MASON CITY – City Councilman Travis Hickey had two big points in 2009 as he campaigned for City Council: Quieting loud trains in the city, and “jobs jobs jobs”.
As the trains continue to blare their horns day and night in the city with no end in sight, Mr. Hickey touts his record of job creation as a council member. He told the Globe Gazette this week that he has “worked to bring productive jobs to our community with Cerro Gordo County and Clear Lake” as a “member” of the North Iowa corridor / EDC.
Mr. Hickey regularly would chant his catchphrase “jobs jobs jobs” at council meetings earlier in his tenure on the council. He uses that phrase less and less, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t zeroed in on the concept.
However, some have questioned Mr. Hickey about his commitment to the working men and women in Mason City. He has been an out-spoken critic of overtime by police officers and fire fighters in town, and helped lead the charge for privatizing the City’s Sanitation Department, which failed.
Mr. Hickey was a proponent of a trash-burning plant that would have brought about 50 jobs, supposedly, to Mason City at a location near the Newman Daycare. Most of the jobs were set to be trash sorters. Some questioned how long those jobs would last, as plenty of technology exists to mechanize the trash-sorting process.
As a member of the North Iowa Corridor, Mr. Hickey has said publicly “I’m privy to inside information” from the agency but refuses to answer questions from the public about the Corridor and any progress the agency is making towards luring jobs that pay a wage that a family can support itself on. The Corridor, with little or no track record over the last five years of recruiting any new industry to Mason City despite taking $750,000 in taxpayer funds from City Hall, now says it focuses as much on “retention” of existing jobs as it does bringing new jobs to the area.
At this time, the North Iowa Corridor has hung its hat on the recruitment of WS Live to Mason City; a call center outfit which replaced the out-going call center IC System. Some have said no new jobs were created; these jobs simply replace jobs Mason City just lost… there was no net gain. Mr. Hickey and the rest of the City Council recently touted the $9.50 per hour jobs in celebratory fashion and told the North Iowa Corridor it had “exceeded expectations”.
At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Mr. Hickey questioned a Pappajohn official who was making a presentation about the controversial Micro Enterprise program. He asked the official how many jobs the Micro Enterprise program was responsible for creating in Mason City. The official told Mr. Hickey that the program has not created any jobs. City taxpayers have spent over $22,000 on the program so far; some of the funds were spent outside of Mason City, which violates the terms of the program. Some of the funds were spent on sidewalks at a business where the owner is now selling the property. Also, some of the funds were spent on candy and junk food despite the Blue Zone status and City Hall initiative towards a Blue Zone.
See video where Councilman Travis Hickey asks Pappajohn official how many jobs Micro Enterprise program created:
httpv://youtu.be/eRWCD2ti_gc
Travis Hickey faces a pro-labor Mason City citizen at a labor picnic in 2012:
@Joe Dirt, you should be ashamed of yourself.
Joe Dirt, leave my father out of this. Travis would NEVER do anything like to get revenge on the sanitation department. My dad has not been with the city for atleast 15 years and has been deceased for almost 9. So don’t you dare bring up sh-t you know nothing about.
Come on people – no matter who you elect to city council, they are not able to do much about jobs. Even though a candidate might use the phrase jobs, jobs, jobs – in actual fact the city has virtually no ability to attract new business and jobs above and beyond that of its competitors.
It does no good to focus on this in determining who would make a good council member.
Anyone who tells you different is clueless.
@4ever49-I completely disagree with you on this issue. The council (and the mayor) can and do apply pressure to businesses as does the Chamber of Commerce. It was well known around town that McNider controlled the wages in this town so he wouldn’t have to pay any more. They were real happy when the packing house closed down as it was one of the few places that paid a decent wage. It is in the interest of the retailers to keep the wages down and the retailers are controlled by the council and chamber. Anyone who thinks different is clueless.
LVS – just what kind of “pressure” do you think council & mayor can use on businesses? The Chamber is strictly voluntary and has no leverage in my opinion. For the city to “pressure” a business differently than any other business will open the city (& us taxpayers) to an expensive lawsuit plus create a poor image in the minds of any prospective business looking to relocate here.
Having dealt with many retailers over the years it is a misconception to think council & chamber are players in keeping wages down. Retail wages are typically lower than other sectors (like manufacturing, etc.) because the skill set is lower.
@4ever49-just what do you think money is if not pressure? We put up 150K a year in incentive. They have control over all of the zoning and can offer or take away all kinds of incentives. Look what they did for Harley and the hospital where they gave them a whole street with the infastructure. They can waive taxes for years through T.I.F. (and they do)If that is not pressure or the ability to apply pressure I don’t know what is.
LVS – council’s ability to offer incentives and make zoning changes are usually viewed as positive incentives, not pressure. The recipient has to voluntarily make application, be approved and then live up to a development agreement before realizing the benefit.
