As I savor my coffee this morning I also savor victory. But not for long, as we’ve got a lot of work to do to prove to the community that recent successes at the FACC are not a fluke. Rather, part of a well laid out plan and a humble and dynamic leader in Rustin Lippincott.

Just after 8pm last night (May 4th), a room full of civic and business leaders, FACC donors and board, and our incredible group of supporters, watched as Rustin and board president Bob Moore entered the building smiling ear to ear with the news that the votes were in, and that we had won convincingly.

Here is the official statement from the FACC:

The Fairfield Arts and Convention Center is pleased to announce that on  Tuesday, the Fairfield voters approved a referendum to allocate 12.5% of the City of Fairfield’s Local Option Sales Tax revenues to purchase the Fairfield Arts and Convention Center and place its ownership in the hands of the city.

The Center can now retire its debt and concentrate on increasing its services to the community. The unofficial vote tally was 1607 yes votes and 807 no votes.

“On behalf of the Fairfield Arts and Convention Center Board of Directors, staff and volunteers, we say thank you to the many Fairfield voters who turned out today to voice their affirmative opinion on the viability of the purchase and operating plan we are now able to implement with gusto,” said Rustin Lippincott, the Center’s Executive Director.  “We regard the confidence that this community’s residents have instilled in the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center today with great humility and awe and with a profound sense of anticipation and exuberance,” he added.  “We are tremendously grateful for the outcome and celebrate tonight, but we awake tomorrow faced with the accountability which we now have to the people of the City of Fairfield.  I assure you that the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center accepts this investment from the people of Fairfield mindful of the responsibilities inherent in it and resolved to deliver diverse programming with affordable prices for years to come. ”

In the coming days, the Center’s Board of Directors will be meeting with the representatives from the City of Fairfield and Iowa State Bank to complete the purchase and establish the details for the lease and operating agreement.

“I want to personally thank the Center’s Board of Directors, the donors who made the private fundraising efforts possible and the countless supporters who helped crystallize and deploy our message and purpose,” said Lippincott.

And I would like to humbly thank our supporters, those of you who rose to the occasion to support something you believe in. Whether it was e-mailing, Facebooking, handing out flyers with kid in tow, or simply recommending to a friend that they vote “yes”, I can’t tell you how much that support meant to me personally and, of course, to the FACC as a whole.

As I’ve maintained all along, there is still work to be done in order to keep the FACC as a sustainable operation. But now, energized with support, we’re truly in the best position for success. And for that, I thank you Fairfield.

Well, the coffee is almost gone, so I will savor those last drops of victory and get back to work.

PS – Photos are courtesy of our good friend, pianist and photographer extraordinaire – Werner Elmker. See you at the Center!

Welcome back to another installment of Fairfield Stories. Although I’m not keeping to my self-promise to publish more frequently, I hope to heat things up after the vote on May 4!

Today we’re profiling relative newcomer to town, Darryl Jarmasco.

Darryl, his wife and four kids (soon to be a fifth!), moved to Fairfield from Michigan last June. While vacationing in Hawaii, he met some Fairfieldians who told him he had to come. After visiting Fairfield and being highly impressed by the education offered by MSAE, he and his wife were sold and moved here.

I met with Darryl after I received a promotional email about his free seminar at Revelations, tomorrow April 14th from 11:30-1:00PM. I snooped around his website and I figured I’d meet with him, and maybe let people know about his seminar and leave it at that.

Well, not only is he a nice guy, but he is just so full of positive energy that I thought I’d devote this column to him. You see, he is a motivational speaker and although I am typically turned off by people who bill themselves this way, after an hour with him, I can tell you that he is, indeed, motivational.

He is a coach. A person who turned his own life around and, as a result, now helps others to do the same by tapping into the principles he taught himself.  He has found that people  have stories -  beliefs – that they hold on to that hold them back from achieving what they are capable of. So what Darryl does is helps people to get beyond their stories and to establish clarity in the form of purpose. To help them connect to what they really want and why they want it.

So the logical question in his mind is, What is your real challenge and what are the stories and excuses that are holding you back?

