The Business Record recently held its third think tank session of this year’s Envision Iowa series. It focused on infrastructure, specifically about the future of Iowa’s post-pandemic infrastructure needs. Panelists included:

Joe Murphy
president, Iowa Business Council

Kathryn Kunert
vice president, economic connections and integration, MidAmerican Energy

Brenda Neville
president and CEO, Iowa Motor Truck Association

Emily Schmitt
chief administrative officer and general counsel, Sukup Manufacturing Co. 

Travis Toliver
executive director, Waverly Chamber of Commerce

Business Record staff writers shared their key takeaways from the event.

Progress on social infrastructure

Murphy said that while there has been progress on physical assets, Iowa has also made progress on social infrastructure, too. “Maybe that’s a new bent, but lifting things and investing in things like child care and mental health initiatives and affordable and workforce housing, sort of a new way of thinking about our social infrastructure fabric that binds us all together as communities, as regions and ultimately a state,” he said. “It’s not to say we don’t have challenges in a lot of these areas, but I do think we’ve had a really good head start when you look at the rest of the country.”

Changing perception of infrastructure

Schmitt said it’s important to change the perception of what infrastructure is to move the state from a future-ready workforce to a future-ready economy. “We keep on having the traditional viewpoints of what infrastructure is,” she said. “Everybody thinks about transportation, roads and utilities, but that social infrastructure is just as, and if not more important, nowadays and we really have to take time to be intentional on that. So I love the future-ready economy because in order to change perception, you have to change the behavior, too. So let’s change the perception. Let’s get going on that.”

Thoughts from Kathy A. Bolten
Expanding fiber optic infrastructure

Toliver, executive director of the Waverly Chamber of Commerce Main Street Program, talked about how a local telecom provider several years ago installed the infrastructure to support high-speed internet throughout the community. “I’m happy to say that we’re now in year three or four of having a fully built-out fiber optic community,” he said. “Not only does that help with businesses and all of our resources online that businesses rely on so much now, it’s also an attractor to people wanting to move to our community. … Folks that are able to work remotely after the pandemic can live anywhere in the country that they want. The first thing they look for is housing, but also high-speed internet and quality of life. Making sure that those three components are set is a huge attractor for any community looking to recruit those folks who are able to work remotely. I’m really proud of our utility company for having that forward-thinking … so that we have what we need in place to attract future residents to Waverly.”

A shift in mindset for the trucking industry

Neville said having a strong economy and infrastructure, including utilities and other delivery modes, drives the work that Iowa’s 24,000 trucking companies do. The Iowa Motor Truck Association represents 400 of those companies, many of which are truckload carriers that travel across North America. Neville said she has seen social infrastructure like housing and child care become a bigger part of members’ business plans than ever before, as they work to attract not only truck drivers but for other roles in the company like operations, sales and accounting. “Our CEOs want to attract people into those jobs, and sometimes it’s difficult because some of these other essential parts of a community aren’t quite where they need to be,” Neville said. Another conversation trucking companies would not have had five years ago is one around access to mental health services for its employees. She said these changes are a sign of the competition for the workforce as companies across every sector vie for workers.

Thoughts from Kyle Heim
A three-legged stool approach to providing electric, natural gas services 

Kunert said that during the current transition phase toward more renewable energy, MidAmerican uses a three-legged stool approach. “We know the criticality of energy to businesses, today more than ever,” Kunert said. “Our customers expect and deserve the affordable, the reliable and now it’s the renewable. So you manage that three-legged stool equally, and we have to ensure that we maintain that three-legged stool for everybody. If one of those legs is out of whack, then the ability for us to maintain that competitive and economic advantage is put at risk.” In order to help customers meet their sustainability goals, MidAmerican Energy, which provides electric and natural gas services, is attempting to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 through its Destination Net Zero initiative while maintaining reliability and affordability.

Thoughts from Nicole Grundmeier
No easy, one-size-fits-all solutions in child care

Murphy said that despite significant investments from businesses and government, child care “continues to be challenging for us.” The main difficulty remains finding workers, and without them, new physical spaces go unused, he said. Schmitt, chief administrative officer and general counsel of Sukup Manufacturing, served on a state child care task force. She said that solutions need to come at a local, business-by-business level. Sukup already has 38 people on a waiting list for a new company facility that hasn’t even had a groundbreaking yet. The facility’s schedule will be tied to Sukup’s shifts, she said: “We’re trying to create a playbook to show to other companies: ‘Hey, think about what decisions you make for your business, and support the child care center in that way.’”