Pressure is government leaning on a business through regulations and tax code – which must be applied to same to all in a given business or income level.
@4ever49-are you trying to tell me that they can’t withhold zoning to apply pressure. If you are I don’t believe that. Do you think zoning wasn’t a threat in the Mercy deal or could have been in the Harley deal. At the very least it was payoff for favortism. You need to move into the real world.
LVS – having been involved in multiple zoning & rezoning actions in multiple states over 30 years I do know quite a bit about its uses.
Just how do you think zoning was used as a “threat” in either case?
“in actual fact the city has virtually no ability to attract new business and jobs above and beyond that of its competitors.”
Why are we giving away $150,000 every year to small business to buy Imac’s and inventory?
Hi. A correction here. Mason City gives $150,000 each year (some years in the past it was different) to the North Iowa Corrdior, which is failing to bring new industry and high-paying jobs to Mason City. The outfit has 4 employees, and no one besides those four people know what they do all day long. They pay Robin Anderson’s Chamber of Commerce $26,000 each year to rent an office in her Commerce Center.
The City has paid over $22,000 so far to the Micro Enterprise program, a partnership with NIACC’s Pappajohn Center. $10,000 was start-up costs to Pappajohn and the City must also pay a 10% fee to Pappajohn for any dollars that go to the participating businesses; NIACC is doing well on this one, which is why NIACC Board member John Rowe chastised truth-telling City Council member John Lee for putting the program on the last council agenda for explanations for this behavior: One business used city taxpayer dollars to buy a product from a Forest City business, a violation of the programs terms. The same business has bought candy, popcorn and other junk food with taxpayer dollars despite the City spending undisclosed thousands of dollars to make Mason City a healthy Blue Zone. Another business bought new sidewalks and a driveway and then a few months later announced the building is for sale. Rowe has revealed himself as another Bookmeyer crony who wants to protect his own interests, and as a NIACC Board member he wants to keep this gravy train from City Hall to Pappajohn flowing.
I also disagree. The council and mayor can offer incentives, vote to rezone areas of town, abate local property taxes, etc for companies to make it affordable to offer jobs or to relocate and expand to offer more jobs. Look at IC System, even though they didn’t hold up their end of the deal, the offer was made…. To say that they can’t help at all, is not accurate.
As can every other town. Where is the advantage?
@ 4ever49 I also stronly disagree with your statement… “Come on people – no matter who you elect to city council, they are not able to do much about jobs.”
Cedar Falls has it’s own Utility, CFU, (Electric,TV and Internet service, they didn’t go into phone and that was smart on their part as well.)They have Fiber Optictics built in the industrial Park and almost every home in Cedar Falls. They offer up to 1GB speeds and you can only get that in a a hand full of Cities in the country. The pricing is very competitive and the industial park is full and still growing. (Avenue of the Saints connection just like us.) I would invite you and the Mason City Council to drive through that industrial park and take a look, it will wake you up the jobs we could have here.
John – should Mason City then force Alliant and Mediacom into negotiations to buy out the infrastructure they own? How much do you think that would cost? Maybe we could refuse to renew their franchise agreements and then build our own infrastructure – how much would that cost & do you think we have or can find the talent to run it?
Beside those problems, Cedar Falls also has a university that we don’t have and the ambiance that goes with it – try competing with that.
You can disagree, but drilling down through the facts makes it far more daunting than one first wants to believe.
@4ever49, Actually, Cedar Falls is not a lot bigger than Mason City, although they are growing very fast because of what they have done. Yes, Mason City could handle this with no problem. Osage has their own utility as well and are very competitive versis CenturyLink.
It is not as complicated as you may think, Mason City could handle this.
I agree the council can do very little about bringing jobs here but then they should get off their soap box and quit talking about how good they have done bringing them here. This mayor and council are all talk about the job they have done over the last few years.
Lets tell it like it is; Hickey has some balls announcing his run for a second term. This guy did absoulty nothing for those living in his ward. He was only responsible for voting on everything Bookmeyer wanted. He should give every dollar he collect in wages back to the city.
I hope Jodie Draper will provide some positive change, I will vote for her and so will the rest of my family.
Once again councilman Hickey showed how out of touch and uniformed he is with the citys issues. He asked the NIACC official how many jobs the micro enterprise program had created…if he knew the answer was a big fat zero, he would of never asked the question, because it exposes the whole program for what it is…a grab bag of money for the city councils lap dogs. Anderson, Jumper and their ilk are supporters of the mayor, and who gets the free money?…supporters of the mayor that’s who.
To me the micro enterprise program has done nothing for the city, in fact it has become a form of a “spoil system”. It has been going on in this country for years, and is alive and well in Mason City.
