Change is becoming the norm in FM

It’s been a crazy week of conversations for me, and my brain is having trouble settling down.
It’s one of the great things about Fort Madison – the conversations that you sometimes flat out stumble into in which you find yourself completely captivated. And the other great thing about those happening in small towns is that is usually the best place for it to happen, and if you work real hard, you actually can connect the conversations.
I was walking with Taylor down on Avenue G when she was back last week and I saw workers from Schickedanz working on the lower brick facing of the Connection Bank building. Of course, I had seen the other work being done on the south side, but I didn’t realize what that architecture was underneath there.
I fired off a couple photos with my cellphone while we were walking and then texted Connection Bank President Matt Morris to see if he had any interest in working up a headline on the improvements underway.
Morris, who is uncommonly accessible, agreed to meet on Wednesday to let me fire some questions at him. After a very informal on-the-record, off-the-record, on-the-record conversation, he gave me a tour of the new digs and then we stepped outside for an explanation of what was going on.
He turned to the south and looked over the highway and railroad tracks to Riverview Park and the Mississippi.
“To answer your first question, yeah, this is part of it,” he said.
It was a delayed reaction to a question of whether he was executing the commitment of the Connection Bank board and legacy of a couple guys named Jim Baier and Doyle Hoyer, to be part of the growth of the community.
It started a conversation about the progress of the community. I said, politically, I’m not a progressive, but as a member of this community, I appreciate progress.
Road improvements, marina improvements, school improvements, a sports complex, the Meller Family Health Center, housing starts, and bank improvements.
I was even tickled as we walked across 7th Street toward Swed Coffee to see Chris Swed roasting beans in the window, and what I could only deduce were burnt shells drifting out  of the stainless exhaust vent on the side of the building. I hadn’t seen, nor experienced, that phenomenon since he moved in there.
With all that going on, it's easy to mentally transition to the other improvements in town that are providing a welcoming approach from the east. The west is getting a spark with the city being progressive with signage changes and allowing taller signs for businesses in the interchange zone of Hwys. 61 and 2. That was prompted when Casey’s decided to put a truck stop-sized retail outlet next to Huffman’s Welding & Mfg. on Avenue O. People should see things happening there soon.
Does any of that add to the consistent cry for more things to do in the city? No. But with the fall coming soon, things are popping up again around the Tri-State Rodeo in just four weeks. Plans for the Mexican Fiesta are in full gear, however, word is they could use a few more key sponsors to help keep the momentum going. Porchstock is also around the corner.
One could make the argument that we still need people to get back to work and fill some of the job openings in the area and get the community fully functional again. Energy created energy and that is a nice segue to my conversation with Melinda Blind, who has served the city of Fort Madison for about three decades, her final 13 years as City Clerk. Blind has thrown her name into the mix for Fort Madison Mayor.
Current Mayor Matt Mohrfeld has been taking time at each City Council meeting to thank people who have had an impact on his tenure and city growth. Last week he thanked developers Barb Asay and Micheal Mohrfeld for their contributions to housing starts in the community.
Blind said she just decided to run about three weeks ago and hasn’t created a platform or a campaign strategy yet. Her candidacy is very interesting, and I was intrigued by her presence at the last City Council meeting.  She has a wealth of information as a city employee and understands the nuances of running  a city from the inside. It’s yet to be seen how the city would progress under a Blind tenure with the gavel. But I’ve known her family for decades and I’m friends with two of her children. She and her husband Doug lost their son Ryan earlier this year unexpectedly to a heart attack. She told me her family has shown support for her decision and Ryan supports her, too.
There’s no doubt.  There’ve been no other candidates that have stepped forward yet, but we can be assured a few other names will now begin to surface.
One thing has to be clear. Momentum needs to continue. If that’s with a different emphasis on bringing more business, or “things to do” or child care or maintaining the current direction, Mohrfeld’s successor will certainly have big, active shoes to fill.
They will be different shoes, however.
I had a nice birthday thanks to my brother John and his family. They wouldn’t let me let it slide by. So I had a nice burger at Green Bay Bar & Grill in Wever, then home for strawberry-rhubarb pie and Hall’s Ice Cream.  I finished the night with a couple fingers of better-than-expected Woodford Reserve. I’m not a bourbon fan, but this had a real simple approach with vanilla and maybe a maple hint. The night was best described as tame and a little lame, but that’s just what I wanted. And all that’s Beside the Point.
Chuck Vandenberg is editor and co-owner of Pen City Current and can be reached at Charles.vV@PenCityCurrent.com.