A Letter From Jim Lane

Friends, 

I have been out of town on business this past week, and have been absent when a slate of candidates made  

their appearance. I have been in contact with fellow residents while I have been away, and it appears that there are two points of concerns.

One is about the ravine, and some trees that had to be removed to accommodate the new transformer.  Here is a link to Construction Report #1 posted on the city’s website on Oct. 22^nd. This report contains City Engineer Josiah Bilskemper’s October report documenting the process by which minor changes were made due to aerial imaging inaccuracies and more rubble in the ravine than previously identified.

The other area of concern deals with accusations of a conflict of interest regarding the Council members and One University Place.  Please allow me to explain this issue, since there is no time for a candidate’s forum, which would have allowed this to have been brought to the forefront.

Silvia was interested in exploring the question of whether any council members were receiving any compensation from the developer in exchange for their approval of the Maxwell project. Mike Haverkamp, Virginia Miller, Carla Aldrich and I repeatedly stated that we had not received any compensation for our vote.

  

Silvia then brought forth a resolution and statement that she wanted council members to sign. This resolution and statement did not match Silvia’s stated inquiry.  In addition, it included language dealing with relatives which was never vetted by our City Attorney.  So Silvia was instructed, and she agreed,  to correct and revise the statement and resolution and bring it to the Special Meeting on July 28th. She did not do this.

She did bring a statement to the August 11^th meeting but it was not completely revised and she did not make the recommended corrections.  Instead she brought a similar version from the one she had presented at the July 14^th meeting.  Council did not pass the resolution or sign the statements because this similar one also did not match Silvia’s inquiry, and it did not fulfill the agreement she made with Council.

In addition, as part of the discussion regarding this conflict of interest statement, our city lawyer, Steve Ballard suggested that signing such a document was redundant.  Each of us took an oath of office when we were sworn in as councilors, and such an oath was in fact the same as signing a conflict of interest statement. 

Silvia failed to follow through on her own resolution.  But rather than continuing to work on the wording of the resolution for Council’s approval, she has decided to spin it into a sign of council’s lack of transparency.  And so here we are today with Silvia touting council’s failure to sign her conflict of interest statement as a sign of council’s corruption, rather than Silvia’s failure to follow through on a task.

As we close in on Election Day no doubt other possible misconceptions will arise.  Please feel free to contact me at jimlane@yahoo.com or 319-621-3111; Mike mikehaverkamp1960@gmail.com , 319-430-0864; or Carla 319-621-7852 if you have any questions.  We would be more than happy to clarify things. 

It is my pleasure to honorably serve the citizens of U-Heights. 

-Jim Lane

Well Qualified Candidates

I will be voting early on my way home from work tonight at the County Administration Building.

Besides voting for myself, here is who  I will be voting for:

City Council
Jim Lane- Jim is completing his second 2 year term on council, he has served as finance chair for the past 4 years. His experience as a financial planner has paid off in how he has managed city assets in order to maximize returns, he has also made awareness of city budgets and budget planning much easier for the rest of council to follow. Jim's experience as a plant manager for Proctor and Gamble as well as his education as an engineer has been invaluable as the city has worked through the planning stages of the One University Place project. Construction Updates

Carla Aldrich- Carla was appointed to council in June 2014 to fill the seat of Zadok Nampala. She has served as co-chair of the Community Protection Committee. Carla's contributions and insight served the city well in the hiring of our Police Chief last year. Carla has also initiated our Community Watch program, a quarterly meeting of all interested citizens on community protection topics of interest. At the Kickoff Meeting in April, there was a surprise incident where participants suddenly were placed in situation where their "eye witness" recollections were tested. The July meeting featured tips on how to prevent identity theft, and the September meeting featured Iowa City Schools Equity director Kingsley Botchway speaking on cultural competence. Community Protection

Stepheny Gahn- Stepheny has served on the Zoning Commission for the past year. She was active in the amending of our building ordinance. Stepheny has also been a frequent attendee at council meetings, and has worked hard to make herself aware of the many issues that the council faces.

Mayor
Louise From- Louise has been an effective and tireless ambassador for our city. While she does not have a vote, she runs council meetings. Louise spends an incredible amount of time working with neighboring elected officials as well as staff to ensure that U-Heights' interested are represented. Mayor's Report

Ballot Initiative
YES I strongly favor adopting staggered four year terms for council. Being a small community with each council member expected to manage a department of city business (Finance, Building/Zoning/Sanitation, Streets and Sidewalks, Community Protection, eGovernment) it is hard to have continuity and stability when you must run for your seat every other year.

I would hope you would also consider these well qualified people and this reasonable ballot measure.

Trick or Treat!

REMEMBER: 

TRICK OR TREAT
FRI OCT. 30th

6:00 to 8:00 PM

Like the Blog Says, "Moving FORWARD"

I got a phone call this afternoon while I was in my department staff meeting. It was Mitchell Schmidt, a reporter from The Gazette. I've known Mitchell since he was a student reporter at the DI. I was surprised, however, when he said he was calling to ask for my reaction to a last-minute slate of candidates that included one incumbent, one challenger, three write in council seekers and a write in for mayor.

You can read the full article here:

Candidates emerge to challenge University Heights council

I will reiterate that I want this town to move forward. No one is more cognizant of how divisive One University Place has been to our town. I continue to try to heal those wounds, and look toward better times for everyone.

However, running a last minute campaign in hopes that the electorate will skip a non controversial election, and allow a small number of residents to slip into office is not the way for our city to get back together. And for announced candidates to throw in with this tactic is extremely frustrating.

I've been going door to door for 6 weeks. I was out again tonight, and will be tomorrow too, right up to Election Day. I continue to be humbled by the response I receive and am heartened by your faith in these efforts. Thank you. 

And I challenge everyone, continue to be the town that participates, by once again turning out a majority of the electorate in a year when a hotly contested Iowa City race may not break 10%

This race could be tight and your vote will certainly make a difference.

So in case we haven't hit you with it often enough, Here are some early voting times and places:

University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Fountain Lobby                              
200 Hawkins Dr.                                                                                   
Thursday, October 29 and Friday, October 30, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Iowa City Public Library

123 S. Linn St. I.C.

Thursday, October 29, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

Friday, October 30, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Sunday, November 1, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

And on Election Day November 3

St. Andrew's Church. 7 AM to 8 PM.

Parking is still available behind the church.

 

-Mike