Ahead of the November 2nd city/school elections, now is a time to learn more about the potential candidates. 

The race for Adel mayor has two candidates running and one of them is John Sparling. Sparling was born in Atlantic, Iowa and spent time in the U.S. Air Force where he was stationed in Germany and Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. Sparling explains what he does now.

“We moved to Perry in 1998. I started with (the) Adel Police Department in 2000 and I was there for 17 years and now I’m the chief of (the) DeSoto Police Department.”

As he runs for mayor Sparling says there are a few things he would look to address if he were to become mayor. Sparling says one of those includes holding the City responsible for spending as well as fire districts.

“Since the cities are all growing, not only Adel but Waukee, DeSoto and those our fire districts need to be redefined. Right now DeSoto goes to the (St. John’s Catholic Church) catholic church on the east side of (Highway) 169, Adel Fire goes just north of DeSoto on Maple Ridge. That’s not conducive to the citizens, it’s not fair to the citizens. They need better protection than that.”

Sparling is running against current Adel Mayor Jim Peters in the upcoming November 2nd city/school elections.