HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-09-28 TranscriptionSeptember 28, 2010 City Council Special Work Session Page 1
Council Present: Bailey, Champion, Dickens, Hayek, Mims, Wilburn, Wright
UISG: Higgins
Others Present: Steven Crowell, Paul Eckert, Thomas Markus
City Manager Candidate Meet and Greet, Iowa City Public Library:
Hayek/ Well good morning everyone! Uh, I'm Mayor Matt Hayek and on behalf of the City
Council I welcome all of you to this morning's event, and I thank you for, uh, taking time
out of your schedules to be here. Um, you're welcome to sit or stand at the back as you
like. We've got, uh, refreshments, uh, on...on the side here and please, uh, grab some if
you're able. Um, I think, uh, I speak for the entire Council when I say that we have three
excellent finalists for the City Manager position in Iowa City and we're very pleased with
how this process is unfolding. Uh, this morning is an opportunity for the public, uh, to
interact with our three finalists, and provide some feedback to the Council. Um, we only
have 90 minutes for this section of the, uh, of the day, uh, our poor candidates are going
to have to go through a number of more, uh, additional meetings and then interview with
the Council later in the day so it's going to be a long day. Um, but, uh, so I will briefly,
uh, this morning's format is this: I will briefly introduce each candidate who will then,
uh, speak for just a couple minutes, um, about himself and then we will, uh, send them to
three different camps in this room and you can see there are some yellow signs, and just
ask them to kind of hang out in that area and... and uh, for the balance of the event, uh,
we would...we would encourage you to make the rounds and talk to each of them
and...and have a little one-on-one time and...and uh; discussion, and then we would like
your input and um, we have until I believe 4:30 today, uh, for anyone who is part of this
event, or...or has anything to say to submit comments to the...to the City Council, either
by the City web site, or through the written documents that are being provided here. I
can assure you that the Council will receive those comments and will take them into
consideration, uh, this is an important step for us and we...we do want the public's input.
Um, so...having said that, I will just go in alphabetical order. I'll very briefly introduce
each...each candidate and allow him to...to speak for a few minutes. Our first candidate
is Steve Crowell. Presently the city manager in North Port, Florida, where he has served
for the last five years, uh, previously Steve has served as a city manager in two
communities in Colorado, and two communities in Nebraska. Welcome to Iowa City,
Steve.
Crowell/ Thank you. I...I appreciate being invited. Um, my name is Steve Crowell. I'm a
tourist now (laughter) and I thought I would, uh, give a brief, um, overview of a little of
my personal, uh, background and then some of my professional background. Um, and
then we have three to five minutes so it'll be fairly quick. Personally I have three
daughters, um; one is, um, 20, one's 19, and one's 17. One is going to, uh, college in
Florida. One is going to college in Keokuk, Iowa. She's playing basketball there, and
one is, uh, a high school senior and she wants to be playing basketball somewhere in a
cold state, so um... especially coming from Colorado. So all three girls, um, all three are
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special
work session meeting of September 28, 2010.
September 28, 2010 City Council Special Work Session
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doing really well, and all three are, um, certainly I'm very proud of all three of my girls.
Um, professionally, um, I have a very broad range of experience. Um, the resumes are
out there, um, but you can't really get a good appreciation for some of the kinds of
background that, um, is involved, certainly with some of the different kinds of
communities and states in which I have worked. Um, I'll also note that my father was in
the Army so I'm an Army brat so I've moved around, lived in a lot of different states,
um, had the opportunity to work in a lot of different states, as well. Um, right out of
graduate school, I don't think I have time to talk about before graduate school, but I used
to work for the Gap stores, and that is where I learned a lot of my customer service skills
and my, the importance of customer service in the private sector. That's when the Gap
used to sell blue jeans. Um, now they sell a lot of clothes that really aren't blue jeans, but
that was when, uh, I learned a lot about customer service. Um, after graduate school I
worked for the city of Dallas. There was one place that I wanted to work after graduate
school, and that was for the city of Dallas. There were 450 applicants. They selected 12.
I was one of the 12. Had a great opportunity to learn about working in a very large city.
After, uh, Dallas I accepted the first position in the city of David City, Nebraska. It was a
smaller town. That was a great opportunity to learn the basics of municipal management,
public sector management, uh, literally one day I'd be working on the budget, and the
next minutes I'd be out the back door jumping on a fire truck to go fight a fire. It was a
great opportunity to learn a lot of the basics of municipal operations. Um, after that I was
fortunate enough to get a position with the city of La Vista, Nebraska. Uh, that was a
little different city. It was a city of about 12,000 at that time. It was a suburban city, a
suburb of Omaha, Nebraska, so that was an opportunity to learn a little bit about a
different kind of a city, a suburban city, but also a city that was impacted by, uh, a larger
city adjacent to it. Um, that was a city that was growing at the time. There I had an
opportunity to learn the importance of planning ahead for some of the kinds of growth
that was going to be coming to a new city, and certainly the importance of infrastructure.
