After a spirited quarterly Iowa Commission of Veterans Affairs meeting last week, during which numerous Marshalltown community members made their concerns about Iowa Veterans Home Commandant Matthew Peterson’s resignation known, Commission Chair Elizabeth Ledvina brought them to the attention of the governor’s office.

Peterson was the 11th commandant to serve IVH over the last two decades. Multiple individuals who attended last week’s meeting requested that the commission look further into Peterson’s resignation and the circumstances surrounding it, and Ledvina wasted no time in doing just that.

After the Wednesday meeting, she reached out to Clare Kelly, Gov. Kim Reynolds’ Health Care Policy Advisor who also handles veterans affairs related topics. Ledvina discussed the community’s concerns with Kelly and requested an investigation into IVH upper management.

“That is already in process right now. How far that goes, who knows, unfortunately. It’s up to the government staff,” Ledvina said.

Coupled with the request to dive deeper into management, Ledvina also requested that the governor’s office be more transparent with the commission about topics concerning the facility. While Iowa Code stipulates that the commission oversees IVH, the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs and the Iowa Veterans Cemetery, Ledvina said information from the governor’s office regarding those organizations doesn’t always trickle down to their level.

“We will be looking into the state code to revamp that, to make sure that it’s very clear that the state commission should be informed about all these items that are going on,” Ledvina said.

The audience that attended last week’s meeting was one of the biggest Ledvina has seen, and she’s grateful that those individuals spoke up publicly.

“We have expressed our concerns, and I was very proud of those individuals that did come and speak. And I still get several emails and phone calls, which is very important because we keep tabs of it, and I will be presenting all that information once we can really have an investigation,” Ledvina said.

Currently, the search for a new commandant is in progress, with interviews ongoing. In the past, the commission has had the opportunity to view the resumes of potential commandant candidates and make their recommendation before the appointed individual is approved by the state senate. In recent history, however, this has not been the case.

Ledvina said when Peterson was initially appointed in 2021, the commission did not view his resume or get to meet with him, and the commission has not had the opportunity to view current candidate resumes either. Ledvina hopes the governor’s office will once again share those resumes with the commission and consider their recommendations.

“(The commission) represents all the veterans organizations in the state here. So everybody has been appointed by their organizations to this board, to the state commission, so we know the people, we know our veterans, we know what would suit best for our veterans here,” Ledvina said.

The commission did receive one resume, though not from the governor’s office. Retired Lt. Col. and Doctor Darwin “Pete” Peterson, Matthew Peterson’s father, applied for the position of commandant at IVH and submitted a copy of his resume to the commission. Pete Peterson worked at IVH for 10 months on a temporary basis as a part time medical liaison during his son’s tenure as commandant.

About two weeks after Matthew Peterson resigned, Pete Peterson said he was temporarily furloughed, and he was informed that he would be notified when more work became available. About a week later, Pete Peterson decided to apply for the commandant position.

“When I got there, doing things that were helpful, it made life better for the veterans. It turned out to be a very gratifying experience. Now that I’ve been there, working there for 10 months, and I know the way the institution works, and I understand what has been going on and what could be happening, I see, as being a new commandant, I see an opportunity to do even more than what I’ve done already, on behalf of the veterans,” he said. “That’s the north star that guides my thoughts regarding the responsibilities of the commandant, do what’s best for the veterans.”

Pete Peterson served in the Marine Corps for 10 years before applying for medical school. He paid for his schooling through a Health Profession Scholarship Program with the U.S. Army. He then served in the Army for six weeks during the summers while he attended school and then for four more years after he finished.

After he completed four years in the Army, he then continued his education as a surgeon and continued to serve in the Army to pay for his training. He retired from the military in 2000.

Being a veteran himself and having many veterans in his family gives IVH a special place in Pete Peterson’s heart, and he said the welfare of veterans has always been a large part of his life. Should he be chosen for the position, areas he would focus on include continuing many of the initiatives his son started such as the therapy dog program as well as maintaining a strong relationship between IVH and the community.

“All the programs that (Matthew Peterson) initiated, I want to keep going, because they were all good ideas. I’d also like to maintain and build upon the relationship that he built between the Marshalltown community and the veterans home, because I think that’s important,” he said.

Pete Peterson also had many ideas of his own that he would like to bring to the table given the opportunity, along with some programs he was able to get involved in as a medical liaison during his time at IVH.

A falls management program and a medication de-prescribing program are just a few of his passions. Polypharmacy — taking many medications — can be a problem for elderly individuals. Pete Peterson said it is usually described as taking more than five medications in a day, but he said veterans at IVH often take much more than that.

“This is a problem because there are unpredictable interactions between medications and polypharmacy has been shown to increase fall risk. By reducing the number of medications that a patient or resident takes, it would increase their quality of life and it would reduce their possibility of falls, and it would save a ton of money,” he said.

Pete Peterson has multiple other projects and ideas he would like to see at the veterans home if he is selected, including closer coordination with the University of Iowa and other projects to increase the quality of life for veterans.

He also believes he has a leg up, given that he worked in an upper management capacity at IVH for 10 months and has had the opportunity to get to know residents and staff and build relationships.

Pete Peterson said he interviewed with Chief of Staff Sara Craig Gongol and Chief Operating Officer Taryn Frideres last Wednesday, and he hopes he will have the opportunity to interview with Gov. Reynolds at some point this week.

Ledvina said the commission looked over Pete Peterson’s resume and found it promising, but she couldn’t make an endorsement since they haven’t received any of the other candidates’ resumes.

“We liked (Pete Peterson’s) resume, if we could see all of them. He has a very excellent resume. He could save the state a lot of money if he became the commandant. He could also take over the medical director side and save a lot of money for the state of Iowa,” Ledvina said. “We can’t endorse anybody at this time, but if we could see all of the resumes, that would help us.”

Alex Murphy, the communications director for the governor’s office, could not be immediately reached for comment regarding the search for a new commandant or the reason resumes are not being forwarded to the commission.

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Contact Susanna Meyer at 641-753-6611 or

smeyer@timesrepublican.com.