Housing unites Afton candidates

This is the first of a two-part series discussing the Afton candidate forum.

AFTON - From 20-year incumbents to new faces, all agreed on a common goal; housing in Afton needs to improve.

An agreeable tone presided over Afton’s first candidate forum, which took place Wednesday at the Afton Community Center. Candidates from Afton’s mayoral and city council races, as well as candidates from a contested race for East Union’s school board, discussed their hopes for their community.

The forum was organized in collaboration by the Creston News Advertiser, Afton Star Enterprise and KSIB Radio. A recording of the full candidate forum is available on PantherTV.

Opening statements

During the forum, mayoral and council candidates gave their opening statements and answered questions as a group. Two mayoral candidates, incumbent Michelle Burger and Gary Clear, will be on the ballot.

Three city council candidates (Jeff Burger, Clarissa McCullough and Kristie Nixon) will appear on the ballot (voters will select two).

Clear began his opening statement describing his years of contributions to the city since his arrival in 1985. This included managing the Afton Star and Afton Manor apartments, working as a custodial manager and bus driver for East Union, serving on the city council and other community boards, volunteering as a firefighter and his time as mayor.

Michelle, mayor of Afton since 2006, says she still runs for mayor for the same reason she had run initially two decades ago, to make a change.

“My goals have always been to make Afton a place people are proud to call home and somewhere people feel their voices are heard,” Michelle said.

Michelle cited a few developments she was proud of: introducing the Afton Electric Utility for city growth, building the Afton Community Center (where the forum took place) and building the splash pad in the park square.

Jeff, Michelle’s husband, also joined Afton’s elected officials in 2006 when he was elected to the city council. If elected again, Jeff said he will continue serving the people of Afton.

Newcomer McCullough, whose family has been a regular fixture at East Union, noted her participation in Afton on the city’s rec board and volunteer work with the Union County Fair, Afton Community Club and Afton Lions Club.

Unifying the city of Afton with residents, businesses, community organizations and East Union was a major goal for McCullough, focusing on communication and transparency.

“Afton is a place that has incredible potential, and I hope our small town continues to grow its big heart,” McCullough said. “In order to do so, we need to create opportunities for new families to call Afton their home while also supporting the people who live here that made it what it is today.”

Nixon, running for her second term, in her opening statement thanked those who voted for her in 2021. Returning to Afton to start a family after graduating from East Union, she noted her commitment to remaining in Afton as a sign of dedication, even when her husband works for the Iowa DOT in Ames.

“We could’ve easily picked up from this community and moved, but we’re committed to this community,” Nixon said. “We want all our children to have a small town experience with values, so we stayed and we are committed.”

Housing

When discussing the biggest issue Afton faces, every candidate agreed on the same thing; housing in Afton. Jeff kicked off by saying how he wants to find ways to encourage more businesses and, in turn, encourage families to be successful within the city.

McCullough noted how difficult it was for her to return to Afton after she had married, saying she experienced the city’s housing shortage firsthand. With how interconnected Afton is with East Union, both rely on each other to expand.

“We can’t grow our school district without people being able to move into your community,” McCullough said. “Wanting our graduates that move out to come back, if we don’t have those housing opportunities, we don’t have growth in our community.”

Nixon cited how the Afton Development Corporation has been working to include Afton in a SIRHA rehabilitation project to improve a home in Afton. Personally, Nixon has also explored options with companies to create a rehabilitation program within Afton.

Michelle noted how difficulties with developers has stalled housing development in Afton. A mobile home park close to the Union County Fairgrounds has seen several attempts for development, but progress has not been made. The city has also attempted to purchase empty lots for housing development but has found difficulty in doing so.

Noting the forum’s united stance, Clear said housing is the first item on his list of issues facing Afton.

“This is kind of scary because you have five politicians up here and we all agree on the same thing,” Clear said. “You can hear everyone’s concern on that.”

Maintaining city streets was also an issue Clear wanted to face, with a focus on East Fillmore Street. Clear said the road, which has received maintenance from both the city and Union County due to the high level of traffic from heavy vehicles, will need eventual maintenance.

“Eventually, it’s either going to have to be replaced or have some work done on it,” Clear warned. “That’s something you just have to plan for.”

Nuisance properties

Clear, Nixon and Michelle included nuisance properties as one of the major issues facing Afton. The city council in recent meetings has reviewed and streamlined how they will handle nuisance properties going forward.

