March 29, 2024

Baxter City Council Candidates

Name: Daniel Kunkel

Please introduce yourself and explain why you are running for city council. Daniel Kunkel, lifelong resident of Baxter. Raised 2 daughters, Alex and Elizabeth with my wife, Colette.

Besides Baxter City Council, I have been involved in numerous Baxter and Jasper County organizations and boards such as, BEDCO, Baxter Early Learning Center, Newton Housing Development Corp, Iowa Landlord Assoc. to name a few.

I have been a city councilman for 2 ½ terms and would like to continue moving forward with city improvements and seeing several current projects to fruition.

What issue are you most concerned about for the city? Obviously, I want to continue to see Baxter grow and move in a positive direction but, if I have top to pick one issue for this interview, I would choose the city’s emergency services such as EMT, police, and fire.

Where would you like to see the city grow in the coming years? Baxter is a growing community and there is currently a high demand for housing in all forms.

What’s the best quality of Baxter? What can the city improve on? Baxter’s best quality is it’s residents. So many residents are involved with the community and want to help do what is best for Baxter. All of these residents, government entities and organizations work together to make Baxter the great community that it is.

What other city issues are you most passionate about? My biggest passion is working to see Baxter grow in a positive direction while keeping all of the great small town qualities that it already possesses.

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Name: Josh Lokenvitz

Age: 42

Occupation: Retired Military / Truck Driver

Please introduce yourself and explain why you are running for city council. My wife, Meghan, lived in Baxter when we met and started dating eight years ago. After a brief period of living together in Johnston, she convinced me to move to Baxter shortly after we got married. I was hesitant at first, but have completely fallen in love with this small town. We recently celebrated our 6th anniversary. We have a two year old son Alex, and she has two sons, Kolton and Nolan, from a previous marriage. I retired from the military in April after 22 years of service in the Iowa Army National Guard. I was deployed to Iraq in 2005 and Afghanistan in 2018-2019. I have served my state and nation for the past 22 years and, now that I am no longer on active duty, I feel it is time to serve my local community. I have actually been wanting to run for City Council since we moved to town, but was unable to due to being on active duty orders with the National Guard.

What issue are you most concerned about for the city? In my opinion, the most important part of being an elected official at any level is to be a good steward of taxpayer’s money. I spent 14 years on active duty within the Iowa Army National Guard, and 13 of those years were spent doing various forms of finance work. I gained invaluable experience in all areas of government finance and budgeting through my multiple finance positions, including accounting, accounts payable, contracting, program/budget management, and budget analysis. I feel this experience will allow me to help streamline the city’s budget, maximize the products/services received for the money spent, and ultimately save taxpayer money.

Where would you like to see the city grow in the coming years? First, I absolutely love the small town that Baxter is and has become. It is the perfect picture of small-town Iowa that everyone wishes they could be part of. The main area I would like to see the city grow would be in infrastructure updates. Over the recent years, there have been storm sewer upgrades completed and some pavement work currently finishing up on Southwest Avenue. I would like to see these updates/improvements continue throughout town, as the city budget allows.

What’s the best quality of Baxter? What can the city improve on? I mentioned it earlier, but the best quality of Baxter is by far the small-town atmosphere and the people that live here. There aren’t many places around anymore that you wave to everyone you see, but Baxter is one of those places, whether you know the person or not. I love that what can start out as a quick family walk around the block ends up with us returning home 3 hours later after multiple conversations with neighbors. As for improvements, I think the city is mostly on a good track at the moment. As mentioned earlier, I would like to help with some improvement in the management of the budget as well as making it available to any citizen that wants to see it.

What other city issues are you most passionate about? My family is by far the driving factor for every decision I make in life. I want to do my part to ensure that Baxter is a place that anyone would be proud to raise a family in. I also think it is essential for community involvement in how the city is run. That is why, if elected, I would organize informal discussions on a monthly or semi-monthly basis so we can make sure that the concerns of the citizens are heard, understood, and appropriately resolved in an efficient and timely manner.

