All right, good evening, everyone.

I'd like to welcome you to tonight's city council meeting for Wednesday, July 22nd, 2026, and call this meeting to order.

At this time, we will have a moment of silence.

Thank you.

Please rise as Alderman Job June will lead us on the Pledge of Allegiance.

One nation undergoing indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

All right, thank you, Alderman Job Jin.

Brian, could you call the role, please?

Pardon?

Here.

Vasquez.

Holloway.

Here.

Lean in.

Rosa.

Rip.

Here.

Newton.

Here.

Plunk.

Here.

T Dunn.

Job June.

Here.

And Burkholder.

Here.

I'm present, Your Honor.

All right.

Thank you, Brian.

And good evening and welcome to those here for tonight's city council meeting.

We have folks in the audience.

We also have folks watching online or on a mobile device.

We value your comments and opinions and we appreciate your participation in local government.

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 the City of Davenport's YouTube channel.

And again, 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.

And again, thank you for being a part of tonight's meeting.

Before we begin, always just the same reminder if you've got a tablet or a phone of any kind, just put it on silence so it doesn't disturb our proceedings.

When speaking, please come to the podium, wait to be recognized by the mayor and address the council as a whole and not to any one individual.

And you'll have five minutes to do so.

Again, thank you for being here.

Well, an all-to-person move approval of the city council meeting minutes for July 8th, 2026.

All in favor say aye.

Any opposed, same sign.

Okay, those are approved.

Uh Nicole, do you have any update this evening?

A few things.

Um, number one is reminder that VIX is this weekend.

So if people are going to be downtown, um, maybe plan accordingly if you need to travel through.

Second, we do not have a city council meeting.

Next week, Wednesday is a free week.

And then finally, it is our monthly CFO update.

So Basha Gerlock will be giving us a short presentation this evening.

All right, thank you.

Good evening, Basha Gerlach.

And when Nicole said it's short, it is really short today.

So she was not lying.

Um I kind of changed things up for this presentation just because we are at the end of fiscal year 2026 and we're in a unique space in finance that we're actually working in three different fiscal years.

So we're working fiscal year 26, 27, as well as 28.

So kind of a brief um summary of fiscal year 2026.

As you all probably know, the fiscal year ended June 30th.

However, we are not done recording all of our revenues.

We haven't even received all of our revenues that need to be booked back to June.

Um, some of those revenues from the state are going to be coming in at the end of July.

When I checked some of the websites, some of them are scheduled to come in on July 24th through the end when it comes to our local option sales tax and road use tax revenues and whole time multiple tax revenues.

So I didn't want to present a um financial report as of June 30th.

That was going to be inaccurate.

Um, a lot of our revenues for fiscal year 2026, we do something called modified accrual accounting in our accounting department.

And what that means is that we have a 60-day look back.

So if we receive revenues that are recorded as of June 30th, and we receive them within 60 days of the close of the fiscal year, we can record them for that particular fiscal year.

However, if they come in after um the 60 days, they would be recorded in the next year for fiscal year 2027.

So providing you with a June 30th report today would be um very inaccurate.

When it comes to expenditures, we continue to receive expenditures for June 30th.

Um, and those we expect to be receiving also for the next 60, sometimes even 90 days.

Sometimes we um receive those um in September as well, depending on how well the vendors do their invoicing.

So expenditures would also be inaccurate if I provided those to you today.

Um and then when it comes to fiscal year 2026, we are actually preparing for our fiscal year 2026 audit.

Um it will begin August 3rd.

Um, it's gonna be the first week.

Their orders will be what we call on-site.

We do it all virtually, but they will be um focusing on the city of Davenport starting August 3rd.

They will come back in October, first week of October, and they will also come back um first week in November, and hopefully by mid-December, we'll have a final report for you all to review.

Okay, so that kind of sums up fiscal year 2026.

Um, we also started fiscal year 2027 as of July 1st.

Um departments are have the ability to spend fiscal year 2027 27 monies, and we also submitted our um budget document to the GFOA for the um GOFOA award.

So fiscal year 2027 is also on the way, and um spending is happening.

Now, when it comes to fiscal year 2028, um, the budget team is preparing to come up with the calendar for the budget process.

So the planning for the budget has already begun.

Um we are also beginning to do payroll projections since that is our number one expenditure, and continuing to review the new state legislation when it comes to property taxes.

So that is the CFO update for today.

All right.

Anyone have any questions?

