For the second year in a row, the Siouxland region ranks number-one in the nation for economic development in metro areas of comparable size. Ron Starner, general manager of Site Selection magazine, says the Sioux City area had more qualifying projects than any other community in the U.S. with a population between 50-and-200-thousand people. Starner says: "It must represent a capital investment of one-million dollars or greater or create 50 new jobs or more, or add 20-thousand square feet of new floor space, or greater. By getting 20 projects last year, Sioux City had the most in that population category, in fact, it doubled the size of the runner-up community, Springfield, Ohio, which had ten." Starner says it’s an impressive title to hold two years in a row, especially during such dark economic times. He says Siouxland area leaders have a lot going for them. "They take advantage of their tri-state region, that is, they can customize packages for companies based upon whether it’d make more sense for the company to locate in Nebraska or Iowa or South Dakota," Starner says. "They have great economic developers, seasoned highly competent professionals in economic development for the state, county, regional and local level. They’re best in class for what they do." Siouxland first entered in the Site Selection rankings in 2006 and placed third, then finished first in the nation in 2007 and 2008.
Siouxland ranks high in economic development
Commandant out at Iowa Veterans Home
Governor Chet Culver is making changes at the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown. Culver announced at noon today that he will not reappoint the home’s top manager — Commandant Dan Steen — to another four-year term.
Phil Roeder, a spokesman for the governor, says Steen’s job performance isn’t the issue. "I don’t think there’s any one thing that went wrong," Roeder says. "I think this is just part of taking a look at our overall delivery of services to veterans in this state and making sure that they’re being done as well as they can be and a change at the Veterans Home is going to be one part of that."
Under current law, the top administrator at the Veterans Home must be a veteran and have some background in nursing, but Roeder says the governor and legislators may change those requirements to ensure someone who is a professional nursing home administrator holds the top job.
"It’s the largest nursing home facility in the state of Iowa," Roeder says. "It’s one of the largest veterans homes in the entire country and so we’re right now contemplating different changes to do a better job of delivering the care and one might be to make sure that a person with those credentials is a part of this reorganization."
The Iowa Soldiers Home was founded in 1887 for civil war veterans. Today it’s called the Iowa Veterans Home with over 720 residents and more than 1,000 staff members. Critics have complained about bonuses paid recently to some staffers, but Roeder refuses to say getting rid of the commandant had anything to do with those complaints.
"Given that the term was up and given that we were looking at reorganizing how the services were delivered, the timing made this the right time to do this," Roeder says.
The commandant’s last day at the Veterans Home will be May 1st.
Landfill operators want change in rule process
A few landfill operators in Iowa are clashing with the state’s Department of Natural Resources over rules designed to protect groundwater from waste contamination. The landfill operators are pushing for a state law that would prohibit the Department of Natural Resources from imposing stricter environmental rules on landfills than the federal government.
A consultant for the landfill operators, Cindy Turkle, says the D-N-R rules call for some old landfills to install expensive new technology. "We have old landfills that have been in place since 1970. They don’t have liners. They don’t have leachate collection systems. We have to come up with systems to remediate those old areas," Turkle says.
Turkle says landfills have been trying to comply with two sets of rules. Turkle says, "Small landfills around the state have gotten to the point where they were designing federally approved lined landfill systems and leachate collection systems, but then suddenly D-N-R changed the rules." But the director of the Iowa D-N-R, Rich Leopold, says the proposed new bill would infringe on existing laws that protect the environment.
"We don’t think this bill is necessary. We think we have all of the authority we need to protect the groundwater and the ability to work with private communities on environmental and economic concerns," Leopold says. Leopold says there’s also already an Iowa code that does not allow state rules to be more stringent than federal regulations
"We have a certain set of rules that have gone through that protect against unlined areas and we believe this proposed groundwater legislation would interfere with those rules," Leopold says. The future of the legislation is uncertain as the Senate subcommittee reviewing the bill did not send it on to the full committee Monday as members say they need more time to discuss it.
Grassley offers amendment to force record of pay raise votes
Members of Congress automatically get pay raises, but Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he’s offering an amendment that would force all federal lawmakers to go on record if they’re going to give themselves a financial boost.
