Kesha Billings, senior planner with the City of Marion’s Community Development Department, was honored for her service to the community during Waypoint’s 42nd annual Tribute to Women of Achievement event. The award was presented on Dec. 5, 2023, at the DoubleTree by Hilton in downtown Cedar Rapids.

For the last 16 years, Kesha Billings has been a member of Marion’s Planning Division. She has been involved in the community’s long-range planning, navigated complex annexation processes and spearheaded the development of the City’s trail network.

A grant writer and highly skilled at securing local, state and federal funding, Kesha has received commitments of more than $15 million to support trail development in Marion over the course of her career, according to the City of Marion.

“It is part of our culture to celebrate the accomplishments and contributions of our team members,” said Marion City Manager Ryan Waller. “Kesha is passionate about our community, committed to making positive change both personally and professionally.”

Billings obtained her Bachelor of Science degree from Iowa State University in Community and Regional Planning in 2005. She has been a certified planner through the American Planning Association (American Institute of Certified Planners, AICP) since 2010 and she obtained her master’s degree in public administration from Upper Iowa University in 2015.

She is an avid supporter of the Linn County Trails Association, a Tree Keeper with Trees Forever and an active member of the Marion East Cedar Rapids Rotary Club since 2016. Billings and her husband Darin have been married for more than 10 years and are the proud parents of three energetic boys, ages 6, 4 and 18 months. She loves the outdoors, especially biking, hiking and gardening.

Thanks to the City of Marion and the Marion Sun for this information.

A proud native of Cedar Rapids is also where Colten currently resides with his fiancee Meagan and with his two Gold Doodles: Harlow and Maizey.  Colten has a Business Administration Degree from Mount Mercy University and an Associate's Degree in Horticulture from Iowa Central Community College. Colten played baseball at both Mount Mercy and ICCC when he attended those schools. Along with those accolades he also has an Associates Degree in Business Management from DMACC. 

Colten likes to lift weights and play baseball, softball, basketball & golf.  Colten also likes to watch Chicago Cubs, Chicago Bulls, Kansas City Chiefs, and the Iowa Hawkeyes.

From the Cedar Rapids Gazette:

Most people who know Buzzy Castonguay know he knows a lot about background checks.

Castonguay has worked in the industry since 2002 after a friend introduced him to the work.

'I was coming out of working in church ministry, when a friend asked me to come work with him doing background checks,” he said. 'I didn't plan on doing this very long, but it stuck.”

Having been as a Los Angeles County probation officer back in the 1990s, Castonguay worked with his friend for a while before starting his own background-check company when he moved to Iowa in the early 2000s.

After selling that first background check company, he got out of the business for a few years.

'But people always asked me about it, and when someone finally asked if I'd ever consider getting back in the business, I did,” he recalled.

In 2014, he opened C4 Operations.

'Our advantage is that we have access to a lot more information than the average consumer can access by simply visiting Iowa Courts online, for example,” Castonguay said, noting that they access national records.

C4 has a wide variety of pre-employment and tenant screenings - including sexual offender searches, identity verification, credit reports, county criminal searches, federal court searches, motor vehicle records and drug screenings - for companies and property owners.

'We are big on educating our customers on the information they do or do not need in a background check and help them understand what the reports we provide mean,” he said.

The C4 Operations staff - which includes about 10 employees - works with both large and small businesses across a wide range of industries, from janitorial and manufacturing to education and health care. Castonguay said they have some 3,200 customers nationwide.

'We are helping our customers make a good hire or find a good renter and perhaps avoid some problems down the road. We can help reduce the amounts of headaches in their life,” Castonguay said.

'We don't tell our clients who to hire. We just get the records and the information they need to make a good hiring decision.”

IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) - Since 2015, Tyler Sullivan has tried to visit all 99 counties in Iowa. He’s made it to 92.

“I love finding that little hidden gem in every single town in Iowa,” said Sullivan.

A long distance relationship where Sullivan was driving from Iowa City to Mason City, helped spark this idea.

“I would travel that way every other Friday after work and I was driving through counties that I’ve never heard of before like Chickasaw and Bremer. I wondered while I was driving up there one day, I was like there has to be something special about all these counties,” he explained.

For the past four years, he’s decided to run at least a mile in each city on the Iowa road map. He has roughly 130 towns to go. When he visits, he likes to go to museums, diners, or even run in a local road race. His adventures he have made for great stories.

“I remember going to a post office and taking picture of a mural. I take a picture and a guy looked back and goes, ‘I go here every single day and never noticed that mural. Where are you from?’ I told him about my story. He’s like, ‘how’d you know that was there?’”

His goal is to write a poem about each county. Sullivan has self-published two books and has been a poet for 13 years. He hopes that through his experiences, others can appreciate what Iowa has to offer and consider taking their own tour through the Hawkeye State.

“It just feels like life continues to move on really fast, and you just have to enjoy life. That’s why I’m enjoying Iowa. I love seeing people, talking to people, and I just try to inspire people to see more of it,” said Sullivan.