When it comes to the redevelopment of Campustown, the Ames City Council, and the Government of Student Body said they shared a responsibility with Iowa State students to have an informed student body.

The recent news of the Kingland Systems development project had several students surprised and taking to social media the past few days, but this was not “new” news.

“This case started to come before council back in March, long before the students left,” said City Council member Jami Larson. “Our previous liaison on the council, I think she had taken it to GSB, but this kind of happens every summer when we have a turnover of GSB and within the student population.”

The most recent discussion of the project was at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

Alexandra Harvey serves as the student liaison on the Council, a unique position that many college cities do not offer. Harvey is a student at Iowa State and a nonvoting member of the City Council.

“The key is making sure Alex tells us about issues,” Larson said. “She’s told us recently about lighting issues on Mortensen Road, issues related to the greek houses and now this issue in Campustown related to the new development, so she’s dong a good job.”

GSB Sen. Zach Bauer said he sees Harvey’s position as being unused by ISU students.

“Most people don’t even realize that we have a student that sits on City Council, and the students don’t really care that much about City Council,” Bauer said. “They just come to school, and I don’t think that’s really doing their part.”

The Campustown development project seems to have come out of nowhere for a lot of students, and the blame for that has been pointed at several different groups, organizations and people.

“There’s no one place to point the finger. There’s lots of different ways students can get information about what’s going on in the city,” said GSB President Spencer Hughes. “Part of the responsibility lies with the students themselves to figure out what’s going on.

“I think GSB could have done a better job at letting students know what was going on, the city could have done a better job at engaging the student body and the Campustown organizations that were engaged in the project could have done a better job of bringing in more students who were not necessarily residents of Campustown but who do go there.”

When Harvey told GSB that the project had returned to the council’s agenda, Hughes immediately took action.

“When Alex brought that to our attention, I felt like students who have opinions on the project weren’t as aware of the project as they wish they would be, so that’s why I wrote a letter asking city council to delay action on the project and allow an opportunity for students to really get engaged,” Hughes said.

Hughes contacted all of the city council members individually and heard back from Jeremy Davis and Matthew Goodman.

The City Council meets with GSB once a year to discuss items on both their own agenda, and what the GSB is planning the upcoming year. Council member Larson suggests students talking to a GSB member as one of the ways to have their voice heard.

“They can certainly follow us on Twitter; they also can participate somewhat in the council meetings online by going to CityofAmes.org, and they can live-stream the council meetings on Tuesday nights,” Larson said. “They can also either talk to their GSB representative or their dorm floor representative to help get the word to Alex.”

When it comes to the redevelopment project moving forward, Larson said nothing will happen until more student input is collected by the council and the developer.

“Nothing will happen until student input is gathered, it will now get put together in a draft form by the staff and they’ll bring it to council in a resolution form and there will be a public input session,” Larson explained. “I would encourage GSB to, No. 1, get knowledgeable on it, and then come with their own representatives and also any other students.”

Hughes wants students to realize the importance of local government and how much of an impact it has on ISU students’ life.

“The more local the government is the more if effects you and you don’t realize it, typically,” Hughes said. “I know that all the council members are accessible, by email and their emails are publicly available on the city’s website.”

Hughes and Larson agree that the responsibility of having an informed student body relies on the city council, GSB and the students. Any student who wants to contact any GSB or City Council members can visit each respective organization’s website.