Walking a Fine Line: An Investigation of the Monticello Mayor and City Council, July 5, 2011

Iowa Citizen Aide - Ombudsman Office received a complaint on February 22, 2010, concerning the manner in which the mayor and several city council members for the City of Monticello (City) attempted to remove the city administrator from his position. It was alleged that the mayor and at least one council member went to the homes of other council members and sought their signatures on a letter of offer requesting the city administrator to resign or face a vote to terminate his employment. We were asked to investigate whether this action complied with Iowa’s Open Meetings Law.

Highway Performance and Time-Sensitive Industries, 1998

This report addresses delays to freight shippers. Although the focus is on just-in-time (JIT) businesses, the authors also note that non JIT businesses also suffer delays that impact their productivity. The table of contents lists the following headings: chapter 1 - introduction - a trial application: the Des Moines metropolitan area; structure of the report; chapter 2 - reliability at the forefront of freight transport demand - manufacturing and inventory; just-in-time operations in the U.S.; transportation consequences; summary; chapter 3 - JIT operations in Iowa - survey and sample; trucking activity and service; just-in-time truck transportation in Iowa; assessment of factors affecting truck transportation service; summary and conclusions; chapter 4 - travel time uncertainty induced by incidents - a probabilistic model for incident occurrences and durations; calculation of delay; trial application; conclusions; and chapter 5 - conclusions and recommendations - conclusions; recommendations.