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LT City Council Candidates
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It is election time again. Lone Tree has three city council seats up for contention. There are four individuals vying for the spots, Kice Brown, Alyssa Coppinger, Todd Hayes and Helen Lemley. The Lone Tree Reporter recently submitted a list of 5 questions to each candidate to answer as they would. Here are the answers we received. If you have any further questions please contact the candidates for further clarification.
1) How long have you been a member of the Lone Tree community and what are your current roles and activities here?
Lemley: My family and I moved to Lone Tree from Iowa City in September 1977. We were looking for a small community to raise our family of four. We checked out many places and Lone Tree had the look and feel we were looking for.
I am an active member of the United Presbyterian Church here in Lone Tree where I serve on the session and worship committee. I help with the financial department as record keeper. I have been an active member of ELAN Women's Group since 2004. We meet every third Monday of the month during the school year. We are always looking for ways to volunteer our time to raise money to put back into the community. I helped get the "Art in the Tree" started during the Chamber of Commerce Fall Festival, also with the help of all the members of ELAN we started a "Cake/Goodie Walk" which we hope will be an annual event. I have been on the Lone Tree City Council for the past 4 years. In March of this year I started making plans for a Farmers Market - I took my ideas to city council and received the green light. After a lot of research and discussions with other market managers and the market specialist in Des Moines we decided Tuesday would be a great time for a market as there would be a lot of people in town for the traditional taco night at Karen's. I work with different groups in the community and school through the market to help them raise funds for their programs. We had a very successful "1st Annual Chili Cook-off" and I am working on a "1st Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest". I assisted in creating the new look for the city website. I gathered all the information and I keep the website updated. This is a work in progress and hopefully I will get it done in the very near future.
Coppinger: I grew up in Lone Tree and attended K-12 here. I have been back in the community for 11 years. My husband & I are raising our family here. I am involved in supporting the Lone Tree Community School extracurricular activities by attending events and helping out with fundraisers. I am re-activating my membership with ELAN Women's Group.
Hayes: 12 years
Brown: I moved from a farmhouse southeast of Iowa City to a farmhouse south of River Junction in 1980 and stayed there for about 6 years, driving in weekends to Lone Tree to dine at Pat & Dean's (& its successors) and to do my laundry. I then purchased my current home on Pioneer Road (the path I'd usually take into town).
2) Why did you decide to run for this office?
Coppinger: I have spent most of my life in this community and have a vested interest in it. I would like to have an opportunity to be a part of the future of the town in a positive way.
Hayes: I believe I can help this town with my 14 years experience in new development and using my common sense to make good decisions that is good for the people.
Brown: I began attending Council meetings to get a feeling for the community's civic issues, and when, in the 1990s, a Councilmember moved out of town, Councilmember Pat Less asked me to apply to finish that Councilmember's term. Among the lessons I took from my 8th grade Civics class at Monte Vista School in Phoenix was the understanding that for the benefits we receive by living in this democratic republic we should give back some service. A couple of years later, our new president, John Kennedy, rephrased that challenge in his inauguration address. I believe the level of government that is closest to the citizenry is the municipal, and I quickly applied for the opportunity to serve on Lone Tree's City Council. I was appointed to the council and subsequently elected to serve a full term, after which I decided not to run for re-election.
But early this century another Councilmember moved out of town, and this time the position remained vacant for many months. Believing that the Council's functioning with a long-term vacant seat could not best serve the common weal of the Lone Tree community, I volunteered to serve and was again appointed to the Council. Subsequently, I've been re-elected twice, and definitely would appreciate Lone Tree citizen's votes to elect me to serve a 3rd post-2000 term on the City Council.
Lemley: I have been on the council for the past four years. During this time I have been trying hard to learn the ropes about city government. I still have a lot to learn, however I feel I have come a long way. I have helped in securing two grants for first time home buyers. These grants do not have anything to do with the latest grants received by the developers for flood victims. We are working hard at improving our streets and at the same time watching our budget very closely. There are things I would like to see happen. I would like for our community to come together and be a part of Main Street Iowa. This is a program that provides so many opportunities for small rural communities. The networking possibilities to help stimulate the economy are not as readily available without a group like Main Street Iowa. There are grants available to rural communities only through Main Street Iowa.
