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The election season isn't over yet.

A special election for an Eastern Iowa State Senate seat is bringing voters to the polls in January.

That's our topic in the cities.

Eastern Iowa needs a new state senator.

Two candidates are running for the 35th State Senate district, which is centered on Clinton County, but also includes parts of Jackson and Scott counties, where Republican Chris Cournoyer has served since 2019, but was named lieutenant governor last month by Kim Reynolds after Adam Gregg left in September to become head of the Iowa Bankers Association.

The two candidates running in the January 28th special election are Democrat Mike Zimmer and Republican Katie Whittington.

We made repeated attempts to include her in this program, but had not heard a response after several requests.

The Democratic candidate is Mike Zimmer.

Zimmer agreed to join us in our Moline studio.

So tell us a little bit about yourself and why you decided to run.

Well, I served, the citizens of Iowa for 40 years as a public educator.

19 years as an industrial technology teacher, and then 21 years as a high school principal, and then, central office personnel.

And when I retired in June of 2023, I thought, okay, that was it.

And, then the district that I live in, central DeWitt School District.

They had, three vacated seats.

None of the incumbents for running.

And I was approached about, maybe I might be interested in running for the school board.

And I was like, well, I just got done with, 40 years in administration.

I want to go over to the governance side of the school board.

And I just felt after talking with my wife, I thought, well, I do have a skill set.

Maybe I could be a value and serve the district that, two of my oldest children graduated from and that I live in.

And so, the citizens voted me in and on the very first school board meeting when we were sworn in.

Then I was selected as the board chair.

And I said, this is not normal, that that happens.

But I've always said, you're where you're supposed to be at that point in time.

And so that's, that kind of brings me to the governance side of, of, of school financing.

Or so why run for state Senate now?

Well, on the state Senate side, what causes someone to move or become involved?

I call it death by a thousand cuts.

And when the Iowa legislature removed the vast majority of collective bargaining from our teachers that I worked with every day, and that the only thing they were allowed to even discuss was wages.

But there's so much more that they would talk about health and working conditions and all that kind of stuff.

I was like, well, that's going in the wrong direction.

Especially when, collective bargaining was created by a Republican governor in 1974, Governor Robert Ray.

And then we fast forward and we've got a Republican governor that takes it away.

I was like, this is that's interesting.

The voucher program.

That was that was a bridge that went way too far, that there to me that public dollars should not be funding private schools or charter schools or anything like that.

So those are two pretty big decisions that were happening in Des Moines that I disagreed with.

And then there were smaller pieces of legislation and which if they would have just they the legislators would have just ass picked up the phone and asked, hey, we're looking at, doing, teacher pay or we're looking at, readjusting or re addressing how AA services are provided.

Fair enough, but that didn't happen.

Those pieces of legislation were passed, at least from my viewpoint.

And those that I work with with no input from us or saying, hey, if we're going to do this, what are the repercussions?

And so those are some pretty big reasons why I thought, well, maybe there needs to be a different voice or another voice or a voice that asked other legislatures, have you thought about this or before you make this decision, have you considered these ramifications?

So in this last session, it was very much geared towards education for like K through 12, which also included, well, I should go actually a year before that, also included, the look at what is taught as far as sexual education, LGBTQ students, books that are available in libraries.

As an educator, I know that's an area of concern for you.

Yes.

And, When that legislation came out, it was all couched under, parents know what's best for their kids.

Couldn't couldn't agree more.

But parents do not deserve to be making decisions on what they feel is best for other parents and their students.

And so it was unfortunate that I had to go through a, book reconsideration, committee meeting and a hearing.

And it was it was, pretty contentious, but it was, regarding a book on, on an LGBT student that was written when this student was assaulted as a 13 year old.

And so we had it in our high school library.

And for students that might be facing a situation or thinking that they're the only ones and no one else has gone through this.

Those books are very appropriate.

For our students to be able to see that they're they're not alone.

So, yes, that that started questioning, the expertise of our school librarians that have to go to school, have a master's degree in that they take their job very seriously.

They review the books.

As a building administrator, I count on their expertise, when approving books and so that was that was challenged that every step of the way.

Talk about education a little bit more.

And I'm sticking with, k through 12 right now.

U.S. News and World Report has Iowa, number 14 among the 50 states in, pre-K through 12.

