City Council picks off West Des Moines city manager for Cedar Rapids' post

CEDAR RAPIDS - Jeff Pomeranz, city manager for the last 12 years in the fast-growing and prosperous Des Moines suburb of West Des Moines, will become the city of Cedar Rapids' new city manager.

Mayor Ron Corbett and other members of the City Council will introduce Pomeranz, 52, at a news conference this morning at 10 at the Veterans Memorial Building, where City Hall will return once the flood-damaged May's Island building is renovated.

The council formally votes on hiring Pomeranz on Tuesday, and Vernon, head of the council's Personnel Committee, predicted a 9-0 vote.

Vernon and the three other members of the council committee, Justin Shields, Don Karr and Chuck Swore, as well as Corbett on Tuesday said the hiring of Pomeranz - which comes without a more-typical and lengthy national search for candidates - should not surprise anyone.

From the start, they said the entire council made it clear that its preference would be to try to pick off a city manager in one of a few of Iowa's most successful cities.

In Pomeranz, that's what they got, they said.

Vernon called Pomeranz a “perfect fit for Cedar Rapids.”

She called him “extremely experienced” and noted that he's held three successful city manager jobs, one in Del Rio, Texas, one in Port Angeles, Wash., and “of course, most notably for us,” the job in West Des Moines.

“To me the proof is in the pudding,” Vernon said, pointing to what she said was the city of West Des Moines' success in growth and development in the time Pomeranz has been city manager there.

“He's 52, and I think he's got another big one in him,” she said. “ ... This has been his deal: building and rebuilding cities. He combines that with a real, real true interest in building relationships with people. And he has this urgency to get things done.”

Shields said he had become acquainted with Pomeranz the last two years as their paths crossed at the Iowa Legislature and the state I-JOBS board, of which Pomeranz is chairman.

“I'm really impressed with how he goes about his job and the enthusiasm he has with putting things together,” said Shields.

Karr said Pomeranz had taken West Des Moines and the town where he worked before that, Port Angeles, Wash., and turned them into something much more than they had been.

“I want him to help take Cedar Rapids so it's the talking point of all of Iowa. That's what this is about,” Karr said.

Swore said he recently had given Pomeranz a tour of Cedar Rapids' flood-hit Time Check Neighborhood, and along the way said he learned what a “quick thinker” and good questioner Pomeranz was.

“He's a builder. He picks up on ideas and expands on them. That's what we got to have,” Swore said.

Council member Pat Shey on Tuesday said his path has crossed Pomeranz's many times over the years.

“Jeff is a rare blend of skill, experience and judgment, with the connections and people skills to move the city forward,” Shey said.

Many people in the state of Iowa are familiar with “the success story of West Des Moines,” Mayor Ron Corbett said.

“Wow, there's a lot of action in this town,” Corbett said of West Des Moines.

He cited West Des Moines' success in luring a large number of jobs to the city, including its ability to land Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and Aviva USA insurance into large office buildings. The city of West Des Moines also has signed a development agreement for Microsoft to locate there. Corbett pointed, too, to the popular Jordan Creek Town Center mall and two new hospitals.

He said Pomeranz's work on the hospital projects will help the city of Cedar Rapids as it develops its new Medical District. Karr said he hoped Pomeranz might have some ideas for the long-struggling Westdale Mall.

In a phone interview early last evening, Pomeranz -- who grew up on Long Island, N.Y., and holds a master's degree in public administration from the University of Alabama -- did not disagree with Corbett. He said West Des Moines has been “one of the most successful cities in the state,” and he said over the last 15 years it has seen “tremendous” job growth, “thriving” employers and an “expanding” retail climate. He said the success took “team work” and a belief in “going after our goals.”

In Cedar Rapids, he said he sees great opportunity, particularly so because he said “a lot of hard work that's already been done in the community.”

“The way I've been successful in West Des Moines is to be aggressive, to look for innovative ways to get things done and to really go after things. That's my style,” he said.

Mayor Corbett on Tuesday applauded the council's Personnel Committee for getting Pomeranz hired just two months after Jim Prosser, the city's first city manager, signed a “separation agreement” with the council.

Vernon said she made an initial contact with Pomeranz some weeks ago and began courting him for the Cedar Rapids job. In intervening weeks, each of the city's nine council members met with him and most talked with him on the phone, she said.

Both Swore and Shields were on the City Council when it voted to hire Prosser in 2006 after a national search, and both said Tuesday they had gotten to know Pomeranz better in this hiring process than they had Prosser in the longer, more costly one.

Corbett said he hoped Pomeranz could start the Cedar Rapids job after Labor Day, which will give him time to make a transition with the city of West Des Moines, he said.

Russ Trimble, a West Des Moines City Council member, this week called Pomeranz “a great guy” and said he was “incredible at what he does.”

“I wouldn't doubt other cities are trying to hire him,” Trimble said.

Ted Ohmart, another council member in West Des Moines, called Pomeranz “the greatest city manager in the state.”

Ohmart said both of Pomeranz's kids had graduated from high school and, so, he might be willing for a new challenge in another city. He noted that the city of Cedar Rapids had a lot of flood-recovery money infused into it, “so you've got to have a lot going on over there,” he said.

“I thought he was pretty content over here, but city managers love challenges,” Ohmart said.