The Fuel for Your Daily Life HOW CITY GOVERNMENT SERVES THE COMMUNITY

By Heather Behrens

Your city government plays an important role in your daily life, but many people are surprised by how big that role is. Here’s a quick overview of how the City of Waukee serves you and the community.

City government creates and maintains local policies and ordinances, manages city funds, ensures the City complies with legislative regulations and maintains adequate infrastructure. This includes the necessary things that enable you to go about your day, including building and maintaining roads, natural gas, sewer, water, waste collection and snow removal. City government ensures public safety with police, fire, paramedic and inspection services. The City also adds to your quality of life with the library, parks, trails, recreation opportunities and guiding growth to attract employment opportunities and services that residents want. Foundational to all this is preparing for the future with land use planning, economic development and smart budgeting for adding infrastructure and amenities.

The City of Waukee is directed by the Waukee Mayor and City Council, but daily operations are managed by a City Administrator. The mayor and council serve a similar function as a board of directors in a company, guiding strategic direction, advising on policy and providing oversight on budget. The City Administrator is similar to a Chief Operating Officer, overseeing City personnel and directing day-to-day operations of City departments. All these roles devote time to listening to the ideas, concerns and experiences of residents, community leaders and business owners in order to best represent the interest of citizens.

The mayor serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the city during a four-year term. She presides over the council, approves and executes contracts, plays a key role in strategic planning and appoints citizens to boards and commissions. She also advocates for effective policy on City issues and interests with state and federal officials and liaises with other regional and city leaders on joint projects and issues.

As a key spokesperson for Waukee, the mayor participates in ribbon cuttings and groundbreakings, speaks at festivals and events and fields interviews with local media.

Waukee has five city council members who help establish the vision and strategic priorities of the City, approve subdivisions and development plans, represent Waukee on various regional boards and commissions, and approve ordinances and resolutions. Council members serve “at large,” which means they can live in any part of the city and represent the community as a whole rather than being assigned a specific district. Terms are four years long but staggered with elections every two years. Residents vote for council members in November with other local, state and federal elections.

City Council Meetings are held at Waukee City Hall at 5:30 p.m. on the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month. Residents are welcome to attend these public meetings in person or by Zoom. Recordings can be viewed on the City of Waukee YouTube channel. In addition, the mayor and council meet with staff and other presenters once a month for a work session to go deeper on upcoming issues as well as get updates on City operations. This enables them to be informed and have time to consider issues before they come up for vote in regular council meetings.

Learn more about our city government at Waukee.org/CityCouncil.

The City of Waukee has 148 full-time employees throughout 13 municipal departments, plus more than 200 part-time employees that fill year-round and seasonal positions.

Departments:

1. Administration: directs daily activities, oversees execution of the strategic plan and keeps the necessary records of City and council operations

2. Community Development: manages permits, ordinances, zoning information, inspections, code compliance and development projects and procedures

3. Economic Development: facilitates strategic economic growth, connects business owners to resources and nurtures relationships with the business community

4. Parks & Recreation: creates and maintains recreational programs, public parks and trails

5. Library: provides educational and recreational materials, services and programs for all ages

6. Police: protects citizens, conducts educational outreach for the community, and advises on safety-related code and procedures

7. Fire/EMS: provides fire protection, emergency medical care and preventative community education

8. Public Works: builds and maintains infrastructure, such as streets, gas lines, water and sewer

9. Utility Billing: assists residents with water, garbage and gas service accounts

10. Finance: manages financial operations, including budgeting, accounting and payroll

11. Marketing & Communications: manages communication channels, media relations and marketing for Waukee

12. Human Resources: recruits and hires staff and administers employee benefits

13. Information Technology: sets up and maintains technology applications and hardware for city operations

Boards & Commissions

City boards and commissions assist with certain City operations and contribute to moving Waukee forward. Residents volunteer their time and expertise to review site plans on new developments, assist with parks and recreation planning, and more.

• Board of Adjustment

• Board of Appeals

• Planning & Zoning Commission

• Park Board

• Library Board of Trustees

• Public Art Advisory Commission

Infrastructure and services are expensive to provide, so the community collectively pays taxes to operate all the functions of our city government. In Iowa, city governments are funded primarily by property tax revenue. About 37 percent of property taxes paid by Waukee residents go to the City’s general fund to pay for public safety, parks, recreation and day-to-day operating costs of city administration.

Large, one-time infrastructure projects, such as a new park, are often funded by local option sales tax, which is an extra 1% added to the Iowa sales tax of 6%. Waukee residents voted and approved the 1% addition in November 2017. Adding new roads or completing major enhancement of roadways is often funded by debt. Similar to taking out a loan to build a home (but on a MUCH larger scale), the City may sell bonds to fund construction. In addition to these sources, City staff search out and apply for grant funds, which are significant contributions to many important City projects. In addition, the City receives revenue from fees for licenses, permits, utility usage and recreation programming, which help fund those services. See how property taxes are calculated (hint: it’s not just the assessed value of your property) and how the City uses those funds at Waukee.org/PropertyTax101.

1. Volunteer for a board, commission or opportunities, such as Miracle League games, Safety City, community food drives, etc.

2. Sign up for great programs with Parks & Recreation or the Waukee Public Library.

3. Become part of community traditions by attending beloved events: FamilyFest, Easter Egg Hunt, Waukee Firefighters Association Pancake Breakfast, Independence Day Celebration, Public Safety Day, and Winterfest, to name a few.

4. Stay informed of what your government is working on and how the City is growing through City social media, newsletters, annual State of the City address, or the Economic Development Bus Tour with the Waukee Area Chamber of Commerce.

5. Vote for mayor and council representatives! Research and listen to ideas from candidates so you can make an informed vote. Or consider running for office if you feel you’d be a good fit for the responsibilities and duties of the role.

1. City of Waukee staff and elected officials work very closely with neighboring communities in the Des Moines metro, Dallas County and Iowa. Council members and staff serve on workgroups, boards, etc. for nonprofits, government committees and other organizations that support our residents and businesses, ensure smooth emergency operations and manage shared infrastructure. We’re all interconnected, so strong collaboration helps daily life and major projects work more efficiently.

2. The Waukee Community School District is not part of the City of Waukee organization, but the two organizations work closely together in many ways. One big example of collaboration is the Northwest High School and Triumph Park project.

3. The City doesn’t choose the businesses that set up operations in Waukee. Residents share requests for the types and even specific businesses they’d like to have in Waukee, but those businesses have to choose to rent space or buy land to locate here. The City’s role is facilitator, sharing information with site selectors and business owners to help them decide if Waukee is a good fit and connecting them with available space to find the right spot to locate or expand their business.

4. The City of Waukee doesn’t produce our own water, but it does build and maintain the infrastructure to deliver it to homes and businesses. Like many metro communities, the water in your tap comes from Des Moines Water Works, and wastewater is treated through the Des Moines Metropolitan Wastewater Reclamation Authority (WRA), which is made up of 17 metro area municipalities, counties and sewer districts. Combining efforts enables more efficient infrastructure management.

5. Hickman Road is State Highway 6, which means it is under the jurisdiction of the Iowa Department of Transportation. Any changes to the road, such as adding more lanes, comes from the DOT. Waukee can recommend changes to things like traffic signal timing, but ultimately the DOT makes decisions and plans for the future of this important road. Learn more at Waukee.org/ BoardsandCommissions, WaukeePublicLibrary.org and Waukee.org/ParksandRec.