Swisher is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States.

[3] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.82 square miles (2.12 km2), all land.

At a regularly scheduled city council meeting on November 11, 2013, City Clerk Connie Meier and Mayor Tim Mason resigned suddenly, effectively leaving Swisher without any administrative staff.

A video of the meeting released to news outlets showed Mason and Meier engaged in an argument with council member Angie Hinrichs over a letter sent to the council from an appointed city official.

In the video, Hinrichs repeatedly accused Meier of improperly sharing the letter with a local developer.

When Mason tried to come to Meier's defense, Hinrichs threatened to contact the city attorney independently, stating "I just want it on the record that I did not give this because if there's any consequences that come back to the city council, I did not give this to them."

[9][10] The resignations occurred six days after Hinrichs and another council member, Larry Svec, were re-elected to additional four-year terms.

Gudenkauf would continue to serve as acting mayor until a special election was held in February 2014.

Meier would later release a statement which read, in part, "Unfortunately, a couple of council members had made working conditions detrimental to me, making me feel uncomfortable and unsafe.

Staying in my position would have enabled these two individuals to continue to treat me in an unacceptable manner.

"[11] A special election was held on February 4, 2014, to fill the mayor's seat for the remainder of Tim Mason's term.

Christopher J. Taylor, who had run for city council against Angie Hinrichs and Larry Svec in the fall, won the election against long-time Planning and Zoning Commission chairman Randy Hurlbert by a vote of 151 to 136.

[13] Taylor took office nine days after the election, on February 13, to serve out the term expiring December 31, 2015.