Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Cedar Rapids is a city located in Linn County, Iowa. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 120,758. It is the county seat of Linn County. The city is named after the Cedar River. Cedar Rapids is the home of Coe College, Mount Mercy College, Hamilton College, and Kirkwood Community College.

Government

City commission government

Currently, Cedar Rapids uses the city commission form of government. It is one of the few larger cities to operate under this model. In Cedar Rapids, the council is made up of a public safety commissioner, a streets commissioner, a finance commissioner, a parks commissioner, and a mayor. The council members work on a full-time basis, and serve two year terms. The council members are considered department heads. The current mayor of Cedar Rapids is Paul Pate. After 2005 the city will change to a mayor-council-manager form of government.

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New form of government

In 2005, a movement began to change the commission form. A panel was created to study the issue, and has recommended that voters be presented with three options:

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• Stay with the current commission form of government.
• Adopt a "strong mayor form" where the council would be part time, the mayor would be full time, and a city manager would run the day to day affairs of the city.
• Adopt a "weak mayor form" of government, in this form the mayor and council would both work on a part time basis. A full time city manager would run the day to day operations of the city.

In 1994, voters were also asked if they would like to change the form of government. At that time, voters decided to keep the commission form.

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On June 14, 2005, voters went to the polls to decide whether to adopt a new form of government or continue with the commission form. This time voters decided to change the government — 17,064 voted to change the government to 7,741 who wanted to stay with the commission form.

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June 14 - 2005

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The new form of government will feature a part time council made of eight members and a part time mayor. The city will be divided into five wards, and one council member will be elected from each ward. The remaining three members will be elected on an at-large basis. Initially the terms for some of the council members will be shorter so that the elections will be staggered. In the following election cycle the term for the council members will be four years long. The mayor will also have a four year term. The mayor will be paid $30,000 and the members of the council will be paid $15,000.

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The current city council still has to decide how to best divide the city into five wards. Once this is done candidates will be able to run for election in November. After this election, the new council and mayor will hire a city manager to run the day to day affairs of the city. Department heads will report to the city manager, who will have the authority to hire and fire these heads - except in the case of the police and fire chiefs which would require council approval for hiring and firing.

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