Number eight and higher education, Wisconsin is ahead of Iowa in the U.S. News and World Reports ranking.

Iowa used to be number two, Christine.

It was it was the beacon.

Do you think that this is an indication of a trend that Iowa now faces?

Well, I do, and, to your correct point, it was Minnesota number one and Iowa number two or thereabouts.

And when you go back and look at, how the state would fund schools with, supplemental student aid called SSA, we would be at 4 or 5% something like that, that we could stay ahead of, inflation.

And we could also look at program improvements like bringing in dyslexia training, reading strategies, just a whole litany of services that fell outside of just the core reading, writing, arithmetic, in other words, serving the needs of all students.

When you have the legislature for we're going on almost a second decade of, SSA being between 0 and 2%, all you're doing is just trying to keep your head above water, use all the extras.

Anything related to that?

It's not even possible.

Then.

In addition, when you create a toxic atmosphere for educators, what young person is going to want to graduate high school and say, yeah, I want to go to college and become a teacher.

And so you've got lower wages, you've got less, funding for improvements to education.

And the result is we just keep sliding.

And, unfortunately, I don't know where that slide is going to stop.

Take you further into higher education right now.

And the House has created this Committee on higher education.

A person who is very much against Dei diversity, equity and inclusion.

Is in charge of that committee, the head of that committee.

Do you feel that the focus now, on the Republican legislature is going to be towards the three public universities and higher education?

Yeah.

And I say this, tongue in cheek, but, to my post-secondary partners, I'm like, thankfully they're leaving K12 alone, at least for a year, and they're going to put their attention on post-secondary.

But it's it's a serious matter.

And to be continuing to focus on these culture issues instead of focusing on, what universities are founded on research, bringing in the best and brightest, into our Regents, University of Iowa, Iowa State, and you and I, I don't see this going in a positive direction.

And I would also say that a lot of people don't realize this, but.

The state of Iowa.

The taxpayers invested in me when I graduated, in 1979 from North Scott High School.

At that time, 70% of the Regents tuition was covered by, the taxpayers of Iowa.

I would not have been able to go to school without that.

That has now dropped down to 30% or less.

And so what is occurring is that it's becoming more and more post-secondary is for those with means.

And I think that's also very, very unfortunate.

That the agenda for Republicans in this upcoming session is going to be a look at property tax reform, which is going to really impact school districts, counties and municipalities, which really depend on property tax, as they point out that the increase in, property taxes among municipalities is up, 5 to 7%, which is higher than inflation.

Do you think property tax reform is needed?

And what would you like to see?

Well, whenever it comes to taxes, period, it needs to be right sized.

And that is a combination of both regressive and all flat.

Taxes are regressive, of which almost all taxes are.

Sales tax is a flat tax.

Property tax as a flat tax.

When it comes to income tax, that's the only progressive tax.

And that is those that have the means pay more.

When you now make what Iowa has done all tax of regressive or flat tax at 3.8% flat tax, that doesn't take into account a person's ability to pay that in proportion to their income.

So what's happening right now is I think it's a race to the bottom, and no one wants to pay property taxes, no one wants to pay income taxes.

But services are expected.

And I was reminded of this when a recent area legislature commented and said the number one focus of the Iowa legislature is going to be property taxes, then turn right around and said, and I want to see a school resource officer in every school building.

And I just sat and I was like, do you even understand where we're getting the money to hire a school resource officer?

Half of it comes from the city or county, which is property tax, and the other half comes from the school district and something called at risk funding, which is funded with property tax.

So I was like, well, even you've got a lot of, services you'd like to put in.

How are we going to pay for these?

State of Iowa right now has a $3.7 billion taxpayer relief fund, $2 billion surplus, almost $1 billion in what's called a reserve funds.

Does the state already have enough money?

I mean, does it isn't lowering the income tax to 3.8% and perhaps even lower in the future?

Isn't that wise financial move?

Yeah.

So the total that you just stated adds up to about $6.75 billion in the taxpayer Relief fund.

There's one, phrase that is you always, stick with and that is you don't use one time funding for ongoing expenses.

You never do that.

And in this case, the state of Iowa is using their Esser funds or Covid funds that they have been getting millions and millions and millions of dollars with to pay for services that normally would have been paid for out of state revenue.

They're using the Esser funds for that.

