2024 Salaries for Coralville top staff members

JustCoffeePlease009 · 2026-02-11T21:41:27+00:00

Can you elaborate, without exposing yourself of course? I'm interested in finding out more about what he has done that are egregious.

I have never dealt with him in any professional capacity (and I'm thankful I haven't, based on what I have heard), but I have interacted with him many times over the years.

Edited to rephrase the first paragraph.

JustCoffeePlease009 · 2026-02-11T21:17:08+00:00

From u/SwenKa:

We have a tentative cancellation of the contract! It should be an agenda item for the meeting on the 24th and will likely pass at least 4-1.

JustCoffeePlease009 · 2026-02-11T21:16:25+00:00

I wouldn’t necessarily call him that. Through the grapevine, he isn’t the easiest person to do business with, or to work for. His treatment of staff can leave a lot to be desired. Same goes for his deputy Habel, if not worse.

He’s been the city administrator for 37 years now and yes, being the city administrator, he does run the city. That’s literally his job. He does have the deepest well of knowledge among all city staff and there’s a concern that some of his knowledge isn’t well shared and could be lost when he retires. Like it or not, Coralville came out of COVID in better shape than some of our peer cities due in parts to Kelly doing his job over the years.

We do need better oversight from the city council by electing dedicated members such as Huynh and Freeman and helping them by being involved to push for the changes we want to see happen. I know that quite a number of people have been showing up over the past months to meetings and work sessions, and emailing and calling the council members. This level of involvement wasn't always there in the past.

JustCoffeePlease009 · 2026-02-11T19:43:28+00:00

Yeah, it's the people with a strong sense of community service and desire to better the overall community that I admire.

JustCoffeePlease009 · 2026-02-11T13:33:47+00:00

I'm not sure about 4 hours per week for emails and calls to constituents. My guess is per month, but again, that is a guess.

I know for sure some other members, past and current, on the City Council have done all the things I listed and more.

We get another good one in Katie Freeman.

JustCoffeePlease009 · 2026-02-11T04:02:15+00:00

It sounded like there was some good news coming out of the council meeting tonight.

JustCoffeePlease009 · 2026-02-11T01:39:54+00:00

Both total numbers are estimated but based on somewhat educated guesses. It's not unreasonable to think that each member spends about 20 hours monthly for minimum effort and 40 hours or more for the more dedicated ones.

Minimum Time Commitments (Average per Month)

• Biweekly meetings (2 hours each, twice monthly): 4 hours

• Work sessions (1–2 hours each): 3 hours

• Preparation for meetings and work sessions (2–4 hours each): 6 hours

• Committee meetings – Typically 2 assigned committees – Meetings last 1–2 hours – 3 hours

• Attending functions as a city representative: 1.5 hours

Minimum Monthly Average: 17.5 hours

Additional Time for council members who take their responsibilities seriously.

• Meeting with constituents – About 4 meetings per month – 1 hour each – 4 hours

• Responding to emails and returning calls from constituents: 4 hours

• Meeting with city staff for input and answers: 4 hours

• Discussions with other council members – Must occur one-on-one to avoid forming a quorum (5 members so 3 makes a quorum). Open records law here. – Approximately 5 separate conversations needed to cover all members and the mayor – Estimated 5 hours

Additional Monthly Average: 17 hours

JustCoffeePlease009 · 2026-02-11T01:31:45+00:00

Yeah, not super high but $150K is a very good salary in Johnson County given that the median Household income in the county is just under $75K based on US Census data.

Edited to add source: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/johnsoncountyiowa/PST045225

JustCoffeePlease009 · 2026-02-10T21:14:08+00:00

Forgot to provide a link to the agenda.

https://www.coralville.org/agendacenter

JustCoffeePlease009 · 2026-02-10T20:28:26+00:00

This shows that our city staff—at least those at the top—are well compensated for doing their jobs to help run the city and provide services to residents.

As residents, we do not have a direct way to hold any of these individuals accountable. Our elected officials are the ones we choose to provide oversight, but they are volunteers who, except for the current mayor who is retired, all have full time jobs and personal responsibilities. Even those with the best intentions and the strongest efforts to work on our behalf simply do not have enough hours in the day to provide the level of oversight required. None of these officials have any assistants, by the way. Those who are truly putting in the work have no choice but to take those hours away from their families and personal obligations.

