Jim Peters receives a certificate of appreciation for his 38 years of service to the City of Adel from Shirley McAdon during the Adel City Council meeting on Dec. 9, 2025. Allison Ullmann/Raccoon Valley Radio

After serving the City of Adel for the past 34 years as mayor, Jim Peters is looking back at some of the major projects he helped facilitate.

He was first elected to the Adel City Council in 1987. Peters says he followed his father’s footsteps as Darrell Peters served on the city council in the mid to late 1960s.

Peters served on the council for four years before deciding to run for mayor. He was elected as mayor in 1991 and took office in 1992.

Peters oversaw a number of capital projects over his 34 years as mayor, including opening a new city hall in 2002, replacing the 83-year-old library in 2006 and completing the second floor of the library in 2012 and replacing the 74-year-old swimming pool with a new aquatic center in 2013. He also helped replace the 48-year-old water plant in 2021 and the 35-year-old sewer plant in 2023.

Peters says those projects were made possible through two initiatives he helped put in place. He helped implement a residential tax abatement program and asked voters to pass a Local Option Sales and Service Tax referendum.

Peters has enjoyed serving the city as mayor and hopes he has made an impact.

“You’re elected mayor to show up and get things done and I’ve done both of those and it’s been very satisfying. One of things I said at my last council meeting was a quote from Paul Harvey where he said his goal in life was to leave the woodpile a little higher than he found it. And if Adel is my woodpile, I believe I left it a little higher than I found it.”

He will receive a Key to the City during tonight’s Adel City Council meeting. A public reception will be held from 5-7 p.m. Friday at the Adel Public Library Community Room.

To learn more about Peters’ time as mayor, check out yesterday and today’s two-part Let’s Talk Dallas County program.