Human Resource Management Succession Planning Guide, 2007

The Iowa Department of Administrative Services - Human Resources Enterprise (DAS-HRE) has developed a variety of tools and resources to address those concerns. Loss of institutional knowledge, or knowledge transfer as it is more frequently referred to, is one of the main topics of the Workforce Planning Guide. Potential difficulties finding new workers was one of the major reasons for adding a chapter on recruitment in the Applicant Screening Manual.

Continuity of Government Planning Interim Study Committee, March 2007

The Legislative Council established the Continuity of Government Planning Interim Study Committee in 2006 and authorized the Committee to meet during the 2006 Legislative Interim. The Committee was given the following charge: Examine issues relating to the continued functioning of state government following a disaster, including gubernatorial succession, replacement of constitutional officers and department heads, legislative elections to fill vacancies, and continued funding of state government if the General Assembly is unable to meet and pass a budget.

Iowa Commission on the Status of African Americans Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2006

A Public Intellectual recently suggested that I read the book Life Out Of Context by the very productive writer Walter Mosley. In this book, Mosley began to summarize a speech that was given by Harry Belafonte. Belafonte made a comparison between a particular Olympic relay race and the Civil Rights Movement. In the race, an experienced runner stumbled a little while passing the baton, and the race was lost. For Belafonte, this momentary slip was a metaphor for the failure of the Civil Rights Movement to “pass the baton” to the younger generation as “it moved past its original phase and into the latter part of the century.” Regardless of your views of the strengths and weaknesses of the Civil Rights Movement, I think all of us would agree that the current issues facing Black Iowa today--e.g., the need for economic development, increased educational achievement and more political involvement in our communities--demand our immediate attention and action. This urgency requires that we cross generational, class, and territorial boundaries within the state to collaborate among ourselves and with others to deal constructively with these issues. We cannot afford to have another “momentary slip.” Serving as the Administrator for ICSAA allows me to serve Black Iowa in a significant way, and Kimberly Cheeks and I in this Division look forward to the work ahead over the next several months and years. Working closely with Walter Reed, Director of the Department of Human Rights, along with so many others across this state, we are keenly aware that we are provided with a great opportunity to positively impact the quality of life for African-Americans in Iowa.

A Research Report on Roadside Vegetation Management, December 1975

According to prevailing ecological theory one would expect the most stable vegetation on sites which are least disturbed (Odum 1971). According to theory one would also expect the most diversity of species on undisturbed sites (Odum 1971). This stable and diverse community would be produced over a period of many years through a process of plant succession where annual herbs are replaced by perennial herbs and finally woody plants would come to dominate and perpetuate the community. Another ecological theory holds that the complexity (structure and species diversity) of a plant community is dependent upon the amount of disturbance to which it is subjected (Woodwell, 1970). According to this theory the normal succession of a plant community through its various stages may be arrested at some point depending upon the nature and severity of the disturbance. In applying these theories to roadside vegetation it becomes apparent that mass herbicide spraying and extensive mowing of roadsides has produced a relatively simple and unstable vegetation. It follows that if disturbances were reduced not only would the roadside plant community increase in stability but maintenance costs and energy usage would be reduced. In this study we have investigated several aspects of reduced disturbances on roadside vegetation. Research has centered on the effectiveness of spot spraying techniques on noxious weed control, establishment of native grass cover where ditch cleaning and other disturbance has left the bare soil exposed and the response of roadside vegetation when released from annual mass spraying.

Iowa Emergency Response Plan, October, 2010

The State of Iowa has adopted a multi-hazard approach to managing the consequences of emergency/disaster response. Underlying this approach is the principle that a standard set of generic functional capabilities can be employed to effectively address a wide variety of hazardous conditions and categories of incidents, whether these have a known probability of occurring or are totally unforeseen. Therefore, to the greatest extent possible, the activities described and assigned in this plan are organized along functional lines first, rather than by agency, type of hazard, or type of incident. Contained in this section of the Plan, known as the ―Basic Plan,‖ are instructions, policies, and explanatory information related to many or all of the agencies/entities involved in emergency/ disaster response, as well as information about the legal and administrative foundations for the Plan, the state’s characteristics and significant hazards, lines of succession for the state’s chief executive, plan activation requirements, and the structure of the response organization.