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The special election to select a first ward city council representative is near and the candidates are making their final push for votes.
The choices for the position are Raymond Starks and Mike Ladehoff. Both interviewed, along with Shari Cougenhour, to take the spot vacated by Sue Cahill after she was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives.
Starks was appointed by the city council in December and has been serving since Cahill's seat opened at the beginning of the year.
The election will be held on Tuesday. Ballots can be cast at the Marshalltown Public Library, 105 W. Boone St., from 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Only residents of the first ward are eligible to vote in this election.
Raymond Starks
Starks is an attorney with the law firm Moore, McKibben, Goodman and Lorenz. He is also the economic vitality chair of the Marshalltown Central Business District and is a member on the Board of Adjustments.
After serving on the council for more than a month, Starks has been involved in the budget process and voted on significant projects like a housing project on S. Sixth Street and a public street near the new UnityPoint Health south campus.
"It's been very exciting for me seeing the community five or 10 years out and how those choices made as an elected official and as a council member affect that," he said.
Starks said he brings a different perspective to council as someone who did not grow up in Marshalltown. When he moved here he knew he wanted to be involved as a public servant.
"We need to have a voice for people who have not been represented on the council in past years. We need a representation for people who are not from here, just moved here or returned here," he said. "Representation for not just homeowners but people who are renting. I'm somebody who may not be a homeowner yet but is going to be in the future. Somebody who is going to start a life and pay off student debt and start a family in the future. Taking all those things and working hard for each and every person."
Finding development opportunities and helping the first ward repair from the tornado and derecho are two issues Starks sees as most important to address.
"Those are things the council is focusing on now and will be focusing on," he said. "It takes a number of years to recover in a tornado but we didn't just have a tornado."
Mike Ladehoff
Ladehoff is the chairman of the UAW 839 Community Services Committee and was an at-large city council member from 1997-2001.
During his time on the council, Ladehoff worked with and learned from former first ward councilor Bob Schubert. Some of the projects he highlighted from his time on the council were the aquatic center, Westwood Drive, making Main Street a two-way street and extending Southridge Road to the east.
"When I was on the council we were very progressive," Ladehoff said. "I'm an independent person. I think there's room at the table for everyone in Marshalltown. If you think about some of the opportunities we have for downtown -- to have an independent eye on that would absolutely benefit ward one to have a really strong downtown."
Ladehoff believes he is the right candidate to represent the first ward because he is representative of its residents.
"My wife and I have lived here for over 30 years. We chose to live here," he said. "I'm pretty typical of a first ward resident. Blue collar. When you make decisions on taxes or TIF (tax increment funding) districts, I see what the difference is in people's tax rates. What it could have an affect on."
The issue Ladehoff finds most important to the first ward is recuperating the area after the recent natural disasters, a process which he believes will take several years.
"It's going to be a while to get this whole area healed up. Even though we've made amazing progress there's still a long way to go," Ladehoff said.
Looking at the city council, Ladehoff said he would be a good addition because of his experience and ability to work with anybody.
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Contact Joe Fisher at 641-753-6611 or jfisher@timesrepublican.com