Ia great places legis letter
January 12, 2007
«CompleteLOCALName_Address»
Dear «Title» «Last»,
In November 2006 the City of Dubuque was designated an Iowa Great Place by
the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. Included in our application was a request
for $900,000 in funding to go toward the Envision 2010 projects. This $900,000 in
funding would leverage over $11 million in additional funding for the Envision
2010 projects included in our application. This includes funding for projects such
as the Crescent Community Health Center, Library Renovation and Warehouse
District renovation to name a few.
A total of $3 million in vertical infrastructure funds is earmarked to be distributed
to the six new Iowa Great Places communities. However, this earmark must be
confirmed by the State Legislator. To date we have not received word on how
much funding the City of Dubuque will receive. This is due in part because state
staff is waiting for additional direction from the State Legislator regarding the
distribution of funds, beginning July 1, 2007.
Based upon this information, I am writing to request your support for the following
suggestions to be approved by the State Legislator during the 2007 Legislative
Session:
1. Allowing feasibility studies to be a valid reimbursable expense. Currently
feasibility studies are not considered a reimbursable expense due to the
restrictions on spending for Vertical Infrastructure Funds. However,
feasibility studies are critical to several of the projects identified in
Dubuque’s application as well as the applications of other communities.
Feasibility studies are a critical step to insure that a project is not over- or
under- designed. This is part of a vertical infrastructure process.
2. Preference for grant requests submitted by Iowa Great Places
communities. Each of the Iowa Great Places communities has identified
many stakeholders and partnerships to implement their project and will
result in the leveraging of additional investment for the State of Iowa. In
«Title» «First» «Last»
January 11, 2007
Page 2
Dubuque alone, our $900,000 in Iowa Great Places funding will leverage a
minimum of over $11 million in funding. In addition, these projects are
either in progress or soon to be implemented and have a completion date
of 2010. Fiscal responsibility, timeliness of implementation and overall
impact are important considerations for grant funding. The Iowa Great
Places communities have all three of these characteristics and deserve
preferential consideration for grant funds.
3. Finalize funding for the six new Iowa great places communities. We
recommend the State Legislator provide funding for a minimum $3 million
as originally intended. However, we would ask the State Legislator to
consider funding the full amount of requests from the six new Iowa Great
Places communities ($5.3 million). This would be in line with the $1 million
each that the pilot Iowa Great Places communities received in 2005.
Thank you for your continued support of important programs such as Iowa Great
Places.
Sincerely,
Michael C. Van Milligen
City Manager
MCVM:cs
cc: Mayor Roy Buol
Dubuque City Council
Barry Lindahl, City Attorney
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Molly Grover, Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce President & CEO
Nancy Van Milligen, Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque
President & CEO
The Honorable Mike Connolly The Honorable Tom Hancock
Iowa State Senator Iowa State Senator
2600 Renaissance Dr #3 310 E Main Street
Dubuque, IA 52001 Epworth, IA, 52045
The Honorable Roger Stewart The Honorable Pam Jochum
Iowa State Senator Iowa State Representative
3936 317 Avenue 2368 Jackson
Preston, IA 52069 Dubuque, IA 52001
The Honorable Pat Murphy The Honorable Thomas Schueller
Iowa State Representative Iowa State Representative
155 N. Grandview Avenue 503 W. Platt Street
Dubuque, IA 52001 Maquoketa, IA 52060
The Honorable Steven Lukan The Honorable Ray Zirkelbach
Iowa State Representative Iowa State Representative
7365 Columbus Street 637 W. First Street
New Vienna IA 52065 Monticello, IA 52310