Any questions from council?

Uh just quickly on property taxes.

I I think are we still waiting for rules to be written by like the legislative service bureau.

So we are still waiting for some of the numbers when it comes to um assessments, um, as well as the rollback, um, what the number is, because we're not gonna know what the true revenues are until we receive that rollback number, which typically comes out about no October 15th, if we get lucky if we um receive it early on.

Otherwise, I think they typically release that number in November, November 1st.

So at a future presentation, I think it'd be good to do a deeper dive on property tax reform and what the impact I think again.

I I think we talked a little bit earlier this week just about there's some interpretations of the rules where we're kind of waiting to see what the state says how those fall out.

Especially the rollback, right?

We need to figure out what the rollback is correct because that kind of determines your revenue growth and your taxable value on a home.

Yeah.

Okay.

Uh I don't see any other questions.

Basha, thank you.

Perfect.

Thank you.

All right.

Uh well, then Alder uh Nicole, were you done?

Sorry.

Okay.

Well, an alder person move approval of the report on the committee of the whole for July 15, 2026.

So move.

All right.

All in favor say aye.

Any opposed, same sign.

Those are approved.

We have three appointments this evening.

I will read those out loud and ask for a motion to approve.

On the housing commission, we have a reappointment in Joyce Miller.

On the zoning board of adjustment, we have a reappointment in Dan Darlin.

And for Plan and Zoning Commission, we have a new appointment in Kyle Gott.

I would entertain a motion to approve those uh recommendations.

So all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, same sign.

Those appointments are approved.

We have one presentation this evening.

It is Kyle Carter with a downtown Davort Partnership.

And I know he's here.

So come on up, Kyle.

Very good.

There we go.

Um yes, Kyle Carter, executive director for Downtown Partnership.

Uh, very glad to be here.

Uh, we got a ton of good news to share.

I know you guys have a short meeting and want to keep it that way.

So I'll be cooking through a lot of slides.

This will be a very abbreviated version of what we did at the annual meeting.

Um, but I'm just uh I can't wait to chew through this and I'm I welcome questions afterwards, of course, as well.

So I'll get right to it.

Um so for those less familiar with our organization, uh, place management is the industry lingo about what we do, and that means managing a business improvement district or in Iowa, the self-supporting municipal improvement district.

That is the public-private partnership that we have that enables us to help govern the dollars that uh are collected.

And uh recall that all of these property tax dollars are above and beyond what would normally be produced by these properties because of the voluntary work that we did coming to your years ago, saying please tax us more so that we can be a part of doing services above and beyond basic city services.

And this is a whole industry out in the country that we're very proud to be a part of.

Um so our district and that geography that these are generated, run basically from the Arsenal Bridge to the Centennial Bridge, and from about the railroad tracks to the river.

So when we say downtown, these are the very literal borders that we're talking about that these dollars are generated from.

And uh for those who don't know, it's five dollars and fifty cents per thousand or three dollars and fifty cents per thousand of taxable value that these two districts generate, which is significant.

So our buckets of work break down into these three big categories: business economic growth, infrastructure, livability, advocacy events, and promotions.

And we're a very special place management organization because Davenport was such a pioneer in this 50 years ago.

When you look at the scope of work we have, it's everything from marketing and festivals to clean and safe infrastructure improvements like sidewalks, grant funding to businesses, technical business assistance.

Most groups like ours don't have the resources to do all of these things.

We're like the Taj Mahal of place management organizations.

We literally do it all.

Some places only clean the streets, or some places only do economic development.

We're fortunate that we can say we walk in every path here.

So what that means is today we have over 270 businesses we represent, 460 parcels, 6,500 employees downtown, residents, 2700, a taxable, I will repeat, taxable uh total value of 434 million dollars in that uh in those blocks, and 32 board members of which the city, of course, is part of.

And uh Alderman Basquez serves as uh uh the alderman on that uh on that board, but it is a non-voting position.

Um 85% of the businesses downtown are locally owned.

That's amazing.

I mean, that is a huge number.

So when we talk about downtown and the people who own that property and own those businesses, the vast majority of it are your neighbors, our friends, that money is staying in town.

Very few places are owned far and away from Davenport, and I think that's very important to know.

Uh on average, what now that we use placer data and we can track cell phone data uh through that, we can see just how many people are marching through downtown on any given day.

Over 13,000 people on ever on average uh move through downtown at any given day.

On the weekends, you'll see that skyrocket up to over 25,000.

