Comprehensive Plan Update

The draft Comprehensive Plan, which the Plan & Zoning Commission recommended for approval on September 30, 2009, will be taken to City Council beginning with a public hearing on February 8, 2010. The City Council is scheduled to use six public hearings to complete its review and final adoption of the City's new Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan will take effect immediately after the City Council's adoption. Information on the update process, as well as the draft plan itself, is available on the City's website.

If you are not involved in development, you may be asking "what exactly is a comprehensive plan?" The Comprehensive Plan is a statement of the City's policies and intent toward development of the City. Once adopted, it services as a guide for decision-makers regarding future development and redevelopment. It is meant to be a flexible document in that it responds to the changing needs of the City, including changes in development patterns and adjustments necessary to maintain or improve the quality of life to which our citizens are accustomed.

It is truly a tool for long-range planning - our current plan was adopted in 1993, and because we have followed its intent but made the right changes along the way it has served us well. Updating this plan is a complicated process because we must balance the benefits of potential development with the costs and impacts on the character of the community. To us, this is a welcome challenge, and one we feel well-equipped to handle in West Des Moines.

NLC Prescription Drug Discount Program

The City of West Des Moines is taking advantage of a great program through the National League of Cities to help our residents out with the cost of prescription drugs. The city is making free prescription drug discount cards available to city residents through a program sponsored by the National League of Cities (NLC). The discount cards offer an average savings of 20 % off the retail price of commonly prescribed drugs for residents without health insurance or a traditional benefits plan, and for residents with insurance or benefits that have prescriptions that are not covered by insurance. One great feature of this program is that discount cards may be used by all residents of West Des Moines and there are no restrictions based on your age, income level, or existing health coverage. Based on a list of participating pharmacies on the NLC website, the card can be used to buy prescription drugs at 79 pharmacies around the metro, and it's also good at participating retail pharmacies across the United States.

Check out our NLC prescription discount card website page for an FAQ regarding the program, as well as links to printing the card yourself or picking one up at a location in the city.

Email Notifications

Metro Waste Authority is now providing automatic email updates on recycling services, garbage collection, and yard waste for member communities (including West Des Moines). Residents can sign up to get notified when service is interrupted, when new services become available, and more.

Email notification has become a high priority for most organizations that deal with customers - including the City of West Des Moines. Our extensive eUpdates system provides information about meetings, news, job postings, and RFP announcements to interested parties. We are regularly looking for ways to make better use of technology, and this is a feature that is both popular for those who want the information and useful for us because (we think) it reduces questions coming in.

WDM Only City Featured in New Products Listing

West Des Moines was recently the only city credited by Better Roads magazine with one of the Top 20 rollouts for new products in the highway and bridge industries.

Better Roads selects the top 20 new products of the year based on their significance and whether they "change the way work gets done or bring new standards to an industry."

The City of West Des Moines and Monroe Snow & Ice Control were recognized for developing a roller mill system salt slurry spreader, which we call the Salt Slurry Generator. The excerpt from Better Roads:

"The city is blending a liquid de-icer product that contains 80 percent salt brine, 10 percent Fusion or GeoMelt and 10 percent calcium chloride. The system is a look into the future: more liquid and reduced granular usage to lessen the overall chloride load on the environment."

Take a look at the article for all twenty new products.

2010 Census Video

Watch the video below for an introduction to the 2010 Census. To learn more, visit the Census page on our website or the official page 2010census.gov.

Forbes.com Ranking

More good news for our metro area - on November 30, Forbes.com named Des Moines - West Des Moines in its Top 5 "Best Bang for the Buck" cities. Forbes looked at the country's 100 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas for foreclosures as a percentage of home prices; vacancies; unemployment rates; a three-year job-growth forecast; a three-year home-price forecast; housing affordability; median real estate taxes; and median travel time to work. See the article or the complete list.

Veterans Recognition Ceremony

Below, you can view highlights from our Veteran Recognition Ceremony held in the City Hall Council Chambers on November 16. We were honored to have several veterans in attendance, many of whom were willing to share stories of their service with us. This was a small "thank you" for them.

At the City Council meeting after the ceremony, the City Council issued the proclamation below:

vetsproclamation_signed.pdf