Rob Green - Cedar Falls Mayor Emeritus

04/22/2026

Happy Administrative Professionals Day to some truly rock star past & present Admins in Cedar Falls, Iowa, City Government! Jacque, Kim, Joanne, Amy, Courtney, Marcie, Lisa, and the rest of the City Hall Front Office crew especially! 💐

04/14/2026

If you're following the cryptocurrency mining facility discussion, it's important to go into it well-informed. It's easy to fall back on emotion and old or faulty information, but a good decision for the community takes time, effort, and critical thinking.

The item first came before the Planning & Zoning commission as a proposed change to the city's Zoning Ordinance, to regulate cryptocurrency mining facilities. It would need to pass the P&Z Commission first, and this hearing is scheduled for April 22nd. City Council would then have the ordinance on the agenda in three separate readings (meetings). If the vote fails (with fewer than four 'aye' votes), then the process would stop (though it could possibly be brought up later in a revised form).

I'm attaching the March 25th meeting where the new ordinance was discussed. It's 1.5 hours long, so it's a bit of a time investment if you want to be part of an informed community debate, pro/con.

For what it's worth, I've heard this has been developing since 2023, but I'm assuming that was just on CFU's side and possibly in early planner discussions. Cryptocurrency Mining was never brought up in Executive Management Team meetings during my last year in office.

Also, while in office I saw that my most important role was protecting the process -- ensuring that our city deliberations were fair, transparent, and open to all residents to participate. I've heard about this issue that "this is a done deal", but at the end of the day it's up to seven council members (with a possible mayoral veto) to decide. I can say from experience -- on lots of city issues -- that your voice matters, and that city council members DO take public sentiment to heart. I personally found the most effective approach was when residents provided a well-reasoned letter or email to the council members and me, and read a 2-3 minute cliff notes version of it as a speech at the council meeting. There's no rule against getting the same message across twice! Just be sure that your communication doesn't include misinformation, which is the surest way to have it discounted by the readers you're trying to influence!

I'm happy to answer questions about council procedure, since I was so close to that for six years. And also can link to resources and other materials that can be helpful in gaining perspective on how local government works these kinds of policy issues out.

Cedar Falls Planning & Zoning Commission: March 25, 2026Cedar Falls City HallProduced by: Cedar Falls Community Television

02/28/2026

My 50th Birthmonth has been a great time to send cards to some of the wonderful souls who've had a big positive impact on my life, this first half-century. It's been a great exercise; I recommend it! ✉️

Thank you for following my civic service on this page. I'm truly grateful for the opportunity that Cedar Falls voters gave me for six years of elected service. I've been passionate about civics and good citizenship since my teenage years, and I was able to complete an important civic duty as a City Councilor and Mayor. I gained a lot of valuable insights into the human condition, and I gained the confidence that I DO have a brain wired for challenging legislative and executive work!

I've been staying out of local politics, but I always enjoy being invited to civic events like city inaugurations and ceremonies & connecting with our current leaders. My focus now is my family, my UNI Web Developer job, the men's small group I lead at Trinity Bible Church, and being commander of our area Civil Air Patrol squadron (you can see my squadron members and me at the Iowa America 250 kickoff with the Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of State). I believe these activities are the best ways I can serve God, country, community, and family for now.

Jocelyn and I will be empty nesters in a few years; I know we'll be thankful we focused these last high school years on family time. I still have tons of civic ideas and energy, and would love to serve again in the Mayor's Office if there's an opportunity down the road.

As it is, I'm happy and content and grateful for all the incredible opportunities I've been blessed with. Thanks especially to those who were on opposite sides of various political positions, and used reason and logic to help me work through and re-evaluate my own thinking. That gave me an important opportunity to empathize and learn and grow as a person and elected leader..."implementing the will of the majority while preserving the rights of the minority".

It's been a fascinating first half century and I'm looking forward to the next half! Best wishes to you all!

01/27/2026

At the start of my four years of mayor service, I facilitated the development of a public safety five-year strategic plan. It was a key campaign item for me. In drafting some of the objectives and strategies, I was able to articulate my own vision for community policing, and I was gratified to see that the department leadership agreed completely.

One of our adopted strategies was to purposely minimize tactical gear to the minimum necessary, and to ensure that our police uniforms were professional and protective without looking overtly "combat ready". No facemasks and no helmets, except for SWAT units when necessary. And we wouldn't show off the 'heavy equipment' like assault rifles at normal public open houses in order to bolster the department's positive community policing tone and approachability to citizens. We wanted our officers to be "guardians" and not "warriors" -- problem-solvers, not combatants.

I'm very proud of the work and conversations that led to that strategic plan...and of the departmental leadership that today is working hard to maintain the public trust and ensure safety and security through problem-solving and thoughtful, data-informed policing. I enjoy seeing our officers when I'm out and about -- especially the ones I had the honor of administering oaths to! I'm just thankful to know that our community is in good hands.

