Meet the Candidates: Elkader City Council

A combined city/school election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 2, giving voters in the city of Elkader an opportunity to select representatives to the city council. Six individuals are running for three open seats: Eric Grau, Tony Hauber, Daryl Koehn, Willis Patenaude, Bryton Rentschler and Deborah Schmidt. The candidates recently shared their thoughts on key issues with Times-Register editor Audrey Posten.

 

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Eric Grau

Eric Grau is married to a wonderful and accomplished wife, Carol, and they have two great kids, Zach and Jasmine. He is the son of Robert and Ruth, and brother to Scott, Denise and Chris. Eric got his master’s degree in statistics from Iowa State and a PhD from North Carolina State. He works as a sampling statistician from home for a firm in Princeton, N.J., called Mathematica.

 

Why are you running for city council?

I grew up here. I’ve always loved this community, and when the opportunity arose to come back to town, I jumped at it. I care about this community and want to do what I can to help it thrive

 

What three issues are most important to you? Why?

Elkader has lost 28 percent of its population since 1980. Among towns over 1,000 in Iowa, only Sac City (due to a factory closure) and Hamburg (due to Missouri River flooding) have lost a larger percentage. For many, Elkader’s remoteness and small size are a disadvantage. However, that is also an advantage. We need to find a way to strike a balance where Elkader is able to sustain the services and businesses required to make it convenient for its residents, while also maintaining its small size. While it would be nice to regain that 28 percent back, it’s probably unrealistic, and there is no magic bullet. Nevertheless, we need to focus on ways to make living in the town as attractive as possible and find creative ways to increase its tax base. As part of this, we need to market, to a broad swath of people, our advantages, including the thriving arts community, the beautiful opera house and its performances, the river and its scenic setting, the energy of its business community and our unique sister-city relationship.

 

We need to assess what people see when they drive by town on Highway 13. For many, they will never enter the town, so the view from Highway 13 is the only view they will ever have of Elkader. What message are we sending to those people? We need to pay more attention to “the view from the highway.” For example, the tennis courts that are readily visible from the highway are an embarrassment. Are there other ways we can improve the view from the highway? 

 

We need to put energy and resources into both of our city parks, not just Founders Park.

 

We must work with business owners in town to ensure they are well supported, and encourage, as much as possible, partnership and cooperation between the business community and the school district. 

 

We must use whatever tools we can to discourage absentee ownership—that is houses and buildings that remain vacant, and in deteriorating condition, with no effort to change that state of affairs.

 

How would you attract investments, businesses and families to the community? How do you get businesses and families that are already here to stay?

There are grants and low-interest loans available from state and federal sources—we must do whatever we can to ensure local businesses take advantage of those grants and loans. 

If businesses are struggling, we need to know about it and figure out ways to help support them. Perhaps a periodic business health survey to assess the temperature of business in town.

Water bills in town are higher than just about anywhere else. I know our hands are somewhat tied on this matter, but there must be a way to address this issue to decrease the burden on homes and businesses.

 

How would you secure a balanced budget? Is there a specific area where you would like to see spending increased or decreased?

I don’t think there is a lot of flexibility in the budget, and I’m not fully cognizant of Elkader’s fiscal health. However, I do think we have to be very careful about paying for “external experts” to help us deal with various issues. I also think it is important to do everything possible to expand the tax base, diversify our income stream and seize opportunities for grants.

 

What is your long-term vision for Elkader?

I would like to see a community with healthy businesses that work in partnership with each other, and that are sustainable over the long term, with enough growth to help sustain those businesses, while maintaining its small-town character.

 

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Tony Hauber

Tony Hauber was born in Elkader and spent the first five years of life here before moving to the country between Elkader and Monona. His family moved back to Elkader when he was a sophomore in high school. After getting his bachelor’s degree in computer science from Iowa State University, Tony moved to San Francisco with the goal of trying to understand the rapidly growing space of technology startups. He worked for nearly a decade at several different startups, all of which had vastly different exits, from sputtering out to being acquired by Google. Burnt out by the culture brought on by unicorn-seeking venture capital, and the ever growing cost of living, he and his wife moved back to Elkader four and a half years ago to continue their entrepreneurial dreams. Currently, Tony works remotely as the first developer at a San Francisco stealth startup, and also runs a game studio that develops and manufactures old school arcade games (DeathBall). Additionally, he is a software engineering contractor that builds anything from apps and websites to ethereum smart contracts, but the job Tony is most proud of is becoming a father, a journey on which he embarked just four months ago.

