Mayor wants to finish term with team

EDITOR'S NOTE: The order of city candidate profiles was selected at random.

Mayor Michael Winters is running for a fourth term as mayor of Great Falls.

He said he came on board with Commissioners Bob Jones and Fred Burow and they work as a team.

"I would like to end on the same note with those two fellows," he said. "There's a lot to be done."

There's also much that's been accomplished during his term, he said.

Mayoral terms are two years.

"It would be an absolute honor to finish our terms," he said.

Over the summer, Winters had said he might not run again. He said he had to weigh his energy levels with his age.

Mayoral candidate: Michael Winters

"I found that I had an abundance of energy," he said. "If a person can be a positive influence in the community, they ought to stand up and do what they can."

If elected, he said he would like to continue the drive for forward growth of the community.

"I'd like to make the community attitude more welcoming, a little more open," he said.

One thing he would like to see in a fourth term is more quality entertainment coming to Great Falls.

Being on the commission is to function as a team, he said.

"It's a team effort to resolve problems," he said. "I would like to be on the leading team to lead our community into the future."

He said the city is becoming more appealing to developers and businesses looking for new locations.

"We're in better shape now than I think we've ever been in," he said. "I bring to the commission a greater level of experience on how we work together to accomplish difficult things. Having experience within the system is incredibly valuable."

In making tough decisions and researching issues before the commission, Winters said the commission has an obligation to seek out all possible information on issues.

"We have an obligation to understand what the public wants," he said. "We study each thing that comes before us and try to come up with a conclusion that is best for the entire community."

Winters said he would try to make better use of the media to help educate the public on important issues.

"When there's information that needs to be shared with the public, staff and the commission need to be more proactive in getting the correct information to the public," he said. "Misinformation can do a great deal of harm to a project or the city itself."

Town hall meetings and neighborhood councils would be good venues to educate the public, Winters said.

"We have to put down the attitude of why we can't do something and find a solution," he said.

The commission is scheduled to vote on a contract for a park and recreation master plan on Oct. 20. That process would take nine months and would include goals and recommendations for the next five years, according to Joe Petrella, city park and rec director.

Winters said he thinks master plans are important, but that the commission also needs to consider things that need to happen now.

"We have to take care of today as well as what we want to do in the future," he said.

Winters used the example of bike lanes that have been added in recent years as an example of something that was done right away.

Much of that work has been included in the Long Range Transportation Plan and other planning processes and documents.

City improving connectivity for bikes, pedestrians

The city also has to function as a team in economic development, Winters said.

"We have a longstanding attitude problem of 'not in my backyard,'" he said. "We need to overcome that."

Winters said he would also like to focus on public safety.

Winters said adding police and firefighters "makes us all safer."

Police Chief Dave Bowen and Fire Chief Steve Hester have said they are working on long range plans for staffing and other resources in their departments and are also looking for additional funding sources.

Winters said he would use those plans to inform his decisions and would support more funding for those departments.

"When you know what the plans are, you can go to the public and get support," he said. "Working together can accomplish a great deal."

The money might be available, he said, if other departments "tighten their belts."

He said he's "not in favor of borrowing money, but if that's the only means," then city has to look at options.

The public safety budget in 2015 was $18.3 million, compared to $15.6 million that was collected in tax revenue.

Some of the most significant items in this year's budget include two firefighter positions and two dispatchers for the 911 Center.

To help Park and Rec alleviate some of its funding shortages, Winters said he would look at parkland that is minimally accessible or of no value to the city.

"That's not to say we'd give the parks away," he said.

But to raise revenue in the department, Winters said he is "absolutely not a fan of increasing user fees. We pay our user fees by paying our taxes."

Overall, he said, people are becoming more confident in the city.

He said all candidates should be commended for participating in the public process, but in the mayoral race, voters have distinct choices.

"The community has an obligation to choose who they want to lead the city into the future," he said.