Recap from the Nov. 29, 2021 Meeting.
Meeting Run by President: John Kuhl
Invocation: Kim Warren
Guests: Steve Morenz- Rock Island Rotary Club and Vision 20/20, Matt Smith- CBI
Happy News/Announcements: Scott Davis- Happy to present the Rotary Club the CBI Hometown Hundred toward the Operation Arm coats project. Jessica Wittman- Wonderful opening weekend for Holiday Lights at the Lake. Run now through New Years, encourage everyone to drive through. Opening weekend the event had 1600 cards drive through and has already raised $15K for the Bird House Hospice House of Johnson county. Frank Illif- Back from a visit to Missouri. Mike Ruby- Symphony Orchestra has a performance thus Saturday December 4th at 7pm at Wesley United Methodist Church. FREE or charge but will be collecting food and Toys for the Salvation Army. Also encourages everyone to sign up for bell ringing. And remember Symphony Orchestra fundraiser at the Merrill on January 7th. Holiday Stroll is this Friday night, Dec. 3rd.
Club Announcements: November Fundraising Project: Operation Warm Coats- We collected enough funds to purchase 2 boxes of coats that will be distributed here is Muscatine with the United Way Kids First Fund. Our goal is 3 boxes so we will continue collecting funds through December. If you would like to arrange a donation outside of a regular meeting please contact Megan Francis at mfrancis@muscatinevision2020.org. Membership- The November “Each One Bring One” has officially ended, but we continue to encourage members to invite colleagues and community partners to join us for a meeting. Thank you to those who brought someone in November. We are excited to announce that Holly Peterson will be rejoining our club effective today, she will introduce herself to the club next week. Service Opportunity: Tuesday December 7 10am -12pm Rotary has signed up to help at the Freezing for Food Trailer at HyVee Grocery at 2nd Ave. Please come by for all or some of the time and help collect food for Muscatine Families. Annual Meeting Announcement: Our December 13th Club Meeting will serve as our Annual meeting so we will be voting on officers for the 2022/2023 Rotary year.
Speaker
Carol Webb (City Administrator) Carol was born and raised in southeastern Iowa before she followed a sister to Colorado in 1997. There she received her masters in public administration from the University of Colorado while working for the City of Fort Collins. She returned to Iowa in 2020 to serve as Muscatine's City Administrator. She is married to an art teacher and has one daughter, Matilda, two dogs, and one cat. She's happy to be home in Iowa, near family, and loves working and living in Muscatine.
Program: Updates on What Has Been Accomplished This Year and What Is Planned For Next Year
Carol is just over a year into her position here in Muscatine. An overview of some of the things going on with the City.
- This past year sold the former Library to Stanley Center for Peace and Security. Sale marked with a Ground Healing and should be a pretty exciting project for Muscatine.
- Community Building: Coffee with a Cop, Public Safety Open House, 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb.
- Road Projects: Park Avenue 3 to 4 lane project, 2nd St Streetscape. Look for upcoming façade project- applying for grant to assist with this project. Grandview Corridor has started and is planned as a 2 year project.
- Economic Growth: Awarded 6 small business forgivable loans.
- Received a donation to update some of our parks including Taylor and Musser park. Updates will include elements to ensure they are all inclusive and will be connected to the trail system.
- Grandview Revitalization is a collaboration with a committee including business owners, and council members, and utilizes Heart and Soul community engagement model.
- Art Center and Library are always providing wonderful programs. Recently Art Center working on IDEADash, LEGO exhibit and public art initiatives.
- Upcoming- will be launching a community survey. This is usually a best practice by Cities, last survey done in 2011 so we are long overdue. Goal is to accumulate benchmarkable data allowing projects to be set. Survey will go our to about 7000 community members by invitation and then be open to the community so look for that in January.
- Received 3.8 million in American Rescue Funds so working on how to leverage those for the community.
- Housing Study was completed in 2017 so now working on Housing Strategy plan increasing Quality affordable housing.
- New Council members and Mayor starting the 1st of the year so onboarding those members. Dec. 7th the Council will hold a Goal Setting Session.
Upcoming Meetings: Dec.6th: Update on the Quad Cities Airport- Ashleigh Johnson Davis, Dec. 13th Annual Club Meeting- Paul Harris Foundation, Dec 20th: District Governor Club Visit- DG Alka Khanolkar, Dec 27th- NO MEETING Holiday Break
Enjoy the Recording from Today’s Meeting:
Topic: Weekly Meeting
Start Time: Nov 29, 2021 11:42 AM
Meeting Recording:
Access Passcode: Rotary#1