2015 State of City Ron Version

8/9/2019 2015 State of City Ron Version

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“I Can See Clearly Now”

League of Women VotersProclamation.

Thank you for attending today.

We have many local elected o cialshere today including Linn Countyleaders and mayors and councilmembers from various communities.

Thank you for your attendance.

I want to give s ecial thanks to myCity Council colleagues. !ach of thenine members of the Council has auni"ue background and list of

e# eriences. $ver the years% I havehad the o ortunity to work withmany di&erent government o cials at

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all levels ( federal% state% county andlocal. $ur Council members have

roven to be among the )nest eo leI have worked and served with. !venwhen we disagree on the issue athand% I know that my colleagues

always have the best interest of Cedar*a ids at heart. It is indeed myrivilege to work with them.

Councilman *ussell and

Councilwoman Weinacht have +ust)nished their )rst year on the Council.It didn,t take them long to begincontributing to the success of ourcommunity.

Councilmen -ulick% hey and hieldsare the ioneers on the City Council.We refer to them as ioneers becausethey were art of the original Council

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that was elected after Cedar *a idschanged its form of government. Ten

years ago the voters a rovedchanging from the commission formof government to a council0managerform of government. These three

ioneers have guided our city through

this transition very well. This year there are four council seatsu for election. These seats arecurrently )lled by CouncilwomanWeinacht% Councilwoman Poe% andCouncilman $lson. They have mycom lete su ort and they shouldhave yours. Their assion andcommitment to Cedar *a ids isunwavering.

The other Council seat u for electionthis year is currently )lled by 1onicaVernon. he has chosen to run for

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higher o ce ( the 3. . Congress ( andwill therefore not be seeking

reelection. 1onica has served on theCouncil for eight years through someof the most trying and the moste#citing times our city has faced. Thiswill be her last o cial tate of the

City event as a City Council member.I would like to thank her for her yearsof service and ask you to do thesame.

The City Council sets the olicy. These olicies are ut into action byour very ca able City 1anager 4e&Pomeran5 and his im ressive seniorleadershi team. They don,t do thison their own. They e&ectively lead asu ort team of '266 who carry outthe day to day activities that arenecessary to kee our city movingforward. Last year I described their

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e&orts as 8taking care of business9%something they continue to do daily.

Let,s thank them.!ach year% as I begin to write thiss eech% I try to )nd a hrase or themethat de)nes the current state of ourcity. In revious tate of the Citys eeches% I have found these themesin music. This year is no e#ce tion.

4ohnny :ash had a hit song back inthe ;6,s some of you may notrecogni5e it. If you are over lood recoveryhas been hovering over our city forthe last si# years. We still have somework to do as we continue to rebuild


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neighborhoods and demolish a fewremaining structures% but these things

are no longer center stage. 8The rainis gone.9

The song continues with 8I can see allobstacles in my way9. We recogni5ethat% as a community% we have otherobstacles and challenges to deal with.

Today I will highlight )ve ma+or olicydecisions the City Council has madeto address these obstacles. ?t theend of my s eech% you will have theo ortunity to e# ress your o inionabout these decisions.

Paving for Progress

The )rst olicy involves our streets%something% my council members willagree% we hear more "uestions andcomments on than any other issue. In/6'2 voters overwhelmingly

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su orted a '60year local o tion salesta# to address the oor condition of

our streets. We are calling this8Paving for Progress9 and it involvesmuch more than )lling otholes. It isa long0term a roach with a focus on

reserving% maintaining and re airing

the hundreds of miles of streets in ourcity.

8Paving for Progress9 includes therating of every street according to itscondition. ome streets need acom lete overhaul while other streetsmay need +ust a little attention now toe#tend their life. This rating systemallows Public Works to rioriti5e theire&orts and get more out of your ta#dollars.

