Alex: Welcome to the congressional communities podcast. We're your hosts, Alex Clark and Dan Caracino. And today we're joined by mayor Quentin Hart. Quentin served as mayor of Waterloo, Iowa from 2016 to 2025, becoming the first African-American mayor in the city and ultimately serving five terms, the longest tenure in Waterloo history. He led a city of 67,000 people in one of Iowa's most diverse cities. In a state that's less than 5 % African-American, black residents of Waterloo make up roughly 16 % of the population, and there's more than 40 languages spoken in Waterloo schools. Mayor Hart's tenure focused heavily on questions of representation, of community trust, economic opportunity, and neighborhood investment. He appointed Waterloo's first Black police chief, drew in over $300 million in new construction permits in a single year, and reported a 20 % drop in violent crime. He was named Iowa Mayor's Association's Mayor of the Year in 2024, and was inducted into Iowa City's Hall of Fame, the highest honor for public service to Iowa City government officials, while he was still elected. He takes pride most in being a father to three and husband to his wife and longtime educator, Cassandra. Mayor Hart, thank you for being here today.
Quentin Hart: Thank you having me. Thank you. Both you and Dan, thank you so much.
Dan: You're very welcome. Thanks so much for joining us.
Alex: And yeah, we're really excited.
Dan: Yeah, really looking forward to talking to you.
Alex: So Quinton, you have been a historic mayor in Waterloo for some of the reasons that we've mentioned and many more. I want to ask you why you decided to run for mayor initially for the 2016 election.
Quentin Hart: Well that's a that's a really good question. when I grew up, there was never anything inside of me that said I wanted to be to be a mayor. Like you know, I
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: think they asked one of their former presidents, they saw a kindergarten paper and it was like, I want to be president. Well
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: I didn't want to be mayor because you know I really felt at the time growing up I I didn't have the opportunity to actually meet a mayor or talk to someone or have a just a real live conversation. So it wasn't on my radar, but I I ended up serving city council prior to becoming mayor for about eight years. Six years of that I was vice mayor, and when I really started to take a look at our community there were still a lot of disparities, whether it was in economic development, whether it was a lot of dilapidated homes in one area
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: and thriving homes in another. you know, I looked at an an old munitions plant called Chamberlain's that set right in the middle of a neighborhood and you know, on city council arguing back and forth of whether that place was contaminated, whether it was leaking into homes. And so, you know, there was a lot of challenges that we had within our community that I didn't feel like I could address that as city council member
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: or address that in the role that I had at education simultaneously with the community college. And so
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: a lot of praying, a lot of soul searching, and just when I thought I was done with politics altogether, I was at a conference and one morning I woke up and it was like instead of being a community college president at the time, it's like the Lord said, where you can be mayor over the place that you've grown up. You can work to end some
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: of the challenges that we've had historically. the river had been a dividing line for our community.
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: but I felt like I had a great opportunity to get rid of a lot of that divide and start bringing this entire community together. And that children, no matter where you live at in our community, you can see some type of sign of life and activity and vitality and just rebuilding the overall infrastructure for our community. And so I felt that I was best prepared to do that in the mayor's seat. And so I decided to run and it was a five-person race and I ended up winning and so just grateful to have that opportunity to be able be able to serve.
Alex: Amazing. So you're driven by so much of the opportunity around you. I'm
Quentin Hart: Yeah.
Alex: curious if there was, you know, how your upbringing in your family, you said, you know, when you were younger, there wasn't a dream. I'll be mayor, I'll be president one day, which I totally understand. You know, how do you think your early life and your upbringing sort of shaped the way that you thought about who gets a voice in government and who should get a voice in government.
Quentin Hart: Well, I I would probably say e even taking a step back from
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: that question, you know, my my mother and father were born in Mississippi.
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: they moved to Waterloo, you know, individually, didn't know each other, but they moved to Waterloo.
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: my brother, my uncle called my father and said, Hey, there's jobs in Waterloo. And so after my father did a short stint in the military, he came to Waterloo. my mom,
Alex: Wow.
Quentin Hart: through some other challenges and situations with the turbulent times of the South,
Alex: Yep.
Quentin Hart: her family actually had to somewhat flee the South and my grandmother moved my family there. But I watched my mother walking back and forth across the highway. going to work at Allen Hospital over nineteen thousand times. I watched
Alex: Wow.
Quentin Hart: my father as a child, I don't know if he ever missed work. Right? And so that work ethic, that passion, those are the the types of things that I actually took to me in in the mayor's seat. but yes, having access to an elected official, being able to be around someone, that's not something that we had as a privilege growing up. Now I was blessed. My uncle, he became city councilman when I got older.
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: I had a cousin by the name of Willem A. Wright who is a very historic figure in our community that was also a
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: councilwoman. but other than that, I don't I don't know if I've seen a mayor. I don't know I didn't even know what a mayor pro tem was growing up, right? Which is a vice mayor, but there wasn't a lot of connections to a lot of different people. which is why the way that I approach my position as mayor was historically a lot different than some of my predecessors.
Alex: Yeah, it makes me think too of what it looks like to be what it looks like and means to be an Iowan and someone who lives there is not necessarily someone who is long term generational family, but really who is in your community is people who have fled from other places who have migrated who have left or come for opportunity and those really like you redefining what it looks like for someone to represent a community, if not just for being there historically, but that is who is in the community. So I think that that it's it's such an important case of representation. And I want to ask you just after your service now, Do you feel like people feel more represented when they can actually see government improving in their neighborhood and their daily lives?
Quentin Hart: You mean th where where the city's at now versus where we were before?
Alex: Yeah, yeah.
Quentin Hart: I I mean you can look at just not me but the comments that people make. you know, I was a mayor. whether I was at a football game on the north side of town or a volleyball game on the south side, I I attended you know, black churches, white churches, Latino. I was everywhere. if it was an LGTBQ event or if it was a I just a cornhole match, right? wherever it is, I I was always there. my social
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: media presence was there as well. but but I approached the job as it's not just a job, it's a way of life. I don't I don't I don't have I I don't I I have the blessing to be able to go to work. Not that I go to work, but I have the blessing
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: to actually go there. And so my approach was a lot a lot different than the current current mayor that's in office. those events are just things that may not be i you know, because of the job and the the way it's structured. But for me it was a way of life and and I felt that being out with people, connecting with people, was the best way to be able to to touch bases and be with people.
Alex: it's such a different role, but many years ago I was a Peace Corps volunteer. And the first thing that our boss said was this job is 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And
Quentin Hart: It is. Yes.
Alex: there is no off time.
Quentin Hart: Right.
Alex: And when you're in a service role.
Quentin Hart: And to and to add to add to your point, the city of Waterloo, right now there is no city manager or city administrator.
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: So not only is the mayor the CEO of the city to do the ceremonial things, also I ran day to day activities.
Alex: Right.
Quentin Hart: from I tell people that I I grab a fire hose to help put out a fire, and then I'll be at an event kissing babies and and and
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: ribbon cuttings, you know. Not not all the way, but But it's it's a full time job. It's a way of life and that's the way you need to to think about it. And so I embody that. I loved it. people trust you to make decisions, to come up with solutions, and it's a tough job, but it was one that I I there wasn't a day that went by where I didn't cherish that beautiful opportunity to serve people.
Dan: to follow up on what you were talking about there in terms of people looking to you to do this stuff and you're and you're really embracing it, wanna talk a little bit about the economics and so much of that. is what you know a mayor's job involves. and and Waterloo's economic story has a real tension. during your time as mayor, the city saw economic growth, downtown investment recognition as one of Iowa's top small business communities and one of the state's top job markets. But that growth comes alongside some of the country's starkest racial economic disparities, including major gaps in employment income and home ownership, to the point where the Wall Street Journal in twenty eighteen writes, no U.S. metro area has larger social and economic disparities along racial lines than Waterloo, Cedar Falls, Iowa. So when you're making decisions about economic investment as mayor, how do you make sure that the investment happening in Waterloo translates into opportunity for people in neighborhoods That have historically been left behind.
Quentin Hart: so first of all with the in 2017 I I'll tell you that was one of the the worst days that I had as mayor it's it's the Wall Street it's called the 247 Wall Street so it's not the Wall Street Journal it's the 247 Wall Street
Dan: I'm sorry. Okay.
Quentin Hart: And it's a research, it's a research company. And
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: this company takes a look at a a few different matrix. takes a look at unemployment rates, it takes a look at housing, ho housing, home ownership, it takes a look at median income, it takes a look at businesses and how many businesses, takes a look at sometimes health disparity and criminal justice. but that report that came out in 2017 was actually from data that was three to four years prior. And so I said, Wow, they wait till you finally have your first black mayor before before you have this. But
Alex: you.
Quentin Hart: the the challen the challenge with that is while they utilize places that have a white population and a black population. And so Waterloo has 17-18%. African American population. Cedar Falls that was included in that report i is mostly a suburban type of
Alex: Yep.
Quentin Hart: community. but even with that said, there has been historic legacy of disparity within our community. There's some parts you can drive you know within four or five minutes and you don't see the new houses, you see dilapidated structures, you see lack of economic opportunity. And so one of the things that happened as soon as that report came out, first, there were you know, our largest employer within the city said, hey, we see this, we've are invested in here. We've been here over a hundred years. and that was John Deere and he said, so what can we do to help? What can we do to help?
Alex: Hmm. Hmm.
Quentin Hart: What can we do to change the the disparities that we see? And the first thing I said, well, you you you can hire more black people. You know, you could
Alex: Yup.
Quentin Hart: you can take a look at hiring practice, is it not necessarily change your practices, but you can take a look at how you recruit people. we talked about housing, so we talked about a number of things, but that was first. Number two, we had a group that I worked with, and it was called the 24-7 Black.
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: BLAC and that's the business leadership consortium. and they decided, okay, Mayor, we want to tackle entrepreneurship and how we could have more black businesses within our community. And that organization probably graduated within about a three to four year period more than 60, 60 black businesses to directly
Alex: Wow.
Quentin Hart: deal with that disparity. we partnered
Alex: Amazing.
