Iona’s new mayor hopes to retain the city’s ‘Small Town, Big Heart’ feel

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the fifth story in our Looking Ahead series featuring candid interviews with east Idaho’s new mayors. Read our previous stories about the new mayors of eastern Idaho here.

IONA — For newly elected Iona Mayor Michael Thompson, the city can be described in four words.

“Small town, big heart.”

Originally from Ephrata, Washington, a small town with a bustling population of 8,718, Thompson says his goal is to keep Iona connected without fearing growth.

“I grew up in a small town in Washington State. We prided ourselves on having one stoplight, and they’ve graduated to three stoplights,” Thompson says. “It was a true community that was great to live in, and that’s kind of what led my wife and I to move to Iona…for that small town feel.”

In 2009, Thompson and his family, which eventually grew to include four children, moved to Idaho Falls, where Iona became their new home.

“With me growing up in a small town, we wanted to keep it that way. I wanted to keep it to a point where we know that growth is inevitable, but at least we can control the growth to a point where it’s manageable, and we can keep our values,” Thompson says. “(I wanted) to be able to create an environment of what my kids have to grow up in.”

Thompson says his family has enjoyed living in Iona so much that he joined the city’s planning and zoning committee, then ran for City Council and was elected in 2017.

“The community (in Iona) is very tight-knit, where we’re all willing to lend a hand to help each other,” Thompson says. “It takes a village, and we know that very well. I think the community responds very well when there is a need, and we’re able to help each other out.”

Fast-forwarding to election night 2025, Thompson says he found out he had been elected while he was lying in bed after a cold day of campaigning with his family.

“I took the day off work, and my kids and myself held up signs out along the road, just shaking the sign, and we were there all day. It was kind of a colder day, so finally, when it got dark, and no one could see me anymore, I went home, and honestly, I curled up in bed and warmed up. I was so cold,” Thompson says. “I actually was called by the (former city of Iona) Mayor Dan Gubler, and he said, ‘Well, congratulations!'”

Thompson says he is grateful for Gubler’s previous work and praises his dedication to the city.

“Mayor Gubler did a great job being the mayor of Iona. I think we had a great relationship,” Thompson says. “He told me he was happy that I won, and obviously, he wanted to win too, but he was excited for what I could bring to the city, and he was very happy for me to win.”

Previous to becoming Mayor, and still currently, Thompson works as the director of facilities and security at Melaleuca, a position he says he has “enjoyed every minute of” for the last 16 years.

“I was brought to Melaleuca to help start their residential security program, and it’s kind of morphed into doing that plus facilities work,” Thompson says. “Melaleuca is a fantastic place to work.”

Due to Thompson’s experience on the City Council, including getting to know each council member and understanding how city government functions, he says he is very optimistic about his ability to fix pressing issues and work well with other city staff.

“Back to the ‘Small Town, Big Heart,’ we’re really trying to get our kids out and do things and create a good environment for our families,” Thompson says. “Small government is key. We don’t have to be in everybody’s business; we don’t have to have this bloated bureaucracy. We’re here to serve the residents of Iona.”

According to Thompson, the most pressing issues in Iona are the expanding population and concerns about construction on Iona Road.

“I don’t want to speak for the council, but for myself, when I was on the council, our goal was to have bigger lots; we didn’t want to be stacked on top of each other,“ Thompson says. “Growth is always hard, right? Whether it’s growth directly adjacent to the city or a new community built just outside the city limits, they are in our area of impact. They do have an impact on our city.”

In terms of road construction, Thompson says he is working closely with local officials to manage expectations for the time required to reopen Iona Road and how people should detour around it.

“I hear that quite a bit, ‘When is the county going to be done with that road?'” Thompson says. “I work south of town, so taking Iona Road took me 18 minutes to get to work, and now it takes me 22 minutes. I mean, an extra four minutes is not that big of a deal, but it’s one of those things that people want to see done.”

During the few moments he has between his mayoral and career duties, Thompson says his time is spent with his family, whether it’s hunting, fishing, or golfing, but says he always looks forward to spending time with the people of Iona.

“Honestly, I’m a people person. I love to hang out with people, and that’s my thing,” Thompson says. “I think that’s kind of where my wife and I kind of contradict each other. She would rather sit by the pool and read a book, and I would rather go out and hang out with people and have a good time.”