She petitioned against a power plant coming to her small Iowa town. Now she has a seat on the city council

FAIRFAX — When Cindy Anderson found out that a power plant was being proposed in her city, she didn’t discover it through a citywide notice, a mailer or an email.

It was noted in a City of Fairfax agenda packet, a document that many residents, regardless of where they live, typically wouldn’t look at.

“Why our small town?” she thought.

Motivated to find out more, Anderson attended the next Fairfax Planning and Zoning meeting where Alliant Energy — the company that proposed the power plant — would be presenting.

Anderson was no stranger to the proceedings at the meeting. She’d held a seat on the Fairfax Planning and Zoning Board several years earlier, and had been on the city’s Board of Adjustment.

But as the city’s conversations about the plant grew, so did Anderson’s concerns.

So, she joined a few other Fairfax residents and Linn County homeowners near the proposed location to petition against allowing heavy industrial sites — like the power plant — from being located within the City of Fairfax.

The group left letters at homes, talked to residents at parks, created a petition and knocked on more than 300 doors in the town of 2,800 residents to help spread the word about the proposed plant.

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“There were so many people I talked to that were appreciative of the communication,” she said. “I talked to one gal, and she said, ‘I've lived here for 12 years and not a single time as a city council person come and knock on my door.’ That's a little disheartening.”

Beyond her fight against the plant, Anderson said she felt a disconnect between the city council and residents.

When the time came to nominate residents to run for Fairfax City Council, Anderson had decided to put her name on the ballot.

Anderson ran for city council three times before this year. When she won her seat this time around, she credited the boots-on-the-ground work she did knocking on doors and engaging with the residents of Fairfax.

She will start her term on Jan. 1. According to City Code, Fairfax pays its city council members $75 for each council meeting they attend.

“It's a little intimidating to just go up to someone and say, ‘Hey, I don't know who you are, but this is me.’ But I think that was important,” she said. “I think that you need to if you're going to be in this position, if you want to be part of a city council, then your first priority is to the residents of the community.”

‘A lot of people had concerns’

What concerned Anderson most about the proposed power plant was the city’s well-being.

“A lot of it has to do with the quality of life,” she said. “And a lot of people had concerns with health effects of it.”

Alliant initially proposed the plant to be built in Fairfax, on land the company owns adjacent to The Eastern Iowa Airport. Some Fairfax residents pushed back against the proposal, voicing concerns about health effects, noise, pollution, odors and aesthetics.

The Eastern Iowa Airport raised concerns over the project due to its proximity to the airport’s runways, saying it could cause flight operation issues, which was backed by a study commissioned by the airport.

In October, Alliant announced it was “deprioritizing” the Fairfax location and seeking other options.

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For the weeks the project was being considered in the City of Fairfax, Anderson, along with many other residents, remained engaged and concerned.

She said Fairfax is divided into four parts, and if the plant had been built at the proposed location, the plant’s stacks would be visible from all four sides of the city.

“From any one of those areas, you look out your window, and you would see those stacks that would disrupt your view of the community,” she said.

‘I will do my homework’

Years ago, Anderson regularly attended Fairfax City Council meetings, but she’d stopped going, choosing to take a break because she didn’t feel the city was listening to her.

Now that she’s sitting on the council herself, Anderson said she will be working to repair the “disconnect” between the city and its residents.

Anderson said that keeping heavy industry out of Fairfax remains one of her top priorities because she wants to keep Fairfax’s small-town charm.

“I know a lot of people have moved here because of the small-town feel, and I know that we are disconnected in a lot of ways because of the highway and getting here and there and trying to get to places,” Anderson said. “But ultimately, I think as a community, we want to stay a small community.”

On the flip side, she also is prioritizing growth in Fairfax, but said it needs to be “smart growth.”

She said this could be as simple as adding a small grocery store to the city. But she said the grown must be sustained.

“A lot of people talk about restaurants, the service industry, small businesses, (but) my concern with all of that is sustaining it as a community. Can you support that? Will you go to that store instead of Walmart? Will you go to that coffee shop instead of Starbucks?” Anderson said. “Smart growth has to benefit your community, keeping it safe, and I don't think heavy industry is that way.”

Whether it is as a city council member or a resident of Fairfax, Anderson said she will ask the hard questions for the benefit of her community.

“I am not a spoon feeder. You are not going to spoon feed me anything,” she said. “I will do my homework, I will look at things and I will question.”

Olivia Cohen covers energy and environment for The Gazette and is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.

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Comments: olivia.cohen@thegazette.com