And the flat tax is one of those ongoing proposals that's being shouldered or based upon that taxpayer relief fund.

So what's going to happen is the resources are going to the revenue is going down.

The Iowa Revenue Estimating Committee already said that for fiscal year 25, I will bring in $600 million less in revenue than fiscal year 24 and a for fiscal year 26.

They're estimating another 400 million on top of that.

So in the next 24 months, we're talking about a decrease in over $1 billion in state revenue.

Whether Iowa can decrease services provided to its citizens fast enough to meet, to absorb that cut.

I guess that's going to be the experiment that we're going to see.

But what the Republicans have said publicly in the newspaper and in shows like yourself is that, well, if we come up short on revenue to provide those services, we're going to go to our savings account.

What's the savings account?

It's that $6.75 billion.

And if that's what your funding mechanism is going to be to pay for services that go to your savings, that's not going to last very long.

Real quick gaming moratorium.

There's a discussion to, put a moratorium on new, gambling facilities.

Are you for that or against that?

I need to look at that a little bit further.

And the reason is that, Scott County and Clinton County received, considerable amount of revenue for the Scott kind of regional authority, the regional development authority, RTA.

I have written numerous grants to tap into those funds for for student services.

And so when they put the moratorium on, what they're talking about is Cedar Rapids.

Cedar Rapids wants to have, gambling in that area.

I know whether you agree or disagree with the vices, Furman, if people are going to spend their money on that, and a portion of that comes back to the cities, the counties and the, school districts, I need to look at how that would impact the current, casino revenue being brought in and the, revenue that those counties are bringing in and balance that out to make a final decision about that.

And real briefly, what is your top priority if elected?

My top priority and being in a super minority.

And as I'm going to be realistic, and that is I want to look at what the Republicans are going to be advocating for, and I want to see what areas I can work with them, shoulder to shoulder with and those areas that I can't.

I'm just going to ask a lot of questions.

Have you thought about this?

Have you considered that, before they go passing legislation that has not been first of all, ask the citizens or the people it's going to impact, or received any input.

So public hearings are a good thing to get that input on.

And, so I can say a whole lot of things on top priorities, but that would just be really blowing smoke about things I have no control over whatsoever.

And, I'm going to be realistic about my expectations.

State Senate District 35 Democratic candidate Mike Zimmer.

Once again, we repeatedly offered to his opponent opportunities to join us in studio or by zoom, but hadn't heard from her campaign before this recording.

But according to our campaign website, Republican Katie Whittington is the mother of four, a ten year resident of Clinton and a proud conservative.

Her Facebook page says she opposes CO2 pipelines and industrial wind turbines, but she supports school choice and says she's a mental health advocate.

Once again.

Election day is Tuesday, January 28th.

January is winding down, but not without some great activities you can enjoy with your friends and family.

This is what's coming up thanks to visit quad Cities.

Check out the things to do this week in the Quad Cities.

Start off with Disco Bingo at Candy's Back Bar on January 28th.

Then you can attend the Winter Carnival at multiple Bettendorf locations, like the Landing Ice Rink and the Bettendorf Public Library on February 1st.

Then you can attend a Valentine cookie decorating party at Sugar Alamodome.

Also on February 1st, as well as the Frost and Fire Festival at Riverside.

Riverside.

Finally, test your Caitlin Clark knowledge at Trivia Night at Public House on February 2nd.

For more events like these, check out our events calendar at visit Quad cities.com.

It's a multimillion dollar project that is set to fully open this spring.

Bettendorf.

The Landing Water Park is set to open in May, but another component of the improvements on Middle Road at 23rd Street has just opened.

The frozen Landing Ice rink up and running just in time for the upcoming Winter Carnival.

And joining us is the new director of the Bettendorf Parks and Recr The first thing I really want to talk about is the winter carnival that's coming up.

So.

So tell me about.

Let me start with you here.

This is not the first year, but Bettendorf is really trying to find a way to get people to enjoy this weather.

Exactly.

I know it's tough to think about that way, but, know our council years ago had a wonderful idea that they wanted to have more, programing and activities in the winter time that get people out.

And so that we have more than, than just our regular scheduled stops.

So we have this wonderful carnival and it's all of our different area buildings up in that quadrant, the Middle Road area.

There's different activities.

Grabbing the winter fun at every single one.

So of course we have our ice rink open.