Quentin Hart: with a number of agencies, but mostly structuring the way that we do home ownership, whether it's incentives, whether it's tax incentives, but we took a look at how we did that and we partnered with a number of agencies that would actually build homes from Habitat for Humanity to Hawkeye Community College that was working directly within that community. And so what we tried to do was take a systematic approach. To community reinvigoration. And so my model changed from, you know, back in the day when I mentioned my cousins and my uncle being on city council, their
Alex: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: focus was on equality, right? Everyone receives the same thing, no matter if you're white, black, or whatever, whatever you are, everyone receives the same thing. And so
Alex: Right.
Quentin Hart: my leadership model changed to equity, right?
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: And because equity is not equality. Equity is making sure that people have what they need to be successful.
Dan: Thank for correcting me on the the 24-7 Wall Street report
Alex: Yep.
Dan: not being the same as the journal. what w what were your economic goals? Like when you you take office, you y I'm I'm assuming you had some goals and how do they change when sort of the reality of becoming mayor, you know i i i it's so like you're butting up against that reality. How d how do things change in in what you set
Quentin Hart: We we c
Dan: out to do?
Quentin Hart: we call that when the rubber meets the road, psychology. 'Cause I I was gonna
Alex: Hehehehehe
Dan: Yes.
Quentin Hart: come in, I was just gonna sign this and and it was going to happen. But you know, one of one of the one of the things I I started to learn, I had someone that you know, I I came out I said, Hey, my first state of the city, I'm gonna tear down seventy-five percent of every dilapidated home that's on this list. Within my first six months, right? And a developer had brought a piece of paper in to me, and he's a historian, and he said, Hey, did you ever see this by by this mayor? So, like 40-50 years ago, another mayor came in and said the same thing. Then he showed me another one. 20 plus years ago, another mayor came in and said the same thing, right? And so that that really made me start to understand that some of the challenges we see are systematic. Another example, we had an area that I grew up in called Logan Plaza. Logan Plaza used to be a thriving area, you know, we had a grocery store and all those things there. But through time it became dilapidated. And
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: every mayor, every elected official comes in and says, hey, I'm going to put a store over there and I'm going to do this. Well what we found out then is that you can't do it because there's a water table. There's water problems. You can't plat the land because you can't get any sewage or electricity and those things through there. And so we had to take a step back. And work with the developer to change the architectural portions of that part. And it took probably close to 70 million dollars, right, of work and infrastructure
Alex: Well, yep.
Quentin Hart: And so we
Alex: Wow.
Quentin Hart: had to do the non-sexy things, right? for that
Alex: Yep.
Quentin Hart: so that we can experience long-term growth. So it's infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure in so many different areas. Because some of these things you want to outlive me as mayor, right?
Alex: Right.
Quentin Hart: And so you had to put in the infrastructure so you can enjoy future success. And that's how that's how we did it. We laid the foundation. Also, we've also learned how to pool resources together in communities. Like I said, we had a partnership with Hawkeye Community College, Habitat for Humanity, the developers in that area. And we have learned to use our philanthropy to also play a role. John Deere gave their largest philanthropic gift at the time to the Walnut
Alex: Bye.
Quentin Hart: Initiative, where they gave over a million dollars to help with housing, housing
Alex: Bye.
Quentin Hart: challenges, build new houses, fix houses. But at the same time, it's not a it's not a handout because it's also economic development and it's quality of life. And so we had to I had to work to change that perspective for people within our community. That's not a handout. That
Alex: Mm-hmm
Quentin Hart: is economic development. If I'm speaking to a business person, that's growing the tax
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: base. And it's also putting children and babies and families in better situations. The the first thing you when you fill out a job at fill out an application for something, they say, Do you own or rent? Right? And so ownership. creates more economic opportunity for people. And so yes,
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: some houses are standing and more houses are being built.
Dan: you're talking about filling out applications. you created the Fair Chance Initiative,
Quentin Hart: Mm.
Dan: the first municipal ban the box law. And for people listening who don't know what ban the box is, it's it's a check mark that felons have to check the box if they if they've been convicted of a felony. so you you it's the first municipality with a ban the box law for private employers. in Iowa to give people with criminal records a better opportunity to get jobs. why did you see that as a responsibility of local government?
Quentin Hart: Well, you know, and and to and in all fairness, our Human Rights Commission had worked with their commissioners because When we're taking a look at disparities, right? We know in the the state of Iowa that African Americans are disproportionately incarcerated more than some of my white colleagues at an even higher rate for the same charges, right?
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: And so it is a way to at least help a person get into the interview pool
Alex: Right.
Quentin Hart: to get an interview. Cause right now You could have committed a crime 25 years ago. You could have got a master's degree. You could have had some really good work experience. But because of that that box, you don't even get a chance to interview for for a job that has no relation to what you got in trouble with years ago.
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: And so we we felt like it was a good chance. And I don't want to stereotype that is only African Americans utilize this. Every everyone, everyone that's
Alex: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: had some type of challenge has has used it. But we're just trying to at least help people be judged upon what they're currently doing versus what
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: they may have done twenty-five, thirty years ago. And this gives an opportunity for everyone to have the ability to at least get an interview. and you know, we we also had to deal with a lot of misconception because people are like, you're gonna put someone that did something to children into
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: schools. there's still there still will be a background check later on in that process,
Alex: Yep.
Quentin Hart: but you don't eliminate a a person that may be eligible to work by not even giving them the chance to submit their information. And so we we had community training, we had our council members really took took on to this as well. we had online trainings and you know, once we got through all of the miscommunication and those folks out there trying to create these most negative scenarios,
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: then we were able to really get to the meat of of the matter. And when you when you walk past a business and you see a op openings for position and you can't
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: fill them, then what are we gonna do, right? are we gonna allow are we gonna close businesses or we're gonna get quality people the opportunity to work. And that was the goal. That was the goal of it. We did get some challenge legally. by by one of our state organizations, but I mean we pretty much we pretty much won. So
Alex: we were talking about this earlier, but I think that there's so much that you've done in terms of representation that not all mayors or local leaders get to see when they're trying to actually help communities feel more represented. And it's really like the equity piece that you talked about, which is like, Yes, it is important and necessary to get people who look like community members on community boards and chair different places and be on committees, but also investing dollars behind them to give them opportunities and chances is you've just done so much tangible work that I think people can look to that not all mayors and leaders can stand behind. So I think it's wonderful. I think on the topic of public safety and trust, I want to shift a bit to talk about you taking office in 2016. Waterloo's police force is 124 officers. Like we said, Waterloo's population, it's about 16 % African American, 16, 17. Only two of the police officers on the force are black at the time. You years later appoint Waterloo's first black police chief, Joel Fitzgerald. What changes were made to policing during your time as mayor and how involved were you in that process?
Quentin Hart: Well when I first started back in 2016, if you if you was continue to take a look, we were steeped in lawsuits. I
Alex: Yep. Yep.
Quentin Hart: mean we we had situations where there was an interaction and a young lady's wrist got broken. You know, but there were so many things that were happening, and I wanted to start. with a with just a clean slate. If there was a situation
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: where we wronged someone, then let's see how we can bring resolution so we can start start fresh. Now the culture though
Alex: He's back.
Quentin Hart: I gotta I need to start over, don't I? God dang it.
Alex: We need to get him a mic or something.
Dan: Don't worry about it. This is this
Quentin Hart: All right.
Dan: is this is sort of like normal stuff in conversations people have. They they
Alex: Seriously, yeah.
Quentin Hart: Glad we're not outside. So let me okay. You say get the flyer mic?
Dan: Ha ha ha.
Alex: He's got something to say.
Dan: There you go. Let's mic up. Yeah,
Quentin Hart: Right. Yeah,
Dan: definitely.
Quentin Hart: every time I'm not telling the truth, here comes that fly. But okay. So
Alex: Toss the mic, seriously.
Quentin Hart: so I'll I'll start again. All right. So so in in relation to beginning in two thousand and sixteen we were steeped with lawsuits from police and and community members. And I wanted to start with a fresh slate. if there's something that happened, if we're able to settle that and move forward, let's go ahead and move forward and start start new. you know, that was a challenge because I'm coming in and there's misconceptions in the police department about me and there may be some misconceptions I have, but you know, I wanted to give everybody a fair opportunity to to start fresh and think about what we can do now and moving this this way forward. in the next couple of years, the police chief did retire. And that gave us an opportunity to go through a new interview process. But what I did with this process, yeah, I could have unilaterally just put someone in there, but we went through a community orientation process where each
Alex: you
Quentin Hart: candidate made presentations. We had an internal process where we had officers, a couple officers here and community members, council, and we had that process, and then last but not least, also some communication with the person doing a presentation to the the unions. And
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: Joel Fitzgerald ended up coming out on top on on all those conversations. And so yes,
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: I hired an African American police chief, but he was by far the most qualified
Alex: Yep.
Quentin Hart: and he did well in all those areas. And he came in and started literally the day before the uprisings and tensions with the George Floyd case. Actually matter of fact,
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: he was in town in town being ready to start like that Monday after the council meeting when he gets sworn in. But I I even looked on social media and I seen the police chief standing in a in a middle of hundreds of protesters
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: you know talking working with people and assuring him but right after That Monday, he and I were both in the park talking
Alex: Yep.
Quentin Hart: to people, and we made the pledge that over the course of the next month we would change 20 plus policies in 20 plus days. And so
Alex: Wow. Wow.
Quentin Hart: the choke codes, all of those policies poly policies you see, a duty to intervene. We did all of those things without having to have people come to the council meet meetings, you know, wanting that change, which is what we were going to do anyway prior.
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: And so 27 policies in about 20 days, the council
Alex: Wow.
Quentin Hart: put those policies in ordinance so you can't just unilaterally come in and change everything that they've done without
Alex: Yep.
Quentin Hart: the correct vote. he created a strategic plan and we began the process of bridging the community together. And in relation to you know, sworn officers. Yes, you want that diversity to be reflected. but one of the one of the things that didn't sound good at the time, but it actually was really good, we had a mass exodus of people that no longer wanted to be there. And so what we got
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: in return, we had female officers, we had you know, younger officers and people that actually wanted to be there
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: to to help serve the community. And so yeah, a lot of people retired or they left. some even left and then wanted to come back afterwards.
