Incoming Lawrence city manager Tom Markus, left, recently spoke to the Journal-World about his five years as city manager of Iowa City, Iowa. Pictured, clockwise from top right, are Dubuque Street in downtown, one of three controversial Iowa City high-rise projects and the campus of the University of Iowa.

Iowa City ? Just past working hours in his corner office of City Hall, flooded with evening light coming in through wall-to-wall windows, Lawrence’s incoming city manager, Tom Markus, lifted himself from the leatherback chair on one side of the room and strode the few yards to his desk, piled high with papers, to answer his ringing phone.

“Especially at this hour, it’s usually a crisis,” Markus said before grabbing the receiver.

It was no reason to worry, though. In his five years as Iowa City’s city manager, Markus has navigated his share of challenging situations. He’s dealt with criticism about the size and financing of downtown high-rises, which was the subject of that night’s phone call. He’s argued in favor of a passenger rail between his city and Chicago; and he’s hopped on a plane to Belgium with little notice to woo officials of an international cycling event, among his many other daily tasks.

After a few minutes on the phone, Markus said goodbye to the person on the other line, again leaned back in the chair overlooking one of Iowa City’s downtown thoroughfares, and continued his answer to a previously asked question.

Now, while continuing the day-to-day in Iowa City — days that usually start before 8 a.m. and are filled with meetings, putting him home sometime before 6:30 p.m. — he’s directing his focus toward Lawrence.

“I think the transition is going well,” he said. “I’ve heard from a lot of people from Lawrence welcoming me… They’re all kind of, you know, waiting to see who this new person is and how he operates.”

Markus, 64, is expecting to start his job in Lawrence in less than two months, on March 21. The changeover, he said, includes a deluge of projects to wrap up in his current role as Iowa City’s city manager — budget planning, development initiatives, acclimating new city council members — while researching Lawrence’s history in his off-time and devising a plan for his first 100 days here.

Like much else having to do with city governance, Markus has experience transitioning. Lawrence will be Markus’ sixth move in his professional career and the fifth city since 1977 in which he’s served in the top nonelected post.

“I’ve been an outsider a lot,” he said. “That doesn’t bother me much.”

People who have worked with Markus in Iowa City during the past five years — some daily or weekly, some only occasionally — described him again and again as “confident” and “direct” — a leader who didn’t let conflict at City Hall seep into personal relationships.

Some painted a picture of Markus as a candid guy from a blue-collar family — a hunter, mentor and father figure. Others saw him as a “new urbanist” and “progressive pragmatic.” They said he was running the “People’s Republic of Johnson County” (a longstanding nickname for Iowa City, which, like Lawrence, leans more liberal than its surroundings) in a more conservative direction than what some of the population agreed with.

“I try to do what I think is right,” Markus said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean people agree with it. And in this business, there’s always somebody who doesn’t agree with the direction you take.”

A new urbanist

Walking through Iowa City’s downtown pedestrian mall — a mix of retail, office space and dining adjacent from the University of Iowa campus — former City Council member Rick Dobyns motioned toward two inordinately tall structures that, along with a third high-rise in the works, have created some local contention.

This 14-story tower, named Park@201, is one of three high-rise projects in downtown Iowa City that have caused controversy, with opponents saying they create a skyline uncharacteristic of the city and received too much financial assistance.

One local development group is behind the three projects, one of which — the decade-old, mixed-use Plaza Towers — includes a pair of 11-story towers. The other, Park@201, is a 14-story tower housing retail, office and apartment space that was developed during Markus’ tenure.

Dobyns relayed that some local critics of the developments think it creates an “unwelcoming and unfriendly” skyline — that some prefer the “softer” brownstone look over the metal-and-glass structures that rise high above grade level.

According to the Iowa City Press-Citizen, opponents have also been critical of the city’s decision to provide the developer with financial assistance by way of tax increment financing for his third project, The Chauncey, which is the subject of ongoing litigation.

Plaza Tower, an 11-story mixed-use structure, was the first of three high-rise projects in downtown Iowa City.

