Voted to cut taxes several times, reducing the city tax rate from $12.05 to $10.95.
Voted to refinance several outstanding bonds, saving the taxpayer close to $11 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 4 AAA bond rated cities in the State).
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, 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.
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.
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 Center RecPlex, the Raccoon River Boat House and the Jamie Hurd Amphitheater.
Voted for expansion, connection and maintenance of recreational trails, including the new 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 courts for pickleball
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
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 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.
Diversity/Equity/Inclusion
Supported making Martin Luther King Jr. day a holiday for city employees and voted to allocate funding for the city celebration.
Supported the hiring of a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Director for the City.
Encouraged and supported changes in city policy that led to our municipal equality index scorecard going from 42% to 99% today.
Supported the development of a recruitment policy to diversify the police force and the city workforce to better reflect the public we serve.
Supported the Mayor’s pledge that appointed a task force made up of minorities and people of color to review and suggest changes to the way we police our citizens.
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 current Chair of DART, have 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 will lead to the deployment of affordable, high-speed broadband to every home and every business across the city.