The local o tion sales ta# that youentrusted us with will result in A'B

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million in annual revenue for ourstreets. The Council% along with 4e&

Pomeran5% wants to ensure thesedollars are s ent wisely. ?s a result% 4e& brought in an organi5ation thats eciali5es in best ractices andasked them to audit the Public Works

e artment. They rovided us with are ort of over /66 recommendationsto im rove the rocess and

rocedures that will be used to ensureour streets are re aired e ciently and

e&ectively. I want to congratulate 4e&along with ave !lgin% our PublicWorks irector. It takes courage toask a third arty to review youro erations because you might not like

the results. ometimes you are not asgood as you think you are. ?sking foran audit is one thing. Im lementingthe suggestions takes additional

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commitment and they have alreadybegun that rocess.

In addition to Paving for Progress% theCouncil has ado ted a 8com letestreets9 olicy. This a roachre"uires that other factors areconsidered when a street is re airedor rebuilt. These factors include thecondition of the sewer and waterlines% sidewalk im rovements% theneed to bury ower lines% theinstallation of bike lanes and trailconnections% im roved street L!lighting% signage and converting one0way streets to two0way. ?nd don,tforget the trees. They rovide anim ortant art of the streetlandsca e. Dave you seen the green

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Open for Business

The second to ic I would like tohighlight is our decision to create an8o en for business9 climate with afocus on su orting entre reneurshi %creativity and growing our own.8$ en for business9 is not +ust

olitical rhetoric. It is acom rehensive a roach designed tocreate a climate or an environment inwhich the rivate sector can growtheir businesses% create +obs andinvest with con)dence. Itacknowledges that government laysa role in fostering rivate enter risebut it shouldn,t control or inhibit

rivate enter rise. -overnment isn,tan adversary of the rivate sector.Instead% government is a artner% arelationshi which yields good results

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for both the rivate sector and ourcity.

We are rea ing the rewards of oure&orts. $ur unem loyment ratecurrently stands at 2.E . We areseeing growth in +obs% o ulation%housing stock% ayroll numbers and

ro erty ta# base. The increase inour ro erty ta# base has allowed usto kee our ro erty ta# levy at thesame rate for the seventh consecutiveyear. $ur levy stands at A'9 as it is

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referred to. TI> often gets attentionbecause it is controversial. ome

view the use of TI> as a governmentgiveaway rogram. This is not thecase as I will demonstrate.

?n e#am le of growing our own canbe found in ? ache Dose. >ifty yearsago Fob outh started ? ache Doseand Felting out of the trunk of his car.

Today it is a thriving em loyee0ownedcom any on the southwest side of thecity. Last year% ? ache beganinvestigating o tions for e# ansion.

They had two ( e# and in Cedar*a ids or e# and in another state.?fter a thorough analysis andassessment of both locations% thedecision was close. The Council choseto o&er a TI> ackage that artiallyled them to choose to e# and here.

They are breaking ground on a new'2


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multi0million dollar constructionro+ect that will add '< new +obs to

Cedar *a ids. Without TI>% this maynot have ha ened.

?s I said earlier% TI> is not agovernment giveaway rogram. It isa way for cities to rovide a ta#discount for a limited eriod of timeand is used to incentivi5e com aniesto e# and or relocate to the city. Thediscount isn,t forever. ?t the end ofthe discount eriod% the com anyreturns to aying the full ta# value.

o you remember the old H1C?building on >irst ?venueG It wasdemolished to make room for the new

Cedar *a ids Fank and Trust building. That ro+ect received a TI> which wille# ire in /6';. -oing forward% thebuilding will be aying '66 ta#

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value. 3ltimately the city comes outahead because future ta# revenues on

that ro erty in its im roved conditionfar outweigh the discount rovided by TI>.

?nother e#am le is the DyVee on >irst?venue. Hears ago the City Councilstruggled over the decision to award a

Ta# Incentive to DyVee. The Councilhad never o&ered an incentive to aretail o eration before. $n the otherhand% the DyVee was an essential artof the Wellington Deights and 1oundView :eighborhoods. In the end theCouncil chose to award the incentive.It has now e# ired. DyVee is ayingthe full ta# value and theneighborhood has a much needed

lace to buy their groceries. $n yourtable is another handout whichcontains some e#am les of the use of

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TI> and how it has bene)tted Cedar*a ids.

