‘My opinion hasn’t been listened to’

Creston Mayor Waylon Clayton tackled topics ranging from communication between council and himself to economic interests during his monthly meeting with constituents held Saturday, Dec. 7 at Hot Air Brewing.

The meeting took a casual format, with the mayor taking in questions from visitors in a more conversational manner than previous meetings.

With his recent opening of the 1776 Fire House & Lounge, Clayton expressed thanks to all community members and volunteers who helped him prepare for opening this week. Clayton said he had lost 25 pounds over the last month due to the exhaustion of handling both his role as mayor and what he referred to as his historic restaurant.

When speaking on how he was able to start his business, Clayton said, “We have a great group of people in this community, but we lack ideas. We lack that drive to start something.”

Some members of the meeting disagreed with part of this notion, with some saying how ideas in the community are constantly being worked on but can’t continue due to lacking continued support by other members of their community.

Clayton said he also had to deal with some members of the community accusing him of working “mischievous” deals under the table due to his status as mayor. He said the process of being transparent about his work to the community, while overall beneficial to his business, was “hard” in communicating what he saw as his own privacy being revealed.

“As mayor, I’ve had people come out and trash me,” he said. “I’ve had people say false accusations, all this stuff. But you know what? You say get used to it, I disagree, that’s the very thing that’s tearing down everyone else’s businesses in the community.”

On a topic of providing services to the community, Clayton said he’s interested in building Creston to have a similar “atmosphere” to Des Moines, portraying Creston as a hub for southwest Iowa.

The mayor was excited to see The Strand Theater reopen soon, though no opening date has been announced. During Merry Marketplace on Saturday, The Strand was open for visitation, offering a look into the auditorium to check recent renovations. The theater marquee has remained blank since 2020, when the theater had closed following Fridley Theaters’ exit of control.

The locations of businesses in Creston were discussed, with some meeting participants drawing parallels between businesses moving to locations on Highway 34 rather than remaining in uptown Creston. Clayton expressed interest in turning Creston into a Main Street Iowa community.

Main Street Iowa is a program which helps historical districts in Iowa cities to receive grant opportunities based on community support. Greenfield and Corning are examples of cities which have successfully become part of the program.

The city of Creston was described by Clayton as not meeting regulations set by most grant agencies, and said he’s looking to make it easy for these agencies to work for Creston. “I want this community to be a place those grant agencies can step right in and they don’t have to make big adjustments and neither do our people,” he said, using his explanation as support for the Main Street program.

Clayton reiterated his opinion on limiting grants and taxpayer funds into private businesses. However, some meeting participants disagreed, saying how putting funds into uptown Creston could help provide the services to a community, further boosting the local economy. Criticism was given to Clayton for “denigrating” businesses for seeking out those funding options.

In response, Clayton showed support for those seeking grant options. “Nobody should ever feel like if they go and get a grant, they should be ostracized,” he said. “It’s your taxpayer money, and getting that money back into the community is a good thing.”

For those seeking government funds and grants, Clayton encouraged staying on top of schedules to finish paperwork and processes before it’s too late. He gave an example of an unnamed business who had requested his signature which he couldn’t give without council approval. “We’re not getting the paperwork and all the processes done in time,” he said.

The mayor also wants to find ways to inform the public on scheduled agenda items before they are scheduled in order to receive more input from the public. He expressed frustration with held public forums and hearings for agenda items to no community voices, saying how most outrage from changes comes after they are implemented rather than before they’re voted on.

Clayton wanted to deconstruct the culture which causes this frustration, calling the dynamic between the government and community as “us and them.”

“Everybody that works in the government looks at the people like the enemy, and everybody in the people looks at the government like the enemy,” he said. “It just seems like there’s a bridge that needs to be [fixed.]”

In order to combat talks of “secret meetings” involving the city finance committee, Clayton proposed an idea to have work sessions open to the public, with the committee needing to explain their reasoning for any changes to payroll or charges. While the public will be unable to comment on the sessions, the transparency would help keep the public informed.

City employee payroll information is published annually in the Creston News Advertiser.

The mayor positioned himself as a voice of the people, and said, “If the mayor has his head on straight, he would have already talked to the people and become the voice and face of the community. He should be asking questions, why are they choosing this number?”

Clayton positioned his own experiences in questioning the committee for information as reasoning for making these sessions public, allowing for the answers to be available for the public.

Continuing discussions on gathering information, Clayton also recommended action in any boards where council members reside, including water board, waste management, library and others, to require council members to give reports to the mayor about activities during their meetings.

When one participant asked why councilmembers weren’t already reporting to him in Creston, the mayor joked how he should, “go to their boss and ask them.” The mayor of a city under Iowa Code is described as the “chief executive officer of the city and presiding officer of the city council.”

Clayton said there was only “two or three councilmembers” who give reports to the mayor on what happens during meetings they attend. He mentioned how in the past he has requested reports from councilmembers.

He went further to describe how he wants agendas and minutes from these meetings to be sent to him, or be publicly available. Agendas for these meetings are posted on the city website, on public boards outside of meeting locations and published in the CNA.

In council discussions, Clayton lamented how he’s not a voting member, saying this affected how the council saw him. “My opinion hasn’t been listened to by this council,” he said.

The mayor said this wasn’t a problem exclusive to him, and said the previous mayor, Gabriel Carrol, experienced similar situations. “He didn’t know the authorities he exactly had for over two years, and I’m still dealing with this very thing,” he said.

The dynamic between the mayor and the city administrator was also a point of contention for Clayton. Although he praised City Administrator Mike Taylor for his role, he was worried over changes to authoritative power in the city which limited the mayor’s abilities. He said the code has been “messed up over the years,” and changed the mayor-council form of government which was promised to the people.

“This community voted on a specific form of government, the city code is supposed to match that,” he said. “But, our government looks like an administrator-council form of government with a puppet mayor.”

Clayton acknowledged how saying these statements did make him look like “a mayor out for power,” and discouraged the look, hoping to use his role as a “voice for the people.”

The mayor said there was a communication issue between him and the council, later clarifying to a few specific unnamed members of the council. He said, “We’ve got some pretty good ones in there who are doing really well,” he said. “Not saying any of them aren’t doing well, you hear from some of them than you do others is what I’m saying.”

As a way to fix this issue, Clayton envisioned a monthly report on what the councilmembers are a part of in their boards to receive more information.