.2 million.

Maybe that is the correct number, but I think the having the information provided of what it actually costs is what we should be doing.

It's what my constituents want me to do is to hold government accountable.

And just because this government may have made decisions in the past that our constituents did not agree with doesn't mean that we're going to allow that to continue to happen going forward.

So accountability is something that I think this entire council wants, and I we want it stacked.

So unless there's objection from the majority of council, I want the humane society contacted.

I want a meeting set, I want a work session with all of us in here and the public to be allowed to listen in to what's going on.

And I want both the city and the humane society of Scott County prepared to answer all my questions.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ogre Woman Newton.

And again, just a reminder to the audience, I know this is something that you're passionate about.

Um we just asked that you refrain from clapping.

We did have this, and that gentleman remembers it from a couple of weeks ago.

That's perfectly acceptable.

Um, but appreciate your cooperation on that.

So uh you still want your mic on or not.

Okay, moving right along, Alderman Blunk.

I just wanted to uh inform everyone the next ward meeting for the fifth board is also gonna be on Monday, February 23rd.

From six until seven o'clock.

Rumping's saloon in the village of these board city of Brian Chat will be on special guests that evening.

Same night.

On Monday, February 23rd.

Thank you, Alderman Blunt.

Alder Woman Burkeholder.

Thank you.

Um Alderwoman Newton, thank you.

Um I would add that not only the Humane Society of Scott County, but their board of directors, please.

Thank you.

All right, and then I just have a couple of comments I wanted to make.

First, uh I was just in Des Moines uh yesterday uh and got back today.

Uh John Alderman Blanc uh uh joined me uh with a group of folks from the Quad Cities advocating for our interest in Des Moines at the state capitol.

Uh as you might imagine, the primary um topic of the day was property tax reform.

And I don't necessarily know if I know anything more about where that process stands than I did before I got to Des Moines.

Um I guess I know a little bit more about the competing bills that exist out there between the Senate, the House, and the governor's bill.

Um, you know, I I guess I would say all of the bills have a couple of things that I think the city probably uh is you know looks favorably upon and and they all have portions of of the legislation that we don't look too favorably upon.

Um I think we communicated our message well about what the impact um might be that could potentially be to the city with the two percent cap.

Uh I didn't get the sense that there was any um desire to move off that two percent.

If there's one thing that uh the governor and the two bodies seem to agree on is that two percent is the number.

Um so I don't I don't anticipate that changing, but we did make that ask.

Um, and then just quickly too, there is, I think, some good news potentially coming from the state from a mental health perspective that could benefit Davenport and cities that are dealing with a population that do have mental health needs, and that is um to summarize very briefly, more beds uh and a um the changing the state um um providing some state flexibility on the amount of time that the individuals can be in the bed.

Um currently that time limit is relatively short.

So if you're look if you're looking at someone who needs um you know a serious reset and stabilization, they have about 10 days, I think eight days actually to do that.

Uh I think 10 days might be the state mandate, and and so the state's looking at providing many, many more days and weeks to allow the flexibility for the individual to get the the care, the treatment, the medications they need to fully stabilize.

So I think there's some good news coming on that front.

Um, and then I did just as mayor um want to make a few comments, uh, and I agree with what has been said uh by Alder Woman Newton and others relative to the Humane Society, but just kind of wanted to share my thoughts on this as well.

Um, you know, I don't I am the mayor now.

I feel like 98, 99% of what has happened relative to this issue happened before I got here, but that's not an excuse anymore.

Um it's my issue now as mayor.

Um and I know it's an issue that's important to many of you.

I know the humane society of Scott County is a valued and respected nonprofit with a mission and vision many of you are committed to.

Uh however, this issue is not about the city or anyone else questioning the value and worth of the humane society of Scott County.

They are a well-respected organization in Davenport and the Quad Cities.

With this, uh what this issue is about is this body's fiduciary responsibility to ensure that we are using taxpayer dollars in the most efficient and cost effective manner for ensuring we have high quality and humane animal control services for our citizens.

And so, as we've already heard in in 2023, the Humane Society um came to us uh in year one of a three-year contract uh that we were obligated at about 400,000 and said that that number needed to be closer to 1.2 million, which is essentially a 200% increase.

If any other for-profit, nonprofit, uh contractor or a vendor who was providing a service to the city came to us and said the amount of that service was increasing by 200%.

