Colorful Candidates Battle in the Race for Cedar Falls Mayor

LEAD: On Thursday October 10th, UNI hosted three of the candidates running for Cedar Falls Mayor for a debate. Those three candidates were current Mayor Jim Brown, city council member Rob Green, and Cedar Falls resident Jim Skaine. This is Skaine’s second run for Mayor.

Because the debate was held at UNI’s Maucker Union, it was a good chance for citizens- especially UNI students- to get a feel for the candidates. This event further included the public by giving them a chance to submit questions to be asked by moderators Nancy Newhoff, Editor of the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier and Ron Steele, Anchor and Reporter for KWWL-TV. The location choice also seemed to have an impact on the route of the debate conversation, as many of the questions were UNI related. However, they still could not seem to get away from the subject of the new PSO model, and this was addressed as well.

Before the debate, Mayor Jim Brown spoke to our class telling us that he, “runs on economic development.”

Brown also said that he believed the big issues for this election would be, “The PSO model, whether or not the mayor should be part-time, and the lack of transparency the public feels there is between them and the city council.”

At the debate, Brown said that he takes pride in the fact that he pushed to have a UNI NISG student liaison present at all city council meetings. A UNI grad himself, he found it important to include these students, and he thinks it was a good learning experience for those students.

Green agreed that having a student liaison from UNI is a good idea, but disagreed with Browns perceived level of those students’ involvement. He said that he meets with the liaisons at the start of every school year and has concerns about their ability to contribute. “The agreement was that the student could not speak unless spoken to, and it seems like there is a censoring or limitation on what the person is able to say,” he said.

“I believe that that role should be greater for the student liaison,” Green said.

Skaine had concerns that the other candidates weren’t seeing a bigger problem with the university. “It’s going to take a massive action,” he said, “Working, lobbying with the board of regents, the legislators, the governor, to get back what UNI had.”

As with every city gathering as of late, the new PSO model was discussed as well. The three candidates all had differing viewpoints on the model.

“I’m not looking to nuke the PSO model,” Green said, telling moderator Ron Steele that this was a misconception, “I believe it needs significant change to be sustainable over the long term, and I believe that the only way we can move forward with understanding what those changes are is to look at data to understand why we built this model and put it into a single document that the public can understand.”

“I believe the evidence is there,” Mayor Brown said, “We’re safe. We have enough firefighters. They get trained.”

Brown also brought up Green’s voting record, saying, “He can’t say he wants to completely dismantle the PSO model because he voted 14 out of 15 times for the model.”

“The PSO model would be history,” said Skaine if he was elected, “How many signs do you see in Cedar Falls right now? ‘We need more firefighters!’”

Still distraught over Brown’s voting comment, Green rebuked, saying, “I’m surprised it comes from the Mayor because he should know better. The stuff that he had listed as the 14 votes, one was soil sample testing at the Public Safety Building.”

Though this model will surely be a point of contention continuing forward, the debate was drawing to an end.

In closing, Brown said, “I love this city. The people I have met the last four years are generous people. The folks of faith and fellowship around the community is just immeasurable in terms of the appreciation I have to lead this community.”

Brown also said that the evidence is there for what he has done already for the community in the past four years in terms of economic development, leadership and communication.

Green said that Brown, “has carried his campaign out like a gentleman. I want to ensure the public that I have no ill will toward him personally.”

Green went on to say, “I believe that the Mayor role demands exemplary leadership talents, keen perception, strong empathy, and emotional intelligence… Jim brown has a passion for business development and would make a fantastic economic development coordinator or chamber of commerce director, but I believe that I have the stronger skill set for service as Mayor.”

Candidate Jim Skaine closed out the debate saying, “The November 5th election is one of restore. Restore the Mayor as the leader of government. Restore our safety. Restore the cuts in city services. Restore University Avenue as a corridor. Restore UNI’s tradition of excellence.”

After the debate, Rob Green came to our class to reflect on the event as well as his campaign. He said that he wants to be mayor to, “preserve the authority of the council.”

He also said that Brown had assigned the work of looking into his voting history to the city clerk, which he does not agree with.

Things seem to be heating up as the campaign trail leads closer to election night. The new PSO model is sure to continue to be a discussion topic as we come closer to election night on November 5th. It is nearing time for Cedar Falls to decide who the best leader is for the city.

For footage of the debate, watch the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2pTp_qpods