Um, after that, uh, after La Vista, I went to Commerce City, Colorado. Uh, large city,
um, it was mostly blue collar. Still, a growing city. Did a lot of annexation. Um, had an
opportunity to learn, uh, the importance of planning for growth there. Um, Commerce
City was a great opportunity to, um, have the opportunity to learn about some of the, uh,
growth opportunities and planning for the kinds of things that, um, may not automatically
see, um, related to infrastructure. So that was a good opportunity to help staff see the
kinds of things that were going to be coming, and plan for those, particularly when the
annexations were happening, um, after Commerce City I had the opportunity to work in
Greenwood Village, Colorado. Greenwood Village, Colorado was a suburb of Denver,
fairly affluent community. Um, it was impacted by Denver. Again, it was a suburb, uh;
there I had the opportunity to learn the importance of quality, um, the importance of
being...focusing on detail, and the importance of environmental aspects of a community.
Greenwood Village was a great opportunity to be able to, um, focus on the impacts of a
suburban community. That population then was about 15,000, but during the day it
would get up to about 50,000 people because of the employment base there, so that was a
good opportunity to see the impacts of another city, um, and the impacts it would have
on...on that particular city. The relationships with the surrounding cities were very
important there, so that was a good oppor...learning opportunity there. I'm currently the
city manager in North Port, Florida. North Port's about 56,000 people. When I went to
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work session meeting of September 28, 2010.
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North Port in 2005, it was the seventh fastest growing city in the United States. Um,
significantly, um, fast growing and then the economy change literally, um, almost
that...that following year and the economy, um, stopped, the housing stopped, and a lot
of the growth stopped, and the, um, focus of the city changed then from, um, a growth
community to reacting to the reduction in some of that growth. Um, North Port was, um,
planning for that growth. Now still focusing on having a lot of people there, and it's
important to focus on a lot of recreational aspects, um, economic development, certainly
working with surrounding communities, and certainly impacted by, uh, future planning.
The community's about 104 square miles, which is fairly large, um, I think, um, Iowa
City's about 75 square miles, so it's a fairly large area. So that...that's kind of the...my
background. Um, fairly broad. I bring a lot of different kinds of experiences in different
states, and certainly a little, uh, a lot of opportunities in working with staff. So
that's...that's my background, personal and professional, and I look forward to being in
Iowa City. Thank you for the opportunity to come and talk with you all. Thank you.
(applause)
Hayek/ Thank you very much, Steve, uh, our...our second candidate is Paul Eckert, who is
presently the city manager of Sioux City, Iowa. He's held that position for about eight
years, previously was the assistant city manager in Sioux City and moved up in the ranks,
and prior to his tenure in Sioux City, Paul served as a... as a department head in various
capacities in communities in California. Paul, welcome to Iowa City.
Eckert/ Good morning. Thank you. It's a privilege to be here today. Mayor and Council
Members, thank you for this opportunity. I'd also like to welcome everyone here today.
You are all to be commended for your commitment to be here today, and your
commitment to your community. It shows! Iowa City's an outstanding community.
This engaging and grueling process is yet another example of what sets and differentiates
Iowa City from other communities across the country. I want to say hello to some
friends, uh, from both Iowa City and, uh, Sioux City here in the crowd. Thank you for
being here and thank you for your support. My first interview in 13 years. I was a bit
apprehensive as we left, um, as I left on Sunday. My wife counseled me, be yourselfl I
told her that might be scary. Uh, but my son said, arrgggh. Some might understand what
that means, but I'm also a...one of the things I enjoy most, uh, outside of work is
coaching, coaching youth. I coach girls' middle school track and uh, wrestling, and that's
something we use to release tension. So my son loves giving me a dose of my own
medicine. He could see (mumbled) when the tension is building up! Our family knows
Iowa and we know Iowa City. Um, we understand Iowa City in a pretty special way, and
I think it's important to underscore that. Just as a reminder. As dedicated, committed
here in your community, you're very familiar, but again, I'm going to take the
opportunity to underscore what some of the assets you have here in Iowa City include.
