It's Official: Pleasant Hill is a Town

Only two formalities remained for Pleasant Hill to become an official town. On May 12 the court approved of the election and "declared the Town of Pleasant Hill, Iowa, duly incorporated.” Two days later the court’s judgment was filed with the offices of the secretary of state and recorder of Polk County who recorded the incorporation in book 2867, page 529. Pleasant Hill was a town.

The new council and mayor were sworn into office on May 21, 1956. The oath of office was given by Judge C. Edwin Moore. Milton Price was appointed as town clerk by the council to help run the town day to day. Vic Peterson was in charge of the town's bookkeeping.

After the ceremonies the mayor and the council began their work. No one knew exactly what to do. As Murry Witzenburg said, “We were all new and green at running things." Mayor Bechtold suggested that an engineer be consulted regarding the planning and the laying out of the town so provisions could be made for water, gas, sewer facilities, and building restrictions. Also needed was an expert on legal matters, a person who could help draft ordinances that would meet the test of law. Earl Gritton was retained to act as legal counsel.

Many things had to be done or at least started in the first year of the town’s existence. Unfortunately, the town's money was tied up with the county's funds. It took most of the first year to figure out how much the town was to receive. So the town actually had no budget during that year and a very small budget the next year.

Not having money did cause some problems that had to be worked out. After losing the Pleasant Hill tax money, the county refused to take care of the town's roads. Mayor Bechtold, mostly on his personal assurance of future payment, was able to obtain a road grader. The grader was operated that first year by John Fogle.

Another problem was the location of a town office. There was no town hall. The Pleasant Hill school basement was rented for council meetings. Milton Price, the town clerk, had a trailer next to his house on Shadyview. That trailer became the unofficial town hall for the first two years. Price, who was not paid for his duties as was no one else, would open the trailer for town business after he came home from work. There really was not a lot to do since there was no money collected. The clerk's duties mostly involved the keeping of town records. If the clerk or Mayor Bechtold had to send a letter, they would pay for the stamp and stationery out of their own pockets.

The new council slowly began solving all of the tasks that a town was expected to solve. A twenty-five year franchise was negotiated with Lew Slade of Iowa Power and Light Company for electricity and gas. The electric lines were particularly troublesome since they traveled a long ways before coming to Pleasant Hill. Any little storm would mean the residents would lose power. Eventually, Ipalco installed a short feeder line directly into the town.

People were hired or requested to help run the town. Besides Fogle to run the maintainer, Ray Davis was hired as maintenance man. A bank was needed for the day that revenues started to come to town, so the council appointed one in Des Moines. Discussions were held about acquiring land for a town park.