It is absolutely our obligation to understand exactly why and explore any and all other options to obtain that same service at a more reasonable cost to taxpayers.

That is precisely what we are currently undertaking as it relates to the animal control services we need to provide to our residents, as Alder Woman Newton mentioned and um assured you all of.

And finally, I believe this entire council is supportive of the work that the Humane Society does.

Many of us are animal lovers, whether it's dogs, cats, or both.

Personally, my family adopted Nala, a black lab mix from the Humane Society of Scott County over 13 years ago.

And we just had to make the horribly uh tough decision to put her down just about three hours ago as her health continued to decline in her old age.

We are committed to ensuring high quality, humane animal control services for the residents of Davenport, and we don't shirk at our responsibility and obligation to be prudent with taxpayer dollars in evaluating how best to do that.

Okay, thank you for that.

I don't see any other comments from council.

Um so moving right along.

Um we do not have any emotions uh or and sorry, in individual approval items on the discussion agenda.

So I will entertain a motion uh for approval of all items on the consent agenda.

So move.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

All right.

Well, let me give you Your Honor.

We need to do a roll call for that.

I thank you, Brian.

Let's do a roll call, please.

Sorry about that.

That's okay.

Blunt?

Yes.

Holloway, yes, Burkholder, yes.

R Dunn?

Yes.

Lean in, yes.

T Dunn, yes, Job Jen?

Yes.

Newton, yes.

Grip, yes, and Vasquez.

Yes.

10 yeses, Your Honor.

Thank you.

Next area is other ordinance, resolutions, and motions, and we do have one item this evening.

Uh, first, is there a motion for suspension of the rules to amend the executive session to add a topic to discuss a real estate transaction pursuant to Iowa Code Section 21.51J?

So moved.

All right.

Uh, we do need a roll call on the suspension of the rules.

Job Jen?

Yes.

Vasquez?

Yes.

Grip?

Yes.

Blunk?

Yes.

R done?

Yes.

Lean in?

Yes.

Newton.

Yes.

T Dunn?

Yes.

Holloway?

Yes.

And Burkholder.

Yes.

And yes, is your honor?

All right, thank you.

Is there a motion to amend the executive session to add a topic?

Let's see, I just read that.

Do we have to do that twice?

It looks like.

Or is that read it again?

Thank you.

Is there a motion to amend the executive session to add a topic to discuss a real estate transaction pursuant to Iowa Code Section 21.51J?

So moved.

Second.

All right.

Another roll call, please, Brian.

Then Burkholder?

Yes.

Job Jen?

Yes.

Grip?

Yes.

Lean in?

Yes.

Holloway?

Yes.

Rdan?

Yes.

Blunk.

Yes.

Vasquez?

Yes.

And Newton.

Yes.

And yes, is your honor?

All right.

Next, is there any public with business?

Mayor.

Can we have one minute?

We're going to try to get the mic squared away.

Oh, oh, sure.

Okay, you can do it.

Okay.

We're having some issues with this mic, you just give us a second.

And as a reminder, why are they doing that for the public?

You know, we uh just want to know uh what ward or address in Davenport, and if you're not them, just tell us where you're from.

And um, of course, your name.

I think that's good.

All right, so are we good?

Okay.

Oh, hang on a sec, let him test this real quick.

Can everybody hear me?

How about this?

That's a little better.

Okay, just be careful when you come up here.

I don't know how sturdy it is.

Okay, so now we're uh public with business.

So go ahead and step forward and you've got five minutes.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you so much.

I'd just like to take a moment to thank the esteemed members of the state council and the residents of the city of Davenport for your time.

My name's Genevieve.

I reside in Ward 5.

I worked for the Humane Society of Scott County from February 22 until spring of 2033 as an animal protection services dispatcher.

I learned of the position through my daughter who was currently employing at the Humane Society.

I never filled out an application.

I walked in and just spoke with the acting director at the time and was offered the position.

I had no prior experience, no training, or no formal nor formal education.

A month after I was hired, I came to my national certification as an animal control officer from the National Association of Animal Control on my own initiative.

I also immediately after being hired, enrolled in Eastern Iowa Community College and did obtain my AAS in criminal justice.

I felt of the responsibility to come forward with firsthand concerns and insight regarding animal control and services.

I'm not singling out any parties whatsoever or trying to slander any organizations.

I also witnessed animals brought up for euthanasia that clearly were not just were not needing to be euthanized, but were recommended because they were favorites, or some unqualified person deemed them unfit for adoption.