And what that means is that over the course of the year, on any given day, the average is close to 19,000 of uh humanity moving in and out of downtown, whether they're visiting, living here, doing business here, traveling through.

And you can see this map at the bottom, those numbers that barely move, those are the people that work and live downtown.

That giant piece that's popping up and down throughout the year, those are the people visiting this 52801 zip code.

So the people that live and work down here are very small number of the people who generally interact.

It's you'll see the spikes are like alternating currents, Bix Weekend, Ice Travaganza, they're very festival and event-driven.

And I think that's important to keep in mind as you think about the totality of humanity that comes through here.

It's every walk of life and people from all over the place.

So our total downtown investment right now, we completed about $14 million in projects this year, $35 million under construction, a whopping $68 million in the hopper, which we're very excited about, and more on that in a minute, and over uh $400 million invested just in the past 10 years.

I think that's easily over a billion now when you look at the last 20 years.

Um, so what got done this year?

Some incredible projects like Red Band's expansion, soul ties opening, boozies moving into the freight house, which thank you.

This council had a hand in that.

We much much appreciate that.

Um also some other uh uh units like 217 Brady there got done.

Um, to help get those projects done, DDP uses its money to help incentivize those through grants.

So you'll see we leveraged almost $900,000 of additional private sector dollars after we awarded about $100,000 of our grant money and facade improvements and interior, you'll see the addresses are a little bit of everywhere.

Uh, left center, right, uh, you know, every part of downtown.

So some of the ones under construction, you'll see executive square is is just about finished.

Um the uh barrel house building is got getting a huge facelift.

Uh that that building in the corner down there is the alley, excuse me, and the bottom right of barrel house.

That's gonna look amazing when it's finished.

So in the core of downtown, we've talked about how office occupancy is okay, but we'd like it to be better.

And so one of the things that you'll see in the background there is the apartments at Third and Main are done now, but we still have more vacancy than we'd like, and such as like the Parker Building and a couple of other spaces in the core.

And one of the things we're really excited about seeing that you guys have heard about is that Common Court and the Redstone Room is moving down to the ground floor.

I know there are aldermen in the room who were part of those early conversations, and it's exciting to see this is becoming a reality.

Uh one of the goals they have is to be able to consolidate their footprint, reduce their overhead, sell the second floor uh once they've done and move downstairs.

But this is going to transform the activity in downtown on the corner.

The amount of life and energy you're gonna see when there's shows on every Friday, Saturday night, um, just right there on the corner on the ground floor with those uh those uh windows open, the accessibility to the space is gonna be better, and and we're just very excited about what that's gonna bring to the core of downtown.

So, what's in the hopper is even more exciting.

And these are projects that I hope you've heard about by now.

The most uh recent one being the Quad City Symphony and St.

Ambrose project finally kind of revealing itself to the world, which is going to change the west side of downtown.

We've talked a lot about pushing westward into the third ward and beyond.

This will be a major anchor, and very much appreciate any support that's provided from you guys over time as this comes together.

A huge educational facility, two of the most respected institutions in the Quad Cities going west of Ripley and locating their right-off gains.

That's a big deal, and it's going to push and catalyze development much further west, and we're very excited about this.

Meanwhile, on the other end of downtown, um, Steve's been working on the Quad City Times building, and that closing is supposed to be coming up here soon.

Um, that would be an office use for that property as well as some other commercial use, but to have those two anchors happening at the same time is so exciting, and you guys should feel very good about the health of downtown with that.

Meanwhile, the Centennial Bridge is uh a conversation you're very familiar with.

Uh, there is a new buyer that is closing, I think maybe even tomorrow on the former Stardust building.

So that's going to become an event center again in the very not too distant future.

And the ground transportation center, I know you guys are doing the bus uh study to understand ridership before we hopefully transform that block into a new development in the future once all of those needs are addressed and we can talk about the city's enormous opportunity to redevelop an entire block of downtown with river views right smack in the middle of it, across from a parking ramp that has enormous capacity to serve more people.

Um and then finally we have Riverwatch on the end, where the developer is still working with the um the Iowa uh natural uh DNR to make sure that all those boxes are checked appropriately, as well as any of the permitting process that you guys have and going through that.

Um he's got to check all those boxes before he can put a shovel to the ground.

And if he doesn't get those boxes checked, there'll never be a shovel in the ground.

He's got to go through those, and that accountability is certainly important to us, and I know it's important to you.