Alex: Wow.
Quentin Hart: But you know, Dr. Fitzgerald did a really good job of bringing different organizations together, but at the same time you know working on officers pay and making sure we had
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: the best in equipment and cars and all those things that they needed. to do their jobs and so it we we were able to to work with the community instead of against the community during that time.
Alex: Yeah, I mean, what a time to start that job. a time for you as mayor to be in such an integral moment, I mean, in US history and Waterloo history and for the chief to be, you know, before he's even sworn in, with residents hearing all of the protesters. mean, just in what an insane story.
Dan: Welcome to the welcome to the job, Joel.
Alex: Yeah, seriously.
Quentin Hart: no, he's he's yeah, he's no longer here.
Alex: Yep.
Quentin Hart: he's gone. And
Dan: I'm sorry.
Quentin Hart: and you know, and I won't say that his time in the city, there was no turbulence, right? because
Alex: Sure, yep.
Quentin Hart: you you you you always have challenge. But I had one of the candidates that interviewed tell me that they're glad at the time that he was there right then for for that
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: situation because Who knows where we would have been, right? A a completely
Alex: Seriously.
Quentin Hart: different philosophical mentality when it comes to working with the community. And so th thankful for his time and service while he was there.
Alex: Yeah, it sounds like there's so much that the community is present for and you're working with the community finding a chief and then
Quentin Hart: Mm-hmm.
Alex: working with the chief and the chief working with the community. mean, it's just, you don't always see that level of access to a decision
Quentin Hart: Right.
Alex: like that. And 27, you know, 20 changes in 20 days, but 27 really, that is a lot of, I mean, there
Quentin Hart: Mm-hmm.
Alex: was a need at the time for change and
Quentin Hart: Right.
Alex: that you met the moment in a lot of ways, but there's also the aftermath of the reality setting in of
Quentin Hart: Okay.
Alex: what does this actually look like? And so I kind of am curious for you what you learned about the difference of changing policies and actually changing the relationship between residents and this new force of police officers and the new way that some of the new ways that you are policing, like what did the aftermath look like of maybe the months, years following a dramatic change that I think people read about. but maybe are not part of a community that actually is living in
Quentin Hart: You know, it's always a challenge when somebody comes in and starts to hold people accountable too that may not have been used to this level as well. So that created some challenges in that in that that relationship also. But when you take a look at when he was there, officer pay, when it takes a look at technology, when it takes a look at community relations, all of those things were years ahead of where where they were.
Alex: Well...
Dan: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: prior and then having that shift you know over over the years you know it's it's it's still decent relationship
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: but it's not like it was
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: at the time so we can you can s you can see a a difference and and you know
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: you just don't want and then I'm not in office now you just don't
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: want that relationship to erode because
Alex: Right.
Quentin Hart: You want to build relationships in times of peace and trust in times of peace because you are able to work together when challenge happens, right? People know where your heart is at when it comes to a situation. And so, you know, we we hope we continue to do that and stay on that path.
Alex: Yeah. Quentin, can't talk about your tenure as Waterloo without at least touching on the Tyson plant, the Tyson meatpacking plant in Waterloo, which is enormous. It processes
Quentin Hart: Mm.
Alex: 20,000 hogs a day. Big employer in Waterloo. And during your tenure, you helped shepherd a $28 million expansion of the plant. Did you see that as contentious at the time? And what was the economic opportunity that you really saw for the city and the workers?
Quentin Hart: So you mean during covet or you mean after like you know
Alex: the initial expansion, but would love to hear about the plant during COVID as well.
Quentin Hart: so so Tyson's one of our largest employers, one of those plants that blesses us to bring in diversity from across the world and different people, creates opportunities for people, and you know, they've been decent
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: philanthropic partners for a lot of organizations in the community. And so the expansion they had was more jobs and more opportunities. Also, construction jobs is good for our local community and our tax base as well. COVID placed a strain on that relationship. You know, when
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: it when it first happened, I was thinking like, man, I'm such a great mayor. We don't have any cases. this is going real well. I'm watching New York and all these other cities across
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: the country. I'm like, man, we got it right here.
Alex: We got it good.
Quentin Hart: then my fire chief was like, Mayor, we we we have one or two cases now. And I'm like, okay, we're we're doing well. Then the next week, mayor, we just had unfortunately a lady that passed away in her home. And then it kept growing and growing. And before we knew it, per capita, we were one of the hotspots across the entire United States, and a lot of it was linked back to the plant.
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: And you know, I reached out to one of our state representatives and asked, could you put something out to the governor? wasn't received, so I just said, Hey, tell her if she doesn't do anything
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: about this to close this place down, we're gonna hold her personally responsible for every death.
Alex: Hmm.
Dan: So y so you
Quentin Hart: And
Dan: were
Quentin Hart: we we kept getting cases linked to there, reached out to
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: the governor's office. state representative was relaying messages because at that point we were thinking there were close to twelve hundred plus people out the twenty seven hundred that were being infected. And so the the governor didn't do it. a lot of us some of our state representatives some of our local council people our sheriff Tony Thompson we took to every news outlet we possibly can I got to see Don Lemon at the time on TV
Alex: Stop it.
Quentin Hart: anywhere from Fox News to CNN to carry out the message to close this place down. Simultaneously
Alex: Wow.
Quentin Hart: they went the leadership at some parts of Tyson and I believe maybe our governor's office or you know maybe some players I gotta watch out but they went to the president and that's when you remember about the Defense Act, how that was put in place to say that these places are national security and that
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: we need to have them operating Because it has a direct impact on the food chain across global community. And
Alex: Yep. Yep.
Quentin Hart: so then those numbers continued to grow more and more. We stayed on on every outlet we can. And then I received a call from the some of the leadership at Tyson's and having a conversation about shutting it down. they shut it down, and I couldn't be more thankful. they put in parameters. on how to move forward from you know things to separate employees from one another. They had testing on the outside and they shut it down because at the time it was like if you're you're not contagious after this length of time, but they shut it down
Alex: sure.
Quentin Hart: long enough so that when they brought people back they have testing and everything in place. Myself, the public health director, we all took a tour And once they did all those things, all of us came together and give our sign of approval that we support
Alex: Wow. Wow.
Quentin Hart: all the things they did to to change. And so they did it and they became really one of the models across the United States in those types of industries
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: over what to do to help successfully open up the business. Now there was a lot that happened on the legal side prior to all this that we're not involved in. But yeah, we worked together, the company, the city, the county, to do stuff. So I was grateful for that, Dan.
Dan: Thanks for telling us you're giving us all the context on that story. so I mean part of that story you you're talking about all the different players that you have to be involved with, even
Alex: you
Dan: even to the point of the White House weighing in or we you know the federal government weighing in and saying, look, it's a national offense situation. so as mayor, you're there ten years. You work with members of Congress, you work with state officials. where did that relationship help Waterloo and where did you feel the city was overlooked?
Quentin Hart: Well it it I I believe once when I when I first started, I I went to a book signing with Governor Terry Branstead, completely opposite side of the aisle I'm on. I don't know you know, but I went to the book signing and I was like, Governor, I I am here, I I'm newly elected, but I'm your mayor, right? I I am here
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: to work and really good relationship
Alex: Mm.
Quentin Hart: in that aspect. And I can tell you one great thing. He had me come and attend the State of the Union for the state. And he called
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: Waterloo the comeback city for Iowa,
Alex: Mmm.
Quentin Hart: because we were setting a standard of who we wanted to be, not what people assume we are. So it
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: started with the relationship with the state. There's a a road that ran through University Avenue. It was a street, they wanted us to take it over. We got dropped from the program. They didn't offer us enough money. I called Governor Branstead. He brought his DOT director here immediately, and they gave us twenty-eight out of about thirty-eight million dollars for that highway. But it was those relationships that
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: really, really bred opportunity. I was you know, colleagues with May Mayor Buttig or d Secretary
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: Buttigieg and working, conversating, talking. working with national organizations where you build those relationships and we were able to get one of the largest grants when he took over as secretary to redo the port road corridor or working with the national league of cities or the
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: accelerator for america or the US Conference of Mayors during COVID
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: to advocate directly for dollars in the infrastructure package to go to fiber, fiber and community. It was water, wastewater,
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: lost wages, health, fiber. And
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: I was able to work with these organizations to be on the front line talking to senators. And so we were able to take a portion of our ARPA dollars and use
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: that to be able to build Waterloo fiber. And so it is being in those conversations, being around people that Waterloo is a household name for innovation, creativity, hard work, and not just crime and bad things happening. we got selected Honeywell to be one of five cities to be a smart to be a smart city to develop a plan. And we were the smallest. We're with San Diego, Cleveland,
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: all of these major cities, and then Waterloo, Iowa. And
Alex: Yep.
Quentin Hart: so, you know, people and and and sometimes people don't understand that, Dan. They think, you're going to this conference because you want to do this or be there. No, I can travel. I traveled before I got to the position. It is
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: to put our city on the map so that we can
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: make sure that we are right in line of what's happening across the country and our ability to tap into those resources across the entire world. And so that was the goal, and that's what I did during during my tenure. Conference of mayors, they know Waterloo, Iowa. The
Alex: Yep.
Quentin Hart: National League of Cities, they know Waterloo. you
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: go to Berlin, they know Waterloo. You talk to
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: some of our federal folks, they know Waterloo for good things and not negative things, and that they know we will utilize those resources to really improve our community.
Dan: So when you're talking about fiber, internet connection, you c you come in where what is the what is the state of the sort of the infrastructure for the internet then versus where where it is now that you brought fiber optics into it?
Quentin Hart: In incredible question. we had one internet provider and you know people pe put it like this, because I gotta watch what I say.
Alex: you
Quentin Hart: people we voted to utilize twenty million dollars in in bond monies. There was an over eighty three percent approval to utilize to utilize some dollars to be able to help build. our fiber system. And so,
Alex: Yeah. Yeah.
