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Small Johnson County town doesn’t have a mayor, and no one seems to want the job
Swisher City Council looking to fill mayor vacancy through appointment
Nov. 14, 2024 5:30 am, Updated: Nov. 14, 2024 12:34 pm
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SWISHER — It seems no one wants to be mayor of Swisher, the Johnson County town that’s home to about 900 people.
The position was vacated this week when Mayor Julie Persons resigned after being elected Johnson County Auditor in last week’s General Election.
The Swisher City Council decided to appoint a new mayor instead of holding a special election. But no one has come forward, leaving the city without a mayor for the time being.
Mike Stagg, longtime city council member and mayor pro tem, will take over the mayor’s responsibilities until a new mayor is appointed.
“I don't know how long it's going to be before we get a mayor,” Stagg said this week. “The reason that we decided not to have a special election is because last November nobody was on the ballot for mayor.”
In 2023, Christopher Taylor, who served as mayor of Swisher for 10 years, decided not to run for re-election. The result was a ballot with no candidates for mayor.
At the time, council members told The Gazette they believed the time commitment and differing philosophies on community growth may have been part of the reason no candidates came forward.
Despite there being no candidates listed on the ballot, 104 votes were cast for various write-in candidates.
Council member Daryl Hynek won the mayoral race with 12 votes cast for him, but declined the position so he could remain on city council. He was elected to city council with 188 votes.
After Hynek declined the position, there was a three-way tie for second place, with Taylor, William Wilkins and Chad Velnick all receiving nine write-in votes each.
To break the tie, the county auditor’s office chose a name at random, resulting in Velnick being named mayor. But he, too, declined the position.
The city council then decided to fill the mayoral position by appointment, which resulted in Persons becoming Swisher’s first female mayor in January of this year.
Persons had served as the city’s communications coordinator since 2021. She also ran for a city council seat in the November 2023 election, but was not elected.
Vacancies not uncommon for small town mayoral, council seats
Mickey Shields, director of membership services for the Iowa League of Cities, said he’s seen many towns struggle to find people to run for office, and to get them to stay in office.
Shields said there are plenty of examples of towns were no one submits their name to be on the ballot, or races are uncontested.
“I think it's largely related to their population base. There's just fewer people that are eligible to serve on the council in our smaller cities. It's just a kind of a numbers issue,” Shields said. “That being said, we have seen an increase in the amount of council races where no one runs.”
Information on vacant mayoral and council seats is only tracked at the county level, making it difficult to understand how many small towns across the state deal with vacancies in local government.
In the past 10 years Shields said he’s seen an increase in both uncontested races and vacancies due to resignation or no one running for office.
Swisher’s mayor search continues
Anyone interested in being Swisher’s mayor can put their name forward at city hall to be considered for appointment by the city council. If council doesn’t appoint someone within 60 days of the vacancy, a special election must be held. The next regularly scheduled mayoral election is in November 2025.
The non-voting mayor is paid $1,800 per year, plus an additional $40 for each city council meeting they attend.
Comments: megan.woolard@thegazette.com
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