Lanthorn.com

A chat with Grand Rapids' City Manager

By Lauren Fitch GVL Staff Writer
10/26/2008

Grand Rapids' City Manager for the past 22 years, Kurt Kimball, announced his retirement on Oct. 7. The Lanthorn sat down with Kimball to discuss his reason for retirement and his perspectives on Grand Rapids and Grand Valley State University.

Lanthorn: Did you ever expect to serve for 22 years?

Kimball: No, the average tenure of a city manager is similar to urban school superintendant, three to five years. I've been here almost 22 and that's really long. Ten years ago I bypassed what had been the longest-serving city manager in this city's history. It's an uncommon tenure to say the least; it's not typical ... It's been less disruptive for my family to be able to stay in one place.

Lanthorn: What is your reason for retirement?

Kimball: Nearly 22 years as city manager and 34 years with the organization is a good run. I've witnessed a transformation of this community the likes of which is the envy of most other cities in the nation. It's been incredibly satisfying and rewarding. I think people who live life should have more than one vantage point on life. I've been doing this job for a long time and I just want to do something different that's similarly fulfilling, but less consuming than this job.

Lanthorn: In what area has Grand Rapids changed most dramatically during your time as city manager?

Kimball: Back when I started with the city, it seemed like we were a relatively unknown and insular community - meaning that we weren't really open to a variety of thought and diversity of people. I think we've become much more cosmopolitan. We've become a much more dynamic city than when I started. I think we're earning the reputation of being world-class in many respects. People are beginning to notice Grand Rapids. People comprehend that we aren't all white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants and Grand Rapids is becoming more accepting of the diversity of people and cultures that will make us even greater if we keep it up.

Lanthorn: What will the transition to the new city manager be like?

Kimball: It's anybody's guess. The city commission is in charge of the search process of the city manager, but other than that all of the hiring decisions are mine. The commission doesn't have a lot of practice or experience hiring a city manager. It probably will take several months.

Lanthorn: What kind of impact have you had on GVSU?

Kimball: The downtown campus of GVSU has been a great boom to what's happened downtown ... I think we welcomed and embraced the expansion of GVSU's campus in downtown Grand Rapids. That doesn't just happen. You have to work hand in glove: The members of my administration with GVSU's facility planning committee to the president on down. It's been a great partnership. I'm really proud of all that's occurred on the west side of the Grand River. It's fabulous. GVSU is increasingly regarded as being more synonymous with Grand Rapids than it ever used to be 20 or 30 years ago. The identities of Grand Rapids and GVSU are melding.

Lanthorn: What kind of changes will GVSU see under a new city manager?

Kimball: I hope that my successor would be similarly welcoming of additional development in our city. I have every reason to believe that he or she will.

Lanthorn: What advice would you give your successor?

Kimball: Don't be easily offended personally. Persevere, try to be diplomatic in your dealings with others and keep your focus on the work rather than the politics of the situation.

Lanthorn: How would you like the people of GR to remember you?

Kimball: As a person who was professional, who managed the city well for an extraordinarily long period of time, who was a careful listener and good problem solver.

Lanthorn: What has been your guiding vision or goal?

Kimball: I think what I really appreciate about this city and its mindset is its focus on the triple bottom line. No matter what you do as an organization, you focus on the economic impact of it. To a private organization that would be profit or loss, are you making money to sustain the business? From a governmental standpoint it's how do you spend money, accomplish things and do it efficiently, that's one lens to look through. Another lens of the triple bottom line is focusing on doing what you do, to what extent are you helping or harming the environment? We're getting an increasingly big and increasingly well-deserved reputation of being "green." Reducing our carbon footprint and being responsible with respect to the environment is the second element of the triple bottom line. The third one is social equity. How does what we do impact for better or worse the different classes of people? How well are we doing of making sure that all of our citizens no matter what their race, income or sex are having an opportunity to enjoy the benefits of urban life similarly, if not identically. That's the vision I have, that we'll be balanced between those three elements on what we do to try and improve the quality of life for our citizens.

Lanthorn: What kind of ongoing challenges has Grand Rapids experienced?

