Home Page | Rotary Club of Fort Dodge

Kerrie Kuiper

Jul 21, 2025

What Visit Fort Dodge has coming up in the future

2025-07-14 Dave Flattery for Mayor

Campaign for Mayor: Dave Flattery

Mayor Matt Bemrich does not plan to run for Mayor again, and City Council Member Dave Flattery announced his candidacy. He shared the following with the club.

How did his involvement with the City Council start? Terry Lutz called Dave and asked if he would run for City Council. Dave initially declined, saying he’d try to help find someone. Dave ended up calling back to say he’d run for City Council, since his vision and Terry’s vision for the city were in alignment. Dave has been on the City Council ever since.

What has happened since joining the City Council? When he first joined, there was a great deal of the city’s infrastructure deteriorating. At first it was solely funded through the Road Use Tax, which was not enough. It is now funded through additional mechanisms such as the local option sales tax. Dave identified issues that have arisen since being on the council, such as basements flooding in the Rolling Hills area of town, raw sewage coming into basements on the south side, and flooding on the north side. Flattery named some of the projects and improvements that have been done during his time on the council:

Street improvements like the 32^nd street roundabout, 5^th Ave S corridor project, Wraywood Drive improvements, bridge construction on Kenyon Road, creation of the crosstown connector,
Implementation of the City Manager form of city government, and the hiring of David Fierke (who has been in that position since that time!)
Formation of the 2030 Vision Plan, which we’re still using today
Housing developments on William's bend and District 29
Upgrades/renovations to the airport, the water treatment plant, City Hall, ball fields at the Harlan Rogers Sports Complex,
Modernizing the garbage collection process, allowing just one person to do the route
New/retained businesses to the area such as Cargill, CJ Bioamerica, Argenta, Buffalo Wild Wings, the downtown Fareway, Aspen Dental, Pet Supply Plus, Terriyaki Madness, Ulta, and more

Dave also mentioned the City’s financial position. It is stable and has a strong bond rating.

Why is Dave running for mayor? Dave cited his 18 years of experience on the council, leadership skills, commitment to positive change, vision rooted in the future, and willingness to take on big projects as reasons for running. Dave also said he plans to retire from banking after 40 years, and he will have time to devote to the City’s needs.

What are issues to be addressed, as Dave sees them? Some of them are:

The homeless loitering, the squatters causing fires in abandoned buildings
The need to attract more residents to Fort Dodge, instead of people commuting from other communities
The downtown area needs to be improved, taking it on an incremental basis
And finally, a strong City Council that shares the vision for the future!

At this time, there are no opposing candidates for the mayoral office.

Picture of Rotarian in “The Messenger”

Rotarian Casey Johnson was pictured in “The Messenger” as he presented a recognition plaque to Terry Moehnke for his efforts to lead a team to create/maintain Veterans Park. The award was given during the annual “Cruise into the Woods” car show that was based at Fort Dodge Ford Toyota.

2025-07-07 Josh Porter

Superintendent's Updates from Josh Porter

Fort Dodge graduate and Superintendent Josh Porter spoke to the club today about the district’s progress and touched on the upcoming bond referendum.

District News:

Josh is the longest-running Superintendent over the last eight years
There will be a bond referendum to address needs at FD Senior High, which will not increase taxes
Special efforts have gone to increasing literacy to grade level and above. The past literacy curriculum was in place for eight years, and it has been replaced by one with more rigor. Low expectations do no one favors! Roughly speaking, one of every two students is not proficient in reading. Literacy is a gateway to success.
Josh’s next goal will be getting more students to pass Algebra 1 as a 9^th grader, after literacy.
Multi-Tiered Support Systems, or MTSS, is now in place to address all the proficiency levels where kids are at.
The mission statement and vision statements have been changed.
The Stadium project is nearly done, and those who have seen it have many positive comments! Additional changes to come include finishing a sidewalk, and moving the shotput and discus areas outside the stadium and off current baseball fields.

Bond Referendum:

Josh plans to come again in Oct, with CFO Brandon Hansel, to talk about referendum.
The high school is the district’s oldest building.
The weight room has no heating or cooling presently, so the equipment rusts and needs more frequent replacement.
The pool is 56-57 years old, and will need to be replaced in three years. The pool is used for swimming, which students from FDSH and St. Edmond being on the Fort Dodge team and competing against other high schools. Iowa Central also uses it, and losing it would be a loss to the community.
There is no place for the fine arts department to construct a stage for productions.
Heating, air conditioning, and ventilation systems throughout the building need replacement.
Modernizing the career and technical education areas can help provide a more job-like experience in trade-oriented classes