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New Linn County director works to increase sustainability
‘Sustainability is entrenched in everything we do’

Mar. 2, 2025 6:00 am, Updated: Mar. 3, 2025 7:54 am
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CEDAR RAPIDS — When her fourth-grade classmates were taking turns in the classroom saying what they wanted to do when they grow up, Cara Matteson said she wanted to clean up litter around her community.
“I wanted to clean the Earth,” Matteson said. “And I feel that if you have the ability to have a job where you're working in your field of passion, sky's the limit.”
Flash forward a few decades and Matteson is working as Linn County’s sustainability director, a role she has held for nearly a year.
“I feel really humbled and very blessed to do this,” Matteson said. “This (job) is something I would have done on my own — by volunteering my time, being on different committees or water sampling. I am in a position where I am getting paid to do something I love.”
Matteson took over the role for the county after the previous director, Tamara Marcus, resigned in November 2023. Matteson is the second person to ever hold the position.
Matteson, a Burlington native, has been spearheading environmental sustainability efforts in Iowa’s second-largest county since April 2024. But before then, she worked as the stormwater program manager and water resources manager for the city of Cedar Rapids, between January 2016 and February 2023.
Since joining the county government, Matteson identified three key performance indicators for herself.
They include increasing the number of funding initiatives for the department’s work; increasing the number of sustainable initiatives at facilities owned by Linn County; and continuing to promote sustainability through education and outreach.
“I’m a big advocate of not reinventing the wheel,” Matteson said. “And I don't want make it seem like Linn County hasn't been doing this from Day 1, because sustainability is entrenched in everything we do.”
One of her first steps was to showcase the sustainability work that the county has already completed, like its work with the National Flood Insurance Program. The partnership allows Linn County residents to receive a reduction of costs in their flood insurance premiums.
Another example of the work Matteson showcased was the county’s plan for future land use, which identified Critical Natural Resource Areas and environmental impacts in the Linn County zoning code. The two projects helped Linn County win a Resilient Iowa Communities Award in January.
Future goals
Matteson, who has a bachelor’s degree in both environmental science and geology, has had a focus on water quality since she started her career in environmental conservation after graduating in 2003 from the University of Iowa.
With Linn County, she is homing in on her focus on water quality, as well as flood mitigation efforts and sustainable economic development.
“Every project should be looked at with the triple bottom line of people, planet and profit,” Matteson said. “I really take that to heart, and I try to have anything that I look at hit all of those goals.”
One example of this is pilot project Matteson currently is working on that targets using countryside roads as an opportunity for flood prevention.
Matteson said there are a few counties in Northeast Iowa — including Winneshiek and Fayette counties — that have completed a similar project, which include constructing “on-road structures.”
The structures use a roadway’s embankment as a dam, slowing the flow of stormwater into culverts. The culverts would then hold the water and release it slowly to reduce the risk of flash flooding.
“It’s an innovative practice,” she said.
Matteson said the department is working on whittling down the list of possible Linn County roads for the structures. One of the priorities is “stacking the benefits” of the pilot program.
“If there's an area on the road or a culvert that needs to be replaced anyway, or it's already on the schedule to be replaced in a couple of years from now, (we’re) looking at that so we can stack the benefits of replacing that infrastructure,” Matteson said. “But we would replace it with a little bit of a different design to not only provide the infrastructure for driving but also to provide the benefit of flood protection downstream.”
Matteson said the pilot project will be funded internally, but could be expanded with external funding sources later on. The pilot project’s goal is to complete one on-road structure for now.
Sustainability background
Before working for Linn County and Cedar Rapids, Matteson was the watershed coordinator and grant writer for Delaware County’s Soil and Water Conservation District. She also was an engineering geologist with the Regional Water Quality Control Board for California from 2007 to 2009.
In her current role as sustainability director, her salary is $93,759.
There is no staff for Matteson to oversee now, but she hopes to have three staff members working in the department in the next five to 10 years. However, Matteson said she works closely with other departments and staff in the county, such as the resiliency coordinator with Linn County Emergency Management Agency.
“I'm really humbled to be a part of serving the public,” Matteson said. “I'm very comfortable with the idea that I work for the taxpayers, and I take that to heart.”
Olivia Cohen covers energy and environment for The Gazette and is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.
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Comments: olivia.cohen@thegazette.com