New Iowa City manager takes helm Wednesday

Talk about jumping in with both feet.

Tom Markus starts Wednesday as Iowa City's new city manager, just as a budget proposal for next fiscal year is being finalized for the City Council's consideration.

Markus said that while he'll certainly be leaning on staff more than they lean on him, he considers overseeing the budget one of the most important tasks of a city manager, and he plans to be fully involved in the budget talks.

“It is jumping right into the thick of things, but I think managers have to be ready for that,” he said Tuesday in his office in City Hall.

Markus, 59, joins Iowa City after spending the past 21 years as city manager of the Detroit suburb of Birmingham.

Markus succeeds Michael Lombardo, whom the council fired in April 2009 for undisclosed reasons. Lombardo was on the job for just 11 months, so in some ways Markus takes over for Steve Atkins, who served as city manager for 21 years before retiring in the summer of 2007.

Dale Helling served as interim city manager before and after Lombardo's stint, and he now returns to his regular role of assistant city manager. He said that at age 65, he is nearing retirement, although he has no firm plans to do so.

Markus was the unanimous pick by the City Council in late September, with council members saying they liked his experience in general and with economic development in particular.

Mayor Matt Hayek said Tuesday the city was getting a “seasoned professional who knows how cities operate.”

“A city manager has a real opportunity to make things happen, and the leadership from that executive position can assist both the City Council and guide things throughout the rest of the operation,” he said.

Markus will be the city's chief administrative officer, in charge of the day-to-day operations of an organization with about 640 employees and a $58 million taxpayer-supported general fund budget. Iowa City has about 69,000 residents.

He'll spend his first weeks getting to know the community, the issues and the city government process here, he said. He spent two and half days in Iowa City a month ago meeting with department heads and was in the office the past two days of this week. He also has meetings scheduled for the coming weeks with various people and groups.

“It's not going to be hard to get myself out in the community,” Markus said.

In his first six months, he wants to get a firm grasp on city services, finances, issues and who the major players are in the community.

While he'll get right to work, Markus said he's not going to come in and immediately implement major changes. He wants to first better understand the issues facing the city. In dealing with staff, he said over time they'll be exposed his way of doing things, the questions he has.

“Managers by their type A nature tend to be hard chargers … but I've tried to pace myself in my early days,” Markus said.

Markus and he wife, Debra, moved into town Sunday. They're staying at the Hotel Vetro through December and then in a condominium for a few months. They want to sell their Michigan home, which Markus doesn't expect to be easy given the housing market there, before buying a permanent home here.

The city will give him $1,000 a month for up to a year for housing expenses until he closes on a home in Iowa City. His annual salary is $160,000, plus benefits.

Markus and his wife have three adult children and a granddaughter. Debra Markus is a cardiac rehabilitation physiologist. She hasn't decided if she will search for a job here but may look for volunteer opportunities, her husband said.