Quentin Hart: you know, Waterloo fiber is going to be one of the best innovations for long-term infrastructure for the city of Waterloo in attracting business, attracting growth. and it is in its what it third year or so. we almost at a point where we have almost a complete build out. I think we're about a year away from that.
Alex: amazing.
Quentin Hart: this entity is standing on its own, has its own building, his own offices, and it's connecting people. But you know, during COVID, I never thought that my eighty, eighty-seven year old mom, right,
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: would be on an iPad looking at church, you know,
Alex: Mm-hmm
Quentin Hart: or you think about the many citizens that are having telehealth meetings. There's nothing worse than having a telehealth meeting and it's like, Can you hear me now?
Alex: Mmm.
Quentin Hart: Can you hear me now? Right? And so affordable high speed quality fiber internet, no matter where you live. There's no more because you live on the north side, you won't have the same quality as the south. Everyone has access to affordable, high-speed, local customer service fiber. So that was the goal, and that's what's happening now. and we were able to use a number of different factors to be able to come up with that financing plan.
Alex: Yeah, it's amazing. There was in another lifetime, I worked for Results for America, which worked with mayors to access some of the ARPA funding that you talked about, the American Rescue Plan funding.
Quentin Hart: Mm-hmm.
Alex: And there were a lot of communities trying to get fiber optic funding and trying to expand,
Quentin Hart: Right.
Alex: trying to really close the digital divide. And that money was all competitive grants. It was not easy to come by. And it's amazing that you're working towards this and close to securing a lot of the money for your study. It's incredibly important work. Yep.
Quentin Hart: Yeah. And and really quickly, also when I when I say it Waterloo fiber is locally owned and operated. And you know
Alex: Yeah, wow.
Quentin Hart: there's a there's a market out there and you have a lot of big companies that are doing it too. I I'm not to debate that, but Waterloo Fiber is locally owned and operated.
Alex: amazing. Yep.
Quentin Hart: Local jobs, local people, local customer service that's right there for you.
Alex: amazing.
Dan: so Quentin, many people, this is these are national surveys that are consistent throughout decades. Many people feel more feel more connected to local government than to Washington. yet they don't always feel heard by either. What do you think local leaders get right that Congress could learn from?
Quentin Hart: well, you know, right now the the mayor or city council, they are where the the the the rubber meets the road, right? you go to a to a football game and you're in a bathroom in a stall next to you and somebody's over there talking about you know something they wanted to see happen. but we are blessed and in a position where we can hear local people on the ground level. mayor mayors don't get a recess to go back to their local communities and and talk to people but we are there all the time right there with people and a lot of mayor positions are nonpartisan and so
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: we're not wrapped up in some of the politics that others have to
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: participate in. And so just being on that ground, understanding the local level, but also understanding too to for our federal government It's not a war between mayors and federal officials. That that's not
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: the purpose. The goal is to be able to work cohesively to positively impact the lives of people. cities are the incubators for innovation. Cities are where neighbors and our healthcare services are provided, cities where industries are at and and and leadership happens. That's no offense to are rural areas. Waterloo is considered rural depending upon which community
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: you're talking to. But cities cities and federal government need to be in line with one another and work together and partner together. There shouldn't be that divide. and that's that's a challenge anytime we see that. And you know maybe they can learn that we are all in this together. just like our citizens know that the mayors live in the same community, they're paying the same taxes, they're eating
Alex: Yup. Yup.
Quentin Hart: the same food at the same restaurants. And so
Alex: Yep.
Quentin Hart: the more that they could work together like we do, maybe that's that's one lesson that they can learn on the federal level. We we are we are partners in this thing.
Dan: Yeah, I I the local aspect of it. You you mentioning just
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Dan: seeing somebody at the football game overhearing them. It's very much at the heart of what we're trying to create structurally. Earlier
Quentin Hart: Mm-hmm.
Dan: you talked about the importance of structure. And it just seems that, you know, from our standpoint, you're sort of reassuring me that w we may be on the right track in terms of just trying to get an organization in place or a structure in place where Congress can really be more local to people. So anyway, thank you for the answer and th thank you for
Quentin Hart: Right. I'm I mean I mean and and
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: and and even during one of the good things about ARPA is that it gave cities the ability to be able to dispatch those dollars where they really saw need. We're on the ground every day. And so
Alex: Yep. Yep.
Quentin Hart: it gives us an opportunity through some of the second and third revisions to put the money exactly where it needed to be. Most of the times it goes from federal, goes to states. And then states dictate where it goes, so you have to operate under their jurisdictions or whatever they tell you. But in fact, I mean, wouldn't wouldn't a city council member or a mayor know which street is need to be fixed? Wouldn't we wouldn't we know which
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: which which house probably needs a little bit more work than the other?
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: Wouldn't we know what the aspirations and the visions are for successful sustainable living in our communities are? maybe a little bit better. And so it is that trusting partnership that we need to continue to build so that we can help build our communities.
Alex: Quentin, we're gonna use you for an ad on our website, if that's okay with you. That's
Dan: Ha ha
Quentin Hart: Ha ha.
Alex: preaching to the choir.
Quentin Hart: Yeah.
Alex: Yeah, I mean, your local knowledge is the most important expertise you can have. Okay, I wanna take us out with a few questions and let the people know what you are doing, what you are working on and just... close this down a little bit. So first question is, what is one thing that you wish more people who are listening to this knew?
Quentin Hart: That you know, your locally elected officials, your mayors, are on the same page with you, with you. And sometimes the decisions that we have to make are for the greater good. So you may not see how they're positively impacting you now, but I know hundreds of mayors that love their citizens, love their communities, and that they're working hard for you every day. And so don't allow that distrust on higher levels to become part of the local, the local community. Cause it it it just doesn't help.
Alex: Yeah. Okay, Quentin, what are you working on now and how can people support your cause?
Quentin Hart: I'm if you got some golf tips, I I mean I'll take some take some golf tips, but but other than that,
Alex: I got nothing.
Quentin Hart: I did June 2nd a lar launched Heart Civic Strategies. and it it focuses on you know whether it's governments, whether it's small businesses, large businesses, whether it's organizations that want to scale opportunities, that wanna understand how you can move the capital stack around to to do economic development. But really taking that 18 plus years of local government experience and helping to work with organizations and companies to achieve their goals and their dreams and their visions. I study projects to see if they can scale in local communities. I'm working with a national sports organization to increase the amount of play
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: by twenty thirty-five.
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: I am working with another mayor colleague to talk about data centers and their usage and communities working together. So a lot of different spaces that I'm working with. I became an author. put out my
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: first children's book that was a bestseller. And I'm working on I'm in the second draft of a book about twenty
Alex: I love it.
Quentin Hart: years of my life as well and corporate training also. So a number of different things but through Heart Civic Strategies.
Alex: I love it. What's?
Dan: What's the name of the children's book?
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: Of course, Mayor Hart's Big Heart.
Alex: Of course.
Quentin Hart: And so
Dan: Mm, cool.
Quentin Hart: so it it it focuses on, you know, it highlights a few of the projects that I was able to do, river lights, bridge lights, and some things I participated in. But at the same time, the last portion of it is a workbook for young people that focuses
Alex: you
Quentin Hart: on civic and about giving back and how they can do it. So it has pictures, but at the same time it focuses on leadership for young people.
Alex: That's phenomenal. I love that. Okay, Quentin,
Quentin Hart: Mayor Hart's big heart.
Alex: Mayor Heart's Big Heart. It's behind you, isn't it?
Dan: Yeah, I got I got grandkids that'll be getting it for
Alex: It's on the bookshelf. There it is.
Quentin Hart: Yeah, right there.
Dan: The the fly setting on it.
Alex: There it is.
Quentin Hart: There it is.
Alex: Okay, okay, Quentin, what is one misconception that people have about your field?
Quentin Hart: I can say about me, 'cause
Alex: Great.
Quentin Hart: I'm not that, you know, sometimes they believe that it's like Austin Powers where you have Doctor Evil sitting back at his friends trying to think about how they can take everything away away from from them. but in actuality, my my version, my tenure was a lot different than that. It was working with the community that had some socioeconomic challenges, had some tax-based challenges, and trying to bring in the amenities and the infrastructure and the opportunities that cities with a lot of tax base have to do. And it it's more about caring about people versus trying to divide people and and harm their way of life. And that that that is is what it all about. We're I'm a parent. I'm a husband, I'm a son, I'm a brother, just like everybody else is, and people need to know that as well. My job description was different, but just like
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: everybody else in the community.
Alex: Okay, last question is what is one thing large or small that's given you hope recently?
Quentin Hart: I am I have become such a simple person. I am an eternal optimist. that's grounded in reality. And the fact that I get to wake up every morning, it may sound cliche, but that really does give me hope. I don't I don't take a day for granted. I don't take a relationship or friendship for granted and Just waking up another day and having that opportunity to breathe and to work and to talk to people, that that is that is something that I really look forward to. So I don't have these if the Broncos can win more, go ahead, win more. But you know,
Alex: to it.
Quentin Hart: seeing my children, they you know, my children have gone through some ups and downs, but seeing how they bounce back for a a a stronger future. you know, my wife and her hard work, you know, those are the things that encourage me and I and I'm thankful I get to serve a God who loves me despite of my shortcomings and that you can accomplish anything through trusting and believing. So
Alex: really like small things that are big things, you know? Yeah.
Quentin Hart: I'm f I'm fifty five, you better yeah, I love small small things mean a lot. Yeah.
Alex: Small things are big. Love it. Amazing. Well, Quintin, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. This has been an absolute delight. I've learned so much about Waterloo. And like I said, I need to go now. And thank you for bringing people in to your city for being like our virtual mayor and telling us so much about how you... how you specifically, but how people really can be agents of change in their city. And especially, even if and especially they are the first people to do that. So thank you so much. Where can people find you on social media or anywhere besides your website?
Quentin Hart: you can actually go to my website. it's w dot heart civic strategies dot com. But also you can reach me at contact at heart civic strategies dot com or Quentin at Heart Civic Strategies dot com. my contact information is in there. And you can also schedule a meeting. so yep, I'm still accessible. still one of the most accessible. Social media hashtag Quentin Hart, you can reach me on all platforms too.
