Corbett says deal will free up $15 million I-JOBS grant on Convention Complex project

CEDAR RAPIDS - Compromise is a not a bad word, says Mayor Ron Corbett.

Corbett on Tuesday announced that City Hall had reached one agreement with Gov. Terry Branstad and one with the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Building and Construction Trades Council that resolve a five-month dispute over the use of a project labor agreement on the city's $75 million downtown Convention Complex project.

Most importantly for City Hall, the two agreements will set aside the governor's stoppage of the release of the much-needed $15 million in state I-JOBS for the Convention Complex project.

In turn, the city has agreed to rescind the project's project labor agreement - the governor opposes such agreements on public projects - between the city and the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Building and Construction Trades Council.

Meanwhile, the city is promising the trades council that the city will use a project labor agreement on the $21-million renovation of the city-owned Five Seasons Hotel next to the Convention Complex and the new $10-million parking ramp across First Avenue East from the hotel and Convention Complex. Neither project involves state funds.

“Everybody gets a little, everybody gives a little,” said Corbett, a former speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives. “We have an agreement with all the parties, and that's how compromise is supposed to work. … Ultimately, the taxpayer wins because they aren't involved in a costly legal dispute.”

At last night's City Council meeting, City Manager Jeff Pomeranz read a letter dated Tuesday to Corbett from the governor's legal counsel, Brenna Findley, which spelled out the governor's agreement in the dispute.

Scott Smith, president of the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Building and Construction Trades Council, said Tuesday that the trades council agreed Tuesday morning to drop the project labor agreement from the Convention Complex project without any certainty that a similar agreement would be part of the city's hotel and parking ramp projects.

“This isn't a compromise offer (from the trades council),” said Smith, who added that any labor deal on the other city projects would be good if it happens.

“But we're not waiting,” Smith continued. “We've taken this action to be standup people in the community like we've always been. … And it's time to take the pressure off the City Council so we can move forward with the project and not delay the rebuilding of the economic center of the city.”

The City Council voted last night to formally rescind the existing agreement with the trades council and to develop a new project labor agreement with the council on the hotel and ramp projects.

Back on Dec. 15, the City Council, on a 7-2 vote, put the project labor agreement in place for the Convention Complex project.

The next month, Gov. Branstad took office and issued Executive Order 69, which banned project labor agreements on public projects using state funds. As a result, the governor's office has withheld the city of Cedar Rapids' $15-million I-JOBS grant on the Convention Complex, and the dispute between the city and governor was on.

At the same time, the state set aside project labor agreements on two state projects - a new medical facility in Coralville and an expansion of the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown - in a move that the Central Iowa Building and Construction Trades Council and its Eastern Iowa counterpart have gone to federal court to challenge. The lawsuit does not involve the Cedar Rapids Convention Complex project.

On Tuesday, Corbett said he did not deal directly with Gov. Branstad as the city worked to reach a compromise. Instead, he dealt with Findley, the governor's legal counsel, and Jeff Boeyink, the governor's chief of staff.

“It was never a personal issue between Branstad and myself,” said Corbett, who was speaker of the Iowa House in the late 1990s during Branstad's first period in the governor's office.

“We appreciate his effort to come to the table,” Corbett said of Branstad. “Although he had very strong feelings on project labor agreements, he was not interested in stopping the reconstruction of Cedar Rapids.

“ … I compliment the building and trades council, too,” he said. “They were pragmatic in this. And they didn't want to delay the project or hurt the city in any way.”