Ivan Rangel offers a different perspective

One look at the candidate lineup, and Ivan Rangel stands out. The 37-year-old business owner is considerably younger than his competition for the mayor’s chair.

Rangel says he’s running because he wants to give back to a community that’s been generous to him, and because he wants to give voters a chance to endorse a “different way of thinking” on election day, April 30.

“I think it’s time that our generation steps up and gets involved,” he said. “I kind of want to pave the way for future generations. I see, on council stuff, I’m the youngest person there. So I would like to have more young leaders step up to the platform, and get a little more mixed generations in there. I think that would give a good outcome in some of the decision-making, and choices we have to make.”

Rangel’s campaign for mayor has looked a little different from others as well, in terms of its tactics.

While plenty of yards around town now sport banners and signs with his name, the candidate said most of his effort to reach voters have happened through social media.

So far, he said, it seems to be working.

"I announced it on Facebook, and a lot of people have responded to that,“ he said. ”A lot of people have questions they’re asking, and I’ve answered them. That’s basically all I’ve done as far as campaigning.“

Rangel was elected to the Washington City Council in February of 2023, after the former ward two representative unexpectedly resigned and moved out of town for personal reasons.

He ran on plans to push for housing permit reform, and lobby for low to moderate income housing developments. Neither of those have come to fruition in the year since, but Rangel said he still saw plenty of opportunities for the city, and said both should be top-of-mind for Washington’s next mayor.

"I don’t think there’s been enough time, and with all the internal issues we’ve been having with the mayor stepping down, and now our city administrator resigning, I think there’s been other issues that we’ve kind of got to deal with first,“ he said. ”And that’s why, with me running, I hope to kind of establish more stability within our city government.“

In particular, Rangel said hiring additional building and zoning staff, seeking out grants for developers, and potentially leveraging Tax Increment Financing could prove helpful in meeting Washington’s housing needs.

"I know we already have the golf course, but that development, I think the average cost is like $400,000,“ he said. ”It’s up there. And the average family, average household income, can’t afford that.“

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Also on his platform is small business promotion. Rangel said he was “always willing” to hear out creative ways to bring business traffic into town through events, promotions and any other means. A business owner himself, he hopes to keep shops open in Washington and attract more to bolster the local economy.

As with all other candidates in Washington’s race, Rangel also listed infrastructure as a top concern. He specifically hopes to get the ball rolling on long-term planning for maintenance efforts, to ensure repairs happen at a satisfactory pace.

“I want to implement a long-term plan on maintaining our infrastructure, because I feel like we’re always playing catch-up,” he said. “This breaks, that breaks, we’ve got to fix it. Sometimes it’ll be the dead middle of winter, 20 below zero, so that’s one of the main things on my platform.”

Rangel is the owner of Rangel Construction, a roofing and siding business in town. He said his construction experience would help guide his decisions on the above priorities, if he’s elected.

He does not anticipate trouble juggling the duties of mayor with those of running a business.

"I don’t want to say my business runs itself, but I do have a lot more flexibility … I have reliable people that just go to work for me, and I really don’t have to babysit them,“ he said. ”Five years ago, I would’ve been like, ‘There’s no way,’ but now I’ve worked myself into a position where I have that flexibility.“

In his year on the council, Rangel’s been among the quieter members, making fewer comments or motions than his fellow elected officials during his first several months in office. That trend has slowly changed as he familiarized himself with city politics, but the candidate said he still sought to hear everything out, before weighing in on issues.

He considers the mindset ideal in a mayoral candidate.

"My thing is, I don’t want to let emotions get in the way with any of my decisions, and I try to stay levelheaded,“ he said. ”I want to take everything in and collect as much information as I can, and try to make an educated decision, or an educated comment.“

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com