{"id":19066,"date":"2017-09-05T22:38:51","date_gmt":"2017-09-06T04:38:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=19066"},"modified":"2017-09-07T07:14:56","modified_gmt":"2017-09-07T13:14:56","slug":"on-the-record-ward-3-open-seat-draws-4-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2017\/09\/on-the-record-ward-3-open-seat-draws-4-candidates\/","title":{"rendered":"On the record, Ward 3: Open seat draws 4 candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

\"\"<\/a>Three candidates are vying to replace Rich McFadden\u00a0of Ward 3, who is nearing the end of his second consecutive four-year term on the Billings City Council. The City Charter limits council members to two consecutive terms.<\/p>\n

Ballots were mailed out Aug. 25 for the primary election. For this mail-in-only election, all ballots must be mailed back to or brought into the Yellowstone County Elections Department by 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 12. The two top vote-getters in each race will advance to the General Election on Nov. 7.<\/p>\n

Last Best News asked all City Council and mayoral candidates to respond to a written questionnaire, which featured questions suggested by several former council members, mayors and community leaders. Council candidates were asked to answer as many of the questions as they wished to, but to limit their total response to 1,000 words.<\/p>\n

One candidate, Nadja Brown, did not respond to the questionnaire. Here are the other Ward 3 candidates and their responses.<\/p>\n

\"Denise<\/a>

Denise Joy<\/p><\/div>\n

Denise Joy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Age<\/strong>: 52
\nOccupation<\/strong>: Special needs assistant.
\nPolitical experience<\/strong>: I have been involved in politics since a teenager.
\nName your three favorite books, or those that influenced you most deeply<\/strong>: “The Mature Mind” by Harry Overstreet, “The Rebel” by Albert Camus and “The Second Sex” by Simone de Beauvoir.<\/p>\n

\"Tyler\"<\/a>

Tyler Starkweather<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tyler Starkweather<\/strong><\/p>\n

Age<\/strong>: 21<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Occupation<\/strong>: Lead Assistant Teacher and Spanish Teacher<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Political experience<\/strong>: I have campaigned for two different candidates one winning and one losing. I have also served as a Senator for the\u00a0Freshman\u00a0class for a semester at the University of Baltimore.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Name your three favorite books, or those that influenced you most deeply<\/strong>: “This is my God” by Herman Wouk, “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker and “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Mike<\/a>

Mike Larson<\/p><\/div>\n

Mike Larson, <\/strong>62<\/p>\n

Occupation<\/strong>: Regional supervisor for Adult Protective Services for Regions 1 and 3.
\nPolitical experience<\/strong>: Eight years on the Billings City Council; several stints on the Billings Zoning Commission, current member of the Zoning Commission.
\nName your three favorite books, or those that influenced you most deeply<\/strong>: Hard to answer, so I will go with three I have read recently: “Russka” by\u00a0Edward Rutherford, “The Man Who Could Be King” by John Ripin Miller and “In the Garden of Beasts” by Eric Larson.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Questions and Answers<\/h5>\n

1.\u00a0If elected, what scares you most about serving on the council?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Larson<\/strong>: Something unexpected will always come up that will challenge your assumptions.<\/p>\n

Starkweather<\/strong>:\u00a0What scares me the most is failing my constituents.<\/p>\n

Joy<\/strong>:\u00a0The city has many challenges and making decisions that would create problems down the road, is something I would be concerned about.\u00a0 Balancing long and short term goals is difficult.\u00a0 Immediate problems need solutions but short-sighted decisions push the problem down the road.\u00a0 Too long of a view leaves immediate problems standing, that is the balance necessary for decisions.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0There are some 400,000-plus square feet of vacant commercial space becoming available in downtown Billings. What are your plans for solving the vacant retail and commercial space problem?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joy<\/strong>:\u00a0The open retail and commercial space downtown must fall into two categories.\u00a0 Spaces the are renovated and ready for occupants and those that need to be brought up to code.\u00a0 Without knowing the specific details of the space, some of the buildings would need funds to renovate.\u00a0 Some spaces need creative solutions.\u00a0 One idea is a food market which are popular in many cities.\u00a0 A large space is divided and small food stalls are set up for evening pedestrian traffic.\u00a0 Small portions of many types of food are sold at lunch prices. A common area is setup with tables and chairs.\u00a0 Additionally, the city can do a better job of helping business and property owners navigate the requirements and procedure for bringing a building up to code.<\/p>\n

Larson<\/strong>: Not all vacant space is the same. Some can be repurposed efficiently, some not so much. Building codes need to reflect some of those challenges in specific areas like the downtown and efforts to work with developers to that end should continue. City government has few tools to impact development and needs to be cautious in using those tools. That includes projects like the One Big Sky development which needs to be very seriously vetted as to its impact on space downtown and throughout the community. The limited funds available for the city to impact this issue could be tied up for years with a single project, that takes serious thought.<\/p>\n

Starkweather<\/strong>: I will continue to\u00a0support efforts and ideas brought to the council to revitalize the downtown. I represent Ward 3 and it has\u00a0its\u00a0own problems of vacant building and lots that need to be utilized to continue the entire economic growth of our city.