TI> is +ust a iece of the 8o en forbusiness9 climate. 8$ en forbusiness9 also in=uences how the cityaddresses right0of0way issues% 5oningissues and ermitting. 4e& Pomeran5has transformed these rocesses sothat every city em loyee is workingtogether to rovide the climate thattruly is 8o en for business9. Thisultimately yields a considerable returnon investment for the city.

o I ask youJ 8 hould we continue ouraggressive a roach to be 8o en forbusiness9G9

Retail Development

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The third olicy I want to highlight isretail develo ment. The city has

historically shied away from recruitingretail to Cedar *a ids. Perha s thiswas because retail +obs are generallyclassi)ed as low wage +obs. 1aybe itwas because success in retail is tied

so closely to the condition of theeconomy. Whatever the reasons% theCouncil has decided that recruitingretailers should be an im ortant ieceof our economic develo ment olicy.

Dere is why. >irst% we look at this as a "uality of lifeissue. We often hear eo le say%8When are we going to get a Trader

4oe,sG9 or a Cosco or a ( you )ll in theblank. The eo le of our city workhard to earn a living. They like torea the rewards of that work bybuying things at a variety of stores.

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econdly% an increase in retail activityadds to the local o tion sales ta#

revenue. $ver the ne#t ten years% wewill use this for our 8Paving forProgress9 initiative. 1ore retail saleswill result in more money to )# ourstreets. >inally% the tate of Iowa has

agreed to share a ortion of sales ta#growth to hel us build =oodrotection. Traditionally the state has

ke t all sales ta# revenue% but wewere instrumental in assing

legislation to get this changed. 1oreretail sales will mean more money for=ood rotection.

The recruitment of new retailenter rises is similar to traditionaleconomic develo ment in that it cantake years to ut a deal together. 4e&Pomeran5 and cott $lson have beenattending the International ho ing

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Center Convention for many years. Three years ago cott began working

to recruit >resh 1arket to Cedar*a ids. Their store o ened last fall onthe former site of the !ast K01art.$ther retail endeavors include theWestdale 1all and the :ash >inch

redevelo ment ro+ects and The>ountains ro+ect on !dgewood *oad.

hould we continue to focus a ortionof our economic develo mentstrategy on retailG Hou will have ano ortunity to answer this "uestionshortly.

In ll Development

The fourth olicy area I want todiscuss is in)ll develo ment.

Traditionally cities e# and

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geogra hically with develo ment onthe erimeter of the city boundaries.

This is called urban s rawl. ince the=ood% we have chosen a di&erentdirection. We have focused ondevelo ing from the inside out. Thisdoes not mean that we have

abandoned all o ortunities for thecity to grow geogra hically. $ur long0standing su ort of the Dighway '66

ro+ect testi)es to that. We e# ectthe Dighway '66 ro+ect to lead to

more develo ment on the west side of town.

In)ll develo ment is a good strategybecause it saves the city money. Thewater lines% sewer lines% streets andother infrastructure are already in

lace for in)ll ro+ects. :ewdevelo ments add more infrastructure

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which re"uires maintenance% anadditional e# ense to the city budget.

While our in)ll develo ment e&ortsinitially focused on =ood inundatedareas% it is no longer limited to thoseareas. There are other arts of thecity that are receiving some muchneeded investment from develo ers.>or e#am le% the :ash >inch ro ertyon Flairsferry *oad is beingredevelo ed by Dunter Parks. ?n oldindustrial site with declining ta# valueand an eyesore on the city landsca ewill become a lace of new retailo ortunities% additional +obs andmore ta# revenue for the city.