Um moving on to our next category of of projects here, uh, our clean and safe team.

So you'll see these guys out on the street.

These are the guys that do both DDP specific work that we've talked about in the past, as well as the individuals who do your contract work for cleaning your assets, the city parking ramps, et cetera.

So a couple of stats on that.

Um almost a thousand cubic yards of litter removed this year, a lot of dog waste, you know, hundreds of flowers uh that we are we are funding and watering every day.

Uh snow removal hours, 82 graffiti tags removed this year.

And then, of course, we use the eponyc data to do a really deep dive.

So if you'll recall, this is the software that all of our cleaning guys have to carry.

They have a phone on them uh that we pay for, and it tracks every single thing that they do throughout the year.

So you'll see in the case of trash can service, this was this is May data, by the way.

So as of May, there were over 30,000 instances of trash cans being serviced.

There's weed abatement, there's uh snow and ice removal.

The stuff that your contract pays for is exclusively the assets that the city owns.

So the parking ramps, the couple of public parks.

I know there was a question about like Bechtel Park.

You do not pay for that.

That is a private sector thing that we fund completely separately, and we're able to keep track of all the accounting of this, which is awesome.

Uh so we're looking forward to the bidding process when it comes up next year, and understand that that's a goal of the council, and we'll certainly be at the table to keep doing this work because we're very proud of it.

Uh, you'll see uh um Malcolm there in the picture.

We've got Charles down on the bottom left-hand corner, uh, Mitch holding the trash can.

These are all the different types of work that you'll see, and on any given day, they're doing um this work too.

So beyond all that, we're power washing sidewalks.

We're doing street litter that you do not cover in your contract.

We're doing human waste cleanup more often than I'd like to admit.

There's a lot of work here that our crew does, wholly separate from the agreement we have with you.

But on any given day, this is like what the day in the life looks like with these guys.

Our job is to make sure you never see it.

So if you don't see trash and wonder if we're doing our job, that means we are doing our job.

Um, the absence of a problem is what we're seeking.

And so sometimes it's hard to express the value of that if you don't see the problem.

Um, but I assure you, Aponic is keeping good track of the problem.

Um, beyond that, I mentioned the flower baskets are like our marquee program.

We have over 800 baskets at this point, and are very uh happy to keep doing that on behalf of just beautifying this community.

Uh, meanwhile, we have a wonderful partnership with the police department, and um, you may or may not know we help fund off-duty hours so that there's at least maybe 20 to 30 hours of additional foot patrols throughout downtown uh by uniformed officers in off-duty times.

It's been awesome.

Dennis Cole Claysier is a saint.

I believe Mr.

Harris is somewhere behind me in this meeting right now.

He is also a saint.

They do amazing work, and you can see most of the time they're just doing building check-ins.

The number of arrests there is 22 that they came up with.

So, yeah, they do have to do some of that work sometimes, but the vast majority of their job is working with our businesses.

Public view, new murals.

I hope you guys saw the new incredible Martin Luther King Park murals.

Another one was just added this week, and we keep partnering with uh businesses and uh to do this and even the city in the case of the parking ramp there.

Meanwhile, uh we wanted to let you know that we're going to be exploring wayfinding this year.

Uh you may have noticed there's like no signage in downtown Davenport to tell you where to go.

If you're not familiar with this place and you don't know where the bars are, where the hotel is, there's literally nothing that would tell you where that is.

Um, wayfinding is something that they do really well in Milwaukee and many other cities, and we're gonna be getting bids on what it would look like to implement some better signage in our community to help people who are less familiar with it.

Uh, meanwhile, we mentioned Westward development earlier in the conversation.

This is uh Aberotes up there on the corner, La Finca.

We've seen new energy with um the uh the former um Mary's that was purchased, the guy that's doing the record store down there, Parcel Inc.

as well.

There's a lot of energy moving uh to the west side of the third ward.

We're very excited that our success in the core of downtown begets the success of our neighbors to the west.

Um, we've been reaching out and building new relationships with a lot of the people in this neck of the woods, which is not something we've done in the past.

Alderman Vasquez has been very helpful in that regard too as we start to explore what our district looks like of the future, and we'll talk more about that in a minute.

Uh so in our last category, we have promotions, but not just promotions, it's also advocacy and events.

We can't do any of that if we don't have a safe and welcoming downtown.

I know this is near and dear to a lot of your hearts.

Public safety, um, how we deal with unsheltered individuals.

