New Cedar Rapids council in place

CEDAR RAPIDS - Re-elected council member Monica Vernon and new council members Ann Poe and Scott Olson took the oath of office on Monday at City Hall in a council chambers filled with family, friends, supporters and others.

In the ceremony's introductory remarks, Mayor Ron Corbett welcomed the three to the council "team" and promised that the work ahead sometimes would be difficult and sometimes fun as it will be rewarding.

"You will be part of the community's successes and accomplishments and victories … And you will take great comfort in that," the mayor said.

After taking her oath, Vernon said she was "raring to go" on another four years of City Council work where she said successes can come in incremental steps and where she said persistence is needed to "make big things happen."

"I don't give up very easily," she said.

Vernon, president of her own company, Vernon Research Group, said the City Council now has put in place much of the program machinery for flood recovery, and she said she hoped that the new council would take time to look at where the community goes from there.

"What does our city look like? What will it look like in the future? What does it feel like to live here, and how do we continue to make it good for the people who do live here?" Vernon, 54, asked.

In last fall's election campaign, Vernon in council District 2, Poe as an at-large candidate and Olson in District 4 each voiced an upbeat view of Cedar Rapids and its flood recovery even as many of the other seven candidates on the election ballot did not.

Again on Monday, Poe emphasized that she was "proud" of the Cedar Rapids and how it had come back from the 2008 flood and she, too, credited those who have been on the council for making tough decisions in the face of a multibillion-dollar disaster.

"I'm looking forward to working with this council," Poe, 59, said. "Many of these people are my friends, and I will look forward to working together as a strong team and moving our community forward."

Poe, who worked for three years after the flood as the state Rebuild Iowa Office's liaison to the City Council and the community, said the city still had work to do on flood recovery, and she singled out the city's need to push the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reimburse the city for millions of dollars in funds that the city fronted for recovery work with the expectation of FEMA reimbursement.

"We got to get that money," said Poe, director of business development at M. Hanson & Co. "That's money that directly impacts our budget as we're looking at our budget this year."

Olson told the gathering on Monday that the voice of "negativity" that can gain a footing in today's Internet era should not blind them to the city's accomplishments since the flood.

"The good news: We are going to be making Cedar Rapids a better community. Out of adversity came opportunities," he said.

Olson said a top priority of his as he joins the council is to get the outstanding issues of flood recovery taken care of so the city can move on to other matters.

"Let's get the last of the money distributed, get the rest of the projects under construction," he said.

Olson, a commercial Realtor, was nearly elected mayor in 2005 when he lost a close race to Kay Halloran. Olson said he and Mayor Corbett have worked with each other for years as Corbett has been a state lawmaker, president of the Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce and now mayor.

"I think we have an understanding of each other," Olson said. "Are we going to agree on everything, probably not. However, that's good. That's healthy. I think it's going to be a good give-and-take."