Background Information
The city of Marion is located in Eastern Iowa and is one of the nine cities
in this project. For more detailed information about the city, please go to:
community.marion.ia.us.
In fall 2000, the city administration expressed interest in the concept of citizen-initiated performance assessment. Later, the mayor, city council, and a group of citizen representatives also gave support to the concept and decided to participate in the project.
Beginning in May 2001, the city of Marion will attempt to implement citizen-initiated
performance assessment in selected public services, and evaluate whether it
may expand the mechanism to other services in the future. This information
sheet is intended to give citizen representatives who participate in the project
some background information about the operation and major responsibilities
of the Marion city government.
Governing Structure
As of 2001, the following are the members of the city council:
Mayor Victor Klopfenstein, Julie Speral, Mary Lou Pazour, Walt Cram, Paul Rehn, Kay Lammers and John Nieland.
The city council appoints the city manager, Jeff Schott, who provides managerial assistance to the council in the daily operation of the city government . The city council also appoints various boards and commissions, such as the public service board, the priorities advisory board and the e-government task force to help with the governance of the city.
Major Responsibilities of the City Government
The city government is responsible for four major public service areas:
1. Community Protection (per-capita spending in FY2001: $198)
Police, fire, traffic safety, street lighting, and animal control.
2. Home and Community Development (per-capita spending in FY2001: $353)
Building inspection, engineering (which maintains the city infrastructure),
road use, sewer, solid waste, storm water management, and cemetery.
3. Human Development (per-capita spending in FY2001: $82)
Library, park and recreation, the arts council, community center and swimming
pool.
4. Policy and Administration (per-capita spending in FY2001: $51)
City manager's office, finance, and other administrative functions.
Citizen Performance Team
The following citizens are the members of the citizen performance team:
Joann Dillon, Bill Jones, Steve Kenny, Darlene Lerch, Bob Burkhart, Sean
Francke, Jim Johnston, Natalie Klies, Jay Moore, Paul Rehn, Mary Sweeney,
Paul Supple,
Richard Bice, Mark Morgan, Tom Padley, Tom Newbanks, Jeff Schott, David Kroeger
and Karen Didio
These people are responsible for developing performance measures for the Iowa CIPA project.