City News

City News is designed to keep North Liberty residents updated on what is happening around town. This feature changes often, so don’t forget to check back periodically. If you have an item to add to City News, please send an email to webmaster {at} northlibertyiowa(.)org.

New City Update

Here is the latest in the City Update series created by NLTV.

Think Spring

February 26, 2010 — With Spring thaw right around the corner, City Staff encourages residents to be prepared for Spring yard work.  Property owners who have a backyard, fenced or not fenced, that has a street along it are responsible for care of the right of way between the fence and the street. This includes snow removal from sidewalks and mowing.  The city does have a weed ordinance that limits the height of grass on all properties in the City.  If you see areas of concern, please contact City Hall for assistance.

Spring also means pets and children finally getting back outside.  The City encourages you to be cautious of children in neighborhoods.  

For pet owners, there is a leash law that requires all animals be controlled on a leash at all times!  Be a responsible pet owner. Keep them leashed and clean up their messes.

Snow Emergency for City of North Liberty through Wednesday at 1pm

February 8, 2010 — The City of North Liberty is under a snow emergency. This emergency is in effect until Wednesday, February 10 at 1pm. If changes are made to this emergency, information will be posted on this Web site. Additionally, snow emergencies are automatically declared when accumulation is two inches or more. Parking on streets is not permitted until the snow emergency has been lifted. No on-street parking during snow emergencies ensures streets are clear for effective snow removal and other road maintenance.

Any vehicles in violation of the ordinance may be ticketed and towed without notice. Each 12-hour period that a vehicle is parked or remains on any street in violation of this ordinance constitutes a separate and distinct offense.

For more information about the snow emergency ordinance or parking, please contact City Hall at (319) 626-5700.

North Liberty Community Super Bowl Party and Potluck

January 28, 2010 – For families who want to watch the Super Bowl without the hassle of organizing a party or meeting in a small living room, North Liberty is offering an enticing viewing alternative: see the game at the North Liberty Community Center on the big screen – for free.

The sixth annual North Liberty Community Super Bowl Party will be on Sunday, February 7, starting at 5:00 p.m. The event is held in the Gerdin Conference Center of the Community Center at 520 W. Cherry Street.

Guests are encouraged to bring a covered dish to share for a city-wide potluck. Plus, there will be free popcorn, as well as games for kids and great door prizes. This event is fun for all ages, but kids under 16 must be accompanied by a responsible adult at all times.

This non-alcoholic party will feature floor to ceiling projections of the game. So, everyone can cheer for the Colts or Saints!

This event is sponsored by Rage Grafix, who is donating custom-printed event T-shirts for attendees, with support from AlphaGraphics; Corridor Coffee; Country Inn/AmericInn; Dairy Queen; Hills Bank; Genesis Church; Kratz Massage; Liberty Bank; MidWestOne; Pizza Ranch; Red’s Alehouse; Sleep Inn and Suites; UI Community Credit Union; US Bank; and Zio Johno’s.

For more information, please email ccaplinger {at} ci.north-liberty.ia(.)us.

North Liberty Community Center Closing Early Due to Inclement Weather

All afternoon classes and meetings in the Community Center have been canceled

North Liberty, Iowa, January 20, 2010 — The North Liberty Community Center, which includes Library, Telecommunications and Recreation Departments, will close today at 3 p.m. due to inclement weather. All evening activities such as meetings and classes at the center are canceled, including the Joint Government meeting which was scheduled to start at 4 p.m. This meeting was to consist of members from North Liberty, Iowa City and Coralville city councils and administration, as well as school board members from the Iowa City Community School District.

Additionally, the North Liberty Aquatic Center will close at 12 p.m. today. All swimming lessons are canceled. Please call the library at 626-5701 or the Recreation Center at 626-5716 with questions.

North Liberty to move City Hall

City Hall will close for one day (Jan 22) to accommodate the move into a larger space.

North Liberty, Iowa, January 11, 2010 — North Liberty’s City Hall will open in a new location, 3 Quail Creek Circle, on Monday, Jan. 25, 2010. The new facility is located on the west side of Highway 965 in North Liberty near Gasby’s, Thrivent Financial and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. To accommodate the move, City Hall’s last day of business at its current location, 5 E. Cherry St., is scheduled to be Thursday, Jan.21.

