When Steve French is sworn in as Iola mayor in January, he promises to do so without ego, but rather a desire to see the remaining City Council members meet his one request.
“I will encourage true debate when we have a topic,” he said. “I don’t even care what the topic is, whether it’s patching a hole in the road vs. mill and overlay. We need a true debate.”
French has been a part of debates aplenty in his time on the Council.
He was one of the original Council members chosen in 2011, when Iola switched from a three-member city commission to an eight-member city council. He then was re-elected to a seat in 2019.
Now, having been voted in as mayor to replace the outgoing Jon Wells, French spoke briefly about his goals for the city.
“I’ve got a platform statement,” he joked. “I’ve had more birthdays before now than I have left.
I’m not doing this for me. I’m not there for Steve French. I’m there because I love my community.”
French sees Iola facing many of the same challenges as other rural communities these days.
It pains him to see Iola’s population dwindle, slowly but surely; to see impoverished Iolans struggle; to see repeat offenders mired in the throes of crime and addiction.
“That’s why I want to be a part of the solution, rather than just part of the cycle,” he said.
THUS lies French’s hope for an engaged Council, ready to tackle some of these issues, with a caveat.
“What is the city’s responsibility for all this?” he asked. “I think we play a part.”
He considers housing, crime and drug addiction quality of life issues. “Do we not play a part?”
Take crime, for example.
French, who worked for several years as a sheriff’s deputy, recalled the old ways of doing things.
“I was part of the system where we locked them up,” he recalled. “They’d stay away from the problems and come out, seemingly rehabilitated, but it didn’t work.”
Now, the justice system has shifted its focus more toward rehabilitation and treatment vs. incarceration.
“I won’t say we’ve gotten soft on crime, but is it working?” French asked. “And what’s the city’s responsibility to address that?”
He doesn’t have an answer.
“That’s the spirited debate I want in the city,” he said. “I want our community to be viable, I want the quality of life to be good. How do we get those in the criminal system to be more viable? Why can’t we get people to work again?”
French hopes, in particular, to see the Council determine what, if anything, could be done to tackle Iola’s housing stock.
“That’s part of the city’s issue,” he said. “We have a housing need and we keep bulldozing houses. We’ve gotta find a plan. What can we do differently? Just saying we have a housing need, and then not addressing it by action, we’re just part of the cycle now.”
FRENCH’S background has given him a glimpse of how some older homes can be restored.
On top of his work as a deputy sheriff, a 29-year investigator with the Kansas Board of Healing Arts and now as a part-time transport driver for Feuerborn Family Funeral Service, French also dabbles in carpentry.
He’s helped restore older, dilapidated houses, including a pair not far from where he lives. One was for his mother-in-law.
While structurally solid, the house in the 200 block of South Oak Street had a rotting porch, and was inundated with trees and weeds. “It looked like a forest,” French said. “You could barely see it.”
The home’s dilapidated condition allowed French to buy it for a pittance.
“It was a gut job,” he said. “But it had good bones, and we were able to save it.”
Alas, that happens far too frequently, he said.
French recalled meeting one family that moved from out of state to Allen County for work, stayed for a year with the hopes of buying a house, but then moved back because the cost of rent had grown beyond their budget.
“I know we’ve lost people because they couldn’t afford to stay here and make it happen,” he said.
ECONOMIC development has been a topic of discussion for the Council for several years.
French notes Iola’s partnership with Allen County and Iola Industries, in which all three entities pay equal amounts to Thrive Allen County for economic development services,
He also is part of a subcommittee looking at a wide array of topics, such as how much aid the city could or should provide for folks to either set up shop or stay in Iola..
“We need a spirited debate, and we’re already doing it a little bit,” he said.
And while learning about economic development has been one of his passions, French hopes other Council members can find an issue to embrace with equal enthusiasm.
“I want a Council member to step up and say, this is my passion,” French said. “Along that line, I want more citizens involved. These issues are community-wide issues. It’s gonna take a team effort, and not just with eight Council members.”
An engaged citizenry is vital to Iola’s success, French offered.
“Don’t just call and complain after the fact,” he said. “I want us to get opinions, get information, and then let the Council chew on it, so they can vote on what’s morally, ethically and legally the best thing to do. And let’s avoid emotional voting. I want a spirited debate, but I don’t want to rush things.”
RUNNING for mayor while already on the Council caused French some pause, he admitted.
While he gains a bully pulpit, French now will cast votes only in matters in which the eight-member Council is deadlocked, 4-4.
But in losing his voice as a Council member, French also hopes to guide the Council through future discussions and keep the city’s eye on top priorities.
He had considered running for mayor previously, but his hectic work schedule meant such aspirations drew barely a second thought.
But French is now retired from the Board of Healing Arts, and he has slowed in his carpentry endeavors.
“Arthritis sucks,” he chuckled. “But things are slowing down for me. I’ve always had this idea of getting more involved to address some of these bigger issues in our community. I figure I could be in a bigger position as mayor.”
FRENCH hopes to visit individually with each of the Council members in the coming days and weeks, to share his vision, and to gain theirs.
“A couple I don’t really know, but a couple I do,” he said. “I know their personalities.”
He’s confident the new Council can embrace his passion for debate.
“I’m all for diversity,” he said. “Let’s bring it on.
“I think what has been shown to me, with the meetings we’ve had, is we’ve got the right people in place with the city employees and the department heads. It’s a fine well-tuned motor. It’s working.”
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