Caligiuri Sounds Off On Local Issues
Joe Caligiuri
Oskaloosa, Iowa- The City of Oskaloosa will be holding their municipal elections on November 8th of this year. The Mayor, 2nd ward City Council Member, 4th ward City Council Member, and one At-Large City Council Member positions will be listed on the ballot this year. Only one race is contested, that one being the race for the At-Large seat. The seat is open as incumbent Lori Smith is not seeking re-election.
Joe Caligiui is running for this seat. Caligiuri is currently the Chairman of the Oskaloosa Planning and Zoning Commission. He is being challenged by write-in candidate Jimmy Carter. Osky News had a chance to sit down with Caligiuri Sunday afternoon.
Our first question to Caligiuri was why he is running for City Council. “Well as you know I ran two years ago and it was still on my mind. I said ‘I’ll wait a couple years. See how things are then.’ So I still feel the same. Something I want to do. I enjoy, I just enjoy that type of work. Working with the people there at the city of course, but it’s just the type of work I enjoy doing. I like to get things organized.”
We next asked Caligiuri about the recent raise in the City’s Franchise Fees and if he felt this was a good move. “Well yes. Either you’re going to do that or raise property tax. It’s basically their coming down ‘where we going to get the funds to repair roads?’ The infrastructure, so I thought it’s a good move. At least somebody is looking into it, compared to years ago, no one was doing anything. The roads were not being fixed. There’s not just only roads. There’s other things like the storm sewers, the sewer pipes, whatever, infrastructure in general did not have the attention they should have. At least we didn’t see it.”
Caligiuri continued. “The past couple years, the current council’s been looking at ways or putting a plan together to get these things taken care of, which unfortunately, the streets are the worst, but the funds have to come from somewhere. I can’t speak for everybody but my feeling is I think if people see our money is being used where it needs to be used, then I don’t think a lot of people will have a problem with that.”
We also asked Caligiuri if he agreed with the two items that the funds from the Franchise Fees will be used for. In regards to the two items, Caligiuri said, “One was good, but then this other one was not. But there’s some things in this other one [that] was good too, but they couldn’t dissect each one of them. So we had to pick two. I agree with what they did. I think the council, for the past couple of years, have been doing a good job, a really good job, to at least try to get a plan put in place for the roads. I support it. My worry, future councils down the road, that this continues and the monies [are] going to be put to where they shouldn’t be.”
Caligiuri continued. ” The other thing I want to bring up too is once the roads are repaired, we don’t just stop there. They’re going to have to have a maintenance program, which they should have one already in place, to maintain the roads. If they get a call say someone says ‘hey, we got a pothole here,’ or ‘the cement has a real bad crack,’ or whatever the issue is, somebody should get out there and start fixing it because if they don’t, we’re going to be back where we’re at today.”
We next asked Caligiuri what he thinks Oskaloosa needs to do to entice more businesses into town in light of the recent business closings.”Well it’s not just on the City Council. I believe the Chamber, they have to get into this, try to keep the curb businesses here, but also try to recruit businesses into town too. Or somebody here in town, they can start their own business. As far as those two stores, I don’t know what their target was. Their market target. I’m just going to guess here that The Hall Tree, that was a women’s clothing store I believe, and I don’t know who they were targeting as in their market [inaudible]. I couldn’t really comment on that. As far as the other one in the mall, same thing. I don’t know what their market, what they were trying to target so I think that both of those store owners could maybe change their market strategy or something and try something different.
Caligiuri continued. “We can speculate on that all day as to what should have, could have, at least try to keep the store open. As far as the City Council goes, I don’t know what the City Council could do to help them stay open. We’re a small town and they have to do a lot of competitive and it’s hard to deal with, I know they will say the Wal-Marts, Des Moines or even Ottumwa. If you can get products here to where the consumers don’t have to travel so far, you’ll maintain shopping here.”
We also asked Caligiuri if he thought Oskaloosa should work to expand on businesses here or attract new ones. “It’s definitely something I will be looking into. How can we get businesses here and how can we keep what we have? I did some talking with Jon Sullivan at the chamber just out of curiosity about how they do things and I know on their website they have information about Oskaloosa. I believe they do some outside promotions or something, try to get businesses here so, it was a brief discussion, but I’ve been on their website to see how they try to advertise Oskaloosa, but that is something I am going to be looking at too myself.”
Recently, the Oskaloosa City Council voted to donate to the Agency on Aging. We asked Caligiuri if he thought the City should donate to outside entities. “I think that it’s taxpayer’s money. When it comes to non-profit organizations, me being President of the band booster club here, we have to go out for donations and are very well appreciative of those donations we do get, but any non-profits, they are always trying to raise money. So here we’re singling one. What if others decide to come to the city and ask for funds too? I think that there should be a set policy on how the city will issue donation money to a non-profit organization, and there should be limits on that request.”
Caligiuri continued. “I don’t think taxpayer’s money should be budgeted for non-profit organizations because it’s taxpayer’s money. That needs to be used for well one, help maintenance of roads and other things. You’re talking about city employees, paying them. The work needs to be done in town that’s what the taxpayer’s money is used for. Right now, we’re at a time where I don’t think we can afford to be sending monies out to non-profit organizations.”
Our final question to Caligiuri was what he thought of the Skate Park and its’ current location. “It’s a great thing. I think it is. You gotta remember, I’m from out east. The lifestyle out here is different. In understand that. To me, having a Skate Park downtown is nothing new for me as far as where I’m from and where I grew up at. It’s different here.”
Caligiuri continued. “People say ‘why don’t you put it out at Lacy complex,’ I’ve heard, ‘or by Shrago?’ Well, I believe there was some thought on that. Lacy Complex: too far. You got kids who of course don’t drive. They want to go skating and it’s just too far. There’s not a lot of eyes out there in the day. By Shargo: I don’t know if you want to put a, I believe it’s the top [inaudible]. Skate Park next to Shrago. It just won’t look right. Having it where it’s at today, I think it’s a great spot.
City Elections will be held on November 8th, 2011
