Burlington City Manager Chad Bird impresses in first 100 days thehawkeye.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thehawkeye.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Hawk Eye
A year after COVID-19 forced high schools and colleges to delay or alter their graduation ceremonies, the rites of passage are returning to a more traditional look this spring.
Over the next several weeks, friends and families of this year s graduating seniors will gather at various venues to watch as their loved ones receive their diplomas.
Some ceremonies will look much like they did in years past. Others will be similar to the graduations of 2020, when many were moved outside, delayed by months and seating was limited to allow for social distancing.
For example, Burlington Notre Dame Catholic High School pushed back its graduation ceremony to mid-July and moved it from its usual location in the gymnasium to the football field. Attendance was limited to parents and grandparents.
The Hawk Eye
The City of Burlington wants The Hawk Eye to pay nearly $700 for emails from City Manager Jim Ferneau and city councilman Matt Rinker.
Included in the invoice are $300 in fees from the city s attorney to review the emails before they can be forwarded to The Hawk Eye. The amount would need to be paid before we begin the retrieval process, Director of Adminstrative Services Stephanie Struecker told The Hawk Eye in an email with the invoice for the request.
Back in 2017, The Hawk Eye received emails surrounding Ferneau s departure and his relationship with former councilman Tim Scott. Those emails uncovered that Ferneau had been in conflict with Scott three times before Ferneau finally resigned.
The Hawk Eye
Portions of flood wall beneath and around the Burlington Junction Railway are taking shape, meaning the city likely will be able to significantly cut down on its use of temporary, sand-filled barriers should the Mississippi River outgrow its banks this year. I feel pretty comfortable that at this point, if we were to get a smaller flood, we d be OK, Assistant City Manager for Public Works Nick MacGregor said.
In 2019, the city used Hesco barriers along the flood wall s north and south ends in an effort to protect the downtown area from the swollen Mississippi River. On June 1 of that year, after 80 days of holding back major flooding, the barriers to the south failed, causing the auditorium, Port of Burlington, post office and Front Street to become inundated with water. That shouldn t be an issue this year.
Bird said he s excited about the residential development going on downtown. He called it a unique opportunity for a town like Burlington.
The community currently has several buildings either being renovated, or yet to be built, that will provide downtown residences. Bird said he thinks younger people are looking for apartments downtown, near restaurants and shopping.
Bird said he believes the key to getting people to move downtown is embracing tourism as economic development.
When folks really can work from anywhere these days, quality of life, recreation, and tourism are more important than ever. I think expanding our downtown shopping and dining experiences would help with that, Bird said.