CLINTON, Iowa — The Clinton community is remembering the city's longest-serving mayor, who was also the first Black mayor to serve across the State of Iowa, LaMetta Wynn.
Wynn passed away in Nebraska on Thursday, June 24, 2021.
Former coworkers are remembering her lasting impact on the city. Richard Phalen has been in local government for over 40 years. He was around through all of LaMetta’s time in public service and now is the Executive Director of the Clinton Chamber of Commerce.
He says LaMetta was a caring person.
“She was the mother of 10 children and in a way she was the mother for the entire city of Clinton when she was mayor," he said. "She was really just a caring, loving person, who cared about our community and really did whatever she could for it.”
He remembers her biggest feat as being able to bring civility to local government in Clinton.
He recalls one of her first city council meetings saying, “The thing that was most impressive to me was how she brought civility to city council. City council when she became mayor was really kind of raucous, less than professional. After the first meeting she made it very clear that would not be tolerated, and we became a very professional and focused city council.”
That sentiment is echoed through Gregg Obern. He’s retired from city hall, but served in several roles throughout LaMetta’s tenure, most recently as the director of parks and recreation.
He sits now on the city council as an alderman. He says LaMetta had a way of making everyone feel at ease.
“Very non-intimidating," he said. "She would look you in the eye all the time. She knew everybody by first name and last name and probably middle initial if you asked her. She was just a very calming effect.”
He remembers her ability to bring ease to meetings and get her peers to respect each other no matter a difference of opinions. Obern saying, “There were some real significant budget issues in the early 2000s. There was a lot of raised stress levels that she very calmly reduced those stress levels while we were talking about budget and what had to be reduced and eliminated.”
She wasn’t just a mayor for the city either. She served on the school board in town for 12 years with serving as president of the board for three.
In addition to that she was elected to several state level boards by various governors of Iowa including Vision Iowa, the Commission on the Status of African-Americans, and the State Board of Education. She was a nurse as well, serving as president of the Mercy Hospital Board of Directors for some time as well.
It’s a legacy that is still being felt by today's mayor of Clinton, Scott Maddasion. Maddasion saying, “Every single day as you drive around Clinton or interact with Clinton there are so many things little and big that you might not know if you weren’t paying attention back then.”
He says he hopes to live up to that legacy, continuing to leave a positive impact on Clinton the way LaMetta did. “For the city to have a figure in our community with that storied past, her legacy will last in Clinton for generations to come and I’m sure mayors 20 to 30 years from now are still going to hear stories about things she did and her legacy. I do hope to emulate that but it’s a very tall order to stand up to that, so hopefully I do her proud and her family proud.”
Services for Wynn are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, July 2 and 3 at Church of the Open Door in Clinton, Iowa.