| Muscatine, IA | Local Politics | | | 2/24/2013 |

I chose to investigate Muscatine, Iowa. Muscatine has a population of 22,886 residents and it is slowly growing. The Census Bureau found that in 2010 Muscatine has grown .83%. (WMG, 2010) Greg Mandsager describes Muscatine as a Municipality, or a city to which people travel to for work or leisure. (Tiesman, 2009) It is a great community to be a part of and a rather simple form of government.
The demographics have primarily stayed the same for the past 50 years and it hasn’t been impacted by migration. Nothing has come to Muscatine to attract a specific group of people or change the generic makeup of the city. Seven percent of Muscatine’s residence was foreign born and Caucasians make up 90% of the population as of 2010.
As mentioned earlier The City Administrator thinks of Muscatine as a municipality that people travel to for work and leisure. I would say that is true, Muscatine is a rural community within driving distance to Iowa City and Davenport, IA. As a growing city of its own, Muscatine is beginning to have more and more attractions. With a new movie theatre recently built on the bypass of highway 61 and other local businesses growing and coming to the community Muscatine is on its way to be quite the catch. The location is perfect; sitting right on the Mississippi River it easily attracts people when the weather is nice. Although, the population is only slowly growing, the town itself is evolving.
There are eighteen departments in Muscatine County that operate as the joint caretaker of the County. Elected officials like the Auditor, Board of Supervisors, County Attorney, Recorder, Sheriff, and Treasurer regulate the County and keep it moving in a progressive manner. The County’s goals are to have good communication, promote economic development, enhance the environmental quality, keep a stable infrastructure, achieve partnerships within the County, promote the quality of life, ensure safety, and promote technological advancement. The County looks to its Board of Supervisors to work with the departments on meeting these goals.
Muscatine County has five school districts; Muscatine Community, Louisa-Muscatine, Wilton, West Liberty, and Durant Community School District. Each district has its own board. The Muscatine Community School District’s Board consists of seven board members who, once elected, serve a four year term. It is the Board’s job to guide the district through the development of goals brought on by research and communication. The School District acts independently from the City of Muscatine and implements its own policies and budget. (MCSD, 2013) The City of Muscatine operates with a council-manager form of government. The Mayor and Council Members approve all action in the city but have a City Administrator to carry out its tasks and day-to-day operations. There are five members who are voted in to office by districts, districts one through five are currently held by Philip Fitzgerald, Mark Larette, Tom R. Spread, Bob Bynum, and Jeanette Phillips. There are two other members who are elected at large, and currently Scott Natuig and Osama Shihadah hold those positions. Each council member is elected to serve a term of four years. The Mayor is elected at large and holds the office for a term of two years. The Mayor and council have joint responsibility for appointing all of the boards and advisory commissions who assist the council in developing the programs and services provided to the city. To assist, and carry out the daily functions, the city administrator is hired, this position is currently being held by Greg Mandsager. All city action and policy directions are implemented by Gregg. There aren’t any special districts in Muscatine aside from the School District, so all action is presented and passed through the council. Although the mayor for Muscatine is elected at large, he holds no actual power. The only power he holds is symbolic, a “ceremonial ribbon cutter.”(LP, p178) He will preside over meetings but as a non-executive mayor he holds no agenda and doesn’t push policy. The mayor does hold quite the symbolic power in Muscatine; however, he needs council on his side for council action. He and the council together have the power to fire the department heads in Muscatine, although the department heads typically deal directly with the city administrator on the day to day issues. The City Administrator has quite the load; he is responsible for apprising City Council on all matters relating to the City. He ensures that all of the public services are being delivered in the most efficient manner, taking cost and need into effect. He is present at all Council Meetings, 24 regular meetings annually, as well as other specific meetings. Gregg is in charge of the budget, a trying task when annually the initial proposed budget expenses exceed the revenue by sizeable margins. Gregg oversees the daily operations of the city and promotes community-based projects. The Council looks to three boards and seventeen advisory commissions for advisement to assist in the development of programs, policies, and services for Muscatine. The boards and commissions are made up of over 90 individuals. The Mayor and Council appoint and approve all of the boards and commissions, none of which are represented by unions. Every idea is brought to the City Administrator for critiquing before being presented to the council. There aren’t any conflicts between the different forms of government in Muscatine. Everything is run through the City Council and the Board of Supervisors. The County Government strives to keep good communication within the County, that includes the City of Muscatine, so the two work together to achieve future goals and pass action. The City also works with the School