City Council's Shey zings Linn's Langston over local funding for Corps creek study

City Council member Pat Shey took a few minutes at Tuesday evening's council meeting to zing Linn County Supervisor Linda Langston a little.

What rubbed Shey the wrong way was the pending council decision to spend $171,550 of city funds to help pay for an Army Corps of Engineers' flood-protection feasibility study of the Indian Creek and Dry Creek watersheds.

The Corps' requires a 50-percent local match for such a study, to total cost of which is $$343,100.

Shey, though, pointed out that only about 10 percent of the creek watersheds are inside the city of Cedar Rapids, with most of it in Linn County. The creek system also runs through Marion, Shey noted, and Hiawatha and Robins as well.

The study has been long in coming, and the initial impetus for it came from Langston's own Sun Valley Neighborhood in southeast Cedar Rapids, which was significantly damaged by Indian Creek flooding on June 4, 2002.

In a story about the coming study in The Gazette this week, Langston said her neighborhood was glad a study now was being done, adding that her neighbors and she had begun to feel a little like “forgotten citizens.”

Shey said he read Langston's comment and instantly wondered, why isn't the Linn County Board of Supervisors ponying up to help pay part of the local match for the Corps feasibility study? Most of the creek watersheds are in Linn County, he noted.

“We're the tail being wagged by the dog,” Shey said.

Council member Monica Vernon suggested that the city seek 10 percent of the local matching funds from Linn County and Marion.

Aftet a bit, the dust did settle, though.

City Manager Jim Prosser said the Army Corps of Engineers kind of surprised him in recent days with a call to say the Corps could get the creek study into its work plan now if the city could make a quick decision about local matching funds.

Prosser said as importantly is for the city to work closely with Linn County and others in the planning and implementation phases once the study is complete in a year.

Shey said he'd hate to see the city pay for a study only to learn in a year that Linn County, Marion and others weren't interested in its recommendations.

Mayor Ron Corbett suggested that the issue was something elected officials ought to talk directly to elected officials about rather than having staff members do it, and Shey said he would call Linn County's Langston and talk to her about his concern.

Langston on Wednesday said she was “certainly” willing to bring the funding issue up with her supervisor colleagues.

Her preference is for more frequent discussions between the City Council and supervisors on issues of mutual interest so the supervisors know what's on the City Hall plate and vice versa.

“It makes more sense to me for us to know what it is we're doing and what actions we're taking and how we need to cooperate than lobbing sort of fireballs at one another about ‘Well, why are you doing this and why aren't you doing this,'" she said.

"Instead, why not set up occasional regular meetings so you can say, ‘Hey we got this watershed issue and we really want to move forward on it,'" she said.

Langston said she'd be “more than willing to take Pat's call” and put the matter on the agenda for the Linn supervisors to discuss. She said she will be a supervisor advocate for the study and for acting on its recommendations, and she suggested Supervisor Brent Oleson of Marion, a city which wrestles with Indian Creek flooding, would be an advocate, too.