HOME | SITE INDEX | CONTACT/FEEDBACK

Search the City website:

logoleft logoright

Mayor

Kay Halloran
   Mayor Overview

Biography:

Kathleen "Kay" Halloran was born January 19, 1937 at Estherville, Iowa. A lifelong resident of Cedar Rapids, she attended the State University of Iowa (now the University of Iowa), earning a bachelor’s degree in political science and English in 1959. She married in 1961. As a wife and mother of two young sons she returned to the University of Iowa to attend law school, graduating with distinction in 1974.

When Kay began her practice of law in 1974 she was the first woman attorney to enter private practice in Cedar Rapids. A Democrat, she was elected to the Iowa General Assembly from the forty-ninth district and served from 1983 to 1992. During her tenure in the Iowa House of Representatives, Kay served as chair of the rules and administration committee; vice-chair of the ways and means, judiciary and ethics committees; on the commerce committee; and on the legislative council. After serving five terms in the legislature Kay lost her reelection bid in 1992, but won election from the fifty-third district in 1996. After serving one term, she retired from the House of Representatives in 1999, when she took a position with the Iowa Commerce Dept. Kay Halloran was honored as a Toll Fellow by the Council of State Governments and was selected as a 1995 Woman of the Year in the Linn County community by a coalition of women’s organizations. She also trained as a mediator with Endispute in Boston and studied at the Kennedy School of Government in the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government. She was invited and participated in a seminar for new mayors at the Kennedy School.

Kay was elected Mayor of Cedar Rapids on November 8, 2005 and will take office on January 2, 2006 In her view, the city has languished of late because of its inability to move ahead on three major projects: the landfill; redevelopment of the former Farmstead Foods site and neighboring Cedar Bend area; and the Highway 100 extension. Halloran wants the new nine-member council to function as a team. She advocates open government and doesn’t want surprises.

Government Service:

  • State Representative - January, 1983 through December, 1992 and January, 1997 through December, 1999
  • Appointed to Legislative Council - January, 1987 through December, 1992
  • Appointed to Fiscal Committee of Legislative Council - 1991 - 1992
  • Chair of Education Appropriations Committee - 1991 - 1992
  • Chair of Rules and Administration Committee - 1987 - 1988
  • At various times Vice-chair of Judiciary, Ways and Means and Ethics Committees.
  • Ranking member, Commerce Committee, January, 1997 through December, 1999.
  • Governor’s Committee on Government Spending Reform (Fisher Commission)
  • Public Finance Task Force, Appointed by Director of Revenue and Finance - 1991
  • Aviation Advisory Committee of the Iowa Department of Transportation - 1987 - 1992
  • Judicial District Commission of the Iowa Supreme Court, 1988
  • East Central Iowa Economic Development Council of Department of Economic Development - 1986 - 1992.
  • Royer Commission for Cedar Rapids Government Efficiency

Education:

  • Bachelor of Arts in English and Political Science with distinction
    University of Iowa, 1959

  • Graduate work in both political science and English
    Juris Doctor with distinction University of Iowa, 1974

  • Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government
    Harvard University, 1987
    Employment: Retired attorney and former Iowa legislator

Honors
  • Alpha Lambda Delta, freshman scholastic honorary, University of Iowa, 1955.
  • Toll Fellow Council of State Governments, Lexington, KY. 1988
  • Atlantic Exchange, 1989. Three weeks in the Netherlands consulting with legislative, judicial and economic development officials
  • A Woman of the Year awarded on Women’s Equality Day, 1995.

Volunteer

  • Tanager Place - 25 years on Board of Directors.
  • Tanager Foundation - 5 years on Board
  • MidAmerican Housing Partnership - 10 years
  • Catherine McAuley Center for Women
    • 6 years on board of directors
    • 6 years on Foundation
  • Waypoint (formerly YWCA) - member of foundation board.


Other info