Outgoing C.R. council members ready for a break

CEDAR RAPIDS - Tom Podzimek and Chuck Wieneke are leaving the City Council by their own choice. They've not been tossed out by voters, who elected Podzimek twice to an at-large seat and Wieneke once as the west-side District 4 representative.

“I need a break,” explains 67-year-old retiree Wieneke. Residential property in his northwest Cedar Rapids district took a harder hit from the 2008 flood than any other spot in the city.

Podzimek, 54, the owner of small construction company, puts it this way: “I served the public. I was glad to do it. And I'm ready to move on.”

The two share some things in common: Both are veterans of the U.S. Air Force - Wieneke retired after 26 years as a lieutenant colonel. Both speak their minds. Both have stood outside the go-to working majority on the council that Mayor Ron Corbett enjoyed upon taking office in 2010. And both were backers of the first city manager, Jim Prosser, even as he resigned in April 2010 with the approval of the Corbett-led council majority.

“I think the way Jim Prosser was treated by the new council (which had three new members in 2010) was a travesty,” Wieneke says. “My biggest fear was that no one with common sense would want to take the job seeing how Prosser was treated and the challenges ahead.”

But, he adds, “We lucked out. We got a great city manager in Jeff Pomeranz. Everything about him is strong.”

Wieneke has spent as much if not more time than any council member on the front lines of the city's flood recovery. That's in large part because his district's constituents have seen the most disruption, the most residential rebuilding, the most property buyouts and the most demolitions.

For the first 18 months or so after the flood, Wieneke estimates that he worked 80 to 100 hours a week on his part-time council job.

“It's my own fault,” says Wieneke, adding that he had the luxury of being a retiree. “But I took an oath of office, and that means that I spend whatever time is necessary to do that job.”

Three years and six months after the historic flood, Wieneke says the city has done an “outstanding job” in helping the affected residents. Those who lost homes, he notes, were paid 107 percent of pre-flood value for their properties - and, unexpectedly, received up to an additional $10,000 in revenue from the city's local-option sales tax for possessions lost to the flood. Renters got up to $4,000. There was money, too, for down payment assistance on replacement homes and to renovate homes to which people returned.

“The council has gone the extra mile to provide the maximum support to people who were affected by the flood,” Wieneke says. “The small number of people who have done 95 percent of the complaining have based their criticism on inaccurate facts and some personal agendas.”

Podzimek came to the council with his eye on the big picture and on the horizon, and his focus hasn't changed. He was the first on the part-time council to win re-election, when he won in 2007 and the other two incumbents on the ballot didn't.

“Never once did I compromise my morals, values and ethics,” Podzimek says. “My decisions supported what I said - looking out for the long-term consequences, not taking from future generations.”

When prodded, Podzimek acknowledges that he was among a group on the council that helped to reshape the approach and the vocabulary associated with community development. Now, six years later, concepts such as infill development, sustainability, walkability, bicycle-friendly and smart growth are established principles that the city is trying to pursue.

“I think we shifted the needle in the direction we're going,” he says. “But we're still playing catch-up with other communities ... I truly hope these things are a permanent part of the discussion going forward - because there are only going to be sustainable communities and communities that are gone.”

Alone among council members, Podzimek leaves office questioning whether Cedar Rapids should build flood protection largely with city money on the west side of the river, when the Army Corps of Engineers has concluded that such construction does not make financial sense. He says, too, that the 2008 flood, though not a good thing for the community, has resulted in a recovery that has helped the local economy as other communities have suffered through a downturn.

At the close of his current council career, Podzimek says he is still surprised that he decided to run for the City Council - and that he was elected twice to it.

“I feel like a Little League kid who got to play in the big leagues,” he says. “I always was just a simple carpenter who went to serve the public and make decisions to help our community.”

For his part, Wieneke says he'll be back after some time off. He may become a reserve police officer and might run for the City Council again one day.

“I'm happy I was on the council,” Wieneke says. “I do believe I've played a part in setting up the foundation of recovery for this city.”