With the start of a new year, the City of Jefferson is saying goodbye to a long-serving mayor.

Craig Berry served 12 years as mayor and prior to that 19 years on city council. Berry says some of the major accomplishments during his tenure as mayor include building the overpass bridge on Highway 4, along with adding businesses such as Hy-Vee, Wild Rose Casino and Resort, Cobblestone Inn and Suites, completing the downtown streetscape project, establishing Jefferson Matters: Main Street, hosting the Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) as an overnight stop in 2008 and 2018, and starting the Market-to-Market Relay event. Berry describes why he chose to serve 31 years as a public official.

“It’s just something I want to do (and) I felt like I should do. When I was on the Council I thought, ‘Well we’d get some stuff accomplished.’ But I think Jefferson deserves something better than decrepit buildings and bad streets, (along with) sewer, water and that stuff.”

He describes one motivating factor that kept him wanting to continue to serve as mayor for three terms.

“You can’t just sit on your butt at a council meeting and not doing anything, you’ve got to be out and active and look for opportunities. We’ve got a great administrative staff now with the City that goes out and does stuff like that. But I think as council people and mayors, you can’t just sit and let people come to you, you have to go out and go get them.”        

Berry thanks everyone’s support during his 12 years as mayor. The new mayor Matt Gordon defeated Berry in the 2019 general election and has started his four-year term as mayor.