While 2020 will be remembered as the year of the pandemic, I am encouraging Marshalltown residents to remember it as the year of rebuilding. I do not need to say how much damage the tornado did or how many residents and business owners have had to plod through insurance and finding a contractor to try and restore some sense of normalcy. The tornado impacted the city, too. We delayed many projects in 2018 and 2019 because we did not have the capacity to move them forward while working on our own recovery activities. During this time of COVID-19, the city staff has been hard at work and getting projects out to bid and moving forward. Here are a few exciting things you can expect to see around Marshalltown in 2020:

• Median plantings along South Center Street

• Ongoing construction/renovation at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum

• Construction at West End Park of sidewalks and a new shelter/performance area

• Replacement of the bridge at Timber Creek Park

• Mill and overlay of selected streets in the northeast side of Marshalltown

• Repair of the protective railing and culvert along 6th Street by the ponds

• Repairs on the Third/Sixth Street bridge

• Installation of wayfinding signage around the community

• Renovation of the parking lot at First and Church streets

• Demolition of six blighted residential structures

While these projects have yet to be completed, there are many other projects that are now complete in 2020.

The new accessible playground equipment at Anson Park, which was purchased by the 2019 Iowa Valley Leadership class, and a new restroom, never had the chance to open to the public but are ready for use when orders are lifted. A new restroom has also been installed at Riverview Park by the log cabin. Concrete repairs on Marion Street and Lincoln Circle and replacement of a culvert on the highly traveled Olive Street were also completed this year.

It is easy to see how people can question why the city is spending on so many different projects when parts of our community have lost their income and livelihoods and remain shut down or operating at less than full capacity. There is no simple answer, as each project is different in terms of timeline and funding. Some of these projects were planned for years to occur in 2020, with funding matching that specific timeline. For other projects, the funding is coming from a source that is not impacted by COVID-19 or any of the economic uncertainties that surround us currently. Others are just the city simply trying to catch up on some things that needed to be done where funding has been available as part of an annual budget.

Now is a great time to be mindful and reflect on how much our community has been through in a very short timeframe and how much positive change has occurred since July 2018. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to these positive changes and the ongoing growth of community pride. I hope that you can look at the number of improvements and projects the city will complete in 2020 as taking a big step towards our mission of being a welcoming, safe, vibrant and growing community. It is our rebuilding year.

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Jessica Kinser is the Marshalltown City Administrator