01/02/2026

Today I was honored to attend the Cedar Falls Inauguration Ceremony for Mayor Laudick and City Councilors Kelly Dunn (At Large), Gil Schultz (Ward 1), Tom Nagel (Ward 3) and Craig Fairbanks (Ward 5).

I told Mayor Laudick how much I've appreciated his leadership of the city government, and I'm glad to see that many of the reforms and improvements I put in place have stuck -- including the Inauguration Ceremony, the municipal index, and goal setting session setup. I made these changes to give the city a little more organization, transparency and a sense of tradition & ceremony, and I really enjoy seeing them in action.

Emeritus councilor and mayor-pro-tem Paul Rider joined me in the former elected official seats, and I hope that in the years ahead many more priors will join us for this 'homecoming' event. They all played an important role in getting the city where it is today, and deserve the recognition and continued relationships & conversations that come with an Inauguration Ceremony. I loved the chance to reconnect and to see what's happening in City Hall and the mayor's office.

Thanks to Mayor Laudick and City Clerk Kim Kerr for putting on a very classy event, and to all who attended this important civic ceremony!

12/08/2025

Sitting in on a few minutes of Day #2 of the annual Council Goal Setting Session....these are two of the most important days of the Council Year, as priorities and plans get initially hashed out informally. The council will vote on the document early next year, and Staff will work on those priorities.

It's a terrific system that's a model for the state, and I enjoyed being a part of it & having the opportunity to tweak the format during my mayor time. The community can be proud of this council, mayor, and staff dialogue!

12/02/2025

Cedar Falls Ward 3 residents (roughly Hudson Road westward from the Cedar River down to University Avenue):

There's still time to vote in today's runoff election between Tom Nagle and Daryl Kruse. The single voting location is at Cedar Falls Christian Church - 2727 W. 4th Street, and it's open until 8pm tonight (Tuesday, Dec. 2).

I often say, local government isn't the LOWEST level of government, it's the CLOSEST level. Local elections have profound implications for your quality of life, often more than what happens in Des Moines or Washington.

And it's not just the twice-monthly votes by City Council members in the Council Chambers .... individually, City Councilors have HUGE impact on the morale and motivation of the city's hardworking staff -- either to improve it, or to make it worse.

Word about that resulting work environment gets around the state through various conferences, professional organizations, and one-on-ones between friends. That vital grapevine helps determine whether the City of Cedar Falls will attract top talent from other cities -- or won't.

If you live in Ward 3 (in green in the map below), your vote greatly matters. Make it count.

11/17/2025

Tonight, the American Revolution begins. I've been looking forward to this new Ken Burns docuseries for several years now, and as big fan of civics and the American Democratic Experiment, I wanted to make sure you knew about this important new series, too.

Why did the colonies revolt against the British Crown? What all did that entail? And how does that shape our identity today...and inform what should expect from our national, state, and local governments?

In Cedar Falls City Hall, I thought a lot about these kinds of questions, and did my best to live up to the intents and aspirations of the tens of thousands to sacrificed life, liberty, and property for the cause of independence. I'm looking forward to seeing how Ken Burns and his team interpret this heritage through their trademark painstaking research, and I hope you are, too. 🇺🇸

Thirteen colonies unite in rebellion, win their independence, and found the United States. Stream the full documentary from Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt.

11/01/2025

09/29/2025

Great to connect today with Mayor Laudick while celebrating the start of UNI's Sesquicentennial commemoration (that's 150 years). This was a fantastic event and I was very glad to see so much community support. Mayor Laudick and I enjoyed chatting about the upcoming city elections and our Ferizaj, Kosovo sister city partnership.

It's always a little odd to attend these kinds of events as a regular person -- it feels like when you get your picture taken and don't know what you're supposed to be doing with your hands. 😆 I know I was only a VIP because of the Mayor title (as a representative of you, the Cedar Falls residents)...but these are all neat people..so I'm very happy to say hello to President Nook and the Grow Cedar Valley and Community Main Street folks, and all those who do great things for our community. I'm proud of them!

On a side note, I'm working on a SUPER interesting project in time for the 150th -- rebuilding the digital repository for all of the University's newspaper articles going back to 1876! These past six months, the project has given me unique insight into Our UNI -- and makes me that much more appreciative of the UNI & CF collaboration and mutual support. The site is https://indexuni.library.uni.edu if you'd like to check it out! (a major upgrade will be released in a few weeks)

09/25/2025

Sarah Schmidt's mom, Jean, stopped by my house last night and gave me a red and black ribbon and button for Murder Victims Rememberance Day (Sept. 25). We had a good chat and it was great just to be able to give her a hug. I thought you'd like to see this year's button, which celebrates Tyler's love for the Magic: The Gathering deckbuilding game.

I'm very glad to have Keimi on my home office desk to remind me that we only get one chance at life. 💜