When the Fort Dodge City Council ends its business meetings, traditionally the mayor calls for a motion to adjourn.

That did not happen Monday evening. Instead, Councilman Terry Moehnke called for the motion to adjourn and when that motion passed, he rapped the gavel on the table to end the meeting. When he did that, he essentially wrapped up his 10-year career as a councilman.

It was a decade of service in which he spent thousands of hours working on various projects he felt were necessary for the public good.They included improving the riverfront, updating the infrastructure on the city’s northwest side, starting a municipal broadband utility and even replacing the steps on the front of the Municipal Building.

He also exercised oversight of the city government on behalf of the citizens. In fact, few other council members in recent history would grill city staffers the way Moehnke did.

Recapping a decade of service on the council barely begins to cover how much Moehnke has done for the Fort Dodge community.

He started a program called Backpack Buddies which provided qualifying students with nutritious food to eat on the weekends. Volunteers initially loaded that food into backpacks, giving the program its name.

Then in 2007, inspired by something he saw at an Army base, Moehnke proposed creating a local park in which veterans would be honored by trees planted in their memory. A site alongside Badger Lake was selected and in 2008 construction of the park began. Today, the site is known as Terry Moehnke Veterans Memorial Park.

Moehnke is a member of the Pleasant Valley Awareness Committee. He has served on the boards of the Almost Home Humane Society of North Central Iowa, the American Red Cross, Fort Dodge Convention and Visitors Bureau (today’s Visit Fort Dodge) and the Paula J. Baber Hospice Home.

In 2020, he received the Catalyst Award, the highest honor of the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance. In presenting the award on behalf of the Growth Alliance, Matt Johnson said Moehnke is “less about talking and more about action.” That is a very accurate description.

Moehnke’s other honors include Fort Dodge Noon Lions Citizen of the Year, American Red Cross Heroes of the Heartland Community Impact Award, Character Counts Fort Dodge Pillar of Character Award, Fort Dodge Community Foundation Outstanding Community Volunteer, State of Iowa Governor’s Volunteer Award, Fort Dodge Veterans Council Veteran of the Year, Iowa Lions Foundation Warren Coleman Honorary Award, Fellow of the Academy Award from the American Academy of Optometry, Diplomate of the American Board of Optometry, and Fort Dodge, district, regional and international Sertoma awards.

What can you say to someone who has done all that?

There are only three words that are appropriate: thank you, sir.