Should Joel Wicoff be re-elected to the Iola City Council, many of the issues facing the city, such as balancing budgets, setting utility costs and dealing with changes in the ambulance program, may look quite familiar.
“A lot of the issues we faced before, we’re still facing now,” Wicoff said. “These issues are always going to be there.”
He should know.
Wicoff previously served two years as a councilman, then 4 ½ more as mayor.
Now, voters in Iola’s Second Ward, which encompasses the northeast quadrant of town, will choose between Wicoff and incumbent Ron Ballard in the Nov. 2 General Election. (Advanced voting already has begun.)
Wicoff was elected to the Council in 2011, when it was first formed after Iolans voted to do away with the old three-member city commission in favor of a larger governing body.
In 2013, Wicoff was voted in as mayor, serving there for four years.
But between his duties at Deep Creek Engineering, and a house filled with active youngsters involved in sports, 4-H and myriad other activities, he figured it was time to step back.
But with three of his four children now in college or beyond, “I’ve got a little more time,” Wicoff said. “And I know quite a bit about it, about how the city works, how the government works. I know it takes a lot of people to volunteer their time to do it.”
Serving on the Council boils down to two primary tasks, he notes: running the city and taking care of the constituency.
“Those are very vague statements,” he amidst, “But there’s a lot of parts to them.”
Take, for example, the city’s utilities.
It’s imperative to keep an efficient, well-run utility service, Wicoff noted.
“Our power is a huge resource,” he said. “Think about storms. If there’s a storm, and we lose power, it’s almost always right back on in a very short time.”
Same thing goes for water breaks. “Four hours later, and it’s’ back on,” Wicoff noted. “These are great things for our community.