Alex: Amazing
Dan: Thank you so much, Quentin. Really excellent excellent talking
Quentin Hart: Thank you.
Dan: to you. you're a fascinating person and really a a a role model for people, really.
Quentin Hart: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you both for all you do for showcasing little folk, little elected folk like myself. So I really appreciate it.
Alex: Hey, small stories or big stories, you know?
Quentin Hart: Yeah.
Alex: Yeah. Thank you so much for coming on. This has been great.
Quentin Hart: Thank you having me. Thank you. Both you and Dan, thank you so much.
Dan: You're very welcome. Thanks so much for joining us.
Alex: And yeah, we're really excited.
Dan: Yeah, really looking forward to talking to you.
Alex: So Quinton, you have been a historic mayor in Waterloo for some of the reasons that we've mentioned and many more. I want to ask you why you decided to run for mayor initially for the 2016 election.
Quentin Hart: Well that's a that's a really good question. when I grew up, there was never anything inside of me that said I wanted to be to be a mayor. Like you know, I
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: think they asked one of their former presidents, they saw a kindergarten paper and it was like, I want to be president. Well
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: I didn't want to be mayor because you know I really felt at the time growing up I I didn't have the opportunity to actually meet a mayor or talk to someone or have a just a real live conversation. So it wasn't on my radar, but I I ended up serving city council prior to becoming mayor for about eight years. Six years of that I was vice mayor, and when I really started to take a look at our community there were still a lot of disparities, whether it was in economic development, whether it was a lot of dilapidated homes in one area
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: and thriving homes in another. you know, I looked at an an old munitions plant called Chamberlain's that set right in the middle of a neighborhood and you know, on city council arguing back and forth of whether that place was contaminated, whether it was leaking into homes. And so, you know, there was a lot of challenges that we had within our community that I didn't feel like I could address that as city council member
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: or address that in the role that I had at education simultaneously with the community college. And so
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: a lot of praying, a lot of soul searching, and just when I thought I was done with politics altogether, I was at a conference and one morning I woke up and it was like instead of being a community college president at the time, it's like the Lord said, where you can be mayor over the place that you've grown up. You can work to end some
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: of the challenges that we've had historically. the river had been a dividing line for our community.
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: but I felt like I had a great opportunity to get rid of a lot of that divide and start bringing this entire community together. And that children, no matter where you live at in our community, you can see some type of sign of life and activity and vitality and just rebuilding the overall infrastructure for our community. And so I felt that I was best prepared to do that in the mayor's seat. And so I decided to run and it was a five-person race and I ended up winning and so just grateful to have that opportunity to be able be able to serve.
Alex: Amazing. So you're driven by so much of the opportunity around you. I'm
Quentin Hart: Yeah.
Alex: curious if there was, you know, how your upbringing in your family, you said, you know, when you were younger, there wasn't a dream. I'll be mayor, I'll be president one day, which I totally understand. You know, how do you think your early life and your upbringing sort of shaped the way that you thought about who gets a voice in government and who should get a voice in government.
Quentin Hart: Well, I I would probably say e even taking a step back from
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: that question, you know, my my mother and father were born in Mississippi.
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: they moved to Waterloo, you know, individually, didn't know each other, but they moved to Waterloo.
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: my brother, my uncle called my father and said, Hey, there's jobs in Waterloo. And so after my father did a short stint in the military, he came to Waterloo. my mom,
Alex: Wow.
Quentin Hart: through some other challenges and situations with the turbulent times of the South,
Alex: Yep.
Quentin Hart: her family actually had to somewhat flee the South and my grandmother moved my family there. But I watched my mother walking back and forth across the highway. going to work at Allen Hospital over nineteen thousand times. I watched
Alex: Wow.
Quentin Hart: my father as a child, I don't know if he ever missed work. Right? And so that work ethic, that passion, those are the the types of things that I actually took to me in in the mayor's seat. but yes, having access to an elected official, being able to be around someone, that's not something that we had as a privilege growing up. Now I was blessed. My uncle, he became city councilman when I got older.
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: I had a cousin by the name of Willem A. Wright who is a very historic figure in our community that was also a
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: councilwoman. but other than that, I don't I don't know if I've seen a mayor. I don't know I didn't even know what a mayor pro tem was growing up, right? Which is a vice mayor, but there wasn't a lot of connections to a lot of different people. which is why the way that I approach my position as mayor was historically a lot different than some of my predecessors.
Alex: Yeah, it makes me think too of what it looks like to be what it looks like and means to be an Iowan and someone who lives there is not necessarily someone who is long term generational family, but really who is in your community is people who have fled from other places who have migrated who have left or come for opportunity and those really like you redefining what it looks like for someone to represent a community, if not just for being there historically, but that is who is in the community. So I think that that it's it's such an important case of representation. And I want to ask you just after your service now, Do you feel like people feel more represented when they can actually see government improving in their neighborhood and their daily lives?
Quentin Hart: You mean th where where the city's at now versus where we were before?
Alex: Yeah, yeah.
Quentin Hart: I I mean you can look at just not me but the comments that people make. you know, I was a mayor. whether I was at a football game on the north side of town or a volleyball game on the south side, I I attended you know, black churches, white churches, Latino. I was everywhere. if it was an LGTBQ event or if it was a I just a cornhole match, right? wherever it is, I I was always there. my social
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: media presence was there as well. but but I approached the job as it's not just a job, it's a way of life. I don't I don't I don't have I I don't I I have the blessing to be able to go to work. Not that I go to work, but I have the blessing
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: to actually go there. And so my approach was a lot a lot different than the current current mayor that's in office. those events are just things that may not be i you know, because of the job and the the way it's structured. But for me it was a way of life and and I felt that being out with people, connecting with people, was the best way to be able to to touch bases and be with people.
Alex: it's such a different role, but many years ago I was a Peace Corps volunteer. And the first thing that our boss said was this job is 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And
Quentin Hart: It is. Yes.
Alex: there is no off time.
Quentin Hart: Right.
Alex: And when you're in a service role.
Quentin Hart: And to and to add to add to your point, the city of Waterloo, right now there is no city manager or city administrator.
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: So not only is the mayor the CEO of the city to do the ceremonial things, also I ran day to day activities.
Alex: Right.
Quentin Hart: from I tell people that I I grab a fire hose to help put out a fire, and then I'll be at an event kissing babies and and and
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: ribbon cuttings, you know. Not not all the way, but But it's it's a full time job. It's a way of life and that's the way you need to to think about it. And so I embody that. I loved it. people trust you to make decisions, to come up with solutions, and it's a tough job, but it was one that I I there wasn't a day that went by where I didn't cherish that beautiful opportunity to serve people.
Dan: to follow up on what you were talking about there in terms of people looking to you to do this stuff and you're and you're really embracing it, wanna talk a little bit about the economics and so much of that. is what you know a mayor's job involves. and and Waterloo's economic story has a real tension. during your time as mayor, the city saw economic growth, downtown investment recognition as one of Iowa's top small business communities and one of the state's top job markets. But that growth comes alongside some of the country's starkest racial economic disparities, including major gaps in employment income and home ownership, to the point where the Wall Street Journal in twenty eighteen writes, no U.S. metro area has larger social and economic disparities along racial lines than Waterloo, Cedar Falls, Iowa. So when you're making decisions about economic investment as mayor, how do you make sure that the investment happening in Waterloo translates into opportunity for people in neighborhoods That have historically been left behind.
Quentin Hart: so first of all with the in 2017 I I'll tell you that was one of the the worst days that I had as mayor it's it's the Wall Street it's called the 247 Wall Street so it's not the Wall Street Journal it's the 247 Wall Street
Dan: I'm sorry. Okay.
Quentin Hart: And it's a research, it's a research company. And
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: this company takes a look at a a few different matrix. takes a look at unemployment rates, it takes a look at housing, ho housing, home ownership, it takes a look at median income, it takes a look at businesses and how many businesses, takes a look at sometimes health disparity and criminal justice. but that report that came out in 2017 was actually from data that was three to four years prior. And so I said, Wow, they wait till you finally have your first black mayor before before you have this. But
Alex: you.
Quentin Hart: the the challen the challenge with that is while they utilize places that have a white population and a black population. And so Waterloo has 17-18%. African American population. Cedar Falls that was included in that report i is mostly a suburban type of
Alex: Yep.
Quentin Hart: community. but even with that said, there has been historic legacy of disparity within our community. There's some parts you can drive you know within four or five minutes and you don't see the new houses, you see dilapidated structures, you see lack of economic opportunity. And so one of the things that happened as soon as that report came out, first, there were you know, our largest employer within the city said, hey, we see this, we've are invested in here. We've been here over a hundred years. and that was John Deere and he said, so what can we do to help? What can we do to help?
Alex: Hmm. Hmm.
Quentin Hart: What can we do to change the the disparities that we see? And the first thing I said, well, you you you can hire more black people. You know, you could
Alex: Yup.
Quentin Hart: you can take a look at hiring practice, is it not necessarily change your practices, but you can take a look at how you recruit people. we talked about housing, so we talked about a number of things, but that was first. Number two, we had a group that I worked with, and it was called the 24-7 Black.
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: BLAC and that's the business leadership consortium. and they decided, okay, Mayor, we want to tackle entrepreneurship and how we could have more black businesses within our community. And that organization probably graduated within about a three to four year period more than 60, 60 black businesses to directly
Alex: Wow.
Quentin Hart: deal with that disparity. we partnered
Alex: Amazing.
Quentin Hart: with a number of agencies, but mostly structuring the way that we do home ownership, whether it's incentives, whether it's tax incentives, but we took a look at how we did that and we partnered with a number of agencies that would actually build homes from Habitat for Humanity to Hawkeye Community College that was working directly within that community. And so what we tried to do was take a systematic approach. To community reinvigoration. And so my model changed from, you know, back in the day when I mentioned my cousins and my uncle being on city council, their
Alex: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: focus was on equality, right? Everyone receives the same thing, no matter if you're white, black, or whatever, whatever you are, everyone receives the same thing. And so
Alex: Right.
