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Top stories of 2025
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
The following are the top stories of 2025 affecting the Fairfield and Jefferson County areas:
FMS bond vote comes up short; District vows to renovate middle school with money from other funds
The Fairfield Community School District’s effort to pass a bond for a new middle school came up short once again.
Voters in the district went to the polls Tuesday, Nov. 4 to decide whether to pass a $39.5 million general obligation bond to build a new middle school south of the current building. The “yes” side received about 56 percent of the vote, but needed to get over 60 percent to pass.
The unofficial tally released by the Jefferson County Auditor’s Office that night showed 2,029 “yes” votes to 1,604 “no” votes.
The 56 percent approval this year’s attempt received is slightly lower than a similar bond for a new middle school on the ballot last year, which received 58 percent of the vote.
Boyer defeats Flournoy in Fairfield mayoral race
In the only contested race in the city of Fairfield on Tuesday, Nov. 4, voters gave their stamp of approval on a fourth term for Mayor Connie Boyer, who defeated challenger and current Fairfield City Council member Douglas Flournoy 65 percent to 30 percent.
Boyer received 1,541 votes to Flournoy’s 714. Rhonda Sanderson was the other name on the ballot, and she received 81 votes, 3.4 percent of the total.
Upon learning the results, Boyer said she felt “truly humbled by the support and very appreciative.”
“Thank you to everyone for getting out and voting to support their candidate,” she told The Union. “I look forward to working as a team, completing many projects that are in progress and improving our fair city.”
With Flournoy’s election defeat, he will be exiting the council at the end of the year because he will have to give up his at-large seat on the council. Bob Ferguson won an uncontested race to fill Flournoy’s at-large seat during Tuesday’s elections, garnering 1,856 votes (95 percent), with 480 undervotes, meaning the voter made no selection in the race.
When reached for comment Wednesday morning, Flournoy remarked, “I called Connie last night and congratulated her on winning the election. I wish her the best in her next term as Mayor.”
Char Steakhouse opens in Fairfield
Jim and Teresa Huffman have added to Fairfield’s fine-dining scene with their new restaurant Char Steakhouse, on the north side of the Lincoln Center that they purchased from the school district just last year.
Char Steakhouse opened its doors on Nov. 11 and has been busy ever since. The restaurant is open in the evenings from 5-9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and Teresa said that patrons should expect to make a reservation if they wish to eat on Friday or Saturday, since the place is packed on those days.
Jim and Teresa own JC Huffman Cabinetry on the west edge of town on Burlington Avenue, and this marks their first foray into the restaurant business. Teresa said she’s wanted to run a steakhouse for decades, and after she and Jim purchased the Lincoln Center in the summer of 2024, they’ve been hard at work remodeling it.
The first stage of remodeling got the building ready to host the Huffmans’ annual “Ho Ho Ho Wholiday” extravaganza featuring food, activities, and photo ops with Santa, the Harry Potter universe, the Grinch and the rest of Whoville. The second stage focused on the northeast corner of the building, converting what were once three classrooms into a world-class bar and restaurant.
That required gutting that portion of the building, knocking down interior walls and installing new plumbing, heating and electrical on top of tearing up the floors and ceiling. Teresa estimates they worked on the building for about eight months before opening night.
It’s no surprise that the restaurant’s best-selling item has been its steaks.
“We’ve heard numerous times from people that it’s the best steak they’ve ever had in their life,” Teresa said. “We source our meat locally from Packwood Locker, and I think that makes a big difference in the quality we’re using.”
The restaurant’s executive chef is Kevin Kline, who has extensive experience working as a chef in New Orleans. Teresa said he’s often getting her to try food she’s never heard of before, and surprising her with how tasty it is.
Teresa said she’s been bowled over by the community’s support during this first month in business.
“I think people were ready to have a nice steakhouse that they could come to, sit down, and have a reason to dress up,” she said. “It's not formal, but a lot of people dress very nice when they come in. We have a lot of wonderful restaurants in this town, for sure, but none of them were a steakhouse where you could just go and get a filet or a New York strip or ribeye.”
Liberty Communications moves into new building in Fairfield
Liberty Communications has moved into a new building at 51 S. Ninth St. in Fairfield, a much larger space than the building it had been renting just a block away.
Liberty Communications of West Liberty acquired Natel Broadband in 2022, and for the first three years it operated from Natel’s former location at 907 W. Burlington Ave. Sandee Buysse, Marketing Manager at Liberty Communications, said that building was not a good fit for the company because it wasn’t big enough to accommodate the business’s network and employees. Liberty Communications began looking for open space to build its own office, where it wouldn’t have to rent from another owner.
The business found a good spot just a block east of its location, immediately north of what was previously Family Video and now Crown Liquor Tobacco and Grocery Mart. The business hired Kalona Post & Frame to build its new office, and hired Schaus Vorhies Contracting of Fairfield as general contractor. After months of construction, the new building was finished this fall, and employees began moving in the last week of October. Buysse said she was thrilled to move into the new office, and said the business now has more warehouse space and a new central office hut to house its core network.
