City Of Marion: IN FOCUS: 2.4.22 A Weekly Update From City Manager Ryan Waller

Press release from the City of Marion:

02/04/2022 6:00 PM

SSB 3074 State Legislation
The City has been closely monitoring SSB 3074 that would, among other things, take local option sales tax (LOST) and make it a statewide tax. While the intent of the proposed legislation may be genuine, the reality is the proposed legislation takes away our residents’ decision in how this precious funding is spent.  Furthermore, the proposed legislation, as drafted, threatens to reduce funding to the City, which would have devastating consequences.  The City is opposing the proposed legislation in order to preserve this funding especially since our community, which is still dealing with the negative financial strain of the 2020 derecho, just experienced more than $1 Million of new growth being completely wiped out because of the State’s rollback order, the recent legislation reducing multi-family rollback percentages, and the elimination of the backfill.  The unfortunate impact of the foregoing is that our growing community will not be able to fund much needed fire fighters and police officers in the proposed FY23 budget.  Thank you to Mayor AbouAssaly for relaying these concerns to our community’s Senator.

Community Survey to Close Next Thursday
Less than one week remains to participate in the online version of the National Community Survey™. The City conducts a community survey every two years and uses it to help understand resident expectations and measure resident satisfaction. With questions identical to the random sample survey previously mailed to 2,700 households in Marion, the survey asks about the quality of life in the community, local policies, demographics, ratings of local government services and resident use of services. Find the survey at https://polco.us/opmarion2021. It will take 15-20 minutes to complete and will be open until Feb. 10, 2022.

Engineers Honored by the Iowa Section of ASCE
Members of our Engineering Department are making things happen here at home and across the state. City Engineer Mike Barkalow was recently recognized for his service as president of the Iowa Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), continuing the mission of the organization in 2020-2021 through a year of the pandemic.

Darin Andresen, assistant city engineer, was named outstanding government civil engineer by the Iowa Section of ASCE for sustained outstanding civil engineering performance and integrity in the public sector. Darin oversees subdivision development for the City of Marion. In his nomination, he was recognized for his work with developers and their engineers, for thoroughly reviewing plans and working to prevent potential issues. He was also recognized for his common sense approach to solving problems and commitment to finding innovative solutions through GIS mapping tools, something he helped put into practice during Marion’s derecho response.

Employee Shout-Outs
Members of our Planning Division often work behind the scenes to advance projects through the development process. A resident contacted my office earlier this week wanting to compliment the work of Principal Planner Dave Hockett. The resident contacted Dave with questions he had about the new apartment complex that will be built on the former YMCA site. He stated Dave was very helpful, pleasant, provided good information, was straightforward, direct and very polite. Kudos to Dave for this great display of customer service!

On Saturday, off-duty firefighter Jayson Wagner was outside in his neighborhood when he heard smoke detectors sounding. The residents were not home at the time, but their two dogs were inside. Jayson called on the Marion Fire Department to assist. When the crew arrived they found smoke in the residence and a small fire still smoldering. Thanks to Jayson’s actions, he prevented something much more serious from happening. Kudos to Jayson for being committed to your profession both on and off duty. It also serves as an important reminder to be aware of your surroundings and act on them when something doesn’t seem right.

Parks and Recreation eNewsletter
It is never too early to think summer. The Parks and Recreation Department published their February eNewsletter earlier this week. You will find information about pool memberships, swimming lessons and a listing of spring/summer programs. Do you have or know of a high school or college-age young adult looking for a summer job? Encourage them to explore working for the Parks and Recreation Department this summer at www.cityofmarion.org/employment. 

Winter Lights Shine Bright
Thanks to the fundraising efforts of the Marion Chamber and other community leaders and installation support provided by the Marion Parks and Recreation Department, Marion’s winter light displays have greatly improved in recent years. We will start to remove the lights this month during the warmer days.  The winter lights were left up through the winter to add a bit of cheer to the shorter, darker winter days. Since all of the lights in City Square Park and the roundabouts are LED, they use 80-90% less energy than incandescent lights and last 25 times as long.

New Faces in New Places
Next Monday, Sydney Kaup will join Team Marion. Sydney has been hired as a part-time library assistant for the Marion Public Library. She previously served as the library director at Norway Public Library and is currently enrolled at Mount Mercy University. Welcome aboard!

Several items will be coming before City Council in the weeks ahead. Here’s a look at the tentative agenda.

The following are a few major activities on my calendar for the coming week:

This press release was produced by the City of Marion. The views expressed here are the author’s own.