page_title: Fairfield, Iowa
section_title: Government
hierarchical_section_title: Fairfield, Iowa / Government
caption_attribution_description: English: County courthouse for Jefferson County, Iowa.
context_page_description: Fairfield is a city in, and the county seat of, Jefferson County, Iowa, United States. It has a population of 9,464 people, according to the 2010 census. It is a Midwestern city surrounded by rolling farmlands filled with corn, soybean, cattle, and hogs with a median family income of $46,138. The city became the county seat in 1839 with 110 residents and grew to 650 by 1847. Its library was established in 1853, and it held its first fair in 1854. Early architecture includes work by George Franklin Barber and Barry Byrne, who trained under Frank Lloyd Wright.
  The city has an "abundance of start-up companies" and has been called "one of the state's economic superstars". It has received The Grassroots Rural Entrepreneurship Award, has been nicknamed "silicorn valley", and was featured in a 2012 episode of the TV show Oprah's Next Chapter. It has been the home of Maharishi International University since 1974 and has been referred to as "the world's largest training center" for practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation technique. The city includes the $6 million Fairfield Arts & Convention Center, built in 2007. In 2010, it was named one of six Iowa Great Places.
context_section_description: Fairfield is governed by a seven-member city council headed by a mayor. The current mayor, Connie Boyer, was elected in 2019. City council members serve staggered four-year terms. The council consists of one representative from each of the city's five wards, plus two at-large representatives. As of 2020, city council members are Katy Anderson (at large), Doug Flournoy (at large), Martha Rasmussen (Ward 1), Paul Gandy (Ward 2), Judy Ham (Ward 3), Michael Halley (Ward 4), and Tom Twohill (Ward 5). Fairfield's city administrator is Aaron Kooiker.
caption: Jefferson County Courthouse in Fairfield
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