Open Cedar Rapids' mayor job draws wide field

CEDAR RAPIDS — Eight candidates — including two on the City Council — are competing to become the next mayor of Cedar Rapids.

The candidates are Kris Gulick, an accountant and District 1 City Council member; Brad Hart, 61, an business lawyer at Bradley & Riley; Gary Hinzman, 70, a former department of corrections director; Scott Olson, 71, a commercial broker and District 4 City Council member; Tim Pridegon, 61, a pastor; Jorel Robinson, 30, a productivity specialist at Go Daddy; Lemi Tilahun, 27, a clothing retailer with a background in political activism; and Monica Vernon, 59, a businesswoman and former City Council member.

Such a large field increases the chances the winner won't be decided on Nov. 7. If no candidate for mayor receives more than 50 percent of the vote that day, the top two vote-getters head to a Dec. 5 runoff election.

This is a race for an open seat since Mayor Ron Corbett announced he would not seek re-election as he runs for governor instead. The candidates have been trying to draw distinctions on a range of issues including economic development, tax incentives, flood protection, street conditions, the threat of losing the Rockwell Collins headquarters and their leadership.

'If you want a caretaker, someone who just manages, that is not me,' said Vernon, who last year ran unsuccessfully for Congress. 'I am more of a leader and that is what the mayor of Cedar Rapids needs to be. We need a mayor who can provide checks and balances between the city manager and council.'

Vernon said the mayor must sell the city and share its vision if the city hopes to thrive.

Pridegon, who has lived in Cedar Rapids for 27 years and founded Lifeline Ministries, 1101 Oakland Road NE, said God called him to run. If city leaders and residents take a faith-based approach to issues like flood protection and the budget, he said, decisions will become more clear and problems will sort themselves out.

'My prayer is we would all get along, love one another and do what we can to make this a better city,' Pridegon said. 'Mayor Corbett has done a great job, and City Council. We want to pick up where Mayor Corbett is leaving off and continue to build the great city of Cedar Rapids.'

Gulick, noting his experience on the board of directors with the National League of Cities, said his approach would be to 'Keep the momentum we have going currently, making incremental improvements and being disciplined about making those improvements, but also taking advantage of all things possible for our community to be more successful.'

Hart said his experience leading boards throughout the community translates well to how a mayor will operate

'I received advice early on that if you are volunteering, serving in some role in the community and you don't envision yourself chairing or leading that organization, you probably don't have the passion for the cause to really make a difference for it, and I've found that to be true,' Hart said. 'So in almost a dozen causes I've been involved in, I've always moved up into a leadership role.'

Robinson said that 'I am trying to get people who are 18 to 34 caring about their city and what is happening in Cedar Rapids.'

He pays specific attention to opportunities for young people, community policing and bridging the gap between schools and civic opportunities.

Hinzman said he does not believe street repairs have been effectively communicated and he would order a review of the Paving for Progress program as mayor. He said he brings a blend of experience — running a complex organization, working with programs to mentor troubled children and helping develop the city's neighborhood associations.

'We need to pursue a course of keeping our neighborhoods safe, respecting the human dignity of all citizens, and creating a pathway to success for youth to obtain adulthood with their hopes and dreams intact,' he said.

Hinzman has brushed aside questions about a state investigation into whether he misappropriated state resources during his time leading the 6th Judicial District Department of Correctional Services to fund a charity for at-risk teens, noting the audit 'found nothing inappropriate and closed the case.'

Olson said he would focus on big issues as well as the smaller items he hears most about from constituents, such as city bills or streets.

'My goal is to address these issues that I hear on a daily basis from my constituents in my district,' he said. 'The frustration relates around the day-to-day issues, not necessarily the big issues.' Tilahun said Cedar Rapids is changing and that the city leadership must adapt to new needs and challenges.

'We have become stagnant,' he said. 'I want to usher in a new era of leadership that focuses on change.'

One area of difference between the candidates is approaches to flood protection.

Olson said he would not divert the local option sales devoted to streets to help pay for flood protection. Instead, he favors examining creation of a self-sustaining municipal district in the flood zone where the district would pay a flood tax levy. He advocates a bond issues to build the flood system faster and extending a special state sales tax initiative.

Pridegon said he thinks it is a matter of bringing people together to devise a plan.

'I'm not a big fan of taxing the citizens to the portion it is hard to live,' Pridegon said. 'We have to come up with ideas of how to do that, and we have to come together and work together, and the City Council and citizens, and put our ideas together and see how we can possibly make that happen.'

Hinzman said the city needs to be 'persuasive and be persistent' in lobbying Congress and 'make sure there's not one single bill on infrastructure that leaves Congress without a mention of Cedar Rapids in it.' He also said it is time to open up oxbows, marshes and detention ponds particularly upstream to potentially decrease river crests by up to a foot.

'We are going to reach a point in time we have to say to the citizens of Cedar Rapids, 'Now is the time to pay up,'' he said. 'Whether it is with the 1 cent sales tax that is already there for street improvements or whether through another form, we have to start working on the flood wall.'

Vernon said she would be 'politely persistent and louder' and 'never give up' in lobbying the federal government to deliver federal aid for flood protection.

Hart said he would endeavor to extend the state growth reinvestment initiative, which allows a community to keep growth in sales tax revenue. Hart originally presented the plan to former Gov. Terry Branstad. He also thinks the city should extend the local-option sales tax and split the proceeds for flood protection as well as streets, which receives the entire $18 million a year in tax revenue now.

'I think we are going to have to go back to the state and ask for an extension of the growth reinvestment initiative,' he said. 'I think the state recognizes how important Cedar Rapids is to the entire state. We are going to have to do that and I think we are going to be successful.'

Gulick said the city can't wait on the federal government. He suggests devising a public-private partnership to build the system faster. Meanwhile, he favors using a portion of the local option sales tax for flood protection.

'Why should today's taxpayers pay 100 percent of a 100-year project?' he asked. 'I'm going to be way gone and there's going to be benefits received by people way younger than me. Why should they not have to pay part of it?'

Robinson said the city needs to work with Sen. Joni Ernst and Sen. Chuck Grassley to increase funding to the Army Corps of Engineers as well as examine local options for reducing costs and making contingency plans.

'You will hear people with the city say you cannot wait for the federal government, and I say to them the everyday people here, the local business in the area, they are not concerned as much as who does the job as the job getting done,' he said. 'We are almost 10 years since and I as someone who lost everything in the flood of '08 think it makes sense for our city to have multiple plans in motion for getting up flood protection for the city of Cedar Rapids.'

Tilahun said Cedar Rapids gets complacent when times are good. The flood of 2008 was a perfect example because it triggered the added value we see today.

'You are selling us an expectation this federal funding is going to come so we are going to kick this can down the road and that has been irresponsible,' Tilahun said. 'We have to get moving as a city. We have to start thinking outside the box.'

The last mayoral election, with just two candidates, garnered a 14.9 percent turnout of registered voters.

l Comments: (319) 339-3177; brian.morelli@thegazette.com