Marengo mayor won’t run for reelection

MARENGO — Adam Rabe is not running for reelection in November.

“I enjoyed it,” said the Marengo mayor, but being mayor takes a lot of time, and Rabe has other things he wants to do.

Rabe moved to Marengo In 1999. He grew up in Blairstown and graduated from Benton Community High School.

After graduation, Rabe helped with the family business, Benton Building and Design.

But the Rabe family has ties to Iowa County as well. Rabe’s grandfather’s farm is in Iowa County, and his dad graduated from Iowa Valley High School.

Rabe is currently the director of Iowa County Emergency Medical Services. He began his emergency medical career volunteering with the fire department and ambulance when he lived in Blairstown, he said.

Rabe earned his emergency medical technician certification in 1996 and became a paramedic in 1997. He became director of Iowa County EMS in 1998 and moved to Marengo in 1999.

Rabe has served on the county emergency management commission, the 911 board, the compensation board and the landfill commission. He served on the Marengo Recreation Commission and was the coordinator for Youth Sports Foundation football.

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Rabe ran for city council in 2001. “I think they were … just trying to recruit young people back then,” said Rabe. He was in his mid 20s at the time.

Rabe served on the Marengo City Council until 2009. During that time he got married, started a family and “got busy with kid stuff.” He also earned a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Upper Iowa University.

When Rabe ran for mayor in 2018, it was, again, because someone asked that he do so.

At that time, Marengo’s general fund budget wasn’t in very good shape, said Rabe. The town was spending more than it was bringing in. Staff turnover was high.

Ellen O’Rourke had just started as financial manager and Karla Marck became city administrator about six months later, said Rabe. Not long after that, the city had to find a new police chief.

“So that’s kind of how it started out,” Rabe said. City staff is pretty stable now, he said.

During Rabe’s time as mayor, the city started funding economic development. The Chamber of Commerce and the Iowa County economic development organization were being restructured. The city increased its giving to the organizations to foster development.

The city also put money into tearing down abandoned buildings.

The city began investing in the community rather than simply maintaining it, said Rabe. “We really restructured the budget,” he said. “But I think it’s worked out pretty well.”

The city set policy for the industrial park behind Big G “so we could get the lots sold,” said Rabe. Not only have businesses filled the industrial park, but the new public works building is there.

“We got that away from the school and the pool now,” said Rabe. “I think we really tried to change the culture to make the town more attractive.”

The city restructured its budget to create a capital expense budget outside of department budgets so department budgets don’t fluctuate. Department budgets pay for day-to-day operations rather than capital expenses, said Rabe.

“Ellen and Karla have done a really good job getting the budget organized.”

The “big granddaddy” of projects during Rabe’s years as mayor was the building of a new pool.

Marengo was struggling to keep the old pool open in 2018 and 2019, said Rabe. The city closed the pool in 2020 due to COVID restrictions.

When restrictions were lifted, the city considered reopening the pool but decided not to because of the $200,000 price tag.

Residents didn’t like that decision, and they said so, loudly.

The city put together a committee, got a designer and started with $2.5 million plan for a pool, but that fell through.

“The donation from Bud and Georgia made the difference,” Rabe said. Robert “Bud” and Georgia Van Scoyoc Johnson put up the first $250,000 for the project and eventually added another $500,000.

The city secured $3.8 million in bonds to go with the $1.3 million raised by the community to pay for the pool, which opened in May.

The pool has seen about 160 people a day since it opened in May. “We never saw that many people at the old pool, I don’t think,” said Rabe.

With the resurfacing of the tennis courts and basketball courts next to the pool, ”it’s a very beautiful area for recreation. Ties in very nicely to the downtown,“ Rabe said.

“We got a lot accomplished in the last eight years.”

But Rabe has seen challenges as well. The Aug. 10, 2020 derecho was a big one. “It kind of brought everyone together,,” said Rabe. “I just remember getting out of the house to check things out” after the storm blew through.

The south wall of the library was coming off, said Rabe. He needed a lift to shore up the three-story wall and enclose it.

“I just started making calls to contractors,” said Rabe. “Everyone was busy. I just started calling people I knew.”

The C6-Zero explosion in December 2022 was another challenge Rabe dealt with while mayor. The city had to deal with the cleanup, said Rabe. EMS and police took managed most of it.

Marengo made national news because of the event, and Rabe sat in on a conference call with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds.

The city’s in pretty good shape now, and Rabe wants to spend his time doing other things.

“I think other people should have an opportunity,” said Rabe. “I just want a break from it.

“I still do carpenter work on the side” said Rabe. “It’s been picking up, so I keep plenty busy on the weekends.”