Corbett says he needs a bigger gavel than Halloran's

New Mayor Ron Corbett will bring his own gavel to his first regularly scheduled council meeting on Wednesday evening.

“The one Kay has is too small,” the mayor said on Monday, referring to the gavel used by his predecessor, Kay Halloran. “We need a bigger gavel.”

Corbett said he will use the gavel that he used as speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives during a five-year period in the last 1990s.

“It's a pretty big gavel. We have a big job ahead of us,” Corbett said.

The mayor has said he would like to reinstitute a practice in which he and his council colleagues at times respond to the public during the council meetings' public comment period. The last council gave up on that practice.

Corbett said the big gavel will be at the ready for any citizen who gets out of hand.