Opinion : The Problem with Elections in Vinton

As we sat through the Candidate forum a few weeks ago, I was glad for one thing. That I didn't have to vote. I watched as the candidates talked about their experience, their plans and goals for the city, and I would have had a hard time choosing which guy to vote for! Sometimes you go to a debate between candidates and it's obvious who you'd think is better, or you watch a debate and say, out of all the people in the world, THIS is what we have to choose between? But not this time, not in Vinton. I remember leaving that night and feeling really proud of our little town. There wasn't a shortage of candidates, and the ones that ran, well, I don't think we could have chosen them any better. Most of you know, I'm the behind the scene gal, so I don't rub elbows with most of you, but if you have emailed us, I'm the one that you probably talked to. But before the event started I got to visit with one of the candidates. It wasn't a good night for his family, and later we found out they lost a loved one, but I remember thinking as we visited, "It's really fun talking to this guy," something I probably wouldn't have had the chance to do otherwise. All I knew before was that he's done a lot of good in town, and he's put a ton of elbow grease into making our downtown better. I had always respected this guy and his wife, but it was nice to have the chance to visit for a few minutes. I was impressed with the other folks on the platform that night. There was a set of real polished guys going head to head. then a couple of real practical guys that weren't into talking a lot about what they'd do, because, well, why waste words? Which I also enjoyed, you knew that they knew there stuff, but they just sometimes didn't feel the need to expand on what they thought. But as we left, I again was reminded, that this little town is very blessed. We have always taken things seriously in our town. From the education of our kids, to operating the city with gusto to even the facilities that we care for our aged in, we make sure they are top of the line. We've seen so many disasters with floods, tornadoes and straight line winds and personal losses, and every time, our community has stepped in. This round we had a mayor resigning and the cream of the crop stepped up. We had seats that need to be filled on the council, and again, the best our town has to offer stepped up and said, "I'll do the job" and the voters had the toughest job, deciding which one to choose. It's a good time to be in small town Iowa, at least in our small town!