Ann Poe turns flood-recovery credentials into run for at-large seat on Cedar Rapids City Council

CEDAR RAPIDS - Ann Poe hopes to turn her work in the trenches of flood recovery here into a winning campaign for the at-large City Council seat on the November city election ballot.

The seat is currently held by council member Tom Podzimek, who is not seeking re-election.

A Cedar Rapids native, Poe, 58, of 2560 Country Club Parkway SE, worked for the last nearly three years as the community liaison in Cedar Rapids for the state's Rebuild Iowa Office, which closed its doors last week.

In that role, Poe attended countless public and community meetings to help the city work through public policy matters with the state office related to flood recovery.

“It means a lot to me to be involved,” Poe said. “Flood recovery is going to go on for another four years, perhaps, … and I have the background to help and I want to help. I really want to make a difference.”

She had been working for eight months as an executive assistant to then-Gov. Chet Culver, whom she said she has known for years, when the Cedar Rapids flood hit and she moved to the state's Rebuild Iowa Office.

Poe, the mother of three adult children, grew up in a riverfront house at 1871 Ellis Blvd. NW, which is now owned by her brother, was hit hard by the flood and is awaiting the city's purchase as part of the city's buyout program of flood-damaged properties.

“It's hard. It's never going to be the way it was. The family home is gone,” she said.

Some neighboring homeowners along that riverfront section of Ellis Boulevard have been City Hall's most fervent critics as they have not taken part in the buyout program and have opposed plans for a flood-protection system that could have an impact on their homes.

“It's an individual decision,” Poe said.

A 1971 graduate of Kennedy High School, Poe said its time for “one community” of homeowners and business owners all across the city to work together toward “a positive vision” for the city. She said she will be a “good steward” of taxpayer dollars and will work to earn and keep the citizens' trust. Public safety, economic development and neighborhood rebuilding are among her top priorities, she said.

Poe said she favors a flood-protection system that protects both sides of the city, and she said she voted “yes” on May 3 to extend the city's 1-percent local-option sales tax for flood protection and street repairs. A “grass-roots” effort of support is now needed if the tax extension is to be brought to a new vote, she said.

Poe said any flood-protection system should feature so-called removable flood walls so the downtown, for instance, isn't cut off from the river when it is not flooding. She called for the creation of a Citizen Corps of trained volunteers who could help city crews ready the flood walls should a flood come.

Poe, who was a frequent presence at City Hall in her work with the Rebuild Iowa Office, said she understands that some people might be unhappy with the council. From her vantage point, she said part-time council members worked more than full time in the three years after the flood and worked hard to make the best decisions they could.

“I'll try (if elected) to get the best information I can and to make the best educated and reasonable decisions I can make,” she said.

Poe, is the new director of business development at M. Hanson & Co., a furniture and design firm at 312 Third St. SE. In the past, she worked as development director at the National Czech and Slovak Museum & Library and she was there in 1995 to help convince President Bill Clinton and the presidents of the Czech Republic and Slovakia to come to Cedar Rapids for the museum dedication. She also has worked as a marketing director for a distribution firm and two banks and as a physical therapist technician at St. Luke's Hospital.

She currently is a board member of the library and museum, she said.