“Our goal is to make this move as seamless as possible for residents,” City Administrator Ryan Heiar said. Residents will continue to be able to make water payments in a drop box at the Cherry Street building or online. A payment drop box will be added to the Quail Creek Circle location following the move.

The new, larger office space will accommodate the growing building, planning and administrative staff of the City of North Liberty. After the move, City Hall will still be available by phone at (319) 626‐5700, and city staff will be available at their previous extensions. City Hall will continue to be open 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at its new location.

Once City Hall has moved, the Cherry Street building will be remodeled to house the city’s police department. The City Council Chambers will remain located at 25 W. Cherry St.

Snow Emergency for City of North Liberty through Friday at 6pm

North Liberty, Iowa, January 7, 2010 — The City of North Liberty is under a snow emergency. This emergency is in effect until Friday, January 8 at 6pm. If changes are made to this emergency, information will be posted on this site. Additionally, snow emergencies are automatically declared when accumulation is two inches or more. Parking on streets is not permitted until the snow emergency has been lifted. No on-street parking during snow emergencies ensures streets are clear for effective snow removal and other road maintenance.

Any vehicles in violation of the ordinance may be ticketed and towed without notice. Each 12-hour period that a vehicle is parked or remains on any street in violation of this ordinance constitutes a separate and distinct offense.

For more information about the snow emergency ordinance or parking, please contact City Hall at (319) 626-5700.

Holiday Hours

December, 2009 — The following are holiday hours for city offices, library and Recreation Center:

Christmas – City offices including the library will be closed on Thursday, December 24 and Friday, December 25.
New Years – City offices including the library will be closed on Thursday, December 31 and Friday, January 1.

The Recreation Center will be closed December 24 and 25 and have limited hours on Thursday, December 31 (8am – 6pm). The Recreation Center will also be closed on Friday, January 1.

Christmas Tree Pickup

December, 2009 — Christmas trees will be picked up curbside the first two Wednesdays after Christmas, December 30 and January 6.  Trees must be bare of all decorations or flocking.  DO NOT PLACE TREES IN PLASTIC BAGS.  Please have trees at the curb by 7AM.

Census 2010

December, 2009 — April 1, 2010 marks Census Day 2010. The City of North Liberty is seeking volunteers to be appointed to the Complete Count Committee.  This team’s primary focus is to promote the 2010 Census in a particular community and to ensure that every resident in that area is counted.  Volunteers will be asked to provide input on how to best ensure that all residents of North Liberty return their survey forms. This committee will meet regularly from January through April and will put together community messages and events to get the public excited and involved in the Census 2010 process.  Contact Tracey Mulcahey at 626-5700 or tmulcahey {at} ci.north-liberty.ia(.)us for more information or to apply.

Leaf Pickup Rescheduled for November 5 and 6

November 2, 2009 — Leaf pickup has been rescheduled this week due to equipment maintenance. The City will pick up leaves that property owners have raked to the curb on Thursday, November 5, 2009 or Friday, November 6, 2009.

Open burning of leaves and yard waste is not permitted in North Liberty. For safety reasons, no leaves should be placed in the street. Leaves should be piled within two feet of the curb or edge of road: the vacuum hose can only reach that far. Do not bag leaves, the vacuum cannot pick up bags.

No sticks or branches should be mixed with the leaves. The vacuum hose cannot accommodate sticks and branches. Brush or garden waste may be bundled for pickup on your regular trash day. Two bundles will be picked up at no charge. Bundles should be no more than four feet in length and weigh no more than 40 pounds.

Again, leaves will be picked up curbside on November 5 or 6. These are the last days for scheduled leaf removal until spring. Residents should rake their leaves to the edge of the curb, not on the street, for pickup by 7:00 AM.

Contact City Hall at 626-5700 with Leaf Pickup questions.

