The Iowa City City Council decided to defer a vote on establishing a Truth and Reconciliation commission for the city, deciding to seek further input from the community before voting on the resolution. 

Councilors Laura Bergus and Janice Weiner worked on developing the resolution. Bergus said their resolution was not presented to the Iowa Freedom Riders until midday Monday. 

Raneem Hamad, a member of the Iowa Freedom Riders, told the council the resolution needed further comment from the community. 

“This ensures that the council is not asserting executive control in what should be a community-driven process supported by council authority and budget,” Hamad said. “The current resolution does not exhibit a deeper acknowledgement of the depth of racial injustice in Iowa City institutions and the need for radical reform.” 

Councilors expressed that the public had not had enough time to fully review the proposed resolution, especially since many in the area were without power and internet in recent days due to the derecho that tore through Iowa last week.

“I think what we did was we really allowed the community to come forth and speak to us before we got too far into this Truth and Reconciliation commission – even the resolution has been a process where we wanted to hear the community,” Iowa City Mayor Bruce Teague said. “I would advise us to really wait to have public comment and hear from the public.” 

The establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation commission is one of the 17 actions the city committed to to address systematic racism.

The council also decided to delay a decision on contracting with OIR group, a California based consulting company, to do an independent review of Iowa City Police Department actions on the night of June 3, when law enforcement used tear gas and flash-bangs on protesters.

Mayor Pro Tem Mazahir Salih said the independent review is not necessary, as she and Mayor Bruce Teague had reviewed video footage which showed the order to use tear gas on protesters came from the Iowa State Patrol, and not the city’s police department.

The contract would pay the firm $200 per hour for their work, up to $50,000 dollars. It would take up to three months for the independent review to be complete. 

Hamad said the video footage from that night should be released to the public. 

“We’re less interested in what that firm says about these events, and we’re more interested in the public and our larger community seeing the way these events unfolded publicly,” she said. 

The contract will be on the agenda at an upcoming meeting in the future, where members of the public can comment.