By Anelia K. Dimitrova
Experience takes time to accumulate and it ultimately pays off on the job.
That’s one of the messages Linda Laylin, the current chair of the Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors, wants to convey ahead of the upcoming June primary. She is running on the Democratic ticket for District 3 against Kamyar Enshayan, a former Cedar Falls councilman.
Laylin, the only woman on the board, has served the county for 13 years.
In the process, she has amassed a lot of institutional knowledge and wisdom, she said.
If reelected, she hopes to continue the work she has been focused on, carrying on with the projects the county has been developing for some time and seeing some of them to completion.
Laylin’s fourth term–had it been completed–would have expired in 2028.
But a recent change in Iowa law put all supervisors on the ballot in 2026 in counties where there are regents universities. As per the new rules, supervisors will now be elected by the voters in their respective districts, not by the whole county, as has been the case.
In order to retain the staggered nature of the election cycle, the county auditor randomly drew two districts whose supervisors will serve for two years, then get on the four-year cycle when those terms expire. The two-year terms for this cycle are for districts 2 and 3.
If reelected, Laylin will serve two years.
The Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors approved the new changes on Dec. 15, 2025.
Laylin said that as a voter, she does not like the fact that now county residents cannot vote for all supervisors, but only for the candidates vying to represent the respective districts.
“I would like as a voter to have a voice in all five positions,” she said.
Meanwhile, she has been actively knocking on doors to chat with prospective voters, a process that often brings about self reflection for her.
“I have really enjoyed the job,” she told me.
Supervisors are tasked with duties such as approving the county’s budget, revising or drafting county ordinances, voting on zoning changes, levying taxes, caring for the roads, deciding on contracts, appointing members of various commissions, overseeing water and sewer issues, setting public health policy, holding public hearings and overseeing the maintenance of county buildings, among other duties.
What Laylin likes about the job is the wide-ranging scope of the work and the gratification that comes from improving the lives of the people in the community.
“I love the challenge,” Laylin said. “I love the different variety. And so, I have enjoyed every minute of it,” she said.
She explained that in 2025, the board had come up with a new mission and seven values that the supervisors and staff use to guide their decisions.
Asked to articulate the values during our interview, she laughs that in her recounting, they may be in a slightly different order than in the statement posted on the county website. But as she lists the values – financial responsibility, accountability, collaboration, transparency, service, innovation and efficiency– she elaborates on how each relates to the work and its impact.
What prompted Laylin to consider a public service job is her commitment to the county and her expertise in economic growth.
She said the Cedar Valley has given her a lot of room to grow and develop and now it is her turn to give back.
“I want to put my experience working with local businesses and community leaders to work on growing Black Hawk County for the future generations,” she wrote on her campaign web page.
Prior to the supervisor job, Laylin worked in economic development, she told me. She served as the executive director of the Cedar Valley Growth Fund, from 2012 to 2015, according to her LinkedIn profile. She is also the founder of a consulting firm called LLL Consulting, which focuses on grant writing, project management and community planning, among others.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in public administration from UNI and took classes in the public policy graduate program at her alma mater.
Eventually, that engagement with businesses and growth led her to run for office, as the goal of bettering the community aligned with her personal philosophy and her prior work.
She said the transfer of her skills from her job at the Cedar Valley Growth Fund to the supervisor role was seamless.
“This was just another avenue in the county where you looked at the quality of life, the conservation, the parks and trails, the public health aspect of it, keeping everyone healthy, the roads and bridges,” she said. “To me, it kind of went hand in hand.”
She said population growth was a priority for her from the very start of her term as a supervisor, but the county has had only a small “uptick” in numbers. Black Hawk County ranks 31st in the state in terms of population growth. In 2026, it has an estimated 131,591 residents, up from 131,037 in 2020, according to the World Population Review.
For Laylin, that is an indication that the work in seeking ways to grow the county’s population in a sustainable way needs to continue.
“That was one of the things I wanted most to see is Black Hawk County,” she said. “I want us to keep our young people here. When we grow, we have more for the citizens that are here, we have more jobs, more tax base and we would not have to increase taxes, we have more people and businesses to share the burden.”
On her website, Laylin lists 10 accomplishments she has helped with as a supervisor, such as voting for investments in solar energy in seven counties to keeping tax increases minimal; working to implement improvements in public health, parks, technology; upgrading the pay scale for county staff to make it comparable to similarly sized counties; and bonding for the radio system allowing emergency respondents to communicate on the same platform.
She said she is proud of the strategic plan the county passed last year and the involvement of staff with the process.
She said the concept of a “thriving community” is at the core of the county’s mission statement.
“To me, this is what we’re kind of all about, and what you want to see anyway– helping everybody, not just businesses, not just people that have got certain education levels, but helping everybody to be able to do better,” she said.
She noted that the county had received some federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act for projects, which allowed them to do renovations in the elections, auditor’s and recorder’s and treasurer’s offices in order to make working with the public more efficient. She added that the county also modernized the facility housing Veteran Affairs.
In the strategic plan, the board prioritized 12 items, she said, and tackled the first four this year, namely mental health, more professional training and accountability training for the staff, economic development as well as safety and security of the county’s buildings.
“I think we are excited about seeing more of us involved and not just what we can give you money for, but how can we support these important initiatives?” she said.
She praised the work of the county staff.
“I can’t say enough good about them, they want to do the best for the taxpayers,” she said. “I enjoy working with them, so that’s very gratifying.
The most gratifying part about being a county supervisor for Laylin is the lasting impact the supervisors’ actions have on the community.
“I think it’s sometimes the same project,” she said. “You can have the same project, or something you’re working on, be probably the most challenging, the most frustrating, and the most rewarding. Even sometimes on the same day. Roads and bridges are great but when you really know it [the work] changes someone’s life, you know you’ve done something and made a difference.
“I would like to think that when I leave this office, I’ve made a difference.”