City Manager Pomeranz: 'We can never let Cedar Rapids flood again'

CEDAR RAPIDS - Invite the public for a visit with high-profile, hotel-buying, Second Avenue-closing Mayor Ron Corbett, and you're apt to get a crowd.

Last night, though, City Manager Jeff Pomeranz held the first of three, Thursday-evening “meet-and-greets” as a way to introduce himself to the community and had only about 15 residents come out to meet him and listen to his take on City Hall and Cedar Rapids six months into the job.

In his remarks at the Jefferson High School cafeteria, Pomeranz said Cedar Rapids was performing well despite the ongoing challenges of flood recovery and the need to convince Congress, the Iowa Legislature and local taxpayers to each provide a portion of funds so the city can build a flood-protection system for both sides of the river.

“We can never let Cedar Rapids flood again,” he said.

Even with the flood-related issues still front and center, Pomeranz noted that Cedar Rapids has been singled out for its growth in manufacturing jobs in recent weeks while being called one of the top “recession-proof” cities in the nation. In addition, the city's population grew by 4.6 percent in the last decade despite the 2008 flood while the city has seen the value of property here increase while many communities across the country are seeing the reverse.

“We have one of the strongest economies, certainly in the state of Iowa, but in the United States,” he said.

Last June, the City Council plucked Pomeranz from the city manager's post in West Des Moines to replace Jim Prosser, who left the Cedar Rapids' city manager's post last April as part of a “separation” agreement with the council. Pomeranz started in Cedar Rapids on Sept. 20.

Suburban West Des Moines is widely thought of as “high growth” place, he noted, but he said that the public building that will take place in Cedar Rapids over the next two to three years will far outpace anything West Des Moines has seen. He made mention of the new library, new Convention Complex, a renovated Paramount Theatre and a new riverfront amphitheater, which will double as a levee, not to mention the city's $375-million flood-protection system. Such an ambitious building program, he said, can raise questions in the community.

“I hear criticism,” Pomeranz said. “That's understandable. But we have more going on than any place in the United States.”

The city manager said he was not a tax-and-spender and he said the city needed to contain taxes to remain competitive with other cities. He said, too, that he was not an office-bound bureaucrat who hides from the community.

“I don't approach city government by saying how much can I raise a fee or a tax,” he said. “ … Ultimately, I'm not judged on the amount of paper I sign or the number of meetings I've gone to.” Results are what matter, he said.

In recent days, the City Council has endorsed Pomeranz's call for a series of efforts to clean up the city.

“It's a small thing. But it's something I'm committed to so we have as clean, tidy and neat a community as possible,” he said.

Pomeranz said the city has more federal and state money obligated to it than it has actually received for flood recovery, which is creating budget gaps “that concern us.”

He said city leaders work hard “every day” to try to persuade the Iowa Legislature to provide funding support for the city's flood protection, which he said was far from a sure thing. The city continues to seek Congressional help, too, he said.

He said he was not here to push the local May 3 ballot issue to extend the city's local-option sales tax for 20 years to provide local funds for flood protection.

“But there will be a strong expectation (from Congress and the Iowa Legislature) that our community help,” he said.

Pomeranz will meet with the public at 6 p.m. next Thursday at the Kennedy High School cafeteria and the same time on April 14 at the Washington High School cafeteria.