Council members honor Moehnke

He is retiring after a decade of service

Terry Moehnke had a track record of serving his community long before he took the oath of office as a member of the Fort Dodge City Council.

He started the Backpack Buddies program, which provided qualifying children with nutritious food to eat on the weekends.

Then he led the way on creating the Veterans Memorial Park along Badger Lake which now bears his name.

A decade ago, he became the council representative of Ward 1 and promptly began pushing for a diverse range of projects, from fixing the front steps of the Municipal Building to starting a broadband utility. Along the way, he became known for thoroughly questioning members of the city staff during council meetings.

"I have been asked if the city has turned the corner," Councilman Dave Flattery said during Monday's council meeting. "I think it turned the corner when Terry joined the council."

Monday's session was Moehnke's last one as a council member. Suffering from cancer, he decided not to run for re-election in November. He will remain a member of the council through Jan. 1, but there are no more council meetings scheduled this year.

On Monday evening, City Manager David Fierke presented Moehnke with a plaque honoring him for his years of service.

"I work with great people on the council," Moehnke said. "I think we made a lot of progress over the last 10 years."

"There's a lot of exciting things coming up," he added.

City officials recalled Moehnke's persistence when he was pursuing projects he felt were important.

Flattery said when he was working to get the Floyd of Rosedale sculpture at the intersection of 10th Avenue North and 32nd Street, Moehnke called him every week to check on the progress.

Fierke said that as complaints mounted about the internet service provided by Frontier and Mediacom, Moehnke came to him and said, "We really ought to look at doing our own broadband."

"That was something you pushed early on," he told the councilman.

In a 2019 referendum, city voters gave the council the power to consider establishing a broadband utility. Today, that utility, called Fort Dodge Fiber, is under construction.

Councilman Cameron Nelson described Moehnke as a "good civic leader of the community."

Councilman Kim Alstott said Moehnke's contributions to the community extend far beyond City Council work.

"He does a lot of things you don't know about," Alstott said.

On Jan. 2, Jen Crimmins will replace Moehnke as the Ward 1 representative on the council.

"I've got a good replacement," Moehnke said.