You can get in there and get skating, but then Parks and Rec will be there with fun activities and games and other things like that for free.

And then the library has activities, crafts.

Their creation studio will be open so people can get in there and make different things.

In the Creation Studio, the museum will have hands on things.

There will be an outdoor, snow obstacle course, weather permitting, at Face Field.

Also, weather permitting.

Over at Palmer, they'll have sledding and cross-country skiing, too.

So, so many families will just go right around and hit all of the activities.

It's it's such a fun day.

The key is that you want it to be cold, but not too cold.

Of course.

It's exactly.

What you got here.

Just as, frozen landing as it's now being called.

Had its inauguration.

It opened this month.

I mean, that's a huge winter time amenity for for that.

Yeah.

It's incredible.

I'm so lucky to have come in in this time where you guys have so much momentum that has already been established in Parks and Recreation with the frozen landing.

And I was just looking at numbers and to to compare it to, when it was a, you know, just a seasonal rink that wasn't permanently there.

We've already done, nearly twice as much in, in admissions and sales and everything.

So you can tell people in the community love that type of amenity.

We want to build on that success and help find the next thing to to keep raising that up.

Well, you have just arrived in the Quad Cities in Bettendorf.

What made you apply for this job?

What made you say this is a good fit for you?

Yeah, absolutely.

So I you know, I was I was very happy where I was in Sioux City and I got to work on really cool projects.

I mean, we did, mountain bike trails and winter, you know, tubing hills and all sorts of, of really outside the box things.

And I was looking for somewhere that wanted somebody to build on the success of Bettendorf currently has.

You guys have an incredible growing tax base.

You have a room for growth, right?

You're not, you know, landlocked.

And I think it was this perfect mix where they needed somebody to come in and be an advocate to push Parks and Rec forward, somebody who understands people move to a community for quality of life.

And, I am that person who is banging the drum.

I live and breathe Parks and Recreation, and Bettendorf is the perfect fit, to build the next cool, unique thing not just for the Quad Cities, but for the state of Iowa and the Midwest.

What was your favorite TV comedy?

For a while, my favorite TV comedy.

Was it Parks and Rec?

Well, I love Parks and Recreation, the TV show.

I'm basically Leslie Knope.

I have a little bit of a connection.

Yeah, yeah, I love it.

We were talking about Frozen landing that just opened.

But your big unveiling actually is coming up in May.

Yeah.

So, we have a couple things coming up, for, May.

And I think what you're referring to is the landing.

The landing, which is the, part of the landing now, features, of course, the frozen landing.

And then we have the water feature, which for the pool always been known as well, has landing.

I know, and that's what I'm saying, that I'm trying not to say.

I will say it for you splash or anything.

Yeah.

So.

So that piece of it the YMCA is going to be managing.

It is going to be an incredible new facility.

I mean, I went and just toured it the other day and it was freezing cold, but we walked around, the place looks beautiful.

There's going to be it's going to be packed with families.

There's going to be something for everybody there.

Truly.

I've seen a lot of pools all throughout the state of Iowa.

This one is going to be right up there at the top.

It's beautiful.

Well, and Meredith, I mean, all of us that drive down Middle Road, such a busy street in Bettendorf has seen the ongoing construction.

That's perhaps the best advertising you've had.

Yeah, I agree, I agree.

I love when you're driving around and you can see the different things that they're putting up as they go.

We have a lot of summer camps and we travel to a lot of different pools in the region, and all the campers favorite things.

I'm like, wow, we're going to have that right here in our own town.

Oh my gosh, the campers love that thing there.

It's it's going to be so awesome.

Tell me a little bit more about the partnership with the YMCA, because they seem to be hand in hand with a lot of what you're planning.

Yeah, I, yeah, I'm, we have the YMCA.

I think there's it's important for any, municipality to to find the organizations that have very similar missions.

Right.

The school district, for example, the YMCA is a great one.

And there's stuff that we're going to do to help push the city forward, to combine resources, you know, and make make new amenities, make new programs, and make it make sense for the community.

So the Y is going to be working hand in hand with us.

They have, of course, work to help build, you know, the now splash landing part of the landing.

They've taken over and used, and have read some new life into some of the facilities that the city used to run.

And I am really looking forward to continuing to work with them in a way that just makes a lot of sense, because we have similar missions and similar goals and how we get there.