North Liberty Community Fund announces grant opportunity

October 23, 2009 — The North Liberty Community Fund, an affiliate of the Community Foundation of Johnson County, announces that $2,500 is available to be granted for North Liberty projects and programs.  In order to reach a greater spectrum of community needs, five $500 grants will be awarded.  Nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations may obtain application forms and submit completed forms to Dennis Tallman at AlphaGraphics, 720 Pacha Parkway, North Liberty, Iowa, by November 13, 2009.  Funds will be distributed in January 2010.

Expect delays on North Front Street and South Dubuque starting October 22

October 20, 2009 — Beginning Thursday, October 22 and continuing through Friday, October 30, motorists can expect possible delays at North Front Street between Cherry and Penn, as well as South Dubuque south of Zeller to the North Liberty city limits.

Weather permitting, workers will be milling and resurfacing asphalt at both locations. At times, Front Street and Dubuque traffic may be limited to one lane. Work may occur during high-traffic times.

Please plan your travels accordingly and be courteous to other drivers and the workers who are completing this important project. The City of North Liberty thanks you for your patience.
If there are alterations to this plan, more details will be available at this Web site.

For comments, please contact City Hall at (319) 626-5700.

Iowa City / Coralville / North Liberty named Iowa Great Place

October 2, 2009 — The Iowa City/Coralville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau along with the City’s of Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty, and University of Iowa are pleased to announce their selection as an Iowa Great Place. The CVB, in collaboration with the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program began an application process in March of 2009 that culminated this past Tuesday morning with a presentation and tour in downtown Iowa City. Organizers were officially notified of their selection yesterday afternoon.

Why this Community?

A bold assertion: Pound for pound, this area constitutes the most literate community in the world. Here are some reasons for accepting such a seemingly extravagant claim.

Last November, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) named Iowa City an official “City of Literature,” an honor only two other cities in the world—Edinburgh, Scotland and Melbourne, Australia—have received. The designation provides additional international luster to the community and serve to validate the area’s long history of nurturing the literary arts and those who appreciate them.

For some 70 years, the University of Iowa has maintained the world’s foremost program in creative writing—the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. For the last four decades, the Workshop’s companion organization, the International Writing Program, has attracted authors from around the globe to participate in its revolving residency program. As a consequence, the area enjoys a longstanding, international reputation as a center for literary creation that is much out of scale with its population. Workshop alumni have won 12 Pulitzer Prizes for Literature and four alumni have served as U.S. Poet Laureate. The Iowa City/Coralville/North Liberty community boasts 13 museums, 10 literary presses, nine programs offering regularly scheduled readings, at least five writing outreach programs, and six community and professional theater companies, including Riverside Theater’s yearly Shakespeare Festival. National and local artists perform at Hancher Auditorium, Englert Theatre and soon at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts. By one estimate, there are 300 places to buy a book in the area.

Our community enjoys a global reputation in educational publishing and the preparation of educational materials and is acknowledged as a center for research on literacy—in part because of the early work of the founders of Iowa Language & Literacy Institute. Both the University and the State of Iowa have shown their commitment to education, literature and literacy by helping to establish and sustain these organizations. All of which is to say that the area already has the literary credibility and community base requisite to success. Still, the area is small enough to assure that the UNESCO/Iowa Great Places designation and opportunities afforded therein will become and remain a civic priority.

About Iowa Great Places…

Created in 2005, Iowa Great Places is a program designed to promote bold thought, innovation, and entrepreneurship at the local and regional level in Iowa. Places – neighborhoods, cities, counties, or regions – engage in an inclusive strategic planning process to assess their strengths and areas of opportunity, create a vision for augmenting their unique attributes and quality of life, and design a roadmap to turn that vision into realty. State agency coaches are available to assist Places in their planning process and conferences are held throughout the year on topics such as grant writing and community development.

Once a Place has engaged in this process and has created a feasible and sustainable plan, the Place can invite the State to formally designate it a “Great Place” through a proposal submission process. The proposal must address the 7 dimensions of a Great Place, prove that there is a broad base of support for the plan, and demonstrate that the Place is ready to move forward with implementation. Based on these submissions, a coalition of State agency partners and the Great Places Citizens Advisory Board chooses Finalists. The Board then embarks on a bus tour of each Finalist, after which the designees are chosen.

