By Norma Dittman
Fulda Free Press staff writer
Wayne Paplow has announced that he will be retiring from the position of Mayor of Dundee as of January 2019. He has served on the Dundee City Council and as the mayor for almost four decades.
“When Richard Larson, who was mayor at the time, decided to move, Betty Norton was the Dundee City Clerk. She came to me and asked me if I would register as a candidate for mayor. At the time, I was already a Dundee City Council member, so I said that I would,” Paplow explained. “I have been the mayor ever since.” At that time, the population of Dundee was 115, and all of the houses were full.
When asked why he is now resigning his position, he said, “My health went down and you come to the point that enough is enough.”
Beginning his service to the City of Dundee included not only governing duties, but also the duties of mowing grass and snow removal. “At that time, the city didn’t have much money available, and I had the equipment to do that work,” Paplow said.
As mayor, he found that there were times he was awakened during the night because a resident had an issue and needed his help. “As a mayor, the residents are dependent on you and the city council to keep things running smoothly. That means conducting meetings and answering a lot of questions. You’re not going to make everybody happy all of the time. It just can’t happen. But, you can listen to them and take their thoughts and suggestions to the council. As the years went by, it got a little easier to take care of the essentials because we started building up the city funds,” Paplow commented.
