City agrees to settlement in DeWitt Park lawsuit

Apr. 9—CLINTON — All parties came to an agreement Tuesday on a settlement in the lawsuit over the sale of DeWitt Park on South Fourth Street.

YWCA Attorney John Frey listed major points included in the proposed agreement before Clinton City Council at its meeting Tuesday night. Frey said that, after some negotiating, the YWCA and plaintiffs Stephen Howes and JoAnn Hunt had come to an agreement on the terms of the settlement earlier that day.

Clinton Councilmembers Bill Schemers, Pat Determan, Eartha Davis, Gregg Obren, and Ron Mussmann voted in favor of the settlement. Councilmembers Cody Seeley and Rhonda Kearns voted against.

According to the agreement, the City and the YWCA will each pay $10,000 for a collective payment of $20,000 made to Howes and Hunt by checks payable to the Bettendorf office of Attorney Michael Meloy in consideration for the dismissal of the case.

These payments, according to the agreement, are contingent on the YWCA's fulfillment of conditions set forth by the Iowa Finance Authority and its administration of grant funding of over $4 million to be allocated for the organization's supportive housing project. The YWCA had initially been awarded the National Housing Trust Fund grant in November 2022 for the new construction of a facility that would provide supportive housing for the chronically homeless.

Further conditions of the settlement stipulated in the agreement include that Howes and Hunt will not picket at the project location, publicly protest the project, or contact elected or administrative officials in opposition to the project. Howes and Hunt also cannot refile or cause action to be filed against the City.

The YWCA agrees to make reasonable efforts to preserve the trees in DeWitt Park that are not within the footprint of the project. All trees that are removed as part of the process of constructing the facility are to within a year be replaced by the YWCA and the City either elsewhere within DeWitt Park or in another park property identified in consultation with the Clinton Parks and Recreation Department.

Four park benches with backs are to be provided by either the YWCA or the City in portions of the park that remain after the project's completion. Additionally, a sidewalk or walkway is to be installed by the YWCA that leads to and from the benches. The YWCA is also required to make every effort to preserve the existing concrete bench currently located within the park.

The agreement dictates that security cameras be placed at all entrances and exits of the facility, and the suitable lighting of the park must be included as part of the project's site plan.

Arrangements have been made as well for members of the Clinton Police Department to walk through the facility at random intervals, the settlement states.

Howes and Hunt had initially filed the lawsuit against the City on Nov. 27, 2023, claiming that the sale of DeWitt Park approved by Council just 13 days prior had been "unlawful." The YWCA had become a second defendant in the case in January when its motion was granted to intervene for the purpose of best representing its interests.