Mayor and Jill Hopkins’ Trip to China for the Opening of the Muscatine Center was a Success

Posted on 2015/08/14 by Gregg Mandsager

Mayor and Jill Hopkins and Albert Liu are guided into the Muscatine Center at the Opening Ceremony

Last month, Mayor DeWayne Hopkins and his wife Jill spent ten days in China to attend the opening of the Muscatine Center and renew old friendships. This was Hopkins’ second trip to China as a representative of Muscatine. The first trip to China in November 2012 served to set the stage for the sister city relationship between Muscatine and Zhengding County.

Hopkins described landing in China on this trip as different than his first. In 2012, he and the group from Muscatine landed in Beijing as a light snow dusted the ground. This time, they flew into Shanghai where they were forced to embrace the summer heat.

The first night in Shanghai consisted of dinner at a restaurant in the Bund area with a view across the Yangtze River. After dinner, Mayor and…

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The SAFER Grant and How it Could Lead to the Hire of More Firefighters

Posted on 2015/08/112015/08/11 by Gregg Mandsager

City of Muscatine

Here is Part 2 in a 4 Part Series on the Muscatine Fire Department.

Last week, I wrote about Fire Department staffing and explained that there are times where the Fire Department goes below the required nine personnel on duty. While this can be for a variety of reasons, it is crucial that there be adequate coverage and protection for the people in Muscatine should major structure fires arise. While meeting with Chief Ewers, he expressed faith in Muscatine’s highly trained and dedicated firefighters who are capable of tackling any type of emergency that may arise.

The City of Muscatine and the Fire Department recognize the need for increased staffing and are working to address it. One of the ways we may be able to increase staffing is through being awarded the US Department of Homeland Security’s Staffing For Adequate Fire And Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant.

The Muscatine Fire Department has applied for this…

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How is the Muscatine Fire Department Staffed?

Posted on 2015/08/102015/08/10 by Gregg Mandsager

City of Muscatine

A few weeks ago, I had a nice time touring the Muscatine Fire Department and learning more about how the department works. Now, I’m going to give you a more in-depth look at how the Fire Department organizes itself in order to protect and care for Muscatine’s citizens. Today, I will tell you about staffing and the procedures in place to assure that Fire and EMS services are carried out safely and effectively.

The Fire Department is a 37 uniformed member department. This includes a Fire Chief and an Assistant Chief who each work a 40 hour per week schedule and 35 members who each work a 56 hour work week on 24 hour shifts.

There are three different shift rotations that 35 members of the Fire Department work within – Blue, Green and Red shifts. Two shifts have 12 personnel and one shift has 11. I’m going to break down the…

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Students from Ichikawamisato, Japan Visit City Hall

Posted on 2015/08/102015/08/10 by Gregg Mandsager

City of Muscatine

On Thursday, July 30, Mayor Hopkins had the pleasure of giving a tour of City Hall to a group of students and their chaperones from Ichikawa Junior High School in Ichikawamisato, Japan. Ichikawamisato is one of Muscatine’s seven current Sister Cities. Muscatine and Ichikawamisato’s official sister city relationship goes back to 1990, meaning that this year is the 25th anniversary.

Mayor Hopkins began the tour by telling the students a little bit about what he does as mayor. He showed them his office and then guided them to meet with Finance Director Nancy Lueck and Community Development Director David Gobin. Both Nancy and David gave our guests an overview of their departments and discussed what they do for Muscatine.