Standing Committee Meeting

MEETING OF STANDING COMMITTEES City Hall, 220 Clay Street December 4, 2023 The meeting of Standing Committees met at City Hall at 6:00 p.m. on December 4, 2023, with the following Committee persons in attendance: Councilmembers Susan deBuhr, Kelly Dunn, Simon Harding, Daryl Kruse, Dustin Ganfield, Gil Schultz, and Dave Sires. Staff members from all City Departments and members of the community attended in person. Committee of the Whole: Chair Harding called the meeting to order and introduced the only item on the Committee of the Whole Agenda, Youth Commission Update, and introduced Keegan Herzman. Mr. Herzman provided a brief overview of the structure of Waterloo’s Youth City Council which started as an unaffiliated organization, no use of staff time or City funds, with the goal of becoming an official commission of the City. Mr. Herzman recommended the same structure for Cedar Falls and stated Mayor Green had agreed to work with the group. Councilmember deBuhr requested Mayor Green send his materials to Councilmembers. Finance and Business Operations: Chair Dunn called the meeting to order and introduced the only item on the Finance and Business Operations Agenda, Human Rights Commission Annual Report, and introduced HRC Chair Sonja Bock. Ms. Bock presented a brief history of the HRC and its focus on strengthening the connection with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission. Ms. Bock reviewed the mission statement, philosophies, primary commitment, and principal responsibilities of the HRC. Ms. Bock expressed appreciation for the communication with City staff and liaisons. She provided a summary of each subcommittees’ members, purposes, goals, and tasks; explained the inquiry/concern/complaint process; gave highlights of activities, events, and conferences attended and hosted. Ms. Bock highlighted former commissioner Spencer Luvert’s years on the Commission, including being awarded a Distinguished Service Award by Mayor Green in June of 2023, and also provided information on new Commission members and City staff support and liaisons, including Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Specialist Chelsie Luhring. She presented upcoming commission goals. Councilmembers and UNI Student Liaison thanked Ms. Bock and the HRC, noted diversity in student population at UNI and asked about plans to include the student population; Ms. Bock responded the HRC would like UNI students to be involved, and high school also and that there is no current plan but it is something the HRC will be pursuing. Community Development Committee: Chair Harding called the meeting to order and introduced the only item on the Community Development Committee Agenda, Grow Cedar Valley Update, and introduced Grow Cedar Valley CEO Cary Darrah. Ms. Darrah gave an overview of the year and introduced Lisa Skubal, VP of Economic Development. Ms. Skubal provided an update on recent activities and initiatives; business attraction through lead generation efforts, making connections with companies, and site selection consultants; gave overview of events attended and exhibits presented including Site Selectors Guild; explained upgrades to USA Match Making Portal used for site selection; GCV shared new drone footage of the West Viking Industrial Park for advertising with IEDA; gave overview of opportunities and projects; provided information on support of local businesses. Councilmember deBuhr asked how many of the projects were in Cedar Falls; Ms. Skubal responded that only projects generated in Cedar Falls were reflected. Ms. Skubal introduced Stephanie Detweiler, Director of Workforce and Talent. Ms. Detweiler provided information on a new data source, Lightcast, used for economic development and workforce professions to define key industries in the Cedar Valley - advanced manufacturing, distribution and transportation, healthcare, and finance and insurance - with the goal to create programs around those industries. She stated the highest in-demand occupations in the Cedar Valley are industrial and mechanical engineers and nurse practitioners; GCV will focus on building good relationships with higher education institutes with those programs. Ms. Detweiler gave an overview of the Workforce Advisory Committee and other boards she works with to keep track of what’s being done and avoid project redundancy. Ms. Detweiler introduced Nicole Sallis, Director of Communications. Ms. Sallis gave an overview of use of Lightcast for recruitment locations; gave an update on the Live the Vally marketing initiative, highlighting career advancement opportunities as well as things to do in the area; and gave an update on the influencer marketing campaign. She stated GCV is continuing their place-making effort and continuing collaboration with Livability magazine which recently highlighted Cedar Falls. Ms. Sallis introduced Mike Mallaro, chair of the GCV Board. Mr. Mallaro stated GCV has the broad support of the entire economic community represented in both membership and the board of directors. He stated their overall focus is on regionalization while specific to the Cedar Valley and collaboration with multiple parties for incoming and growing/expanding companies. Mr. Mallaro thanked the City, Councilmembers, and City staff for their support. Councilmembers thanked Ms. Darrah for her years of service. Meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m. Minutes by Katie Terhune, Administrative Assistant