Gaa

Joe Gaa started his city administration career in the small western Iowa community of Woodbine, and after stints in Chariton, Dickinson, N.D and Aberdeen, S.D., he’s happy to be returning to the Hawkeye State to take over the reins in Marshalltown sometime next month.

The city council unanimously approved hiring Gaa at the end of Monday night’s meeting, and the Maryville, Mo. native and Northwest Missouri State graduate spoke to the T-R later in the week about what drew him here, what he hopes to accomplish as the new city administrator and how he plans to get involved in the Marshalltown community.

According to Gaa, he never intended to leave Iowa in the first place, but when he was looking to move up to a community slightly larger than Chariton about five years ago, he wasn’t seeing those opportunities available and ended up jumping to Dickinson, a city of around 25,000 residents about 100 miles west of North Dakota’s capital, Bismarck.

He only ended up spending a year and a half in Dickinson, indicating it “just wasn’t the right fit,” and when he was looking for a change in 2020, he again hoped Iowa might have something for him. It wasn’t to be, however, and he ended up in Aberdeen, which is slightly larger than Marshalltown with an estimated population of 28,324 as of 2021.

“This has been, probably, one of the most satisfying places I’ve ever worked. We’ve done some real big projects we’re working on and getting a lot of things turned around, and (it’s) just a wonderful community, great people,” he said of Aberdeen. “But I’m not getting any younger, and I always thought I wanted to go back to Iowa. When I first left, I thought maybe it’d be about five years, and I think, right now, it’s been four years and nine months or something like that. So we’re really close to that.”

Leading a huge city has never been in Gaa’s plans, so when he saw that it had a similar population to Aberdeen — and, unlike Aberdeen, was located in relatively close proximity to a major metropolitan area like Des Moines — he found himself intrigued.

“It’s back in Iowa. It’s the size of community I want. It’s working on the types of projects — we need to add some housing there and, you know, keeping up on the infrastructure and the types that, it’s what you do in small, rural towns,” he said. “A lot of ties to agriculture and value-based ag opportunities, and it just seemed like a good fit.”

Gaa was working in Chariton when the EF-3 tornado struck Marshalltown on July 19, 2018, and he admitted much of his familiarity with the community was a result of that devastating natural disaster. Nonetheless, when he came here to interview a month or so ago, he was impressed with the recovery efforts five years later.

“I know that’s maybe somewhat hard for some people to hear on the inside because it’s been a devastating recovery and when you’re living in it, it seems like it’s slow. But I love the recovery and the resiliency of the community, and that speaks loudly to me, but then to just continue to grow and evolve,” Gaa said.

As he steps into the job, Gaa will inherit a situation that city council members and Mayor Joel Greer have admitted looks to be challenging, with uncertainty looming since his predecessor, Jessica Kinser resigned in May and longtime Housing and Community Development Director Michelle Spohnheimer departed in June. The incoming administrator noted that compared to Aberdeen, which has about 275 city employees, Marshalltown runs “lean” with around 150.

“That’s what happens whenever you see some key positions open up, and you really scramble to keep up with the day-to-day operations. So I think getting in there and kind of re-establishing some normalcy, getting these positions filled, getting caught up with what’s going on (will be crucial), but then sitting down with the department heads and really (looking at) ‘What are the things that we could be doing more of and better?'” he asked. “I was concerned in the interview process hearing the fire chief and the police chief talk about (how) they just basically run from call to call, so I feel like we need to look at our numbers and see what we can do. It’s all about money, you know, and coming up with, can we do the right thing and serve our folks in a fiscally responsible manner?”

The major reconstructions on State and Main streets are exciting to Gaa because, in his words, “that’s what people see, and that’s where they get their bang for their buck.” He also likes the idea of a franchise fee to be dedicated to street repairs, arguing that the city needs to essentially double its annual investment in roads to keep up on them.

“It’s not just about tearing up one street a year. It’s about ‘How is your overall maintenance?’ Is it total reconstruction? Is it chip and seal? Is it asphalt overlay? It takes a variety of methods to really keep up because not every street needs to be maintained in the same sort of way,” he said.

With a start date of Sept. 18 or before, Gaa is ready to move to Marshalltown and hit the ground running while also taking the chance to get to know community members, service groups, councilors, city staff and business leaders.

“This is a job that you never really shut off. It’s very busy, and when you first go to a new community, it’s even moreso because you’re reading a lot, you’re talking to a lot of people, you’re meeting folks. You’re taking all this information in, and I always say the best thing you can do in your first several months is just watch and listen,” he said. “What are the things we are doing well, where can we improve on and just start making those small adjustments as time goes on, but I love being out at community events and meeting folks. I think that’s really critical.”

One situation that made headlines across South Dakota recently was the abrupt resignation of Aberdeen’s former Water Superintendent, Robert Braun, back in May after he criticized Gaa during the public comment period of a city council meeting. When asked for his thoughts on the matter and how he might handle a similar scenario in Marshalltown, Gaa said none of the accusations leveled against him were based on facts.

“There were several levels of review. Nothing that was said was founded, and so it’s one of those things that you look at and you say ‘Gosh, it sounds like Joe Gaa’s kind of a bad leader and hard to get along with.’ Well, the follow up to that is (that) it was all not true, but you don’t come back out and say that,” he said. “The good thing about it is we’ve brought on some new people, and we’re rebuilding our staff at the water treatment plant. It’s being maintained better than it was previously, and I feel like we’re moving forward and doing a good job. But that’s the hard part with this is you’re dealing with people.”

He said that he felt it was good to discuss the issue and get it out in the open because, in his own words, some of the articles written about it cast him in a negative light, but he didn’t feel that he could react because it’s a personnel matter. The work will begin on day one — realistically, probably before day one — when Gaa arrives next month, but he’s ready to take on the challenge and, hopefully, make a positive impact on Marshalltown during his time here.

“I’m just excited to get there, meet the city staff and meet citizens and just learn about the things that are going on and what we need to continue to focus on and just get to work and be part of the community,” he said.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.