Schickel honored as Mason City’s longest-serving mayor

MASON CITY — Bill Schickel is now Mason City’s longest-serving mayor. The City Council in Mason City surprised Schickel with a special proclamation at the start of Tuesday night’s meeting, recognizing the achievement and declaring April 13th to the 19th as “Mayor William Schickel Week” in the community.

Schickel as of today has served a record 5919 days having served in three separate periods of time, from 1990 to 1993, 1998 to 2003, and 2018 to the present.

During the taping of the “Ask the Mayor” podcast today, Schickel talked about why he wanted to get into public service.  “I’ve always had a love for public service. Some of the people that were mentioned last night, former mayor George Menden, former mayor Ken Kew, and so many of the greats. I didn’t realize I was the 46th mayor. The opportunity to serve, seeing what a difference you can make, it’s a great, great calling. I consider public service a calling.”

Schickel served in the Iowa Legislature from 2003 to 2009, but decided to jump back into the world of local politics in August 2015 when he became an at-large councilman, leading to being mayor again in 2018. While he could have easily called it a career after serving three terms at the statehouse, Schickel says he wanted to stay involved.  “I think it was former Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn was quoted as saying ‘politics is local’, and I really believe that. I love Mason City, but I love the chance to have a local impact, and you really can make a difference at the city council level with our boards and commissions, and that’s why I stepped back in.”

You can listen to more comments from Schickel’s appearance on the “Ask the Mayor” podcast by clicking here