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0The trail network has become an integral part of the Billings landscape. With less federal funding available for alternative transportation, how would you help expand and maintain the network as a viable transportation option?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starkweather<\/strong>:\u00a0When living in Denver the Zoo\u00a0there\u00a0needed improvements especially with the elephant enclosure so what they did is they partnered with Toyota. Toyota funded the\u00a0improvements\u00a0and it is called the Toyota Elephant Passage. We can use that same concept we can have different organizations and businesses sponsor trails and they can name the trails and care for them. This helps keep the cost down for the city and also gives them advertising.<\/p>\n

Joy<\/strong>:\u00a0There are several funding options to continue to building trails in Billings. It is more of a question of will we do it than how to fund it. We could take impact fees, gas taxes and federal dollars currently used on roadways and use some of these dollars for trails. It will require creativity and a desire to build a city with trails. This is more about political will and leadership. The trails are an asset to our city and community, we can find the necessary funding.<\/p>\n

Larson<\/strong>: Continued support for community based efforts, inclusion of trails and alternatives in all transportation improvements and plans, ongoing efforts to find funding wherever possible.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0With an administration running the city and overseeing city departments, what do you see as your role as a member of the City Council?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Larson<\/strong>: The Council acts as the legislative branch of city government. Council members should represent the city, not just a ward.<\/p>\n

Starkweather<\/strong>:\u00a0The City Council’s role is to be the governing body of the city.\u00a0Also,\u00a0to ensure that they are transparent and accessible to their constituents.<\/p>\n

Joy<\/strong>:\u00a0The City Council members provide leadership and direction for the city\u2019s development . The administration implements the decision, but leadership and vision are the council responsibility.\u00a0 The council represents the ideas and concerns of the residents and voters.\u00a0 The council considers and channels these concerns, ideas and feelings into a vision and and goals. This provides direction for the staff to work towards a policy that accomplishes that goal.<\/p>\n

\n
The other races<\/h5>\n

Mayoral candidates’ responses to a similar survey were printed<\/a> Sunday, responses from Ward 1 council candidates were published<\/a> Monday and from Ward 2<\/a> on Tuesday. Other City Council candidates’ responses will be published in the coming days: Ward 4, Thursday; Ward 5, Friday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

5.\u00a0What is the optimal role for a city administrator? Idea person, implementer of council policy, manager of city employees, budget watchdog or something else?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joy<\/strong>:\u00a0City administrator needs to implement the council\u2019s decision and manage city employees. Budgets are an economic expression of the City Council\u2019s vision and priorities. The council\u2019s goals are realized through funding the necessary staff and the means to accomplish those goals. The city administrator is the chief executive carrying out the council\u2019s vision.<\/p>\n

Larson<\/strong>: The administrator is a bridge between the council and the staff should make an impact as an idea person, implementer, and leader. Let the department heads manage staff, and provide them the direction and freedom needed to do so.<\/p>\n

Starkweather<\/strong>:\u00a0To me the\u00a0city administrator is the\u00a0liaison\u00a0between the different city departments and the City Council. They also tend to the daily needs of the city and help oversee the different departments.<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0What ideas do you have for including and promoting diversity in the Billings community?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starkweather<\/strong>:\u00a0There are many ways we can promote diversity in Billings. One way is passing\u00a0a\u00a0nondiscrimination ordinance\u00a0in Billings. Another way we can is capitalizing on our already established sister cities like Billings, Germany, and Kumamoto, Japan, with reopening the\u00a0dialogue\u00a0and reestablishing ties with them and seeing where that goes.<\/p>\n

Joy<\/strong>:\u00a0The city of Billings is quite diverse already. I think the answer is more inclusion. Residents should feel welcome and be encouraged to participate. Recently, the city council decided to look into\u00a0 the scope of the Human Relations Commission.\u00a0 The commission could fill an important role of inclusion and promoting social harmony.\u00a0 The budget for the commission is not provided by the city\u2019s budget nor have they been able to always get grant money. If the commission was encouraged and funded to reach out to minority communities in Billings, we would see a greater inclusiveness of the diversity within our community, and as a result, encourage even more.<\/p>\n