I listened to firsthand accounts of employees, mistreating and mishandling animals and nothing being done to rectify that.

I received calls and complaints from the public about staff members because I was a dispatcher.

Um about staff members members giving pets to random people without proper documentation of ownership, and then refusing to help the actual owners locate their pet.

I witnessed harsh treatment of patrons, patrons by staff members when they had questions or voiced their concerns.

APS documented several bite reports weekly due to employees being bitten or scratched by animals inside inside the Humane Society when they were being housed.

Dog handlers and kennel staff, to my knowledge, were not properly trained, and many had little or no experience handling animals in stressful situations and environments.

Persons in supervoy supervisory roles lacked standard and recommended education, along with training and experience to hold the positions that they were in.

Kennel staff and dog handlers left proper PPE to protect themselves from vicious attacks.

My own child being attacked more than three times during her employment at HSSC.

That's why I quit my job as a licensed pharmacy technician and wanted to work for animal control.

After being employed for approximately a month, I anonymously reported HSSC to the state of Iowa for safety concerns, neglect and insanitary conditions throughout the shelter, and also because I wanted to voice my concern to proper agencies about the lack of training, the proper lack of proper equipment and protective gear for employees to safely and effectively handle unpredictable strays and stressed and abused animals.

The HSSC never effectively addressed these issues while I was employed there.

It was also during my time employed at HSSC that the Animal Protection Service at Superfizer was terminated for not upholding the stipulations set forth in the contract with the city of Davenport concerning APS, lack of enforcement of city ordinances, and state laws resulting in misconduct among many other things.

The people in charge cannot effectively operate an animal shelter from behind a desk or when they are not present.

I observed a dog handler with no prior prior education, training, accreditation, or required experience, move in one year's time from kennel attendant and dog handler to health technician to behavior specialist and eventually animal protection services officer.

There was a huge gap in communication between shelter staff and directives, as well as between staff and APS, resulting in many potentially dangerous and harmful situations for patrons, employees, and the animals in the shelter.

Unsanitary and unsafe conditions for animals and employees was an ongoing issue with what there appeared to be no permanent solution.

Employees were given overwhelming daily duties to perform with menial compensation and infancy insufficient materials and equipment to do their job.

This resulted in many instances of neglect towards the animals and overworked and stressed employees.

Overcrowding was and is still a major issue in all areas of the shelter.

HSSC is not being properly equipped to handle the large influx of straight animals brought into the shelter every day.

There were so many cats in the shelter when I was employed there that kennels were stacked in three tiers in every single room of the shelter, including offices and storage rooms and hallways.

The five minutes is up.

I hate to interrupt, but I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening.

My name's Nancy, and I'm reading this on behalf of my granddaughter who is unable to read this on her own accord because of the anxiety and fear it causes her to remember her personal experiences.

So I'm going to read this verbatim for what she wrote.

I am Jasmine, a former employee of HSSC.

I wanted to apply at the shelter because I've always loved animals, maybe even more than people, and wanted to spend time with them and give them love and make a difference for them.

Shelter conditions were pretty grim, and the standards, care standards and cleaning was not very good.

There were many, too many animals and not enough staff, and it was really hard and overwhelming work.

I started to work in the summer of 2021 when I was 17.

I worked just over three years there until I resigned.

It was my first job.

I started out working as the kennel staff cleaning and caring for cats.

The Humane Society was extremely overcrowded with over 300 cats in their care.

There were so many cats that we had to stack the candles on top of one another, as was previously stated.

I was told when cleaning the kennels that the cat didn't have a lot of litter thrown around in the kennel, don't look too and doesn't look too dirty, just skip it and move on to the next.

Sometimes we weren't able to get to every single cat, and then a lot of times they were missed or intentionally skipped by some employees.

After a couple months, I was moved to the adoption dog area of the shelter.

The area was given a little more attention because it was where the public would come and view adoptable dogs.

I was not taught or trained how to handle the dogs and assumed was because volunteers came in for I was not taught or trained how to handle the dogs and assumed was because volunteers came in free frequently to walk the dogs for us.

After about two months in adoption, I was approached one day by a senior staff member.

She told me that all the stray dog kennel staff called in and no one showed up, and she needed me to go clean and feed and water 40 to 50 dogs and do their kennels.

I had no idea how to handle a dog.

