Two incumbents are seeking re-election to the Johnston City Council in the Nov. 4 election.
James Evans and Rhonda Martin are both running unopposed for another four-year term on the council, which is elected at-large. Voters will cast a vote for each seat.
The Des Moines Register asked Evans and Martin to respond to questions on why they’re running and the issues the city is facing. Their answers may be lightly edited for clarity or length.
James Evans (incumbent)
Age: 61.
Grew up: Johnston.
Education: Bachelor of Landscape Architecture.
Occupation: Director of State Judicial Facilities.
Political experience: Eight years on City Council.
Rhonda Martin (incumbent)
Age: 62.
Grew up: On a farm between Sac City and Newell in northwest Iowa.
Education: Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Iowa State University.
Occupation: Landscape architect for facilities at Iowa State University.
Political experience: Elected in November 2017 and again in 2021 to the Johnston City Council.
Why are you running?
James Evans: I enjoy serving the residents of Johnston. It’s a great community! We have a mayor and council that work well together. We come from different backgrounds and experiences, but try our best to have positive results for our community.
Rhonda Martin: I am running to continue stressing the need to protect and prioritize the wonderful natural areas we have in Johnston. I will continue to emphasize to planners and engineers that protecting existing trees and planting replacement trees should be seen as a required part of a healthy city’s infrastructure. I would like to see the city encourage businesses to incorporate green roofs, bird safe windows, and small wind or solar energy devices into their buildings by providing information and support. I want to help with the vision and planning for a revitalized Merle Hay Road business district that supports existing businesses and encourages more local shopping.
What is the most important issue facing your city and what would you do to address it?
James Evans: Growth is awesome, but it comes with its challenges. We need to provide the level of services to our residents they are use to and balancing the cost for those services without raising taxes.
Rhonda Martin: The Statehouse continues to dictate how cities conduct their business as if one size fits all ― but it doesn’t. The only way to change this is to elect leaders who respect local choices, so Johnston can focus on its priorities. One thing the Statehouse could do for Johnston is to help fix our water issues. That means strengthening, not weakening, oversight of fertilizer runoff so our streams and rivers stay clean ― and so we don’t have to spend hundreds of millions on additional water filtration systems. Cleaner water would make Iowa more attractive for families concerned about safe drinking water and give us all more reasons to enjoy our lakes and rivers.
How would you balance a desire to lower property taxes with a need to provide resources to your city?
James Evans: Working with the other council members and staff, to make sure we are doing our best to provide the services our residents are used to.
Rhonda Martin: There is no quick and easy answer here. Currently bank lenders give the City of Johnston a strong AA+ rating based on our conservative budgeting, interest income gains and above average management practices. However, the City’s growth in taxable valuation is not keeping pace with inflationary impacts on our services and infrastructure maintenance needs. If we don’t want to sacrifice trained staff (which I don’t want to do), then the city needs to attract new businesses, so we can grow and expand our property tax base. Perhaps there are additional franchise fees that could be added to offset all the non-taxable property (think non-profits, churches and Camp Dodge) in Johnston.
Nick El Hajj is a reporter at the Register. He can be reached at nelhajj@gannett.com. Follow him on X at @nick_el_hajj.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Meet the two candidates running for Johnston City Council
Reporting by Nick El Hajj, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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