Opening Post

Well, I'm not the Mayor yet, I was sworn in on the 4th of December, but I do not begin until January 2. But I will start this effort towards open communication now.

I went to the City Council meeting tonite. Not much on the agenda, it took all of 12 minutes. Mayor Juhl has just finished up his 2nd term. Though the public in attendance for this meeting was all of 3 people, Sam stated his thanks to the citizens of Roland for the opportunity to serve as Mayor.

Sure was a different scene than his first meeting as Mayor. There were a couple TV cameras there, and a large crowd in the gallery. I was on the city council then, and I had a camera guy standing just over my shoulder to record the proceedings, as Roland's 18 year old mayor took over. Four years later, it was just a regular ol' council meeting, just like 100s of other small towns across Iowa.

I'd like to mention another Mayor too. Just wanted to note the passing of Ken Peterson, the Mayor of our neighboring town Story City. I didn't know him real well, but I knew him enough to know that I wanted to talk to him to get some pointers about being the Mayor of Roland. But unfortunately I didn't get the chance to do so. He was a good guy, and Story City will miss him.