I asked her what I was supposed to do, and she told me to just get inside each kennel with each dog, clean around them, give them their food and water.

She could not help or show me because she was pregnant.

I asked her if I would be okay, and she said I would be fine, and most of the dogs would be okay with me.

Honestly, I was scared to go back when I went back there and saw how stressed and aggressive a lot of the dogs were acting.

I didn't want to get to the kennels with them, so I asked the different staff person to take each dog out individually out to the run outside of the kennel so I could safely clean them, and she said, yes.

I tried my best to get all the dogs before the day was up, but can honestly say being by myself, I could not.

After that day, I was moved to stray dog permanently because there was the most where the most help was needed.

So by trial and error over time, I taught myself how to handle the dogs.

As each new employee was brought in, I taught them my routine and how to take the dogs out of their kennels and outside while cleaning their individual spaces.

It didn't always work out, and I was bent a lot most of the time, not too bad.

One of those times a dog got its head out of the kennel because broken kennels were being held together by zip ties, and they were not very effective at keeping the dog safely inside.

The dog grabbed my hand while I was walking and bit me, and I got three stitches in physical therapy for a couple weeks, but continued to do my job.

Then I got bitten again, and I had to have five stitches on my chin and several puncture wounds inside my mouth and lower lip.

The last time I was bitten was not changed, has changed my life forever.

A dog was brought in after hours, so I didn't know much about him.

I came to work the next morning and started my daily duties.

I saw the dog in the kennel and didn't recognize him, and there was no kennel card or information.

But he was in my area to clean and care for us, so I took him, went to take him outside.

Once outside, the dog abruptly stopped, turned, glared at me, and lunged.

He grabbed my face and I began to punch him and scream.

He grabbed and bit my chest several times, whipped my shirt almost completely off.

I continued to scream and fight him.

He was so strong he knocked me to the ground and continued to bite all over my arms, my stomach, my thighs.

The whole time I was fighting to get him off of me and screaming for help.

I noticed other kennel staff employees watching me in fear, but they did not come to help me.

I continued to fight the dog for a total of seven minutes before he latched onto my groin area and would not let go.

Finally, another kennel worker who was autistic and acted a lot of times on impulse, heard the commotion of the staff screaming inside to call the front desk to call 911, and he came running from inside to help me.

We had no work safety equipment, so he grabbed the squeegee and began to beat the dog off me and letting me go.

Eventually the dog let go of me and turned and grabbed a hold of his arm, biting him multiple times, and others helped me get away from the dog.

I was spent more than 10 times, four of the bites severe enough to require stitches.

I had 12 stitches total to my face, abdomen, and thigh.

Even after that, I continued to work there, but could not handle the dogs due to fear.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you very much.

Hi, my name is Yvette, and I am a sixth uh resident of the second ward.

Um she could no longer handle dogs or anything, so she did um end up ultimately ended up not working with the dogs.

Um the drains um were always backed up and she do uh due to the feces and debris, and at least two times a week she was told to manually clean out the debris from the drains and those buck and use buckets to remove the excess water chemicals and feces that the water uh would not drain.

She was told to dump them in the city chemicals, the dirty chemical water and the city storm drains outside the and alongside the road.

I did this for months before the Humane Society finally decided to call a certified plumber to snake and unclog the drains professionally.

I want to add that I worked there from 2018 until 2022, 2023.

That was a problem when I was there.

The drains would clog up and they would have to be drained manually.

Um the conditions that the dogs were kept in within the stray dog area were far from sanitary, as on a we on a regular basis lacked the necessary supplies to efficiently clean and sanitize the kennels and area.

We were given latex medical gloves to use when handling bleach or chemicals, but only when they were available and a lot of time there were none.

Um that was not available when I was there.

It was all the latex gloves, or you didn't have anything.

Um I didn't want to get in the kennels with the dogs anymore, so she assisted in different staff members and could just take out the dogs individually.

Um that was our two.

Okay.

So needless to say, she no longer works there because of this incident to her.

Um, I was hired on as an animal control officer.

Um, again, with no experience, just my dog at home and you know what other animals I had.

Unlike them, my training consisted of I had to have one week in stray dogs, one week in adoption dogs, one week in cat adoption, stray cats, and the area that we called wilds that has the uh feral cats.

Um, a lot of times there was not enough equipment or safe equipment to use.

Many times to go back and help with dogs and stray dogs.

