Nich Lohman understood just how much Iola residents cared about their town by how hard several worked to recruit him here.
At the time, Lohman was working as a pharmacist in Lenexa where one of his responsibilities was to supply intravenous products for chronically ill patients. One day, Lohman casually remarked to a patient of Dr. Glen Singer, a longtime Iola physician who is now retired, “Oh, I might have to move near you.” It was mostly a joke.
The next day, Singer arrived at Lohman’s Kansas City office, “which was not easy to do,” said Lohman. It was a drab office building in the middle of an industrial park. The interest flattered Lohman, but it didn’t end there. Iola Pharmacy’s Jeff Dieker and Jim Bauer stopped by. Then Singer organized a meeting at his home in Iola.
“They really recruited us hard,” recalls Lohman.
The full-court press worked, but Lohman’s time in Iola didn’t begin well. He and his wife at the time moved to Iola a day before the historic 2007 flood that devastated the town.
An ominous start, but Lohman stresses he’s here to stay. And now he’s running for reelection to his seat on Iola City Council’s Ward 3. He faces challenger Myra Gleason, owner of Wild Bloom Coffee. The election is Tuesday, Nov. 4.
LOHMAN arrived on the Council in 2021 after defeating incumbent Gene Myrick. He sees public service as an essential part of life in a small town.
“I think being involved in your community is important. If you want to improve things, you should work towards that,” Lohman says. “And it is work. There’s a lot that goes into it.”
He approaches his role on the Council as an opportunity to learn how a city operates. “The Iola city government is big,” Lohman said. “It provides more services than most cities.” Lohman notes it takes a long time for council members to get a full understanding of what’s at stake.
“I remember the first couple of meetings — oh my God,” Lohman says with a smile. “Highway 54: Here’s a crash course in road building. Electrical distribution: have to understand that, too.”
Lohman says it’s important for him to trust city administration. “You can’t know enough to make good decisions. You need someone to tell you what’s involved,” he says. “For example, take the financing of the Highway 54 rebuild. I’ve never sold bonds. Have you? They educate us on how this works.”
Sure, Lohman says, the ultimate decision belongs to the Council. But it’s important for Lohman to have good advice.
“If you look at the debt load for other cities in the region, we’re doing pretty well,” said Lohman. “We’re lucky to have our current city administrator, Matt Rehder. He’s taken steps to shore things up. In the past, it was crisis to crisis. And now we have rainy day funds set up, which you know you’ll need at some point.”
LOHMAN sees plenty of issues for the next Council to address.
Rebuilding the highway through town is a must. “It’s a major thoroughfare through town,” he says. “We need it in good shape.”
He hears the concerns of small business owners who will be affected by the extended construction, but Lohman compares it to a trip to the dentist. “At some point, even though you don’t want to, you have to do it. The longer you delay, the worse it’s going to be.”