We all have patterns. Some of us are lazy, some blissful, and everything in-between. It is all based on emotion and Darryl helps you to understand where this emotion, this energy, comes from. And when you connect with that you can open your mind to what you really want. To moving ahead. To acheiving results…

Sound like hooey? Maybe. But I asked Darryl for success stories which were fairly easy for him to come by. Take that of a guy who works in Chicago at two jobs, 16 hours a day. His real dream was to become a full-time realtor and to give up the other jobs. As Darryl put it, “he was holding on to 20 plus years of conditioning where he was told to be quiet, reserved, to sit down and shut up.” He wasn’t excited. He needed encouragement to feel again… So after only 7 coaching sessions over a 1.5 month period, his client started to cold-call to get listings. And, through a sense of empowerment, plus focus, a positive physiology, and positive language – the client got 2 listings, a bunch of referrals and is starting to thrive.

As Darryl put it, the real magic is how the client is feeling, for he now has a new mindset that he will now have for good, and forever.

Darryl got into this after he had a financial disaster after graduating from college and while in Border’s bookstore, he stumbled on to the self-help book section. After reading numerous books, things started to click for Daryl and as they did, he felt compelled to share that knowledge with others. So he  hooked up with Tony Robbins with the objective of helping people to have the best life they could. He is now a Tony Robbins coach, wrote a book, does numerous speaking engagements, trains, and is challenging himself to become even bigger and better.

Darryl’s family is most important to him. He is spiritual in that he believes in a higher power. He is more interested in meaning and purpose than things. That is what makes him happy.

In addition to giving to people through his business, Darryl is a member of Rotary and the Chamber of Commerce , and helps out at the MSAE when he can. He loves taking his family on the trail system, and truly appreciates the community – in the form of the wonderful people he has met and continues to meet. Darryl also writes a column for our friends at the Iowa Source about concious living.

If you want know more about yourself, to challenge yourself, and to grow. As Darryl passionately put it “Do it now. Find it now. Be bold” and check out Darryl at Revelations, or visit his website.

Disclaimer – As many of you know, I’m on the board of the FACC. As a citizen however, I’ve got a little story to tell…

I went to the FACC on Friday the 9th, at about 4PM to do a little board-work. I assumed it would be empty and that I’d zoom in and zoom right back home.

When I got there however, the place was buzzing. I walked in to find a group of parents and students from Fairfield High School working diligently on decorations for the prom. I had forgotten that it was this weekend!

As I walked over to the display I was going to work on, I heard music and voices. I couldn’t place where it is coming from then I realized it was in the Stephen Sondheim theater.

I walked in and to my delight, found a group of children, probably about 5 or 6 years old, on stage dancing with a couple of instructors. Some parents were in the audience. It seemed to be a dress rehearsal for a recital…

Indeed, there is a lot of controversy surrounding the Center. Some believe it was ill conceived. Some believe it was mis-managed. Some just don’t want change. Others see it as something else to rant about.

What we can’t deny however, is that this place is an another amazing resource to have in our town alongside the Library, Rec. Center, the Trail System, the  Hospital, the Fairgrounds, the University and so many others that make Fairfield the special place that it is.

For all of the perceived negatives, the Center is a place that serves the community. That brings the community together. Dance recitals, proms, meetings, fund raisers, concerts performed by local musicians, singing competitions, a place where the free concerts on the square brings shows in the event of rain – the list goes on.

Although it was 4pm on a Friday, I knew I’d find the executive director of the Center, Rustin Lippincott, still there. So I went up to his office to tell him how, well, giddy I was, to find the Center full of life late on a Friday afternoon. He was meeting with Connie Boyer, discussing the event of the previous evening, a documentary brought to the Center by the David Lynch Foundation that sold out.

Within a few short days at the Center, “townies” and “rus” coming together to put real and perceived differences aside in the name of having a little escape, some fun, entertainment, and rite of passage – if you can look at a prom that way. (A little more disclosure, I am neither “townie” nor “ru”, so I trust I can comment on that without rankling anyone. If I did – apologies!)