District with safety and zoning concerns. The School District employs a Resource Officer to be present while school is in session; this was approved by Council after discussing it over with the Department Heads. The budget deficit is a continued problem for the landfill and transfer commission. Back on October 7, 2010 the Council approved industrial contracts which would bring additional waste and revenue to the landfill. There were five contracts entered which brought an additional 5,000 tons of waste and $180,000 annually for three years. The debt is expected to be eliminated by the 2016/17 fiscal year. The contracts proved to be good for the landfill, but it didn’t help the Transfer Station. Another method had to be used, the city approved to transfer funds from the City’s Refuse Collections fund which eliminated the debt. To prevent debt in the future and to keep the Transfer and Landfill funds in good standing the City closely monitors its expenditures and revenue. (Mandsager, 2012) The City looks to prevent budget deficits wherever possible. Each year the proposed budget process begins nine months before July, the beginning of Muscatine’s fiscal year. In October, Department Heads meet with the City Administrator to begin the budgeting process. It begins with an estimated revenue of $41,278,457 with expected expenditures as high as 44,486,201. A budget will not be brought to the Council for approval until the revenue exceeds the expenditures. The boards, commissions, department heads, and the Administrator meet to discuss goals, objectives for the operation of the city, and various services and activities for the City. Each department has to show how they plan to reduce their budget if necessary by 1%, 3%, or 5%; this process helps with identifying their priorities for their services. Once a budget draft is made, in late January the City Administrator presents it to Council, later it will be open to the public for their input; by February the budget is passed. (Mandsager, 2012) When I decide to settle down there are a several things discussed thus far that I will be considering. I would love to live in a warmer climate to keep me from dealing with snow storms each winter, but that isn’t a factor in why I would choose a city. Density, however, is one. I grew up in a smaller sized community and I like having my personal space, yet still being able to recognizing many members of the community while going to the local supermarket, in a big city I wouldn’t have that. I would like to see more diversity than I do in Muscatine, this world is enormous, filled with many different kinds of people and it would be nice to experience that in my own community, if I was too busy to travel I could just visit the local “China Town” or “Little Mexico.”
Given what I have learned about urbanization, I would see myself settling down in a suburb. A smaller percentage of crime is appealing when looking to start a family home; also the spacious living is a plus, I am not too fond of stacked housing. In the environment I would be looking for somewhere close to water, growing up on the river has taught me that it is too precious to live apart from as taking a boat out is one of my favorite past times.
In government, I would look for a place with a Home Rule. Self-governance is the best form of government in my opinion. Having the community take responsibility for them is better than having a State Government make your policies and laws for you. In the mayor, I would prefer a non-executive if at all possible, but as an entrepreneur type. It would be great to have a person in office that had the ability to accomplish tasks and get things done on a low salary. If that isn’t possible, then an executive mayor would be the way to go, the plus side to the executive mayor is that he hires his staff to handle jobs case specific to their expertise instead of having an Administrator handling everything and then going to council later on. Policies would go through much quicker and there would be less of a waiting period to be heard. I would prefer to have the council members elected in districts; this ensures that everyone’s voice has a chance to be heard, not just the majority.
In conclusion, without the City Administrator, Muscatine would be doomed. The council alone lacks the experience and knowledge base to run a City. The Department Heads would request more than the budget could allow and without the expertise of the Administrator, a final budget might not be drafted in time. Without the Administrator a whole new form of government would need to be adapted and the current Mayor would most likely resign. A “Ribbon Cutter” style of leadership just wouldn’t cut it. An entrepreneur or innovator would be better off serving the community. I would prefer to have the Administrators role more as the non-executive mayor’s role in Muscatine, but he seems to be getting the job done as is.

Bibliography
World Media Group. (2010). Muscatine, IA population and races. Retrieved from http://www.usa.com/muscatine-ia-population-and-races.htm
Tiesman, E. (2009, October). Four vie for Muscatine city administrator job. Retrieved from http://muscatinejournal.com/news/local/four-vie-for-muscatine-city-administrator-job/article_7de2e7a9-45eb-526e-9073-346132997526.html
Christensen, T, Hogen-Esch, T. (2006). Local politics. (2nd ed.). Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, Inc.
Mandsager, G. (2012, March). Budget message- fy 2012/2013. Retrieved from http://www.muscatineiowa.gov/DocumentCenter/Home/View/6944
County of Muscatine, IA. (2013, February). Muscatine County, Iowa. Retrieved from http://www.co.muscatine.ia.us/index.shtml

Muscatine Community School District. (2013, February). Board of education. Retrieved from http://www.muscatine.k12.ia.us/district/board/