Just two days after his appointment was announced, new Marshall County Supervisor Christian Goodman was officially sworn into the seat his father, the late Kevin Goodman, previously held until his death by Judge Ashley Sparks during a ceremony at the courthouse on Wednesday morning.

With his wife Cassidy by his side and his left hand on a copy of the Bible, Goodman was sworn in about 20 minutes before his first meeting as a supervisor and quickly got to work shortly thereafter.

“We finally got this chair refilled, so we’re glad to have you, Christian, here joining us, and thank you for participating in the process and to the appointment committee for the eight interviews they did. Christian, we know that you’re gonna do a great job, and we’re glad to have you here,” Board Chairman Jarret Heil said.

Goodman shared a few words of his own, thanking the appointment committee and his friends and family who supported him in pursuing the seat.

“I’m honored to be here as well, and I’m genuinely excited to learn about this position and to meet the department heads. There’s gonna be a lot of work up front here for me, and I understand that I don’t come in here knowing everything. I’m willing to learn and to listen, and I come with an open mind. I just ask for a little bit of patience as I kind of come up to speed on some things, and I understand that I’m gonna take this seriously. It’s a big responsibility and I understand that,” he said. “The last thing is I just want to thank the community as a whole for the kindness and support that everybody’s shown my family since my father’s passing, and it’s meant more to us than I can express in words. We’re blessed to have such a wonderful community here, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to be sitting here.”

Fellow Supervisor Carol Hibbs said the appointment was “rigorous” and that Goodman “rose to the top.”

“If I’m gonna do something, I’m not gonna do it halfway,” Goodman said.

From there, the supervisors moved into their regular agenda with the addition of a discussion item regarding worker’s compensation insurance and comments from Shomo-Madsen Insurance President Bobby Shomo regarding a previous conversation on the topic. Marshalltown Mayor Mike Ladehoff then stepped forward to the podium to discuss opportunities for collaboration between the city and county on the upcoming EMS project after a report from Iowa EMS Consultants was presented to both governing bodies and accepted at their meetings two weeks ago.

“I know, in the past, that everybody’s kind of had their own kingdom, alright, but we don’t anymore, even though I’m standing in a building that looks like a castle,” he said. “But I don’t think what people realize is how much we lean on each other for different things, and that’s what the taxpayers should expect. Everyone should expect that.”

He welcomed Marshall County Public Health Director Sydney Grewell to the podium and presented her a certificate “in recognition of her exemplary leadership and commitment to public health during the Legionella outbreak of 2025.”

“Her professionalism and collaborative spirit were instrumental in safeguarding the public health of our community and upholding the public trust,” he said. “You have no idea how much we appreciate you and your work. She was finding the towers. She probably did as many TV interviews as you wanted to do, which nobody likes to do, and somewhat as a one-person band taking care of it. You not only did your job. You did it well.”

Grewell commented that the Legionella outbreak, which resulted in a total of 74 cases and two deaths over a period of about a month, was “hard on everybody,” and the effort to contain it spoke to the spirit of collaboration between the city and county.

“We not only want to move forward from it, but we’ve educated other entities and other counties across the state as well as federal partners about how we move forward and how they can look to their own Legionella response. There’s already been other counties and communities that have practiced in preparation for it. So I look forward to the opportunity to educate other people as well as, you know, hope that they never have to experience something like this,” she said. “It’s a pleasure to have grown up here in Marshalltown and to continue to serve Marshalltown and Marshall County.”

Ladehoff congratulated Goodman on his appointment and jokingly offered to leave him a card to complain about Heil and Hibbs if he so wished.

“I can’t do anything about it, but I’ll listen,” the mayor said.

According to Ladehoff, plans are taking shape for a joint city council/board of supervisors meeting likely to be held in late March. Shomo was up next and echoed congratulations for Goodman on his appointment, noting that his father would be very proud.

Shomo told the board that he hoped his previous comments alongside Iowa Municipalities Workers’ Compensation Association Safety and Risk Improvement Manager Dean Schade were not interpreted as critical of the county for its safety efforts despite an increase in claims last year.

“I want to make sure the public and everyone else understands (that) we’re still better than average. Our modification factor will be a 0.99 on renewal, so all Dean was trying to do was get in the front of a negative swing and make sure that we were addressing that in a positive way,” Shomo said. “The comments degenerated a bit into multiple claim formats, which is why I got involved in the question and answer session, and I don’t know that I did a lot to help.”

He intended to highlight historical struggles Marshall County has faced with such claims, and he also noted that many of the “multiple claim” employees work in more dangerous departments such as the Sheriff’s Office and secondary roads. The conversation about multiple claims placed “undue stress” on department heads, Shomo said, and he wanted to take an opportunity to defend them and commend their efforts.

“The safety committee’s doing a really good job, and again, special kudos to Nan (Benson) and Cass (Gerstandt). They’re doing an exceptional job,” he said.

During the public comment period at the end of the meeting, Harold Lanning of rural Marshalltown offered Goodman condolences on the loss of his father and “congratulations or condolences” on his appointment to the seat before he questioned the new supervisor about his availability in the new position based on a comment he had shared with the T-R about his other business ventures.

Goodman replied that he has flexibility with his other jobs and plans to establish office hours to allow constituents to engage with him, and Lanning pointed out that serving on the board is more of a “part time full time job” because of all of the additional work and boards and commissions a supervisor is involved with on a day-to-day basis.

“My other jobs are part-time full-time jobs too. So they all work together, but this is the priority,” Goodman said.

Hibbs added that serving as a supervisor is “a 24/7 role” because they’re never really off duty, but it is more flexible with modern modes of communications. County Attorney Jordan Gaffney, a member of the appointment committee, then spoke a bit more about the selection process and said all eight of the candidates who were interviewed brought something “unique and special” to the table.

“The selection process was extremely competitive, and it was a tough choice for me having one of three votes on the committee and a tough choice for our committee. But we were unanimous in our decision, and Christian, you earned this appointment,” he said. “With Christian having taken on this role, we will continue having a voice for agriculture in our community, and I think that’s important leadership in the county. We’ll have another well-rounded individual sitting in one of these three seats on the board. You’re a business operator, you’ve been a volunteer firefighter, and you gave really thoughtful answers on the questionnaire we asked every candidate to complete and very thoughtful answers in your interview… Christian has my trust to be a leader in our community, and I’m confident that everybody in the county will see in you what I see in you.”

Benson, the auditor/recorder who also served on the appointment committee, felt they ended up with a “very good” option and that with his relative youth, the 34-year-old Goodman will bring “endless energy” to the position. County Engineer Paul Geilenfeldt wondered if Goodman would serve as the department liaison for Secondary Roads, and Hibbs told him that after his comments on the discussions regarding bridge projects, Goodman felt like a natural fit.

Goodman plans to run as a Republican in the June primary, and, if he wins the nomination, seek election to serve out the remainder of his father’s term, which runs until Dec. 31, 2028, in the November general election.

In other business, the board:

• Approved engineering agreements with Calhoun-Burns and Associates for Bridges P-07 and P-08 over Lutes Creek west of Ferguson.

• Approved rezoning request claim #2026-ZON-6033.

• Approved a 28E agreement with the city of Marshalltown for sharing Cellebrite and Axiom equipment to aid in accessing cell phone information during criminal investigations.

• Approved the preliminary and final plats of the Chiroptera Subdivision south of Albion.

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Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.