I entitled this post “true community service” as I truly believe it is what the Center provides Fairfield. It’s one of the reasons I joined the board. One of the reasons why I’m urging my friends to vote in favor of the investment the City would like to make in the Center. And one of the reasons why you’ll probably hear more from me in the weeks to come – not only on Fairfield Voice – as I seek to educate as many as I can in the community of the social as well as economic benefits the Center provides to Fairfield.

What about you, do you feel the Center serves the community well in Fairfield?

I don’t believe I’ve ranted on Fairfield Voice yet, so be aware, this IS a rant. However, it’s one that effects most everyone in our fine little town…

It’s Spring! The birds are chirping, bulbs are blooming and temperatures have finally reached the point where you just want to be outdoors.

What that means to me, is Spring cleaning. Although I did a lot of Fall clean-up, there are still plenty of leaves in my flower beds that need to be raked out. And here is where the rant begins…

I raked a bunch last weekend and used up the last of my Waste Management sanctioned lawn and leaf bags which, apparently, are only carried by Hy-Vee. So I went to Hy-Vee and found that they were out of the bags. I was told that they would have more by this weekend, which wasn’t horrible, just a little inconvenient.

So now it’s this weekend. I called over to Hy-Vee, only to discover that they still do not have any bags, and worse yet, they don’t even know when they will get any.

As the great philosopher Popeye once opined “That’s all I can stands and I can’t stands no more!”

I don’t even know what to do about this. My garden is growing and I can almost guarantee that within the next week, it will be thick with new growth and still full of waste. Surely some of it is good for the garden, but not all of it. Oh, and not to mention all of those little maple trees that are growing that, if not picked now, will be like trying to pull a post set in concrete out of the ground.

Surely, I could get it all done and put it in the trash can. But that wouldn’t be very environmentally friendly, now would it? Not to mention the fact that Waste Management won’t take the trash if there is lawn waste in it.

Then there are the big green plastic “Hefty” bags that work way better than the paper ones but since they aren’t reyclable, won’t be picked up by Waste Management either.

So what is a citizen to do? Oh yes, I guess I can burn my leaves, but as I commented on a blog post on this site a few months ago, I’m not really into that. I’d simply like to rake, bag, and recycle. (Oh, I neglected to mention that I tried calling Waste Management but since it is Saturday, the office is closed.)

Am I the only one with this problem or as a relatively new resident is there another way to do this that I am unaware of?

Guess I’ll spend this sunny day curled up around my laptop with tax receipts and Turbo Tax, which I have to do anyway.

But I’d sure rather spend some time in the garden…

Yes, it’s been a while since our last Fairfield Story, but I’m back to tell you about Rustin Lippincott.

Recruited to Fairfield to be the Executive Director of the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, Rustin was soon asked to become the Executive Director of the Fairfield Arts and Convention Center as well.

A single dad, who recently became engaged to Lindsay Haskins of Cedar Falls, Rustin is a native Iowan having grown up in Ft. Madison where he competed in wrestling, football, and baseball.

After college, Rustin worked in an ad agency in Cedar Falls which tapped his innate talent to promote. After the agency, he worked for the Cedar Valley Catholic school district, where he marketed the value and benefits of a religious education and the student athletes – whom he was integrally involved with as their football and wrestling coach. Not only did he hone his promotional skills there, but he also learned a lesson about how the decisions not-for-profit boards make for the good of the organization are not always the most popular in the community.

He was soon recruited by the city of  Nauvoo to lead efforts to promote their unique community as the director of their Convention and Visitors Bureau. In Nauvoo, Rustin had the opportunity to promote a piece of American history, and became as passionate about promoting Nauvoo and its history to prospective visitors as the residents were about their community.  Ironically, Nauvoo had a unique set of challenges, as the people who had lived there for generations were initially at odds with newcomers. Those newcomers were the Mormons who regard Nauvoo as a major part of their religious history. As a result, many have chosen to reside there and many Mormon visitors from around the world are drawn there – sound somewhat familiar?

Rustin has gleaned a lot from each of these experiences. Most notably, his ability to find the balance between unique groups and to galvanize their individual passions to become one that  promotes the economic values of tourism. Which, as Rustin aptly puts it “gets each group to where they want to go.”

