Shrinking countyseats in rural communities

ELKADER - Robert Garms admits to being “a little taken aback” when the first data from the 2010 census was released last week.

“We were a little surprised, a little taken aback, that the decrease was that much,” said Garms, Elkader's mayor.

Last year's decennial count showed Elkader lost 192 people over the decade. The Clayton County seat's 13 percent loss was the largest among Iowa's 99 county seats and evidence that the presence of county government can't insulate communities from larger trends.

Sixty county-seat towns showed a population loss in 2010, 13 of them for the second consecutive decade. Elkader, population 1,273, is one of those. It's also one of 48 county seats with fewer than 5,000 people.

“I would suspect a lot of the county seats would mirror what's gone on in the region,” said Jeff Schott, associate director of the University of Iowa's Institute of Public Affairs.

Clayton County's 2.9 percent drop, to 18,129, was typical in Iowa's northeast corner, where only Dubuque County gained.

Smaller towns must work harder at drawing new residents to counter long-term demographics, Garms said.

“If you just look at population trends, school districts are getting smaller, (because) families are getting smaller,” he said.

Waverly, north of Waterloo and Cedar Falls, gained 906 - about 10 percent - and accounted for most of Bremer County's growth for the decade.

“We saw some good housing growth, and our business and industry stayed pretty healthy,” said City Administrator Richard Crayne.

As always, there's location.

“There's a commuter population, but the highway kind of goes both ways,” said Crayne. “We also have folks from Cedar Falls and Waterloo who work in our business and industry here, but certainly that four-lane highway is a good thing for Waverly.”

Bill Peterson, executive director of the Iowa State Association of Counties, said population loss is especially apparent in the state's western counties but is felt acutely everywhere as distance from metropolitan areas increases.

“They're wondering what's the future for them,” he said. “They probably wonder if there's some rock-bottom population number they're going to get to.”

Last decade's numbers reflect trends in agriculture running more than the past half-century, Peterson noted.

“There's fewer people out there in the agricultural community, although frankly, the productivity of agriculture is booming,” he said. “How big are these farms going to get; how much land is going to be combined?”

Small manufacturing “has probably suffered just because of the economy the last few years, but in general, it's probably suffered the last couple of decades,” Peterson said.

“Retail (jobs), those are going to be to the scale of the population,” Peterson said.

County government in smaller towns “is a stabilizing factor, especially if the government is one of the main employment sources,” said Schott.

County government is a big part of Elkader's economy, Garms said, although the Clayton County seat also boasts a Caterpillar plant, where about 75 people assemble earth-moving equipment.

A locally owned company, Mobile Track Solutions, is gearing up to produce related construction equipment.

“Those jobs are attracting people,” Garms said. “We're seeing a lot of young people come back to the community.”

Many are moving into a pair of housing developments just outside city limits, Garms said.

June 2008's flooding claimed 28 homes, and Garms said many of those former residents are now living around, not in, Elkader.

“It's not like people are moving away from the area,” he said. “They're maybe geographically shifting,” but still working and shopping in Elkader.

“If you look at our sales tax (collections), we're one of the best in the state per-capita,” he said. “You will not find one empty store on Main Street.”