Legislative Letters
City Manager's Office
City Hall
50 West 13th Street
Dubuque, Iowa 52001-4864
(563) 589-4110 office
(563) 589-4149 fax
(563) 690-6678 TDD
ctymgr@cityofdubuque.org
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~~~
March 8, 2006
VIA FAX and
1 sl Class Mail
202-224-6020
The Honorable Charles Grassley
U.S. Senate
135 Senate Hart Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Grassley:
We need your help in restoring funding to the Community Development Block Grant
(CDBG) Program. Please consider including language during the mark-up of the FY07
Budget Resolution that would provide $4.3 billion in formula funding to support the
CDBG program.
The Administration's FY07 budget cuts the formula funding for CDBG by approximately
25%. Moreover, the formula funding has been cut by 15% in the last two years alone.
Communities in Iowa, and across the country, cannot continue to sustain cuts to the
program. CDBG has served communities for 30 years as a resource to help cities,
counties, and States meet their community development, affordable housing, and
economic development needs. The program's funding is in serious trouble and we ask
you to help restore the formula funding to at least $4.3 billion in FY07.
In the City of Dubuque, CDBG funds numerous programs that assist low and moderate
income persons. Last year alone, CDBG funds assisted 99 owner-occupied residential
housing units with rehabilitation, rehabbed 14 rental units, helped 3 first time
homeowners to buy a home and created 20 new jobs. Over 6500 people received
services funded with CDBG, including recreation programs, vocational training for at-
risk youth, group therapy for the mentally ill, summer reading programs, and programs
for the elderly. Neighborhood and community development programs provided for a
variety of neighborhood services and improvements, sidewalk and accessible curb
Service
People
Integritv
Responsibilitv
Innovation
Teamwork
The Honorable Charles Grassley
March 8, 2006
Page 2
ramps, improvements in neighborhood parks, historic preservation and neighborhood
support grants.
With the proposed reduction of the program, we will no longer be able to fund the same
level of services and programs. Fewer low and moderate-income citizens will be
assisted. These cuts directly affect the local economy, as they translate into reduced
private investment that is fueled by CDBG funding. In short, the CDBG program is an
effective Federal domestic program which allows Dubuque to revitalize our community
with proven results.
We ask you to support the CDBG program in FY07 by including language in the Budget
Resolution to provide a funding level of $4.3 billion in formula funding for the program.
Sincerely,
(l1~~~
Michael C. Van Milligen
City Manager
MCVM:at
City Manager' 5 Office
City Hall
50 West 13th Street
Dubuque, Iowa 52001-4864
(563) 589-4110 office
(563) 589-4J49 fax
(563) 690-6678 TDD
ctymgr@cityofdubuque.org
DIUOB~~E
~~~
March 8, 2006
VIA E-mail and
1st Class Mail
Governor Tom Vilsack
Governor's Office
State Capitol
Des Moines, IA 50319
Dear Governor Vilsack,
The Dakota, Minnesota, and Eastern Railroad Corporation (DM & E) is trying to get
federal permission to extend their rail line to Wyoming to haul coal. They would add 34
trains per day (17 each way) going through Rochester, Minnesota.
It is our understanding that the City of Rochester is trying to get the Federal
Government to redirect the trains through Mason City to Marquette, through Dubuque,
down to Clinton and across the Mississippi. If this were to occur it would greatly
jeopardize Dubuque's Riverfront Development.
Over the past several years, the City of Dubuque in partnership with other public and
private entities, have invested $188 million to acquire land and redevelop the Port of
Dubuque. Due to this investment, our community has become known as the
"Masterpiece on the Mississippi". We are now beginning the second phase of the Port
redevelopment which we anticipate to leverage another $200 million and will include an
expansion of the National Mississippi River Museum. Based on the initial investment
and on our future plans, I'm sure you can understand the City's concern with a proposal
to relocate this coal transport route.
Service
l~eople
Integrity
Responsibility
Irmovation
Teamwork
Governor Tom Vilsack
March 8, 2006
Page 2
Any help you can provide us to prevent this transport through our downtown and
redeveloped Port of Dubuque would be appreciated.
Sincerely,
flN~ ~fi~
Michael C. Van Milligen
City Manager
MCVM:dh
Enclosure
cc: Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Barry Lindahl, Corporation Counsel
David Heiar, Economic Development Director
htlp:! /news. postbu Iletin.com/newsmanaqer/templates/local news stOry .asp? a =2483 78
Austin, Iowa not thrilled with 'ultimate bypass'
Thu, Feb 23, 2006
By Jeffrey Pieters
The Post-Bulletin
From Rochester's perspective, a rail line through Iowa looks like the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad's "ultimate bypass."
