Jean Newlin Schnake says one of her primary goals as a candidate in the upcoming election is returning Coralville’s government to the unified state it once enjoyed.

Schnake, who served a 12-year stint on the council from 1995-2007, hopes that her experience will help bring back a more unified council whose councilors work together for the good of the city.

“The Coralville City Council used to be the poster child of a group with diverse backgrounds and different interests that were always able to come together for the better of the good, and if you look at things now, it’s a little bit more fragmented,” Schnake said.

In the face of a growing financial deficit, Schnake has taken a positive outlook, which she states as being a central priority to her in this council race.

She plans to look closely at the budget and find places to cut spending, but she emphasized being sure that these spending cuts would not be a huge detriment to the community.

“The bottom line is, we are where we are, and we can’t change one moment, or one step, or one decision that got us where we are today,” she said. “What’s really important is we take the steps to move forward, develop plans, follow good plans that have been laid, and develop new plans so that we’re not continually facing additional deficit, and we are able to provide the goods and services without a great deal of sacrifice to the community.”

Coralville Mayor Jim Fausett highlighted the point that the financial debt is a crippling issue in Coralville and one that cannot be ignored.

“[The City Council] is going to need to address the debt problem head on, no matter who ends up getting elected in November,” he said.

The thought of getting to serve her community again and attempting to bring the council back to its roots are large reasons in Schnake’s decision to run again.

“I hope that together with those other citizens of the community [on the council], we can work together to find some resolutions for these issues, and make sure they work, because I think it’s going to take everybody working together and recognizing this big picture in order to rebuild the economy and [instill] the Coralville pride that’s been out there for so long,” she said.