We had to get a uh snare from our truck to come in and use, and then hopefully another officer didn't get called out and not have a snare.

Um the mops, the brooms, the every every equipment.

We didn't get new.

You had to just zip tie it closed or fix it somehow, duct tape and super glue.

Um I uh when Bob came in, he um there was another officer and I that were the only two officers of stay.

So we were made as manager and supervisor.

He came in, he everything we asked for, everything that we told him to efficiently run animal protection services and that the shelter would need, he got for us.

We had all of all new equipment and the trucks were properly done and everything.

And it seems from what I'm hearing when he left and the other people kind of took over, everything went downhill.

Um, when Tanya Miller, the um new director that came in, when she started, I went in, I introduced myself, said, Here's what I do, and with APS.

I told her, when you want to come in, learn what we do, you know, go on a ride along or whatever.

Let me know.

Not once in the time after, and I was probably there for close to a year after she was there.

Did she ever come to me and say, hey, let's sit down and show me what you guys do?

Um, our funding was uh broken back.

She was told to me or told me that I needed to cut um the officers' hours that put them in unsafe working conditions because then I could only have one hour or one officer on duty at a time.

Um we had started out with two officers on duty, a supervisor, and then the dispatcher, so that at all times an officer could call in if they needed help, and the supervisor could then go out and help them.

Um, her situation or her solution was well, they'll just have to deal with it.

I was sent home because I was on overtime, and my new officer had to work the rest of the shift by herself with no backup.

I'm not, I know this is a lot, and it sounds like it's negative.

I am not seeking any sort of revenge to them.

I enjoyed my job when I was there.

Um, but something needs to be changed for the animals and for the residents of Davenport.

They need to be well informed.

We saw what went behind on their behind closed doors.

The public just sees what they want them to see.

Thank you very much.

Is there anyone else from the public?

Please.

My name is Ruth, and I'm with the seventh ward.

Um I have been with affiliated with the Humane Society since they were a little shack down on the river, and I've seen a great deal of improvement.

Yeah, there were problems, but the things that they're mentioning happened two and three years ago.

Um, I have been working with the director and their fund development.

They did purchase the um King's Harvest Building and have completely remodeled that horrible place.

Um they have plans in place to remodel and do things so that the animals have better care, and they are doing a better job now.

Um the animals, um, some of them stay longer.

I just adopted a cat that had been there 400 days because it was in with another cat, and now she's the most loving cat that they called her feral.

Well, I'm the Feral Cat whisperer.

Um she snuggles with me, she sleeps with me after only two days in my house.

Um they are doing a much better job.

I've seen a lot of improvement over the years.

I've heard a lot of things.

Um, I ask questions of them.

I go to the shelter frequently to observe.

Um, and um, having worked for nonprofits for a lot of years as a social worker, uh, I kind of know what to look for and how to ask the questions.

Um, but I think that they're doing a great job, and I hope that this can be resolved by obtaining the information that you need, and um, so they can go on with their plans because it's gonna be awesome.

Thank you very much.

Is there anyone else from the public?

Good evening.

Um, I was very pleased uh to hear somebody ask for a public meeting on this with all parties.

Can you just take it?

My name is Deanna, I live in the fifth ward.

Thank you, Deanna.

Grew up in Davenport, still live there.

Um I have been a volunteer with the Humane Society for about four years.

I volunteer for numerous events with the public.

I foster cats and kittens in my home.

I personally have probably fostered over 400 animals in my home alone.

Uh there were um, I don't think most people understand.

Uh, we do have a pet population issue, particularly bad in Davenport.

Uh, I don't think most people understand the extent that that means.

Uh, I was one of those people, I always knew there was an issue.

I didn't understand how extensive it was until I started working with them.

In foster care alone in 2025, we had 1,465 animals.

So besides them bursting at the seams in their location, at any given time, there's over 200 animals in private homes being taken care of by people like me.

They provide all of our supplies, but those animals are doing a lot better, they're healthier, uh, the survival rate is better.

Um, they are going out of their way to try and provide good care for the animals.

And I can tell you the big change is there was a change in leadership a couple of years ago.

And uh Erica and her staff, uh team of volunteers, um, have done fantastic things and have made great strides.

Uh, I'm very excited to see um they plan to be at the two different buildings, kind of separate adoptions from strays and fosters.

Uh so they're they plan to replace the kennels, um, do a lot of improvements to both buildings.

Uh so I'm very excited to see that.