Nixon said she’d like to see how the city can support rehabilitation for these nuisance properties. She said most nuisance properties deteriorate due to a lack of resources or property owners being unsure where to begin.

“I think some of those rehabilitation programs or grants would really be beneficial to help our town clean up our nuisance and problem properties in our area,” Nixon said.

The time-consuming nature of handling nuisance properties was lamented by Michelle, who said there were multiple abandoned houses the city were interested in tackling. With further collaboration with the Afton Police Chief, the recent streamlining of procedure will hopefully see more action.

Jeff said he was proud of how far the city had come with handling nuisance properties. Supportive of similar ideas presented during the forum, Jeff wanted to see if there were ways to reach out to property owners to assist them.

“I think most people need guidance,” Jeff said. “Help, maybe some training, maybe there’s something out there that we can get a group together to help get them where we need to go.”

McCullough agreed and said she hoped there were opportunities to instill a “sense of belonging” to property owners, encouraging them to become a part of Afton’s community.

“No matter who you are or where you are, there’s someone who has your back and can help you,” McCullough said. “I think we’re able to do that with the right representation from the city, the right policies to enforce and those right resources being brought to our community.”

City budget

When discussing how the city budget can be used, McCullough spoke against “band-aiding,” or quick fixes to problems that can have long-term effects.

“I think spending a bit more quality time on what those options are that we have, getting the best option, and making sure we’re using that money appropriately is the best way,” McCullough said.

Nixon said the city runs “a pretty tight ship” when it comes to spending the budget and said she’d like to see more spending on infrastructure. While she’d like to see improvements to equipment and sidewalks, Nixon said it would be tough to find an item of the budget to cut.

Michelle cited the city’s continuous effort to research and apply to grants, including a recent investment into a new police vehicle where the city only paid 25% of the cost and the rest funded through grants.

Mentioning the city’s local option 1% sales tax, Michelle said those funds are always reinvested back into the city. These programs have developed into the city’s exterior beautification grant and downtown facade grant.

“We take that one cent and give it to the community because the community does pay that,” Michelle said.

Cemetery board

The final question of the forum revolved around the existence of the city’s cemetery board, which received unanimous support. Greenlawn Cemetery and its upkeep has been maintained through recommendations by a council-appointed board, with the current board president being Clear.

Clear’s experience with the cemetery ranged from his time on the cemetery board to being deeply ingrained to volunteering for upkeep. Giving a history lesson on the local cemetery, Clear outlined a historic precedent for the board.

Greenlawn, which had received a donation of $250,000 for independent upkeep from the Forrest Huss estate in 1977, has been under city purview since those funds ran out. The board, now made up of city-appointed volunteers, was a creation to remain somewhat independent.

“It’s tough, it eventually falls back to the city council.” Clear said. “As a [cemetery] board, we make recommendations to them. There’s never enough money for what we want to do out there.”

McCullough said the separation between the cemetery board and city has allowed for more community representation but also said the city’s elected officials were dedicated to quality upkeep of the city-owned cemetery.

Nixon, who previously served as the council representative for the cemetery board, had said in a 2024 city council meeting she was in favor of dissolving the cemetery board.

This stance was different during the forum, where she was in favor of the board’s existence, comparing it to the independence of the rec board and other city committees.

“You can’t have one person making all the decisions,” Nixon said. “Having representation from the community, it makes it better.”

Michelle reflected on turmoil Greenlawn had seen in 2024 with an open caretaker position and an increase in complaints for Greenlawn’s upkeep. Since then, a contracted mower has been hired and 2025 saw the first year of consistent upkeep since the previous caretaker resigned in 2021.

Having a dedicated board for Greenlawn was important to Michelle, especially due to commitment the board has to consistent upkeep.

“I look to them as ideas that they need,” Michelle said. “I’m not out there every day. I’m not out there once a month. They come in, they have their meeting, they bring it to us and they bring us what they need. They know what needs done, and I respect that.”

Jeff knew how important the board is to Greenlawn’s upkeep with the volunteers the city appoints.

“The cemetery board’s got to stay. All there is to it,” Jeff said.

Afton residents can vote in their local elections Nov. 4. The Afton Methodist Church, located at 111 S Douglas Street, has been designated as the city’s polling location and will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. for voters. Early and absentee voting is also available; those interested should visit www.unioncountyiowa.gov for more information.