Scott Wise, long time Paullina resident has accepted the reins of city leadership. Wise lived his early years in Paullina. His mom began selling real estate in Primghar for Vander Tieg Realty. The family relocated there in 1978-ish. The move required State of Iowa approval. Wise’s dad was a State Trooper. Wise graduated from Primghar High School. After graduation he returned to Paullina and worked 5 years at MidAmerican Lamb. He married Carla Hattermann. The couple raised 3 children.
After MidAmerican Lamb, Wise began along career at Well’s Enterprise at LeMars, Iowa. He began as a line worker and progressed to production supervisor. During Wise’s 36 years with Wells’, he spent more than 29 of those years as a production supervisor.
In considering the change of employment Wise explained it is time for something different. His routine during those 36 years he would wake at 2:30am to get ready for work and leave by 3:30 for a 10+ hour day. Work schedules were 5 or 6 days per week. Driving a few blocks for a mostly 8-hour workday interested him. When the opportunity for the city position came up, he showed interest. “I know it’s gonna be more than 8 hours from time to time, but 8 hours for the most part.”
Wise looks back at his career at Wells’. He noted that when things changed at Wells’ the employees who had been there could just make the change. For the new employees, in his view, it was much harder. They had so much to learn. It was all new – policies and everything. “It’ll be the same here,” he noted, speaking for himself.
As a production supervisor, Wise identified safety as a primary responsibility. He said, “Overall safety of employees around production equipment” was a primary responsibility. He elaborated on that, adding, “production safety, personal safety, food safety. It was safety first.” He extrapolated that to his new position with the City of Paullina. He feels the safety factor is the same in both roles. Safety first. Here they use heavy equipment. In both places, OSHA guidelines must be followed.
Wise’s role within the production system at Well’s seems like it can be complicated. As a production supervisor it is necessary to work with a wide range of experts. There is production scheduling, staff scheduling (that work is done with different people), staffing depends on the product in production. Wise worked with people from all aspects of a facility. He worked with maintenance, Quality Assurance, and packaging. It is necessary to know what each product is supposed to look and taste like. He needed to know who to contact for different concerns or issues.
Looking into the future, Wise predicts that he will bring much of the same expertise to City Hall. Safety and well-being for the city’s employees are a main focus. He also sees looking after the city, keeping it looking nice, continuing to be presentable are key parts to his job. He expects to keep going down that path and moving forward with those community features.
Wise recognizes it will take a bit to learn procedures in his new position. He will learn what [projects] have started and plans to build off that. He will get with council about plans that are in place and build off that. It will be important to work well together and communicate back and forth.