A wide open race for mayor in Marion

So Mayor Snooks is moving on.

‘I was on the fence for a while,” said Marion Mayor Allen 'Snooks” Bouska, who told me this week that he won't seek a second term in November.

'I'm a businessman and I'm going to be looking for other business opportunities. I was a guy who got off the couch and jumped into the fray. And, fortunately, won the election. Maybe I'm the banner boy for others who can do the same thing,” Bouska said.

When I talked with Bouska a few months back, he played it coy but seemed like a guy leaning against a another run. Then, on Sunday afternoon, my City Council member, Joe Spinks showed up at our front door with his own petition seeking a spot on the mayoral ballot. He's running because Snooks isn't.

Bouska says he's not leaving office because he doesn't like being mayor. He simply wants to bounce to something else. He's a former Navy flier who owned a crop dusting business, worked in marketing for Coors Brewing, jumped to Dairy Queen and is now involved in property management.

Bouska ran and won on a wave of discontent over the city's plans for dramatically remaking Marion's core.

'It's quite an education,” Bouska said. 'I learned a tremendous amount. I think I surprised a lot of people. They probably thought I was going to be a … what do you want to call it?”

A bull in a china shop?

'Well yeah. You know what I mean? One agenda, this and that. No. I think they found out that I'm a pretty good negotiator, I listened. I think I'm fairly levelheaded on everything.”

My own best Bouska memory always will be the March 2014 quasi-judicial hearing where his critics, Citizens for a Better Marion, sought to prove the mayor actually lives in Hiawatha, not at his Marion address. He was tailed by a private eye. His wife was grilled about his sleeping habits. Bouska's attorney, Bill Roemerman called Citizens a fictitious group and demanded that Bouska's side be dubbed 'Citizens for Truth, Justice and the American Way.”

'And you can call me ‘Captain America,' Roemerman said.

It remains the most remarkable meeting I've ever covered.

So now Snooks can snooze where he wants. And we've got a potentially fascinating mayor's race ahead. The filing period for candidates starts Aug. 24 and ends Sept. 17. I hope we get a good crop of candidates and a good debate.

Bouska says he thinks the proposal to build a new, mixed use public library will be a major campaign issue. So far, the plan for its financing has been structured to avoid the need for a public vote, and I've heard from several folks uncomfortable with the way the proposal has evolved behind the scenes.

'I would hope that the people, the citizens, the voters, have a say in what's going on, that it's not taken out of their hands. I'd like to see them decide. Because there's an awful lot of concern out there,” Bouska said.

Over all, Bouska says, Marion is moving in the right direction. he's moving on with no regrets. 'This is an upbeat decision for me. Holy cow, I'm not down on anything,” he said.

l Comments: (319) 398-8452; todd.dorman@thegazette.com