For more information on Iowa Great Places, please visit: http://www.iowagreatplaces.gov/

North Liberty Development will host a breakfast get-together for North Liberty businesses

September 24, 2009 — In an effort to foster the city’s growing business community, North Liberty Development, a not-for-profit group of business owners and advocates, is hosting a business mixer. The event will take place over breakfast on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009, from 7:30 to 9 a.m., at Ms. Susan’s Catering and Reception Hall, 1215 Jordan St. in North Liberty.

At the event, local business people and city leaders will have the opportunity to mingle, network and meet one-on-one in a relaxed setting. The group asks that attendees consider a small monetary donation to help defray the event’s costs.

This is the second such event the group has hosted. Its spring breakfast was a rousing success attended by a wide array of business community members. At this October event, the group plans to unveil its community-wide business listings database.

Those wanting to attend can RSVP by Friday, Oct. 16, to Nick Bergus, at nbergus {at} ci.north-liberty.ia(.)us or (319) 626-5756, with their contact information so a guest list can be distributed to attendees prior to the event. Space will be available for small promotional displays.

North Liberty Development’s board touts membership with more than 80 years of combined local business experience in a variety of sectors. The group’s mission is to enhance the economic vitality of North Liberty by attracting quality industrial and commercial growth. Each of our members provides a different area of expertise and all are available to consult with you on the prospect of locating in North Liberty.

Public Hearing regarding both Parks and Trails Plans at September 8 City Council Meeting.

August 28, 2009 — A public hearing will be held regarding both the Parks Plan and Trails Plan at the next North Liberty City Council meeting on September 8. Interested citizens are encouraged to attend the 7 p.m. meeting to discuss the plans. Though the Parks Plan was on the August 25 agenda, Council opted to table the subject until further public input could be compiled. If approved, both the Parks Plan and Trails Plan would become fluid documents which may need to be updated on a relatively short time frame if the pace of city population and development continues.

Both the Parks Plan and Trails Plan are intended to document realistic analyses of existing parks, and trails, undeveloped areas planned for park or trail development, the need for additional space, and potential means of acquisition and development. Their intended use is to guide continuing park and trail development in the city.

These plans were composed after the North Liberty Comprehensive Plan was adopted and Parks Plan Steering Committee was formed. The Parks Plan noted input from the community as being a major source for information. Issues addressed in the Trails Plan include sidewalk and trail width, maintenance and construction, as well as bike lane markings on streets. The plan also distinguishes sidewalks from trails, as well as upkeep responsibilities of residents and Parks Department.

Hard copies of the Parks Plan, as well as the Trails Plan, are available for viewing at City Hall and Library. Click here download the Parks Plan; click here to download the trails plan.  For more information, please contact City Hall at (319) 626-5700.

The City of North Liberty will hold elections for Mayor and Councilors November 3.

August 11, 2009 — Current terms for North Liberty Councilors Gerry Kuhl and James Wozniak, as well as Mayor Tom Salm, will end December 31, 2009. Therefore, elections will be held this November 3 to fill vacancies for the two City Councilors and Mayor. Voters cast their vote for all Council positions on the ballot, as the positions are at-large and non-partisan. Both Councilors and Mayor are elected for four year terms. Those interested in running for office should file a petition with the City Clerk. In order to qualify for candidacy, elected officers of the City must be residents of North Liberty. Additionally, members of the Council must be eligible voters per State Code.

Petitions for candidates are now available at City Hall and the Web Site. A petition with at least twenty-five (25) signatures of eligible voters is required to be filed with the City Clerk between August 24 and September 17. Petitions are also available on the Secretary of State’s Web Site, www.sos.state.ia.us/elections/electioninfo/cityelections.html. All candidates submitting a petition are on the ballot.

The City Council meetings are held the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month at 7PM, with the possibility of a work session on the third Tuesday. Duration of meetings vary from one to three hours depending on the amount of business. Other special meetings are called as needed.

For more information, please contact City Hall at (319) 626-5700.