Changes coming for the Cedar Rapids City Council

Come January, the nine-member City Council will establish standing committees, likely will begin every-other-week work sessions at 4:30 p.m. instead of 5:30 p.m. and will hear one council member addressed as “colonel.”

That was the upshot of a one-hour council planning meeting on Monday, which was the first meeting convened by Mayor-elect Ron Corbett.

Six of nine council members attended, including the three new council members, Corbett and at-large council members Don Karr and Chuck Swore. Absent were returning council members Tom Podzimek, Justin Shields and Monica Vernon.

Throughout the meeting, Corbett addressed council member Chuck Wieneke as “colonel,” which Corbett later explained was his solution to having two Chucks on the council. Wieneke was a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force in the past.

The point of the Monday meeting seemed, in part, to give both Corbett and the other council members a trial run on what a Corbett-led meeting might look like.

Corbett said any mayor has a different style from another, and he said he did not intend to be a “shrinking violet” or a “bull in a china shop.”

Corbett got no push back from the five other council members Monday when he suggested that council work sessions start at 4:30 p.m. and that the alternating, every-other-week formal council meetings remain at 5:30 p.m. Corbett also said he favored shorter meetings. Unnecessarily long meetings prevent citizens who might run for a spot on the part-time council from doing so, he said.

Corbett said he would like to see a budget committee that can devote time to the current state of the city's finances to make sure there aren't surprises.

Corbett also called for a “buy-local” committee, which would see what kind of preference the city can give to local vendors doing business with the city. Corbett cited a contract awarded to redo the city's Web page, a contract which Corbett contended had been written in a way that prevented a local vendor from competing for it.

None of the council members opposed the committee idea, though council member Kris Gulick said committee members needed to realize that the full council makes final decisions, not committees.

Swore suggested a personnel committee, which would lead in the review of the city attorney, city clerk and city manager, all of whom report directly to the council. He also wanted a development committee.

Under outgoing Mayor Kay Halloran, individual council members had special areas of focus.

Halloran, who attended the Monday meeting, told Corbett that public safety was a key function of the city. Halloran then gave Corbett the blue bracelet she has been wearing in honor of police officer Tim Davis, who was injured on the job in March. The bracelets were part of a fundraising effort for the officer.