They've already done a lot uh with the space that they have.

Unfortunately, when you bring in over 4,000 animals in a year, that is a huge, huge task.

I understand wanting stability.

I understand wanting predictability.

Animal control is not predictable.

You don't know what's coming in in any given day.

I recall one day this fall, just kittens.

25 in one day.

That's not cats, that's not puppies, that's not dogs, that's not bearded dragons, mice.

That is just kittens in one day.

These people have a very stressful job, uh, a very hard job.

I mean, it's physical and emotional, uh, dealing with the animals and dealing with the public.

I really hope that we are able to work something out.

I was extraordinarily disappointed that there was a post that this contract was ending without first contacting the director of the humane society.

I do not find that appropriate behavior in any business ever.

I do finance for a living.

I appreciate needing financial information.

We have been told you have been given financial information.

So I have asked as a FOIA request for a copy of the plan and a copy of all the information about this so that I also can review it personally.

Um it is something near and dear to my heart, and I hope that we can work this out.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, uh, good evening.

I am Ramsay Bleakey and I am from Ward 4.

Um, I own a home in Davenport.

I work in Davenport, our two children attend school here in Davenport.

I pay taxes, buy food, and live and breathe Davenport.

Um, and I am also a volunteer, um, very similar to her.

Um, I volunteer with HSSC and I am a foster and I fostered around 50 kittens um over the last two and a half years.

I was not here before that time frame, and I only know the current leadership, and so I cannot address the situation prior to that.

Um, I did have a ton of stuff written up, but then a lot of it was kind of spoke for.

I do appreciate your insight.

Um, but it sounds to me like we need transparency, um, and that comes from both the city council and also from the Humane Society.

As Dana mentioned, we have been told that they did provide the information, and I think that was even on their social media post.

Uh, HSSC provided our annual budget, annual independent audits, annual intake data, and animal control call data throughout the negotiations.

And so they stated that they did provide this information more than just three pages, including a pie chart.

So, yes, I would love to go to that public meeting and see what was actually provided to you.

And also, if they are missing things, like within that time frame, that they would be able to have those things ready to go and show those.

Uh something else, you know, have you asked the Humane Society to a council meeting, which it sounds like you're going to present their findings or their story.

Yes, there is one half of the story, but there is also the second half that it would be nice to know what they actually have to say about it.

Um, and then just a couple of things.

There was the assumption that was mentioned that HSSC believed um with the quote about the Davenport, um, that they were, I think they were trying to be as diplomatic as possible because it had just come out that it and it is on the city of Davenport's Facebook that you had ended the agreement.

And if you do not want that to be the position, then that should not be stated that way.

Um, and that includes your social media as well as theirs.

So I believe they were trying to be diplomatic, not making an assumption that they also wanted to end it.

I think they would definitely want to continue to work with Davenport, um, but also get the funding, and just from the stories alone that I just heard presently, it sounds like funding has been the issue.

So if the 300,000 that has been provided from Davenport has not been enough leading up to this, I think it's pretty obvious that if they're stating that training from five years ago or four years ago wasn't there, um, if they didn't have proper PPE, that maybe that missing that 800,000 that they are asking for is what the problem might be is that they don't have those things.

So I would just say transparency um is very important.

Staff are underpaid, just off of their things on indeed, it looks like it's 12 an hour at the very bottom.

That's not a whole lot for the things that they have to deal with every day.

Um, and so I would think that the money that you guys would hopefully be able to figure out between them would be um helpful for that.

But I do think I do appreciate all of the things about transparency.

I would love to see that public meeting come to fruition.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else from the public?

Good evening.

My name is Ian Stolkey.

I am actually from Cedar Rapids.

I am serving on the board of Adopt A Powell Animal Rescue.

And for several years now, we have proudly partnered with the Humane Society of Scott County.

They are the only shelter that we work with that consistently does everything in their power to avoid euthanizing animals for space.

That commitment is not just a policy.

It's reflected in their daily operations, their medical decisions, and the level of care that they provide.

Both of our organizations are licensed and regulated by the Iowa Department of Agriculture.

If there were concerns in the future or in the past, those would be investigated by state inspectors.

Oversight exists and compliance is required.

It's important that we ground this conversation in facts and regulatory reality.

I also want to advocate for the staff at the Humane Society of Scott County.

The cost of veterinary care has skyrocketed exponentially.

The cost of medications, diagnostics, food, staffing, and basic operational expenses has dramatically increased across the board.

