Corbett floats ideas to fix city’s ‘pinch’ between governor and labor agreement

CEDAR RAPIDS - Mayor Ron Corbett says the burden is the city's to work to find a “solution to an impasse” with Gov. Terry Branstad that threatens to cost the city $15 million in state I-JOBS funding for its $75.6-million Convention Complex project.

The much-publicized, weeks-long dispute between governor and mayor - the two, no doubt, will see each other today when Branstad visits the metro area - centers on a project labor agreement that the city has put in place with the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Building Trades Council on the city's Convention Complex project, which is slated to begin this month with site demolition.

Corbett and a City Council majority say the agreement - of a kind encouraged by Branstad's predecessor, Chet Culver - will ensure that contractors employ mostly local workers on the project while Gov. Branstad says such arrangements drive up building costs and drive contractors away from bidding.

Corbett on Tuesday said the city finds itself trapped in a box. On the one hand, he said the city wants to honor the governor's executive order, put in place in January, which prohibits state funds from going to public works projects with project labor agreements. On the other hand, the city has an agreement with the local trades council, the mayor said.

“I'm just trying to resolve the issue, keep the governor happy and use local labor,” Corbett said on Tuesday. “The impasse is not insurmountable.”

In recent days, Corbett has been in Des Moines to talk with the governor's top staff, trying to sell them on one idea while he floated a second option on Tuesday.

In the first, Corbett proposes that the city use the state's $15 million in I-JOBS funds for parts of the Convention Complex project not related to construction contracts tied to the project labor agreement. The state funds, for instance, could cover the purchase of land, furniture and professional services, he has proposed.

In a second proposal, Corbett has suggested that the city return the $15 million I-JOBS grant to the state with the understanding that the state I-JOBS Board then would direct the funds to other city building projects, which have I-JOBS grants themselves, funding gaps and no project labor agreements. In turn, the city will use city funds it intends to spend on the other projects - the new Central Fire Station and library and the renovations of the Veterans Memorial Building, the former federal courthouse, the Public Works Facility and the Paramount Theatre - for the Convention Complex project.

Corbett has said the city intends to honor the governor's executive order and will not put in place project labor agreements on the city's other projects.

Part of the dispute is over the timing of the agreement on the Convention Complex project. That agreement came in December, after Branstad's election but before he took office.

Corbett talked about his proposals to solve the impasse on Tuesday on the day before he said he expected to see Branstad during the governor's “Jobs for Iowa” town hall meeting at the Hiawatha Community Center at 4:30 p.m.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, Corbett was working through State Rep. Renee Schulte, R-Cedar Rapids, to get his latest pitch to the Governor's Office.

Schulte on Tuesday acknowledged that she was in the midst of an “ongoing conversation” with the Governor's Office, and she said the mayor had submitted multiple proposals designed to make sure the city keeps its state money but doesn't violate the governor's executive order. The governor's staff, including legal team, is reviewing the proposals, she said.

“We want to get this resolved,” Schulte said. “There are other projects we need to work on to move flood recovery forward.” She pointed to the city's proposal to get state support to help build the city's flood-protection system.

Tim Albrecht, the governor's spokesman, said Tuesday that the governor takes “a serious look” at each of the proposals coming to him from the mayor. He takes flood recovery in Cedar Rapids “very seriously” as well, Albrecht added.

“(But) at the end of the day, Gov. Branstad expects the PLA executive order he signed to be enforced,” he said.

Albrecht added that he expected Branstad and Corbett to talk directly about the impasse in the days ahead.

Corbett said he has argued to the governor's staff that the project labor agreement on the Convention Complex project isn't about labor unions, but about flood recovery and making sure local workers help build the largest of the city's flood-recovery projects.

“We felt from day one kind of stuck in the middle,” the mayor said. “We don't want to lose the $15 million from the state nor do we want to break our contract with the building trades. When you're in the middle, you try to seek ways to get out of the predicament. We're the ones in a pinch. So we've reached out to the governor.”