Gazette Daily News Briefing, June 23
This is Jami Martin-Trainor, a summer intern for The Gazette, and I’m here with your daily news update for Friday, June 23rd 2023.
Today’s weather is bright and sunny with a high of 92, and this evening will be partly cloudy with a low of 67.
Iowa Department of Education director resigns after three months
Iowa’s Department of Education director has resigned after a three-month stint on the job.
Chad Aldis, who was hired in March, has resigned from the office for family reasons, according to an announcement from Gov. Kim Reynolds’ office on Thursday.
Reynolds has appointed McKenzie Snow, the current deputy secretary of education for Virginia, to replace Aldis as director of the department.
Snow will start Monday, June 26, and Aldis will remain through June 30 to help with the transition, the governor's office said.
Reynolds praised Snow’s leadership in Virginia and New Hampshire, as well as her experience with the U.S. Department of Education and in the White House.
Snow previously worked in Republican former President Donald Trump’s administration, and as an aide to former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.
Snow will take over the department as it charts implementation of the state’s new education savings account program, which lawmakers passed and Reynolds signed in January. The program was Reynolds’ key legislative priority this year and was expected to cost $107 million in the first year, but applications have already exceeded expectations.
University of Iowa lists its Mayflower Residence Hall for $45 million
Four months after the University of Iowa reported plans to sell Mayflower Residence Hall, the institution officially listed the property for $45 million.
The eight-story building includes 523 rooms that are “built and furnished to house 1,015 residents as a dormitory, with one to four residents per unit,” according to the listing posted Wednesday on Zillow.com.
The university doesn’t plan to vacate the 55-year-old property until next summer, and has plans to house students there through the upcoming academic year.
The Mayflower sale is part of the university’s “housing master plan,” which includes building a new residence hall specifically for returning students as opposed to freshmen who account for most of the students the university houses annually.
Although university officials haven’t shared a specific timeline for the new residence hall, they predict it will cost $40 to $60 million and will be paid for with proceeds from the Mayflower sale and additional borrowing.
By ridding itself of the Mayflower property, which UI bought in 1982, the campus will shed deferred maintenance costs associated with the building — which are part of the university’s current $1.2 billion backlog in building renewal needs.
Iowa City Council looking at what’s next in community policing plan
The Iowa City Police Department has implemented a majority of the recommendations outlined in a 2020 plan to restructure the department toward community policing.
Police Chief Dustin Liston this week told the City Council he is “really proud” of the progress made on the 36 recommendations in the last two and a half years. He said the plan is “just a start” and now is an opportunity for the council to weigh in on next steps.
The recommendations focus on restructuring the police department by diverting calls for service from the police to trained civilians, creating a continuum of responses to mental health crisis calls, having unbiased policing and otherwise moving forward.
Council members at Tuesday’s work session focused their discussion on how the city can further support measures of preventing and diverting calls for service where police might not be necessary, such as mental health and other crisis calls. There will likely be future work session discussions continuing this conversation.
City Manager Geoff Fruin provided an update to the council on the 36 recommendations in a city memo. A majority of the recommendations have been completed or represent continuous efforts by the department. At least five recommendations have not been completed.
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