My mother told me when I was a child to never take credit for matters which others brought to fruition. “Self praise stinks,” she stated, and it is certainly a rule I praise among Iowans.

Marshalltown is proud of the new Apgar Family Water Plaza which evolved like a pearl from a splash pad to a major municipal project far eclipsing the tragic events, the drowning in 2012 of four children of immigrants in the city river.

Success has many fathers and failure none but Leigh Bauder has wrapped that epigram around herself to have it both ways. In public comment on at least two recent occasions at the livestreamed Marshalltown City Council Meeting, Ms Bauder claimed credit for the water plaza because it was an outgrowth of her original Splash for Life. Her claims were repeated on KCCI news using her public comments footage.

Bauder raised approximately sixteen thousand dollars from donors which was useless without major fundraising. For over a year the Splash for Life project was dormant until then Mayor Joel Greer formed a committee led by then Mayor Pro Tem Mike Ladehoff. Ladehoff appointed Bauder to what became the water plaza committee. Marshalltown qualified for a two million dollar grant which included three projects including the water plaza. The backing and involvement of the Apgar family in 2024 further ensured the realization of the water plaza in perilous financial times.

Bauder, it should be remembered, opposed the grant years ago because it diminished her involvement and was removed from the project. By that time, the Splash for Life was far removed from her conception of focusing solely on the four children to a dedication plaque to all children who drowned in bodies of water with the agreement of families involved. The more ambitious water plaza served more families.

But what happened to the sixteen thousand she raised? Did the grant mean the project used the grant without her money? Did Bauder sign over the sixteen thousand to the city, return it to the original donors,spend it or is it still in her possession? Since Bauder has a conjugal connection to a city council member and a gray eminence connection to another, it is now a question of public trust since she herself has put the spotlight on herself.