Quentin Hart: my leadership model changed to equity, right?
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: And because equity is not equality. Equity is making sure that people have what they need to be successful.
Dan: Thank for correcting me on the the 24-7 Wall Street report
Alex: Yep.
Dan: not being the same as the journal. what w what were your economic goals? Like when you you take office, you y I'm I'm assuming you had some goals and how do they change when sort of the reality of becoming mayor, you know i i i it's so like you're butting up against that reality. How d how do things change in in what you set
Quentin Hart: We we c
Dan: out to do?
Quentin Hart: we call that when the rubber meets the road, psychology. 'Cause I I was gonna
Alex: Hehehehehe
Dan: Yes.
Quentin Hart: come in, I was just gonna sign this and and it was going to happen. But you know, one of one of the one of the things I I started to learn, I had someone that you know, I I came out I said, Hey, my first state of the city, I'm gonna tear down seventy-five percent of every dilapidated home that's on this list. Within my first six months, right? And a developer had brought a piece of paper in to me, and he's a historian, and he said, Hey, did you ever see this by by this mayor? So, like 40-50 years ago, another mayor came in and said the same thing. Then he showed me another one. 20 plus years ago, another mayor came in and said the same thing, right? And so that that really made me start to understand that some of the challenges we see are systematic. Another example, we had an area that I grew up in called Logan Plaza. Logan Plaza used to be a thriving area, you know, we had a grocery store and all those things there. But through time it became dilapidated. And
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: every mayor, every elected official comes in and says, hey, I'm going to put a store over there and I'm going to do this. Well what we found out then is that you can't do it because there's a water table. There's water problems. You can't plat the land because you can't get any sewage or electricity and those things through there. And so we had to take a step back. And work with the developer to change the architectural portions of that part. And it took probably close to 70 million dollars, right, of work and infrastructure
Alex: Well, yep.
Quentin Hart: And so we
Alex: Wow.
Quentin Hart: had to do the non-sexy things, right? for that
Alex: Yep.
Quentin Hart: so that we can experience long-term growth. So it's infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure in so many different areas. Because some of these things you want to outlive me as mayor, right?
Alex: Right.
Quentin Hart: And so you had to put in the infrastructure so you can enjoy future success. And that's how that's how we did it. We laid the foundation. Also, we've also learned how to pool resources together in communities. Like I said, we had a partnership with Hawkeye Community College, Habitat for Humanity, the developers in that area. And we have learned to use our philanthropy to also play a role. John Deere gave their largest philanthropic gift at the time to the Walnut
Alex: Bye.
Quentin Hart: Initiative, where they gave over a million dollars to help with housing, housing
Alex: Bye.
Quentin Hart: challenges, build new houses, fix houses. But at the same time, it's not a it's not a handout because it's also economic development and it's quality of life. And so we had to I had to work to change that perspective for people within our community. That's not a handout. That
Alex: Mm-hmm
Quentin Hart: is economic development. If I'm speaking to a business person, that's growing the tax
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: base. And it's also putting children and babies and families in better situations. The the first thing you when you fill out a job at fill out an application for something, they say, Do you own or rent? Right? And so ownership. creates more economic opportunity for people. And so yes,
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: some houses are standing and more houses are being built.
Dan: you're talking about filling out applications. you created the Fair Chance Initiative,
Quentin Hart: Mm.
Dan: the first municipal ban the box law. And for people listening who don't know what ban the box is, it's it's a check mark that felons have to check the box if they if they've been convicted of a felony. so you you it's the first municipality with a ban the box law for private employers. in Iowa to give people with criminal records a better opportunity to get jobs. why did you see that as a responsibility of local government?
Quentin Hart: Well, you know, and and to and in all fairness, our Human Rights Commission had worked with their commissioners because When we're taking a look at disparities, right? We know in the the state of Iowa that African Americans are disproportionately incarcerated more than some of my white colleagues at an even higher rate for the same charges, right?
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: And so it is a way to at least help a person get into the interview pool
Alex: Right.
Quentin Hart: to get an interview. Cause right now You could have committed a crime 25 years ago. You could have got a master's degree. You could have had some really good work experience. But because of that that box, you don't even get a chance to interview for for a job that has no relation to what you got in trouble with years ago.
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: And so we we felt like it was a good chance. And I don't want to stereotype that is only African Americans utilize this. Every everyone, everyone that's
Alex: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: had some type of challenge has has used it. But we're just trying to at least help people be judged upon what they're currently doing versus what
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: they may have done twenty-five, thirty years ago. And this gives an opportunity for everyone to have the ability to at least get an interview. and you know, we we also had to deal with a lot of misconception because people are like, you're gonna put someone that did something to children into
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: schools. there's still there still will be a background check later on in that process,
Alex: Yep.
Quentin Hart: but you don't eliminate a a person that may be eligible to work by not even giving them the chance to submit their information. And so we we had community training, we had our council members really took took on to this as well. we had online trainings and you know, once we got through all of the miscommunication and those folks out there trying to create these most negative scenarios,
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: then we were able to really get to the meat of of the matter. And when you when you walk past a business and you see a op openings for position and you can't
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: fill them, then what are we gonna do, right? are we gonna allow are we gonna close businesses or we're gonna get quality people the opportunity to work. And that was the goal. That was the goal of it. We did get some challenge legally. by by one of our state organizations, but I mean we pretty much we pretty much won. So
Alex: we were talking about this earlier, but I think that there's so much that you've done in terms of representation that not all mayors or local leaders get to see when they're trying to actually help communities feel more represented. And it's really like the equity piece that you talked about, which is like, Yes, it is important and necessary to get people who look like community members on community boards and chair different places and be on committees, but also investing dollars behind them to give them opportunities and chances is you've just done so much tangible work that I think people can look to that not all mayors and leaders can stand behind. So I think it's wonderful. I think on the topic of public safety and trust, I want to shift a bit to talk about you taking office in 2016. Waterloo's police force is 124 officers. Like we said, Waterloo's population, it's about 16 % African American, 16, 17. Only two of the police officers on the force are black at the time. You years later appoint Waterloo's first black police chief, Joel Fitzgerald. What changes were made to policing during your time as mayor and how involved were you in that process?
Quentin Hart: Well when I first started back in 2016, if you if you was continue to take a look, we were steeped in lawsuits. I
Alex: Yep. Yep.
Quentin Hart: mean we we had situations where there was an interaction and a young lady's wrist got broken. You know, but there were so many things that were happening, and I wanted to start. with a with just a clean slate. If there was a situation
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: where we wronged someone, then let's see how we can bring resolution so we can start start fresh. Now the culture though
Alex: He's back.
Quentin Hart: I gotta I need to start over, don't I? God dang it.
Alex: We need to get him a mic or something.
Dan: Don't worry about it. This is this
Quentin Hart: All right.
Dan: is this is sort of like normal stuff in conversations people have. They they
Alex: Seriously, yeah.
Quentin Hart: Glad we're not outside. So let me okay. You say get the flyer mic?
Dan: Ha ha ha.
Alex: He's got something to say.
Dan: There you go. Let's mic up. Yeah,
Quentin Hart: Right. Yeah,
Dan: definitely.
Quentin Hart: every time I'm not telling the truth, here comes that fly. But okay. So
Alex: Toss the mic, seriously.
Quentin Hart: so I'll I'll start again. All right. So so in in relation to beginning in two thousand and sixteen we were steeped with lawsuits from police and and community members. And I wanted to start with a fresh slate. if there's something that happened, if we're able to settle that and move forward, let's go ahead and move forward and start start new. you know, that was a challenge because I'm coming in and there's misconceptions in the police department about me and there may be some misconceptions I have, but you know, I wanted to give everybody a fair opportunity to to start fresh and think about what we can do now and moving this this way forward. in the next couple of years, the police chief did retire. And that gave us an opportunity to go through a new interview process. But what I did with this process, yeah, I could have unilaterally just put someone in there, but we went through a community orientation process where each
Alex: you
Quentin Hart: candidate made presentations. We had an internal process where we had officers, a couple officers here and community members, council, and we had that process, and then last but not least, also some communication with the person doing a presentation to the the unions. And
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: Joel Fitzgerald ended up coming out on top on on all those conversations. And so yes,
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: I hired an African American police chief, but he was by far the most qualified
Alex: Yep.
Quentin Hart: and he did well in all those areas. And he came in and started literally the day before the uprisings and tensions with the George Floyd case. Actually matter of fact,
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: he was in town in town being ready to start like that Monday after the council meeting when he gets sworn in. But I I even looked on social media and I seen the police chief standing in a in a middle of hundreds of protesters
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: you know talking working with people and assuring him but right after That Monday, he and I were both in the park talking
Alex: Yep.
Quentin Hart: to people, and we made the pledge that over the course of the next month we would change 20 plus policies in 20 plus days. And so
Alex: Wow. Wow.
Quentin Hart: the choke codes, all of those policies poly policies you see, a duty to intervene. We did all of those things without having to have people come to the council meet meetings, you know, wanting that change, which is what we were going to do anyway prior.
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: And so 27 policies in about 20 days, the council
Alex: Wow.
Quentin Hart: put those policies in ordinance so you can't just unilaterally come in and change everything that they've done without
Alex: Yep.
Quentin Hart: the correct vote. he created a strategic plan and we began the process of bridging the community together. And in relation to you know, sworn officers. Yes, you want that diversity to be reflected. but one of the one of the things that didn't sound good at the time, but it actually was really good, we had a mass exodus of people that no longer wanted to be there. And so what we got
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: in return, we had female officers, we had you know, younger officers and people that actually wanted to be there
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: to to help serve the community. And so yeah, a lot of people retired or they left. some even left and then wanted to come back afterwards.
Alex: Wow.
Quentin Hart: But you know, Dr. Fitzgerald did a really good job of bringing different organizations together, but at the same time you know working on officers pay and making sure we had
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: the best in equipment and cars and all those things that they needed. to do their jobs and so it we we were able to to work with the community instead of against the community during that time.
Alex: Yeah, I mean, what a time to start that job. a time for you as mayor to be in such an integral moment, I mean, in US history and Waterloo history and for the chief to be, you know, before he's even sworn in, with residents hearing all of the protesters. mean, just in what an insane story.