It all matters.

You need a clean and safe downtown, a compassionate support, a place that's welcoming for all and has strong partnerships.

We're very proud of the fact that we work to bring in clutch consulting from Houston, who's a world-renowned expert in unsheltered homelessness.

We had a wonderful meeting earlier this summer or spring, I should say, with all five cities, both counties, and every service provider of note in the community.

Out of that, I know you guys are quietly beginning to have better conversations about how you're going to engage, and the mayor has done a wonderful job educating us on what um those next steps might look like, but they're gonna be done with everyone.

Whatever you decide to do is gonna be in tandem with the whole quad cities.

We cannot solve this alone.

Davenport certainly can't solve it alone.

And we're gonna need Moline, East Moline, Bettendorf, Rock Island, the whole gang to make sure that we're changing the ways that we implement this work.

Um, I could do two hours just on this.

I will spare you that, but please know that it is deeply appreciated that Davenport is clearly stepping up to the plate.

I'm eager to see how that materializes in the coming fall, and uh excited to help facilitate and coordinate with the community foundation and DDP, serving as that space to bring all those parties together.

So much more on that in the future.

But just a friendly reminder that our uh Haley and Alicia are constantly doing placemaking and activation marketing every day.

This organization is spending money and marketing our downtown and our businesses, the eliminate sipping shop, spooky spectacular, cookie crawl, alternating currents, which I could do an hour on alone.

Bicks, red white and boom, culture bright events, which uh it's great to see the cultural trust stepping up and doing more too.

Um, our organization funds all of that work with the exception of the Culture Bright stuff.

Um, that is a huge lift, and Alicia is here today.

If you want to say hi to her afterwards, um we are just so excited about what this brings to our community and making it a livable place that people want to work and actually stick around.

This is very important work to all of what we do.

So, what's next?

And I promise I'm wrapping up here.

History of new ideas is the idea behind our new brand that we are launching and have just rolled out recently.

And that speaks to downtown's heart and soul, I think, in a way that this rally cry explains.

Downtown's where small town char meets big city energy with a history of new ideas, a place where our rich past inspires the present, and residents, businesses, and visitors connect to help to write the future.

We rolled out a new logo in honor of that new uh mantra, and uh both for downtown as a whole.

So, this is what's called place branding.

This is for you.

This is for the community.

We want other people to adopt this, use this.

I want to see it on the city's website.

It was for everyone.

DDP has its own brand.

This is about us.

This is about the collective we that is downtown Davenport.

And you'll see that manifested in these quilted tiles, where we're gonna talk about the history of both the organizations of past as well as the future.

And when you start to see these tiles, what you'll see is that the representative of both ideas that represent Davenport, certain businesses, festivals, etc.

And we can use these as a quilt that stitches all together, and you'll start to see banners in the future where we can really share this brand and make sure and bring the community together around this idea of who we are, and that Davenport has always been driven by a history of new ideas and been a leader in this community.

So you'll see a lot more about this in the coming time through marketing dollars.

And I'll close with saying that as we roll out that new brand, you gotta know where you came from to understand your future.

We have we are turning 50 years old next spring.

This city of Davenport and our organization in its original form back in 1976, 1977, came together and formed the very first SMID district in the state of Iowa.

This community wrote the law.

This community built the model.

We are the model for the entire state of Iowa and should be deeply proud of the work that we have collectively produced for 50 years.

So we're gonna do a really big celebration of that come next year, and uh you guys will be a part of that because this is a two-way street.

And we very much can't do it without you, and we appreciate your ability to make it happen.

So, final thought, connecting the dots.

Why does it all matter?

Arts and culture, Main Street Landing, Centennial Bridge, the core, West Downtown, 324 main site, the all the public infrastructure and streets that's happening, ground transportation center, eastern gateway, all of these play a part of the puzzle.

No one is necessarily more important than the other, but together they tell a much bigger story than any one of them collectively.

And as the leaders of this community, I hope you think about and and reach out to us anytime you want to strategize and think about how we connect these dots and make bigger, better outcomes for all of us, and don't get so lost and compartmentalized on a project-by-project basis.

This is the back to that fabric of who we are.

It's only if all of this works for it to work the way that I know you want it to.

So with that, I want to say thank you and uh happy to answer questions if there's time.

Thank you, Kyle.

Uh, we do have one question, uh Alderman Vesquez.

Yes, sir, thank you.