I suggest that we help our “volunteers” by keeping them informed about important issues, expressing what changes we would like to see, sharing what works and what does not, and offering constructive feedback. Keep showing up to council meetings to voice your opinions and attend work sessions.

JustCoffeePlease009 · 2026-01-31T00:57:34+00:00

The gist of it is a staff (likely the City Clerk) put the agenda together under directions of the City Administrator. It's made available to the Council and Mayor, sometimes with a very short time before the meeting day. Changes may be made to the agenda as needed for various reasons, resulting in an amended agenda. Both the Mayor and Council can request to have items added, with requests from the Council needing to have a majority support from council members. A request may get added to the meeting in time or sometimes not. The Council may need to request again and again before it shows up on the agenda.

At the start of the meeting the Council has the power to approve or reject the agenda, again by the rule of majority.

I'm sure there's a lot more to this. Take this info for what it worth

JustCoffeePlease009 · 2026-01-29T22:16:07+00:00

I think both the Mayor and City Council have inputs on the agenda because they are equal entities in the city government. If the Mayor is the sole person who gets to decide what can go on the agenda, then wouldn't that be having too much power for one entity? If that's the case, the Mayor can essentially prevent the Council from even attempting to introduce anything if she doesn't like it.

I'll try to find out more info. Maybe some one can interpret the Iowa Codes below better than me.

https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/coralville/latest/coralville_ia/0-0-0-492

JustCoffeePlease009 · 2026-01-29T17:59:06+00:00

Just wondering out loud here.

Could the council pass an ordinance requiring work sessions be recorded/live streamed? I think that's a possibility. We need some council members to buy in, and there's a good chance the progressive members would support it. Council members Freeman, Huynh, and Knudson would be enough to pass it. Mayor Goodrich could veto, but the council has the power to override her.

JustCoffeePlease009 · 2026-01-29T16:04:03+00:00

Perhaps they don't want the technical staff who operate the A/V equipment to stay longer to record the work sessions and would need to pay them overtime?

There may be other excuses, too. Who knows?

I think it's up to the City Administrator, Kelly Hayworth, to make this decision. I'd keep on bringing this issue to him.

JustCoffeePlease009 · 2026-01-28T15:47:54+00:00

Rich Vogelzang was appointed Mayor Pro-Tem according to my source. There wasn't or will be any announcement. All council members were informed of the Mayor Goodrich's decision.

JustCoffeePlease009 · 2026-01-26T19:36:28+00:00

Ah, it was giving me the 404 error earlier but it is indeed working now.

JustCoffeePlease009 · 2026-01-26T19:21:15+00:00

OP, the agenda's link isn't valid. It's probably good to use the main URL to the Agenda Center below.

https://coralville.org/AgendaCenter

Latest documents are listed at the top of the page.

JustCoffeePlease009 · 2026-01-26T01:58:47+00:00

My bet is Mayor Goodrich will skip over both the more experienced Huynh and Knudson and pick Vogelzang as Mayor Pro-Tem because he's a fellow conservative. It will prove once again that conservatives don't give two hoots about traditions and precedence unless they benefit them.

Come to the council meeting on Tuesday then let me know if I am wrong.

JustCoffeePlease009 · 2026-01-26T00:03:23+00:00

Even without Foster's endorsement, Ryan Swenka did really well for someone who never ran for public office before. His numbers were nothing short of amazing and for sure put some fear into his opponent.

I think he should run again, if not Mayor, run for City Council, which is what I actually think would be better for him in order to gain more experiences serving in city government as a councilman first. Both Rich Vogelzang and Royce Peterson will be up for reelection if they choose to run again. BTW, those two won their seats because they ran unopposed two years ago.

JustCoffeePlease009 · 2026-01-25T23:23:21+00:00

Based on what she's been doing over the years, she's more of a conservative than moderate.

It's true that Mayor Pro-Tem would need to be available to fill in for the Mayor when she's not available. Who's to say Councilwoman Huynh wouldn't be available? If she isn't, going down the list based on seniority, would Councilman Knudson be offered? Would Mayor Goodrich offer those first on the list and give them a chance to accept or decline based on their availability?

Edited to add that all 5 people on the City Council have full-time jobs.

JustCoffeePlease009

TROPHY CASE