Ruth Hart is Cedar Rapids’ first announced City Council candidate

Name: Ruth Hart

Age: 45

Address: 12 Summer Circle NE

Education: bachelor's degree, Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa, 1988; master's degree in theological studies, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Evanston, Ill., 1990.

Family: Husband, Mark, and three adult children

Website: http://hartforcedarrapids.com/

CEDAR RAPIDS - Ruth Hart is the first to announce she will run for one of three City Council seats up for grabs in November. She's seeking the at-large seat now held by two-term council member Tom Podzimek, who has said he will not run for re-election.

Hart, 45, is a mother of three, holds a master's degree in theological studies and has held an assortment of retail, restaurant and lower-paying jobs.

At the time of the June 2008 flood, she was working full-time, helping manage the Cooper's Mill restaurant on First Street NW, which was hard hit by the flood. As a result, she lost that job, and then had something of an epiphany:

“I was not involved in the city,” says Hart, of 12 Summer Circle NE. “I did none of those things. I literally went from being just an employee who was doing her job, getting things done and going home, to, ‘Oh my God, I have a master's degree, I'm ruining my life.' I had no plans on advancing. No plans on going anywhere. You know, just, ‘I survived child rearing.' Nobody expects anything. Nobody wants anything. I'll glide. But ignorance is not bliss.”

With the flood and the flood-recovery at hand, she decided she could help.

She worked matching volunteers with those in need immediately after the flood. She worked for a couple months as an AmeriCorps flood recovery associate. She became certified by FEMA in volunteer management and critical incident management systems. She became a fixture at City Council meetings. She blogged on city and flood-recovery matters. Along the way, she's worked a short time for the Neighborhood Development Corp., City Council member Monica Vernon's research firm and the Iowa Democratic Party's get-out-the-vote effort.

Hart says her ultimate goal is to create an Iowa Women's Political Network to provide support for women who seek local elective office and spots on local boards and commissions. She says her City Council run is, in part, to blaze the trail for other women.

“Ninety percent of the people that I've talked to have said, ‘You do realize you can't win. It's Monica's seat,'” says Hart, noting that District 2 council member Monica Vernon is expected to seek the open at-large council seat this year.

Hart guesses she won't win. “But how about those Packers,” she says about someone else that wasn't expected to win. “Fortune favors the brave,” she says.

Hart says she is “curious” about life and sees herself as a bridge who can help those with differing views find common ground.

She favors extending the 1-percent local-option sales tax for 20 years to help build a flood-protection system. And she supports innovation, public-private partnerships, city-county collaboration and regional economic development.