T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Marshalltown businessman Lonnie Hogeland Sr., the owner of L Hogeland Auto Plaza at 1408 E. Main St., told the T-R last week that he’s strongly considering a run for city council this November and is deciding between pursuing the 1st Ward or at-large seat. The filing period begins on Aug. 25 and runs through Sept. 18.

Although the official filing period doesn’t begin for another month, well-known Marshalltown businessman Lonnie Hogeland Sr., who owns and operates L. Hogeland Auto Plaza on East Main Street and lives in an apartment on the property, is already preparing to throw his hat in the ring for the upcoming city council election this November — with the caveat that he could run for one of two different available seats.

Hogeland, a lifelong Marshalltown resident, frequently attends council meetings and purchased the former BPW Park at 407 E. Marion St. from the city last year and converted it to “Hogie’s Playground,” which is privately owned but still open to the public. He said he’s been overwhelmed by the positive feedback surrounding the park, and during a recent interview with the T-R, he described himself as “a certified optimist” who does his best to see the good in bad situations.

“I believe Marshalltown is good, but Marshalltown is terrible. The first step to fixing a problem is (to) admit it’s bad. A lot of the people, they won’t admit it’s bad. I think every one of the city council people and the mayor and the city administrator and the city clerk, they’re all smart people, and the mayor can’t make the votes. But as a group, sometimes I just think they don’t make good decisions. I don’t understand it,” he said. “So many of the things are too late. You know, I don’t think we needed that big of a fancy of a fire station and police station. It’s a terrible location. Why did we put it there? We didn’t need a big fancy library a long time ago there. It’s a weird location. Everything and everything is location, location, location.”

Another source of frustration for Hogeland is the rapid deterioration of the former downtown hospital, and cleaning it up would be a top priority if he is elected.

“Someone else owns it, so you can’t do nothing with it. But we want to work with him. But if that guy’s a bad guy — I don’t know what’s going on because I don’t know a lot about a lot of things, but I know that hospital looks terrible,” he said. “The city needs to say ‘Hey buddy, we’re coming in and we’re gonna at least clean it up and we’re gonna send you a bill for cleaning it up. Get over it. We’re gonna patch the windows shut. We’re not gonna have broken windows on it. We’re not gonna have wire on top of the McFarland Clinic.'”

As he weighs his options, he said he will likely either run for the 1st Ward council seat, which will be vacant as current Councilor Mike Ladehoff has already announced his intention to run for mayor, or an at-large seat — Hogeland added, however, that he’s also been approached about running for mayor as incumbent Joel Greer has indicated that he will not seek a third term. The 2025 election will include mayor, 1st Ward, 3rd Ward (currently held by Greg Nichols) and two at-large seats (currently held by Barry Kell and Jeff Schneider).

Hogeland has also been unabashed in his support for the ideas and policies of President Donald Trump, a stance he said will either “make people mad or make people like me.”

“My motto, my theme is Make Marshalltown Great Again. Get over it, that’s what I want to do,” he said.

He did add that if another candidate throws their name in the ring who he feels could do a better job than himself, he may still change his mind. To run for council, a candidate must complete an affidavit and a nomination petition with at least 75 valid signatures.

Citing his extensive business background running the auto plaza known for its signature smiley faces and the relationships he’s built with customers over the years (it was founded by his father Lyle in 1948), Hogeland believes that experience would serve him well in city politics with a focus on being responsive to constituents.

“Someone said ‘If you want something done, ask a busy person,’ and I am busy. I work all the time. I’m a workaholic. I don’t care. I don’t want to relax. Somebody said ‘What do you do for fun?’ I don’t really do much. I work. I enjoy eating, (but) I’m down 38 pounds,” he said. “Marshalltown’s good. Look at what the school has done and what the school’s doing too, also. We need to have people, if they live in Marshalltown, they need to go to school in Marshalltown… You have no pride if you go to some other community. I guess it’d be different if you were in a different community and then you moved here or something, job change, then that’d be a right to do it. But open enrollment says you can go wherever you want.”

Touching on another frequent topic of discussion in the community, Hogeland advocated for re-grinding and overlaying the city’s blacktop roads as opposed to “spraying tar and sprinkling gravel over it.” On the other hand, he praised the approach on the reconstruction of State, Center and Main streets downtown as “doing it right” and going the extra mile to ensure long-term sustainability with a local contractor, Con-Struct.

The overarching themes of his campaign, he concluded, are cutting red tape, cleaning up the community and restoring Marshalltown’s “curb appeal.”

“I’m very, very close to doing it. So much of my ideas are like Trump. If I do it, I’m gonna do it to win, and I’m gonna win if I do it because I’ll ask everyone what they want done and I’ll try and fix what they want done. But I can’t do anything. I’m just one person. I can try and be a mediator,” he said. “I literally would like to get the mayor, Mr. Joel Greer, and Mark Eaton to shake hands and say they like each other. We’re all in it for the same goal, and those two, I think they actually technically hate each other. I don’t want to use the word hate, but it’s terrible. I think they both have a good goal of helping Marshalltown, but you’ve gotta find common ground and figure it out.”

Hogeland doesn’t believe in the idea of a “cabal” in Marshalltown but felt that “things look a little fishy once in a while.” He also touted MARSHALLTOWN Co. as a local success story worth celebrating, especially in light of their plans for expansion.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.