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Okay, this meeting of the Cedar Rapids City Council will come to order. Welcome to the Cedar

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Rapids City Council meeting for Tuesday, September 28, 2021. I'm going to try to wear this mask the whole

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time and keep my glasses and fogging up too much. Council Member Tyler Olson had a conflict today,

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won't be able to join us, but the rest of the council members are here. Thank you for being

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here. I do want to welcome our acting city manager, Casey Drew, who I think will be here

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shortly. Oh, there's, sorry, Casey. And our city clerk and our acting city attorney,

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thanks to the city staff who are here and will be here after the meeting to try to

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answer questions that citizens may have. Please turn off your cell phones, your other

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electronic devices that might interrupt the meeting, city council meeting

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agendas, minutes and videos are available on the city's website and the regular

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sessions like this are available to watch live and replay through Facebook

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live. We will begin with an invocation from Public Safety Chaplain Rick Gale

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followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

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Father, we come into this room. God, I

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I never come in here that I don't look around and say thank you.

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Father, the men and women of our council, they give of themselves.

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I don't think that we can comprehend or understand what they do and the time that they give

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and what it takes to fulfill the position that they're in.

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So I ask you to honor them and God equip them and give them wisdom that they need.

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Lord, I also ask that you honor their families because their families live this with them.

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So God, we say thank you for their lives.

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Thank you for what they do.

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Thank you for their leadership.

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And Lord, our leaders of the city that are over here, again, would you honor them and

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just be with them, give our city wisdom that God, we can grow and become a better city

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every day.

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And we thank you, amen.

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I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for

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which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

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Thank you, Rick.

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Good news announcements.

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I'll have several.

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I'll try to go fairly quickly.

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Discovery Living had some representatives here a few minutes ago to get a picture.

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sure that in December they will celebrate their 40th year of providing intellectual disability

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services to adults in Cedar Rapids and Lynn County. They do wonderful work and 40 years

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is a long time to be doing that great work. Last week Mercy Health Center groundbreaking

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to another facility in our Med Quarter as we continue to grow services to serve everyone

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everyone in Cedar Rapids and the surrounding areas.

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We on our agenda today is a contract with a private company to help us start keep clearing

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our stumps in the right-of-way.

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The Forestry Department has been doing that work.

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There are thousands of stumps we need to get cleared, and we're going to do that.

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And we want to do it as quickly as possible, but so we're going to work with an outside

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to continue to work, and our forestry officers will still be doing that work.

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And hopefully, we'll figure out a way to get those stops removed as quickly as we possibly can,

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but this is a good step in the right direction.

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Yesterday, our flood control manager, Rob Davis, and I were on the phone with people

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from the U.S. Department of Transportation giving them information about the RAISE grant application

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that we applied for $20 million for the 8th Avenue Bridge,

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which is a really key component for our flood protection system.

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We thought it went really well.

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They were very pleased with the presentation,

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so everybody keep your fingers crossed.

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They're supposed to make that announcement by the 22nd of November,

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so we don't have too long to wait, so that would be good news.

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And finally, maybe the best news,

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and I don't want to, you know, I don't want to play this too big right now because we'll

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hear about it later, but today we will hear a presentation and I'm certain we'll approve

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our Community Climate Action Plan and that really is good news, good news for lots of

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reasons and we'll talk more about that when we get to agenda item 35.

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And with that, we do have an important proclamation today to recognize Monarch Milkweed Month,

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and Council Member Dale Todd will present the proclamation.

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And Clark, if you and others want to come up, you're welcome to do that.

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Is this working?

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Yeah.

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Clark, come on up.

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On behalf of the City of Cedar Rapids, where is the Monarch Butterfly as an iconic

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North American species, whose multi-generational migration and metamorphosis captured the imagination

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of millions of Americans, and whereas in the last 20 years the population of monarch butterflies

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in the Midwest has decreased by more than 90 percent in December 2020, the U.S. Fish

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and Wildlife Service announced that listing the monarch as an endangered or threatened

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under the Endangered Species Act is warranted.

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And whereas in March 2018,

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the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources

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established goals to increase the milkweed count in Iowa

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to improve the habitat for monarch butterflies

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in hopes to add 127 million stems,

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about double the amount of milkweed

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that currently exists in the next 20 years.

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And whereas Cedar Rapids is situating

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one of the major migratory paths for the Monarch butterfly and is a vital breeding ground for

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the species and whereas cities and towns and counties have a critical role to play to help

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save the Monarch butterfly, municipalities in particular can provide habitat, public parks,

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median strips, community gardens, municipal buildings that serve this community hub such

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his recreation centers and libraries. Schools, homes and businesses can also provide essential

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habitat for monarchs, whereas educating citizens about how and where to grow milkweed is also

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a key piece of the puzzle as milkweed is crucial to the monarch butterfly. Milkweed leaves are

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where monarch butterflies lay eggs and the plant is the only food monarch caterpillars

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And whereas every resident of Cedar Rapids can make a difference for the monarch by planting native milkweed and nectar-producing plants and in beauty to the landscape and supporting other insects and birds as well.

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Now, therefore, I, Dale Todd, on behalf of Mayor Brad Hart, Mayor Cedar Rapids, Iowa,

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do hereby recognize October 2021 as Monarch Milkweed Month and encourage the entire community

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to commit to restore habitat for the Monarch by planting milkweeds so that these magnificent

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butterflies will once again flourish across the continent.

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There you are, Clark.

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Thank

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you Councilman Todd and the rest of the Council. Obviously we all know we're

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doing more than milkweed these days and I think though the monarch stands as a

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symbol for all of us that the environmental actions are broad and deep

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and this is just one of a million species at risk today. So it's broad

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based habitat trees especially in Lynn County for the next three to five years

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for us thank you all thank you you keep that that's yours and on behalf of the

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council thank you for your tree planting efforts we appreciate it we haven't

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said much about it but we we know you're out there and we appreciate it

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thank you Dale