 

Why are you running for city council?

I believe it is all of our duty to step in and dedicate some hours to making sure this town continues to run, and to represent the citizens. Democracy is one of the best technologies man has invented, but it only works if all of us are willing to be civically engaged. I also want to bring more transparency and access to the role. In my short tenure, I have been holding public office hours and using social media to engage citizens about the goings on of Elkader. I’ve also formed a task force to help build public consensus around an issue that can be divisive. The more citizens know about what is going on and engage with the process, the better it will be for our town.

 

What three issues are most important to you? Why?

Increasing volunteerism and civic engagement. Volunteering, in my mind, does three things: It improves the services we offer by supplementing our efforts with additional labor and mindshare, it expands the culture of community support and it grows the sense of pride in this community among the individuals who participate.

 

Expanding entrepreneurial resources. One way to impact the economic and employment landscape in the next decade is to support the people who are trying to start businesses today. Those home grown companies are much more likely to be in Elkader for the long run, hire local people and grow the tax base of the city.

 

Getting the city cash reserves to somewhere around 15 percent of our yearly expenses ($450,000). It adds to the financial health and prepares us to be more flexible in our response to extraordinary events. It also builds a base on which we can start to take on bigger investments for the city’s future. 

 

How would you attract investments, businesses and families to the community? How do you get businesses and families that are already here to stay?

This is a holistic problem. There is no one aspect that is going to win us businesses or families moving here. We need to provide a broad picture that highlights our infrastructure, our culture, our landscape and our resources. So we need to repair our infrastructure, expand our culture, protect our landscape and grow our resources. I will always focus on trying to attract businesses here, but competing with the law of averages can be very hit or miss, and doing these four things is something that will always grow our average.

 

How would you secure a balanced budget? Is there a specific area where you would like to see spending increased or decreased?

There are three investments I think we could make to start to expand our budget surplus. We need to get as much of our city-owned properties to run off solar power as possible. Marquette just finished a set of solar projects that is projected to save them a million dollars over 25 years! There is no reason Elkader can’t begin to make these kinds of investments as well. We need to expand city limits. There are a number of housing and businesses that are unquestionably part of the city, but cannot participate in elections and representation and do not contribute to the tax base. We also need to look at long term projects where the town can produce energy via renewable sources (hydro electric, solar and potentially wind) and distribute this energy to the citizens in a way that saves money and generates profits for the city. If you look at Guttenberg’s municipal electric program, it made $350,000 in profit for the city in 2018 alone.

 

What is your long-term vision for Elkader?

I’ll break my long-term vision into five years and 25 years. In my five-year plan, we need to stabilize our economy. This requires us to start drawing more money into our economy than we leak out of it. We can do this traditionally by boosting tourism and untraditionally by incubating modern businesses that use internet technology to extend the reach of our economy.

 

We already have an excellent base when it comes to tourism, but to get to the next level as a tourist destination, we need to become more than a day trip town. We need to become a weekend town. To achieve this, we need to secure more lodging and have more Sunday shopping options. 

 

We also have a great base when it comes to modern businesses. We’ve had startups here, like Sensr, that built products that were used by NASA and the Burj Khalifa, or Mobile Track Solutions, which is modernizing earth moving. These types of businesses sell to other economies and distribute the money back into this economy. We can build more of these, but we need to form a collective effort to attract, fund and support these ideas so they can get through the challenging stages of the startup journey.

 

My 25-year vision moves past reacting to the current problems we face and more toward investing in the future health of the region. Investing in community energy projects like community solar, creating a city college or working with the county to bring a community college to the area, developing the areas around Elkader so we can expand the city limits as well as installing pedestrian bridges to connect more areas of the city together, and growing our entrepreneurial efforts we develop from the five-year plan.

 

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Daryl Koehn

Incumbent council member Daryl Koehn is a retired lineman for Alliant Energy and helps Moyna when needed. He has a son who lives in a Elkader and a daughter living in Monona.

 

Why are you running for city council?

When I first moved to town, I wanted to participate, so I ran for council. I wanted to make changes and upgrade the infrastructure. We’ve done some really good things, including dealing with flood issues, and the next thing we need to work on is the budget: making every cent count. The majority of people in Elkader are on a fixed income, so we need to do all we can to get a bang for our bucks.

 

What three issues are most important to you? Why?

Budget - I’ve seen some fiscal irresponsibility, and we need to look at things—the debt limit is getting up there. We also need to talk to our legislators about having a safety not on engineering. The amount for engineering on our bridge project has gone from $280,000/$300,000 to $645,000, and we also just had a problem on Carter Street. But the engineers say it’s never their problem.

