New Royal City mayor focused on proactive management

ROYAL CITY — New Royal City mayor Ryan Piercy said the city has benefited from good leadership for the last couple of decades.

“I feel like we as a community are blessed that we don’t have any major problems or controversial issues that are dragging us down,” Piercy said. “There have been good, committed leaders for about the last 20 years that have put us in a really good place.” 

Piercy takes office Jan. 1. He replaces Michael Christensen, who chose not to run for reelection. 

Piercy said Royal City is growing, and city officials need to start planning for the future.  

“We need to expand and upgrade our wastewater (facility) for the growing demand,” he said. “We’re in the early stages, designing now to start in 2030 or 2031. We have some time, so we’re trying to be proactive and get it taken care of.” 

Royal City is facing challenges in ensuring its water supply can meet future demand, and to meet that, city officials are drilling a new well. 

“That should take care of us for a while, and we have grants in place for that. We’re in pretty good shape there,” he said. 

The Friends of the Royal City Library volunteer group raised the money to build a new library, which opened in July. The city received a grant to pay part of the cost of building a soccer field in Lions Park, the first phase of a long-term plan to expand the recreation opportunities in the park. The new soccer field opened this fall. Piercy said city officials will have to ensure those investments are maintained. 

“Another challenge is going to be getting our public works (department) staffed and properly equipped to maintain the new soccer field we built, the new library we built. Then there are new wells coming online. We’re going to address training and staffing levels there. We’ve got a great team there and we’re looking to expand it.” 

The Royal City Police Department is one of the town’s strengths, he said.  

“They all live in the community, and I think that’s kind of rare for a small town in rural Grant County,” Piercy said. “We’re spending the time and the effort, and the money, to have them really well trained.” 

As the town grows, Piercy said he sees some opportunities. 

“We do need more commercial real estate available inside the city limits,” he said.  

While Royal City is growing, in his opinion, that growth needs to be done in the right way, he said.  

“We’re definitely open to annexation,” he said. “There are some parcels that would make the most sense to annex, but we want there to be a plan in place before we annex them. We don’t want to annex and then have them (count) against our zoning use mix and just sitting there for decades.”  

Piercy said he’s always been interested in public service, but that the demands of life made it difficult for a long time. He was appointed to the Royal City City Council in 2022 and was elected to his own term in 2023. 

“I’m finally in a place where I have the time to take on larger commitments like being mayor,” he said.  

    Outgoing Royal City Mayor Michael Christensen at an employee's retirement ceremony in January. Christensen opted not to run for reelection this year.