viewers and voters, a chance to meet the two finalists for mayor of waterloo. of course, you know they'll meet in a special runoff election on tuesday, december 1st. you're going to meet those candidates here in just a moment, but let me say first of all, today's special 60-minute edition is brought to you courtesy of kwwl and partnership with the waterloo-cedar falls courier. with that in nine, let me introduce tim jamison. first of all, today, tim is going to help me out with the questioning today. eps an award-winning journalist and i think it's safe to say these gentlemen at the table would probably say there's for one in waterloo, no reporter in waterloo that knows more about the inner workings of waterloo city government than tim jamison, so tim, thanks for being here today on this special hour-long program. really appreciate that. now let's meet the candidates. first of all, quentin hart, earned his bachelor's and master's degree from the university of northern iowa. an associate director of multicultural affairs at hawk why community college in waterloo. first elected to the council in 2008, representing waterloo's

fourth district on the city council and also serving as mayor pro tem since 2010. he and his wife have three children. quentin hart is 44 years old. and please welcome candidate tim hurley, a retired john deere engineer who spent 37 years with the company and one time was manager of deere's material engineering. elected as waterloo mayor back in the 2003 race, tim hurley served three terms as the mayor of waterloo from 2004 until 2009 and he also previously had been a member of the waterloo city council representing the first ward for the city. he and his wife have three children and nine grandchildren. tim hurley is 70 years old. i want to point out here that we have determined the seating and everything, who goes first, the questions, the opening statements, and the closing statements by a coin toss that we conducted a bit earlier. the candidates will have 90 seconds in which to make their opening statements, 90 seconds for a closing statement, and then in between, they'll have

questions and because we're not exactly following an actual debate format here today, we're going to be a little bit lenient in our rebuttals and our follow-up questions with these two fine candidates. both of whom want to be the mayor of waterloo. we're not going to take any breaks during the show except at about the 30-minute mark, so we're going to get going here, but the opening statement, the result of the coin toss earlier, tim hurley, you make the opening statement here today. >> hurley: thank you, ron. when i left office, the mayor's office in january of 2010 after those eight years, two years as council person and six years as mayor of waterloo, i really believed that i left behind a city that was in better shape than what i took it as in 2004. in the areas of economic development, in financial health of the city, our improved delivery of services and certainly in the city's image, not just how we're perceive on

the outside, but how we perceived ourselves. in the intervening six years, i continued my involvement and interest in the city of waterloo by being very participatative and involved and engaged in organizations and associations and boards that are all about the betterment of waterloo. so when mayor bud clark announced that he was not going to run for office again, it was at a time when i began to sense that the good things that had happened during the six to eight years that i was in the elected office were beginning to unravel. certainly it seemed that our city was beginning to be define by the negative rather than the positives and the opportunities. we were taking -- we were balancing budgets by taking money from reserves that i'd helped to build up, and just the

general tone of how things were going in city hall and council chambers and back again now, we seem to be defining ourselves as a people, as a citizenry, and as a city, and so that piques my interest in throwing my hat in the ring again, and i'm most appreciative to kwwl and to the courier for hosting us today now that we're down to the two candidates. the main things that i would leave you with on this opening statement is, i believe my credibility and leadership is there. i want to pick up that mantle again and i want to return this city to a place where we feel good about ourselves again, that we're on the right track, and i know how to do that. i've been in that chair for six years and i know day one how to do that. >> ron: mr. hurley thank you very much. now, quentin hart, your opening statement.

ron, and thank you, tim, and former mayor hurley as well, but i want to also thank the voters that elected, made the vote on november 3rd, made me the highest vote getter in that election and i think that spoke to the fact that this community is looking for change and change is a positive thing in relation to making sure that our city continues to move forward. time a lifelong resident of waterloo, iowa. my parents worked at allen hospital and john deere and so their work ethic is what has been entrusted in me to do all the things that i've been able to do as well. and i was so blessed when i was also elected in 2008 to be fourth ward city councilman for the city of waterloo and becoming later vice mayor for the city of waterloo or mayor wrote tem, but in those -- pro tem, we've seen some transitions

been our very community. we've been able to make positive things happen from the city council seat, so from day one on july 7th when i made my announcement, i had a five-point plan because if you're running for mayor or want to become mayor for the city of waterloo, you owe to it the taxpayers, you owe it to the people of this community to have a plan that you can work with for the future and to work with our residents. number one being safer streets because people are challenged by things that are happening within our streets. number two, economic development and continuing positive growth. number three, neighborhood empowerment because this community is made up of communities, community members. number four, positive media communication, because there are many great things happening in the city of waterloo and we need to highlight that and let people know. and then last, but not least, if i ask everyone in the audience or sitting at home, what is the future for the city of waterloo, we know we have the riverfront