Last Thursday, the same day Dobyns strolled through downtown, pointing out the buildings and the controversy, the Iowa Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of one of two cases against The Chauncey, a proposed 15-story, mixed-use building that had been cut from the 20 stories originally planned, the Press-Citizen reported.

Both lawsuits have argued the city went against its comprehensive plan.

“There have been people here who have said, ‘Hey, watch out. He [Markus] is going to do to Lawrence what he’s done in Iowa City,'” Dobyns said.

That message showed up on the Journal-World’s message boards the week Markus was announced as Lawrence’s new city manager. It was posted by Jon Fogarty, a co-chairman of the Iowa Coalition Against The Shadow, which is a plaintiff in the lawsuit of which the Iowa Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal. (The other plaintiff in the case, Rockne Cole, was elected to the City Council during November elections).

While Fogarty said on the boards that “we’re happy to see him move on” and warns against looming high-rises, others, including one council member who opposed The Chauncey and its financing, praised Markus on his efforts with economic development, saying he did for the city what he was tasked with when hired.

“The key thing that Tom was hired to do was to stimulate economic development within Iowa City; that was the charge given to him, and he’s done that with considerable vigor and skill,” said Iowa City Mayor Jim Throgmorton, tapping on a the wooden coffee shop tabletop for emphasis. “It’s caused controversy, and our recent election is part of a manifestation of that controversy, but I want to emphasize: I like Tom, and I respect him greatly as a city manager.”

Rick Dobyns, former City Council member in Iowa City

Throgmorton, a retired professor in urban planning who voted against The Chauncey last summer, in part because he didn’t think it offered enough affordable housing, described Markus as a “new urbanist,” a term common in the development community that refers to concentrating development resources into higher structures in the core of a city and improving walkability.

“It’s much more oriented toward high-rise structures in the core of the city,” Throgmorton said. “I don’t know what he has in mind for Lawrence; it’s going to be up to your commission.”

‘The obvious choice’

Matt Hayek, who just ended his term as mayor and did not run for reelection after eight years on the council, repeated what Throgmorton said: that the body that hired Markus did task him with spurring the city’s economic development.

As mayor, Hayek led the national search to hire Markus in 2010. At the time, a longtime city manager had recently retired and his replacement was fired after 11 months.

“I was determined to get it right,” Hayek said. “He was the obvious choice. Looking back on eight years, I can say without hesitation that hiring Tom Markus was the best and most important decision I made.”

Jim Throgmorton, mayor of Iowa City

Economic development was Markus’ charge, Hayek said, because Iowa City had been “taking it on the chin” from the city’s suburbs that were “poaching” businesses.

Iowa City runs into Coralville, a small town to its northwest, and north of Interstate 80 is another suburb, North Liberty.

Throgmorton said the two smaller cities were growing rapidly and the council wanted to make sure Iowa City remained economically competitive.

Dobyns said — and Hayek offered a similar perspective — that Iowa City, at the time of Markus’ arrival, had “languished” in an unaggressive approach to economic development, and Markus led the effort to stimulate it.

“Members of the community didn’t see the need for a strong economic development focus,” Hayek said. “Tom, because the council at the time directed him to do it, and because he also agreed with the importance of doing so, energized our economic development efforts. He brought the economic development operation into his office, which symbolized how important he thought it was. He was exactly what Iowa City needed at the time.”

Markus also took with him to Iowa City a method for assessing developments and assigning incentives, Throgmorton said. Throgmorton described them as “valid, sophisticated instruments.”

People outside of the city’s governance attested to Markus’ work on economic development, too.

Dan Reed, the University of Iowa’s director of research and economic development and a former corporate vice president at Microsoft, worked with Markus to create an incubator for startup companies that will be housed above the city’s public library.

“It’s one thing to have a climate for people to start companies, but it’s all the other things that keep people — the social life, restaurants, the schools. Thinking about all of those pieces together is one of the things we spent a lot of time on,” Reed said. “In my experience, Tom is a man of good ideas. He listens to alternative perspectives, and he’s interested in trying to make things happen.”