3) What do you appreciate most about Lone Tree?
Hayes: The people and the school, I believe our school is one of the best there is. My son has been going there from kindergarten to 9th Grade. I can say that the teachers that have been teaching there are the best that you can have. This town is full of nice people, I don't think you can go through this town with out someone waving or saying hello.
Brown: Most of my life I have chosen to live in places in which or from which I could quickly "get away." In Phoenix a half-hour bike ride took me to the desert; in Grand Haven Michigan in 10 minutes I'd be up in the dunes. It's no surprise that in my years living in Johnson County (since about 1970) I've drifted away from the congestion of "the corridor" to Lone Tree, situated in the County's "panhandle." But although not being part of "the corridor" is among what I appreciate most about Lone Tree (together with the sense of community here), with that solitude come both benefits and costs.:
Lemley: What I appreciate most about Lone Tree are the people who make up our community. I appreciate that we have a top rated school system. I appreciate people who can tell you what they think but still be your friend.
Coppinger: I appreciate that Lone Tree is small, safe community to raise a family. We have an excellent school system and great people that really care and pull together in times of need. I appreciate that we have a lot of viable business right here in Lone Tree.
4) What are the most important issues facing Lone Tree?
Brown: These then are what I perceive as the most important issues facing our community: the solitude and independence degenerating into isolation and negligence, and a need to respond specifically to that, and also the need for citizenry, council and mayor together to seek wise and frugal solutions to all the varied issues that will arise in the coming years.
Lemley: We have several important issues facing Lone Tree. One is water run-off problems. Two is side streets. Third on my list is the disconnected subdivision from the community.
Hayes: Growth, good streets, the lack of communication and sharing info with the public and lack of things for our kids to do.
Coppinger: I believe the side streets in Lone Tree are a major issue as well as safe routes to school. Continuing to promote growth for the town and move forward with issues that have been ongoing; such as connecting Perkins Street to the new development on the north side of town.
Hayes: Growth, good streets, the lack of communication and sharing info with the public, lack of things for are kids to do.
5) How do you propose to address the most important issues facing Lone Tree?
Lemley: We need to look into the water problems throughout the community and come up with a solution. Daugherty Park needs to have a plan to divert water without disturbing the aesthetics of the park.
Lone Tree as a city cannot put in a street to attach subdivisions...this is the responsibility of each developer, however we can work with the developer to get the lots sold so they will have the funds to complete their street work.
Coppinger: Money needs to be set aside for particular projects such as streets. With new growth in the community we need to be sure we have safe routes into the community and to school. Lone Tree can work with the land developers to get the properties sold to help facilitate getting the roads put in.
Hayes: I propose the city helps with connecting Perkins street to the subdivision by highway 22. This will make it grow with new homes and new business, in return it will bring more tax dollars in.
I think we need to start thinking with our heads instead of with our desires when it comes to
fixing our streets. I don't think $625,000 on two city blocks is smart, at the last council meeting Kice Brown voted no on this project because of the price tag. Helen Lemley voting yes, we don't know how her daughter candidate Alysa Coppinger feels on this project, but most of the businesses down town thinks the city needs to work on the side street and I agree.
I think with fundraising, city help and Iowa grants we can build a new park with swimming pool and ballfields. We have the land and some hard work and positive thinking we can do this for are kids.
When the city is going to do projects they should be able to tell the public how it's going to pay for it. On the $625,000 project they can't tell us how or how long it will take to pay for it or will it keep us from doing other streets. That's why I think all info should be laid out to the public so a smart decision can be made by all. I ask on Nov 3, 2009 that you vote for me and if I get elected I will work hard to get these things done. thank you.
Brown: While we on the Council function together mainly as the citizens' representatives in the City's legislative body, individual Councilmembers also perform as unofficial Lone Tree ambassadors or lobbyists representing our citizens' interests to county, state and federal levels of government. And we need to be squeaky wheels. Furthermore, with the governor's across the board 10% cut of state finances, the Council will have to be extra dutifully cost-conscious and vigilant in the budgetary process -- and likely extra loud squeaky wheels.
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©The Lone Tree Reporter 2009
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