Ok, now that you have what the Marshalltown Mayor and City Council roles are, let’s turn to the city staff and employees. I have been accused of bragging about how good our staff and employees are. To that, I plead guilty as charged.

Most of my working life, I have worked in groups of people, some big and some small. One unwritten rule that I have noticed by observation is that the bigger the group you work in, the more likely you will have a dud. You know, the one that does the absolute minimum, can’t be counted on and just slides by.

This rule just does not apply to our staff and employees. We ask a lot from our people, and they deliver! The first time I was on the City Council in 1997, we had approximately 196 total employees. Today in 2026, we have right at 164 delivering the same services.

All departments must have all the paperwork for an Agenda item to City Clerk Alicia Hunter by noon on Thursday so she can put together the City Agenda for the following Monday night’s Council Meeting.

Each item must contain an overview of the item with how it fits into the City Council’s goals, plus all supporting documents, pictures, blueprints, cost estimates or bids.

All of this information that the Council sees, you can too. Transparency always. If you want to read everything the City Council and Mayor get, it’s easy to do. Google “City of Marshalltown,” once there, on the first page, you will see “Agendas and Meetings.”

Click there, and it will take you to the upcoming meetings. Click on that and scroll to City Council. You will notice that you can see any other meeting’s agendas also. If you want to read the full packet’s information, once on the Agenda you want, click on the “packet” button. Most Council meetings contain anywhere from 400 to 750 pages of information per meeting! I’m not joking.

You can even scroll back on the Agendas to look up old meetings and information. I don’t think most people appreciate the time and information that is provided to Elected Officials and residents for good decisions. Alicia, Carol and the staff do a fantastic job putting it all together every two weeks.

City Council meetings are published at 5:00 p.m. the Thursday prior to the Monday night meetings. I hear people comment that they don’t know what’s going on in town. If you have a computer, a smart phone or get the Times Republican, it’s easy to keep track.

It is also easy to tell on Facebook who actually keeps track of city business and who is shooting from the hip, uninformed. Also, City Council meetings are free to attend or watch live on YouTube.

I had a friend ask me why government is so complicated. I think part of the answer is to provide transparency and many chances for residents to voice their opinion. Yes, it slows things down at times and can seem messy. But, transparency is worth it.

“A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody” — Thomas Paine

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Mike Ladehoff is the mayor of Marshalltown.