Yeah, Kyle, you I and Rick and some of the staff people have had a lot of conversations about the West side.

Okay, you do a great job there, but let's go west.

Sure.

Can just recap briefly some of the things we've talked about, some of the ideas that we we're trying to put together to go forward.

Yes.

Uh Alderman Vasquez has been um has shown some great leadership in asking the question, well, gosh, this is a great model.

Why don't we see it in more places in Davenport?

The short answer is you we have one in the village and we have one in the hilltop, but to go west, um, it's always about making sure that the stakeholders themselves are excited about it.

And so what we're starting to do right now is work with city staff to find a strategy of how we do outreach to the private sector and the owners of say Rockingham or or wherever you're looking to say, hey, here's a model that's worked forever.

Um you can do this too, but most people don't have that instruction book.

They don't know how to do it.

I could write a book about it at this point in my career.

And honestly, maybe maybe I will.

Uh but anyway, um, I think where where Alderman Vasquez is is um trying to shine a light is that we will be working hard with you and providing that subject matter expertise.

If those constituents want to do and explore this, I am absolutely happy to be um a free consultant on on that work on behalf of this community.

Yeah, I'm I'm excited about it.

I I would love to educate people and help them understand how this machine works and how they can replicate that in their own neighborhoods if they want to.

All right, thank you, Alderman Vesquez.

Alderman Grip.

Thank you.

Um, just uh a couple of uh comments.

First, uh a few things that you said early on in your presentation, which I think are things that I'm you know constantly trying to you know educate and tell the story of where there's this uh perception that maybe the the city is paying for the the Schmidt and people don't realize that the property owners within the downtown pay a higher amount of taxes to fund the Schmid, and that that maybe the downtown isn't financially productive.

So when you put 434 million dollars of assessed value in a half point five nine square square miles of the city, that is incredibly financially productive.

It is the most financially productive neighborhood in the city because of the density that you get in a downtown area.

And I don't think uh most people realize that.

And then the third thing is that I hear some people say, you know, these out-of-town business owners and and and you know, corporations downtown, and I'm like, man, downtown is like mostly small businesses.

They're like people that they go to school with my kids and they're trying to start a flower shop downtown and you know, things like that.

And so to see 85% of our downtown businesses are small businesses is is really incredible to see.

And then uh to to reiterate, I I've been saying this for for a while.

You're not going to get growth to Western downtown until you start a Schmidt.

This is literally the recipe for how you do it.

Once you start that Schmidt there's all sorts of uh tools and things that that come with it that you'll be able to push to the West.

So I mean, if the city council is serious about pushing downtown development into that uh all the way down to division, um, then we really need to seriously consider um trying to get a private industry on board with uh uh either uh a third Schmidt or an expanded.

I know that all has to be kind of looked at.

So I I thank you.

And one thing I think context that would help all of you is that it's just a tool.

The SMID is just a tool.

The the people are what make this thing work or not.

The the SMIT is literally the mechanic that allows a county government to charge that property more money.

And you guys, as the council approve that ability for X amount of years with X governance.

Um it it does boil down to just educating people like, hey, if you want that tool in your tool belt, here's how you do it.

And I would argue that TIFF was improved shockingly by the state in this last cycle.

And it's gonna be really useful to the West too.

And so it's another tool, but it boils down to the people in those areas gotta want it.

And and I think they do, but we may need to do some education on like, hey, here's what your toolkit looks like to get what you want.

And I don't know that we've always done a great job of that.

Yeah.

And then uh my last comment is uh, you know, I was in um Cedar Rapids for a baseball tournament over the weekend, and we um went to dinner downtown at the uh Kingston Yard, which is uh a new development in their downtown 80 million dollar uh development, and I couldn't help but thinking that this would be uh the perfect style of development to have at the ground transportation center when when we can get there.

Um, and to add on to that, one of the coolest things I've seen is a lot of these teams that are coming in to play baseball out at the Bedplex don't want to spend their time in a parking lot at the Bedplex.

So every time I go downtown, I end up running into uh, you know 50 uh softball players or baseball players who chose to stay at the current or um uh other hotels in the downtown.

So that's all I have.

Thank you.

All good Alderman Grip, thank you.

Alderman Blunk.

Kyle, on the uh the new branding.

Was there a how did you come up with that that color scheme of that the gold and black?

Yeah, so it's it's the Navy blue, but you know, at any rate, we worked for the last like three years on this, and so we met with uh a lot ton of businesses, ton of property owners.

