Iowa City City Council at-large and District B candidates discussed joint law enforcement facility, climate issues, and gun control at a forum hosted by the Johnson County League of Women Voters at the Iowa City Senior Center Monday.
With 50 community members in attendance, candidates answered specific policy questions submitted by the audience and each candidate shared their plans and opinions on each issue.
The candidates are running for two at-large seats and one District B seat. The election will be held on Nov. 4.
Candidates running for at-large seats include Newman Abuissa, Megan Alter, Clara Reynen, and Bruce Teague. Candidates running for the District B seat are Shawn Harmsen and Amy Hospadarsky. Incumbents include Alter, Teague, and Harmsen.
Joint law enforcement facility
The Iowa City City Council passed a resolution to move forward with a joint law enforcement facility in partnership with Johnson County in a 4-3 vote during its Sept. 16 meeting. However, these plans were put to an end by Johnson County Sheriff Brad Kunkel and the Johnson County Board of Supervisors.
Reynen, a graduate student at the University of Iowa and librarian at the Iowa City Public Library, said she has been vocal in opposing the facility and believes the Iowa City Police Department will work better with Johnson County with an independent facility.
“I don’t see the sheriff’s department having the same interest,” she said. “I think having those facilities be separate will actually give the Iowa City Police Department more of an opportunity to engage with the community and to build a trusting relationship with the sheriff’s office.”
Current at-large Councilor Megan Alter voted in favor of the facility because of efficiencies with its physical location and its ability to save money.
“Throughout all of City Hall, we’ve had a facilities plan to go through this and look, and frankly, the conditions [of the police department] are awful, so I’m in favor of us moving forward,” she said.
Iowa National Guard
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has authorized the use of Iowa’s National Guard in “immigration enforcement actions,” according to the governor’s website. Candidates were asked what actions they believe the city council should take if Iowa National Guard Troops were to be deployed in Iowa City.
Syrian-born immigrant and civil engineer for the Iowa Department of Transportation Newman Abuissa said he thinks the city council needs to take a leadership position if National Guard troops are to be deployed in Iowa City.
“Fight fire with fire. We are not going to push the line back and say that we cannot do this,” he said. “No, we can do it. The city council is a leader in this community. The city has resources which can be used to culminate the people, accommodate these experts, and protect people who are arrested.”
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Current Mayor at-large of Iowa City and longest-sitting City Councilor Bruce Teague said he thinks the council’s biggest responsibility in this situation is to build relationships with the community and immigrant service providers.
“People want to see their elected officials right there, side by side with them, and give them in the moment what they’re going to do,” he said.
Climate issues
During the panel, concerns about the city’s climate action plans and its heavy involvement with Mid-American Energy came about. Alter highlighted other efforts the council has invested in, specifically a renewable gas digester.
“This is huge. It’s a regional thing. We’re getting it set up so that we can turn waste gas into renewable energy,” she said. “That has nothing to do with Mid-American; it’s entirely Iowa City driven.”
Hospadarsky focused on the city’s current climate action plans, and said she appreciates the way the council is approaching climate issues.
“I think a massively helpful way to approach big projects or big problems like this is to embed it into almost everything that we do,” she said. “So I do appreciate the way we’ve approached it so far. The second part of that is keeping our foot on the gas, being open to more projects that pop up.”
Gun control
The American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, was signed into law in 2021, allocating $18.3 million to the City of Iowa City for emergency stabilization post COVID-19 and long-term investments through extensive planning and public input according to the city’s website. The money, which was being used for gun violence prevention and intervention, has run out.
Teague emphasized investing in the city’s youth as an alternative to finding more funding.
“There’s so many different opportunities, and I think it just can’t be just one organization. It has to be full throttle,” he said. “There are also trusted messengers in older folks that we need, where they go out and they talk to would-be offenders to try to change that opportunity in their lives and give them some hope to really go towards.”
District B incumbent Shawn Harmsen echoed similar beliefs about investing in youth and partnering with the community to inspire change while condemning the state of current gun laws.
“Our current gun laws in this state are out of control,” he said. “I’m not anti-gun, but I think the permissiveness in public spaces is something that we can do without and shouldn’t have to worry about.”