Grassley says, "We want to go back to a situation where the only way Congress is going to get a pay raise is if it has guts enough to stand up and actually vote for the raise." Most members of Congress make around $170,000 a year, while leaders like House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi top $217,000.
Grassley, a Republican, says members of Congress need to justify to their constituents why they need more money. "The principle is the same whether it’s good times but particularly, it seems to me, it’s a good issue to have up now when we’re in recession and the government’s running a deficit," Grassley says. To raise the pay without a vote is "totally out of touch" he says, especially when the American people, who pay the salaries, are struggling to make ends meet.
"We have a dismal economy and Congress just voted to double the deficit," Grassley says. "The least Congress could do is not boost its own salary at this particular time." He expects the amendment will be defeated today as Democrats who control both chambers aren’t letting anything be attached to the $410-billion spending bill.
Second Linn County flood tax vote set
Some Linn County voters will go back to the polls a couple months from now to reconsider a one percent increase in their local sales tax. The majority of Linn County, including Cedar Rapids, passed a one penny per dollar increase in sales tax one week ago. But the tax hike was defeated in Marion, Hiawatha, Robins, Walford, and Center Point.
On Monday, the Cedar Rapids City Council gave the green light for a new vote in those cities. If the other cities approve the tax, the amount Cedar Rapids receives would drop. But, Mayor Kay Halloran says it’s important for communities in the county to work together. "If we start picking fights with our next door neighbor, if you will, it’s not going to be good for anybody," Halloran said.
"They still have to get the votes. We haven’t done anything for them particularly. We’ve given them the opportunity to do something for themselves." Cedar Rapids was required to call for the election because it contains at least half of Linn County’s population. Cedar Rapids is expected to receive about 19-million dollars annually for about five years from the new tax.
Marion Mayor Paul Rehn believes people were confused about what they were voting for last week. "I would feel much better if it was defeated again knowing that we had made a good effort to get all the facts out and the people were voting on all of the true facts as opposed to a lot of the misinformation that was out there the first time," Rehn said.
Supporters say most of the money raised from the added tax would be directed at flood relief projects. The new vote is May 5th, the same day voters in Johnson County consider a similar tax increase.
Streamlining government the goal of bill & "lean enterprise office"
Five years ago, then-Governor Tom Vilsack asked his Department of Natural Resources to launch a "lean enterprise" effort and today, the Iowa House gave final legislative approval to a bill that establishes a permanent "lean enterprise office" for all of state government.
Representative Vicki Lensing, a Democrat from Iowa City, says "lean enterprise" principles focus on improving customer service. "Lean enterprise began in Iowa in 2003," Lensing says. "That was at a time when we were looking to streamline and improve government."
Lensing cites the Department of Natural Resources as an example. The department has reduced its review time for certain construction permits from 62 days down to 12 days. "This eliminated the backlog and made the process more customer friendly," Lensing says.
Today, the D.N.R. and 19 other executive branch departments use the so-called "lean enterprise" principles to evaluate the way each state agency serves the public. "In these times of budget constraints, accountable government and making the most of what we have — this needs to be the way we continue to do business in Iowa," Lensing says.
Representative Jeff Kaufmann, a Republican from Wilton, urged his colleagues to vote for the bill. "The whole idea of ‘lean’ and making an office for that in state government is a good one," Kaufmann says.
The bill passed without a dissenting vote and is on its way to Governor Culver, who is expected to sign it. Earlier this year, the Iowa Business Council gave the State of Iowa an award for using "lean enterprise" principles to improve service to the public.
As the Iowa House was voting on the "lean enterprise" bill this morning, the group Iowans for Tax Relief presented State Auditor Dave Vaudt with its "2009 Watchdog" award for his work on budget and spending matters.
UNI enjoying week off after tourney title
The UNI Panthers are savoring their Missouri Valley Conference tournament title after Sunday’s overtime victory against Illinois State and must now wait until Sunday to find out where they will be headed in the NCAA Tournament. UNI coach Ben Jacobsen says having been part of two teams that won the tournament "it doesn’t get any better than that." He says the team has been terrific in all situations. Jacobsen feels the Panthers peaked at the right time. He says they probably played as well as they’ve played all year in the three tournament games, but he says there is still a lot of work to do. UNI is 23-10 on the season.
