Iowa City Council to consider $180,000 salary for new city manager

IOWA CITY - The Iowa City Council on Tuesday is to consider a resolution to offer Geoff Fruin, city manager appointee, a starting salary of $180,000 per year.

In a memo to city council members, Mayor Jim Throgmorton said Fruin's salary would be 'slightly higher” than that of previous city manager Tom Markus but Fruin would not receive the same number of hours in vacation and sick time or an automobile allowance like Markus's contract included - benefits that total more than $15,000.

Throgmorton said in the memo that Fruin's salary would be higher than that of Coralville's City Administrator Kelly Hayworth, but lower than his counterparts in Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Davenport and Ames. More details of Fruin's contract can be found in Throgmorton's memo here.

Also on the City Council agenda is a contract to provide design and engineering consulting for a future park in the Riverfront Crossings District, which includes a flood mitigation project at Ralston Creek.

If approved, Confluence of Cedar Rapids would receive nearly $300,000 from a State Hazard Mitigation Sales Tax to provide some final design work on the area. These plans would include aspects like designs for trail connections and the restoration of Ralston Creek, according to a memo from Director of Parks and Recreation Juli Seydell Johnson.

In other business, a block in downtown Iowa City, which includes City Hall and the former Unitarian Universalist Church, could be added to an urban renewal area.

The area within Gilbert Street, Washington Street, Van Buren Street and Iowa Avenue, if added to the City-University Project I Urban Renewal Area would be eligible for tax increment financing. Although the city has no specific project in the works yet, TIF financing is a financial benefit to spur redevelopment, officials said.

The city council is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. in City Hall, 410 E. Washington St.

l Comments: (319) 339-3172; maddy.arnold@thegazette.com