Nancy Quellhorst, the president of the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, worked alongside Markus to get a federal grant for the installation of a passenger rail between Iowa City and Chicago that still needs to go through the process of getting a match from the state.

When others looked immediately to the operating cost of the project, Quellhorst said, Markus focused on the benefits it could bring to the area.

“Tom’s been in the profession a long time, and often when you find people that have been in the job for a long time, their perspective tends to narrow,” Quellhorst said. “I find it interesting because he has that rare combination of deep experience but progressive thinking. In these areas, it might’ve been easier to say, ‘Oh gosh, we don’t want to try that.’ He has wonderful ideas and he’s quick to jump in when he sees an opportunity.”

Political shift

The announcement that Markus was one of three finalists for Lawrence’s city manager post came two weeks after the City Council election in Iowa City — one that signified a shift in the majority council opinion, the Press-Citizen reported.

Throgmorton took over as mayor, and along with the rest of the “Core Four,” as the group called itself, unseated two incumbents and introduced three newcomers to the seven-member council.

Dobyns said he thought of Markus as a “pragmatic progressive,” which he defined as someone who realizes capitalism is how society drives the economy. He said that way of thinking might not line up with the new council’s majority opinion.

“He started looking at the position in Kansas, anyway. He was looking for that next step,” Dobyns said. “But there was a shift. Jim’s group is in, and I’m out.”

The Press-Citizen has reported that the shift in council opinion is especially significant as it relates to density and scale of development.

Hayek said his fear is that “much of what he [Markus] did will be undone.” Throgmorton responded to those kinds of sentiments, saying it was “wildly erroneous” to think the new council would “endanger the city’s economic health.”

“I think they will approach governance in a very different way in many respects,” Hayek said. “It’s going to be a different council.”

About the timing of Markus’ departure, Hayek said, “I’m going to let people draw their own conclusions.”

‘His fingerprints’

Hayek hired Markus and spent five years working alongside him as mayor. In the past five years, Hayek experienced the loss of his father, and his relationship with Markus, who is 20 years his senior, strengthened.

To him, it’s a “real loss for Iowa City.”

“Iowa City’s loss is Lawrence’s gain,” he said. “I’m happy for Lawrence because they’re getting a phenomenal executive. I’m going to miss him.”

Besides his work in economic development, Markus created a succession plan for city staff, implemented a strategic planning process to the City Council — something Markus has said he’s bringing with him to Lawrence — and ensured the city is stable financially.

Becci Reedus, the director of The Crisis Center of Johnson County, would point to another project as one of his most important. She gives Markus some credit for the successful collaboration between her nonprofit and three others, all of which located in 2013 into one 7,000-square-foot building in an effort to minimize overhead costs.

Reedus said Markus revitalized the local groups’ fundraising campaign to redesign the building by recommending the city contribute $100,000 if the groups could raise the remaining $200,000 needed.

It was a type of collaboration she — and Markus — thought was needed in a time of limited funding for nonprofits, she said.

“It gave us the final emotional push we needed, but it also gave the campaign a new life,” Reedus said. “We easily met our match. I’ve always given credit to Tom Markus for really pushing that.”

Josh Schamberger, the director of the Convention and Visitors Bureau for Iowa City, Coralville and North Liberty, said Markus has backed him in various projects, such as Iowa City’s recent bid to host an international cycling event. Schamberger found out in late January that Iowa City was awarded the right to host it. He said as part of the city’s bid, Markus traveled to Belgium and gave a rousing speech to the event’s officials.

Geoff Fruin, whom Markus recruited and hired as his assistant city manager, said some of Markus’ work has involved the restructuring of city departments and reassignments of duties — steps taken in Markus’ last couple of years there.

Markus also worked on what Fruin said was the largest completed project, cost-wise, in the city’s history: the expansion of its south wastewater treatment plant. Markus also “has his fingerprints” on what will be the city’s largest project, the $60 million elevation of Dubuque Street, which runs parallel to the Iowa River at points and is the city’s main thoroughfare off Interstate 80.

“He put into place so many important things, some of them the public never really sees,” Hayek said. “We’re a much stronger organization because of him, and we’ll see the benefits of that for years to come.”