Dear Neighbors,
After careful consideration, I’m pleased to announce my candidacy for a second two-year term as Mayor of the City of Cedar Falls.
These past fifteen months have presented enormous challenges to our community; I have been honored to help lead the city through the global pandemic and a number of important, difficult, and controversial local topics. Through it all, I’ve sought always to serve with integrity, empathy, and professionalism -- and with profound respect for the law and the American democratic process. Whether in city meetings, on the street, or on social media, I’ve done my best to treat all people with dignity and respect (whether they agree with me or not!).
During this first term, I’ve worked hard to understand much better how this complex system called “municipal government” operates. I’m learning how to best influence and guide the city’s direction without being autocratic about it. I’d love to continue to serve as mayor WITHOUT a global pandemic to contend with.
I’m pleased to report that nearly all items on my first-term “to-do” list are complete, including:
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Developing and publishing a five-year strategic plan for public safety.
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Resolving conflict-of-interest concerns within our city boards and commissions.
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Creating a more fair and inclusive selection process for boards and commissions.
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Overhauling the Council’s annual strategic planning process and documents to make them more accessible and understandable to the public.
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Actively encouraging City Council member deliberations at meetings and work sessions through probing questions, strategic pauses, and other time-tested meeting facilitation techniques.
Based on the positive progress of the past fifteen months, I believe I can successfully carry out several additional initiatives that are important to me:
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Working with the Public Safety Department to develop an effective program to periodically re-qualify Public Safety Officers in the perishable skills of law enforcement, firefighting, rescue, and emergency medical response. This requalification program is critical for validating the long-term viability of the PSO model, and I know our officers are up to the challenge.
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“Building the bench” of civic leadership, by actively mentoring a diverse pool of talented and interested citizens for future service on boards and commissions, city council, and as mayor. This includes engaging kids, so youth outreach will be a special emphasis of mine next term.
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Championing the ongoing effort to update our Zoning Code for the 21st century. I’m passionate about ensuring that new developments promote a vibrant, enjoyable and sustainable city in the decades ahead. The new code will be a major tool to get us to that future, and we need to continue to focus on the possibilities of the plans, and not just on the inevitable challenges. We’ll get through those, and future generations of Cedar Falls residents will benefit greatly.
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Redoubling our efforts to carry out the 2025 Community-Wide Strategic Plan, after 2020’s ‘pandemic pause’. We need to celebrate all that we’ve accomplished so far, and to work hand-in-hand to finish what we started as part of this terrific plan.
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Thoughtfully facilitating ‘paid parking lot’ discussions on behalf of the issue’s many stakeholders. Parking is a perpetually challenging supply-and-demand issue; if anyone tells you they have a solution that will satisfy all parties, be very skeptical.
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Developing an “Ombudsman’s Handbook” for the Mayor’s office, to provide guidance on how to properly address alleged city government waste, fraud, abuse of authority, or mismanagement. “City Ombudsman” is an incredibly important function of the Mayor’s Office, yet there’s no written guidance for doing it. I’m looking forward to collaborating with others to develop this guide.
I’d be honored to continue serving you as the Mayor of Cedar Falls these next two years. My goal in these campaigns is never simply to “WIN”, but instead to present a clear picture of where I want to help take the city. If you like my ideas and the way I govern the city on your behalf, great! Please vote for me. If you like another candidate’s positions, ideas, and vision more, that’s great, too! I just ask that you think critically, do your own fact-checking, and carefully study the candidates for mayor and council before voting. If you don’t like your options, please join the race! I've provided guidance to help you, at https://robgreeniowa.com/blog/insights-into-running-for-local-office.
For my part, if re-elected, I pledge to continue leading the City with integrity, decency, compassion, and professional excellence. I hope you’ll grant me that opportunity on November 2nd.
Very respectfully,
Rob Green