City Councilman Mike Eifler says that when many Carroll residents look in the mirror what they see is not the face of a vibrant future workforce.

Speaking during a council-staff retreat session at the Carrollton Centre on Saturday, Eifler said Carroll must work aggressively to diversify the workforce by attracting younger people and minorities.

“Let’s face it,” Eifler, who is in his 50s, said. “We’re a white town. We’re getting older. We need more people and they can’t all be white. We’re all guilty, for lack of a better word, of being racist.”

He added, “We need to get some diversity here as far as races, religion.”

According to the Census, Carroll County’s population in 2006 was 98.8 percent white. Nearly 20 percent of the county is 65 years or older – higher than the state average of 15 percent.

The discussion emerged as council members eye possible remedies to Carroll’s workforce shortage – and whether government has a role at all with the process.

For his part, Councilman Bob Eich said he hoped to see at least two members of the council in the next decade come from minority groups.

“I envision having two minorities on the council,” Eich said.

After hearing that Councilman Tom Tait joked, “So we need a black woman.”

Mayor Jim Pedelty, whose daughter-in-law is African-American, said that for most of Carroll’s history there has been little diversity.

Said Councilman Jeff Scharfenkamp, “Carroll is kind of a Mayberry RFD community.”

Pedelty said he is concerned that Carroll’s population has been flat-lining over the last two decades.

“We’ve got the same population of 10,000 people,” Pedelty said.

Rather than looking at the issue through the lens of race, Pedelty suggested that property taxes in the city are too high for some people.

The mayor also said he’s worried that Carroll’s current leadership isn’t cultivating strong “lieutenants” to replace them when the time comes.

Councilwoman Carolyn Siemann said city leaders need to start thinking like young people to keep and attract a workforce. Developing wireless Internet access, something vital for younger people, is on the city’s action plan for 2008.

Eifler said Carroll can diversify without following the lead of other western Iowa cities.

“I’m not talking about meatpacking plants,” Eifler said.

City Manager Gerald Clausen said tolerance in Carroll needed to move beyond just race and religion.

“You can’t say homosexuals are bad people, because they are part of the future,” Clausen said.