Animal welfare organizations are being asked to do more than ever before with far fewer resources.

At the Humane Society of Scott County, we frequently see extremely sick and medically complex dogs, or animals, I should say, cases that can cost thousands of dollars per animal.

These are not easy or inexpensive cases.

Choosing to treat rather than euthanizing requires funding, staffing, and community support.

Animal welfare as a whole is not cheap.

Compassionate care is not cheap, but it is necessary.

And organizations that are committed to saving lives deserve uh informed support, not speculation, or or uh underfunding.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So anyone else from the public this evening.

Hi, thank you for your time.

My name's Mindy Steele.

I am not from Davenport, I'm from Rock Island.

I obviously do have connections to the Humane Society, which is why I'm here.

Uh we have a significant show of people who have taken in animals for us and have helped greatly with our overcapacity.

Um I would like to touch on, I know with your presentation you spoke on that.

Yes, most of the animals do come from Davenport.

Overwhelmingly majority of the animals in our shelter come from Davenport.

Up to 75% of the animals come from Davenport.

Um, it was spoken of the five kittens found in the ditch, they're found in your ditch.

Um, these people back here are the ones that take them in.

Um it sounds more like you would be aimed towards euthanizing for time and space, which is something I do not believe that the residents of Devonport is up are okay with.

Um, I think that is a great show here behind us that they are not okay with that.

Um these are people that are opening their homes to the animals from your city and taking care of them until they can find a doctor's.

Uh, I think uh I would also really like to thank uh the three ladies that spoke first.

I'm glad they came.

I'm glad they spoke on their experience with us.

I would like to touch on uh the same thing that Ramsey did, and that's what the 300,000 got us.

Uh it got us zip tie and duct tape repairs and broken kettles, and this is why we need more funding so that we can provide safe space for employees and for animals.

I won't need the rest of the five minutes.

Thank you very much.

So, anyone else from public this evening.

So, my name is Jessica.

I'm from Ward 8.

I was an APS officer from 2024-ish to oh, about three weeks ago, because I was pregnant and then personal issues came up, so I'm no longer with them.

Um, I would like to say thank you for wanting transparency.

I feel like with how political the world has become, I feel like more transparency needs to be pushed.

I understand where the costs are coming from, what is needed and what is not.

We also need to remember that this is a non-profit organization.

When it comes to training, we don't have the funds like DPD does.

We don't go to an academy for 16 weeks and train and learn the ins and outs of the laws.

We get what we possibly can.

We just recently got a new supervisor that has allowed us to get um training through NACA.

We get uh Animal Control Unit One and Animal Control Unit Two.

Um, that is given to us, and just in case you guys would like to know how much that is, that's about 500 a class, and that's per person.

That is not as a whole, it is ACO1 for one person, it's 500.

Um as far as I know that there was new people that came in that really changed a lot of things for the Humane Society, and I understand where the frustration is coming from from the people who were there before my time.

Like I said, I was there when Erica was there, I was there when a new supervisor came in, and things are finally changing.

I also understand where you guys want to see exactly where the dollar amount is coming from.

I appreciate that because I think the public would also like to see that.

Where the money is going, where it is coming from, how much the taxes taxpayers are actually paying, and everyone would like to see that.

So I appreciate the fact that you guys want to see all of that because we do too.

I just I feel like there's a huge disconnect somewhere, and it's really hard to try and point fingers when we don't even know where to point the finger at.

Um it is a wonderful organization that I would hate to see go under, but again, with it being nonprofit, we can't offer to pay people the amount that you would for a police officer or a judge or a city council member.

We don't have that option.

So we do tend to hire a lot younger people who don't have the experience necessary.

So they do what they can with the money that they have.

They go through a fear-free program.

Um every hire, every person who is hired on.

I think volunteers go through it too.

There is a computer program that you have to take that is fear-free.

And it shows you the body language of a dog, the body language of a cat, how to read that, body scoring.

We do with what we can.

And I just would like to remind the public that they are doing what they can with what they have.

And I know that they are asking for a lot of money.

I also would like to see where it's going, but the fact that I did see where a lot of that was going, it's going to really good places.

So I think if we can just try and come to an agreement, I feel like HSSC would actually finally be and go to a better place.

So thank you.

Thank you very much.

David Andrew II, the lesser, I'm from Ward 5.

I had a huge speech, I was gonna bury.

