Mayoral election 2019: Vulich points to street, sewer accomplishments

Oct. 29--Mark Vulich

EDUCATION: Graduated from St. Mary's High School and Mount St. Clare College, both in Clinton, and is a 1978 graduate of the Indiana College of Mortuary Science in Indianapolis.

EMPLOYMENT: Owned and operated the Delaney-Vulich Funeral Home until his retirement from funeral service in 2002 after 24 years. He currently owns Midwest Services & Supply and Midwest Computer & Consulting both in Clinton, both of which he started in 1985. He also is an Iowa licensed insurance agent.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Vice chairman of Clinton County Emergency Management; Board Member of the Clinton County Communications Commission and Clinton County 911 Commission; member of the Grant Committee of Clinton County 911 Commission and the Clinton County Area Solid Waste Agency; Board of Director of East Central Intergovernmental Association; Board of Director of the Clinton Area Chamber of Commerce; member of the Government Affairs Committee of Clinton Area Chamber of Commerce; Board of Director of Clinton Regional Development Corporation; member of the Executive Committee of CRDC and a member of its Marketing Committee; member of the Community Relations Board of AUSP Thomson Prison; member of the Community Advisory Panel for LyondellBasell, the Clinton County Mayors Roundtable, Clinton County Coordinating Council, Clinton County Hometown Pride Executive Committee, City of Clinton Grant Committee, and the Mississippi River City & Towns Initiative.

He also is past president of Clinton Kiwanis Club, a past board member of the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre and past board member of the Downtown Partnership.

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Mark Vulich currently is the mayor of Clinton, having served in that role since Jan. 3, 2012. He was reelected in 2015. Prior to being elected mayor in 2012, he served for six years as an at-large Clinton city councilman.

When looking back over his time with the city, Vulich remembers when city budgets were in turmoil. In his early days as mayor, the city had just previously taken out a short-term loan to cover city worker payroll for two months, the municipal dock had been sold and the city was just starting to pay off its Medicare fine of $450,000 per year for 10 years.

"We had been very near bankruptcy," he said of the city.

"Overall our popularity rating was probably zero amongst the citizens," he said.

There were some bright spots, however. The city received a TIGER grant to finish Liberty Square's development, and the first two tenants moved into Clinton's Lincolnway railpark.

"Another good piece to trend the city in the right direction," he said of the railpark.

He said the city through the past few years also is making a shift "to where it's not as negative as it used to be."

A lot of the negativity, he said, came from fulfilling Iowa Department of Natural Resources mandates for the $100 million sewer separation project. While that caused financial growing pains for the city, Vulich said there is light at the end of the tunnel and that household solid waste bills have decreased by $2 per month. It bothers him to hear residents complain about sewer rates and the perceived high cost of living in Clinton.

"They say we have the highest sewer rate in the state, we have the highest taxes," he said of residents' complaints, further explaining that other Iowa communities that are now under the same DNR consent decrees have higher sewer rates.

"We are actually 73rd in the state for taxes," he added. "We're the 19th largest city but we rank 73rd in taxes. That's not the highest taxes, and I think that's a bad image that the people have."

He points to communities such as Bettendorf, which has a lot more industry and more high value property, resulting in lower taxes for residents.

"They don't have to charge as much, but they actually take in more than we do," he said. "We need to grow our tax base. ... Taxes come down if you increase your base."

The other option to keep costs in check is to determine the level of city services provided to residents.

"Over 85 percent of our general fund budget goes to payroll," he said. "It doesn't leave a lot of other money to function."

As for his time as mayor, Vulich points to the new single-stream recycling as one of his achievements. He said that because of that program, Clinton's recycling has increased, which will extend the life of the landfill, and personnel costs have dropped. The elimination of the head tax on city residents means Clinton is saving $260,000 per year.

He also is proud of city services, road work and new amenities.

"For a number of years, we always talked about sewer and roads because they had been abandoned for so long, and we had this consent decree of all the millions we needed to spend," he said of the $100 million sewer separation project.

He said the city now has funding set to cover the balance.

"We see no rate increases until 2032, at least," he said.

The condition of city streets also has improved as the result of the street pavement management program. The city has earmarked $3.3 million per year to that program. He said the hope is that within the next couple years, the city can commit $1 million to street maintenance .

And, he said, there also has been an increase in what is offered to city residents.

"This year, we're doing things above ground," he said. "Things you can see."

They include new pickleball and volleyball courts, the fitness court, Ericksen Community Center upgrades, and new soccer fields and playgrounds.

"The amenities and quality of life are starting," he said. "We got some dollars."

He said the continuing challenge the city faces is to develop community pride.

"People that come here think that Clinton is nice; the ones that live here don't appreciate what they have," he said.

To help, the city has committed $300,000 per year to clean up abandoned and derelict houses, he said.

The city currently has 90 houses and can either rehab a structure or demolish it. If the lot is too small to build on, it can be split and sold to neighbors to create larger yards.

He also said here is a housing program in the works to deal with abandoned, derelict properties.

The plan is for a company called Housing 360 to come in, and as people come to town, Housing 360 will help people secure financing to build a house, pick a housing design, build the home and "we give them the lot if they commit to living there five years."

"Eventually the neighborhoods will start to clean up," he said.

He said his mission comes down to ensuring that Clinton strives to be a great and prosperous city -- one that is healthier, cleaner, safer, better educated, and more open to diversity and more fun.

"If re-elected mayor, I pledge to get our citizens and businesses the best services possible and to continue to work to make Clinton, Iowa, Iowa's greatest mid-size city," he said.

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