Campaign Phone
4066900332
As a resident in this ward for the past 20 years, I will represent Ward 3 with integrity, vision, and common sense. I am Executive Director of Angela’s Piazza: Women’s Drop-In Center and have worked there for 15 years. I have a life-long career in the nonprofit sector working with marginalized families to secure practical solutions to their hardships and unique challenges. Having worked with countless benefactors and individual donors to Angela’s Piazza, I have also seen first-hand that great goals can be accomplished when we work together. I believe it is imperative that the private sector, nonprofits, and service- and faith-based organizations strategically collaborate with the City to achieve community-wide goals, such as public safety.
Council members should focus on working cohesively with the city administrator as a team. The city administrator ensures department heads are conducting their duties as appropriate. I don't see any reason for council members to interject themselves in the daily operations of city staff, as this muddles up their chain of command. I've seen council members doing this and it leaves city staff confused and very frustrated. As a council member, my hope is that department heads would be comfortable in approaching me with goals and/or concerns, but I don't believe a council member should be interjecting themselves in daily operations. And again, council operations at large must be conducted as a team. This can create enhanced public trust.
While I see that Billings continues to struggle to identify its identity, my personal vision of our identity is that of a welcoming community. I will work to prioritize family-centric green spaces, inviting residents to enjoy all the vibrancy that the Magic City has to offer. I will also prioritize affordable living, promoting pockets of tiny homes around our community. It is also important to invest in crime prevention, such as mental health access for our underserved members. While we certainly do need to to ensure public safety as a general rule, we must also invest in prevention.
It certainly is a problem! These are priority spaces for me, as I raised my own family in these spaces. My vision is that our next generations will be allowed to enjoy the same privilege. To that end, we may need to partner with nonprofits, churches, schools, neighbors, and businesses to ensure the green spaces will continue to thrive. Neighborhood task forces could also be a part of the solution. It simply takes city leadership to make the time to develop these relationships to get the effort moving forward. As a city council representative, I will work to bring this effort to fruition.
It certainly is a devastating blow to our already-tight budget. And now our city administrator has announced he is looking for work elsewhere. The city's efforts in placing him initially was time consuming and costly, and now we will have to start over again. There will definitely have to be some sacrifices made across the board. Having worked in nonprofits all my life, and directing programs on a shoestring budget, is not unfamiliar territory for me. So I am not clutching my pearls and predicting doom and gloom. Rather, I am rolling up my sleeves and am ready for these challenges! I insist on partnerships all around, because we are not all experts on everything. We need to listen, share, and move forward as a cohesive team.
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