Carroll City Councilman, LaVern Dirkx, was appointed to fill a vacancy left with the resignation of Brandon Vonnahme in early 2017. But because of a bond referendum vote for the Carroll Public Library and City Hall project in August of that year, Dirkx had to be on the ballot. He won the seat, but the end of the original term is up this fall, and Dirkx has officially announced he will be running for another four years. Dirkx and his wife, Monica, moved to Carroll in 1975 and he has spent a great deal of time in public service, having previously sat for 10 years on the Carroll Community School District Board of Education. Dirkx, who is an at-large candidate, says he has had quite a few people asking if he will be seeking another four years.
In looking back over the past two years, Dirkx was able to bring his experience in both realms together for the benefit of the local school districts and the community.
Dirkx says he sees housing as one of the most critical issues the city has faced in the past and will continue to face in the near future. And he says he really has no agenda for seeking the seat.
After talking about the bigger projects in the area for the past 10 to 15 years, Dirkx says he doesn’t see any major undertakings for the city outside of the Carroll Rec Center renovation. Instead, he says, they will be turning their focus to the business of doing business for the benefit of the residents. And when considering who to cast a vote for in the Nov. 5 election, Dirkx says he would want residents to take a look at his history of service.
After explaining to them that this had been in long-term planning for many, many years and that the city had already set aside a good amount of money for the project, he got a response that helped him identify what residents really want. Out of the 20 people, only one person said that decision should go to a public vote. The rest said they elected their officials to take care of these types of daily-business decision. Dirkx is self-employed, manufacturing crosses and nativities that he sells across the country. He and his wife have four children, Matthew, Sarah, Chris and Michael.