“The old building was more compartmentalized and included no place for storing our vehicles and equipment inside,” she said. “The new building includes office space, a front lobby for greeting customers, and a warehouse for equipment and storage.”
Buysse said Liberty Communications previously had to lease storage units in other locations, but with the new building, everything will fit under one roof.
“We have invested a lot in Fairfield for future growth,” she said. “We believe in this community, and the community has been very good to us. We envision Fairfield as the hub for our south market to include Centerville and Fairfield, and all the rural small towns and areas between Centerville and Mt. Pleasant.”
Buysse said this past year has been a “whirlwind of building” both fiber and fixed wireless networks, and cleaning up and upgrading the network purchased from Natel in 2022.
Lamson Woods sports new playground equipment
What was once an inconspicuous patch of grass three years ago has turned into one of the most popular playgrounds in Fairfield.
Fairfield has undergone a surge of new playground equipment in the last six years in parks such as Howard, Heritage, Waterworks, O.B. Nelson, and most recently in Lamson Woods. Lamson Woods did not have any playground equipment at all until 2023, when the Dowd family that owns Cado Ice Cream donated toward the creation of a playscape there including various swings and climbing structures.
Now, two years later, the Dowd family has made another contribution to add even more features at the playground such as a pair of gliders that can be taken for a thrilling ride, and a sandbox and elevated lily pads for the younger set. Those features opened in the fall of 2025.
Stephen Pedrick, a member of the Jefferson County Trails Council that partnered on the project, said the first set of playground equipment in 2023 catered to children ages 5-10. The new equipment is intended to serve kids both younger and older than that age range.
“The glider is targeted toward the older crowd, and the sandbox is more for toddlers,” he said. “The playground has been pretty busy on the weekends. It provides something that was missing in Fairfield, because there’s no other playground like it in town. It gives kids a different way to enjoy the outdoors.”
Maharishi Ayurveda hosts grand opening
Maharishi Ayurveda held a grand opening at its new location on the Fairfield square on Saturday, Nov. 1.
The store’s address is 56 E. Burlington Ave., previously occupied by Iowa Dance Collective. Guests at the grand opening were treated to delicious food, and got to meet members of the business’s 12-person team, including CEO Ram Shrivastava.
Fairfield Mayor Connie Boyer and Grow Fairfield Executive Director Ed Malloy were on hand to cut the red ribbon, joined by Nicole Marie Baron-Kruse, the firm’s head of retail and customer care. Baron-Kruse said she was thrilled with the attendance for the grand opening, which exceeded “all our expectations.”
“The space was packed, and the energy was incredible,” she said. “We were deeply touched by how warmly the community embraced us.”
Baron-Kruse said a tremendous amount of “heart” went into remodeling the retail store. She worked closely with Emily Blackwolf, and the two reenvisioned the entire layout.
“Together, we added beautiful entry arches, created a brand-new room, and selected a fresh, vibrant color palette that aligns with the vision for the store,” she said.
World Fairfield International Festival returns for first time since 2019
The MIU Fieldhouse was bustling with activity Sunday, Nov. 16, thanks to the thumping beats and sizzling treats at the World Fairfield International Festival.
The event was in its third year after having taken a long hiatus after COVID, since its initial run from 2018-2019. During those first two years, the event was held earlier in the fall and held outside in Central Park, but this time it was moved into the fieldhouse. Organizer Richard Beall said he was pleased to see so many people show up for the live performances including dancing, drumming, songs by the Maharishi Lower School choir, bagpipes courtesy of Tim Britton, and the event’s featured musical act, the Baraka Band with Amine Kouider, Karen Aoki, Jimmy Moore, and Eric Hurlin.
On top of that live entertainment, guests perused booths representing more than 30 countries. Children were given passports that could be “stamped” with flag stickers from each country, and then turned in for prizes. Several booths offered free samples of food from their country, and included colorful displays of photos and facts.
The competition for best exhibit was won by India, which captured the grand cash prize of $100. Other booths that won cash prizes were those from China, Ghana, the Netherlands, Mexico and Guatemala.
Beall said he was gratified both by the response from the community and by all those who shared the culture of their home countries.
Whitney Monument Works celebrates 150th anniversary
Whitney Monument Works in Fairfield is celebrating 150 years in business in 2025, and is now headed by the sixth generation of the Whitney family.
To celebrate this milestone, the business hosted a Chamber Business After Hours on Thursday, Oct. 16. The public was invited to tour the business located at 605 W. Depot Ave. to learn about its storied history and enjoy light refreshments. Owner Jordan Whitney said the event is not just a celebration of the business but also a way for his family to say “thank you” to the community.
Jordan purchased the business from his father Kent and mother Ronda in January 2025, after Kent had been at the helm since 1991. Today, Kent is mostly retired but helps out in the shop when needed, while Ronda still works for the business as bookkeeper and by staffing its Mt. Pleasant office.