where are we headed to for 2025? so i'm running because i believe that you are looking for new, fresh experience and someone that can make those things happen, so thank you for your trust on november 3rd and december 1st, we hope the same outcome. >> ron: mr. hart, thank you very much. determined earlier by the coin toss, mr. hart, you get the first question. public safety always should be the city's top priority, the safety of its residents, visitors, tourists. waterloo, though, has had an endless series of shots fired incidents which also place local citizens in danger. we saw that with the wounding of young 4-year-old marshon glover a few months ago, being shot inside a home, another innocent victim. what is your specific plan to end this kind of violence in waterloo? >> hart: thank you for that question, ron. actually, speaking with the mother and the grandmother of

within our community, but when we take a look at crime and creating safer streets, which has been a platform from day one, number one, we have to work to build up trust between residents and law enforcement. because what we see in some situations is crimes are happening or shootings taking place where someone has been wounded, shot or something more severe has happened, and no one is willing to come forward and tell exactly what was seen. so we need to work together to learn to build that community trust between law enforcement, community. number two, we need to continue policing. right now, oftentimes when police come into neighborhoods, that's for an enforcement situation. but we need to take a look at a continuation of a holistic approach to being able to move our police officers, our peace officers within our community to help. also, what i'd like to tell people is that putting more

police on the street doesn't necessarily always solve crime. because a lot of young people in the community, i haven't heard one of them say when i grow up, i would like to be a criminal, but there are some things taking place within the home, within the psychology of the young people and people we have in this community that are deterring people in the wrong way. several years, we had many youth diversionary programs and through state fund, those programs and the funding of those programs to help change the lives of young people have been taken away from our community. so those challenges, but we need a holistic approach and we also need to understand that this impacts the entire community, from business people to our clergy to multiple people around this community, and we need to make sure that we engage all those community members to make a difference. and then also take a look at other special programs like within workforce diversionary

programs to put people back to work. but i have to say one point. several years ago while i was on council, myself and a few other council members, had to overturn a veto that our very own former mayor hurley had put in place to not hire more police officers at a time when our community was asking for them. >> ron: i'm going to cut you off on that. you did go a little bit long on your 60. mr. hurley, we're going to let you answer that question, your specific plan for dealing with these shots fired incidents. we know people know each other in a lot of cases, but it doesn't make the neighborhood any safer. >> hurley: first, on the veto, as much as i wanted more officers, i think somewhere do you want line after that veto in 2009, i cover said i told you so 100 -- could have said i told you so 100 sometimes because of the impact that had on the city

council and mayor to balance that budget. in terms of gun violence, gangs, drugs, the kind of negative things that we're all aware of, that's tearing at the fabric of our city right now and i'm not very patient with comparative, you know, cities or we're not chicago or this thing or that. it's hurting us, and it's hurting us in real ways in terms of, of parents not willing to let their children leave the house or sit by a window. it's hurting us in terms of, of visitors to our community. it's hurting in economic development and in our image, so in my view, there's a spectrum in the approach and what the city has to do, ron, you mentioned it, that's our number one task is the safety and welfare of our citizens.

to do that, and so that's where my initial emphasis will be to control it, corral it, stop it. stopping it completely, as clinton said, is probably an idealistic wish, but certainly to get it under control and i've talked with the chief of police recently, asked what he needed, let him know that if elected i'll have his back politically, but what did he need to do that job better, and it was more officers. and so -- and a few pieces of equipment. we both like the racine model, a model of community policing, so i'll do my best to, if elected, to help the chief out, but in the meantime, there is a side of it, of stemming the flow of this violence. you know, we have 100 to 150 kids dropping out of our high school now and sometimes those are the same kids that end up on the front page of the courier or

on the 6:00 news. so i want to form what i'm going to call the community safety alliance and that's going to be a collaborative effort to involve parents, principals, teachers, pastors, the police and law enforcement, prosecutors, city activists, community activists, elected officials, public and private social service agencies and business in a fight against initially the crime and violence, but then how do we stop it, how do we turn the tide, how do we keep our kids in school, how do we make safer neighborhoods. and so again, it's tearing at the fabric of our community right now and impacting us in so many ways, that that's got to be a first priority. >> ron: i want to continue this real quickly here. what you're talking about, you brought it up, the veto was a 4-3 vote. the council approved a grant through the office of community policing services known as the hire and recovery program back then to bring in five additional officers. the council then overrode the veto and those officers came on