Um, but after hearing this much, I want to say things that I live in Davenport and appreciate everybody, all you guys the people who came before you.

There's a few horrible people, which is you know, I went through Moline, their humane society thing for years and fought.

And when we had a stray wolf come, sit under it was Friday, they said, Oh, I'll get to it Monday.

I moved to Iowa, good reason.

Um organization that insulted and repeatedly put me down was a Scott County Humane Society.

It was probably 10 years or more.

I'm not very good with time.

I've had my dog for nine years, but I wanted, I went there frequently for the kitties, and when I have to volunteer, I was told, well, David, you must really hate law enforcement.

I'm sorry, but I was gonna wear my pins, and if anybody wants a resume of everything that I've done to support them, it's all available for free.

I was gonna get 20 tonight.

I've got um things that I could donate now that I know they need that, and the most important thing is information.

I've been an information junkie since I was probably born.

I express as much as I can and give it out and get in a lot of trouble for it, but I would hope that other people that since I'm a poor cripple, that maybe they would have more money and time and resources to be able to help them.

I would like to in the future, no matter what they say about me.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else from the public this evening?

All right, seeing and hearing.

Okay.

My name is Stacey Shellberger.

I'm from Bluegrass, Iowa.

I again, I didn't like how the wording was put out, how this contract was going to be ending.

That totally took me by surprise.

I'm glad you're asking for this meeting.

I welcome that.

One of the things that bothered me was the sentence costs are unpredictable.

They are unpredictable with animals.

You don't know what they're going to come in with in with health concerns.

Caring for animals has too much unpredictability.

I want to know if you think it'd be more predictable if you took over it.

Are you going to put a dollar amount on each and every animal?

Your animal that you just put down, your your dog, Nala.

What price tag you put on that?

Is it going to be what happens if the dog's there too long or a cat's there too long?

Did they time out and then they get euthanized?

What happens if an animal comes in with a broken leg?

Is that too expensive?

Is it going to be euthanized?

I don't think anybody here wants to see that.

Um I don't want anybody to set a price to make it predictable.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, is there anyone else from the public?

Okay.

Moving on.

Uh, are there any other final comments from council members this evening?

Alder Woman Newton.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, a couple things on what I heard tonight.

One, disappointed with a with the post from the city um, where the humane society had no prior notification.

I would agree that is ridiculous.

And if it's not true, I want the proof that that is not true submitted to me so that I can post that publicly for the public to know.

Two, it's indicated that Humane Society of Sky County is saying that they've provided what we've requested.

I want to list from the city of what they have not provided that we are waiting on.

Um, I think those figures are important, but I want specifically to know what they haven't provided, because I want that been to be made perfectly clear because I want it provided before our public meeting, meaning that's what I expect from the humane society of Scott County.

And I think it's important after hearing today that your workers are getting paid $12 an hour.

I think part of the finances need to include what the CEO is being paid.

I think the money is important.

And one thing that the public needs to understand, I wish I had a magic wand to wave around and fix all these causes, but we don't as a city.

So I want to personally know where the cities and taxpayers' responsibility ends and where the action mission of the nonprofit takes, because I think that's a a key question.

Five percent is not going to happen because the state is making it to where we can't.

If you have an issue with that, you really need to call your state representatives and tell them that this 2% cap on our property taxes is going to kill municipalities and our ability to fund services, because we have a lot of things that we need to fund.

There are people laying out on the street just a block from where we're sitting.

There's a lot of things that we need to as a city provide for, and we're going to be strapped.

But certainly adding on a 5% every single year is not something that's feasible.

Not because we don't want to, but because we can't.

So I think that's something that the public truly needs to understand.

And I think these questions need to be answered by both the city and the humane society.

So again, reiterate, I want that meeting.

Set stat.

Thank you.

All right, seeing and hearing no one else, um, I would entertain a motion to go into executive session to discuss a real estate transaction pursuant to Iowa Code Section 2 1.51J, and to discuss strategy with council and matters involving litigation pursuant to Iowa Code Section 21.51C.

So move, second.

And um, before we do the roll call on that, we will be going into executive session and adjourning from there.

We won't be coming back into council chamber.

So roll call, please, Brian.

Yes, Holloway, yes, Blum, yes, Newton, yes, Jobjan, yes, T Done, yes, Burkholder, yes, lean in, yes, grip, yes, and Ardon.

Yes.

Ten yeses, your honor.