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Name: Josh Meckley

Age: 36

Occupation: Automotive Technician at Meckley’s Parts & Service

Please introduce yourself and explain why you are running for city council. I’m Josh Meckley, my family and myself have been lifelong members of the Baxter community. I help operate our family automotive repair business that has been a local business for over 35 years. My wife Rachel is a school counselor for Miller Middle School in Marshalltown. We have two sons, Cannon and Hudson.I am running for re-election to continue to grow the forward progression of the community, maintain a strict budget to ensure that the present and future needs of the community are met, and to strive to provide the best quality of life Baxter can offer.

What issue are you most concerned about for the city? One of my concerns moving forward would be addressing the aging infrastructure within our city. I have been apart of budgeting and planning for the replacement or repair of our aging sewer, streets, water and storm water infrastructure. I would like the opportunity to continue to execute plans to address these issues for the future of our city.

Where would you like to see the city grow in the coming years? I will always continue to support residential and commercial growth within our city. I would like to see our residential growth continue at a steady pace that reflects our community. A lot of small town personality comes from its local business’s, so to achieve new business opportunities within the community would be a major goal for growth.

What’s the best quality of Baxter? What can the city improve on? It’s hard to pick one quality of our city that outshines the rest. I would say our community as a whole is spectacular. It takes the citizens to support our K-12 school, use our local businesses, keep our community appealing and inviting to potential new residents, volunteer for recreational committees, and always helping anyone in need. They are the ones who create our charm and keep our town appealing on numerous levels.There will always be room for improvement and nothing is ever perfect. As long as there is support, community involvement, and transparency between city and citizens, this city will always be able to address any improvements that need to be made along the way.

What other city issues are you most passionate about? I will always be passionate about anything that can add to our already outstanding quality of living within Baxter. I’m continually looking at keeping forward momentum moving so that Baxter continues to have a positive and bright future for years to come.

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Name: Nathan Doubek

Age: 23

Occupation: VP at Thatcher Auto Center Inc.

Please introduce yourself and explain why you are running for city council. I’m Nathan Doubek and I’m running for city council because it would give a younger perspective on stuff, also to become more involved in the community.

What issue are you most concerned about for the city? That the city is making decisions that’s best for the residents of Baxter.

Where would you like to see the city grow in the coming years? I think it would be nice for the businesses in baxter to grow and see the town come together more.

What’s the best quality of Baxter? What can the city improve on? the best quality of Baxter is seeing the people come together like when the derecho came through it was a bad event but everyone came together to help others. Just be a community that continues to work together.

What other city issues are you most passionate about? Maintaining the school, the baxter police department, and keeping it a small town environment.

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Name: Russell F. Parker

Age: I am 65 years old

Occupation: I have been a truck driver for 45 years

Please introduce yourself and explain why you are running for city council. I lived in Baxter since 1979. I have put 4 children through the Baxter school system. I currently have 2 boys in Baxter school. One is a Senior and the other 7th grade. I am currently serving on the the church board at Ashton Chapel.

I am running because I believe that we need more diversification on the City Council. As in age variety and I also believe that we need to have a voice for the working class people of our community. Since in the past the majority of the Council have been business owners, all tax payers need a voice especially the Elderly on fixed incomes.

What issue are you most concerned about for the city? I am concerned that we need more housing for the Independent Senior Citizens for living. This would also free up some affordable housing for younger families in our community.

Where would you like to see the city grow in the coming years? I would like to see the city of Baxter continue to upgrade it’s infrastructure on a more regular basis as in the past this has been neglected.

What’s the best quality of Baxter? What can the city improve on? Our best quality is that we are centrally located from Newton, Des Moines and Marshalltown areas. We have a wonderful K-12th school system as well as daycare next to the school that offers preschool.

What other city issues are you most passionate about? Keeping Baxter an affordable place for our younger families as well as retired and elderly residents to live.