There’s a saying: “if you don’t know who to call, call the fire department.”

Calls to 9-1-1 by Upper Arlington, OH, residents were not always emergencies, and many came from the elderly, who made up a third of the city’s population. These calls placed a burden on the city’s fire and EMS services and personnel, who were not trained to handle “social service” calls, and whose time responding to emergencies could have been delayed by them.

The city created “STAY UA” (Services to Age in Your Upper Arlington) in 2009 to reduce the burden on the city’s emergency services and to connect elderly residents to the help they need. The ultimate goal of “STAY UA” was to make it possible for residents to be able to remain in their homes regardless of their needs or disabilities.

The program featured a trained professional who provided social services and medical care to the elderly and walked them through their options. The service coordinator connected them to hospice care, the “Meals on Wheels” food program, and even pest control services. She also helped with in-home skilled nursing, prescription assistance, and financial counseling.

The program is working. The Upper Arlington Fire Division saw a decrease in EMS runs and the service coordinator provided assistance to more than 120 people during the first year. Elderly residents in Upper Arlington now have a valuable resource to get the help they need in non-emergency situations freeing the city’s emergency medical services to handle emergencies.

The city council originally proposed the “STAY UA” as well as explored and made recommendations on the best approach for establishing a long-term program. The city manager’s office and the fire chief put their efforts into designing and implementing the program.

In the mid-2000s, Central City’s leaders identified a number of seemingly-unrelated issues that needed attention:

• Existing housing stock was rapidly aging, but new residential construction was at a virtual standstill.
• A badly-deteriorating trailer park was down to about one-third occupancy next to an adjacent property overgrown with vegetation and an abandoned water pit, creating an unsightly and hazardous area.
• Soccer leagues were flourishing, but there weren’t enough soccer fields.
• The city’s 50-year-old swimming pool was reaching the end of its useful life.
• There wasn’t enough open space for recreation and walking areas.

The city’s leadership appealed to a broad spectrum of community residents and organizations who then came together to develop a proposal to address all these nagging problems.

As they worked, the five key issues coalesced into one solution, resulting in a proposal for the South Recreation Project.

The city held public meetings to solicit ideas on what should be included in the project. Anyone who wanted to be involved could present — and improve upon — suggestions. School students of various ages offered feedback on the design, particularly for the swimming pool.

The result was the South Recreation Complex, which includes a trailer park, new lake, aquatic center, soccer facilities, residential subdivision, and a hiking/biking trail.

Situated on the Cedar River, Charles City experienced record flooding in 1999 and 2008. Something needed to be done with the space along the damaged riverfront and something had to be done to prevent future flooding. The city responded with an innovative project to build a new riverfront park with a kayak course.

The Prairie Rapids group of paddle boat enthusiasts came up with the idea of the whitewater course, and City Administrator Tom Brownlow took the idea and ran with it, recognizing its potential benefits to residents of Charles City, both as an improvement to their quality of life and as a site to attract tourist dollars. Working with multiple partners and securing funding from a variety of sources, Brownlow and the city’s elected officials turned the park into a reality.

The kayak course was created on a 23-acre open area that was mostly flood-buyout land, replacing a dangerous low-head dam with two rock structures to create whitewater rapids adjacent to downtown Charles City. It is the only whitewater course in Iowa and there is nothing like it within 1,000 miles.

The course is immensely popular with kayakers and tubers and has been a magnet for visitors from all over the Midwest. As a result, local businesses and hotels have seen an increase in sales.

But more important, the new Riverfront Park has become a focal point of activity for Charles City residents. The park includes a boat launch, walking trail, amphitheater, labyrinth, disc golf course, and other amenities that have completely transformed the waterfront. It has spurred community involvement and civic pride, with Eagle Scouts doing projects for Riverfront Park, middle school students winning national contests for environmental projects, and scores of people volunteering.

Paying for the project also helped build state and local partnerships. Funding included a $571,000 Iowa Great Places grant, $468,000 from the Department of Natural Resources for dam safety and a boat ramp, about $250,000 from the city’s hotel-motel tax, and $425,000 in local donations. No property tax money was used.

Some people thought it was crazy to build a whitewater park in Charles City, but Brownlow believed in its potential, and now the city’s whitewater course is hailed as an example to towns all over the country on how you can take a river problem and convert it into a valuable asset for the entire community.

In 2009, the city of Beverly Hills embarked on a strategic effort to strengthen its economic base by developing a five-year Economic Sustainability Plan. The plan prioritizes projects based on those that show the greatest promise for enhancing city revenue.

Retired City Manager Jeff Kolin created a workgroup to gather input from the city council, city departments, and key groups in the community.

Key projects that have resulted from the city council’s adoption of the plan include:

• a three-story city-owned building that houses the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce and the Conference and Visitors Bureau, along with a state-of-the-art visitor center
• a parking garage that uses smart, environmentally friendly technology
• a city-owned office building that achieved a LEED silver rating and is the first public building in the city with rooftop solar panels
• a signage program that makes it easier to navigate the city and locate parking structures

During their annual priority-setting session, Kolin and Assistant City Manager Mahdi Aluzri ensure that the city council uses the plan as one of its four criteria to determine allocations for key projects.

Watch a video about the plan

Download the city’s Economic Sustainability Plan

Meet the Manager

Jeff Kolin

Retired City Manager

Jeff Kolin was city manager of Beverly Hills from January 2010 to February 2015. Previously, he was city manager of Santa Rosa and Pittsburg and deputy city manager of Santa Clarita (all in California). Kolin is a member of the board of directors of the League of California Cities, a vice president of the California City Managers' Foundation, and an ICMA Credentialed Manager. He has both a B.A. and an M.A. in sociology from Cal State Long Beach.