Cedar Rapids council member seeks re-election to at-large seat

Chuck Swore is seeking re-election to an at-large seat on the City Council.

Swore, 70, retired vice president and general manager at Acme Electric Co. who now runs his own one-man business consulting service, has been in the mix at City Hall for much of his adult life.

He was chairman of the city's Five Seasons Commission for many years, including in 1979 when the city's hotel and arena opened. He also served on the City Planning Commission for a number of years.

Swore won the west-side District 4 council seat in 2005, the year the city moved from a five-member, full-time council to a nine-member, part-time one. He was defeated in a re-election bid in 2007 by Chuck Wieneke, but successfully ran for one of three at-large council seats in 2009.

"As corny as it sounds, I enjoy serving on the council," Swore said this week. "I enjoy being part of that decision-making process. And I've certainly enjoyed being a small part in what I feel the council has accomplished in the last four years. We've done some very aggressive, progressive things."

He counted among bold council actions its decision to purchase the bankrupt downtown hotel in 2011, a decision which he said the council had little choice but to make. It didn't make sense, he said, to renovate the city's arena attached to the hotel and build a convention center next to it with a failing hotel.

Swore said he helped to encourage John Frew, the project manager of the city's hotel and convention complex project, to redevelop the failing Westdale Mall. The City Council now has agreed on a financial incentive package to help fuel the project.

"So it's refreshing to be able to say that we stepped forward and participated to solve that problem," Swore said.

Swore said the public dollars that the City Council has steered toward city rebuilding projects are now helping to attract significant private investment in the city, like the $90-million Westdale redevelopment project.

Swore said he also was proud to have been on the council at a time when his construction experience allowed him to help tailor the city's bidding process in a way that "leveled the playing field" for local contractors on tens of millions of city flood-recovery projects. This was done by splitting a large contract into smaller contracts, which Swore said helped to take away an advantage enjoyed by large out-of-state contractors. The result, said Swore, is that 99 percent of the work went to local contractors and local workers.

At the five-year mark of the city's historic June 2008 flood, Swore said he is pleased with all that the city has been able to accomplish. Included in the successes is the city's replacement housing program, which with the help of federal dollars is permitting young families to move into new homes being built in flood-hit city neighborhoods, he said.

"With all the tragedy of the flood, there certainly was in my mind a silver lining," Swore said. "There is no way we would have done some of the things we've done."

Swore, 2609 Iris Ave. NW, and his wife, Carol, have four children and 16 grandchildren.

Six of nine council seats, including the mayor's job, are on the November ballot.

Earlier, incumbents Pat Shey, Justin Shields and Mayor Ron Corbett announced their bids for re-election. Incumbents Kris Gulick and Don Karr have not done so yet.

Jerry McGrane, who was on the council from 2006 through 2009, has announced his run for one of two at-large seats on the November ballot.