The city has lots of o ortunities forfurther in)ll ro+ects due% in art% to=ood buyouts. We are an#ious to getthese ro erties back on the ta# rolls

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but we won,t do it all at once. Houwon,t see all the available ro erties

in Kingston Village or :ewbo or otherarts of the city sold and develo edsimultaneously. That would result in aglut in the market. Instead% you willsee a gradual return of these

ro erties to the rivate sector. What is your o inion on this strategyG

hould we continue to focus on in)lldevelo ment with some geogra hicalgrowthG

City Beauti !ation

The last ma+or olicy issue I want totalk about today is city beauti)cation.?ny good realtor will tell you howim ortant curb a eal is when it istime to sell your house. If a otentialbuyer drives u to your house anddoesn,t like how it looks on the

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outside% they may choose to drive onby% never even ste ing inside the

door. It is the same with our city. It isim ortant for us to have good curba eal.

What does this mean from a citystand ointG >irst% it means takingcare of what you have. The 8Welcometo Cedar *a ids9 sign on the southentrance to the city is a good e#am leof this. The sign was in bad disre air.Part of it was on the ground andleaning against one of the osts. Thatdidn,t do much for our curb a eal.

The sign was re laced and is nowmuch more welcoming. ? similar signwill be added to the northern entranceto the city this year.

The air ort is our front orch for overa million eo le who =y in and out of

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the air ort every year. It is in themidst of a A76 million im rovement

ro+ect. Dave you seen the newwooden awning and stone fa ade asyou drive u to the curb in front of theterminalG They are a beautifulre=ection of our local natural

resources and rovide somewonderful curb a eal for our city.

$ther im rovements include somelandsca ing along 2B6. This wasaccom lished with the hel of !ye on2B6% a non0 ro)t grou that% like theCouncil% is concerned about how ourcity looks. The Tree of >ive easonsPark received a facelift and looksgreat. The city manager has hel edthe e&ort along with his 8$ne FagChallenge9. Through this rogram%the city rovides s ecially coloredbags and free curbside ick u to

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encourage all of us to get involved byicking u litter. >uture

im rovements include more medianlandsca ing% more ublic art and newstreet lights in the downtown area.-reen "uare Park will get a ma+orfacelift.

City beauti)cation includes thebusiness community as well. We areasking develo ers to consider thea earance of a develo ment as theymake their lans. Fuilding design%facades and lacement% elevationsand landsca ing should create a lookthat is aesthetically leasing.

$ur e&orts to beautify our city also

include the ado tion of the nuisanceabatement olicy called afe C*. Thisolicy was designed to address some

of the rundown ro erties that were/


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owned by a handful of negligentlandlords. The develo ment of this

olicy was not easy. It includedmonths of com rehensive study andthe solicitation of ublic in ut. Wewere concerned about being heavy0handed in our a roach and yet

wanted to address the negativee&ects that neighbors ne#t torundown ro erties weree# eriencing. Their ro erty valueswere lower sim ly because the

ro erty ne#t door was in disre airand neglected and they wereowerless to do anything about it.

Pro erties are not casually labelednuisance ro erties. There is a seriesof ste s that must be carefully

ursued before this designation ismade. Take% for e#am le% the multi0unit residence at ''6 '@ th treet :!%

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+ust across from the >irst ?venueDyVee. The ro erty was identi)ed as

a nuisance ro erty due to e#cessiveolice calls. In addition% we hadreceived numerous com laints of overoccu ancy% est infestations% and alack of overall ro erty maintenance.

?fter unsuccessful attem ts to workwith the owner to address the issues%the ro erty was formally declared anuisance. The ro erty was sold to anew owner who has made a

substantial investment in the ro ertyand transformed it into a ro ertythat its residents are glad to call8home9.

:ot everyone agrees on this olicy. Ithas even resulted in the )ling of acou le of lawsuits against the city. $nthe other hand% neighbors near therundown ro erties are glad for the

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olicy. It has increased their ro ertyvalue and im roved the en+oyment

factor of their homes. :eighborhoodassociations are grateful for the helit rovides them in beautifying theirneighborhoods.

o what do you thinkG hould wecontinue our e&orts to beautify ourcityG Hou can e# ress your o inion atthe end of my s eech.