Dan: Welcome to the welcome to the job, Joel.
Alex: Yeah, seriously.
Quentin Hart: no, he's he's yeah, he's no longer here.
Alex: Yep.
Quentin Hart: he's gone. And
Dan: I'm sorry.
Quentin Hart: and you know, and I won't say that his time in the city, there was no turbulence, right? because
Alex: Sure, yep.
Quentin Hart: you you you you always have challenge. But I had one of the candidates that interviewed tell me that they're glad at the time that he was there right then for for that
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: situation because Who knows where we would have been, right? A a completely
Alex: Seriously.
Quentin Hart: different philosophical mentality when it comes to working with the community. And so th thankful for his time and service while he was there.
Alex: Yeah, it sounds like there's so much that the community is present for and you're working with the community finding a chief and then
Quentin Hart: Mm-hmm.
Alex: working with the chief and the chief working with the community. mean, it's just, you don't always see that level of access to a decision
Quentin Hart: Right.
Alex: like that. And 27, you know, 20 changes in 20 days, but 27 really, that is a lot of, I mean, there
Quentin Hart: Mm-hmm.
Alex: was a need at the time for change and
Quentin Hart: Right.
Alex: that you met the moment in a lot of ways, but there's also the aftermath of the reality setting in of
Quentin Hart: Okay.
Alex: what does this actually look like? And so I kind of am curious for you what you learned about the difference of changing policies and actually changing the relationship between residents and this new force of police officers and the new way that some of the new ways that you are policing, like what did the aftermath look like of maybe the months, years following a dramatic change that I think people read about. but maybe are not part of a community that actually is living in
Quentin Hart: You know, it's always a challenge when somebody comes in and starts to hold people accountable too that may not have been used to this level as well. So that created some challenges in that in that that relationship also. But when you take a look at when he was there, officer pay, when it takes a look at technology, when it takes a look at community relations, all of those things were years ahead of where where they were.
Alex: Well...
Dan: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: prior and then having that shift you know over over the years you know it's it's it's still decent relationship
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: but it's not like it was
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: at the time so we can you can s you can see a a difference and and you know
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: you just don't want and then I'm not in office now you just don't
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: want that relationship to erode because
Alex: Right.
Quentin Hart: You want to build relationships in times of peace and trust in times of peace because you are able to work together when challenge happens, right? People know where your heart is at when it comes to a situation. And so, you know, we we hope we continue to do that and stay on that path.
Alex: Yeah. Quentin, can't talk about your tenure as Waterloo without at least touching on the Tyson plant, the Tyson meatpacking plant in Waterloo, which is enormous. It processes
Quentin Hart: Mm.
Alex: 20,000 hogs a day. Big employer in Waterloo. And during your tenure, you helped shepherd a $28 million expansion of the plant. Did you see that as contentious at the time? And what was the economic opportunity that you really saw for the city and the workers?
Quentin Hart: So you mean during covet or you mean after like you know
Alex: the initial expansion, but would love to hear about the plant during COVID as well.
Quentin Hart: so so Tyson's one of our largest employers, one of those plants that blesses us to bring in diversity from across the world and different people, creates opportunities for people, and you know, they've been decent
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: philanthropic partners for a lot of organizations in the community. And so the expansion they had was more jobs and more opportunities. Also, construction jobs is good for our local community and our tax base as well. COVID placed a strain on that relationship. You know, when
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: it when it first happened, I was thinking like, man, I'm such a great mayor. We don't have any cases. this is going real well. I'm watching New York and all these other cities across
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: the country. I'm like, man, we got it right here.
Alex: We got it good.
Quentin Hart: then my fire chief was like, Mayor, we we we have one or two cases now. And I'm like, okay, we're we're doing well. Then the next week, mayor, we just had unfortunately a lady that passed away in her home. And then it kept growing and growing. And before we knew it, per capita, we were one of the hotspots across the entire United States, and a lot of it was linked back to the plant.
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: And you know, I reached out to one of our state representatives and asked, could you put something out to the governor? wasn't received, so I just said, Hey, tell her if she doesn't do anything
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: about this to close this place down, we're gonna hold her personally responsible for every death.
Alex: Hmm.
Dan: So y so you
Quentin Hart: And
Dan: were
Quentin Hart: we we kept getting cases linked to there, reached out to
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: the governor's office. state representative was relaying messages because at that point we were thinking there were close to twelve hundred plus people out the twenty seven hundred that were being infected. And so the the governor didn't do it. a lot of us some of our state representatives some of our local council people our sheriff Tony Thompson we took to every news outlet we possibly can I got to see Don Lemon at the time on TV
Alex: Stop it.
Quentin Hart: anywhere from Fox News to CNN to carry out the message to close this place down. Simultaneously
Alex: Wow.
Quentin Hart: they went the leadership at some parts of Tyson and I believe maybe our governor's office or you know maybe some players I gotta watch out but they went to the president and that's when you remember about the Defense Act, how that was put in place to say that these places are national security and that
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: we need to have them operating Because it has a direct impact on the food chain across global community. And
Alex: Yep. Yep.
Quentin Hart: so then those numbers continued to grow more and more. We stayed on on every outlet we can. And then I received a call from the some of the leadership at Tyson's and having a conversation about shutting it down. they shut it down, and I couldn't be more thankful. they put in parameters. on how to move forward from you know things to separate employees from one another. They had testing on the outside and they shut it down because at the time it was like if you're you're not contagious after this length of time, but they shut it down
Alex: sure.
Quentin Hart: long enough so that when they brought people back they have testing and everything in place. Myself, the public health director, we all took a tour And once they did all those things, all of us came together and give our sign of approval that we support
Alex: Wow. Wow.
Quentin Hart: all the things they did to to change. And so they did it and they became really one of the models across the United States in those types of industries
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: over what to do to help successfully open up the business. Now there was a lot that happened on the legal side prior to all this that we're not involved in. But yeah, we worked together, the company, the city, the county, to do stuff. So I was grateful for that, Dan.
Dan: Thanks for telling us you're giving us all the context on that story. so I mean part of that story you you're talking about all the different players that you have to be involved with, even
Alex: you
Dan: even to the point of the White House weighing in or we you know the federal government weighing in and saying, look, it's a national offense situation. so as mayor, you're there ten years. You work with members of Congress, you work with state officials. where did that relationship help Waterloo and where did you feel the city was overlooked?
Quentin Hart: Well it it I I believe once when I when I first started, I I went to a book signing with Governor Terry Branstead, completely opposite side of the aisle I'm on. I don't know you know, but I went to the book signing and I was like, Governor, I I am here, I I'm newly elected, but I'm your mayor, right? I I am here
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: to work and really good relationship
Alex: Mm.
Quentin Hart: in that aspect. And I can tell you one great thing. He had me come and attend the State of the Union for the state. And he called
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: Waterloo the comeback city for Iowa,
Alex: Mmm.
Quentin Hart: because we were setting a standard of who we wanted to be, not what people assume we are. So it
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: started with the relationship with the state. There's a a road that ran through University Avenue. It was a street, they wanted us to take it over. We got dropped from the program. They didn't offer us enough money. I called Governor Branstead. He brought his DOT director here immediately, and they gave us twenty-eight out of about thirty-eight million dollars for that highway. But it was those relationships that
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: really, really bred opportunity. I was you know, colleagues with May Mayor Buttig or d Secretary
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: Buttigieg and working, conversating, talking. working with national organizations where you build those relationships and we were able to get one of the largest grants when he took over as secretary to redo the port road corridor or working with the national league of cities or the
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: accelerator for america or the US Conference of Mayors during COVID
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: to advocate directly for dollars in the infrastructure package to go to fiber, fiber and community. It was water, wastewater,
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: lost wages, health, fiber. And
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: I was able to work with these organizations to be on the front line talking to senators. And so we were able to take a portion of our ARPA dollars and use
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: that to be able to build Waterloo fiber. And so it is being in those conversations, being around people that Waterloo is a household name for innovation, creativity, hard work, and not just crime and bad things happening. we got selected Honeywell to be one of five cities to be a smart to be a smart city to develop a plan. And we were the smallest. We're with San Diego, Cleveland,
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: all of these major cities, and then Waterloo, Iowa. And
Alex: Yep.
Quentin Hart: so, you know, people and and and sometimes people don't understand that, Dan. They think, you're going to this conference because you want to do this or be there. No, I can travel. I traveled before I got to the position. It is
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: to put our city on the map so that we can
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: make sure that we are right in line of what's happening across the country and our ability to tap into those resources across the entire world. And so that was the goal, and that's what I did during during my tenure. Conference of mayors, they know Waterloo, Iowa. The
Alex: Yep.
Quentin Hart: National League of Cities, they know Waterloo. you
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: go to Berlin, they know Waterloo. You talk to
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: some of our federal folks, they know Waterloo for good things and not negative things, and that they know we will utilize those resources to really improve our community.
Dan: So when you're talking about fiber, internet connection, you c you come in where what is the what is the state of the sort of the infrastructure for the internet then versus where where it is now that you brought fiber optics into it?
Quentin Hart: In incredible question. we had one internet provider and you know people pe put it like this, because I gotta watch what I say.
Alex: you
Quentin Hart: people we voted to utilize twenty million dollars in in bond monies. There was an over eighty three percent approval to utilize to utilize some dollars to be able to help build. our fiber system. And so,
Alex: Yeah. Yeah.
Quentin Hart: you know, Waterloo fiber is going to be one of the best innovations for long-term infrastructure for the city of Waterloo in attracting business, attracting growth. and it is in its what it third year or so. we almost at a point where we have almost a complete build out. I think we're about a year away from that.
Alex: amazing.
Quentin Hart: this entity is standing on its own, has its own building, his own offices, and it's connecting people. But you know, during COVID, I never thought that my eighty, eighty-seven year old mom, right,
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: would be on an iPad looking at church, you know,
Alex: Mm-hmm
Quentin Hart: or you think about the many citizens that are having telehealth meetings. There's nothing worse than having a telehealth meeting and it's like, Can you hear me now?
