Background Information
The city of Urbandale is located in Central Iowa and is one of the nine cities in the Iowa CIPA project. For more detailed information about the city, please go to: www.urbandale.org.
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 Urbandale will attempt to implement citizen-initiated performance assessment in selected public services, and assess 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 Urbandale city government.
Governing Structure
As of 2001, the following are members of the city council:
Mayor Brad Zaun, Bob Andeweweg, Phil Noah, Susann Siebke, John Forst and Don Brush.
The city council appoints the city manager, Bob Layton, who provides managerial
assistance to the council in the daily operation of the city government. The
city council also appoints various boards and commissions to help the governance
of the city.
Major Responsibilities of the City Government
The city government is responsible for four major areas of public services:
1. Community Protection (per-capita spending in FY2001: $161)
Police, fire, traffic safety, street lighting, and animal control
2. Home and Community Development (per-capita spending in FY2001: $166)
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: $134)
· Library, park and recreation, the arts council, community center and
swimming pool
4. Policy and Administration (per-capita spending in FY2001: $52)
City manager's office, finance, and other administrative functions
Citizen Performance Team
The following citizens are the members of the citizen performance team:
Todd Walker, Bill Lawson, Sue Gallagher, Liz Hodgson, Lee Kane, Dale Readinger, Jeff Keisler, Susann Siebke, Sara Broek, Julie Kroll
They are responsible for developing performance measures for the Iowa CIPA project.