116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Cedar Rapids seeks $12 million grant for trails along Cedar River
Also, Cedar Rapids schools hires a new administrator
The city of Cedar Rapids is applying for a $12 million federal grant toward trails along the Cedar River in conjunction with its permanent flood control system.
Construction of flood protection includes approximately 12 miles of trails along the river. Some trails have been completed, but most trails have yet to be constructed and will cost an estimated $15 million.
The trails are being funded through a mix of local, state and federal funds. The U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration is taking grant applications for the Active Transportation Infrastructure Investment Program.
The program was established by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to provide discretionary grants to eligible entities to plan, design and construct projects that offer transportation infrastructure within or between a community or communities.
According to the city, Cedar Rapids’ trails system is a fit for the program because it enables walking and biking paths that connect destinations within the city. The city is looking to fund 80 percent of the total construction cost with this grant.
The council last week signed off on the grant application and agreed to commit a required local funding match of 20 percent of the cost of the project, or about $3 million, to complete the trails system if awarded federal funds.
Cedar Rapids Tourism Office receives national recognition
The Cedar Rapids Tourism Office and the City of Cedar Rapids were named in this year’s class of the Best Convention and Visitor’s Bureau/Destination Marketing Organizations from across the U.S. by Smart Meetings, the premier media brand for meeting professionals, in its 2024 Smart Stars Awards.
Smart Meetings’ audience of meeting professionals chose properties and destinations in 31 distinguished categories. The Smart Stars Awards are now in their 12th year.
Cedar Rapids Tourism was named “Best CVB/DMO” alongside 24 contemporaries including Visit Anaheim, Meet Boston, Destination Colorado, Visit Seattle and Discover Puerto Rico. Cedar Rapids is the only destination in Iowa to have won a Smart Star Award. This marks the second consecutive year Cedar Rapids Tourism has won a Smart Star Award after winning in the same category in 2023.
In 2022 and 2023, the Smart Meetings audience also chose the Cedar Rapids Tourism Office as a Platinum Choice CVB, making Iowa’s debut into that category as well.
“We are beyond thrilled to be singled out by Smart Meetings for this award,” Julie Stow, the office’s associate executive director, said in a statement. “We couldn’t do it without our amazing city and hospitality partners who create unique and memorable experiences for our visitors.”
Last fiscal year, the Cedar Rapids Tourism Office reported booking 81 meetings, conventions, trade show and sporting events, creating 27,654 hotel/motel room nights and generating millions of dollars of economic impact to the Cedar Rapids community.
See the full list of winners at www.smartmeetings.com/smart-stars-2024-winners.
Linn County awards grants toward historic preservation projects
The Linn County Board of Supervisors last week awarded $28,800 toward historic preservation projects for fiscal 2025, the budget year beginning July 1.
Local organizations requested $100,902 overall. Projects awarded funding include:
- Central City Growth Organization: Awarded $3,000 toward signage for historic buildings in downtown Central City as part of phase 2 of its Historic Markers project
- Coe College Mwendo: Awarded $980 toward digitizing the college’s historic African American literary magazine
- Coggon Community Historical Society: Awarded $1,500 toward storm window replacement on the Historical Hall building
- Ely Community History Society: Awarded $1,000 toward the “Rail to Trail” historic signage regarding the former train depot and railroad in pocket park
- Friends of the Lisbon Public Library: Awarded $5,000 to preserve the Lisbon Public Library building by replacing brick, spot pointing defective mortar joints and open areas in the basement and caulking windows and stone/sidewalk interface
- Marion Historical Society: Awarded $2,000 toward repairs to the existing front doors
- Tanager Place: Awarded $2,400 toward digitizing historical records
- The History Center: Awarded $3,000 for digitizing historical home and business real estate records
- Troy Mills Historical Society: Awarded $4,000 to repair and paint the exterior metal siding of the historic IOOF Lodge
- Walker Historical Society: Awarded $5,920 to paint the historic depot and school house
“I appreciate the geographic diversity that you have in all of these grants you’re handing out,” Supervisor Chair Kirsten Running-Marquardt told the county Historic Preservation Commission chair. “You’re truly of the whole county.”
Cedar Rapids honored as Small Business Community of the Year
The Iowa district office of the U.S. Small Business Administration recently honored Cedar Rapids as its 2024 Small Business Community of the Year in Iowa.
