After longtime mayor resigns, Jo Ann Beer wins special election by 15 votes
FAIRFAX — The city of Fairfax has faced drastic changes over the past several years.
A Wisconsin-based company that produces pellets for renewable fuel opened a production facility, and a forthcoming facility from REGEN Fiber — from the Alliant Energy subsidiary Travero — will be opening to recycle wind turbines. With industrial development comes new jobs, potentially sparking a continuation of Fairfax’s population trends over the past decade.
From 2010 to 2020, the community west of Cedar Rapids has grown 33.2 percent from a population of 2,123 to 2,828, making it one of Iowa’s faster growing cities. Currently, the city’s fiscal 2024 budget is over $10.8 million.
Beyond new development and growth, Fairfax also is experiencing a change in city leadership for the first time in seven years. In May, Fairfax held a special election to find a new mayor after longtime mayor Bernie Frieden resigned in February due to health reasons.
Jo Ann Beer, 71, won a seat for the remainder of Frieden’s term against City Council member Michael Daly with 52 percent of the vote, becoming Fairfax’s first female mayor. Beer, a semiretired instructor at Kirkwood Community College, won by 15 votes for a total of 224 votes.
The future of Fairfax
Beer said she has divided her objectives into short-term goals that can be accomplished before her term ends at the end of the year, and long-term goals she hopes to continue pursuing if reelected to a full term. Beer said her immediate changes are focused heavily on communication and information access for citizens.
“Rather than wait until we're knee-deep into it, I prefer to just immediately say, ‘Here's what we're doing,’ and ‘What do you think?’” Beer said.
Before the special election, City Council member Marianne Wainwright served as mayor pro tem. Beer said the hardest part of taking office has been the transition from having a temporary mayor to an elected mayor, and the ambiguity that comes with.
Beer had been a council member for 20 years, but chose not to run for re-election at the end of 2017. During her time out of office, she had continued to attend Fairfax City Council meetings.
Sign up for Daily News
Subscribe now and receive the latest local news delivered to your inbox every day.
“There's a lot of catch up to do,” Beer said. “The challenge has been nonstop meetings and just finding out where we're at on all the projects that are going on.”
Beer to ‘bring all of Fairfax together’
In its growth, Fairfax has faced distinct waves of population increases that have deeply impacted the structure of the city. According to Beer, recent population shifts have caused different communities and housing arrangements to form.
Between housing that is several decades old and the newer development called Heartland Heights built within the past five years, Beer said she wants to serve the entire city and each citizen’s own needs.
Specifically, Beer said she wants to continue working on the new development and the growth of Fairfax, while balancing continued support and services toward the original areas of the city to assure that tax rates are sustainable and fair for all areas of the city.
Dan Wozniak, an advocate for Fairfax’s newer housing district and supporter of Beer’s campaign, met her during a City Council meeting. Wozniak said the two started talking about the state of Fairfax and potential changes they wanted to see, discovering they had quite a few similar opinions.
“Comments that Jo Ann would make during the meeting, I could tell that she actually wants to bring all of Fairfax together — as it should be,” Wozniak said.
Frieden, the previous mayor of Fairfax, said the direction he planned on taking Fairfax was different compared with what he has seen of Beer so far.
“I had a very easy job. We have fantastic staff, each and every one of them. They know what they're doing; the department heads know what to do,” Frieden said. “The mayor just stays in the office and is quiet.”
While the two worked together while Frieden was mayor and Beer was a City Council member, he said he doesn’t know if Beer holds the same beliefs and ideas for the city. Frieden said the rapid growth of Fairfax is what makes the city so successful, and he worried that Beer’s leadership would stilt that expansion.
He said Beer’s focus should be keeping property tax rates static and allowing the “phenomenal” development to guide the city and its needs.
“I think she's headed in a different direction than what the community is,” Frieden said. “Hopefully, she will listen to her staff and the engineering folks.”
Beer said in her leadership position, she looks forward to collaborating with residents, business owners, the City Council and city staff in her time as mayor.
“Fairfax is a tremendous community. We have a lot of character,” Beer said. “While we're growing, we don't want to lose track of that.”
Comments: [email protected]