Rippenkroeger a unique candidate for FM Mayor

FORT MADISON – Carl Rippenkroeger has spent more than two decades running the food service program at Iowa State Penitentiary. He’s since retired and now wants a new job – Mayor of Fort Madison.
Rippenkroeger said his lack of political alignment and local attachments to those in place at City Hall makes him a unique candidate for the position.
“I ran as an independent. Politics is very high emotion right now and I don’t want people to see me as attached to either side. When I worked at the prison I voted Democrat because of the unions, but I’m an independent now,” he said.
Rippenkroeger is facing former Fort Madison City Councilman Tom Schulz, former Fort Madison City Clerk Melinda Blind, FMHS senior Roy Woodsmall, and Fort Madison resident Rodney Hoskins in the Nov. 4 general city/school election.
Rippenkroeger retired from ISP in December and began talking with friends and family and came to the conclusion that his love for the city and his extra time would allow him to serve the position well.
“I just decided that I have the time and ambition and I love Fort Madison, so why not do something to help,” he said.
Although never serving on a public committee or running for office, Rippenkroeger said he's helped annually with the Fort Madison Community Thanksgiving Dinner and was instrumental in getting the prison system involved in helping prepare a lot of the food.
He said his career as a manager with Easter Foods and food service director at ISP gives him some unique budgeting and staffing experience that could prove beneficial in the mayor’s chair.
Other than that, he has no political background or qualifications aside from a passion to do the job.
“It’s just my willingness to do the job, the time I have to devote to it, and my love for this city,” he said. “I feel like I can help make a difference. I’ve always excelled at whatever jobs I've done, so I believe that i could do great things for the city.”

Rippenkroeger said beautification of downtown Fort Madison would be a priority of his as well as working with the police department to make sure they have all things they need to keep crime down in the city.
“The downtown district is definitely in some need of beautification because you go down there and the curbs the sidewalks are just falling apart,” he said.
“I'd like to see more like plants and flowers and paint, you know, to kind of liven it up more.”
He said additional efforts there could help bring more shoppers to town, which would then result in more businesses wanting to locate here.
Other priorities he has for the office include working closer with Lee County Economic Development Group and the Fort Madison Chamber of Commerce to bring more businesses to Fort Madison.
“This would bring in more jobs, more businesses, and more revenue to the city,” he said. “Getting more people down there where you could pass one another on the street would certainly bring other businesses to the area.”
The Fort Madison police department needs to be able to operate more efficiently, Rippenkroeger said. And if that means cutting the budget in that department or in other areas of city operations that can result in assistance to the police department, that may have to happen.
“It seems like you see their presence a lot in the city, but that would be something I would definitely like to talk to them about,” he said. “I'd have to look through it and see where spending is going now for that department. If there's anything that needs to be taken out or something that we could do without - if that's gonna help with the payroll and with the increases that are needed, I would definitely look into that.”
Rippenkroeger said he doesn’t see the election spilling into a two-person run-off with five candidates in the race. According to state and city code, if none of the candidates secure 50% + 1 vote in the regular general election, the top two candidates would campaign in a run-off election four weeks after the Nov. 4 election.
“I don’t see that happening, but I would definitely love to see more people out to vote, you know, and of course I want them to vote for me,… but sure I would love to see more people voting it just amazes me when I see the vote totals for an election like this.”