And that's our personal experience. Um, in 2006 our son was diagnosed with an
anaplastic appendimoma. I don't know if there's any doctors here, um, but that's a form
of brain cancer, ahigh-grade brain cancer, and so he received that diagnosis here and
received, uh, his treatment here. Uh, removal of a brain tumor. So we got to know Iowa
City in a way different than a lot of other people's experiences. What that underscores is
you've got great medical facilities and that there are people in those facilities coming
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work session meeting of September 28, 2010.
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from far away because you do have outstanding services and very dedicated medical
personnel. You also have very dedicated passionate volunteers. Some of them are
represented here today, um; I want to put a plug in for the Ronald McDonald House.
Outstanding institution. If you don't volunteer there, I hope you start. Um, it's a jewel in
your community and agencies like the Ronald McDonald House, like University of Iowa
Children's Hospital can use all the support they can get. There may be some wrestlers, or
former wrestlers in the room too, and I want to thank all of the athletes at the University
of Iowa. You may not know, but they're at that hospital all the time and I especially want
to plug those wrestlers who were a big part of our story, um, with our family while here.
That leads me to professional background. I'm currently city manager in Sioux City,
Iowa. I have the privilege to serve 85,000 residents in our community. 140,000 metro
area. Sioux City provides, um, principally all the services in that metro area. We do a
pretty good job, and I think overall we do a pretty good job, um, for two key reasons. A
vital and an engaged citizenry, and a commitment to priorities is key within our
community, and we all seem to work together to achieve them. Prior to Morgan Hill, I
worked in several progressive California communities. Worked in the Bay area, um,
Silicon Valley, uh, was my last city, before coming in to Iowa. Worked for Morgan Hill,
California, again, it's in the Silicon Valley. A lot of good, uh, policies. As a growth
community, but we were on the southern tip of the Silicon Valley. So the quality of life
and preserving our environment was a key element to...balancing that...those
environmental constraints of our community with a growing, uh, industry, that is Silicon
Valley, was key. Collaborations are key to any community's success. Uh, Sioux City,
outstanding collaborations, um, collaborations of every type and every form are
central... for success. The other community that I more or less cut my teeth in is Foster
City in the Bay area, just south of San Francisco. Very progressive, very well planned
community. It's called a "planned community," started in the 60s and extraordinary
commitment to professionalism and citizen engagement and an absolute great place to
live! I've held the positions of finance director, economic development director, human
resources director, um, assistant city manager in several communities. Also been an
adjunct professor, um, for, uh, five or so years. I'm 48 years old, and a former Marine
Corps sergeant. Uh, my wife and I are very active in our community. My wife Julie
started a parent, uh, cooperative pre-school in our, non-profit, uh, parent cooperative pre-
school, and she's still actively engaged in it. We're active in many youth activities
within our community. I enjoy various roles on boards, uh, in our community. One that I
especially enjoy is Saturday in the Park. Hopefully some of you have heard something
about that. It draws 30-40,000 people to our community for aone-day rock and roll
concert. It's a great activity, and again, um, good friends, um, and I get to play a role in
that successful event. I...also am, uh, a member and a co-founder of our homeless sleep-
out event. The mental health associations homeless sleep-out event, um (mumbled) and
appreciate very much the opportunity to be a part of it. Also a member of the Crittenden
Center. I'm not sure if you're familiar with that, but it's an agency that meets the needs
of young people, for sheltering and providing aid to young people in need. I think that
would pretty much conclude my remarks. Um, I would just like to again compliment and
thank you, um, and remind you that Iowa City adds value. It adds value not to its...just
its residents, but to the state. To our country, and to the world. What you do here, and
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special
work session meeting of September 28, 2010.
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what our young people do in this community is a tremendous benefit to the rest of Iowa
and so as an Iowan, I'd like to say thank you very much! (applause)
Hayek/ Thank you, Paul. Um, our third candidate is Tom Markus, who has served as city
manager of Birmingham, Michigan, for the last 21 years. Prior to that he held city
manager positions in several communities in Minnesota and Illinois. Welcome, Tom!
Markus/ Thank you. As the Mayor indicated, I've been the city manager of Birmingham,
Michigan, for 21 years, but as a part of the introduction let me, uh, talk a little bit about
some of my personal life. I'm one of seven children. I grew up in Waseca, Minnesota,
which is a Dakota word meaning "fertile land," and actually seven children was a small
family (laughter) in Waseca, Minnesota. I'm married to, uh, Debra. She's a cardiac
exercise physiologist, and I have three children. I have a daughter in Salt Lake City. A
son in Chicago and another son in Detroit. I have a family history of public service. Uh,
my grandmother worked for the State of Minnesota in that much-beloved department of
the Division of Motor Vehicles that we probably all had experience with. My father
decided after 40 years of employment, uh, and retirement to run for city council in my
hometown. He ran for city council, he was elected, and eventually then he ran for mayor
and was elected. So you can imagine some of the Thanksgiving, uh, family discussions
between a mayor and manager sitting at the same table, and ethically, I don't know how
many of you know this, but...if a...an elected official talks to a manager, the manager
has an obligation to go back and talk about that conversation to a manager of the
community that the mayor's in charge of. So regularly I had to call a manager of the
community and say, "Well, Dad's at it again! And he's...he's not real happy with you."
