After taking the oath of office Friday morning, Mayor Dave Flattery asked city residents to help him advance the community.

“I ask for active participation of every citizen – your ideas, your energy, your pride – to help us continue this progress,” he said.

The newly elected council members are Scott Davis and Terry Moehnke, who hold at-large seats, and Todd McCubbin, who represents Ward 3 on the city’s northeast side. Moehnke is no stranger to the City Council table because he represented Ward 1 from 2002 to 2023. McCubbin won the council seat Flattery vacated to run for mayor.

Also taking the oath of office Friday morning were the reelected council members. Councilwoman Jen Crimmins was reelected to a second term representing Ward 1 on the city’s west side. Councilman Cameron Nelson was reelected to a third term representing Ward 2 on the south side. Councilman Kim Alstott was reelected to an eighth term representing Ward 4 in the north central part of the city.

-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla
City Council members and new Mayor Dave Flattery stand in the City Council chambers after being sworn in. From left are Scott Davis, Jennifer Crimmins, Terry Moehnke, Kim Alstott, Flattery, Megan Secor, Cameron Nelson and Todd McCubbin.

Magistrate Neven Conrad, a former Fort Dodge City Council member, administered the oath of office.

First he led the new and reelected council members in reciting the oath.

Then he administered the oath to Flattery.

Flattery spoke about his ideas for the future of Fort Dodge.

“Looking ahead, I have a vision for an ambitious future starting right here in downtown Fort Dodge,” he said.

-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla
Newly sworn in Mayor Dave Flattery speaks during Friday's inauguration ceremony.

He said he wants downtown to be a place where “recreation, culture and local business come together.”

He said he wants to see the “riverfront connected with residential expansion, local retail that meets the needs of residents and a destination that draws visitors from across the nation.’

Flattery called for the construction of a new Webster County Jail downtown.The new jail, he said, should be a state of the art facility that will help to attract new law enforcement officers.

Flattery acknowledged that Fort Dodge faces fresh challenges in the form of homelessness, abandoned properties, a tight city budget and public safety concerns. But he said the challenges of the past were overcome with planning and perseverance, and he expressed confidence that today’s challenges can be handled the same way.

He also recited some of the community’s major accomplishments of recent years, including the development of the ag industrial park called Iowa’s Crossroads of Global Innovation, infrastructure improvements, the growth of Harlan and Hazel Rogers Sports Complex, parks and cultural programs and the redevelopment of the old Crossroads Mall into Corridor Plaza.

-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla
Former Fort Dodge Mayor Matt Bemrich speaks after being honored as the city's longest-serving mayor Friday.

The new mayor said his family has a history of serving the Fort Dodge community. He said his great-grandfather was a justice of the peace in Colfax Township, a great-uncle was police chief in the 1920s and an uncle was a district court judge in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

“That legacy of service inspires me today,” he said.

“With humility and faith, I ask for the Lord’s guidance as we begin the next chapter,” he added.

Flattery replaced Matt Bemrich, who served as mayor for 16 years, the longest tenure of anyone to hold that position. He did not seek reelection to a fifth term.

Bemrich was honored during Friday’s inauguration ceremony. Flattery listed many of the things that were accomplished during Bemrich’s tenure, including infrastructure improvements, the creation of the Fort Dodge Fiber broadband utility, Iowa’s Crossroads of Global Innovation, Corridor Plaza, riverfront improvement and the construction of new housing.

-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla
Former Fort Dodge Mayor Matt Bemrich, right, receives a framed collage of photos from his time as mayor. City Manager David Fierke, left, presented it to him. Fierke said a copy of it will hang in the City Council meeting room.

Flattery said Bemrich had a track record of “staying steady and moving Fort Dodge forward.”

He thanked Bemrich for “leaving the community stronger than you found it.”

“It was my pleasure to serve this place,” Bemrich said. “If we all leave it better than we found it, it will all work out.”

The inauguration ceremony began when the color guard of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1856 brought the flags of the United States and Iowa into the council meeting room. Michael Richardson, an elementary music teacher at St. Edmond Catholic School,, sang the national anthem. Deacon Joe Coleman from Holy Trinity Catholic Church provided the invocation.

Alstott picked as mayor pro tem

Immediately following the inauguration ceremony, the City Council held a short organizational meeting.

Councilman Kim Alstott was elected mayor pro tem. He will preside over council meetings and perform any other mayoral duties in the absence of Mayor Dave Flattery.

Councilman Cameron Nelson was chosen as dean of the council. The dean is the member of council who has the most seniority but is not the mayor pro tem. Nelson will preside over council meetings if both Flattery and Alstott are absent.