But government leaders in cities lying along the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern Railroad in Iowa say they'd be just as opposed to increased, high-
speed coal traffic as Rochester has been.
"We already have umpteen coal trains a day coming through this town, along with other (train) traffic," said Pat McGarvey, interim city
administrator in Mason City, Iowa. 'We've had to get accustomed to what's here, to the cost of $5 million" for a new street overpass,
opened last August.
McGarvey bristled at the suggestion that Rochester and its congressional delegation might broker a compromise with the railroad,
requiring it to divert coal traffic, up to an additional 34 trains per day~ onto the IC&E line.
"Sounds like we need to get our congressional delegation out there brokering a compromise,N McGarvey said.
Rochester has suggested the ICaE bypass requirement be made a condition of granting a $2.5 biUion federal railroad construction loan.
DMaE needs the money to upgrade its line and extend it 260 miles into Wyoming, where the railroad intends to meet coal mines in the
Powder River Basin region and haul the coal east.
Rochester has been at the forefront of groups fighting the project, increased traffic from which, they say, would cause vast harm to Mayo
Clinic and the overall Rochester economy, affect public safety and diminish quality of tife for those living near the tracks.
Rerouting trains
Routing trains from the DMaE line onto the IC&E line, at Owatonna, would spare Rochester that traffic. But others farther down that line
have economic concems of their own.
Mike Van Milligan, city administrator in Dubuque, said his city has spent $200 miUion redeveloping its riverfront in recent years.
'The access to the riverfront area is over this railline,N he said. "Increasing the magnitude of train traffic by 34 trains would severely limit
the return on investment."
"We'd be strongly opposed" to imposing more traffic on the ICaE line, Van Milligan said.
Effect on cities
In Austin, City Administrator Jim Hurm said, "I don't think we'd be any more happy about it (coal train traffic) than folks in Rochester are.
... There would be no advantage for Austin. It would be backing traffic and on, and on, and on."
In Mason City, added traffic on the ICaE might be able to bypass the city on existing tracks. But other lines cross through the center of
the city, McGarvey said, passing within five blocks of the downtown core, three blocks from a medical complex and two blocks from a
new surgery center.
Existing coal-train traffic, on the Union Pacific line, amounts to 15 to 20 trains per day, McGarvey said. That traffic has not devastated
the town, he said, but neither is the city eager to add more trains.
"The track is probably as fine as you can find in the country," he said, The line consists of welded rail, such as what is proposed through
Rochester, the engines run more quietly than one would expect, and the trains slow down as they pass through the city, he said.
The city, with help from the Iowa Department of Transportation, raised $5 million over the course of several years to build one overpass.
If train traffic increased significantly on the IC&E line, the city would have to build perhaps two more interchanges.
'The folks of .M.ason City are not interested in solving a new problem to the tune of $12 million to $13 million," McGarvey said.
Rochester's risks greatest, officials say
In a news conference on Wednesday, Rochester-area public officiats and representatives of Mayo Clinic said they consider the potential
harms in Rochester likely greater than they would be anywhere on the line further south.
'There really is no equivalent situation," said Dr. Glenn Forbes, Mayo's CEO.
And Olmsted County Board Chairman Ken Brown said, 'There are no other big cities that are impacted by this. N
When asked whether they'd been in contact with any of those cities, officials gave no indication that they had.
Kevin Schieffer, DM&E's president and CEO, said Rochester's concerns over train traffic levels are perhaps overblown.
"It all boits down to this h speculation," he said. "It's impossible to predict."
He said, however, that it is likely that a share of the eastbound traffic would leave the line at points west of Rochester. How many trains
leave the line could not be quantified, and Schieffer declined to describe likely destinations.
The federal Surface Transportation Board's Section of Environmental Analysis, in its 2000 review of the project, identlfied two coal-train
interchange points west of Rochester, in Mankato and Owatonna. DM&E has been specifically prohibited from using the Owatonna
interchange, where the DM&E tine meets the IC&E, for coal trains until after further environmental review is completed.
City officials believe the primary intent of DM&E's project is to deliver coal to Eastern markets, and they do not expect coal tramc would
diminish much as it approaches and finally passes through Rochester.
Post-Bulletin Reporter Roxana Orellana contributed to this article.
