Meet the Mayor with Douglas Moehle

Meet the Mayor with Douglas Moehle Main Photo

1 Apr 2022


Blog, News

Last November, the City of Northwood welcomed Douglas Moehle back for his fifth year as mayor.

Moehle is most looking forward to continuing to help Northwood sustain itself.

“My fear is small-town Iowa is disintegrating, so I’m hoping to help Northwood survive,” said Moehle. “I’m hoping it becomes a nice enough place where people will want to come here and live and work and raise their children.”

Northwood is also working on upgrading and stabilizing its streets, a process that will consume five or six years. The city previously paved roads with tar and rock but has recently converted to layering the streets with asphalt, according to Moehle. He believes this method will last longer.

Moehle strives also to build a better relationship between the city, county and Northwood-Kensett High School, believing the more they communicate, the better they can assist each other. Northwood-Kensett High School is building an activity center, and Moehle hopes the community can also use the center.

Building and repairing relationships is why Moehle decided to run for office the first time. He was unhappy with the relationship between the city and its employees and sought to repair it by joining the election.

Through time, Moehle feels he and the city council has solved the problem through increased communication regarding both parties’ goals and needs.

“Right now, the retention of employees everywhere is so critical, so I felt that we needed to foster a relationship that would try and keep those employees in Northwood,” Moehle said.

The biggest challenge Moehle has faced was replacing two city employees—one who retired and one who left to work for the City of Clear Lake. According to Moehle, it was difficult to find applicants who would choose Northwood to work in long-term.

Moehle expressed that a greater turnover rate could occur when several employees retire in the next few years.

In the meantime, Moehle expresses his appreciation for the city employees and its council, reminding residents that it takes more than just the mayor to accomplish tasks.

“I treat it as a job, and I think that’s what it needs to be,” said Moehle.

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