 

Infrastructure is also a big issue and so is housing. Wherever you go here, you run into a hill. We have an industrial park, but it’s privately owned, and we don’t seem to have much input on attracting businesses.

 

How would you attract investments, businesses and families to the community? How do you get businesses and families that are already here to stay?

A group that helps is the opera house. They’ve done phenomenal things and bring a lot of people to town. We also need to land a little factory, 70 to 80 people, but if we have jobs, there’s no place for people stay. We’re in the midst now of doing a survey for a hotel, which will be a big help to attract people to town.

 

How would you secure a balanced budget? Is there a specific area where you would like to see spending increased or decreased?

We have a fantastic city administrator who keeps a close eye on our finances. We also have a revamped police force, with good officers and a chief who do a fantastic job, and some good young guys at the street department. I don’t see cutting the budget, but we can’t give as high wage increases to them each year like some departments, like the library, whose costs are a fixed amount. That’s unfair.

 

What is your long-term vision for Elkader? 

There are always ongoing issues, such as infrastructure. I’m hoping we can look to the state to see if there’s help through some infrastructure bills. I also hope we can keep our school going. We’re a little town trying to compete in a big arena. Things are constantly changing, and we don’t always know what’s coming. But we have fantastic department heads and an administrator who makes the job of being on the council a lot easier.

 

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Willis Patenaude

Willis Patenaude is an Iowa State University graduate with a master’s degree in political science, and is currently the reporter for the Times-Register newspaper. He has two sons, Brady (7) and Bennett (16 months), and his wife Alison is the high school English teacher at Central. 

 

Why are you running for city council?

I am running because I believe change is needed in terms of ideas, perspective, fairness and accountability. While there is nothing inherently wrong with the current council, there is room for change, especially in regard to some members’ continued lack of participation with the media and the insular “good ‘ole boy” atmosphere that surrounds it, which was evidenced during the recent special election when the people council selected to vote on for the open seat were selected not based on merit, but on council members knowing them. This is antithetical to good democracy and has an elitist element to it. Additionally, new perspectives provide alternative, often times valuable, insight, and while I have had my rural roots questioned being from New York, this is often due to a geographical misunderstanding. My father was a dairy farmer until I was 14 and my mother was a waitress before they turned to being over-the-road truck drivers, after the farm my father worked on went out of business. So, while I bring an outsider’s view on old and new topics, they are also rooted in the rural pathology. 

 

What three issues are most important to you? Why?

Number one is demographic equality and what I mean by that is treating individuals like they’re just as important as business owners, which I don’t believe is currently the case. I have witnessed council make decisions against spending money, which would’ve eventually helped low income residents weatherize their homes, but decide to give money to a business owner to help fix the sidewalk on their property. Far too many decisions are made with only the business owner’s perspective taken into account and I want to change that. Everyone is important, not just the people with money. 

 

Number two is voting for and promoting initiatives the community is actually asking for, like improved sidewalks, better alleys and streets and a pedestrian bridge. Council can give $3,500 to a business to fix their sidewalk but the rest are in disrepair and don’t really promote the idyllic tourist town, especially not for the handicapped or elderly. As for the pedestrian bridge, council has spent millions on recent projects, but can’t seem to find the money for something residents have overwhelmingly been seeking for years, which would only increase tourism and access to downtown, which should seem vital to any small town. And as someone from a small, tourist town, I understand the need to attract visitors. 

 

Finally, improved cell reception and city wide Wi-Fi. It’s difficult to imagine a tourist town where the cell reception is so sporadic, especially in 2021 when social media is so prevalent and posting in the moment, rather than hours or days later, is so vital. Overall, this would improve the experience of not just tourists, but residents as well. My son enjoys playing Pokémon GO, which is nearly impossible downtown unless you’re standing in the right spot at exactly the right time, so why bother going downtown and walking around when you can’t do something you enjoy? This would also modernize the city in a way that doesn’t interfere with the rural character.  

 

How would you attract investments, businesses and families to the community? How do you get businesses and families that are already here to stay?

