Newly elected Marion council member gets head start on new job

MARION - While most winners in last Tuesday's election will take office in January, the winner of the Ward 3 City Council seat in Marion will begin his new position this month.

Will Brandt, 40, a real estate agent who edged out former City Council member Kay Lammers by 35 votes Tuesday, will take his seat Nov. 19. The position has been vacant for about three weeks, after Cody Crawford resigned upon moving to Anamosa.

Newly elected Mayor Nick AbouAssaly, now a Ward 4 council member, will begin his new job Jan. 2, along with Kim Etzel, who defeated Dwight Hogan to win a second term.

Brandt will fit right in with the rest of the mostly pro-growth, pro-development council members, who often support City Manager Lon Pluckhahn's initiatives.

Brandt said he wants to maintain growth and improve communication between the council and the public.

His victory, Brandt said, 'means that people like to see the city continue the way it's doing and progressing.”

In The Gazette's candidate survey, Brandt said he wants to diversify the city's tax base by growing and attracting commercial and industrial business.

One of the biggest issues in the city, he said, is the lack of communication between City Council members and the public. To address this, he will meet periodically with the public outside the council chambers.

His background in real estate, Brandt said, is a plus when it comes to overseeing development.

'I don't want to see frivolous spending in new development. We need to be on top of the growth, making sure developers are getting things done correctly, doing them in a fiscally responsible way,” he said. Brandt wants to establish a tax increment financing oversight committee, composed of city employees and residents, to make recommendations to the council about what projects should receive tax breaks.

'There's a lot misconception about it out there,” he said of TIF.

Brandt also has indicated support for a controversial mixed-use library. The Marion Library board of trustees hasn't yet put together a proposal with a price tag, but members have indicated they want to remove the current library and replace it with a mixed-use facility that has retail and residential components.

While Brandt never has held public office, he has served with the Marion Chamber of Commerce, Uptown Marion and the Swamp Fox Festival Steering Committee.

He is a 1993 graduate of Linn-Mar High School. He has a wife and three daughters ages 5, 14 and 16.