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The is the final story in a five-part series for the CNA’s year in review.
With new personnel, local elections and major community updates, 2025 saw some big headlines.
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More than 4,000 Iowa National Guard soldiers prepared in Fort Polk, Louisiana, at the Joint Readiness Training Center for 2025’s overseas deployment for 1,800 of them.
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From infantry Second Lieutenant Hank Looney, a 2019 Creston graduate, to vehicle mechanic Specialist Conner Fitzgerald, a 2022 Lenox graduate, a piece of rural Iowa is now stationed in the Middle East.
Two members of the Iowa National Guard would be killed in December during an attack by the Islamic State group in Syria, with three Iowan service members also injured in the attack.
Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown and Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Grimes were slain. The attack marks the first casualty of the Iowa National Guard since 2011.
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More than $180,000 of federal funds were flagged by the state auditor’s office in an investigation into Creston’s Crossroads Behavior Health Services. The report says Crossroads misappropriated funds from state and federal grants and improperly disbursed funds from county opioid funding from Adams and Union counties.
The investigation analyzed internal control and supporting documentation on Crossroads’ finances, including bank ledgers and payrolls, and conducted interviews with their officials. Analyzing two fiscal years from 2022-2024, the investigation sought to find how Crossroads misappropriated state and federal funding.
Crossroads Director Brittany Palmer said the report’s findings were accurate but did not fully represent the situation facing Crossroads at the time. Palmer, who joined Crossroads in November 2021, said the administration at the time of the investigation had large administrative and control issues.
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In early 2025, the Iowa Public Information Board early in 2025 recommended legal action against the Union County Emergency Management commission because of how it held a closed meeting in January 2024 and their later response to the information board.
The public information board requested EMA to complete open meetings and public records training at an open meeting with notice to the public. In addition, EMA will develop an informal checklist for conducting closed meetings and provide it to the information board for approval.
By the end of January, EMA settled with the public information board, acknowledging the closed session and taking action throughout the year to ensure future compliance with open meeting laws.
EMA Coordinator Jo Duckworth has since retired from her leadership position, with a new coordinator, Paul Ver Meer, joining EMA in 2025.
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Programs around the U.S. were on edge waiting to see if their federal funding would be cut after the Trump administration announced a freeze on federal loans and grants Monday, Jan. 27, only for the executive order to be rescinded by the White House two days later.
In Union County, organizations such as the Crest Area Food Pantry and MATURA Head Start would have seen significant issues if federal funding was pulled. Across the county, from the Gibson Memorial Library to the Creston Municipal Airport, projects would have been delayed or canceled had the freeze not been rescinded.
Area personnel
Three police chiefs led Creston in 2025. Police Chief Paul Ver Meer retired in late August, passing the torch to interim Police Chief Jared Auten.
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The official position would land with Cameron Hale, appointed unanimously. Previously serving as an Altoona police officer, Hale has many Creston ties, including a nearby family farm and an Uptown business, Greens N’ Things, owned by his wife and mother-in-law.
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After 26 years of service to the Creston community, Creston Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Ellen Gerharz has stepped down to experience life as a regular Creston resident. Gerharz officially retired on Wednesday, Oct. 15, but spent the previous weeks training the new executive director, Olivia Cheers. Cheers is a Union County local, graduating from East Union High School in 2020. Before working at the Chamber, Cheers was the client services and marketing coordinator for the Union County Development Association.
Local elections
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On Nov. 4, Union County held elections for various city councils and school boards. For Creston City Council, voters selected the incumbents in races with someone running for reelection. Jen Worisek was unopposed in Ward 3 while Jocelyn Blazek was selected for another term in Ward 1. Toby Henry and Jason Cook took the other two contested races, at-large and Ward 5 respectively.
The Creston Community School District school board had three open positions, with incumbent Amanda Mohr being selected, along with newcomers Kathy Thorne Ralston and MaKenzi Vonk. Long-term school board members Sharon Snodgrass and Galen Zumbach left the board after a combined 100 years of service between teaching and board time.
Afton’s race for mayor saw Michelle Burger return to her mayoral seat. Burger has held the seat since 2005. The makeup of Afton’s city council remains unchanged with Jeff Burger and Kristie Nixon returning to their seats.
East Union’s race for District 1 saw Dennis Cheers win by two votes when including votes from outside Union County. Cheers won with 35 votes and will take the spot of Adam Tallmon on the board. Also in East Union, Jamie Buffington won an uncontested race for a District 5 seat.
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Waylon Clayton announced his resignation has Creston mayor mid-September, stating his family and business would be moving to Florida. This set off a wave of community support for a special election, with a small team collecting 345 signatures to force the election.
Three candidates put their name in the mayoral race: Douglas Daggett, Chris Reindl and Josh Tompson. Daggett won the mayoral special election on Dec. 9 with 290 votes, taking 39% of votes. He will serve as mayor until the end of Clayton’s original term, Dec. 31, 2027.
Projects
Work to dredge and improve McKinley Lake started in August 2024, with much of 2025 spent dredging the lake. The original plan called for 250,000 cubic yards of dredging. However, portions of the lake were overdredged after sediment depths proved to be deeper than originally thought. In early November, while 259,000 cubic yards had been dredged, only 155,000 of it was part of the planned removal.
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Creston Parks and Recreation and Creston City Council met with Iowa DNR agents and Charles Ikenberry of Houston Engineering throughout November to discuss changes to the project and ways to find more funding. With extra funding from parks and rec, the Iowa DNR, the High Lakes outdoor Alliance, some waived fees from JNC Construction and the reallocation of funds from later parts of the project, the originally planned dredging should still take place.
Despite these setbacks, the project is still looking at a March 2026 completion date.
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The city of Creston is working to get new homes into the hands of Creston residents with the new Creston Spec. Home Project. Partnering with Homes for Iowa, the city plans to bring prebuilt homes to city-owned empty lots for low- and middle-income families.
In order to purchase a home through this project, a buyer must have a yearly household income below $125,000 and be able to secure a mortgage covering the cost of the project total. Exact cost will depend on buyer-decided options and additions.
400 S. Walnut St. was chosen as the lot for development. Development on the house will continue into 2026.
Court and crime
The jury in a Taylor County murder case found Alan J. Schultz of Bedford guilty of first degree murder March 14. Schultz was convicted of the July 4, 2024, murder of 19-year-old Colby Nelson of Lenox, who was found dead on a Clearfield street.
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Laura M. Vaughn and James R. Castillo of Mount Ayr were taken into custody May 27 after search warrants were executed at four Ringgold County addresses, collectively known as Ramsey Farms, where controlled substances and drug paraphernalia were located.
Vaughn pled guilty to possession and got a suspended sentence with one year probation.
Castillo pled guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking. He will be sentenced Jan. 15.
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In July, Isabel Pettit was sentenced to serve up to 10 years for three charges regarding sexual assault of a child and child endangerment stemming from a child sex assault case from 2024.
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During search warrants served in November in Afton and Creston, more than $10K in stolen property was recovered by law enforcement, resulting in Isaiah J. Lovell of Afton being linked to thefts from city and school properties in Union County.
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No ruling has been made yet following a two-day preliminary injunction hearing between CCSD teacher Melisa Crook and the district, beginning Thursday, Dec. 11.
Crook was placed on administrative leave after a Facebook comment regarding the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
A temporary restraining order was first issued by federal judge Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger in October to stop the school board from holding a termination hearing for Crook. Following the hearing, the order was extended through Jan. 14.