Community

SOLON– Black Lives Matter to white people, too.
And that is making a difference, according to a few Solon High School (SHS) graduates.
SHS alumni led a throng of about 150 people on a march through Solon Sunday, June 14, demanding justice for black Americans.
The Black Lives Matter (BLM) supporters shouted the names of the most recent victims in America’s race war as they walked from the SHS parking lot to the bandstand downtown.
Leading the crowd were Solon graduates Ainslee Eastman, Cate Neumann, Sydney Lawson and Ellie Hawkins, and 17-year-old Quincy Jagnow of North Liberty.

NORTH LIBERTY– Water rates in North Liberty increase by three percent next month. The City Council approved the first reading of an ordinance authorizing the increase Tuesday, June 9, during a regular meeting conducted online via the Zoom virtual meeting platform. Two more readings are required with the second scheduled for later this month and the third to occur during the first meeting in July.
The new rate starts with water used in July according to Assistant City Administrator/City Clerk Tracey Mulcahey.
A public hearing, by phone and email, was held with no comments received.

IOWA CITY– Brad Kunkel will likely be Johnson County’s next sheriff.
Kunkel, a sergeant and the public information officer for the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, defeated Al Fear, a sergeant with the Patrol Division of the Cedar Rapids Police Department, with an overwhelming 82 percent of the vote in a Democrat primary election Tuesday, June 2. Kunkel, of rural Solon, had 19,469 votes to 4,128 for Fear, a resident of Swisher.

NORTH LIBERTY– “We’re at a point where we need to get it finished up and usable,” North Liberty City Administrator Ryan Heiar told city council members about the historic Ranshaw House.
Heiar introduced a proposal from Shive-Hattery to finish the rehabilitation of the house during a Tuesday, May 26, council meeting.

In the wake of George Floyd’s killing by a Minneapolis police officer, we’ve been asked what training and procedures the North Liberty Police Department has in place to help prevent the over-policing of people of color in our own community. This post provides a high-level overview of current training, policies and procedures. There is, of course, work still to do, and it’s important for our community to hold conversations and itself accountable.

Use of force