Collaboration a priority for Iowa City

To the editor:

The need for collaboration - between individual council members, the council as a whole and between local officials, city staff and the community - is a priority for the next city council. For this reason I'm voting for Scott McDonough District C and Tim Conroy At Large.

McDonough is compassionate and reliable, proud of our city and has decades of experience working within the community. He'll be effective at creating more collaboration between city government staff, the council and community. Conroy, like McDonough, can maintain collaborative relationships with fellow council members and city staff and will involve the public in decision-making.

Collaboration is needed and demands focus. Economic, social and cultural health have not always been easy to chart, and success is not inevitable, even in Iowa City. I learned from the 2008 flood, losing our home in Mosquito Flats and helping plan the programming for Studio Arts, that Iowa City's city government staff is an incredible group. City staff and the form of our city government enable effective council members to bring together stability and transformation for affecting the future well-being of the city. The best city councilors over the decades were able to anchor the disposition of transformation that drives our community to a AAA bond rating, embracing the reality of contentious community debates, steering through factionalization that can be Iowa City politics, utilizing city government staff, creating anew a marked quality of life for city residents.

Steve McGuire

Iowa City