City Manager's Office
City Hall
50 West 13th Street
Dubuque, Iowa 52001-4864
(563) 589-4110 office
(563) 589-4149 fax
(563) 690-6678 TOO
ctymgr@cityofdubuque.org
THE CITY OF (~
I)uBuQtJI~
~~~
4
March 3, 2006
VIA FAX and
1st Class Mail
202-226-5051
The Honorable Jim Nussle
U.S. House of Representatives
303 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-1502
Dear Representative Nussle:
We need your help in r!'lstoring funding to the Community Development Block Grant
(CDBG) Program. We urge you to include language in your manager's amendment
during the mark-up of the FY07 Budget Resolution that would provide $4.5 billion in
formula funding to support the CDBG program.
The Administration's FY07 budget cuts the formula funding for CDBG by approximately
25%. Moreover, the formula funding has been cut by 15% in the last two years alone.
Communities in Iowa, and across the country, cannot continue to sustain cuts to the
program. CDBG has served communities for 30 years as a resource to help cities,
counties, and States meet their community development, affordable housing, and
economic development needs. The program's funding is in serious trouble and we ask
you to help restore the formula funding to at least $4.5 billion in FY07.
In the City of Dubuque, CDBG funds numerous programs that assist low and moderate
income persons. Last year alone, CDBG funds assisted 99 owner-occupied residential
housing units with rehabilitation, rehabbed 14 rental units, helped 3 first time
homeowners to buy a home and created 20 new jobs. Over 6500 people received
services funded with CDBG, including recreation programs, vocational training for at-
risk youth, group therapy for the mentally ill, summer reading programs, and programs
for the elderly. Neighborhood and community development programs provided for a
variety of neighborhood services and improvements, sidewalk and accessible curb
ramps, improvements in neighborhood parks, historic preservation and neighborhood
support grants.
Service
People
Integrity
Responsibility
Innovation
Teamwork
,
The Honorable Jim Nussle
March 3, 2006
Page 2
With the proposed reduction of the program, we will no longer be able to fund the same
level of services and programs. Fewer low and moderate-income citizens will be
assisted. These cuts directly affect the local economy, as they translate into reduced
private investment that is fueled by CDSG funding. In short, the CDSG program is an
effective Federal domestic program which allows Dubuque to revitalize our community
with proven results.
We ask you to support Iowa's communities by supporting the CDSG program in FY07
by including language in your manager's amendment to provide a funding level of $4.5
billion in formula funding for the program. Please feel free to call me with any questions.
Sincerely,
(l1~ L{v~fJ7JL
Michael C. Van Milligen
City Manager
MCVM:at
cc: David Harris, Housing and Community Development Department Director
March 14,2006
VIA Email and
1 st Class Mail
<<Email>>
<<CompleteOFFICIALName _Address>>
Re: HF 2712 - Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP)
Dear <<Title>> <<Last>>,
I am writing to encourage you to vote no to HF 2712 and its companion bill SF 2265
regarding the establishment of a deferred retirement option plan (DROP) for the
Municipal Fire Police Retirement System. These bills would expand the level of benefits
provided under the 411 system while requiring cities to bear all of the additional risk to
sustain the 411 system. The State must first address a more equitable distribution of
contribution rates among participating parties before providing an expansion of benefits
- benefits that are not needed for the recruitment of police and fire employees.
Since fiscal year 2003, the City of Dubuque's contribution to the retirement system for
police officers and firefighters has increased by over 66% going from 17% of wages to
28.21 % of wages in fiscal year 2006. This has resulted in $1,210,203 in additional
annual cost to the City's contribution to the police officer and firefighter retirement
system. However, the contribution rate for police officers and firefighters of 9.35% of
wages has remained unchanged since Fiscal Year 1997.
Please vote no to HF 2712 and its companion bill SF 2265 which will again
disproportionately increase contribution rates made by cities to the Municipal Police and
Fire Retirement System.
Thank you for your continued efforts to works with cities.
Sincerely,
Michael C. Van Milligen
City Manager
MCVM:cs
Cc: Mayor Roy D. Buol
Dubuque City Council
Susan Judkins, Director of Governmental Affairs, Iowa League of Cities
Barry Lindahl, Corporation Counsel
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Dawn Lang, Budget Director
Randy Peck, Personnel Manager
The Honorable Pam Jochum
House Chamber
Iowa Capitol Building
Des Moines, IA 50319
The Honorable Steve Lukan
House Chamber
Iowa Capitol Building
Des Moines, IA 50319
The Honorable Pat Murphy
House Chamber
Iowa Capitol Building
Des Moines, IA 50319
The Honorable Ray Zirkelbach
House Chamber
Iowa Capitol Building
Des Moines, IA 50319
The Honorable Thomas
Schueller
House Chamber
Iowa Capitol Building
Des Moines, IA 50319