IE; a spoil system means to the victors belong the spoils, elected officials get to give money and jobs to their political supporters.
So now I have heard it all The Mayor is working with Travis Hickey, Janet Solberg, and Scott Tornquist to create a billboard linking them all together as a team. They say vote for common sense or nonsense..
Wow, that sounds like a 4-person wrecking crew!!!! Also, political suicide. Guilt by association is not the way to work this thing.
So, keep it up…. Better Chance for the other candidates to gain traction. The Mayor is so arrogant, that he thinks that because he is supporting them, they are winners????
In politics, if people are uninformed, they may say to a friend, well if you support them– your endorsement if good enough for me…in this case, it is the kiss of death…
Ya-hooooooo!
Common Sense?? or Non Sense?? I will take the non sense! If that is what they want to call it! Scott has seen his moment in the sun hope it sets this year. Travis became a follower and not a leader. Solberg, I have no comment can’t waste my time on her! Eric, so disappointed that he is such a micromanager and passive aggressive bully. Out with the old and end with the new!
Amen to that….
I called the Election Commission in Des Moines about this. The Mayor meeting with his select candidates is not illegal. However, they stated that it is not good judgement and unethical…But, if they have a group meeting with 4 council persons present, it would be a violation of the Iowa Open Meetings law.
Let’s keep an eye out!!!
“They say vote for common sense or nonsense…”
Was it common sense to instigate the Sanitation Department fiasco when a few hours of staff could have answered all the questions about performance, pay, and cost?
Was it common sense to complain about Fire and Police overtime, when you know every year we have events such as Band Fest or major crimes which requires overtime?
Was it really common sense to foist upon the taxpayers of our community that those $9.50 jobs were an asset?
Was it common sense to let a non-elected person dictate what was going to be placed in a public park without anyone’s permission?
And finally, the most arrogant of all items, was it common sense to dictate that the citizens of our community should not be allowed to speak at council meetings?
I remind citizens, this august body is there to represent the whole of the community, not just parts of it.
Well said!!!
Now everybody on here– let’s start thinking about a credible person that can run against Bookmeyer for Mayor !!!
Right now it is Bookmeyer and Quinn Symonds…
Bill Schickel was thinking about it and said last week that he is not going to run–
So, people, put on your thinking caps!!
We need a genuine leader. Someone who cares about all people. Who cares about City employees, Who cares about fairness, honesty, integrity. Someone who does not enjoy intimidating — for this guy it is a sport!!
A true leader wants everyone around them to succeed and be happy. It is the very small person that gets off on hurting others and being insensitive to the needs of their community!!!
Start throwing some names out there– maybe one or two will stick!!
How about Max Weaver? He seems to care about the people & the city.
Max should run for mayor and beat bookmeyer by a landslide.Then we can have a mayor.who doesn’t drink.
Travis please tell the people of Mason City where these good jobs are. We all see the 9-10 dollar an hour dead end job but where are the ones that pay a living wage. Travis I don’t think you could raise your family on this wage so please don’t insult the citizens by telling us these are good jobs and we are heading in the right direction. The EDC is a joke.
@whatever-I wish I had said that. Thank you for putting how I feel into words.
Travis, don’t bother knocking on my door. I will vote for anybody but you!!!
cc: Eric B.
Scott T.
Hickey has been nothing but another bookmeyer butt kisser doing nothing for his ward or the blue collar of Mason City. I heard when he was running his agenda was to do away with the sanitation department because they fired his father. Don’t know this for a fact but it would be great to hear from someone who knows if this is true.
Joe
Just “confused” come on think about all the things he has done for our WARD. Keep thinking something will come to you. see you in a week.
Let the record speak for it self he has done nothing. I will say he did try hard to end jobs for the city workers in mason city. Oh wait he has spent a lot of the cities money ! Oh wait it wasn’t really tax money sorry NOT
Hickey has done nothing for the people of Mason City and even less for people who live in his ward. If you are not one of the elite you don’t exist in his eyes. He is a waste of space in my opinion.
FROM NIT STAFF: CLEAN UP YOUR COMMENTS OR FACE A BAN
Your so cute! Stupid, but cute. Just a IDIOT studying hard to be a moron. Grow up.
My, my-going to get banned AGAIN.
LVS, I agree about Travis doing nothing for the City as a whole, he has responded to one of my requests though and I was satisfied with that. The other two notes I sent to him went not answered. He lives on a street with several Click fix complaints and several police calls to a rental property at the end of his back alley. (The most recent one was the attempted stabbing murder this week.)There has been drug activity there and it would be in his best interest for the police to provide more protection regarding that property, yet, seems like nothing has been done. Travis has poured a lot of money in his house and garage, I am surprised he wouldn’t be more active in protecting the people on his own block or even his ward about this activity.