Larson<\/strong>: Providing a safe community with a strong economy leads to growth and growth tends to lead to diversity.<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0Have you read the City Charter<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

Larson<\/strong>: Yes.<\/p>\n

Starkweather<\/strong>:\u00a0Yes,\u00a0I have read the City Charter.<\/p>\n

Joy<\/strong>: Yes.<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0Should the City Charter be changed? If so, how?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joy<\/strong>:\u00a0The charter should be not be amended for short-term problems or untested ideas.\u00a0 A document that is meant to last many years and uphold the legal authority of a city should not be amended for budgetary problems. The limited time frame for a cap on mill levies is an example of an inappropriate amendment to the City Charter.\u00a0 The charter has stood for many years without amendments and only the most important neglected or overlooked problems should be addressed in the charter.<\/p>\n

Starkweather<\/strong>:\u00a0\u00a0I don’t believe the City Charter should change but I do believe that some redistricting is needed for our city.<\/p>\n

Larson<\/strong>: No changes contemplated.<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0Does the proposed One Big Sky Center make economic sense? How do you respond to hotel owners who might be hurt by this subsidized competition?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Larson<\/strong>: I would love to see this project move forward and if it was only private money involved I would be all for it. Once you include significant public funds the whole game changes and the obligation to look at the impact throughout the city becomes essential. The developers involved need to help answer the question of why this is good for the majority of the businesses in our community.<\/p>\n

Joy<\/strong>:\u00a0Many of the hotel owners have used the same funding mechanism that One Big Sky is asking for. The owner of the Northern testified in the City Council in support of the One Big Sky project.\u00a0 The Northern used public money as part of its renovations.\u00a0 All hotels would benefit from the increased opportunities of a convention center. If one were to discuss all different types of services, tax exemptions and business depreciations, all businesses are subsidized by public money, the difference being, they do not require a resolution from the city council.<\/p>\n

Starkweather<\/strong>: I do\u00a0believe\u00a0that the One Big Sky Center makes economic sense. This project really excites me and what opportunities it could bring to our city. There are already hotel owners and other downtown business owners who have publicly supported this project. One of the big draws is that it will have a convention center which is key to the continued economic growth of Billings. Having a convention center will\u00a0draw in many different groups of people,\u00a0organizations, and\u00a0businesses.<\/p>\n

10.\u00a0Considering that Billings has\u00a0an international reputation\u00a0as a community of tolerance dating back to the early 1990s, how do you think our reputation may have been affected if the national media had\u00a0gotten hold of the story about Billings government rejecting a nondiscrimination ordinance?\u00a0 More specifically, how could such national publicity affect our competitive position about economic development, considering that other major cities in Montana have a nondiscrimination ordinance in place?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starkweather<\/strong>:\u00a0Our reputation could have greatly suffered in the U.S. and the international community. We saw the case of North Carolina of businesses and groups pulling out crippling the economy, Billings does not need that attention. We need to utilize the Not in our Town aspect of our history and we need to pass an NDO. Passing an NDO not only tells our LGBTQ+ residents that this city cares about them and will protect them it also\u00a0tell\u00a0the world that Billings is an amazing city to live in a city that is open and diverse. When people say that this shouldn\u2019t be discussed on the local level and should be a state or federal jurisdiction that just boils my blood. This is our city and we should be able to decide what kind of community we want and what image that is\u00a0portrayed\u00a0from that.<\/p>\n

Larson<\/strong>: It is hard to gauge potential consequences in the absence of identifiable impacts. In North Carolina during the bathroom debate pressure was brought by the NCAA and professional sports organizations that could demonstrate the ability to have significant economic impact. In addition, there were companies operating in the state that could threaten similar impacts. In Billings I think we will be hearing more anecdotal evidence.<\/p>\n

Joy<\/strong>:\u00a0The right thing for Billings to do is protect the rights of its residents from discrimination or intimidation.\u00a0 There is not a single bigger impact of the lack of an NDO than allowing residents to feel unprotected.\u00a0 Billings needs an NDO because we the residents, care about the rights of others, nothing is more important than that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three candidates are vying to replace Rich McFadden\u00a0of Ward 3, who is nearing the end of his second consecutive four-year term on the Billings City Council. The City Charter limits council members to two consecutive terms. Ballots were mailed out Aug. 25 for the primary election. For this mail-in-only election, all ballots must be mailed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,14,1],"tags":[640,6197,4531,6195,6196,6158],"class_list":["post-19066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-billings","category-news","category-uncategorized","tag-city-council","tag-denise-joy","tag-election","tag-mike-larson","tag-nadja-brown","tag-tyler-starkweather","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19066"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19269,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19066\/revisions\/19269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}