First, you need to have businesses that actually hire people beyond part-time high school students or even businesses that require hiring people in general. This is not always the case downtown, and as someone who moved here, I can attest to the difficulty in finding a job or being forced to take a job you’re simply overqualified for because that’s all there is. While certain sectors and companies provide jobs, such as MTS and Moyna, those jobs don’t appeal to everyone looking to move to a small, rural area. As for getting people to stay, the simple answer is: “listen to them.” When the people respond to polls and surveys and they are asking for certain things, why aren’t they getting them? Or, when they openly express dissatisfaction with a possible vote, such as with Carter Street, don’t dismiss them. No one wants to stay where they aren’t respected or valued. Furthermore, this town needs more events and attractions, which spur tourism and economic activity. Quite honestly, I was surprised when I learned there is no Winter Fest event or Octoberfest, or anything outside of Art in the Park and Sweet Corn Days, which, while they’re great, more could be done. I would also suggest a business community that is more open to street closures, cross promotion and encouraging other businesses to hold events.  

 

How would you secure a balanced budget? Is there a specific area where you would like to see spending increased or decreased?

This could’ve been achieved if previous councils didn’t put off projects until it was absolutely necessary to do them, which is how the city is currently funding both Carter Street and the bridge project at the same time, while purchasing several new vehicles for the fire department and police department. There needs to be a more forward-thinking approach to protect against over-extending the city and making it economically vulnerable. I also don’t think raising property taxes is a great way to cover the gap because, in general, high property taxes don’t make people want to come or stay. One area I would think about cutting spending is just stop spending money in a wasteful manner, such as on hotel feasibility studies and a third police car. While those amounts seem small, every thousand dollars begins to add up. 

 

What is your long-term vision for Elkader?

My long-term vision for Elkader is for it to continue to exist beyond our lifetimes. It’s no secret the city population has declined and school enrollment is trending in that direction as well. Despite the good intentions of council and others, nothing is changing, and as long as people continue to vote for the same people with the same last names like they always have, nothing ever will. You can’t just rest on your laurels and assume everything will work itself out because you’re still here. Being from a small, rural town in upstate New York, I’ve seen what happens when nothing changes. A slow and steady decline and, right now, based on the numbers, that’s what’s happening. So, on Election Day, you can vote for the same people that got you into this situation, or you can vote for someone who wants to help get you out of it. Elkader deserves to survive, and I will do what is necessary to ensure it does.

 

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Bryton Rentschler

Bryton Rentschler graduated from Central Community School and has lived in the area his whole life. He is the owner of Elkader Pizzeria. He has worked there since 2011, when it was JNJ Pizza, learned the business over the years and grew to love it, then bought Elkader Pizzeria in 2018. “I love the community we live in,” he said. 

 

Why are you running for city council?

I am running for city council to bring in new perspectives and ideas. It is important to me to look out for the best interests of the residents of this great community. I also want to bring in a business minded side. As a business owner, I have gained experience and knowledge and want to implement that to grow the city financially.

 

What three issues are most important to you? Why?

Fiscal responsibility, alleviate future financial burdens on the citizens and promote a welcoming atmosphere to people and businesses. 

 

How would you attract investments, businesses and families to the community? How do you get businesses and families that are already here to stay?

Invite potential businesses and people to local events. Provide tours of how past and present investments are working in this community. Show families the school and everything it has to offer. Ensure the amenities of the community are well advertised/reported on local websites and promotional material. Have a liaison working with all existing businesses and building owners to have a needs list and an opportunity list of potential sale, rental, share space, etc. 

 

How would you secure a balanced budget? Is there a specific area where you would like to see spending increased or decreased?

Have a perspective of “return on investment.” Focus the spending on infrastructure and not “donate” to causes. Monitor needs of workforce and time used by existing work flow. Utilize experience from community members in areas that need problem solving or planning.

 

What is your long-term vision for Elkader? 

I would like to make sure the city continues to grow in population, talent and opportunities. Elkader has a strong and inviting Main Street that many towns don't experience, which keeps tourism strong and brings people back.

 

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Deborah Schmidt

Deborah Schmidt is a wife, mother and stepmother of eight, grandmother of 12 and great-grandmother to one. She has been in the retail and restaurant business for 36 years, and owned, supervised or operated a chain of stores in Kansas, Illinois, Nebraska and Missouri. Deborah is the owner of Once Was/Twisted Alley in Elkader and co-owner and developer of 17 Lot subdivision in Missouri, as well as the two-time regional award winner for financial services in Missouri. She is the board secretary of the Elkader Chamber of Commerce, member of the Clayton County Tourism group, founding member/president of Elkader’s merchants group and volunteers at various Elkader/Clayton County civic, business and social groups, in addition to being the Missouri founding president of the Optimist Club, officer of the chamber of commerce and various civic committees and a zoning board commission in Kansas.