We actually scrapped the first two that we had, they got shot down by the board.

It was a long journey, I'll say.

Uh, but uh we actually worked with Nelson um creative on on that in the end, and it it just turned out great.

That the the feedback's been super positive.

Um, and if I don't know if you guys have read the internet, it's really hard to get a positive reaction on the internet for anything.

And uh we were frankly like kind of stunned, like how well it was received.

So thanks, John.

Or uh Alderman Blank.

Um the uh it was a journey.

All right.

Well, I don't see any other questions, Kyle.

Thank you for your presentation.

I know you and your team will be uh busting your chops the next couple of weeks with BICs and then on the heels of Bix a couple weeks later is alternating currents.

And we are still trying to re-redo those fireworks.

I know everybody keeps asking about it.

Um you don't have to answer that question tonight, but yeah.

We look forward to when that data is announced.

All right.

Well, we appreciate it, Kyle.

Thank you to you and your team for all that you do in downtown.

Yeah, thank you.

We we really love this work.

I hope that comes across.

I know we've we've we've had a lot of history over the years with uh with this organization, and just know that like we're really proud of this community and and uh take that responsibility very seriously.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Kyle.

All right, moving right along.

Any petitions or communications from council members this evening.

Alderman Vasquez.

Yes, sir, thank you.

Um yeah, we've got a lot of a lot of work going on in the city, and we've had some challenges.

Well, just a gentle reminder to all of our contractors and subcontractors doing work throughout the city, you still are covered by applicable OSHA, IOSH, DOT, and EPA regulations.

And so let's just do the right thing, okay?

Because ultimately, if if we don't keep an eye on them, staff, Davenport will be responsible when something does go wrong.

So let's keep an eye on it.

And remember that the residents, neighborhoods, neighborhood staffs, as well as the contractors themselves.

We want everyone to stay safe and to do a good job for all of us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Alderman Blunk.

The uh the next fifth ward meeting is going to be on Monday at the brood book from 5 30 until 6 30.

And our special guest will be Lieutenant Nick Horton.

He is a traffic safety commander for the Davenport Police Department.

So the next ward meeting this coming Monday at 5 30.

Everyone's welcome.

All right, thank you, Alderman Blunk.

Seeing and hearing no other comments from council.

We do not have any items on the discussion agenda this evening.

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

So move, second.

All right, Brian, could you call the roll on that, please?

Grip.

Yes.

Blunk.

Yes.

Perkholder?

Yes.

Newton?

Yes.

Lenin?

Yes.

Holloway?

Yes.

Rdun?

Yes.

Vasquez?

Yes.

And Jobjan.

Yes.

And yes, is your honor?

All right.

Thank you, Brian.

Uh item number eight on our agenda is uh other ordinances, resolutions, and motions.

And we do have one item this evening.

Uh what I will do here first is entertain a motion to suspend the rules, and we'll take that vote, and then I will explain along with the help of our IT director exactly why we need to do this.

So I would entertain a motion to suspend the rules.

All right, Brian, can you call a roll on suspension of the rules?

Burkholder?

Yes.

R done?

Yes.

Job Jen?

Yes.

Blunk.

Yes.

Vasquez?

Yes.

Grip?

Yes.

Newton.

Yes.

Lenin?

Yes.

And Holloway.

Yes.

Nine.

Yes, is your honor?

All right.

Uh, then the rule a resolution that we are considering now.

I'll read it and then um uh ask uh our IT director to kind of help me explain it.

So it reads as follows a resolution approving a payment to insight public sector of Chandler, Arizona in the amount of $999,900 for pure evergreen data storage licensing for the period December 26, 2026 through June 30, 2032, using OMNI partners contract number 23-6692-03.

Uh and essentially what's happening here is Mike makes his way to the podium is um we found out if we didn't pass this, I believe by July 31st, there would be a uh a six-figure increase in our cost.

So really I think we're doing this to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars, but I'll let you explain it, Mike.

So it kind of um boils down to an agreement that was made and approved by council about three years ago.

So we hold two uh data storage devices that support the entire city.

Um at the time, there was a need for the data storage, but you didn't have the money to pay for it.

So the initial agreement was a three-year contract where you would do an initial payment for the devices for 713,000, and then you'd pay 272 each year to the third year with an agreement to buy out.

The time bomb here is that the buyout is completely um determined on market price, which the current buyout is 1.27 million dollars if you wait and play out contract, the contract that you're on.

