Editor’s note: Seven candidates are standing for election Nov. 7 to three at-large seats on the Woodward City Council. In order to provide our readers with first-hand knowledge of the candidates, their characters and their ideas, ThePerryNews.com presented them with this short series of questions:
1. Kindly outline for us in brief your educational and professional experience. Where did you attend high school and/or college? What sort of work do you do? In other words, what is your background, generally speaking?
2. What particular qualifications do you feel that you would bring to the job of a city councilor? What qualifications do you believe are generally desirable in a city councilor?
3. What has led you to seek elected office? Have you run for or held elected office before?
4. Are there any particular issues of interest to you or of importance to Woodward that have led you to run for office? More generally, what issues do you feel Woodward faces today that are of greatest importance? What direction would you like to see the council take? What direction, if any, do you feel the council should not have taken that it has taken?
5. What are you most passionate about when it comes to the public life of Woodward? the commercial life of Woodward? the social and cultural life of Woodward? What is your vision for the town? Where would you like to see Woodward be in five years? 10 years?
Candidates were encouraged to answer in their own manners. They were under no constraint to answer all the questions or to follow the order given. ThePerryNews.com did not wish to program their answers in advance but encouraged them to feel free. Five candidates replied to the questions.
ThePerryNews.com offers the candidates’ answers to readers directly and unfiltered.
Mary Bustad, 612 S. Main St. in Woodward, 515-438-2034, maryjohndng@gmail.com
I have lived in Woodward all my life. My family is husband, John, son, Joe, his wife, Ann, and four grandchildren.
I graduated from Woodward-Granger High School. My husband and I have taken various college course throughout my professional career.
I worked as a secretary to the Iowa Senate Research Staff for 14 years. I retired from the Madrid Home as the human resources director in 2014 and now work part-time as the secretary at the United Methodist Church in Woodward.
I have been attending the city council meetings since January of this year. I feel I have a grasp of issues facing the city at this time.
I am running for city council because I want to see Woodward grow and prosper. I previously served on the Woodward City Council. Qualifications to serve would be an interest in Woodward and wanting the best for the city.
An important issue facing the city is the new sewer lagoon. This needs to be done in a fiscally responsible way without undue burden on the taxpayers of Woodward.
Woodward is a great small town. We have an outstanding school and wonderful community involvement in city events. I would like to see the council try to bring new businesses to Main Street (we do have a new restaurant opening soon) and continue to work on the bike trail to Perry.
