COMMUNITY COMES FIRST
Joy Bennett, Mason City Councilmember
The work of a city council member is finding and supporting solutions to the challenges and desires residents have.
I believe in building consensus. That requires sharing information readily, being curious, assuming positive intentions, and listening to understand rather than to win an argument.
I believe the answers are in the room (and my job is to facilitate finding those answers, not coming up with them all alone).
I also believe your elected officials must be good stewards of your taxpayer dollars. We make decisions every month on how to spend money that you earned. You should feel confident we have your best interests in mind.
The work of a city council member is finding and supporting solutions to the challenges and desires Mason residents have.
I believe in building consensus, rather than forcing ideas upon people. I also believe as an elected official, I must be a good steward of your taxpayer dollars.
I want to hear from you. Please take my community survey and share what you like and what you'd like to see from the city of Mason and your city council.
The survey is available in English, Spanish, Hindi, Arabic, and Chinese.
Contact me.
Have a question? Want to share an idea, a concern, something you like and want us to continue, or critique we need to hear about? Send me message!
Community-Focused
The work of a city council member is finding and supporting solutions to the challenges and desires Mason residents have.
I believe in building consensus, rather than forcing ideas upon people. I also believe as an elected official, I must be a good steward of your taxpayer dollars.
I want to hear from you. Please take my community survey and share what you like and what you'd like to see from the city of Mason and your city council.
The survey is available in English, Spanish, Hindi, Arabic, and Chinese.
Over the past few years, I stood against local government overreach by using our citizen power of referendum and petition to push back on unpopular council decisions, including a development planned for downtown Mason.
I’ve also knocked more than 2,000 doors in our community, asking and listening to what is important to YOU.
What I’ve heard is that you moved to Mason for the quality of life here. We have a beautiful, modern, well-run city, and you want to keep it that way.
Community-Focused
The work of a city council member is finding and supporting solutions to the challenges and desires Mason residents have.
I believe in building consensus, rather than forcing ideas upon people. I also believe as an elected official, I must be a good steward of your taxpayer dollars.
I want to hear from you. Please take my community survey and share what you like and what you'd like to see from the city of Mason and your city council.
The survey is available in English, Spanish, Hindi, Arabic, and Chinese.
Over the past few years, I stood against local government overreach by using our citizen power of referendum and petition to push back on unpopular council decisions, including a development planned for downtown Mason.
I’ve also knocked more than 2,000 doors in our community, asking and listening to what is important to YOU.
What I’ve heard is that you moved to Mason for the quality of life here. We have a beautiful, modern, well-run city, and you want to keep it that way.
Priorities for Mason
Throughout the thousands of conversations I've had with Mason residents, this one theme remains consistent. You are concerned about the impact of growth and development on our city and the quality of life here.
- Business. Which businesses will locate in Mason? Where and how will they build and/or expand? What employment opportunities will they bring? How can our community attract, support, and keep entrepreneurs and small businesses here?
- Traffic, parking, and other everyday needs. As more people move here and/or work here, our roads, parking lots, and other resources must adapt to handle them. All around Mason, residents are frustrated and even afraid as you exit your neighborhoods onto our busy main roads.
- Cost of living. Housing prices and rents have doubled in the 25 years I've lived here. Many of you have said you aren't sure you'll be able to live here when you retire. Many of our adult children can't afford to live in Mason, and neither can our teachers, firefighters, police, and other city employees. How do we make sure our city can meet our needs throughout our lives?
As your city council representative, I commit to serving YOU, being accessible to you, and communicating transparently about policies and decisions we make as a council.
As your city council representative, I commit to serving YOU, being accessible to you, and communicating transparently about policies and decisions we make as a council.
About Joy
My husband Scott and I moved to Mason as brand-new parents of a 2-month-old baby girl in 2000. That little girl, Elli, was born with 5 congenital heart defects. In fact, she was still in Cincinnati Children’s Hospital’s CICU when we moved into half of a duplex on Church Street.
We called ourselves frequent fliers at Children's because Elli was admitted so many times. She had 4 open heart surgeries in her first 3 years.
In spite of that, we made good memories too. We had 3 more children, celebrating first steps, first days of school, and first dates.
About Joy
My husband Scott and I moved to Mason as brand-new parents of a 2-month-old baby girl in 2000. That little girl, Elli, was born with 5 congenital heart defects. In fact, she was still in Cincinnati Children’s Hospital’s CICU when we moved into half of a duplex on Church Street.
We called ourselves frequent fliers at Children's because Elli was admitted so many times. She had 4 open heart surgeries in her first 3 years.
In spite of that, we made good memories too. We had 3 more children, celebrating first steps, first days of school, and first dates.
Because we spent so many days at Children’s with our daughter, I decided to join the Family Advisory Council (FAC) to give back and help other families.
I led the FAC for 5 years, focusing on improving the hospital experience for patients and families. Because people end up at a hospital for many reasons – birth defects, illnesses, and injuries – we needed as many different perspectives as possible to make things better.
What I saw though, was that no matter what brought us to the hospital, we all wanted the same thing – for our little ones to be ok.
Today, I am running for city council to give back to this town I call home. I love this city and want everyone to experience the support and connections here that we have.
I see many parallels between serving on the Family Advisory Council at Children's and serving on Mason City Council.
We each move to Mason for different reasons with different experiences. Yet, we all want the same thing – to enjoy a good life.
To ensure everyone has the opportunity to build a good life in Mason, council members need to listen to your stories and experiences. We need ask questions instead of making assumptions. We need to collaborate to find win-win solutions.
Subscribe to My Newsletter
I send about one email per month sharing what’s going on in our city council, the kinds of work I get to do, updates on committees (which is where most of the work actually happens, and upcoming events you may want to participate in!
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