Maintaining Momentum In Clive

Clive’s property tax rate is one of the lowest in the Metro and our Consolidated Tax Rate (school levy combined with the city’s tax levy) is THE lowest – meaning that as a resident of Clive, your total tax burden is the lowest in the Metro. And we’ve done this while keeping some of the highest quality municipal services in the Metro (e.g., snow plowing in the winter, well maintained parks). Trust me when I say… this does not happen by accident.

Supporting our first responders has always been a top priority in Clive. Our city Police, Fire, and EMS has received upgraded equipment (i.e., first city in the metro to outfit our police with body cameras), enhanced emergency response systems, and a new Public Safety Facility on Hickman Road built on time and under budget that will serve our community for the next 50 years! These efforts contribute to ensuring Clive is one of the safest places to live and raise a family in the Metro.

 Clive's invested heavily in updating and improving our road system.  And, yet, they're not nearly acceptable, especially in certain neighborhoods. When I was appointed in 2010, we spent over $1m annually to road repairs; last year we spent over $4m but due to inflation and various federal regulations, that money simply doesn't go far enough.  I am committed to do whatever it takes to expedite and enhance our road reconstruction and improvement to ensure we  have the road quality our  residents expect.

 As residents of Clive, we understand that we don’t live on an island; we live in a regional Metro area. Thus, it only makes sense to share combined services with surrounding communities in order to reduce costs and save taxpayer money. Examples like sharing a fire station with Urbandale (rather than build our own) in the NW sector of Clive, saves our residents over $1.3 million annually. And while this would seem like common sense, I can assure you it is not at all that common in government – even local government 

The Greenbelt continues to be the crown jewel of our community. As a city, we've invested heavily in maintaining our parks and trail system and have many future plans to continue this investment. The NW corridor, where the last remaining residential development will occur in Clive, will continue to see future planning and investment; and a new regional park called Greenbelt Landing (near the Aquatic Center) will set the standard in the Metro for a natural park and boardwalk.

The former police and fire station on Harbach Road is in the process of redesign and redevelopment into a wonderful new community amenity to help serve those in most need in our community. The new Harbach Center already includes a satellite library for those who cannot easily access our current library and will include a community center with recreational programming, community gatherings, and private events. Adjacent to Linnan Park, the additional opportunities for community use will be limitless.

The eastern portion of our city has seen its share of floods due to the confluence of Walnut Creek with Little Walnut Creek with homes and businesses experiencing repeated damage. The council put in place a voluntary flood buyout program to ensure the safety of those residents and businesses and to help prevent future flooding in the area. The program is not complete but has been extremely successful thus far and continues to gain momentum each year.

As Clive’s new development concludes, we must look at future redevelopment and investment into some of our older areas of town such as the business district along University Avenue (where the old Toys ’R’ Us was located); working with our neighbors in West Des Moines for the redevelopment of Valley West Mall; and for enhancing our neighborhoods surrounding the 86th Street corridor.

Having served for over 13 years on the Clive City Council, I have also proudly served on numerous regional boards & commissions. These include the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), a regional transportation planning board, where I’ve served on the Executive Team for over four years; & as a founding member of the ICON Water Trails Board of Directors, to help activate our rivers & creeks into a recreational amenity we can all enjoy.