Siouxland Magazine - Volume 1 Issue 4

Sioux City Scoop | Public Office 101
By Alex Watters
I’ve been around politics for
most of my life. I remember
my dad running for sheriff in
Osceola County when I was in
middle school and I would join
him in parades and knocking
on doors. In high school, my
debate coach was a State
Representative and I recall
doing the same thing with him.
I didn’t volunteer for larger
political campaigns until I got
to college, where my involvement at that time consisted
of holding events for students to get to know candidates
and registering them to vote. Working for a presidential
campaign in 2012 introduced me to the amount of work
that goes into a campaign to get someone elected, and
also inspired me to run for office myself.
The Learning Curve
To my knowledge, there isn’t a manual on how to
implement your ideas or activate your campaign speech
once elected. Heck, if you’re unfamiliar with Roberts Rules
of Order, you may have no idea how to make a motion
in a meeting. Protocol can be unfamiliar and the timeline
for solutions can be difficult. Private companies have the
luxury of being nimble. Government does not.
Finally, and perhaps most difficult about the learning
curve, is that once elected, suddenly you are expected
to be an expert on a multitude of topics. Decisions must
be made about infrastructure, new development, and
countless other things you may have never encountered.
Members of City Council are given memos and trust
city staff to inform us of options, but ultimately each
Councilmember is given a vote and will make a decision
with the information they are given.
Dedicated Time
I‘ve read comments on social media about the
outlandish amount of money that Councilmembers
are paid when we simply have one meeting per week.
After holding this office for nearly 2 years, I have a
much better understanding of the time needed to be
informed and engaged with the community. It’s tough
to give a snapshot of a typical week, but I’ll do my best.
We are given the material for the Monday City Council
meeting on Thursdays around 3 PM. This information
can range from 150 to 500 pages. Some pages are
liquor license renewals, others are the details of various
grant applications, and so on. However, this is material
that should be read carefully to help with questions and
making decisions. SPOILER ALERT: It’s not like reading
the latest New York Times bestseller.
In addition to the weekly meetings, each Councilmember
is given committee assignments, adding one or two
meetings to your calendar each week. Often times
these are over the lunch hour or during the day. Also,
meetings can last longer than an hour and include their
own preparation/readings. These randomly scheduled
meetings make it difficult for anyone’s schedule, let alone
a professional with an 8-5 career. If you aren’t retired or
own your own business, flexibility from your employer
will be critical. I am so thankful that Morningside College
is supportive of my involvement in the city.
Community Engagement
In addition to the time commitment and learning curve,
the community engagement aspect of public office is
significant and can be overlooked. Depending on the
topic, I receive emails, Facebook messages, or phone calls
from people who want to share their opinion. I welcome
this dialogue and have found that oftentimes their advice
can be very helpful, but it is also easy to fall behind. It’s my
goal to respond to everyone.
In addition to yielding random correspondences, as an
elected official, you are expected to make an appearance
at as many community functions as possible. For a social
butterfly, such as myself, I take this as a challenge and try to
attend everything. And for anyone that says there’s nothing
going on in Sioux City, I would love to share my calendar
with you. To be honest, even prior to being elected I tried
attending as much as I could. I WANT to know about
everything that is going on in our neighborhoods and I
WANT to learn about all the wonderful organizations that
are adding so much value to our community.
Holding public office has taught me that it is difficult to
manage all of these things and achieve any type of work/
life balance. In addition to my full-time job and serving on
the City Council, I want to spend time with my girlfriend
and visit my family. However, for me, service is worth it. I
encourage anyone who is looking to make a difference in
our community to volunteer, serve on a commission, or
seek public office. We need YOU! One person truly can
make a difference.
Alex Watters, City Council of Sioux City
awatters@sioux-city.org
Siouxland Magazine | Converse /23