These are not the only olicy issues

the Council has addressed. They are%I believe% the most signi)cant in termsof their im act on moving our citytoward a ros erous future. TheCouncil sets the olicy and the city

o erations team uts those oliciesinto ractice. The Council and theo erations team are in alignment. Ibelieve the residents of Cedar *a ids

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are in alignment with us and here,swhy.

$ne of my mentors at C* T has beenave *usch. De introduced me to a

word that% in a way% measurescommunity alignment. The word is

issivity. :o% I did not miss eak. Isaid issivity. :ow you won,t )nd thisword in Webster,s% but you can )nd itin the 3rban ictionary. They de)nePissivity as the levelof anger in a erson% basically how

issed o& a erson is. I like toconduct my own uno cial olls.When I )rst ran for mayor% I would ask

eo le how they felt about Cedar*a ids. I generally found that% out often eo le% seven eo le had a high

issivity level% two were neutral andone was ha y. :ow% when I ask% thenumbers are "uite di&erent. I )nd

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that seven eo le are ha y% two arestill neutral and one has a high

issivity level. I guess you will alwayshave at least one erson who is hardto lease. 4ohnny :ash sang% 8?ll ofthe bad feelings have disa eared9.Well% maybe not all of the bad feelings

have disa eared% but most have. Inany case% citi5ens seem tobe in alignment with the Council.

1a+or olicy decisions are only art ofthe +ob of being mayor and serving onthe City Council. ometimes we haveto make decisions on a hot buttonissue% an issue that elicits strongemotional reactions from eo le. ?few eo le have asked me whatguides us when considering thesekinds of decisions. Let me e# lainwith a story.

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1y second oldest son is currentlyserving in the 3. . :avy. De was in a

holding eriod for about nine months%awaiting his de arture date for basictraining. De wanted to make a littlemoney while he waited so he found a

art0time +ob. Dis em loyer told him

he would be working /6 hours a week. The schedule came out his )rst weekand he only had eight hours. I askedhim why he didn,t get the /6 hoursthey had indicated. De wasn,t sure so

I advised him to ask the manager. ?schildren often do% he chose to ignoremy advice. De said he would wait tosee what ha ened the ne#t week.

The ne#t week,s schedule came out

and he was scheduled for eight hours.I reminded him of the )nancial im actof this on his wallet and againsuggested he discuss the matter with

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the manager. $nce more he foolishlyignored my advice. The third week

was the same story ( only eight hours.De )nally talked to the managerabout it and re orted back. Themanager had given more hours toother eo le because they had asked

for them. In the fourth week% he wasscheduled for /6 hours. The lesson inthis story is that you have to stand ufor yourself.

Cedar *a ids is no di&erent than myson. De needed to stand u forhimself and sometimes we have to dothe same for our city. >or e#am le%we actively ursued =ood recoverymoney. We are still working for theremainder of our =ood rotectionfunding. :o other entity will intercedeon our behalf. We have to do itourselves.

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"ra#! Cameras

This is why we are standing u to thee artment of Trans ortation on the

issue of the tra c enforcementcameras. The cameras were installedat the recommendation of the Police

e artment . They view the camerasas a way to rotect the safety of

olice o cers and the general ublic. There have been fewer accidents andno deaths on that ortion of 2B6 sincethey were installed. This is a localcontrol issue. hould somebureaucratic rule trum the safety of

olice o cers and the driving ublicGI am willing to kee standing u forCedar *a ids.