Alex: Mmm.
Quentin Hart: Can you hear me now? Right? And so affordable high speed quality fiber internet, no matter where you live. There's no more because you live on the north side, you won't have the same quality as the south. Everyone has access to affordable, high-speed, local customer service fiber. So that was the goal, and that's what's happening now. and we were able to use a number of different factors to be able to come up with that financing plan.
Alex: Yeah, it's amazing. There was in another lifetime, I worked for Results for America, which worked with mayors to access some of the ARPA funding that you talked about, the American Rescue Plan funding.
Quentin Hart: Mm-hmm.
Alex: And there were a lot of communities trying to get fiber optic funding and trying to expand,
Quentin Hart: Right.
Alex: trying to really close the digital divide. And that money was all competitive grants. It was not easy to come by. And it's amazing that you're working towards this and close to securing a lot of the money for your study. It's incredibly important work. Yep.
Quentin Hart: Yeah. And and really quickly, also when I when I say it Waterloo fiber is locally owned and operated. And you know
Alex: Yeah, wow.
Quentin Hart: there's a there's a market out there and you have a lot of big companies that are doing it too. I I'm not to debate that, but Waterloo Fiber is locally owned and operated.
Alex: amazing. Yep.
Quentin Hart: Local jobs, local people, local customer service that's right there for you.
Alex: amazing.
Dan: so Quentin, many people, this is these are national surveys that are consistent throughout decades. Many people feel more feel more connected to local government than to Washington. yet they don't always feel heard by either. What do you think local leaders get right that Congress could learn from?
Quentin Hart: well, you know, right now the the mayor or city council, they are where the the the the rubber meets the road, right? you go to a to a football game and you're in a bathroom in a stall next to you and somebody's over there talking about you know something they wanted to see happen. but we are blessed and in a position where we can hear local people on the ground level. mayor mayors don't get a recess to go back to their local communities and and talk to people but we are there all the time right there with people and a lot of mayor positions are nonpartisan and so
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: we're not wrapped up in some of the politics that others have to
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: participate in. And so just being on that ground, understanding the local level, but also understanding too to for our federal government It's not a war between mayors and federal officials. That that's not
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: the purpose. The goal is to be able to work cohesively to positively impact the lives of people. cities are the incubators for innovation. Cities are where neighbors and our healthcare services are provided, cities where industries are at and and and leadership happens. That's no offense to are rural areas. Waterloo is considered rural depending upon which community
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: you're talking to. But cities cities and federal government need to be in line with one another and work together and partner together. There shouldn't be that divide. and that's that's a challenge anytime we see that. And you know maybe they can learn that we are all in this together. just like our citizens know that the mayors live in the same community, they're paying the same taxes, they're eating
Alex: Yup. Yup.
Quentin Hart: the same food at the same restaurants. And so
Alex: Yep.
Quentin Hart: the more that they could work together like we do, maybe that's that's one lesson that they can learn on the federal level. We we are we are partners in this thing.
Dan: Yeah, I I the local aspect of it. You you mentioning just
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Dan: seeing somebody at the football game overhearing them. It's very much at the heart of what we're trying to create structurally. Earlier
Quentin Hart: Mm-hmm.
Dan: you talked about the importance of structure. And it just seems that, you know, from our standpoint, you're sort of reassuring me that w we may be on the right track in terms of just trying to get an organization in place or a structure in place where Congress can really be more local to people. So anyway, thank you for the answer and th thank you for
Quentin Hart: Right. I'm I mean I mean and and
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: and and even during one of the good things about ARPA is that it gave cities the ability to be able to dispatch those dollars where they really saw need. We're on the ground every day. And so
Alex: Yep. Yep.
Quentin Hart: it gives us an opportunity through some of the second and third revisions to put the money exactly where it needed to be. Most of the times it goes from federal, goes to states. And then states dictate where it goes, so you have to operate under their jurisdictions or whatever they tell you. But in fact, I mean, wouldn't wouldn't a city council member or a mayor know which street is need to be fixed? Wouldn't we wouldn't we know which
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: which which house probably needs a little bit more work than the other?
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Quentin Hart: Wouldn't we know what the aspirations and the visions are for successful sustainable living in our communities are? maybe a little bit better. And so it is that trusting partnership that we need to continue to build so that we can help build our communities.
Alex: Quentin, we're gonna use you for an ad on our website, if that's okay with you. That's
Dan: Ha ha
Quentin Hart: Ha ha.
Alex: preaching to the choir.
Quentin Hart: Yeah.
Alex: Yeah, I mean, your local knowledge is the most important expertise you can have. Okay, I wanna take us out with a few questions and let the people know what you are doing, what you are working on and just... close this down a little bit. So first question is, what is one thing that you wish more people who are listening to this knew?
Quentin Hart: That you know, your locally elected officials, your mayors, are on the same page with you, with you. And sometimes the decisions that we have to make are for the greater good. So you may not see how they're positively impacting you now, but I know hundreds of mayors that love their citizens, love their communities, and that they're working hard for you every day. And so don't allow that distrust on higher levels to become part of the local, the local community. Cause it it it just doesn't help.
Alex: Yeah. Okay, Quentin, what are you working on now and how can people support your cause?
Quentin Hart: I'm if you got some golf tips, I I mean I'll take some take some golf tips, but but other than that,
Alex: I got nothing.
Quentin Hart: I did June 2nd a lar launched Heart Civic Strategies. and it it focuses on you know whether it's governments, whether it's small businesses, large businesses, whether it's organizations that want to scale opportunities, that wanna understand how you can move the capital stack around to to do economic development. But really taking that 18 plus years of local government experience and helping to work with organizations and companies to achieve their goals and their dreams and their visions. I study projects to see if they can scale in local communities. I'm working with a national sports organization to increase the amount of play
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: by twenty thirty-five.
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: I am working with another mayor colleague to talk about data centers and their usage and communities working together. So a lot of different spaces that I'm working with. I became an author. put out my
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: first children's book that was a bestseller. And I'm working on I'm in the second draft of a book about twenty
Alex: I love it.
Quentin Hart: years of my life as well and corporate training also. So a number of different things but through Heart Civic Strategies.
Alex: I love it. What's?
Dan: What's the name of the children's book?
Alex: Yeah.
Quentin Hart: Of course, Mayor Hart's Big Heart.
Alex: Of course.
Quentin Hart: And so
Dan: Mm, cool.
Quentin Hart: so it it it focuses on, you know, it highlights a few of the projects that I was able to do, river lights, bridge lights, and some things I participated in. But at the same time, the last portion of it is a workbook for young people that focuses
Alex: you
Quentin Hart: on civic and about giving back and how they can do it. So it has pictures, but at the same time it focuses on leadership for young people.
Alex: That's phenomenal. I love that. Okay, Quentin,
Quentin Hart: Mayor Hart's big heart.
Alex: Mayor Heart's Big Heart. It's behind you, isn't it?
Dan: Yeah, I got I got grandkids that'll be getting it for
Alex: It's on the bookshelf. There it is.
Quentin Hart: Yeah, right there.
Dan: The the fly setting on it.
Alex: There it is.
Quentin Hart: There it is.
Alex: Okay, okay, Quentin, what is one misconception that people have about your field?
Quentin Hart: I can say about me, 'cause
Alex: Great.
Quentin Hart: I'm not that, you know, sometimes they believe that it's like Austin Powers where you have Doctor Evil sitting back at his friends trying to think about how they can take everything away away from from them. but in actuality, my my version, my tenure was a lot different than that. It was working with the community that had some socioeconomic challenges, had some tax-based challenges, and trying to bring in the amenities and the infrastructure and the opportunities that cities with a lot of tax base have to do. And it it's more about caring about people versus trying to divide people and and harm their way of life. And that that that is is what it all about. We're I'm a parent. I'm a husband, I'm a son, I'm a brother, just like everybody else is, and people need to know that as well. My job description was different, but just like
Alex: Hmm.
Quentin Hart: everybody else in the community.
Alex: Okay, last question is what is one thing large or small that's given you hope recently?
Quentin Hart: I am I have become such a simple person. I am an eternal optimist. that's grounded in reality. And the fact that I get to wake up every morning, it may sound cliche, but that really does give me hope. I don't I don't take a day for granted. I don't take a relationship or friendship for granted and Just waking up another day and having that opportunity to breathe and to work and to talk to people, that that is that is something that I really look forward to. So I don't have these if the Broncos can win more, go ahead, win more. But you know,
Alex: to it.
Quentin Hart: seeing my children, they you know, my children have gone through some ups and downs, but seeing how they bounce back for a a a stronger future. you know, my wife and her hard work, you know, those are the things that encourage me and I and I'm thankful I get to serve a God who loves me despite of my shortcomings and that you can accomplish anything through trusting and believing. So
Alex: really like small things that are big things, you know? Yeah.
Quentin Hart: I'm f I'm fifty five, you better yeah, I love small small things mean a lot. Yeah.
Alex: Small things are big. Love it. Amazing. Well, Quintin, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. This has been an absolute delight. I've learned so much about Waterloo. And like I said, I need to go now. And thank you for bringing people in to your city for being like our virtual mayor and telling us so much about how you... how you specifically, but how people really can be agents of change in their city. And especially, even if and especially they are the first people to do that. So thank you so much. Where can people find you on social media or anywhere besides your website?
Quentin Hart: you can actually go to my website. it's w dot heart civic strategies dot com. But also you can reach me at contact at heart civic strategies dot com or Quentin at Heart Civic Strategies dot com. my contact information is in there. And you can also schedule a meeting. so yep, I'm still accessible. still one of the most accessible. Social media hashtag Quentin Hart, you can reach me on all platforms too.
Alex: Amazing
Dan: Thank you so much, Quentin. Really excellent excellent talking
Quentin Hart: Thank you.
Dan: to you. you're a fascinating person and really a a a role model for people, really.
Quentin Hart: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you both for all you do for showcasing little folk, little elected folk like myself. So I really appreciate it.
Alex: Hey, small stories or big stories, you know?
Quentin Hart: Yeah.
Alex: Yeah. Thank you so much for coming on. This has been great.
