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Please let me say thank you to the community for the kindness and respect that I have received over the last 6 ½ years as your City Administrator and a member of the community. These years have been full of opportunities for Marshalltown, though at times it was hard to see the tornado, COVID, and the derecho as opportunities.
Now I can reflect and recognize that the adversity presented by these challenges helped bring the community together in positive ways and helped me grow as a person and as a public servant. There are many things that I am proud of during my time in Marshalltown that I can now reflect on, which I hope are points of pride for the community as well.
Top of the list has to be disaster recovery. It has been nearly five years since the tornado, and most days since then my patience has been tested by the delays we encountered in our recovery efforts. I know your patience has been tested too. While the demolition and building restoration projects have taken time, it is exciting to see what will happen next to rebuild downtown.
The Downtown Master Plan and Downtown Implementation Plan are valuable documents leading the way. It is encouraging to see the private investments by multiple local owners, and the city's reconstruction of State Street underway.
It also makes me proud to have been part of the Police and Fire Building. Having lived here for six years, I have come to appreciate how monumental of a project this new facility was for the community; truly a once in a career type of project. It truly is a stunning home for our Fire and Police Departments that I am in awe of every time I walk in.
MPACT is also a point of pride. This innovative partnership with YSS of Marshall County bringing social workers and police officers together is something to be proud of and is making positive change in the community.
Seeing the Edgewood Extension project coming close to completion seemed like it might never happen. That project started with the 2018 Highway 14 Corridor Study and took years to obtain the grants necessary to make it happen.
In addition to providing a much safer route for truck traffic to reach the industrial areas of the community, additional stormwater detention will help hold water in significant rain events. This will hopefully help with flooding and ponding of water in this area. The new industrial lots should help keep Marshalltown growing into the future.
I have been able to work with some of the best people you will find in local government. The employees who make up the City of Marshalltown are hardworking and caring, and I have been proud to be part of this team. Specifically, there are nine excellent department heads who perform at a high level individually and come together as a team to make sure the organization operates smoothly. A leader is only as good as the people surrounding them, and that is certainly true in the City of Marshalltown.
Marshalltown is a wonderful, welcoming community that knows how to get things done, and I have been proud to be part of getting a few things done. As the saying goes, leave something better than you found it; I think that rings true right now.
There are still many things left to do, but the will needed to continually improve the quality of life for everyone in the community is unending. Thank you for allowing me to be part of your community.
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Jessica Kinser is the former Marshalltown City Administrator.