ARNOLDS PARK, Iowa | Jim Hussong's political career began with a question.
"What do you think about serving as mayor of Arnolds Park?" asked Matt Richter, a Three Sons retailer who serves on the Arnold Park City Council.
Like many questions involving service with local government, Hussong's answer was quick and confident. "No," he replied.
Richter persisted, asking Hussong to give the position an 18-month trial run, the time to fill the term of former mayor Mike Mitchell, whose job requirements moved him from this Iowa Great Lakes city of 1,184.
Hussong agreed. He served the remaining portion of Mitchell's term, and discovered he enjoyed being the Arnolds Park mayor. He put his name on the ballot in November 2015 and won re-election.
"I like it," Hussong said from his office at Kozy Heat, the family business he oversees in Arnolds Park and Lakefield, Minnesota, where 150 staff the manufacturing facility, turning out some 30,000 fireplace units each year. "I found that in business, you try to surround yourself with good people. And I believe we've got that in our city staff and on the city council."
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As the president of a thriving business, while also being a husband and father of three daughters, Hussong's time is finite. He understands the necessity to take care of business and then move to the next item. His city council meetings are known for their efficiency.
"We had one 17-minute meeting," he said. "The students at Spirit Lake High School are asked to observe a council meeting and I think we've had several come to the Arnolds Park meeting. I guess I like to run things tight."
If there are no additional agenda items, Hussong entertains a motion to adjourn. There are other fish to fry, as the saying goes.
It's not that Arnolds Park isn't doing much. The city recently saw a 28E agreement on police protection with nearby Milford end. When it did, Arnolds Park entered a 28E agreement for protection with Okoboji, an agreement, the mayor said, that makes more sense for his city.
Arnolds Park leaders are also working on a grant application to help pay for curb-and-gutter improvements, one important measure in filtering storm-water run-off into West Lake Okoboji.
"Water quality, of course, is a huge issue here," Hussong said.
He's known this for years, even prior to moving from Lakefield to Okoboji in 1997. He and wife Tresa resided there until 2006, when they moved to Spirit Lake. They relocated to a home on West Lake in Arnolds Park three years ago.
Serving as mayor, as in business, has seen Jim Hussong follow the lead of his father, Dudley Hussong, who served at least two terms as mayor of Lakefield, where he founded Kozy Heat Fireplaces in 1976.
"My dad had worked in manufacturing, a sewing business, and went around to various plants making sure everything ran correctly," Jim Hussong said. "When the company asked him to move to Minneapolis, he quit."
Dudley Hussong wanted to remain in Lakefield, where he and wife Betty were raising their only child, Jim.
Dudley Hussong went to work for his father, James Hussong, at his millwork shop in Lakefield. While there, the price of oil spiked, forcing Dudley to examine -- and create -- a more efficient heating alternative. He built a 55-gallon barrel stove and fueled it with wood chips for a free heat source.
Roland Koster, a mason from Lakefield, noticed the fireplace, and asked if he and Dudley might work together to build a similar fireplace for a farmer who was having a home constructed at the time.
"My dad said, 'If it's made of metal, I can weld it,'" Jim said.
The unit was a hit, as was a fireplace for a second farmer. Dudley Hussong then took out a lien against a 1975 Chevrolet Blazer and started his business, Kozy Heat.
"He'd have to sell one fireplace to be able to buy the materials for the next one," Jim said.
Now in its 40th year, Jim Hussong presides over a company that has 580 dealers all over the United States and Canada. The business growth, especially in the Iowa Great Lakes, prompted Jim to open a retail site (Kozy Heat Gallery) in Arnolds Park on Jan. 20, 2016.
"I live two blocks from the gallery and go back and forth between here and Lakefield," he said.
In addition to fireplaces, Kozy Heat has taken on outdoor furniture and grills and grills fueled by wood pellets.
Dudley Hussong, 73, resides in the Iowa Great Lakes and serves as the company's chairman of the board. Jim and Tresa's daughters, Heather Reasoner and Hannah Hussong, ages 27 and 26, respectively, have joined Kozy Heat in marketing (Heather) and research and development (Hannah).
Their third daughter, Sarah Hussong, 22, earned an accounting degree from the University of Iowa in May. Like her sisters, she may one day return to the Iowa Great Lakes to help Kozy Heat burn even brighter.
"Sarah would like to one day come back and work and raise a family here," Jim Hussong said.
The quality of life found in Arnolds Park makes it a possibility. It also makes possible this second generation of "Mayor Hussong" maybe one day yielding the gavel to a third generation.