board. so what did you mean when you said that was a -- you knew that was going to be a mistake? >> hurley: we couldn't afford it. we were looking at the quick gratification, the months and days just ahead and we weren't looking far enough down the line. it seem like in four of my six years in office there was a magic number every time the budget came along and we tried to repair it and that was 1.4. $1.4 million we were short in tax revenue to just maintain the things we had been doing the previous year. that's because the costs went up and inflation and that sort of thing, and so we were faced with those kinds of shortages, we were faced with real budget constraints, and i'd love to double the size of the police department, but we're not there. we're weren't in that place then

the budget did reflect the troubles of the cost of those dish officers. >> ron: mr. hart, you felt that the veto was a mistake -- or the veto -- >> hart: in in my vote and working with the other council people at the time thought it was a mistake as well. we can't put a price public safety. it's okay to talk about it now in lined sigh, but i've had a -- in hind sight, but i've had a record of working and engaging, working with the entire community from the business spectrum to folks in the community dealing with some of these challenges every day. >> ron: tim? >> jamison: i'm going to stick with public safety for a minute. talking with water and fire rescue. for the last couple years, station six, you never know whether it's going to be open or closed. you drive by one day, there's a sign outside saying station six is closed today. how big a priority it would be

for you to be sure that station is open full time? >> hurley: if you want to put my priorities in order, it's 1-a or 1-b. my first priority all along during this campaign is with public safety and law enforcement so we can address as quickly as possible the violence that goes on in our community. public safety umbrella certainly includes fire rescue, and i'll work very closely with director trelka and pat trelor to do everything we can to keep the fire stations open. the days of four people on a truck and those sort of things are probably well beyond where we're at in the budget right now. idealistically, it would be nice to have, but i would say that citizens in my first year in

continued brownouts in stations there. >> jamison: mr. hart? >> hart: one of the first meetings i sat in as mayor pro tem after former mayor hurley was out of office was to sit down and talk about one of the fire stations that were located in an area that had older housing stock and that was an area that was being browned out as well as another location as well. but if you take a look at this past year, current budget that i worked with council members to get approved, bringing back those public safety officials. we were able to bring back two police, we were able to bring back two firefighters so that we can make sure that we're not just talking about public safety, that we're actually trying to make a difference in that area. we also did that by making sure that we can actually pay for those positions to be in place, so haven't just been talking about it.

we've actually been there doing it and i stood to make sure that we can decrease the amount of brownouts as possible. i have a track record of doing this already. >> ron: any further comment on that? tim, you get the next question. >> jamison: shift gears a little bit. waterloo's property tax rate is higher than the surrounding cities. i don't think there's any argument about that. it's a subject of debate every time there's an election. a lot of people suggest we need to cut expenses to get that tax rate lower. others suggest that we need to encourage more development, lower the rate. where do you stand on that? >> hart: do i get first question? where do i stand on that? i think in regards to our taxes, it's been a school of two thoughts. one side of that school of thought, and especially with council members, that is we need to take a look at cutting our way out of it. another school of thought is we but without some type of compromise on both sides, we one

realize the reality of lowering our tax rate, which i believe is very important. i believe we need to form or continue to work with our efficiency task force to make sure that we're taking in some of those recommendations because cutting taxes is not just a "this year" job. it is a three- to five-year plan that we need to work towards to get to what was termed that magic number or the magic tax rate. if you take a look at this year in particular, we had a 1.38% tax increase, which was somewhat, somewhat moderate, but some people still were hurting or being able to afford to pay that. last year, there was a 1.47%. the prior year before that, there was a zero percent increase. if you take a look at the levy rate, which are numbers for every penny on our lever vi is $22,000. less year's levy rate, which i worked with the rest of the council, which is well documented, cut the levy rate by 19 cents, making it the second

lowest levy rate since 2001, and when we talk about levy rates, we're talking about our ability to be able to attract business, so we need to continue to be able to work that. also, if you take a look at the concurrent levy rates over the past several years, the last three years were lower, the levy rate was lower than any time within former mayor hurley's term, and so the tax rate is very important to a lot of people. we need to continue to duty positive work that we've been doing and -- do the positive work we've abouts doing and moving that direction to lowering our tax lever vi rate, but also making sure our taxes are affordable for citizens. but it's not just we're going to do it this year, we have to take a look overall. >> ron: mr. hurley. >> hurley: bottom line is i've always favored tax-based growth as a long-term way out of it.