This is not only true of the City of Fairfield, but in his role at the FACC where he seeks to mend fences and to bring everyone in town with a stake in the future of Fairfield to join together to support the Center for the betterment of the entire community.

Rustin resides in town with his daughter Jada, and when asked what he loves most about Fairfield, he sincerely had trouble keeping his response to less than 20 minutes. So when pressed, he summed it up as being with Jada and to attend events as a regular guy having fun with family and friends – to not be “on the job.” He loves to eat out in town and while doing so, to people watch,  thoroughly enjoying Fairfield’s diversity.

In addition to running the CVB and the FACC, Rustin serves on the boards of the Fairfield Beautification Commission, FPAC, The Volunteer Center and Rotary. He is also Iowa’s representative on the Tri-State Development and Tourism Taskforce as well as the VP of Marketing for the Eastern Iowa Tourism Association.

Rustin believes that Fairfield’s  unique selling proposition is that we are like a big city in small town Iowa. We’re heavily influenced by arts and culture and a strong manufacturing community, yet supported by Midwestern values. He believes we have the “best of both worlds” right here in our backyard. And he wants residents to come out and experience everything that visitors are coming to Fairfield to do and to enjoy our community as much as they do.

His role with the FACC is a natural, as it is one of the many assets we have that draw meetings and visitors to town. What he loves about it, is that the FACC provides residents with a great venue to host activities and to feature the community’s talents. He also loves that it’s a gathering place for all generations -  kids, adults, and seniors. Rustin is working hard for it to become the entertainment hub in Fairfield doing everything from hosting weddings and the high school prom, to trade shows, and featuring performers of all kinds. With all that the Center provides the community, he just wants it  to be on peoples’ minds when they are looking for something to do to have fun. To be in the mix and to be known as a place where there is always something to do for practically everyone in town…

Rustin clearly loves both of his jobs. He is passionate about promoting the unique community that Fairfield has become. For as he likes to say “Fairfield offers something for everyone, and you don’t have to look very far for something that will make you smile.”

And smiles are something that Rustin Lippincott always seems to have something to do with…

The puppy mill bill, HSB604, passed the House Public Safety committee last week here in our great state of Iowa.

Unfortunately, it is another completely partisan bill. Every “yes” a Democrat, every “no” a Republican.

Warning – this blog post is bi-partisan, so if you’re one of my liberal friends hoping I’m going to bash conservatives – sorry. And if you’re one of my conservative friends waiting for a good fight – no dice.

I’m writing because I’m just sick of politics in the US as it stands today and this bill is a perfect example of what just makes me want to hurl.

Here is the basic focus of the bill (which by the way WAS supported by Representative Curt Hanson)  “We need and deserve better oversight of the USDA-licensed breeders in our state. This law will not mandate additional inspections. It will only make it possible for the IA Dept of Ag to inspect upon receipt of a complaint. The breeders’ fee increases will offset any additional costs to implement this.”

Did all the Republicans who voted “no” really want to send the message to their constituents that they are not in favor of protecting puppies? Of course not. What they did is put politics before the people, well in this case the animals, and that’s not going to get this country anywhere but worse off than it is now.

I can’t help but think that the two-party system is coming to an end. Not because it isn’t good in theory, but because what it is turning into is a battleground of rhetoric and wills. One that has little to do with what is best for the country, and EVERYTHING to do with what is best for one of the parties. Sickening… Maddening…

This post is not meant to be a rant, rather, a question to us and our government. What are we going to do to get our country get back on track? How are we going to work TOGETHER, to do what the PEOPLE want and expect, and NOT just what is going to look good to the rest of the party or some talk show host?

Help me out here, anybody. Am I nuts or are what seem to be a majority of our representatives more interested in their jobs and keeping their party in power than in what is best for these United States?

Indeed, I may be seen as generalizing, but when I see votes like this, it is really, really hard to imagine that there is something so dreadfully wrong with saving puppies that it would incite every Republican to vote no.

Well, unless what I don’t know is that the people whom these folks represent actually prefer to torture puppies…