The oaths of office were given to new Newton Mayor Randy Ervin and new City Council members Amy Roth and Jeff Holschuh at the end of Monday night’s regular Newton City Council meeting. All ran unopposed in last month’s election, and will officially begin serving the community January 1st. Roth is taking over longtime council member Steve Mullan’s 4th Ward seat, while Holschuh is replacing Ervin as an at-large council member. Outgoing Mayor Evelyn George, who has spent 13 years as a city council member or Mayor, encouraged the two new council representatives to help the returning members keep the city’s positive momentum going in housing, economic development, infrastructure improvements, and park improvements. 

“The challenge to those of you that are sitting and going to be sitting in these seats is to keep this momentum going. Keep having that pride and positive direction for our employees.”

The Newton City Council Monday night also accepted the low bid to address flash flooding during large rain events at First Avenue East and East 12th Street. The city received eight bids for the work, with the  low quote of $256,168 accepted from Central Iowa Excavation of Kellogg. The engineer’s estimate for the project was $330,445.