Course I'm a city manager. The son I spoke of in Chicago is a police officer, uh, with the
Chicago PD. He's been there for six years. Uh, he's completing his master's degree in
public administration...at my alma mater. And if that weren't enough in terms of family
involvement in public service, uh, my son-in-law is a, uh, employee of the Army Corps
of Engineers. Uh, my education includes a bachelor degree from Mankato State College,
which I received in 1973. In 1973, your mayor was 4-years-old! (laughter) I have...I
have majors in business administration, finance core, and in urban studies in, uh,
planning. 1976 I received my master's in public administration from Roosevelt
University in Chicago. I continued my education throughout my career. In 1992, I
completed the Institute for Public Administration at Central Michigan University. In
1999, I received a fellowship from the Southeast Michigan Counsel of Governments to
attend Harvard University's, uh, senior executives in, uh, local and state government.
And in 2002 I was designated an ICMA credentialed manager. ICMA is the International
City Management Association and credentialing is our continuing-ed type program. Uh,
professional experience, I've been in the city management profession since 1973, or 37
years. Thirty-three of those years as the chief administrative officer. I currently serve as
the city manager of Birmingham, Michigan, and have served there since 1989, or about
21 years. I'm completing my 22nd year there. Birmingham is located in the Detroit
metropolitan area, and like Iowa City has a heavily involved citizenry. Um, this is not an
unusual number of people for many of our council meetings, commission meetings. We
refer to them as city commission. Uh, and as I told your City Council, many times you'll
have the state recognized expert sitting in the audience during those commission
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work session meeting of September 28, 2010.
September 28, 2010 City Council Special Work Session
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meetings, so you have to be on your feet in terms of what they say. Sometimes you're
better off saying very little because we have a very engaged citizenry. We have a strong
downtown area, and in fact, like Iowa City we have five elevated parking structures. We
actually have five thousand public parking spaces, and we don't have obviously the
student involvement, but we kind of serve the greater Detroit metropolitan area as a
downtown, so people come to our community and we describe it as getting their `urban
fix' because a lot of the Detroit metropolitan area is suburban and the city of Detroit
really doesn't have the type of downtown that a lot of people feel comfortable going to.
Birmingham has been recognized as one of the top ten walkable cities in the United
States. In 2007, uh, we were atop-25 city to live in, uh, named by
RelocateAmerica.com. In 2009 we were a top, um, place for healthy retirement, named a
top healthy place by CNNmagazine.com. In 2010 we were named one of the coolest
suburbs to visit by Travel and Leisure magazine, but the most important recognition that I
think we've received is a triple-A bond rating upgrade in 2002, and probably even more
important is maintaining that bond rating for the last eight years. You're sitting in a state,
you're sitting in a city that has survived our recession. Michigan hasn't bottomed out yet.
We're not even close to bottoming out. It is a tough, grueling environment, and despite
the fact that Birmingham is a relatively affluent community, we have serious challenges
with the economy and so we're constantly trying to adjust to the circumstance of the day.
We've cut about 25% of our workforce after the, over the last eight to nine years, uh,
we've privatized, consolidated. Most of that was done through attrition without the need
for layoffs. Uh, so we are constantly reshuffling the deck to make things work. I've also
served in cities, as the Mayor indicated, in the Chicago suburbs and the Minneapolis
suburbs, and those range in size from 5-50,000, and I too would like to thank all of you
for being here today and participating in this process. The civic engagement in this, uh,
community is outstanding. It's one of the things that I consider when I look at a
community, and your engagement helps your elected officials make the best decisions
they can, so you're to be applauded for your participation today, and I thank you for it as
well. Thank you. (applause)
Hayek/ Thanks, Tom. Um, well, that concludes the first portion of this morning's event. We
have about 45 minutes left and uh, at this point we'll just ask you guys to set up camp in
your various corners, and encourage the public to interact with you, and we do have to
end around 9:00 cause these guys then start a series of meetings that none of you would
want to go through. Thank you for being here this morning.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special
work session meeting of September 28, 2010.