While he hasn’t made a final decision, Creston mayor Ron Toyota says he is leaning toward not running for re-election this fall.
Toyota has been mayor since 2008 and was narrowly re-elected in 2018 over former town manager Bill Hutchinson.
“Fourteen years is a long time,” he says. “I’ve had four good councils and we have accomplished a lot, I believe. There is opportunity for others to continue and carry on and hopefully it’s all about building our community and that’s the key.”
However, Toyota says he is leaving the door open at least a crack to another term, depending on who else puts their name forward.
“You never know what will happen. There could be a group or people who have visions of undoing everything we’ve done or not improving the community as we feel it should. But the leaning is 14 years is enough.”
Toyota thinks there may be some present councillors who would be willing to consider the job.
He says it’s hard to pick a single accomplishment that he’s most proud of in his time on council, because there have been many of them, but he points to improved communications, the major expansion of the community complex in 2010, and the new fire hall, which is expected to be completed this summer.
“There are many. They are all very important. It’s the fact that we’ve had four councils that have worked together and accomplished a lot.”