Johnson County and the city of Iowa City are pursuing a joint application for technical assistance to design a field‑mediation program that would provide unarmed, community‑based mediation responses and help divert appropriate calls from 911. The county’s grants manager told supervisors the application would request roughly 800 hours of technical assistance over 15 months starting in January 2026.

"This initiative would build local capacity to provide an alternative to 911 for conflict related situations as well as diverting appropriate calls from 911 to trained community mediators," Genevieve Angla, the county grants manager, said during the meeting. The county plans to request letters of support from public‑safety partners and community organizations as part of the application.

The technical assistance would be provided by Dignity Best Practices and is funded through a national pilot supported by the American Arbitration Association. Angla said the assistance package includes four site visits, a customizable “0 to launch” roadmap, stakeholder engagement support and budgeting and operational design work.

Officials emphasized the importance of involving dispatch and public‑safety partners. Supervisors and city representatives discussed how the program could interface with JACC dispatch and countywide partners, and noted that any cross‑jurisdictional diversion system requires dispatch buy‑in and clear operational protocols. The city of Iowa City indicated it intends to proceed with its portion of the application whether or not the county signs on, but both sides said county participation would strengthen the proposal and the eventual program.

Supervisors asked for assurances the program would not unduly complicate dispatchers’ work. County and city staff said the technical assistance is designed to build coordinated triage and dispatch processes and to identify how municipal and county response zones would participate. The county will seek support letters from the various municipalities and agencies that would be involved and return to the board with a formal request for a letter of support before the application is submitted (staff said they planned to submit a draft by Sept. 19 for feedback and the application by the Oct. 1 deadline).

Board members endorsed moving forward and requested the grants manager return with a finalized application packet and the requested board letter of support for a future meeting.