Um, so that would be due in December.

Seeing this, um, I started engaging with Pure Storage about three months ago to renegotiate our contract and stick to what is called a flex term and extend that out to five years.

Um, so if we do this current contract, we would go from we'd we wouldn't have to do the buyout.

The contract would start December 26th and go until uh for five years.

So it would it would go to the first 18-month payment would be about 272 in December, and then that would realign us to the fiscal year, so it would be December to June 2028, and then it's about 181 per year after that.

So our operating costs would come down about 90,000 each year once this new contract gets in.

And then uh so it'd be a five-year contract for about a million dollars.

If we don't pass it tonight, what happens is your uh third quarter market rate adjustments kick in in August 1.

So we could stick this to uh discussion and push it off and deal with it later.

However, the same contract would have a value of 1.4 million over five years if we wait.

So we're actually kind of up to the wire here.

Um the contract was finalized on Thursday and actually finally written on Monday.

So we're trying to avoid that market rate adjustment as much as we can.

So that's the really purpose.

So yeah, it's a million dollars, but it's over five years.

Brings our operating cost down by 90,000.

We get a global rate or a global product that it's an excellent, excellent product for data storage.

All right, and thank you for that explanation, Mike.

Any questions from council?

All right.

Uh is there anyone from public on this item?

All right, seeing and hearing no one.

Is there any further discussion from council?

All right, Brian, can you call the roll on this item?

Need somebody to move and second the resolution.

Let's move the item first.

No moved.

Okay, motion a second.

Now we can take the roll call.

Ardun?

Yes.

Vasquez?

Yes.

Grip?

Yes.

Leanan?

Yes.

Burkholder?

Yes.

Blunk?

Yes.

Newton.

Yes.

Job Jin?

Yes.

And Holloway.

Yes.

Nine yeses, Your Honor.

All right.

Thank you, Brian.

Uh, we are at the point of the meeting with public with business.

If there's anyone who would like to address the council this evening, you can step forward to the podium.

Um, give us your name.

Yes, please come on forward.

Just say your name, ward, or address.

New so you're fine.

You're doing good.

My name is Robin Carth.

I appreciate you taking the time to listen to my concerns this evening.

Um, we were informed by the city the other day, actually a couple different times, that they're gonna repave East Pleasant between the between Bridge Avenue and Esplanade, and that's upcoming.

My main concern right now is our alleyway.

I've lived in my house for 45 plus years, and our alley has never been addressed.

The potholes have been put asphalt pounded down, and all that stuff is coming up in big chunks all over.

I'm not asking for the whole alley.

I'm asking for it to be addressed before the construction takes place on East Pleasant, due to the fact that that's our access to get out of our driveway, get out of our garage, and get to the street, because that pleasant street would closed off, so that's my only exit from our edge of the telephone pole on East Pleasant to the other side of our garage where there's another utility pole.

That's a that's what my concern is.

The asphalt's coming up.

I take a grinder, I grind off the pokey, you know, the wire mesh that's under there, supposedly securing the asphalt so it adheres so it doesn't poke out my tires.

So that's my main concern is I would like to have it addressed.

I was told by I spoke with um Ann Martin, she works for the city, and she said that I could go to the city and say we could do a share program.

I'm not interested in that.

I pay taxes.

I've I've lived there 45 plus years.

I pay taxes faithfully.

Um, and I don't think it's something I should have to put my money into.

So I'm a I'm addressing it because I would like to have that taken care of before the construction begins on East Pleasant Street, if at all possible.

And I'm not asking for you to pave it, I'm asking for you just to fix it so it's usable for us when we need to use it.

Basically, that's all I have.

Okay.

All right, thank you very much.

Yeah, thank you.

Is there anyone else from the public this evening?

All right, seeing and hearing no one else.

Um, any final comments from the council or myself?

Uh seeing and hearing no one.

Uh next we'll alter person move to go into executive session to discuss strategy with council and matters involving litigation pursuant to IBO Code section 21.51c.

So move.

All right, and before I call the roll, just again a reminder when we go into executive session, we will adjourn from there and we will not be coming back to council chambers this evening.

So uh Brian, can you call a roll on adjourning to executive session?

Grip.

Yes, lean in, yes, all the way, yes, Job Jin, yes, Ardun, yes, Berkholder, yes, Vasquez, Blunk, yes, and Newton, yes, nine yeses, your honor.

All right, thank you, and thank you everyone who came this evening.