Ford not too busy for city

Nancy Ford is busy woman, but not too busy to serve another term on the Iola City Council.
An incumbent, Ford is running for a second term in Ward 1, along with incumbent Scott Stewart.
“I was asked by several people to run for the council,” she said. “Things are going well; I’d like to see things keep going well.”
Ford is public relations director for Allen Community College, and is working online on a master’s degree in management. She moved to Iola nearly 18 years ago when her husband took a job with the Iola Police Department. She said the college PR position is a job that requires her to “wear many hats.”
Her husband, Iola police officer Mike Ford, is working on his master’s degree in criminal justice. Ford has four daughters, Taylor, Madison, McKinley and Reagan.
Taylor lives with her husband, a captain in the Army at Fort Drum, and is having her first baby in June. Madison recently graduated from Pittsburg State University with a degree in psychology and is pursuing her master’s degree in Christian counseling at Ecclesia College. McKinley, recently married, is attending Pittsburg State as well. Ford’s youngest, who celebrated her 18th birthday Thursday, will graduate from Iola High School in May with intentions to go to ACC and then PSU.
“We have a lot going on” Ford said with a laugh.

DESPITE her busy life, Ford said she felt that is was important for her to run for city council.
She said there are several current issues that the council needs to address, and she feels she needs to help. The support of Iola’s employees is one of these issues.
“If we want people to stay with the city for a long time, we need to support them,” Ford said. “They can’t cap out on their salary, which a lot of people do.”
She said the city needs to evaluate how the employees’ benefits and salaries are handled, in order to give them support that is on par with other cities. While they have strides to make, she said the city is already doing a better job of communicating with their employees and cultivating a spirit of trust.
“I think they already feel better,” she said. “They’ve already got that feeling (trust with the council), they are no longer walking on egg shells.”
This communication has bled over to dealings with the county as well, she said, and that talks about the EMS merger are “making a lot of progress.”
However, she said she feels there are problems that need to be addressed within the city — namely, that of the schools.
“That’s a big issue right now, the buildings are old,” Ford said. “They can’t keep up with advances in technology.”
She said the council needs to explore the idea of a single campus for Iola schools. She said this possibility could benefit maintenance, transportation and security of the students.
No matter what decision is made for the city, she believes the council is in a good place to help the people of Iola.
“We need to keep level heads,” she said. “We need to think about the bigger picture, the greater good.”