Dwight Jones explains his resignation from the Waukon City Council

At a Wednesday evening, March 28 special session of the Waukon City Council, the council accepted the resignation of council member Dwight Jones. The resignation notice emailed by Jones to fellow members of the Waukon City Council, Waukon Mayor Pat Stone, Waukon City Attorney Jim Garrett, Waukon City Manager Dean Hilgerson and Waukon City Clerk Al Lyon Monday morning, March 26 simply stated, “Please accept this as my official resignation from the city council effective immediately. Good luck. Dwight.” There was no further explanation offered at the March 28 special session, which Jones did not attend.

The Standard reached out to Jones to offer the opportunity to further explain his resignation decision. His reply follows:

“Eighteen years ago I received some parking tickets from the Waukon PD that I felt were unjustified. I took out my frustration by running for mayor, and no one was more surprised than me when I won that first election.

“I ended up serving four terms as mayor and until recently was a member of the Waukon City Council. In between these times, I’ve served on City-related boards, covered council meetings for the local newspaper and have always just stayed involved.

“Eighteen years is a long time, but it’s been grand. I’ve learned so much, met countless wonderful people and hopefully, somewhere along the way, made a positive difference in our community.

“As anyone that has been involved in such matters could attest, it isn’t always great. Though we’re basically volunteers, I’ve been cussed at, questioned and scorned. But understanding that we (mayors, councils, employees, etc…) were one team, all having the same goals and working hard in the same direction, it made it all worthwhile.

“Unfortunately, recent changes in City-related personnel have frustrated me to the point of resignation. This work is hard enough as it is without unnecessary power struggles and drama.

“For the record, this is not sour grapes over an election lost. I very much enjoyed my time on the City Council and understood that it was from that platform where I could make the biggest difference.

“Maybe someday when things are different I’ll give it another try. Either/or, I would like to thank every person that has supported our efforts, voted for me or at the very least understood that these 18 years were spent simply trying to make Waukon a better place to call home.”