Samantha Kitch, outreach and marketing specialist for the Iowa district office, said the recognition was based on the city’s programs and incentives to retain and attract small businesses, as well as the city leveraging community resources with state, federal, county and other local programs to benefit the small business community.
Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell expressed “gratitude to those small businesses that are such a huge part of our community as well as our identity in a city like Cedar Rapids. It’s built on entrepreneurs and small business.”
Since 2020, small business owners in the city have received 120 small business loans totaling $79 million from the SBA, Economic Development and Development Services Director Bill Micheel said.
Linn County finance director honored for public service
Linn County Finance Director Dawn Jindrich has received the Outstanding Public Service Award from the Government Finance Officers Association.
The association’s new award publicly recognizes members for their dedication to the profession, as well as their colleagues, organizations and communities. Peers nominate award recipients who they believe exemplifies the role of subject matter expert, mentor, innovator, leader and outstanding public servant. Jindrich is one of 32 government finance professionals nationwide who earned this award, and the only one in Iowa.
“On behalf of the Board of Supervisors, we are proud of Dawn’s work, her professionalism, and the integrity she brings to public finance,” Running-Marquardt said in a statement. “She has dedicated her career to Linn County and ensuring the County’s fiscal health. We thank her for her outstanding service.”
Jindrich began her career with Linn County in November 1994 as the budget director. As an innovator in this role, she designed a new budget process, created the first Linn County budget document and pioneered as a woman in a male-dominated work environment. She was promoted to her current role in May 2019.
Her first budget document won the association’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Award, which the county has continued to receive for more than 30 years. Jindrich implemented a board-approved “Budgeting for Outcomes” process to help the county allocate resources more efficiently. She also worked to revise the county’s financial policies, helping secure and maintain Linn County’s Aaa bond rating, the highest rating possible.
The work Jindrich has done helped the county leverage its general fund balance to meet financial obligations and rebuild in the wake of disasters including the 2008 flood, 2020 derecho and the COVID-19 pandemic.
After working with Jindrich for 15 years, Supervisor Ben Rogers said in a statement he has “yet to meet another professional, in the public and private sector, who can match her knowledge, caliber of talent, understanding of the complexities of the public sector, and ability to assist policymakers in creating sustainable and financially sound programs that better serve the public …”
Jindrich also sits on state panels, educating the legislature and other county officials across the state on the impacts of property tax reform. She volunteers with the League of Women Voters, educating residents on the county’s financial processes and the property tax cycle.
“She has the county’s best interests in mind and provides us with the information we need to make fiscally responsible decisions that are accountable to the taxpayers,” Supervisor Louie Zumbach said in a statement.
Cedar Rapids schools hires new administrator
The Cedar Rapids Community School District hired Orsolya Cypert for a newly created position called Chief Data Officer. Cypert begins work Monday.
Cypert has experience in the business sector as a product manager. Most recently, she was responsible for managing the Department of Defense training and certification platform and content, leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms for real-time readiness predictions, gathering user feedback for integration and championing innovative artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions, according to a newsletter from the Cedar Rapids Community School District earlier this month.
Her salary is $147,000, according to board documents.
According to the job description, essential duties and responsibilities of the chief data officer include:
- Developing and implementing data and analytic that allow teams across the organization to easily and efficiently access data and build and use data-informed decision-making processes
- Develop data policies concerning accessibility, quality, security and the development of a data catalog as the single source of truth of how, where and which data is stored in the data assets and platforms
- Drive enrollment by increasing community engagement through communication, marketing and branding
- Develop the structure of the school district’s data analytics and information, creative marketing and public relations departments
- Understand public education’s challenges and how integrating artificial intelligence capabilities can help lead to solutions
- Analyze and explain artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions while setting and maintaining high ethical standards
The Chief Data Officer will report to the superintendent.
Linn-Mar Superintendent gets new contract
Linn-Mar Community School District Superintendent Amy Kortemeyer’s new three-year contract was unanimously approved by the school board last week.
The contract begins July 1, and ends June 30, 2027, and sets her salary in the first year of the contract at $248,040, about a 3 percent increase from her $240,000 salary last year.
Kortemeyer just completed her first year as superintendent of the school district.
Government Notes is published Mondays and contains updates from area governmental bodies. Gazette reporter Marissa Payne and Grace King contribute.
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