An avid jogger and exercise enthusiast, Mayor Matt Mohrfeld has found the perfect way to combine mayoral outreach with physical fitness. Most Saturday mornings he walks through city projects.

“If I leave my house, it makes for a pretty good walk, and then, I know this is going to come as a big surprise, if I stop and talk to people along the way, it gobbles up almost four hours,” he told the Daily Democrat.

Mohrfeld is seeking re-election for a second mayoral term against challenger Rodney Hoskins II in the Nov. 2 city/school election. Unlike the four-year council terms, the mayoral post is up for grabs every two years.

“There are good things going on in town, I like being part of it, and want to be part of it for a bit longer,” Mohrfeld said when asked why he was seeking a second term.

Prior to being mayor, Mohrfeld represented the third ward on the council when he was appointed in 2018 to complete the term of Travis Seidel who resigned.

In FM, Mayor doesn’t have a vote

In Fort Madison, according to local policy, the mayor is not a voting member of the city council. In other communities, such as Burlington, the mayor is a voting member, or, in some other cities, the mayor is allowed to vote only to break a tie.

“We have an odd situation here. The mayor is expected to have all the responsibility, but he has zero authority. The best thing you can compare the mayor to is a coach. He trains the team, he leads the team, he sets the plays, if you made that metaphor for the agenda.”

But that is not necessarily true, Mohrfeld says, when it comes to representing the community at state and federal meetings.

“They actually give respect to the mayor’s position. So it is important that you are the face of the town when we’re trying to push certain initiatives.”

And a mayor must also be able to wear many hats.

“I can go from fielding calls from my friends and neighbors about a nuisance that can be as simple as weeds and chickens – those are both real examples, just not this week, – to sitting in Zoom calls with FEMA, Homeland Security, Amtrak, or be helping to mitigate easements for the highway.”

He said the ability to participate in so may federal and state meetings via Zoom has increased in the last two years, largely because of the pandemic.

“I’m video equipped at all of my locations, at home, at my business, so I can drop in from anywhere.”

Mohrfeld says he has a “pool of priorities” and that riverfront development is at the top of his list, which includes the marina improvement plan, the Avenue H/Highway 61 reconstruction, and finishing the depot, which he hopes will open as the local Amtrak station on Dec. 10. In fact, he told the city council earlier this week that he plans to take a train from Galesburg to Fort Madison on that day.

But his to-do list doesn’t stop there.

Other priorities

“Dilapidated structures and community pride is a priority. That is one I want to get better at – engaging the abilities, the assets, the talents of the council to help wit those.”

Internal priorities include consolidating public works with parks and water distribution into one facility. He said that while constructing a public works facility is being combined with building a new fire station, he does not see the two physically occupying the same facility.

“Fire stations need to be centrally located, and should be visible. People should be able to drive by and be proud of their fire station. With public works, there’s equipment, mulch and stuff – probably things we don’t want along the highway.

“I also want to continue to be diligent about energy efficiency, I mean, who in this day and age doesn’t say that, but still, it needs to be said out loud.”

Marina project met with ‘no’ many times

But it is the marina – planning it, designing, and raising funds for it, that occupies much of the mayor’s time these days, and he is quick to credit the marina task force that meets weekly with its progress. He says its members “are ruthless” when if comes to keeping each other on task and seeing that each one is accomplishing their assignments on time.

But he says getting the project off the ground has, at times, been an uphill battle.

“If you had asked me three months ago, honestly, I would have said it wasn’t going to happen. Between FEMA, Homeland Security and the Corps of Engineers, I’ve been told no more times than a 16-year-old boy on prom night.”

That changed when Mohrfeld recently learned from the Corps of Engineers that changing the footprint of the new jetty expansion to less than 2 acres would make all the difference. (It was 2.1 acres.)

“I said ‘ours will be 1.95 by 2 o’clock this afternoon.’ Three weeks later we had a permit,” he said. “We have buy in by city hall, buy in by citizens, and on the state level. People like this project. They want to see towns like ours do major improvements.”

City Streets

As far as the condition of city streets, Mohrfeld said the city is having to play catch-up after not doing much with them for several years. However, the city now has allocated funds to repair 20 blocks and two bridges.

“I think we need to keep that level up and as long as we keep moving forward aggressively, I think we’ll be in a good place,” he said. “I know road construction is inconvenient. Like my father used to say, ‘everybody wants to go to heaven, nobody wants to die,’ well, everyone wants new roads, nobody wants road construction.”

Have Brick Streets Where It makes sense

Like all the other city candidates, Mohrfeld was asked about historic preservation efforts, and the local commission’s recent discussion about bringing a proposed ordinance to the city council that, if approved, would protect designated brick streets.

“Fort Madison is deep in history and its river is who we are, but we can’t kid ourselves. Avenue F has to be a travel-thru fairway. There are some streets that I like the brick on. I think it’s a matter of using common sense and using it where it can really enhance our history.”

Library Levy presents an opportunity

A few months ago, Mohrfeld asked the library board to consider a 27-cent levy, which is allowed under Iowa Code, to pay for its capital improvements and maintenance. The board opted to postpone consideration of the levy because the library was still trying to resume normal operations after its shutdown during the peak of the pandemic.

“My fear is, as you allocate (city) funds for a library, for its budget, it’s hard to carve out a savings account and they have long-term expenses because they have a pretty good sized footprint to maintain and a library needs to be good. That 27 cents would be a great opportunity to safeguard dollars to go directly into a maintenance fund.”

He said he would also like to see the library look into installing solar energy – something he would like to see other city departments pursue.

Mohrfeld is the longtime owner and operator of Matt’s Greenhouse. He and his wife Beth have been married 21 years and have a grown son, Jacob, who lives in Fort Madison and is now attending Southeastern Community College.

Mohrfeld is no stranger to public office or local politics. He served as a Lee County Supervisor from 1995 to 2003; has served on several tourism, conservation and extension commissions; and is a former president of the Fort Madison Chamber of Commerce. He was on the Board of Supervisors when it created the Lee County Economic Development Group.