tactical sort of yens and wishes to knock large amounts off of our tax levy rate, which is high. the long-term strategic way is to expand that tax base by bringing in new investment, new industry, by being careful about what -- how we tinker with tif, tax increment financing. how we do economic development. how we organize for that, how attractive we are to the outside industries and residents and home building and that sort of thing. so quentin is right. something like $22,300 as penny on our levy. if we wanted to match peter and paul, for instance, ron, six dollars lower, that's $14 million. and really, we have some hard times -- i've built or had a

part of eight budgets. i spearheaded the development of six of them. those budgets were, as far as levy rates, were well in line with the rate of inflation, and it's a balancing act. it's a tremendous balance act, and what the key is, is to find out, for those people who say our taxes are too hie, you got to reduce them, you got to reduce them f a dollar is a good reduction, that's over $2 million in property tax intake. so where do we cut? what services do you not want to have anymore? and so that's the balancing act. so while cost containment, watching the ebb and flow of everything, figuring out what the basic essentials are that the citizens have to have is very important. may emphasis will be as it has been and i was very successful

straight years of record growth in new building permit valuations, five out of the six years, we had record growth, so we need to turn this city around again, have that positive approach, have it as a place where people, businesses, and industry want to come and concludes to be. >> ron: okay. the early estimates are 50 to 200 million to repair the sewer system which is deteriorating and probably was the likely cause of the 2008 floods. what is your glan to fix that system -- plan to fix that system and also abide by the epa violations because the environmental protection agency is alleging that waterloo is in violation and will fine the city up to $170,000? >> hart: i think one of the great things that happened out of this tough situation is we -- that our finance department began saving for some of these situations already, because

in place which the epa was kind of favorable to those programs. but other cities across the state of iowa have had challenges with similar situations, but we developed the program and we've continuous to do scanning throughout our sewer systems. we put programs in place to deal with our fog system so that different restaurants and things have to watch what they do. so we put things in place that haven't been popular to a lot of people, but we've already began the preliminary work. now we just move towards working with an appointed director of waste management, mr. lapoint, who's there to make sure we continue to communicate with the citizens, which is what they were asking for, about the challenges. we've already placed money aside and we're going to continue to do that. yes, there may be some fee increases and some of those things to make sure that we meet our consent decree, but the city has started a couple years, once we found out or at least when it

situation was happening, to start putting together some money so we can make sure we address some of those issues. >> ron: mr. hurley. >> hurley: well, we had a fau similar problems in my term in the six years i recall of the epa pushing us, guiding us, threatening us in our operations out there and it was on a nitrate level or something. it's not important, but we had to spend a significant amount of money to put a device in the river joining the banks of the corporate city limits out by waste treatment to reduce the nitrates or chlorine or whatever it was at the time, and we did that. the irony or the fallacy of that project was you get 100 yards down river and all of that is back again. so dealing with the epa is

something i'm not volunteering for, but we've had our experience. and, you know, you asked about -- and i would give kudos to quentin and his work on the council and his support of the mayor and the deliberations and the negotiations that went on with the epa. we probably, as a city, took a bullet in the hip, you know, not life-threatening, but we dodged a cannonball through the agreement that was made, and so not having been very specifically involved in that during the last few years, i would continue the process, the project and the philosophy that's going on right now. you'll remember, ron, you mentioned the 2008 floods, and that was something that we're even working on today and it did

have a contributing factor, let alone record rains and tornadoes and that sort of thing and ground that was absolutely saturated. but when the -- the day the river crested, i got people from waste treatment, the flood control, engineering together and i said you know what? they call this a 500 year flood. we're not going to have to wait 5 hundred years, it would happen again next week, so our legacy is going to be how we hit gate it, how we prepare for the next one. you'll see all around town the lift stations that are being completed and built and that's part of the leadership i provided at that time to get that going and to gather the funds from state, federal and local sources. >> ron: you want to add something? >> hart: also want to mention, too, i was able to actually sit on one of the committees that worked with our engineering department to make sure that the same levees and the same monies we received from fema would become a reality, but i also

want to say, one of the challenges that we've had, just real quickly, is the communication and that's what people have been asking for. tim can attest to this. people wanted to know exactly what was happening with this whole epa situation, so regular updates by the mayor will be something that i will make sure that we put in place to communicate with our residents. >> ron: we'll come back with more here with the waterloo mayor candidates with a runoff election coming up december 1st. we'll be right back. also the show will be online in its stwiert on kwwl.com