Hinson appreciates Washington?s volunteer spirit

After spending the whole summer without a city administrator, the Washington City Council hired Brent Hinson of Garner in August to fill the position. Hinson officially began his duties with the city Oct. 17.

Hinson hails from Mediapolis and graduated from high school there. He attended the University of Northern Iowa where he obtained a bachelor?s degree in political science in 2000. He followed that with a master?s degree in public administration from Drake University in 2002.

Soon after obtaining his master?s degree, Hinson became the finance director and city clerk at Iowa Falls. Hinson worked at Iowa Falls for two years and then moved to Garner, a town of 3,000 in north central Iowa, to become its city administrator, where he worked for six years.

Hinson?s wife, Misty, is a substitute teacher. They have two children, Victoria, 7, and Ryan, 4, both of whom attend Stewart Elementary School.

Hinson said that he was ready to leave Garner at the time he did because he had accomplished what he set out to. In Hinson?s time at Garner, the city built a wastewater treatment facility, an aquatic center and a rec center, the last of which was Hinson?s idea. He said the city was three-quarters of the way through a program to install sidewalks in town, too.

Washington and especially Washington County are familiar places to Hinson since Mediapolis frequently played Highland and Mid-Prairie in sports. He said he wanted to move to a larger city and that Washington was high on his list.

?Washington has been on my radar for the past several years,? he said. ?Washington means something. Every suburban community tries to carve out their own niche, but often they don?t have a lot of glorious history to lean back on. They don?t have the as much of a sense of history as the people in Washington do.?

Hinson said he was also impressed with the volunteer spirit he discovered upon arrival.

?There is a lot of things that get done in this town that don?t require tax dollars because people care about the town,? he said. ?Volunteers take the initiative. I think that?s a wonderful thing.?

When he is not crunching numbers and directing city business from his office at city hall, Hinson enjoys watching the Chicago Bears play football. He said he has tickets to watch the Bears play the Minnesota Vikings at the Metrodome in Minneapolis on New Year?s Day. He said he is glad to have found Bears fans in Washington. He said he was one of the few Bears fans in Garner and felt like an ?oppressed minority.?

Hinson said he spends a large portion of his free time reading non-fiction books. He said he is interested in history, international relations, terrorism and other geo-political subjects. Hinson was just two classes short of a minor in international relations in college. In 2000, he and a few classmates visited Moscow as part of an exchange program whereby Russian students would then visit the United States. Hinson said he would like to do even more traveling although he is limited by his career and his family life.

He and Misty attended Stewart?s Family Fun Night Thursday and met many parents and teachers.

?I am meeting other families slowly but surely,? he said.

He said Misty was the 4-H coordinator in Hancock County and that she hopes to become active in Washington County 4-H, too.