Daggett elected mayor

Almost three months after Waylon Clayton’s sudden resignation as mayor, the Creston community has elected a new person to finish his term.

Douglas Daggett won the mayoral special election with 290 votes, taking 39% of votes. Candidates Chris Reindl and Josh Thompson lost with 243 and 202 votes, respectively.

Daggett will begin serving as mayor soon, with his swearing in scheduled for the next Creston City Council meeting Tuesday, Dec. 16 at 6 p.m. Daggett will serve as mayor until Dec. 31, 2027.

A Creston lawyer and native to Southwest Iowa, Daggett said during the candidate forum that Creston was the place to be when he was a child living on a farm in Lenox.

“It was special to me when I was a kid in ‘70s. It is pretty amazing,” Daggett said. “We’ve got this community college and the professors that are here; we’ve got Greater Regional Health and all of the clinics that they put together. It’s a very high-level hospital for rural Iowa.”

Daggett said it was his goal to bring Creston back to the special place it was.

“I’m running for mayor because I want to see this government run efficiently and effectively, provide the city services that we all expect a city to provide: police, fire, cemetery, airport, public works, streets, sewer, finance, nine departments all working together, all headed in the same direction,” Daggett said. “ [I want to] find a way to cooperate with civic organizations, business organizations, other government entities to try to find a way to grow Creston, try to make it that special place that I remember when I was a kid.

Daggett said he was excited to be open and responsive with the public, offering up a new phone number he got specifically for the mayor position.

“This cell phone is just for this campaign and if I’m elected mayor, it will be for when I’m mayor for you to get ahold of me,” Daggett said. “641-344-1969, if any of you have any comments if I don’t catch up with you tonight, call me. I have a day job, but I’ll be checking my messages and definitely try to get back to you.”

The road to Daggett’s election was not straightforward, with the community initially uncertain on how the next mayor would be selected. The city council voted Sept. 23 to elect the next mayor via council appointment, largely due to the cost a special election would bring to the city, estimated to be about $12,500.

However, community members quickly worked together to campaign for a special election. In order to force a special election, a petition with at least 182 signatures was needed. In just a few days, 345 signatures were collected and the petition was turned in to city hall Oct. 13.