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.
Craig DeHoet, 706 Maple Ave. in Woodward, 515-720-6679, craigdehoet@gmail.com
HS Graduate 1985. Attended Woodward-Granger schools. I have worked for Martin Bros. Distributing for the last 14 years as a sales and marketing consultant. I assist foodservice operators in developing food service programs, reviewing and consulting on their current operations to help them become more profitable, and develop food service programs for placement in convenience stores, grocery stores, colleges and other locations.
I have been in a leadership role for most of my adult life in some form. My experience as a chief union steward, executive board member, project manager and division manager have helped me learn how to listen and lead others. I believe the best councilors are the people that simply have a desire to improve their community in any way they can. Many of us serve in other capacities in other community improvement groups and committees beyond our role on city council.
I became a Woodward City Councilperson because I wanted to help improve and serve the community I love. I wish to continue the work I have done and finish the projects I have started. I have served two consecutive terms as City Councilman (2010 – Current). I have served as president of the Woodward Economic Development Association since 2011. I served as Personnel Committee chair for four years and Streets and Sewer Committee chair for two years. I am currently the Woodward Mayor Pro Tem. I am the project manager/chair for the High Trestle Trail/Raccoon River Valley Trail Connector for the City of Woodward section. I applied and received a REAP Grant for $75,000 towards this project.
My top priorities serving our community are:
Economic Development: Continued residential and business growth is vital to our ability to provide services to our community. The Ironwood Development will increase our residential tax base by almost 10 percent. The Eco Business Park Development has the potential to add jobs close to home and could increase our tax base enormously, while allowing residents to work close to home and spend more time with their families. We need to continue to promote residential and business growth in our community. This is how we provide more revenue for the city to continue to make improvements and maintain our services for Woodward.
Community Improvement: I will continue to work on adding amenities and improvements in our community related to our recreational opportunities, improving our parks and community areas. I will advocate for our community in the effort to connect the High Trestle Trail and Raccoon River Valley Trail. I will continue to seek and apply for grants and programs that will provide funding and support for community improvements.
City Services: I will continue to search for ways to improve and fund our existing city services like our library, police department, public works and the Woodward Social Center. I will strive to improve the communication between our elected council and the community in an effort to better inform our citizens of the things we are doing to maintain and improve our community. I will search for opportunities to provide affordable solutions for our water/sewer needs to reduce the cost of municipal services to our community.
Economic development is my passion. If we can provide jobs close to home, then families spend more time together, parents have to spend less money on commuting. This will also increase the need for more residential development. Business and residential growth are the keys to providing revenue for the city to continually improve and provide better services and to reduce property taxes and utility rates.
There are some in our community that believe we (the current city council) have been spending too much money and that the city needs to be more conservative on spending. I would respond to that by saying that we have had a balanced budget every year since I have been on council. The current council has taken great strides to make improvements to our city infrastructure, and we are in the best shape we have ever been in. We have built a new water plant that will service us for many years and has the capacity to take us up to 2,500 residents, provide water for other entities if needed and can be expanded if needed. The number one complaint the council has always heard from citizens is the condition of our city streets. We were able to pave our streets. If we are to make improvements in our community, we must make the investments to do that. We continue to see the growth from the Des Moines metro coming our way. We must plan and prepare for the future growth Woodward will realize.