o the "uestion isJ 8 hould wecontinue our e&orts to kee the tra ccamerasG9

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$aming %i!ense

Two years ago% the voters e# ressed avery strong o inion that Cedar *a idsshould ursue a gaming license. Theysaid 8yes9 for a host of reasonsJ newconstruction +obs% an increase in

ermanent +obs% an e# anded ta#base% additional donations fornon ro)t organi5ations% constructionof a ortion of =ood rotection for thewest side% more entertainmentchoices and to kee gaming moneylocal. Later% the regulatorycommission voted 7 ( ' against it%e# ressing concern that a Cedar*a ids casino would cannibali5esurrounding casinos. They claimedthat these casinos rely on Cedar*a idians like you to travel to theirtowns and s end money at theirfacilities. Without this income% those

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casinos might su&er. 1y "uestion isthis% 8If Cedar *a ids re resents '6 or

'< or /6 of their market% whyhaven,t they develo ed a mechanismwhereby Cedar *a ids receives someof the bene)t of their ro)tG9 Whydon,t they donate an e"uivalent

ercentage of their non ro)tcontributions to non ro)ts in Cedar*a idsG Instead% Cedar *a ids iscom letely bo#ed out of any bene)tof gaming ( no license and no ercent

of the revenue. They are ha y totake our money but they don,t wantany art of sharing.

The situation is no better at the statelevel. The state distributes A''million from gaming revenue to the B7non0gaming counties. This results inA'26%666 for Linn County% about @;cents er erson. Dow many times

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can you lay the enny slot machineswith thatG Fy com arison%

Pottawatamie County% a gamingcounty% receives A'< million eachyear. Lyon County% also a gamingcounty% in northwest Iowa receivesA'.2 million. :ow my issivity level is

going u Mo here is the "uestionJ hould we

continue the e&orts to obtain agaming license for Cedar *a idsG

Thankfully not all of the issues weface as a city are highly divisive. Futeven when they are% the Councilmaintains civility in our discussionand debate with a goal of being fair to

all oints of view. I learned theim ortance of fairness from my dad%who is here with us today. Like me%he has served as mayor. 1any years

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ago he was elected mayor of a smalltown in Pennsylvania called >airview.

De defeated a long0time mayor whosefamily was very well connected. Dowdid this ha enG 1y dad en+oyedworking with other eo le in thecommunity. >or e#am le% he served

four years as a Pennsylvania tatePolice ?u#iliary and was President ofthe Little League. De was VicePresident of the Lions Club. De had are utation in the community for being

fair in all of his dealings and eo leres ected him for that. Later% hemoved to Iowa and worked at ?mana*efrigeration. De has been retiredfrom ?mana for several years but I

still run into eo le who tell me mydad was good to work with becausehe was always fair. Like my dad% theCouncil desires to be fair. When you

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are fair with eo le% it leads to lessissivity and more alignment in your

town.In /6'7 Cedar *a ids received a very

restigious award. !very year the:ational Civic League selects '6 citiesto receive s ecial recognition bynaming them 8?ll ?merica Cities9.Cedar *a ids was one of thosechosen. This is remarkableconsidering that +ust si# years earlierwe were a =ood0ravaged city.

This award signi)es an o cial stamof a roval on the rogress we havemade.We should celebrate this rogress andthat brings me to this year,schallenge to you.Cedar *a ids is the City of >ive

easons. That )fth season is the time2B


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to en+oy the other four seasons. ?reyou taking the time to en+oyG

$n your tables today are bowlscontaining )ve di&erent =avors of libalm% each one re resenting one ofthe )ve seasons. We,ve chosen the=avor 8entertainmint9 to symboli5e

that )fth season. The rain hassto ed and has resulted in a wholehost of ways to en+oy life in Cedar*a ids. Dave you en+oyed a concertat the 1c-rath ?m hitheaterG Dave

you attended an event at thebeautifully restored Paramount or Theatre Cedar *a idsG Dave youshared a good meal or si ed a niceglass of wine with friends at any of

the many restaurants throughout thecityG Dave you watched the sunsetover Cedar Lake as you walked thetrailG Let,s take the time to en+oy all

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our city has to o&er because I agreewith 4ohnny :ashJ 8It,s gonna, be a

bright% bright sunshiny day9.

Documents

2015 State of City Ron Version