Discontent with city council grows
Dissatisfaction with the Davenport City Council is at an all-time high, according to results from a survey commissioned by DavenportOne.
When asked if the city council was “on the right track or the wrong track,” 16 percent of responders said right track compared to 67 percent responding wrong track. Another 16 percent were undecided.
It’s a precipitous drop since February, when 34 percent of respondents to an identically phrased question on an earlier survey said the city was on the right track. At that time, 29 percent said wrong track and 27 percent were undecided.
DavenportOne CEO Dan Huber thinks public spats among aldermen and a general negativity around city hall are to blame for the low poll numbers. Davenport aldermen are split on what’s to blame.
“What I think happens is when elected officials have strong differences and those disagreements turn disagreeable, it hurts the whole elected body,” he said. “Voters want the council to achieve consensus, solve problems and make progress. People want you to be more than just against things. They want you to solve problems, not just identify them.”
Huber noted that the satisfaction numbers took a dive after the flap over city administrator Craig Malin’s cost-of-living increase, the debate over two- or four-year council terms and two separate meeting boycotts by aldermen that forced meeting cancellations.
Although there are obviously factions on the council, Huber doesn’t think the dissatisfaction of average Davenport voters shows agreement with one side or the other.
“When there is fighting, everybody loses,” he said. “I’ve seen politicians who take one another on, and both politicians’ numbers go negative. The best way to keep numbers in a positive direction is not to have visible disagreements.”
Poor priorities, not disagreements, are the real culprit, according to aldermen Ray Ambrose, 4th Ward, and Keith Meyer, 3rd Ward.
“Dan Huber, like most at DavenportOne, is out of touch, worried of losing control and afraid of not getting money from the council next time around,” Meyer said. “Many of the disagreements on the council reflect a struggle over priorities. Leadership is slowly changing hands. Another election may bring a turnabout, a new mayor and a new majority.”
Alderman Jamie Howard, at-large, thinks Huber is right.
“I think people want to have peace of mind knowing city government is running smoothly, with fiscal responsibility and openness,” she said. “Currently, the city council projects an image of confusion. When you’ve got a split council, it sends a split message to the community.”
She likened the situation to a split lockeroom.
“We’re a team, but right now, we’re having some problems, and the team is acting very unsportsmanlike,” she said. “It does nothing to assure the citizens that we’re working hard for them.”
Like Meyer, however, Ambrose said it’s policies not personalities that are sinking the council’s popularity.
“Our first priority was skybridges and parking ramps and some of these other projects,” he said. “The taxpayers were sold on them thinking they wouldn’t be a burden. We’re dealing with an increase in crime every day and an aging infrastructure. D-1 concentrated on projects that took care of the downtown area, leaving the rest of the city to pick up the cost to take care of the rest.”
The survey, however, shows Davenport residents have mixed feelings about prioritizing city needs and the importance of downtown projects.
The list of priorities important to survey responders is topped by having the city get more state and federal money for infrastructure projects and revitalizing downtown with emphasis placed on renovating blighted properties.
In addition, although 62 percent of the respondents said they think there’s too much focus on downtown redevelopment, 75 percent urged DavenportOne to make downtown more attractive.
“I think what people are saying is do more elsewhere but keep up the good work we’ve been doing downtown,” Huber said.
Tory Brecht can be contacted at (563) 383-2329 or tbrecht@qctimes.com.
BY THE NUMBERS
Surveys of Davenport households at the request of DavenportOne show growing dissatisfaction with the Davenport City Council.
In a survey taken in August, respondents were asked if they thought the Davenport City Council was “on the right track or the wrong track.”
Right track 16%
Wrong track 67%
Undecided 16%
Response to the same question posed in February
Right track 34%
Wrong track 39%
Undecided 27%
Since DavenportOne began conducting surveys in 2000, the highest approval rating for the council was in April 2002.
Right track 48%
Wrong track 33%
Undecided 19%
— Source: Victory Enterprises