Combining our resources is going to be incredible for, for moving us forward.

I hate the term, but I mean, you you sit there and you talk about synergy.

You talk about all these different groups coming together to create something special for the citizens and residents.

Yeah, yeah.

That's it.

I mean, that's that's what that's what you guys have done already so much of.

And I'm so lucky to be a part of what the success that you've already had.

And and continuing to get all of those people into a room.

Right.

Just makes sense.

It's the only way for us to go forward and do big capital projects like the landing.

The landing is a big capital investment, right?

It makes so much sense to bring in the YMCA, the city, private donations, and that's how you get stuff done.

So we understand that at a high level and we're going to continue doing that.

Meredith, tell me about the little level, because there are other events that are going on.

Yeah, I know, like you have indoor pickleball.

You've got arts and crafts for kids.

I mean, it's an ongoing effort to get people involved in the community.

Yes.

Just since the beginning of the year, I think we've started 13 different programs.

And there's more coming all the time.

And we've got things for kids, seniors, adults, things that are active, things that are hands on crafts.

Just like you were saying.

We've got paint parties.

We've got our first ever senior paint party coming up, so that should be super fun.

We've got archery that youth and adults can try.

Another great partnership with the downtown Bettendorf area.

We've got, tons of, things coming up that are Valentine's Day themed Tuesday.

We've got a lot of love interest.

Yes we do.

So we've got a super popular cake decorating class that's coming.

So.

And it's right before Valentine's Day, so you can make this beautiful cake and then, boom, take it and enjoy it with your Valentine.

We've got our our youth paint party will be doing a Valentine's Day themed painting.

Our junior chefs cooking class.

They'll be doing all kinds of sweet Valentine's Day themes.

Dessert, desserts.

And then our big, grand finale is on Valentine's Day.

We have a sweetheart dance.

We partnered with Davenport Parks and Rec.

And it's out in Davenport, and it's like, and, family dance.

It's grab the the kid and adult that you love and come and dance and there's prizes.

And the family museum will be there, doing crafts.

There's it's it's the most fun I went last year with my kids.

It was.

So fun.

Well, you think of Festival of Trees and you think of the, Sugar Plum, dance, the daddy daughter dance, which is sold out within minutes.

Yes.

Is that kind of.

I mean, you're seeing the same type of energy there.

Yes, absolutely.

So this is the second year that we've done this with Davenport, and it's sold out last year, and it's well on its way this year too.

So it'll be a great time, John.

I mean, you talk about the ability of trying to get people, especially families together to be able to do something.

And it's a big deal as we are talking about for the residents.

But it really is a huge attraction for anybody who's thinking of coming and moving to the Quad Cities or just the amenities are so important to a community.

Yeah.

That's right.

I mean, look at everything.

It truly.

If you are interested in what Meredith is talking about, check us out on Facebook.

She is constantly we do something for everyone.

I was blown away at the offerings of, our Parks and Recreation department here in Bettendorf, and I was doing research to move this, community.

So figuring out where do I want to move to and start a family.

It's the stuff that she's doing, right?

And I go, wow, there's a lot going on.

My job is now to take that success and that all of that momentum that we have all the day to day stuff that makes, community so wonderful and help build the next thing and help build, a cool operation to go with that.

So my goal long term is to do a lot of, more, you know, visionary planning.

We have some park space that that we want to program and it's going to help build because I have creative people who are excellent, and it just gets me fired up every day to come to work and see what Meredith does in the, in the program.

And, you know, side of parks recreation.

So we have so many big, lofty goals, and I know we're going to get there because we have incredible people.

That North is an incredible community.

I can't wait to explore the Quad Cities when it's not four degrees outside, so I can get out and do all these things, but stuff like the Winter carnival, it's fun.

It's in the middle of the winter.

There's not much else to do.

It gets me excited for the future.

Our thanks to the new director of Bettendorf Parks and Recreation Department, John Burns.

On the air, on the radio, on the web, on your mobile device and streaming on your computer.

Thanks for taking some time to join us.

As we talk about the issues.

On the city's.

At IHMVCU, we've always been here for you.

You are and always will be our top priority.

We care about your financial health and we are here IHMVCU is a proud supporter of Wqpt.

Public affairs programing on Wqpt is brought to you by the Singh Group at Merrill, serving the wealth management needs of clients in the region for over 35 years.