Oskaloosa 4th Ward Candidate Interview: Abu Ibrahim
Abu Ibrahim
The City of Oskaloosa will hold a special election on Tuesday, April 2, 2024, to fill the vacant Fourth Ward seat on the City Council. The election comes after the seat was left open due to the resignation of Steve Burnett.
Candidates vying for the position are Jimmy Carter and Abu Ibrahim.
Fourth Ward residents in Oskaloosa will vote at the old YMCA building, 414 North 3rd Street, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
For more information regarding the election or voter registration, citizens can visit the official elections website for Mahaska County at elections.mahaskacountyia.gov/elections.
The elected council member will serve the remainder of Burnett’s term.
We sent identical questions to the two candidates and are publishing Ibrahim’s response. We are still waiting to receive a response from Carter.
Our first question concerns the candidate’s top priorities for Oskaloosa and how they plan to address them.
“This sounds cliche but I would like to see Oskaloosa achieve what it is capable of. I believe strongly we have plenty of opportunities to grow economically, culturally, and with our infrastructure. There are several ways to go about these areas of growth with partnerships with the Chamber of Commerce, Oskaloosa Schools, William Penn University, our local businesses, and city departments. Oskaloosa is vibrant and we need to all get behind making sure everyone knows who we are and what we have to offer.”
We asked how they plan to improve communication and engagement between the city council and residents.
“What has been helpful to me in doing this campaign has been meeting people throughout town and listening to them. In 2024 there are many ways to get in front of everyone via synchronous online platforms like Teams or Zoom. I know the City is active on social media so determining from our citizenry what the best approaches to getting communications out in a manner that is digestible and informative. Lastly, I think that wherever possible we need to be transparent to the citizens as no information can be as bad and often worse than misinformation.”
Abu wrote about economic development and how they would attract new businesses to town while supporting existing ones.
“I think that economic development is critical to our longevity. There may be opportunities to incentivize businesses to set up shop here in Oskaloosa. Having choices is always good for the consumers who will have a variety of options of places to patronize. I believe that we are already part of the way there with some of those incentives, in addition to the certified site opportunities. Lastly, I think there is a need for more housing stock for both ownership and rentals.”
We then asked how they would approach infrastructure improvements and their plan to prioritize those projects.
“I firmly believe that Oskaloosa needs to take a solid look at infrastructure and looking how to make the necessary appropriations to address them. I know that in years past that appears to not have always been the case and now much of that deferred maintenance is coming around and appearing to be prohibitively expensive.”
On the subject of dealing with state and federal regulations that impact Oskaloosa, Abu shared,
“I believe that we should stay compliant with state and federal regulations, but we should also maintain a focus on our local needs as a community. If there are laws enacted that are to our detriment I believe that we need to work together to advocate for ourselves and make sure that our voices are heard.”
We referenced the upcoming Spirit Cafe that the Oskaloosa School System is bringing to downtown Oskaloosa, and asked how they would support and expand such initiatives that link education with community development.
“I learned about the Oskaloosa Spirit Cafe from a conversation with Mike Fisher where we discussed how it started with an idea and then passion. I think making sure that people in the City know about the not just about a cafe opening but how it came to be is important in highlighting the great things that are capable of coming out of our schools and for other entrepreneurs. This comes back around the point before about making sure that we are able to tell our story.”
Our last question was a bit more personal, digging into what experience they bring that may be needed for running a city.
“In my position at William Penn University, I have been involved in budgeting not only for my department but also for other departments and sports that I helped to oversee. I also have served on committees for the National Athletic Trainers’ Association at the National, District, and State level. Finally, I currently am on the Board for Saint Mary of the Hills School, a private Catholic Pre-K through 8th grade school located in Milton, MA.,” said Abu in closing.
