Voted to cut taxes many times, reducing the city tax rate from $12.05 to $10.80.
Voted to refinance several outstanding bonds, saving the taxpayer close to $12 million in future interest costs.
Voted and passed conservative, balanced budgets, maintaining adequate reserves and the city’s AAA Bond Rating (WDM is one of only 100 cities in the country that have a AAA bond rating from both Moody’s and S and P).
Economic Development/Jobs/Housing
Helped create an economic development program that incentivized redevelopment of existing buildings, leading to the expansion of existing businesses and the creation of new ones. Examples include expansion of Shive-Hattery and KCL Engineering and the creation of The Hall Des Moines.
Helped author an economic development program that led to the creation of several family-owned restaurants and bars in Valley Junction, including Heavenly Asian Cuisine, Winchesters Pub, St. Kilda, Bix & Co., the Cat Café and more.
Voted for a program to create workforce housing for low-and-moderate income individuals who work in West Des Moines and would like to also live in West Des Moines.
Helped create housing programs in the Valley Junction area that have begun to revitalize our affordable housing stock and beautify the neighborhoods.
Partnered with Sam Summers to help rehabilitate and revitalize the historic Val Air Ballroom.
Supported economic development policies that led to expansion of Wells Fargo, Sammons, and IMT and helped land Microsoft, Merchants Bonding, Athene, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods.
Helped create a business and tax climate that has led to West Des Moines landing businesses that no other city in the state has including but not limited to Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Dave and Busters, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, TopGolf, Smash Park, Putts and Pins, Spare Time, the Lego store, and Blue Zoo Aquarium, with an indoor waterpark, hotel, and convention center twice the size of the Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City on the way.
Quality of Life
As the council liaison to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, helped dream up and put in place many of the new quality of life amenities in place today, including the MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex, the Raccoon River Boat House, the Athene Pedestrian Bridge, and the Jamie Hurd Amphitheater.
Voted to acquire land next to the Jordan House for the creation of Legacy Woods, an arboretum and history center.
Voted for expansion, connection and maintenance of recreational trails, including the trail down Grand Avenue.
Voted for the creation and build out of new parks and the maintenance of existing parks.
Voted to provide funding for improvements to the baseball and softball fields at Holiday Park as well as to soccer fields at Raccoon River Park and Hidden Valley.
Voted to stripe several existing tennis courts and to add new pickleball courts, including 8 lighted pickleball courts at Valley View Park.
Helped create a sustainable funding source for public art in West Des Moines using hotel/motel tax revenue
Supported technology and infrastructure upgrades at the library as well as the new library kiosk in Valley Junction and the new traveling library called “Words on Wheels”
Public Safety
Voted to add additional police officers, firefighters and EMS professionals to the front lines. All five fire stations in the city are now fully staffed 24/7 and we are better able to deploy police across the city to keep people safe.
Voted in a favor of a plan to create an entertainment response unit to ensure safety at restaurants, bars, malls, and entertainment venues and to create a separate traffic control unit to control traffic and better respond to incidents and accidents.
Voted in support of a state-of-the-art training simulator that provides de-escalation training for our police officers.
Voted to acquire and install flock cameras in parks and retail venues around the city to catch hard and fast criminals and deter them from even coming to West Des Moines
Voted for upgrades in technology and equipment to aid in dispatch of our first responders and to provide them with the tools they need to keep residents safe.
Voted to purchase several speed signs that rotate around the city to slow down traffic.
Environment/Sustainability
Voted to amend city code to allow businesses and homeowners to put up wind turbines and solar arrays.
Voted to create a new program providing assistance to homeowners looking to purchase and utilize rain barrels or re-soil their lawns
Voted in support of grants from the Iowa Clean Air Attainment Program aimed at reducing vehicle emission and increasing traffic flow through placement of adaptive traffic devices on city stop lights. Every intersection in WDM now has these devices.
Voted for several projects around the city aimed at improving our water quality.
Voted to stabilize stream banks and improve flood protection to West Des Moines residents.
Helped bring the adopt-a-street program to West Des Moines to keep the city clean and free of liter.
Human Services
Served on the Human Services Advisory Board for nearly 7 years before being elected to Council in 2009.
Have personally donated almost every single year to help support elderly, disabled and low-income residents of the city.
As Chair of DART, worked to provide more efficient, effective transportation services to riders trying to get to work.
Voted to allocate over $700,000 to help low-and moderate-income residents with utility assistance and rent assistance throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Voted to allocate hundreds of thousands of dollars to help low-and moderate-income residents with necessary home repairs through the Metro Home Improvement Program.
Voted to allocate funds to provide internet service to low-and-moderate income residents in the Valley junction area.
Infrastructure Improvements to older areas of West Des Moines
Voted in support of many infrastructure improvements and beautification efforts in the area known as Historic West Des Moines (1st Street and Grand Avenue to Railroad, Railroad back to 1st and Grand).
Supported paving of alleys in Valley Junction as well as millions of dollars each year toward patching and repaving our existing street network throughout the city.
Supported extensions of the city sewer to older areas of the city not serviced with sewer as well as repair and replacement of sewer lines starting to show signs of aging.
Voted for stabilization of river and stream banks, replacement of flood gates, and improvements in water detention efforts across the city.
Supported build out of city conduit (underground tubes) across the city that has led to the deployment of affordable, high-speed broadband to every home and every business across the city.