 

Why are you running for city council?

I love Elkader and moved here from a Kansas City suburb 10 years ago. We were welcomed with open arms. Folks love to hear our story of how and why we moved to Elkader. I want to help grow our community while still maintaining this friendliness and warmth which attracted my husband and I in the first place. Living, working and volunteering in both large and small communities has given me experiences I think can be used to help us grow and develop Elkader. We have several opportunities ahead of us and I want to be a part of making our community an even better place to visit or live.

 

What three issues are most important to you? Why?

Housing, both rentals and owned - Companies and workers relocate or expand into communities that can provide a place to live. We have been critiqued by companies and governmental officials for not having housing available, including rentals. Housing brings in more residents and not only provides more places to live, but will raise the value of existing houses. We are working as a community group to secure funding for our area. With my past experience as a subdivision developer, I have the knowledge and plan to continue to be very involved in this issue.

 

Street maintenance/internet accessibility - Many of our streets and alleys are distressed and many folks complain to me about it. There is no doubt several streets need work, but in order to do it, we must put together a long-term plan to start making them better overall. It’s not going to be solved over night, but we must move forward and pay for it as we go by using not only local funds but also grants and state and federal funds. Since Covid, there is available infrastructure funding I feel Elkader needs to pursue. Some of this money is earmarked for improved broadband internet accessibility, which will help our community move forward in the future. Funding in smaller communities is probably the single most area rural Iowa needs more help with, and we are no exception. We need to find and use this funding.

 

Hotel and tourism dollars - We recently saw a prime example where our community didn’t get all the benefits from a local event we could have gotten. John Moyna did a fantastic job putting together his 75th celebration and I praise him and his organization for doing an outstanding job. It was an awesome event just like his museum is. Most of the attendees had to stay outside Elkader, especially in Prairie du Chien and Decorah. A friend of ours in Prairie said their restaurants, shops and pubs were packed at night because many of the attendees returned there after an exciting day, cleaned up or rested and then went out to dinner, shopping or pubbing. If more could have stayed here, they could have visited our restaurants, shops or pubs in the evenings, spending those dollars here and adding to our tax base. Tourism is important to Elkader businesses and earns tax dollars for our community. We need to capitalize on our visitors to make our community even better. We are fortunate to have several retail stores and restaurants along with associated businesses that tourism helps provide. A hotel properly funded will only help our community. Our responsibility is to figure out how to do it. By listening to each other and working together, we can get this done.

 

How would you attract investments, businesses, and families to the community? How do you get businesses and families that are already here to stay?

I am active in the Clayton County Development Group to bring housing into our city. Meetings have been held with state and county officials and I’m working with developers and investors. This is an area I have personal experience, since I developed a subdivision in Kansas City, Mo. I was involved in both the construction and financial aspects. Companies and employees relocate to be in communities that have places for people to either rent, buy and work. It’s a simple fact, but probably the one most important factor for businesses and their employees. We have an excellent school and ideal community to raise children and need to capitalize on this advantage. Currently, we cannot satisfy the housing requirement. Using grants and state and federal programs, hopefully we can improve our situation. The best way to keep residents, and especially young people, is to have available jobs, housing and improved high speed internet for them. I see in my store several young people every week who have moved away say they would love to raise their family in Elkader, where they were raised, if a job they are trained for was available here or close by, for them to support their family. Likewise, many visitors would love to relocate here because they fall in love with our northeast Iowa beauty and charmed town. We did.

 

How would you secure a balanced budget? Is there a specific area you would like to see spending increased or decreased?

By making sure every cent we spend is used to maximize its benefit. Fiscal responsibility is more than just controlling spending. Our past leaders for the last 175 years focused on making every dollar count and that is one reason Elkader is doing as well as it does. As city representatives, we need to watch not only where we spend our money, but ensure the contractors working for us fulfill their obligations just like we fulfill our obligations. Follow up on projects is just as important as starting new projects. It is important to work with our partners in Clayton County. We need to use their expertise in areas we aren’t the experts. This requires us all to work together and listen to each other in finding solutions. We are all in it together to bring people to northeast Iowa. Doing so will save us money as well as increase cooperation between communities.

 

What is your long-term goal for Elkader?

My long-term goal is to make Elkader a better community for all our residents and visitors. We have several unique opportunities coming the next few years, and I believe I can help us work our way through them. We are blessed to live here and running for city council is my way of paying back to this community I love. We have a bright future here and, by working together, we can certainly achieve it.