Articles Tagged: Cedar Rapids City Council

With the school year already underway, the council’s vote ends a monthslong debate between city and school district officials over the presence of school resource officers mainly in middle schools.

The Cedar Rapids Charter Review Commission voted Thursday to recommend changes that would broaden ethics language for the city’s top officials and also keep the door open for ranked choice voting in the future.

Tax incentives estimated at a $3 million value will support Altorfer’s creation of a 150,000 square-foot office, sales and service facility at 8400 Sixth St. SW that will serve as the company’s new headquarters.

“That's the best we could do as a council,” Mayor O’Donnell says after the school board declined the city’s offers to negotiate to keep the two additional school resource officers or to meet to discuss the program.

Cedar Rapids school board president David Tominsky said the school board is not considering changing their decision on a contract for school resource officers after the mayor offered for the city to fund an additional two officers for middle schools.

Those who worked with him said Swore will be remembered as a man who loved the city of Cedar Rapids and was always looking for new ideas to improve the lives of its residents.

Though two residents appealed plans to build 89 single-family houses east of Cargill’s contentious rail yard site in a new Kestrel Heights subdivision, the Cedar Rapids City Council unanimously allowed the developer to proceed with construction plans

The city of Cedar Rapids plans to purchase a building for $2.5 million from United Fire Group to free up room at the police station and create more space for staff.

Cedar Rapids Charter Review Commission says Iowa’s second-largest city, with a trend of Republican mayors serving a Democratic-leaning city, should consider piloting a new way for selecting city leaders -- once Iowa law allows.

Cedar Rapids City Council approved the developer’s request for the tax abatement on Tuesday.

Traffic cameras along Interstate 380 and in Cedar Rapids are here to stay, for now

Wisconsin-based kitchen appliance company Sub-Zero is seeking city and state incentives to build a $140.6 million light manufacturing facility in Cedar Rapids that would add nearly 200 full-time jobs, most considered to be at the high-quality wage rate.

The panel reviewing Cedar Rapids’ charter moved to more clearly define that a conflict of interest includes nonfinancial benefits, but opted to study ranked choice voting before deciding whether the city should look to switch its electoral system.

The Cedar Rapids City Council this week approved tax incentives for two new warehouses in the southwest quadrant for Hy-Vee and Worley Warehousing.

With the Country Club’s expansion receiving the OK from five voting City Council members, questions remain over whether the city should tighten language in its ethics policy guiding how the part-time elected officials declare conflicts of interest