Business Record Daily PM 3.21.23

Monica Converse has joined ICON Water Trails as its new project manager, the organization announced this week.

In the newly created position, Converse will work to bring five of ICON’s six downtown Des Moines sites to fruition over the next few years. According to a news release, ICON will break ground on the Scott Avenue dam site in April.

ICON is a $125 million initiative that will link more than 80 sites along 150 miles of waterways in Central Iowa. It is funded through a combination of public and private money.

The Scott Avenue site is the largest of the first phase of the initiative, and is intended to create a safer, more user-friendly area for activities from kayaking to fishing. The other projects include boat launches and trails, among other improvements.

The other downtown sites Converse will oversee include Prospect Park, Birdland Marina, Harriet Street, and Fleur Drive. The sixth downtown site is the Center Street dam mitigation, which officials say is further along in its timeline than the other projects and won’t be under the project manager’s immediate supervision.

Before joining ICON, Converse served as executive director for Go Polk City Chamber and Economic Development. Most of her career has been spent as a civil engineer in project management.

Converse, an Iowa native, graduated from Iowa State University in 2007. Her first day in her new role was Monday.

Hannah Inman, interim director for ICON Water Trails, said Converse’s expertise "within the nonprofit sector adds to her rapport with our community partners."

"We are confident that she will provide both the technical and relational competencies needed to be successful in this endeavor," said Inman, who also serves as CEO of Great Outdoors Foundation, which has overseen the ICON in initiative.

Inman assumed the interim director’s position after Maggie McClelland stepped down as director in November to pursue her own consulting business.

According to officials with ICON, Inman and the organization’s board will work to fill the director’s position sometime this year.

Udell Mentola has been selected as the new chief for Westcom, the consolidated public safety facility that dispatches police, fire and emergency medical services for the cities of Clive, Norwalk, Urbandale, Waukee, West Des Moines and Windsor Heights. West Des Moines City Manager Tom Hadden made the announcement, stating that Mentola brings 25 years of public safety 911 experience, 19 years of fire rescue and EMS experience, and a 22-year military career. Mentola has also developed and implemented 911 public safety technology and programs at various levels. He will replace former Chief Darin Riney, who resigned last year to take another position out of state.

DMACC names LaTour vice president of operations

Des Moines Area Community College has named Bill LaTour its new vice president of operations. LaTour will help plan, direct and oversee operations activities at DMACC’s campuses and centers, including collegewide facility planning and management of building and facility construction, according to a news release. DMACC currently has 2.3 million square feet among 62 buildings set on six campuses and seven learning centers across Central Iowa. An Illinois native, LaTour currently works as dean of operations at John Wood Community College in Quincy, Ill., where he has also had experience overseeing information technology operations and campus security. LaTour begins his new role at DMACC on April 10. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Western Illinois University in law enforcement and sociology and a Master of Science in human relations and business from Amberton University in Garland, Texas.

What is high-quality leadership? Apparently it is in steep decline. I’d never heard that exact term until recently, when a study on this topic caught my eye and immediately brought to mind some of my former leaders. I fondly remembered Heidi, a visionary and kind leader who gave me clear direction and sufficient resources, and then trusted me to get the job done. But I’ll also never forget a different senior leader whose self-centered command and control approach caused many talented people to leave a certain organization.

We’ve all had leaders we’d characterize as good or bad, but according to global leadership consultancy DDI’s recently released 2023 "Global Leadership Forecast," high-quality leadership is harder and harder to find. That study, which analyzed data from 1,827 human resources experts and 13,694 leaders from over 50 countries and 24 industries, indicated a staggering 17% drop year over year in the number of leaders who reported their company had high-quality leaders. That number is now just 40%, representing the steepest regression in global leadership quality since levels seen in 2007-2008, which was during the peak of the global financial crisis. Read more

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Mitchellville wants farmers to annex in to keep Altoona, Bondurant at bay
Des Moines Register: A small town on the eastern edge of Polk County has plans to grow, while also building a buffer from its rapidly expanding neighbors. Mitchellville officials want to bring new developments online and annex agricultural land around the city's current footprint, including from farmers who would keep farming. "We don't want to be like a Windsor Heights and swallowed up from all the big surrounding towns," said city administrator Tammi Dillavou.

Mercy Iowa City credit rating downgraded due to ‘severe cash flow deterioration’
Cedar Rapids Gazette: Moody’s Investors Service again has downgraded Mercy Iowa City Hospital’s credit rating following "severe cash flow deterioration, from historically weak levels, which has resulted in material and rapid cash burn." Of Moody’s 21 long-term rating categories — from Aaa at the top to C at the bottom — Mercy has been downgraded three spots from B1 to Caa1, putting it just four ranks from the lowest C.

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US is ready to protect smaller banks if necessary, Yellen says

New York Times: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen expressed confidence in the nation’s banks today but said she was prepared to take additional action to safeguard smaller financial institutions as the Biden administration and federal regulators worked to contain fallout from fears over the stability of the banking system. Yellen, seeking to calm nerves as the U.S. financial system faces its worst turmoil in more than a decade, said the steps the administration and federal regulators had taken so far had helped restore confidence. But policymakers were focused on making sure that the broader banking system remained secure, she said.

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Reynolds addresses active shooter swatting calls that swept Iowa
During a scheduled press conference about school safety, Gov. Kim Reynolds addressed the numerous "swatting" calls that affected Iowa communities today. State public safety officials estimate that about 30 hoax calls were placed to Iowa schools claiming there was an active shooter. Those claims were false. The governor says she's so grateful that Iowa's kids are safe, but it was an emotional morning as law enforcement worked to confirm the calls were fake. "It's what no governor, no parents or any superintendent or teachers wants to hear, and we're grateful, just so grateful, that's what it was," Reynolds said. The source of all these calls is still under investigation. Locally, some of the schools to receive the calls were Roosevelt High School in Des Moines and the high schools in Creston and Boone. Read more

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