Kimball: The ongoing challenge just looking at the past decade is the precariousness of our financial condition of the city. With respect to the city of Grand Rapids as an organization and where we get our resources and what we're charged with doing, it's even more perilous ... I'm referring to state revenue sharing, which the deal was originally "we'll collect this and give it back to you" but more recently as the state's had pressure on its own budget they have reneged that promise and have not been providing us all that they should. That comes as a blow on top of the economic climate which has resulted in a drop in our income taxes. We rely heavily on income taxes in this city. Most cities rely more exclusively on property taxes, but Grand Rapids relies on income taxes ... So when the economy tanks and Metropolitan Hospital moves out of the city or Steelcase loses half of its jobs, all which have come to pass, and people aren't working, they aren't giving us income taxes and our money goes down. The combination of revenue sharing and what's happening to our income tax has been sort of like a double whammy. We've been cutting the budget for eight years in a row and there's no end in sight. Now with the crisis in the financial markets it's going to get even worse.

Lanthorn: What areas have you been cutting the budget from?

Kimball: It's been virtually all areas. One of our highest priorities is public safety and that translates to police and fire, so we don't like to cut there unless we absolutely must. But after eight years of cutting in a row, we've eliminated almost 55 positions in the police force and a couple dozen in the fire department out of a total of more than 300 positions that we've eliminated from the budget over the last eight years. We're running out of places to cut and we've already tried closing swimming pools and doing other things. So we're working really hard and hoping to lower our expenses in terms of wages and fringe benefits but that makes union negotiations all the tougher.

Lanthorn: Is there any area that you think is safe from budget cuts?

Kimball: No, there isn't any area that's completely safe. Obviously we have to have great police protection because if we don't have a safe city then people don't want to live here, but that's a $50 million budget. Is it possible that we can squeeze $1 million out of them, so that they too would be cut? Of course. The police and fire departments are mammoth elements of our budget. I think everything should be on the table. There should be no secret accounts or pet projects when you've got a challenge as big as we've had and are going to continue to have in the future.

Lanthorn: What are some of Grand Rapids' strengths?

Kimball: Speaking of the broader community, I think its great philanthropy at a personal and corporate level. This is a giving city; it has an ethic of giving that enables us to tackle problems and to solve them. I think there's a tremendous "can do" attitude in West Michigan. We believe there's no problem that we can't solve if we put our minds and our resources to it. That makes us pretty unique. The degree of our congeniality and cooperation in this area sets us apart. I've heard often others who have moved to this area from other places around the country as near as Chicago or Detroit say, "What is this Grand Rapids nice thing - you're just too nice in Grand Rapids. You strive to always get a consensus on everything, you never have any arguments, at least seemingly" ... It's nice to be nice, sometimes it slows your ability to confront issues and solve problems because people aren't forthright in their opinions. So it's a plus and it's a minus.

Lanthorn: Are you still going to be involved the Grand Rapids area?

Kimball: I don't intend to move from this area. I love this community. I grew up here, all of the people and relationships I've built are here. Some of my grandchildren are here; one of my two daughters is here. So I'll stay here and I could use a little sabbatical for a month or two. But after that I'd like to jump into a different saddle and do something that's interesting and still contributes to the community, I'm open to suggestions.

Lanthorn: Will there be any immediate changes from the appointment of a new City Manager?

Kimball: I don't think so. They're going to have to gear up for work on another grueling budget balancing. It looks like that's going to be as or more difficult than the past eight years and those were difficult enough. But I wouldn't expect wholesale changes by the interim city manager. When the new city manager gets appointed six to nine months from now, it's anybody's guess depending on who that is and what kind of changes that person will wish to bring. But I think the organization is pretty smooth functioning. One of the benefits of my kind of longevity is the stability that it brings this organization. I think it's proven to be beneficial. There's not a whole lot broke that needs fixing. A new person will bring in fresh ideas and contribute in new ways and that's good ... In this day and age with complex problems you have to be creative and innovative and different people will bring in different ideas. I think it's a good thing.

Lanthorn: What has been the most rewarding part of the job?

Kimball: Seeing things get accomplished because of everybody working together. We're a totally different city than we were 34 years ago. The city can't take credit for a lot of things by itself, but we've done a lot to create the environment, set the stage, pave the way for the kind of investment that we've seen downtown. I think neighborhoods have improved. I'm leaving the city a better place than when I came, I hope.

Kimball's closing comments: It's been a very fulfilling career. It has been a very challenging career as well. It takes a lot out of you, the hours are long. There are lots of rewards. I think great things have been accomplished. It's a pretty good legacy to leave. I think I'm leaving on a high note, timing is important in this business. The city has a fabulous foundation and GVSU is a vital part of it. I expect great things of the city and its partnership with the university in the days ahead, even though I'll be gone.

lfitch@lanthorn.com

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